ESL and EL Difficulties in Puerto Rico

¶ … ESL Teachers Lillian Mercado Hernandez Problem Statement Comment by Jose Otaola: Preliminary evidence that provides justification that this problem is meaningful to both the local setting as well as to the education profession and discipline. Provide three to five key citations that highlight the In Puerto Rico, teachers lack preparation to teach English. Teachers of Puerto Rico are not certified as English teachers. She or He is not able to teach English because they have not taken the required courses for teaching English.

In my opinion it is necessary to prove that ESL teachers cannot teach efficiently to their students because they do not have the needed preparation. In this research, I will explore the deficiencies in preparation teachers do have and I will explore at the same time ways to fix this problem. The most important reason for learning English is social, political and economic perspective and strong relations to the United States over 100 years (Celce-Murcia, 2001).

Even though people recognize that adequate English ability provides advantages for the citizens in Puerto Rico Spanish is the language and the medium through which most daily affairs are conducted out (Pousada, 2008) the individual that has the ability to communicate in two languages has the opportunity to develop in professional aspects. In Puerto Rico schools English is studied as the second language in Puerto Rico. Teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) refers to teach English to a person who's native or primary language is one other than English (Celce-Murcia, 2001).

The problem is that ESL teachers lack the preparation to teach English to students whose first language is Spanish Lopez, (2012). An example, school X in the district of Arecibo has 488 students in tenth and employs 34 licensed teachers three English for upper school The academic proficiency in English of students in tenth 2011 was 49% and in 2012 the proficiency rate was 44%. (Gobierno de Puerto Rico Departamento de Educacion, 2012 -2013 ).

In a study conducted by the Columbia University Teachers College (2000), it was discovered that in Puerto Rico Upper School student's complete high school lacking skills to be fluent in English. The Education System in Puerto Rico requires all students from grades K to 12 grade to take English. Students have exposure in English through television programs, Internet and still these experiences may not be enough for students to master English. Currently, only 10% of the population fluent in English (Brunymarie, 2013).

The problem is that ESL teachers lack the preparation to teach English to students whose first language is Spanish (Lopez, 2012). I want to show the relationship between Teacher's preparation and students' scores. Puerto Rico is a common wealth that experiences issues on a continual basis concerning ESL students and English language learning. ESL students while having access to English media, English entertainment, and English language learning programs, have failed to retain much of what they observe, are taught, and learn.

Only a small percentage of Puerto Rican ESL students learn English and speak and write it fluently. The problem then becomes what can be done to assist ESL and ELL students in learning English and what techniques have been utilized successfully in the past. Teacher preparation has long been touted as the most crucial element in preparing ESL students effectively for English language learning.

In an article by Mercado (2012), she argues that in order to improve ESL programs, schools must focus their attention on the recruitment and preparation of high quality teachers both in Puerto Rican communities outside the United States (Puerto Rico) and inside the United States. "Although teacher quality is the one factor that has consistently had the largest impact on student success, policies and practices that affect teacher recruitment and preparation are barriers to increasing teacher quality" (Mercado, 2012, p. 1).

These policies and practices are of main concern since recruitment of teachers can only be done effectively with changes in these areas. When policies and practices change to include demand for teachers with a college background in education and English, then it can prove to be effective in recruiting such teachers to employ their techniques to help ESL and ELL students learn effectively.

While Puerto Rico has not yet learned how to employ successful English language learning techniques within a broader context, there exists some successful approaches that can be used to help build an effective standard of teaching for ESL programs. In a 2015 article, a basic English course taken at the University of Puerto Rico established literature circles as a way to promote understanding of novels that deal with issues of privilege, class, and race.

Their implementation of literature circles not only increased student participation, which helps engage students and allows better retention of material, but also allowed for discussion of topics that students felt were relevant to them. Within increased participation both in the oral and written form within these literature circles, student initiative and self-choice increased allowing for English language retention to increase. This is because they analyzed the text in their first language (Spanish) so they can later on understand what the English meant.

