Standards and Objectives of
ELL Programs
M2U5A2
The
education of English language learners has evolved immensely over the last few
decades, and most of the changes have been positive. Many school districts
offer bot ESL and mainstream classroom settings for English Language Learners (ELLs),
others offer bilingual education, and still offers extra support outside the
regular classroom for ELLs. Among the programs apparently served English
Language Learners (ELLs), the two most interesting to me are the Two-Way
Bilingual (TWB) and Teaching English to Speakers of Other Language (TESOL).
TESOL,
established in 1966, was created out of professional concern over the lack of
single, all-inclusive professional organization that brought teachers and
administrators at all educational levels with an interest in teaching English
to speakers of other languages. It was a joint effort of five organizations,
the Center for Applied Linguistics, the Modern Language Association of America,
the National Association of Foreign Student Affairs, the National Council of
Teachers of English, and the Speech Association of America. Nowadays, TESOL
becomes a global education association with more than 13,000 members and 90
affiliates in over 120 countries. For teachers, TESOL is also a training
program, which emphasizes methodologies in teaching English to speakers of
other languages, including Grammar Translation method, direct method,
Audiolingualism, and Communicative Approach. Actually, those methodologies have
changed over years reflecting change in linguistic theories and the needs of
English Language learners. Therefore, the future of TESOL is likely to continue
to grow and develop as a profession.
In the
TESOL bookstore, the Pre-K-12 English Language Proficiency Standards has
continued to grow and impact educational systems throughout the United States
at all levels, the state, district, and classroom. Addressing concerns by the
No Child Left Behind legislation, these five standards presents five language
proficiency in both social and academic uses of language students must acquire
for success in and beyond the classroom. Orderly from the 1st to 5th
standards, ELLs communicate for social, intercultural, and instructional purposes
within the school setting, then they communicate information, ideas, and
concepts necessary for academic success in the four core subjects like
languages arts, mathematics, science, and social studies.
TESOL
identifies learners as five specific grade-level clusters, PreK-KG, 1-3, 4-5,
6-8, and 9-12. In order to track student progress, it also defines five levels
of language proficiency, orderly from 1 to 5, Starting, Emerging, Developing,
Expanding, and Bridging. The curriculum, instruction, and assessment of TESOL
focus on the usage of four language domains like listening, speaking, reading,
and writing.
Two-Way
Bilingual (TWB) or Dual Immersion appeared in 1963 at Coral Way Elementary in
Florida. In 1968, the passing of the Bilingual Education Act served to address
the reality that limited English proficient students were in need of proper
instructional support to achieve academic gains. In 2002, the No Child Left
Behind Act emphasized the implementation of the English Language Acquisition,
Language Enhancement, and Academic Achievement Act. In the last decade, the
quantity of programs has significantly increased. One of the most changes that
TWB made is to transform a program centered on aiding ELLs to develop fluency
in English to an enrichment program striving for biliteracy, bilingualism and
biculturalism for all students participating. Although TWB was initially
focused on supporting ELLs in their development and acquisition of English
literacy skills, the need to develop bilingualism in an increasingly globalized
society has made the program appealing for many parents of children who are
native speakers. Like it is said, one stone two birds or win-win situation. Both
Native English Speakers (NES) and ELLs are beneficiaries of the gains made through
TWB. TWB education places two language groups together and promotes the
learning of a second language while maintaining the home language. Proficiency
in two or more languages should be promoted for all American students.
Bilingualism enhances cognitive and social growth, competitiveness in a global
marketplace, national security, and understanding of diverse peoples and
cultures.
Transitional
TWB aims to prepare students to enter the mainstream classroom by using the
home language to ‘transition’ into English instruction. Developmental TWB aims
to maintain and develop the home language as students acquire English.
The
three main goals of TWB are students will develop high levels of proficiency in
their first language and in a second language, they will perform at or above
grade level in academic areas in both languages, and they will demonstrate
positive cross- cultural attitudes and behaviors and high levels of
self-esteem. In order to do so, the subject-matter instruction must be adjusted
to students’ levels for both challenging and relevant in both languages. The
Additive bilingual environment stresses the development of two languages, not
using one just to learn the other.
However,
the condition of TWB is only two groups of languages in one class, such as
English and Spanish, English and Chinese, or English and Korean. It is ideal with
the balanced mix of 50/50 to ensure the maximum interaction in the classroom.
The challenges in establishing TWB are to find qualified teachers and the added
costs of teacher recruitment and two sets of content materials.
Indicated
clearly in its standards, TWB requires teachers to have knowledge of the foundations
of bilingual education and the concepts of bilingualism and biculturalism, to
know the process of first- and second-language acquisition and development, to
have a comprehensive knowledge of the development and assessment of literacy in
the primary language, to have a comprehensive knowledge of the development and
assessment of biliteracy, and to have a comprehensive knowledge of content-area
instruction in L1 and L2.
TWB has
been referred to as the most effective bilingual program contributing to
long-term academic success. Thorough planning and effective implementation are
crucial to the success of TWI programs, in addition to ample support from
administrators and access to quality resources. In well-implemented programs,
ELLs have achieved higher academic success than their peers in other bilingual
programs.
In the
point of view of a parent of a minority group, I would love to have my child in
TWB. Through the lens of a teacher, I will feel pressured if I am not a
bilingual. And given the two-mentioned programs to an ELL, I believe, the answer
will fall to the second.
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