Mobile ESL the ESL Program

Mobile ESL

The ESL Program Mobile County, Alabama

The English as a Second Language (ESL) educational program that is a part of the public school system in Mobile County, Alabama has been in place and serving students for many years, largely under the direction of the current ESL Coordinator Jan Rivers. According to Ms. Rivers, the program now serves students from more than fifty different native-language groups, and addresses the needs of English language learners through a variety of means and methods (MPCSS 2010). The precise teaching methods used in the ESL program available throughout the Mobile County school systems are not described or otherwise made available to the general public via the school department's rather extensive website, but certain details of the basic thrust of the county's ESL program can still be gleaned from what information is included in the description of the ESL program on the website.

Mainstreaming is the ultimate goal and one of the primary practical aspects of the ESL program in Mobile County schools, with the first principle of the program stated as, "English language learners are held to the same high expectations for learning established for all students" (MCPSS 2010). In addition, only students whose scores on English proficiency and general academic achievement are seen to warrant inclusion in supplemental English education classes receive this instruction, with other students believed to improve their English proficiency as well as their overall academic achievement through exposure in mainstream classrooms (MCPSS 2010). The ability for students to achieve overall academic success is the primary goal of Mobile County's ESL program.

This program, insofar as it is described on the Mobile County Public School's website, and its guiding principles are in keeping with guidelines published by the Institute of Educational Sciences and its National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance. Developing "academic English" is one of the primary recommendations of this body, and the other more specific recommendations of improving reading literacy and expanding vocabulary are also geared towards achieving this objective (IES 2007). Still, the Institute of Education Sciences recommends more direct and pervasive interventions with students struggling to learn English as a foreign language, especially in terms of additional reading activities taking place in smaller groups, allowing greater instructor guidance and peer-assistance, as well (IES 2007). The peer programs especially could be useful for Mobile County schools, even in achieving the goal of overall academic achievement in ESL students.

Reform efforts and research in San Diego schools regarding their ESL program, however, found first and foremost that adjusting teaching practices and instruction methods based on student needs was most effective in developing English skills among non-native speakers (O'Day 2009). Though there is still evidence that traditional instruction can be highly beneficial to ESL learners, differentiating instruction can be far more so, and evidence for this is mounting despite a resistance posed by conventional wisdom that teaching the same way leads to the same abilities (O'Day 2009). This misperception, if indeed it is such, is definitely present in the schools of Mobile County, Alabama.

The rise in popularity and proven efficacy of content-based ESL instruction may prove something of a middle ground between the perspectives displayed by the Mobil County Public Schools department and the findings of the San Diego school department following its ESL reform efforts. In a study involving college students, it was found that content-based ESL instruction -- essentially learning "mainstream" topics in an environment and context of developing necessary language skills at the same time -- led to greater and faster improvements in English skills as well as in other academic areas (Song 2006). Though extrapolating these results to public K-12 programs is somewhat premature, especially given the difference in resources between the average university and the schools that comprise the Mobile County school system, it seems reasonable that developing techniques of ESL instruction within mainstream classes could be beneficial to all.

Indeed, the standardization of expectations and benchmarks for academic success have proven an effective means of designing and implementing programs, as well. Both ESL standards developed by various educational organizations and agencies as well as overall academic standards for performance and achievement have, when applied to ESL students in proper settings, led to greater student improvements and teacher performance (Nunan 2007). The overriding principle of the Mobile County ESL program is to develop the same level of achievement for ESL students as exists for all students in the system, meaning that some sort of standards-based instruction is already present in this program, at least ideally.