As globalization is on the rise, so is the diverse student population rising in schools all over the United States, including students who are learning English as a new language. These students are English Language Learners (ELLs); they are learning English for the first time in addition to their native language. They’ve either had little or no knowledge of English before entering the school environment. According to the National Center of Educational Statistics (2013), an estimated 4.7 million or ten percent of the public school population are ELL students (NCES 2013). When formally entering the classroom for the first time, and depending on their prior experience with English, there are many ELL students who have a difficult time fitting into the American context of their classroom due to cultural conflicts and language barriers (Hakuta, 1986). Due to the language barrier and cultural conflict, it makes the ELL’s process of learning English challenging therefore affecting their literacy learning. Moreover, it becomes difficult for the ELL to do academically well in school. A study done by National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in 2011 shows there is a significant achievement gap between the reading scores of ELLs and non-ELLs, with the non-ELL’s scores being much more higher than the ELLs( NAEP 2011). There have been many ways argued to help improve ELL’s literacy skills in order to raise their reading scores, one way being is using multicultural literature. Multicultural literature can be used to create a motivating environment for the ELL student to help them feel included in the classroom context therefore improving and increasing their literacy skills. Multicultural literature, as defined by Gopalakrishnan (201... ... middle of paper ... ...rch.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=ED438506&site=ehost-live>. Probst, R. (1987). Transactional Theory in the Teaching of Literature. ERIC Digest. Retrieved from http://www.ericdigests.org/pre-926/theory.htm Schmidt, Patricia R. "One Teacher's Reflections: Implementing Multicultural Literacy Learning." Equity & Excellence in Education 29.2 (1996): 20-29. ERIC. Web. 10 Apr. 2014. . Turner, Jennifer D., and Youb Kim. "Learning about Building Literacy Communities in Multicultural and Multilingual Classrooms from Effective Elementary Teachers." Literacy Teaching and Learning 10.1 (2005): 21-42. ERIC. Web. 10 Apr. 2014. .
Cowhey’s book is broken down by the major themes and concepts she teaches her first and second grade students. Each concept relates back to her personal pedagogy of implementing a Multicultural Education. These major themes include empathy, freedom, peace, activism, community, and social justice. Cowhey’s pedagogy uses “language and literacy to teach about the world with rigor, depth, and challenge in a way that engages and
Fegar, Mary-Virginia. “I Want to Read: How Culturally Relevant Texts Increase Student Engagement in Reading.” Multicultural Education, 13:3 (Spring 2006): 18-19. [E Journal]
The purpose of this study is to figure out which ways experienced teachers work best with culturally and linguistically diverse students. This study illustrates which strategies experienced teachers have found to work best. The diversity in school in the United States has increased each year. This means that there are an increasing amount of students who are learning English, English language learners (ELLs). This article comes from the perspective that each child should be taught to their specific needs. All students deserve a fair chance to learn. Fair means that every student is treated differently, not equally. Every student learns differently. In order to give every student a fair chance at learning, you must teach them according to their needs. An experienced teacher, Tiffany, describes her experiences working with culturally and linguistically diverse students. This study watches her methods and discusses what works based on data analysis of the success of her students.
Because America is such a diverse country, public schools are faced with the challenge of providing students from all over the world with a quality education. As Chen points out “public schools have embraced the linguistic challenge presented by immigrant students” (¶1). Then, No Child Left Behind law was approved, and it required every public school should have an English Secondary Language (ESL) program that will provide the “academic support” for English Language Learners (ELLs). ELL parents are happy that their children are getting education help from the school, but it has raised the question of how successful are the ESL programs? Do ESL programs provide enough “academic support” to all ELL students? Do ESL programs have enough tools to help students learn English? Some ELL parents complain that ESL programs do not help their child learn English. A successful ESL program is not based solely on the test scores, but also the ability to connect parents, teachers, and students together to strengthen tools that will help ELL students to learn a new language in reading, writing, and speaking.
