Rosendo eagerly began kindergarten but since he spoke little English, it was difficult to understand his teacher most of the time. He liked ESL time because the teacher showed visuals with written words and gave his small group lots of opportunities to practice using the words. In class he tried hard to complete his work, but he wasn’t able to make the same academic progress that most of his classmates did by the end of the year, especially in reading since the sounds were new to him and the words didn’t make sense. Rosendo’s struggle continued for the next few years. He wanted to do well and please his teachers but had difficulty making meaning of printed words, and the explanations the teacher gave to the class were unclear. Although his teachers were nice, he often felt invisible. By fourth grade he could converse well in English with his teacher and peers but understanding and completing academic work remained a challenge.
It has been estimated that between one-quarter and one-half of all students who enter elementary school as English learners like Rosendo become long-term English learners, or LTELs. LTELS are considered those who after five years haven’t yet been able to demonstrate adequate proficiency in English to meet established English language proficiency criteria and to be considered fluent English proficient.
As more schools return to face-to-face instruction, it seems like an opportune time to re-focus on supporting EL students in gaining proficiency in English, especially those students who are LTELs.
A common perception is that children who fall behind simply “need more time” to learn English, but what they actually need is daily engagement in meaningful listening and speaking activities along with scaffolded reading and writing experiences, those that allow EL students to successfully learn literacy skills and build and expand those skills over time. Multiple daily opportunities to develop both social and academic language and use it to express themselves orally and in writing are essential.
So, the bedrock of advocating for LTELs is to provide them with consistent, high-quality instruction, teaching that is meaningful and relevant and that capitalizes on the assets English learners bring to the classroom.
High-quality instruction for LTELs (and other English learners) begins with using research-validated instruction such as the SIOP Model, an approach for making instruction comprehensible while at the same time advancing students’ English language proficiency. SIOP classes are student-centered and welcoming where English learners have opportunities to use language in authentic ways, collaborating with peers around concepts and information, practicing and applying the material to meet the lesson’s objectives. SIOP provides teachers with a coherent approach for planning and delivering relevant, meaningful lessons that provide ample opportunities for students to interact with one around content concepts aligned to state and national standards. While doing so, students’ develop academic English skills across the four domains–reading, writing, listening, and speaking.
SIOP ensures that grade-level content is accessible and provides opportunities for students to use language in authentic ways. High quality content instruction coupled with a specific time of daily, focused English language development (ELD) is a combination that is sure to offer ELs the best support for gaining proficiency in English.
The proportion of English learners who become LTEL students is concerning. It is a complex issue with any number of contributing factors such as absenteeism and transiency. However, schools can do a lot to reduce the numbers of LTELs.
When discussing EL services, it’s important to keep in mind that English learners are entitled to language support services until they are sufficiently proficient in English to be successful in general education without such supports. These necessary – and legally required – services provide equity of access to schooling for those students who are still in the process of learning English.
Unfortunately, many LTEL students languish for years in EL programs without making sufficient progress towards English proficiency. The solution is not lowering the bar for exiting programs but improving the quality of instruction these students receive and focusing on the areas where growth is needed. After all, EL services are a scaffold, or support, that is in place until students have acquired the language and literacy skills to be successful academically after exiting the program. The goal is acquisition of language and literacy skills, not simply exiting the program.
In some cases, English learners are isolated from English-speaking students in separate classes and don’t receive sufficient exposure to grade-level, rigorous instruction that is scaffolded for them. This linguistic isolation also deprives English learners of opportunities to learn and use higher levels of English.
Even with appropriate classes, SIOP teaching, and ELD, there may be issues that hold students back from reaching proficiency and exiting EL programs. The following suggestions assume English learners already have been provided high-quality instruction.
