English Language Learners
Essays

Mathematics is a powerful tool for interpreting the world. Research has shown that for children to learn how to use mathematics to organize, understand, compare, and interpret their experiences, mathematics must be…

This study examines whether auditory assistive learning software is effective in assisting ESL college students in their learning. Findings in this study include that auditory learning software has been found to be extremely effective in assisting the learning and academic achievement of ESL college students as well as furthering their independence in the college learning environment.

This paper provides two lesson plans for 5th grade instruction. The first is a general lesson plan to reinforce concepts of English grammar. The second is a differentiated lesson plan, which conveys the same information, but includes elements to improve retention for students with learning challenges, ESL students, and students with different intelligences, like visual learners.

Perhaps no other institution so clearly reflects the diversity of individuals in America as that of public school systems. After the Brown v. Board of Education (1954) case that ruled segregation a constitutionally…

Shirley Adams established in her research that "Along with vocabulary, a reader's background knowledge has been shown to be an important component of reading comprehension. The background experiences children bring to a…

Bilingual education is changing because of the practical and theoretical demands put upon teachers today. Bilingual education is being reevaluated, and there is a demand that teachers incorporate more academic concepts into the syllabus, to ensure that students are prepared for the technologically-focused modern workplace. ESL students are also being taught in a more holistic and experiential manner, even while teachers strive to prepare them for standardized tests.

A content-focused approach to reading and writing instruction with this student. The ationale for this choice was based predominantly on the student's continued frustration and embarrassment about his difficulties with making progress in fluency in English. The goal was to embed specific language development strategies into content that the student would find engaging and respectful (i.e., content that most 10th-grade boys would find of interest). Content-focused approach. Chose baseball as the content area and based the student's reading, writing, and math goals on that topic. Many highly successful baseball players speak English as a second language, which the student found intriguing and empowering. As a sport, baseball highlights the individual personalities, characteristics, career and game statistics, and history of the game. In other words, this is a content-rich area that lends itself well to reading about players and teams, and writing opinions about player's skills and attributes—basically those characteristics that make them valuable players—and why players get traded. In addition, the promise of interesting math problems about baseball players is very rich. Because the student already had an understanding of the sport of baseball, fundamental background knowledge was not a difficulty. Further, by using interesting and age appropriate content, I was able to avoid the pitfall of simplifying the content instead of the language.

Literacy-based curriculum for students who speak English as a first language is a proven method for developing high levels of linguistic fluency—children are seen to acquire language skills quite readily with these techniques. Moreover, as strong language skills develop, they transfer into writing and reading. For students who are native English language speakers, working on literacy skills and practicing English in verbal, auditory, and written modes helps them to become fluent speakers, readers, and writers of English. However, this same approach to teaching students has not been demonstrated to work well with all English Language Learners. In fact, some programs using this approach devolve into the strategy that teachers just need to continue instruction according to this format until the students who are English Language Learners reach their performance targets. Nevertheless, the research literature on literacy development indicates that this uniform approach to instruction does not achieve desired level of language acquisition and academic performance in diverse societies, such as that of the United States. What the research does indicate, however, is that the cultural background of students is relevant to their learning styles. The differences among children and families carry over into the classroom, creating a unique mosaic of learning styles and cultural experience. Approaches to academic learning environments that are invitational and inclusive provide a promising foundation for achieving high levels of success for all students. Educational programs that articulate meaningful ways to include parents and families in their children's schooling are also able to consider and address the diversity that is based on economic and, perhaps, even health-related issues. A number of ethnic-based educational programs have found that student performance is enhanced when the cultural considerations are integral to the curriculum and the instruction. Culturally sensitive curricula and instruction have been shown to improve student engagement—a condition that is robustly related to academic performance. While ethnic-based educational programs are increasingly recognized to have academic and social benefits. Policy makers are taking the position that inclusive educational programs that work deliberately to reduce marginalizing students of different racial and ethnic backgrounds also do a better job of engaging students in academic learning—and the students' levels of success in these programs indicates a strong positive relationship between academic performance and inclusive, culturally-sensitive educational system.

Hernando County and NCLB: Mandate for Drastic Change

Special Needs Assessment: A Review of Recent Literature on Testing Students with Special Needs