There has been great debate over which is the best way for second language students to learn English. English-only advocates feel that all learning materials should be taught in English, while bilingual advocates feel there should be a mixture of using the student’s native language along with English. The pragmatic approach has a viewpoint that explains it is not the language that should be the primary focus, but how the instructions and materials are delivered to ensure every student is learning. Commins and Miramontes (2005) explains, “Students’ success or failure has everything to do with the nature and quality of the instruction receive throughout their school day, no matter what language it is in” (p. 124). This quote confirms that we should be educating students to the best of our abilities; therefore it captures my understanding of the debate of how best to address linguistic diversity in the schools. The pragmatic approach presented a bevy of reasons why it is the best approach in teaching second language learners, and there were numerous items that I agreed with. I agreed with the following aspect from the argument according to Commins and Miramontes (2005), “Educators need to organize themselves so that throughout the entire day every teacher’s instruction provides students the time, experiences and opportunities they need to fully develop academic proficiency” (p. 123). It is very important that educators prepare and plan effectively on a daily basis. In addition, educators need to make sure students are given the opportunity to be active participants within the lesson. I also agreed with the fact that each school needs to look at what best practices work for them according to the individuals they serve. After reading ...
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... they manage and utilize the complex interactions of language, culture, and context that surround linguistic diversity to help students succeed? (p. 126).
The answer to these questions is summed up with one answer. That answer is preparedness and effective planning. Teacher should follow the five p’s of the Gangster Disciples. The five p’s are as follows: “proper preparation prevents poor performance” (BlackGanGsta, 2014). Therefore to prevent poor performance among ESL students schools need to evaluate their neighborhood, interact with parents and community members, and change the delivery of instruction to ensure every student is learning.
Works Cited
BlackGanGsta. (2014, March 1). Better-Growth- Development. Retrieved from http://www.blackgangsta.blogspot.com/
Commins, N. L., & Miramontes, O. B. (2009). Linguistic Diversity and Teaching. New York: Routledge.
2. Cummins, J. and Schecter, S. (2003). Multilingual Education in Practice: Using diversity as a resource, Ch.3: Valuing Multilingual and multicultural approaches to learning, pp. 32-55.
The cultural and linguistic student is a resource of knowledge and information many educators do not utilize. Understanding the student’s culture, beliefs, and experiences is important when structuring lessons, which assist in the success of the language learner. The classroom teacher accomplishes this through reflective action as teaching methods and strategies are revisited and evaluated to match the ELL student’s capabilities. The ELL student is not only intelligent, but he or she has many interesting things to teach us explained Berg (2014). Dr. Strickland asserted a child’s diverse language does not relate to competence (Laureate Education, Inc. 2014s). As diversity is the new norm, the educational setting must be prepared to be as well.
Students’ background will determine as well the abilities of students, parents’ level of education and origin will enhance students’ language skills or will limit them; once the students arrive at school if the teacher promotes the interaction within children through lesson activities that target the competence of language, students learn from other students. If the cultural diversity is promoted in the classroom by the educator, all the students’ cultures will be linked to the curriculum, and the language development plus a cultural enrichment will diminish the opportunity for students to fall
Baker (2011) explains that this perception of lack of competence in the dominant language incites to the enrollment of ELLs in mainstream and transitional classrooms in order to ensure a fast conversion to the dominant language. However, this fast conversion could lead to more harm than good since it denies to the student his/her development of the home language, and frequently denies his/her identity and self-respect (Baker, 2011). Baker (2011) states that when bilingual education is well implemented it becomes the cure rather than the cause of
A smooth transition into society is a necessity that only a few institutions like bilingual education can offer. Every year, hundred thousands of students enter the United States from all over the globe: in the 2008/09 school year, over 672,000 international students came to this country. While many are here to pursue higher studies in college, a great number of international students enroll in primary education. It is during these elementary educational years that developing speaking and social skills are vital. Language barriers present a hindrance in doing this effectively. Hence, public schools have instituted bilingual programs like ESL...
Howard, Elizabeth R., and Kathryn J. Lindholm-Leary. Guiding Principles for Dual Language Education. Washington, D.C.: Center for Applied Linguistics, 2007. Print.
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.
