Reflection on ESL Students´ Second Language Learning Process

987 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Addressing Cultural Diversity in the Classroom.

In this paper I choose to focus on a grade 12 Business Leadership classroom to discuss my observations and reflections on ESL students’ second language learning process. The reason for choosing this specific classroom is that in my first practicum I spent all the time in the Grade 12 Business classrooms and did not have the chance to observe an ESL language classroom. However, I think this practicum provided me with valuable experience of understanding some of the ways that ESL students interacted with the teacher and their peers and how these interactions would affect their learning process.
This Business Leadership course is an elective opened to all Grade 12 students who are interested in learning about this business topic. The teacher uses a combination of lecture and group work in the delivery of course materials.
There are 29 students in the classroom and 2 of them are ESL students who are attending ESL courses at the school and use a language other than English at home. In order to know more about these two students’ background, I had a small activity at the beginning of my practicum to have students write down the languages they speak and some other interesting things that they would like to share with the class. Considering that these ESL students might feel uncomfortable talking about their English learning experiences in front of all the other students, I had some small conversations with them in between the lessons.
In this way, I got to know that one ESL student speaks Chinese and came to Canada with his family only one year ago, while the other student speaks Korean and has been living in Toronto for more than three years. Before coming to study in a Canadian high school, the Korean student attended an elementary ...

... middle of paper ...

...ions and negotiation for meaning.
In conclusion, in the classroom that I observed during my practicum, there was little amount of teacher-student interaction happening, which was partly due to the large size of classroom and the lecture style that the teacher adopted in his teaching practice, and partly due to the anxiety that ESL students felt when talking aloud in the classroom. However, the group work project created some space for student-student interaction which facilitated the communication and collaborative learning between two ESL students and their classmates. Although there was no correction of errors provided to ESL students, the meaningful interaction led to their better comprehension of the topic and greater exposure and use of English. I believe that these two ESL students would benefit from more frequent interaction with the teacher and their peers.

Show More
Related

  • Let Them Talk By Wayne E. Wright

    729 Words  | 2 Pages

    These discussions need to be meaningful and have purpose to create a higher chance of student engagement and participation. The article states, “cooperative learning is a natural way to provide opportunities across the curriculum” (Wright, 2016, p. 28-29). The smaller the group, the more likely the ELL student is to add to the conversation, as native English speakers typically dominant whole group discussions. It is important that every student in the small group contributes so the ELL student can hear and practice their own oral language. There are many activities that could be used to ensure this engagement, such as think-pair-share, that requires students to work together and actually get information from each other. Activities that cannot be completed alone and require the thinking of another student would be best for this

    Read More

  • Diversity in Elementary Schools: What I Learned from ESL Academy

    574 Words  | 2 Pages

    During the first day of ESL academy, I realized the inadequacy of my knowledge concerning the needs of ELL students and how woefully lacking my instruction had been for former students whose first language was not English. Partici...

    Read More

  • Examples Of Bilingual Classroom Observation

    705 Words  | 2 Pages

    Walking around I can observe that student’s population is Hispanic who are ESL. This student’s first language is Spanish and has little bit knowledge of English. They are able to take conversation with their peer with the Basic English they know, but struggle to talk in complete sentences. For example the

    Read More

  • Early Literacy in ESL Students

    921 Words  | 2 Pages

    Metalinguistic awareness increased within the ESL students, therefore their phonics increased as well and they scored higher than some L1 students. Students who know multiple languages at an early age are proven to do better in both languages than students who only know one language.

    Read More

  • Reducing the Achievement Gap Affecting English Language Learners

    1248 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...gies that can be implemented to diminish the achievement gap. Some strategies include pairing up the ELL student with a buddy in the class and incorporating the use of group work to help the student feel more comfortable asking questions and for help; also allowing the ELL student to practice their English with their peers.

    Read More

  • Public Schools Need Successful ESL Programs

    1224 Words  | 3 Pages

    Every year, the number of immigrants in the U.S. has grown “significantly.” Chen predicts that by the year of 2020, public schools will have at least 50 percent of students that are non-English speakers (¶5). This shows that it is important that public schools have a successful ESL program. The purpose of ESL programs is “to enhance” ESL students learning, to help students’ “emotional well-being”, and to accelerate students’ ability to learn the new language. According to Chen, some district schools have failed to support ESL students’ learning. For example, Chen stated that “...[some] school districts [have been] accused of not meeting t...