- Implement a school-wide approach. Everyone benefits when students make academic progress. However, too often school personnel view English learners as the responsibility of an EL coordinator or similar staff person. Especially in schools with large numbers of ELs, a team effort will more likely increase the number of ELs who reach proficiency and are ready to exit EL programs. School staff should:
- Meet with each English learner from 4thgrade on to discuss the areas they need to improve, i.e., speaking, listening, reading and/or writing. Be transparent about assessment results and set goals for improvement in the area(s) of need. These meetings should probably take place more than once a year to keep students and school personnel focused on their set goals.
- Design an efficient system for data collection and reporting. Ask a group of principals how many students exited their school’s EL program the previous year and likely few could answer accurately, probably because they depend on their EL coordinators to check on English learners’ progress. Every district has established criteria for exiting EL programs such as cut scores to define proficiency on state language proficiency assessments, demonstration of “basic skills,” teacher recommendation and so forth. School staff, led by the principal, should be proactive in analyzing each English learner’s progress toward meeting these criteria and a system should be in place for doing so: Who monitors progress toward exit criteria? What happens when some English learners are close to meeting exit criteria? (Hint: The students’ teachers are informed and instruction then is focused on targeted areas.) Who gathers the paperwork and submits it to the district? Lost paperwork or lax procedures are not valid excuses for keeping students in EL programs when they are ready to exit.
- Enlist teachers. Teachers need to be knowledgeable about their EL students’ levels of proficiency in each of the domains of reading, writing, speaking and listening. Assessment results are used to create an instructional profile for each student so teachers can more easily focus on areas targeted for growth for each student. For example, many LTELs like Rosendo have solid listening and speaking skills but fall short in reading and writing. Rather than spending lots of time on “turn and talk” type activities, teachers should focus on literacy skills by providing lots of opportunities for ELs to read (with scaffolds, independently, with a partner and with the teacher), talk about what they’ve read, write a response, reaction or summary, then share it with a peer. Interesting discussions around text coupled with writing activities will advance students’ proficiency in all domains. Conversely, some language assessment tests have a speaking component whose format makes it difficult for English learners to display their speaking abilities accurately. Many students become inhibited when asked to speak into a computer or microphone or to construct their oral response in a particular way. Provide practice in speaking in the ways required on the assessment, e.g., speaking clearly into a computer, projecting their voice, and using the response format required on the test.
- Involve students. LTEL students have taken a language proficiency assessment every year since they entered U.S. schools. Some students become weary of taking the same test with the same results. Most have no idea how they performed on the assessment, only that they remain an EL student. There is value in getting buy-in from students and a good motivator is choice: secondary students in EL programs have limited electives because they take ELD for one or two periods. Be explicit with students that if they will double down on their effort in the classroom and during ELD they will likely perform better on the next assessment. Further, encourage students to:
- Give their best effort on the test. Let them know that every answer counts.
- Come prepared by getting a good night’s sleep the night before test day and eating breakfast on the day of the test. Most students (English learner or not) aren’t aware of the impact of sleep and nutrition on performance.
- Enlist parents’ help. This valuable resource is often overlooked, and research shows that when EL parents are asked to assist with school work, they do. Ask parents to:
- Help with the student’s target areas by supervising their work. For example, if reading goals are set, ask parents to make sure their student reads at home each day. Teachers may design an accountability system for reporting work done at home.
- Make sure their student attends school on testing day, is on time, and well rested.
- Encourage the student to do their best on the test and take it seriously.
When English learners aren’t making adequate progress academically, the first step is to examine classroom instruction and determine if it offers the supports needed for attaining English proficiency.
- Is a research-validated approach for teaching English learners being used and used consistently?
- Are teachers capitalizing on students’ home language, knowledge and cultural assets?
- Do teachers have high expectations for their English learners?
Next, consider the four suggestions offered to improve English learners’ performance on exit criteria measures.
With growing numbers of LTELs nationwide, it’s important to advocate for our English learners with an “all hands on deck” approach, supporting each one in reaching English proficiency and overall academic success.
(A version of this post appeared on January 10, 2019)