Cushner, K., McClelland, A., & Safford, P. (2011). Florida edition, human diversity in education. (7th ed.). McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages.
Naturally, bilingualism needs to be taught from birth to be most effective, yet schools ignore this (Meisel).Moving right along, our current teaching methods take some amount of inspiration from ancient romans teaching greek in schools, ways that are extremely outdated (Porter). Much research is focused primarily on bilingual learners who have grown up bilingual, and exclude children who had only begun learning their second language in school (Meisel). Usually, the fears of the people directly involved in bilingual education are ignored by researchers of the subject (Meisel). In Byers-Heinlein’s article they state “A one-person-one-language approach is neither necessary nor sufficient for successful bilingual acquisition,” but later proclaims “In situations where each parent spends equal time with a child, one-parent-one-language can be a great way to ensure equal exposure” (Byers-Heinlein). Generally, the teachers who disagree with the current method of bilingual education are often afraid to speak out because they will be labeled racists, haters of foreign languages, and critics of immigrants (Porter). Moreover, despite the various differing opinions present in the communities of bilingual educators, debates on whether to keep it are not tolerated (Porter). Although, the difficulty with which current bilingual education would be changed would provide one of the few legitimate incentives for teachers to advocate their system; they don’t want to put in the effort to do so (Porter). As a matter of fact, ethnic education politics are one of the only reasons that the current methods are not already abandoned (Porter). Finally, “The case for the effectiveness of Transitional Bilingual Education is so weak that
Cummins (1994). Knowledge, power, and identity in teaching English as a second language: Educating second language children. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
The population of the United States increased with school age children speaking English as their second language. Strong community leaders and school districts are needed to ensure English language learners attend effective programs that teach them English and push them to graduate successfully (Buysse, Castro, and Peisner-Feinberg, 2010). School districts across America use their own approach to accommodate the learning of English language learners by having a single or combination of programs (Li and Edwards, 2010). Dual language programs allow children to collaborate in developmental levels such as cognitive with tasks in English and Spanish (Pascopella, 2011). English language learners and English proficient students learn from each other.
...thousands of years. Generally, bilingual education can mean any use of two languages in school, by teachers, students, or both – for a variety of social and pedagogical purposes. It also refers to the different approaches in the classroom that use the native languages of English language learners (ELLs) for instruction. These approaches include teaching English, fostering academic achievement, acculturating immigrants to a new society, and preserving a minority group’s linguistic and cultural heritage. Building on, rather than just discarding the students’ native-language skills, create a stronger foundation for success in English and academics. Also, if students learn languages at a younger age, it will be easier to remember and learn them, rather than if they were older. It helps to learn another language for students, and can later be useful in the future.
Teaching students a language that is foreign can really be challenging for students as well as for the teachers. The dynamic rule for implementing instructing in a diverse class to English-learners is to use resourceful life skills such as diligence, hard work and patience. There are also methods that are involved in teaching English as a second language that can be creative for the teacher, yet beneficial to the student. First building a strong foundation that is essential to English learners will promote the language acquisition process. To do this teacher’s should always start with preparation. Advance preparation is essential in order to provide necessary adaptations in content area instruction and to make content information accessible for second language lear...
In 2009, teachers of a New Jersey school banned foreign languages and stated, “any language other than English will not be tolerated" (Debaron 1). This situation was soon no longer allowed. While over ten percent of the total adolescent education systems contain emergent bilinguals, a whopping sixty percent of those students are educated in only English (Bale). Maria Estela Brisk, a Boston College Education professor, believes, “schools has wasted much energy in the search for a "perfect" model and the best way to learn English” when they could just focus on proving “quality education” to every student in the system (1). Teacher’s main priority should consist of effectively teaching their students to prepare them for the future, but currently there are a lack of certified bilingual education teachers. When students are taught more in different ways, they can educationally benefit their cognitive abilities, involving the brain with “mathematics, problem solving, logic and memory”, can be improved to create an overall better student. Even by learning another language at a earlier age can contribute to __________. Learning another language will be
In conducting her research, the author understood that she needed to describe key issues of culturally diverse students, recommend a curriculum approach to address the issues, and discuss the challenges and benefits expected. In reading Cultural and Linguistic Diversity: Issues in Education (2010), s...