The World of ELLs and Their Teachers Flashcards

1
Q

What was bilingual education like in the US before the 1960s?

A

Non-English speakers were given little to no support. They were expected to assimilate to school culture quickly. Some schools with high immigrant populations provided scaffolds but there was no federal funding towards this group of learners. This led to high drop out rates.

Why? A fear that America would “lose its identity”. English fluency was added as a part of the naturalization process.

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2
Q

What is the different between bilingual instruction programs and ESL instruction programs?

A

Bilingual uses the students L1 and transitions to English over time. Some phase out L1 but others target full biliteracy as a goal.

ESL provides English-only instruction with occasional use of L1 to support.

Although research shows bilingual instruction has most benefits, ESL is more common.

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3
Q

What are the three most common language instruction education programs? (LIEPs)

A

-Transitional Bilingual Education
-Developmental Bilingual Education
-Dual immersion/two-way immersion

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4
Q

What is transitional bilingual education?

A

Students receive all instruction in L1 and then transition to mainstream L2 curriculum/instruction within 2-3 years.

L1 proficiency is not the goal. L1 literacy is often not taught explicitly.

L1 is used as a bridge towards L2.

Students in this program often struggle with the mainstream curriculum and require additional support after the switch.

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5
Q

What is developmental bilingual education?

A

Same as transitional bilingual education (start with L1) but the goal is biliteracy (proficiency in L1 and L2).

Called “late-exit” because students typically complete the program in 6th - 8th grade

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6
Q

What is dual immersion or two-way immersion?

A

-King school!
-Goal is for full bilingualism for the entire school population (ELs and native English speakers)
-Commonly start with higher proportion of L2/L1 (80/20 or 90/10) in early grades and transition to 50/50 later.

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7
Q

What is a newcomer program?

A

-For students in grades 6-12 who have experienced interrupted schooling or no schooling

-These students cannot thrive in typical ESL classes or mainstream because of their lack of basic literacy skills

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8
Q

What are heritage language programs?

A

Heritage languages are spoken at a student’s home or by their ancestors. Students may have a strong desire to learn or retain these languages.

These programs often exist in weekend or after school settings.

Native American communities felt threatened by Prop 203 passed that limited ESL full immersion to 1 year.

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9
Q

What is STRUCTURED English immersion? (SEI)

A

-designed to transition ELLs to mainstream classrooms quickly

-SEI focuses on teaching rules and forms of English and defers academic content for when students are in the mainstream classrooms

-Critics argue that teaching complex English structures at early stages of instruction is controversial

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10
Q

What is Title VI? (civil rights act of 1965)

A

-Prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin in any program that is federally funded

-Protects ELL students by requiring schools to give them services, not allowing schools to classify them as special needs students, and holds the program quality accountable (language proficiency is the goal).

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11
Q

What is the Bilingual Education Act of 1968?

A

-Name given to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) passed in 1965

-Part of President Johnson’s War on Poverty (without education - cycle of poverty continues)

  • Provided federal funding for districts to develop bilingual programs but offered no guidelines on how they should operate
  • Elevated ELL rights as a separate concern from racial discrimination
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12
Q

What was the Lau vs. Nichols case and why is it important for ELs?

A

In 1970’s in California, there was no English language instruction for Chinese language speakers.

Unanimously agreed that this violated the Civil rights act of 1965 and those students were not granted equal access to educational opportunities

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13
Q

What is No Child Left Behind and how did it impact ELs?

A

NCLB was an effort that required school accountability through annual standardized testing

-NCLB required that states track 3 annual measurable achievement objectives (2 about ELL English proficiency and 1 about ELL progress toward content standards)

-Many states failed on the content standards objective and therefore lost funding and resources

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14
Q

What is the every student succeeds act?

A

-ESSA provided discretion in how to measure school success unlike NCLB

-measures the progress of ELLs and sets a standard for identifying, entering, and exiting the program

-also allows the first 2 years of ELs content test results to be exempt from their reports

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15
Q

What was the Castaneda vs Pickard case?

A

-in 1978 in Texas

-father of two kids sued the district for placing kids in a language segregated classroom

-resulted in the Castaneda test, which assess whether EL programs are effective

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16
Q

What was Plyler v. Doe case?