"Findings suggest that students benefited from the use of their first language, since it served as a cognitive tool that allowed them to collaboratively scaffold while also enabling the instructor to gauge reading comprehension" (Sambolin & Carroll, 2015, p. 193). Furthermore, choosing a text whose content interested students as well as tapped into their funds of knowledge encouraged classroom participation concerning issues and topics students deemed pertinent both outside and inside the English classroom.

Reflection as a mediator within conceptual development offers a rationale for the utilization of metaphor as pedagogical intervention (Wan & Low, 2015, p. 93). By understanding and then applying approaches that contain within its framework, sociocultural theory, it will help create interest in ESL and ELL students in wanting to learn because it creates subject matter that applies to their belief systems and struggles. It is not easy learning a new language, especially when this language comes in a way that seems foreign and unfamiliar.

If there is a disconnect in the subject matter and the student, there will be a decrease in desire to learn further.

Significance Comment by Jose Otaola: Provide one to two paragraphs, informed by the topic in the problem statement, which describe(s): How will this study contribute to filling the gap in practice identified in the problem statement? What original contribution will this study make in the local setting? How will this research support professional education practice at the local site? Who benefits from your findings/project deliverable and how (positive social change)? Remember job market Although it is important to recruit ESL teachers that are well educated, it is also important to seek teachers that desire to engage with the students in a way that piques their interest when it comes to English language learning.

Teachers must come prepared to understand the needs of the students as well as way to cultivate interest by presenting them literature they can connect with, even movies and songs that will appeal to them. By dissecting English text of material that they are interested in, they will be more willing to take the extra steps and perform the necessary actions to learn the language versus simply writing down vocabulary and remembering phrases and grammar.

If teachers engage more with their students and a standard of learning includes techniques like literature circles, this may prove to finally help alleviate the problem of ESL students and English language learning. Many ESL and ELL students fail to learn English fluently. If such a problem can be avoided by hiring more educated teachers that can then be prepared for ESL instruction with techniques like literature circles, the whole process of teaching and learning can become not only effective, but efficient.

This is what needs to be done as it relates to ESL programs. The population of ESL has grown in recent years. While the population has grown, they have continually underperformed when it came to ESL classes and exams. ESL teachers must be better prepared and educated to deal with the hurdles ESL students experience as they learn English. They must also learn to adopt new strategies that provide a better learning outcome. Puerto Rico is a common wealth connected to the United States.

Many of its people experience poverty and have a separate culture than that of Americans. To help ESL learners connect with the learning material, these differences and circumstances must be identified. Background Literature Comment by Jose Otaola: Need to stablish the relation of this literature with the variables of the study.Use proper APA citations 1. Backgr Tran, 2015, informs teachers are the key to better learning. If teachers are not trained properly, students like ELLs will have a more difficult time adapting to and absorbing the curriculum. 2. Gagne & Parks, 2013.

Provide strategies associated with arbitration of gist in an interactionist viewpoint. This is an important thing to note because teacher preparation within an ESL classroom needs to include strategies that students can effectively utilize for grade improvement. 3. Junqueira & Payant, 2015. Given feedback needs to be contextualized, is time-consuming, is a process that requires practice, and can lead to better writing 4. Tran, 2015, informs teachers are the key to better learning. If teachers are not trained properly, students like ELLs will have a more difficult time adapting to and absorbing the curriculum. 5.

Thompson, Li, White, Loewen & Gass, 2012 mentioned a term called Action Research or AR. Essentially what this means is AR alters the context of learning, offering a way of organizing collective work to allow for extended. The literature review will focus on several things, in particular the need for policy reform in order to provide ESL and ELL students with higher quality teachers as well as what should be included in effective teacher preparation.

In a 2012 book, policies have been critiqued by several researchers in their failure to address the need to guarantee equitable educational opportunities for English learners. Legislative mandates or policy initiatives that constrain or forbid bilingual programs from garnering adequate resources are obstacles when it comes to teacher preparation in ESL programs (Wilson & Horsford, 2013, p. 75).

While there is a need to improve teacher quality and teacher preparedness in ESL programs, there is a lack of funding and resources as well as adequate policy and practice in order to realize solutions for such problems. While funding and policy may be an issue, there are some approaches at the pre-teacher level that can help future ESL teachers prepare for instruction in ESL classrooms.