Ugbu, J., U. (1992). Understanding cultural diversity and learning. EDUC 160 Urban Education (Spring 2014, pp. 213-228)
Diverse cultures within the United States are rapidly developing and growing and the educational sector is the number one target to ensure that English–learners are receiving adequate education. Within the educational sector, there are administrators and teachers who are involved in student lives on a daily basis to ensure that education is equal. In order to achieve the vital objective of equality, socio-cultural influences on ELL students, bilingualism and home language use, parental and community resources, and partnerships between families and schools all have to be considered to provide an opportunity for equal education. American society has a vast influence on students who are English learners. In this case, it is important for educators to provide the best knowledge, creative strategies for learning and classroom management skills that are reliable to give these students the best education.
The migration of people have caused challenges in the education system, therefore pubic school have made an effort to be multicultural to their students needs. In An Introduction to Multicultural Education: From Theory to Practice “Historical Foundations of Multicultural Education in the United States” by Chinaka Samuel Domnwachukwu defines multicultural education, “It is seen as an attempt to create awareness and tolerance between cultures and related world wide” (Domnwachukwu, 84). Multicultural education is an import component of learning, especially in a school with a large population of minorities. For instance, a large population of students attending a public school are not as advance in their English vocabulary in comparison to those whose only language, and form of communication in English. Public school have found form to do what they can with English Language Learners (ELL) students, because they are aware of the obstacle students face to master a second language. In the United States, English has been the dominant language that is taught inside of the classroom, and the challenge for ELL student is to make the effort to perform to the best of their abilities in spite of their English. For teachers to communicate with ELL student does poses a challenge when the student is not profession in academic language, and struggles with the daily task of being able to perform independently as their peers. The dramatic change for schools to be less focus on education has been portion to the new structure of standards and what they are implementing in student
Manning, L. & Baruth. L. (2009). Multicultural education of children and adolescents (5th Ed.). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon.
In the United States every student have access to education, no matter their language, race, ethnic, etc. Unfortunately not all the children can enjoy this opportunity because they do not speak the common language, in this case English. Many school offer bilingual education programs but there still school across the nation that have not offer bilingual education. The main goal of all this programs is the student became biliterate in their native language and the second language acquired. The most effective way to develop literacy is in child’s native language. Literacy Knowledge in the first language form a strong solid foundation will able to transfer many skills to the second language.
At a young age children believe almost everything that they hear. Parents and teachers need to be very careful and selective with what they talk about around children. One challenge that teachers and parents face is choosing the appropriate books to read for their young ones. One book genre that has caused a good amount of chaos and controversy are multicultural books. Adults are afraid of exposing their children to these kinds of books because they do not want them to be influenced by the negative stereotypes that many of these books contain. However multicultural books can help children to empathize with others and learn about different cultures, the right books just need to be selected. Parents and teachers need to find books that
2). She writes, “Educational inequality is repugnant in a society that has pledged to provide an equal education for all students regardless of rank or circumstance. Yet educational inequality is commonplace in schools all over our country” (p. xiv). She provides an excellent overview of how to construct effective multicultural educational programs. Her characteristics of multicultural education (p. 68) create the foundation upon which we build comprehensive understanding insuring a teacher does more than give cursory asides to diversity in the classroom but appreciates fully the different gifts the students bring to the educational experience.
Multicultural literature is a way of increasing cultural awareness. Through multicultural books many young readers are able to make a connection with their own culture
Shore, Marietta Saravia. (2011). “Diverse Teaching Strategies for Diverse Learners” Chapter 2. Educating Everybody's Children: Diverse Teaching Strategies for Diverse Learners. http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/107003/chapters/Diverse-Teaching-Strategies-for-Diverse-Learners.aspx
Multicultural literature should play a significant role in a classroom, because it allows for students to see ideas and thoughts from a different perspective other than their own. Students will hopefully have learned some key attributes when it comes to what they world is like, and what different cultures are, but they learn it from, their families, and however it is portrayed in the media. These perspectives however, can be skewed and biased based on what the family and the media believes. Using multicultural literature in the classroom will open up not only a look into the information and ideas of a culture, but also the ideas and practices they perform, and what they believe in.
Davidman, Leonard and Patricia T. Davidman. Teaching with a Multicultural Perspective. New York: Longman, 1997. Print.