What Makes Them Tick?

Understanding English Language Learners’ Second Language

Development

Elizabeth GilTeachers Network Leadership Institute

June 2006

RATIONALE• More and more, English language learners (ELLs) are

being expected to meet the same English language arts standards as native English-speaking students.

• The second language development of English language learners is a complex one.

• If we are to help our ELLs meet the expected academic standards we must teach in ways that recognizing the unique needs that come with encountering a new language and culture.

THE QUESTIONS

• Under what circumstances can English language learners best develop their English language abilities?

• How does working with a small group of English language learners impact their English language development?

THE CONTEXT• Bilingual school in the Bronx with about a third of students

being ELLs in bilingual or monolingual classes

• In the school’s effort to offer additional assistance to our English language learners in the school’s bilingual fourth grade class, I worked with a small group of four students during the literacy block, three periods per week.

• I used English as a Second Language (ESL) strategies in order to teach English content while also developing English language.

Data Collection Tools

• Personal Logs/Journals

• Language Assessment Battery-Revised (LAB-R) Data

• New York State English as a Second Language (NYSESLAT) Data

• Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA) Data

• Fry Oral Reading Test Data

• Student Work Samples

SUMMARY OF DATA/IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACHING

1. Students responded favorably to working in a small group setting where their learning is supported.

2. Peer and cross-aged tutoring are vehicles that can extend learning for both the helper and the student being helped.

3. Sustained professional development has an impact on the teaching and learning within the classroom.

POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS

Assignment of teachers who have the skills to work in a targeted way with small groups of students, especially those who are at-risk or in special populations, including English language learners, should be carefully planned. Funding to ensure reduced teacher-to-student ratios in our schools is needed. A portion of Campaign for Fiscal Equity (CFE) monies should be carefully targeted, not just spent in order to meet students’ specific needs.

POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS

Schools must develop a place, both figuratively and physically, for organized system of peer and cross-aged tutoring programs. Peer and cross-age tutoring programs, where students receive at least a basic level of training, should be developed in order to help all students, both the helpers and those being helped, raise their levels of achievement. These tutoring programs also help to nurture ownership of learning amongst our students.

POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS

Ongoing professional development (such as courses or study groups) where teachers learn about, plan, implement and revisit strategies is crucial. Without this kind of professional development, the strategies that most serve students, especially those in special populations, will not reach them. Professional development should be available to all teachers in order to make them aware of special needs. General education and monolingual classrooms, for example, may contain English language learners and special education students.