Projects like the ESL tutoring project, not only help ESL teacher education prepare ESL teachers by immersing them in cultures that often require ESL programs, but also teaches them how to develop a more effective pedagogical belief system. "The findings of this study indicated that the ESL tutoring project enhanced teacher cultural awareness and their development of pedagogical beliefs. Implications for extending ESL teacher education to promote teacher learning in the community were also discussed" (He, 2015, p. 1).

This shows that while ESL programs may not have the means to implement major change, the schools teaching future ESL teachers can. Framework Comment by Jose Otaola: In one paragraph, describe the theoretical base or conceptual framework in the scholarly literature that will ground the study (providing citations). Base this description on the problem, purpose, and background of your study.

This theory or framework informs, and is informed by, the research question(s) and helps to identify research design decisions, such as the method of inquiry and data collection and analysis. The framework that ESL instruction should focus on is within the sociocultural theory. "Sociocultural theory (SCT) has become increasingly influential in the field of second language learning and research since its first appearance in the 1980's" (Yoon & Kim, 2012, p. VII).

This is because sociocultural theory uses the sociocultural viewpoint that various fields including psychology, feel necessary to understand those that have dissimilar circumstances to another population. Such a group is affected specifically by environment, cultural and social factors that without understanding, will lead to barriers in participation and learning if in the context of education. ESL students have a unique hurdle to overcome as it relates to English language learning.

While they are immersed in English media and music, they fail to connect to such things and end up feeling excluded or isolated from the English speaking world. When something feels foreign to them, they withdraw and shut down. Any interest they could have had in the English language dissipates. That is why ESL teachers must find ways to bring in the English language, but in a way that helps connect them with what they feel is relevant to them based on their culture, ideology, and so forth.

Aside from the basic determination of quality teachers through educational background and experience, preparation of ESL teachers should include approaches that consider things from a sociocultural perspective. If anything from the literature review reveals, is the need ESL students have for support as discussed in an article by Bunch (Bunch, 2013, p. 298). Because teachers may divert their attention away from one-on-one interactions with students by focusing on giving feedback instead of receiving feedback, they may miss out the most important aspect of the teacher-student relationship, support.

ESL students have to learn a new language as well as exist in an environment that is different from what they are used to. It is up to the ESL teacher to help forge that connection from old to new. Teacher preparation is also another key important aspect of helping ESL students. Earlier the articles focused on a lack of preparation that not only altered the perceptions of teachers when it came to their ESL students, but also on teaching strategies.

Teachers must be equipped with information regarding ESL instruction strategies as well as begin engaging in social practices that involve ELLs so they can make a connection to the curriculum they are learning (He, 2015, p. 1). Teacher cultural awareness may enable further development of pedagogical beliefs and allow ESL teachers to make that all-important connection to instruct ESL students effectively. Teacher learning in this instance, is just as important as student learning.

ESL students have become priority when it comes to forging a good teacher-student connection because they underperform and keep increasing in number every year. "English language learners, or ELLs, are one subgroup of students that require special attention, particularly because of their growing numbers and low-performance relative to their non-ELL peers" (Samson & Collins, 2012, p. 1). Of the things mentioned in the Samson & Collins article, they explain that cultural sensitivity could help foster connections between ESL teachers and students.

The main difference between ESL students and non-ESL students is the difference in cultures the students have. ESL students are typically from families that are recent immigrants and so must get accustomed to not only the new language, but the new culture.

Research Questions Comment by Jose Otaola: Connected with the study's purpose RQ 1: What role does teacher preparation play in the final grade of student's ESL grade? RQ 2: What instructional strategies do teachers perceive as being effective in teaching English as a second language? Research Method and Design Comment by Jose Otaola: Provide a concise paragraph that discusses the approach that will be used to address the research question(s) and how this approach aligns with the problem statement and potential project genre.

The subheadings and examples of study designs are: In a 2015 case study, researchers examined teacher feedback practices and beliefs they observed from a pre-service L2 writing teacher throughout one academic semester. The name of the teacher is Kim and they gave a brief background including Kim being a 2nd year MA TESOL student as well as teaching a university level ESL course to students involving English composition. This is a quantitative study where they coded students' essays in order to distinguish four kinds of WCF or written corrective feedback.