A

-A Supreme Court case that ruled against children being denied education based on their immigration status

-Still debates/cases today about college students who were denied in-state tuition benefits or students being reported to immigration authorities in enrollment processes

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17
Q

What was Proposition 227?

A

-In 1998 in California

-ended bilingual programs because it required ESL students to enroll in one-year English immersion programs then transition to mainstream content classrooms

-results were mixed

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18
Q

What was Proposition 58?

A

-In 2017 in California

-Repealed Proposition 227 and gave districts the flexibility to determine the best way to educate Els as long as their approach is effective

-Valued multilingualism more than Prop 227

19
Q

What are the differences between assimilation and multiculturalism?

A

-Assimilation claims that bilingualism is a problem that needs to be fixed because it ruins national unity and identify. Acts like NCLB support this view.

-Multiculturalism believes that bilingualism is a resource that should be cultivated. Acts like ESSA support this view

20
Q

What is the “English only” movement?

A

-A movement that strives to establish English as US’s primary language.

-20 states have some sort of English-only legislation

-Rooted in assimilation and belief that ELs should transition out of the ESL program quickly

-Quickly repealed when it was shown that L1 does not delay acquisition of L2

21
Q

How can we prevent ELs from being referred to special education too often?

A

We can conduct the assessment in the student’s native language to avoid mixing language issues with disabilities

22
Q

What is tracking and how is it damaging to ELs?

A

-Tracking or ability grouping is a practice of putting students of similar perceived abilities in the same classrooms to provide the most targeted teaching possible.

-The downside of tracking is the “self fulfilling prophecy”

-ELs will likely be seen as poor fits for rigorous courses like APs

23
Q

What are Jacob Javits grants and what problem do they work to solve?

A
  • Jacob Javits grants are for states to help identify and support gifted ELL students

-works to solve the underrepresentation of ELs in gifted programs

-Why? teachers cannot recognize their strengths through the filter of another language, a misunderstanding that English proficiency must be achieved before students’ cognitive skills can be recognized

24
Q

How can ESL teachers advocate for EL students? (broadly)

A

-Ensuring ELs have equal access to all school resources and programs (clubs, after school programs)
-engaging parents of ELs about educational opportunities that are available for their children
-helping to educate mainstream classroom teachers on how to support ELs
-addressing microaggressions or misconceptions about ELs

25
Q

What is balanced literacy?

A

-Approach that combines phonics instruction with actual reading and writing exercises

-In reading, this may look like teacher read aloud, shared reading, then one-to-one help or small group

-Research found that students that are highly skilled in phonics are not necessarily strong readers

-Students need a range of reading activities like phonics, guided reading, cloze activities, teacher prompts, and being required to draw connections or find implied meaning.

26
Q

What does a language-rich classroom look like?

A

-Students are fully exposed to language in many forms

-Teacher displays language with word walls, posters, labels of items in the classroom, or written student work

-Students should have access to a variety of grade level appropriate materials

-The language they are exposed to in instruction should be also be accessible (modeled by teachers, shared) so they can report out what they reading/writing in school

27
Q

What is the language experience approach?

A

-When classes create a text together based on a shared experience (a field trip, a bee in the classroom, etc..).

-The class revisits this text throughout the year as a gateway to new educational experiences

28
Q

How can teachers increase intrinsic motivation for students to read?

A
  1. Make sure books available to students are relevant (interest, current events, etc..)
  2. Engage in pre-reading activities to activate schema
  3. Give students ownership in the reading process (let them choose what books to read, when to read, or how they will be assessed)
  4. Ensure that students have access to the appropriate level of text (too easy or too hard will quickly result in loss of motivation)
  5. Expose students to role models (yourself, celebrities, parents)
29
Q

What did Kenneth Goodman believe about reading?

A

-said that reading was a “psycholinguistic guessing game”

-believes that students take rapid surveys of written text and use it to make predictions on the basis of their schema and assumptions of what’s to come

30
Q

What is explicit vs implicit instruction? Which should be used more often?

