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Effective Strategies for Teaching EnglishLanguage Learners

By: Karen Pellino

Students with English as a second language (ESL) constitute a significant percentage of the population of our nation's schools. This population continues to increase more rapidly than thatof native English speaking students (Shore, 2001). The language minority population has a highdrop out rate. These students are also among the lowest ranking in academic achievement andexpectations. They represent an at-risk population faced with a wide range of challenges(Thompson, 2000).

This presents a unique challenge for teachers as we strive to help these students achieve inlearning the English language and the academic material specified in our content area learning

standards. Every teacher who teaches subject matter in English to ESL students is not only ateacher of the content area but is a teacher of English as well. As educators, we must continuallyreflect on our teaching and update our practice to address the needs of this population, placing astrong emphasis on the human side of teaching. We must continually focus on these students andfind effective ways to arrange their learning to help them achieve.

This tutorial is a summary and critical analysis of four recent journal articles on the abovesubject. The articles focus on the challenges ESL students face and how they translate intochallenges for teachers. Following the summary of articles, strategies that teachers can use tohelp overcome these challenges will be discussed.

Learning English and Learning America: Immigrants in the Center of A Storm (Olsen,2000)

This article considers the challenges faced by language minority children at school as theyexperience what is referred to as "language shock," a struggle to learn the English language and

be accepted in a society that is not always accepting and not always willing to embrace diversity.These students are in a strange land trying to maintain a sense of identity related to their nativeculture and also become American. What a heavy burden for a young person!

Social and political issues surrounding immigration and diversity in our nation complicate theseemingly basic task of learning English. The role of schools in the Americanization of immigrant students is formally identified as making them fluent English speakers.

Hence, our schools label and serve these students based on their ability or inability to speak English. However, ESL students encounter many obstacles in their efforts to become proficientin the English language. They often come to realize that in order to be fully accepted, they mustabandon their native language, surrendering an aspect of their identity. They are caused to feel

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they must either speak English or nothing at all. Thus, they become caught in a painful power struggle over the use of English and their native language.

As educators we need to realize that education occurs in the context of a social climate. Therelationships between students and accompanying range of social behaviors have a major impact

on how well ESL students learn English and how well all students learn overall. Children cannotachieve in an unwelcoming, hostile environment. Many children are made fun of when they tryto speak English and also when they speak their native language; so they end up silent andwithdraw from participation. This further interferes with their learning and achievement.

The English that ESL students are taught is academic English. They often lack the ability tointeract in social settings with English speaking peers because they are in separate classroomsand often have limited opportunity to interact academically or socially. They often have greatdifficulty learning the "slang" and social English because they have no one to learn it from.These children come to prefer English out of necessity, often abandoning their native languagesto fit in. They end up without comfort in either language and may end up losing the ability to

communicate with family members and friends in their native land.

The author of this article concludes that our ESL students will remain torn between two worldsuntil society truly embraces diversity and the notion that biculturalism and bilingualism areassets. What is needed in the education of ESL children is the development of English andmaintenance of their native language.

Barriers to Meaningful Instruction for English Learners (Meyer, 2000)

This article focuses on effective ways teachers can help ESL students overcome barriers tomeaningful instruction. Teachers can use strategies based on social interactionist theory, such asthat of Vygotsky, to create classroom conditions that foster learning by modeling, scaffoldingand helping students to construct understanding, with the eventual goal of becoming independentthinkers and problem solvers. The author identifies four loads as barriers to meaningfulinstruction: cognitive load, culture load, language load and learning load; and she states teachersmust be skilled at lowering these barriers and sparking student interest and curiosity bydeveloping a creative, wise and passionate curriculum.

Cognitive load refers to the number of new concepts embedded in a lesson. It is critical that weconsistently assess prior knowledge of all students, ESL students particularly, and look to

identify the concepts and skills the students do and do not possess. We must then fill in anyconceptual gaps by trying to relate new concepts to life experiences of ESL students. Thus, it becomes more critical to get to know and understand these students.

'Culture load' refers to the way language and culture are related and the amount of culturalknowledge required to comprehend meaning or participate in an activity. Meanings of words aredetermined by the uses of words within linguistic and cultural settings, never the same in anytwo cultures. English learners need to learn the words in English as well as the cultural

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background that gives the words their English meaning. They need to learn words in context tounderstand the meaning. Additionally, the information conveyed in our textbooks and lessons isculturally embedded. Some texts or topics can actually be culturally offensive. Culture load alsorefers to how teachers expect interaction to occur in a classroom. This would include when tospeak, when to stay silent, when to raise hands and when to write. These expectations vary from

one culture to the next. English learners are often expected to determine the classroom behavioral norms independently.

The author offers several strategies to help teachers lighten the culture load for students.Teachers should treat English learners with respect, not judgment, and try to build personalrelationships with students, their families and communities. Teachers can use information gainedthrough these relationships to develop lessons and activities that help students understand theAmerican culture while still respecting the culture of the student. By demonstrating respect for students, teachers allow a door of trust to open that can serve to further deepen a nurturingteacher-student relationship.

The next barrier, the 'language load,' refers to the number of unfamiliar words encountered as anEnglish learner reads a text or listens to teacher or peer academic talk. Teachers can lighten thisload by rewriting or explaining text material. Complex sentences can be broken down intocomprehensible parts. Academic vocabulary can be presented at the start of a lesson andhighlighted. Several different texts can be available covering the same content but at differentreading ability levels. Additionally, teachers should model both academic and social languageand scaffold its appropriate use to help the learner acquire it, use it effectively and move to moresophisticated levels of speaking and writing.

The 'learning load' represents what teachers expect students to do with English in the learningactivities. An example offered by the author is brainstorming, an activity that is oral and fast-

paced, with few visual examples and minimal clarification in the initial stages. An Englishlearner would have difficulty following such an activity, let alone participating. Thus, teachersmust carefully consider the learning load of all activities involving English learners, makingadaptations and offering supports accordingly. One such strategy is the language bath. Thisstrategy involves the teacher doing the initial talking about a new topic and students listening

before any brainstorming or other activity is assigned. This strategy is also effective with Englishspeaking students. It prepares students to participate by helping to familiarize them withvocabulary and develop their thoughts on a topic.

The last concept discussed is what the author calls the "yearning goad," which is intrinsicmotivation, a drive to know and learn more. This needs to be cultivated by teaching, whenever

possible, through topics of high student interest. Teachers should also endeavor to broadenstudent interests by sharing their passions with students. Critical selection and creativeimplementation of curriculum are also important. By lightening even one or two of these loadsand arranging meaningful learning for students, teachers can motivate students and facilitatelearning of both the English language and content. This can help ESL students avoid beingmisinterpreted as unmotivated or resistant to learning.

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