This Is America, We Speak English Here Or Do We?

“This Is America, We Speak English Here” Or Do We?

By Laura C. Ludwig

12/9/2013

Who are English Language Learners?

“No less complex, and in many ways much more intimidating, is the task of second language acquisition for the CLD student (Herrera and Murry, 2011).” The term CLD refers to culturally and linguistically diverse students. Most people recognize and use the term “EL,” instead of CLD, which stands for English Learner. An EL is anyone who’s native language is not English, and is in the process of learning English. EL’s can range from beginner to near fluent. In schools across America teachers struggle and try to find new and improved ways to educate students who are trying to learn English. A big part of the problem is not just getting ELs to learn English; it is getting teachers to understand what their EL students go through as they try to learn a completely new language while still in the process of learning their native language. Teachers also must understand that not only are their EL students learning a new language, but a new culture entirely. The pressures of school, home life, friends, and everything else can sometimes make learning a new language a daunting task. Many ELs go home and do not speak or practice English there. The only time many ELs might use English at home is to try and translate documents for their parents such as bills, notes from school, etc. School might be the only place they use English(Orellana, Reynolds, Dorner, &Meza 2003). They also face the challenge of having to learn two types of English, the English they use to communicate with friends and cognitive academic language needed to take tests and succeed in the school environment.

Many teachers with EL students tend to make many assumptions. According to Herrera and Murry, many teachers assume that if EL students can speak English on the playground with pretty decent proficiency then they should be able to speak it in the classroom just as proficiently. They also sometimes assume that just because a student might be struggling with learning the second language that they should be sent in for special education testing. Teachers also might assume that just because a CDL student can speak English well, they should be able to write it just as well. Teachers also can’t seem to understand why a student who does not speak English as their primary language would continue to use their native language when they are out of the classroom and around their friends after the student has already learned English. All of these assumptions and “miscommunications,” if you will, must be faced in order to give EL students what they need in order to succeed in the U.S. system of education.

“Despite common assumptions to the contrary, native-born U.S. citizens predominate in theELL student population: 76 percent of elementary school and 56 percent of secondary school English Language Learners are native-born, and more than half of the ELLs in public secondary schools are second- or third-generation U.S. citizens(Dennis Van Roekel, 2008).” This is a very interesting piece of information, especially since there are definitely widespread assumptions that most ELs were born outside of the U.S. or that they are not even citizens. This information shows that these students belong here. The U.S. is their home, and they have a right to all the same opportunities as every other person born here as well as people who have earned citizenship. Even though ELs deserve the same opportunities, they do not necessarily get them. Most ELs attend low income public schools. The “low income” title is enough to assume that resources and teachers with adequate resources to educate ELs are low.

Introducing EL Teachers: What Challenges Do They Face?

Now that the ELs themselves have been addressed, it is time to address their educators. According to Herrera and Murry, who paraphrased the National Center of Education Statistics, “only 2.5 percent of teachers who teach CLD students hold a degree in either bilingual or English as a second language (ESL) education. Unfortunately, the states that have the least experience with CLD student populations face the greatest shortage of certified bilingual and ESL teachers (Herrera and Murry, 2010).” It also states that ELs spend most of their day in grade level classrooms and that most of their teachers have very small amounts, if any, training “in the differential learning and development needs of this group.” This makes it very obvious to see that teachers are not at all fully prepared to work with EL students. Lack of training is a big challenge teachers face, because without support from higher up, training themselves is tough. Teachers have their own lives too, just like students.

However, it is not only lack of training, but lack of empathy, or rather lack of the correct mindset. How a teacher regards an EL in their own mind can be one of the biggest challenges many teachers are facing. If a teacher feels an EL is detrimental to their classroom, because the ELs scores might not be where they need to be, or maybe the teacher believes they are mentally handicapped, or else they may feel the EL student really is not going to succeed at all, or heaven forbid, all of the above, it makes teaching the EL extremely difficult. One can see the effects this will have on the student as well. If the teacher, the one these students look up to, does not believe the student can succeed, why would the student?

There was once a professor who told his students, who were to be future teachers, the narrative of the “nice white lady.” He said that there are many, many “nice white ladies” who become teachers to a population that is very different from them. He went on to say that this would be a challenge for these teachers. The challenge is getting to know the students. The challenge is understanding that there are different cultures than the teacher’s own culture. This is not, however, a challenge that is impossible to face. Teachers must get to know their students’ cultures in order to get through to them. We all have this innate longing to be loved and understood. In an environment where a student feels safe and where the student feels like their story is relevant is an environment where students and teachers can succeed (Herrera &Murry, 2010).

Another challenge teachers face is the fact that many of their EL students are on completely different levels of proficiency, but are in the same class. This can be tough. It’s tough enough to teach students who all speak English and are all on different levels academically, but to teach students who are on different levels academically and different levels of language proficiency (in both their native languages and in English) is a whole different ball game (Herrera &Murry, 2010).

Pulling Apart the Transcript

Making correct inferences from the transcript was not an easy task. The interviewer seemed to include everything, though, and that was helpful; he/she did not leave out any “um’s” used by him/herself or the interviewee. In the first few pages it was difficult to discern whether the child didn’t understand the interviewer very well of if she was just shy. Initially, Luz’s responses to the interviewer were very short. Early on there were grammatical errors. For example, on page one the interviewer asked Luz about her country of origin and if she liked visiting there. Luz said she did, and when the interviewer asked why, Luz replied, “Because there it’s much funner, and I have more friends. Well, I have my cousins over there to play with. There’s more food. More delicious than here.” I took her use of “funner” as overgeneralization of grammar rules. I also see examples cultural nuances in this statement because she speaks of her cousins. If I am not incorrect, families in Mexico are much bigger than they generally are in the states, and growing up around many cousins is a normal occurrence. Also, Luz’s statement, “There’s more food. More delicious than here,” could be taken as indirect speech. Although it’s obvious she means the food in Mexico is more delicious than the food in the United States, her response was still indirect.