A

-Explicit is traditional teaching (lesson target is shared, content is explained, students are guided with practice)

-Implicit instruction is when students are learning a concept through a communication based activity

-Some skills like vocabulary and comprehension skills like inferencing need to be explicitly taught

31
Q

What are some literacy scaffolding techniques that a teacher may use? Why are they important?

A

-Scaffolding allows students to engage with texts or writing projects that are just beyond their current level

Teachers can use…
1. Directed listening and thinking activities (read aloud with questions about predictions then asking students to formulate their own questions)

  1. Shared reading - a teacher models pronunciation and fluency
  2. Interactive dialogue journal - teacher and student pass a journal back and forth and respond to each other’s comments
  3. Mapping - connecting ideas to a central theme (can help students with writing tasks)
32
Q

What is Gail Tompkin’s Five-Level Scaffolding Model?

A

Stage 1 (greatest support) - teacher models

Stage 2- Students contributes but teacher performs or records the act

Stage 3- Teacher and students share in creation of product

Stage 4- Guided practice (students ind. or in groups - teacher supports)

Stage 5- Independent work

33
Q

What is culture?

A

Consists of what people do, believe or know, and make or use.

34
Q

What is the difference between external culture and internal culture?

A

External culture are the objects or physical spaces people use to show their culture (ex: architecture, food, clothing)

Internal culture refers to the patterns of thought, social behaviors, and collective beliefs of a culture (ex: values, family structures, social roles)

35
Q

What is the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis?

A

-Hypothesis that someone’s language influences their thoughts, which means that speakers of different languages have different world views

-This has been disproven. Language does influence thoughts but does not constrain them

36
Q

What is Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions Theory? (clue __ vs. ___)

A

A way to rate/categorize values of different cultures

-Individualism vs. collectivism
-Uncertainty vs avoidance (how comfortable are people with the unknown)
-Hierarchy vs equality (values of power)
-Indulgence vs restraint

37
Q

How is individualist vs collectivist cultures most significant for school/education?

A
  • Individualist cultures (like USA) value freedom and individual student initiative. It encourages students to stand out from the group.
  • Collectivist cultures value group harmony. Success does not mean being the best in school.
  • This is important for teachers because a student from a collectivist culture may feel shame from public praise.
38
Q

What is a speech act (not related to legislation)?

A
  • A phrase that is aimed at achieving something (not describing something)
  • Examples include requests, promises, complaints, or apologies

-“Do you have a dollar?” is a request speech act but a non-native speaker may not understand it from literal semantic analysis

39
Q

What is the misconception about the immigration status of ELs?

A
  • Many people assume that ELLs are immigrants but the majority were born in the US.
  • Approx 75% have legal status
  • Of the 25% that do not, most entered the US legally (ex: visitor visa) then failed to leave
40
Q

What are some of the reasons that ELLs might immigrate to the states? (3)

A
  • Family reunification (have a close family member who is a permanent resident)
  • Refugees (leave because of war, discrimination, or natural disaster)
  • Diversity lottery program (govt gives a limited number of high school educated people from underrepresented countries the chance to come)
41
Q

What are some “push and pull” factors for immigrating?

A

-Push factors are those that make people want to leave their home country (lack of jobs, war, natural disaster, discrimination, repression)

  • Pull factors are the attractive features of the destination country (job opportunities, reuniting with family, social freedom)
42
Q

What is secondary migration and how does it affect ELs?

A
  • When a person enters the US from a location OTHER THAN their country of birth
  • Refugees may flee to a neighboring country and then arrange for legal entry to the US OR individuals may immigrate to a country with lenient policies like Canada and then enter the US.
  • Secondary migration is likely to cause more interrupted schooling for ELs. They also may have had instruction in a non-English foreign language.
43
Q

What is transnational migration?

A
  • When an immigrant to the US maintains strong ties to their home country
  • Examples may include frequent visits back, sending money to family there, or planning to return after a period
  • Students may struggle to assimilate
44
Q

What is Generation 1.5?

A
  • When an individual immigrates in their late childhood or early teens, they are not considered first generation (adult immigrants) or second gen (born in US)
  • They will have strong ties to their home country and may lack citizenship
  • They may have social English but lack academic English and may be resistant to a label of ELL