These were indirect, direct, indirect with explanation, and direct with explanation. Comment by Jose Otaola: Citation needed Comment by Jose Otaola: This paragraphs needs clarity and order. Comment by Jose Otaola: If it is a case study this is not quantitative. The researchers also assessed Kim's journals and her interviews. The results gave an indication that Kim gave feedback based on universal concerns. On a lesser degree, she also gave feedback on local problems, offering explanations to instances labeled WCF. Her beliefs however, and her implementation, revealed mismatches.

Although her beliefs were one way, her implementation was the opposite with local WCF far outnumbering global WCF. " .. local WCF (83.9%) significantly outnumbered global WCF (16.1%). Other beliefs included the following themes: Feedback needs to be contextualized, is time-consuming, is a process that requires practice, and can lead to better writing" (Junqueira & Payant, 2015, p. 19). WCF is important, but also time consuming, especially when done in terms of local WCF.

If a classroom such as an ESL classroom is to do well as a whole, things must be done with the class in mind. As earlier shown, students do support each other in the classroom. If the curriculum is explained for the majority of students to understand more easily, then what the students learn will be carried out better than assessing individuals. There is a growing number of ELLs or of English Language Learners in recent years in the United States citation.

Quality teacher education programs have been at the top of a priority list set by American schools in order to offer teachers all the necessary tools to effectively support their students. Local, state, including national mandates have also passed certain requirements in order to better guarantee that English Language Learners receive quality instruction with new content standards and language proficiency.

Because of this, added pressure has been felt by those a part of teacher education programs attempting to engross teacher candidates with sound pedagogical strategies and practices so they can do their best with ELLs. A 2015 mixed method study that examined 144 PK-12 less experienced teachers with five or less years of experience emphasized the significance of teachers' discernments and ability beliefs in teaching ELLs. "Findings revealed a statistical significance in efficacy beliefs for teachers with an ESL certification as opposed to teachers without the credentials.

Five in-depth cases augmented the finding to support how individual classroom practices exemplified specific ESL pedagogy learned from pre-service contexts" Tran, 2015, Teachers are the key to better learning. If teachers are not trained properly, students like ELLs will have a more difficult time adapting to and absorbing the curriculum. Along with development of strategies should be the development of teacher education programs as teacher preparation requires a more educated and insightful perspective.

In a 2013 article, the authors set to examine major patterns underlying CBI or content-based instruction as it applies to end stage of an MA TESOL program. It is a quantitative study within lessons plans receiving codes for analysis. "One hundred and seven lesson plans were coded according to a typology developed to evaluate clarity and identify areas of potential difficulty in the design of content and language objectives by TESOL teacher candidates for use in PreK -- 12 ESL classrooms" (Baecher, Farnsworth & Ediger, 2013, p. 118).

Those that participated in the study demonstrated difficulty when it came to designing language objectives and had an easier time within content objectives. Furthermore, they discovered a tendency in the participants to write language objectives with vocabulary in mind notably more so than adapting a focus on grammatical functions, structures, or language learning strategies. This study showed that even in the program stage, teachers adopt ineffective teaching strategies. Focusing on vocabulary does not help nor is proven as effective as learning about grammar.

Grammar is what adds the "why" to language and will help an ESL student excel more often. In a 2012 article, the authors noted how improving teacher education programs provided better results when it came to teachers instructing their students and preparing them for the curriculum. Other things like collaboration within administrators and teachers also resulted in improved teacher performance.

"Through her AR project and collaboration with teachers and administrators in the district, Calkins found that AR helped transform a working group of teachers and administrators into a professional learning community." (Thompson, Li, White, Loewen & Gass, 2012). They mentioned a term called Action Research or AR. Essentially what this means is AR alters the context of learning, offering a way of organizing collective work to allow for extended professional expertise. This in turn builds a strong professional learning community.

It is important to cultivate a strong professional learning community because they are the most important aspect to learning for students. If teachers lack resources and strategies to effectively teach their students, their students will underperform. Teacher preparedness begins with the level of resources available to them. A collaborative model of AR could prove beneficial in enhancing teacher preparedness. In 2014, researchers.