On page three of the transcript, Luz is asked by the interviewer what she would want cooked for her on her birthday if she could have anything. Luz first replies, “everything” and laughs. The interviewer continues with, “You just want to eat?” Luz replies, “Well, I do like a little bit more sushi.” I believe Luz was trying to say, “I would like to have sushi the most.” This could be taken as indirect speech as well, again, even though we pretty much know what Luz is trying to say. I could also say she is usingthe correct words to describe what she means but the usage is incorrect.

Luz’s overall comprehension was good. There were times when she needed the interviewer to repeat a specific word or phrase but then she would catch on. For example on page 6 of the transcript, the interviewer asks Luz to tell him/her a story about the most exciting thing Luz has ever done. Luz says, “Exciting?” The interviewer says, “Uh huh” and Luz says, “Like when was a really exciting day?” This shows that Luz has trouble, but knows enough to know the right questions to ask for clarification. Luz’s vocabulary is somewhat limited at times, however. On the same page the interviewer asks Luz why fiction books are her favorite and Luz replies, “Because they have like…those have…like they have…like they make up stories and like them more when they’re made up because all these different animals talk and stuff.” This shows Luz’s struggle with vocabulary and fluency. Another example of this is on the last page of the interview. The interviewer asked what happened to Luz’s dog when the dog had to be taken to an animal hospital. The interviewer asked for clarification, asking Luz if they had to spay the dog. Luz replied, “No. Cuando lo operon.” The interviewer asked if she meant surgery, and Luz then explained in a paragraph that the dog was sick and ended with, “but she’s ok now.” The interviewer said, “I’m glad she’s ok.” Luz replied, “Yeah. She did die.” The interviewer said, “She did?” Luz said, “No she didn’t but every month we have to take her to PetSmart and make sure they give her a shot to make sure she doesn’t get sick again. Every month.” So Luz had to switch to her native tongue to explain an operation, and made a mistake by saying the dog dies, but then corrected herself.

Overall the interview was good. I think the interviewer asked the right questions. If I was Luz’s teacher, I would just have her practice reading more. The more kids read, the more vocabulary they attain, and this would help her have more vocabulary to describe what she tries to communicate in English. If I were conducting this interview, I would have tried to be a little more specific with the questions I asked. I wouldn’t have asked things such as, “Why is purple your favorite color, because I don’t even know why my own favorite color is blue.

The SOLOM Matrix

When I originally filled out the SOLOM Matrix I gave Luz three 3’s; one for Vocabulary, one for Pronunciation, and one for Grammar. I gave her two 4’s; one for Comprehension and one for Fluency. Now looking back, these may have been too high. Luz is definitely not a beginner, which is why I didn’t give her 1’s and 2’s but the fact that she did misuse vocabulary might have been a good reason for a two instead of a three. I gave her a four for comprehension because she did understand nearly everything the interviewer asked of her, “although occasional repetition [was] necessary.” I would say the repletion needed for Luz by the interviewer was occasional, so I stick by this score. Her pronunciation of everything seemed really good, unless the interviewer left out those errors and just put what Luz meant to say, so I think a 3 was good here. There were a few grammar errors as stated in the synopsis of the transcript, and in the SOLOM under “3” it says, “Makes frequent errors of grammar and word order that occasionally obscure meaning,” So I believe a 3 was the correct score to give.

My Own Approach

Given all the challenges involved, as a novice teacher I would definitely split all my ELs into heterogeneous groups, so that students who are more proficient in English can assist those who aren’t so fluent. I will also take into account the struggles these students face on a daily basis not only in school, but understand they have lives outside of school that can be just as challenging. I feel like all three books that were assigned for this class are absolutely packed with different strategies that will be beyond helpful. For example, sheltered instruction, using guarded language, homogeneous grouping and cooperative learning, tapping into students’ funds of knowledge by getting to know their culture (Rowsell, 2004), using shared writing and reading, using reading and writing workshops, and mostly creating thematic instruction, so the students can apply knowledge and vocabulary across the range of subjects and not just splitting everything up. I would also take into account Celic’s advice when setting up my classroom. I would label most everything in both English and Spanish and any other languages my students speak. I really love the idea of a word wall that not only has words, but pictures as well to give students clues to help them understand the words they see.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is obvious that instruction of ELs in the United States need a lot of work, especially since the number of ELs is growing, not shrinking. Before things can change however, teacher’s need to change the way they perceive ELs. Instead of seeing ELs as a liability, teachers need to realize they are such an incredible asset (Herrera &Murry, 2010). ELs can teach not only other students, but teachers as well that other cultures and languages exist and they are beautiful; they are relevant. Professor Sloan once told me that equality does not mean everyone gets the same thing, equality is everyone getting what they need in order to succeed. I believe this statement whole-heartedly and will carry this with me for the rest of my life. If more people believed this, things would get better by leaps and bounds. Until then, it is my job to try to live out this statement to the best of my ability and see to it that my students get what they need in order to succeed. I understand this won’t always be possible, but if I do not try, then what am I even doing?