    Read More

  • English Language Learners Essay

    1161 Words  | 3 Pages

    English Language Learners range from Newcomers learning survival English and developing foundational literacy skills to Long-Term English Learners who have had 6 years or more of their education in English yet continue have significant language gaps. These students may speak English with little or no accent and still lack the vocabulary, grammar and grade level literacy to be successful in school. English language learners may remain silent in the classroom as they adjust to a new school, environment, and culture unless he is a native language comrade to interact with. The English language learners are concerned about decoding verbal and non- verbal communication as well as understanding the social culture framework of the school. Most of the time English language learners are observing during instruction, trying to repeat words used by others, memorizing simple phrases and sentences, tired by midday or be frustrated attending long lectures unaccompanied by visual and gestures, relying on first language translation used peer translation or bilingual dictionary, as the students begin to learner they become more involved in the classroom, they can respond non-verbally to commands, statements, and questions in simple form. As their oral comprehension increases, they begin to use simple word and phrases and may use English spontaneously. They can understand short conversation on a simple topic when reading students can understand a narrative text and authentic materials, although they will be below

    Read More

  • Language Acquisition Principles for ELL Students

    980 Words  | 2 Pages

    Within this paper we will take a brief look at the Language Acquisition Principles and how they work on the behalf of ELL students. We will see how these principles can be applied within our own learning environment. There is much information from Walqui article that gives a brief overview of ELL students and how things looked in the past for these students. Now that times has change we will see how educators can make the requirements for ELL students better and more effective for teacher and students. Hopefully, as we look at ways of changing learning for our ELL students we must remember that every student learns differently. Even if you follow the principles from 1-8 we must keep in mind that everyone is unique and process things within their own time table.

    Read More

  • Perspectives on Education: A Personal Insight

    710 Words  | 2 Pages

    Education, in my understanding, is when people learn about what others know or have discovered. The definition of education has been researched widely, as an example of such studies (Dewey 1938, Robinson 2010 and Delors 1996) have similar thoughts about the meaning of education encompasses ; enhancing growth and creativity, developing all talents and achieving various pedagogics aims. In addition, In this biography I’m discussing few qualities of my educational perspectives: my personal reflection, child autonomy of learning, teaching and the curriculum, and I will conclude with a practical reflection on the ESL pedagogy.

    Read More

  • Assess The Importance Of Feedback In Learning

    751 Words  | 2 Pages

    Observing students in a busy setting is something that a teacher should not do because ELL or ESL students may not understand what the teacher maybe asking them and the teacher may think that the student may not understand reading and writing but they really do. The teacher needs to ask the student questions that are observing in a quiet setting so that the student is able to understand and answer the

    Read More

  • risk taking

    748 Words  | 2 Pages

    Research findings have shown that classroom interaction is so important and hels learners to develop necessary skills like exploring knowledge and developing critical thinking skills. Complicated nature of classroom interaction can have different forms, such as teacher-student, student- student and in every classroom setting, different kinds of interactional behavior can be observed. Learners may participate eagerly or stay silent most of the time. Most teachers may encourage students to speak up in class some other may consider oral participation not to be so important for students academic achievement and do not attempt to get their students participate in class.

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Teacher Talk In Language Classroom

    1782 Words  | 4 Pages

    A major proportion of class time is taken up by teachers talking in front of the classroom(Nunan & Bailey, 2009). No matter what teaching strategies or methods a teacher uses, it is necessary to give directions, explain activities and check students’ understanding (Richards & Schimdt, 1985). This clearly emphasizes the importance of teacher talk in language classrooms. Walsh (2011) claimed that teacher talk is more important in language classroom than any other classroom since in this context the language being used by teacher is not only the means of acquiring new knowledge; it is also the goal of the study.

    Read More

  • Reflection On Leadership And Followership

    1268 Words  | 3 Pages

    This report provides an analysis of how the content and assignments in this course helped me understand the roles of leadership and followership within business organization. The pass several weeks have been very valuable to me. I have learned many different leadership styles and how to handle real life situation such as crisis in the workplace. I was able to increase my knowledge on the different leadership styles the roles of leadership and followership within an organization. Through reading, discussion, and my professor’s and fellow student’s feedback; this course has helped me to understand the role of effective leadership. It gave examples, such as how Leaders must be knowledgeable, and they should have the ability to communicate effectively,

    Read More

  • Diversity and Multicultural Education in the Classroom

    1574 Words  | 4 Pages

    Curtin, E. M. (2006). Lessons on effective teaching from middle school ESL students. Middle School Journal, 37(3), 38–45.

    Read More

  • Second Language Learning: Factors Affecting Success in Learning a Second Language

    1740 Words  | 4 Pages

    Second language learning is the process of learning a different language other than one’s mother tongue resulting in the ability of an individual to use one or more languages different from his first language. It can take place in a natural setting or through classroom instructions; however, the degree of proficiency differs (Gomleksiz, 2001).

    Read More

More about Reflection on ESL Students´ Second Language Learning Process

Open Document