Working with English Language Learners:

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Working with English Language Learners

• Working with communicative differences and
  disabilities

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Cultural Differences

• The rules of conversation are different among the
  worlds cultures
• There are many factors that influence how a
  person communicates with others
• Age
• Relationship
• Situation
• Expected Outcome
• Oral Tradition
• Previous Education
• Gender Specific Responses

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Cultural and Linguistic Differences

• Language System variables such as sound-symbol
  relationships and methods of communication are
  important factors
• Culture Shock of students must be taken into
  consideration when evaluating students
• Acculturation process must be reviewed and
  accepted

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Acculturation Process

• Euphoria
• Culture Shock
• Integration
• Acceptance

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Language Acquisition vs. Language Learning

• Language Acquisition is the process by which
  children acquire language (subconscious and
  natural) much like learning their first language
• Language Learning is not communicative. It is
  the result of direct instruction and is most
  likely not appropriate for very young learners

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Stages of Language Acquisition

• Silent Period/Pre-production Stage
• Early Production Stage
• Speech Emergence Stage
• Intermediate Language Fluency Stage

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Silent Period/Pre-production

• Duration is 10 hours up to six months
• Students often have about 500 receptive
• Students may not make any utterances, but can do
  some classroom activities through pointing,
  drawing and acting
• Students should not be forced to speak!

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Early Production

• Can last an additional six months after the
  Pre-production Stage (6612)
• Students have developed close to 1,000
  receptive/active words
• Students can usually speak in one or two word
  phrases
• Yes/no, either/or, who/what/where/when questions
  and answers

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Speech Emergence Stage

• Can last up to another year (661224)
• Students have developed about 3,000 words and can
  use short phrases and simple sentences to
  communicate
• Students begin to use simple dialogue
• Students may produce longer sentences, but
  frequently with numerous grammatical errors and
  pronunciation differences

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Intermediate Language Fluency

• May take up to another year after the Speech
  Emergence Stage (66121236)
• Students have typically developed about 6,000
  words and can make more complex sentences and
  questions as well as speak at greater length

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Advanced Language Proficiency

• Five to seven year process
• Accent often remains
• Students have learned how to communicate well in
  social situations and can usually handle
  themselves without help
• Students have learned many specialized vocabulary
  words

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BICS vs. CALP

• Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills or BICS
  are conversational language skills that usually
  develop within two to five years
• Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency or CALP
  is the ability to understand academic (education)
  language and can take from seven to ten years to
  completely develop

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SoHow Long Does It Take???

• Research has been done in a variety of settings
  and with different language groups. It looks
  something like this
• Students who were between 8-11 years old and had
  2-3 years of native language education took 5-7
  years to test at grade level
• Students with little or no formal schooling who
  arrived before the age of eight, took 7-10 years
  to reach grade level norms in English language
  literacy
• Students who were below grade level in native
  language literacy also took 7-10 years to reach
  the 50th percentile. Most never reached grade
  level norms

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Acquiring a Second LanguageWhats Normal,
Whats Not

• Interference
• ESL children may manifest interference or
  transfer from their first language to English.
  This means that a child may make an English error
  due to the direct influence of a native language
  structure. For example, in Spanish, esta casa
  es mas grande means this house is bigger.
  However, a literal translation would be this
  house is more bigger. A Spanish-speaking child
  who said, this house is mor ebigger would be
  manifesting transfer from Spanish to English.
  This is a normal phenomenon-a sign of a language
  difference, not a language disorder.

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Acquiring A Second Language

• Silent Period
• The younger the child, the longer the silent
  period tends to last. Older children may remain
  in the silent period for a few weeks or many
  months, whereas preschoolers may be relatively
  silent for a year or more

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Acquiring a Second Language

• Code switching
• This involves changing languages over phrases and
  sentences. For example, a Spanish speaker might
  say- Me gustaria manejar-Ill take the car!
  (Id like to drive-Ill take the car). Or, a
  Filipino student might say, With my teacher, I
  have utang ng loob (debt of gratitude) because
  she has been so good to me. Again, this is a
  normal phenomena engaged in by many fluent
  bilingual speakers worldwide.

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Acquiring a Second Language

• Language Loss
• Some children who are English language learners
  undergo the phenomenon of language loss. As they
  learn English, they lose skills and fluency in
  their native language if their native language is
  not reinforced and maintained.

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How Should Students Learn?

• The idea of the more English the better has
  proven to be fallacious and can actually slow
  down a students learning considerably
• Research shows that the average native speaker
  gains about 10 months of a academic growth in a
  school year. The ELL must outgain the native
  speaker by making 1.5 years progress in English
  for six successive school years. In order to
  have skills that are commensurate with those of
  native English speakers, ELLs must make nine
  years progress in six years.

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Socan somebody help me with this process of
getting the testing done?

• Please contact the ESL Department for assistance
  with questions 412.622.3736
• Translators can be made available as needed for
  evaluation and/or IEP meetings.
• Alwaysalwaysalwaysfind out how long the
  student has been here before you begin to test

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You can do it

• Remember that doing an evaluation on an ELL can
  be complicated, but can be done. If you have any
  questions whatsoever, please dont hesitate to
  call us!