1. An Overview of Who ELs Are
and How to Meet Their Needs
Bethy Butler, EAP Program
Lipscomb Academy Elementary School
Fall 2014
2. “By 2030, it is estimated that 40%
of the entire school population of
the United States will be English
language learners.”
David Deubelbeiss, Education Week Teacher
3.
4. The goal of instruction is to produce an
independent learner.
The goal of instruction is to prepare
learners for life after schooling.
Learners want to compete and excel as
individuals.
Learners bring age-appropriate preparation
for literacy development and academic
tasks.
5. Conditions: the underlying expectations
before learning begins
US Classrooms SLIFE*
Future relevance Immediate relevance
Independence Interconnectedness
*SLIFE: Students with Limited or Interrupted Formal Education
(Adkins, DeCapua, & Urrutia, 2013)
6. Processes: the ways we choose to interact
with new material and how we access
information
US Classrooms SLIFE*
Individual accountability Shared responsibility
Written word Oral transmission
*SLIFE: Students with Limited or Interrupted Formal Education
(Adkins et al., 2013)
7. Activities: Tasks to build competence and
show mastery
US Classrooms SLIFE*
Academic tasks
• Abstract
• Systematic
• Derived from logic and
science
Pragmatic tasks
• Concrete application
• Immediate relevancy
• Based on mentoring model
*SLIFE: Students with Limited or Interrupted Formal Education
(Adkins et al., 2013)
8. Pre-Production: 0 to 6 months
• Minimal comprehension
• No verbalization (“Silent Period”)
• Nodding “yes” or “no”
• Drawing and pointing
Teacher Prompts
• Show me…
• Circle the…
• Where is…?
• Who has…?
Promote language development by:
• Helping with word selection.
(Krashen & Terrell, 1983; Hill & Flynn, 2006)
9. Early Production: 6 months to 1 year
• Limited comprehension
• One- or two-word responses
• Use of key words and familiar phrases
• Use of present tense
Teacher Prompts
• Yes/No questions
• Either/Or questions
• Who…?
• What…?
• How many…?
Promote language development by:
• Modeling good English.
(Krashen & Terrell, 1983; Hill & Flynn, 2006)
10. Speech Emergence: 1 to 3 years
• Good comprehension
• Simple sentences
• Grammar and pronunciation errors
• Jokes are frequently misunderstood
Teacher Prompts
• Why…?
• How…?
• Explain…
• Questions that require phrases or short-sentence
answers
Promote language development by:
• Helping students expand oral and written sentences.
(Krashen & Terrell, 1983; Hill & Flynn, 2006)
11. Intermediate Fluency: 3 to 5 years
• Excellent comprehension
• Few grammatical errors
Teacher Prompts
• What would happen if…?
• Why do you think…?
• Questions requiring more than a sentence
response
Promote language development by:
• Exposing students to words beyond their current
repertoire.
(Krashen & Terrell, 1983; Hill & Flynn, 2006)
12. Advanced Fluency: 5 to 7 years
• Near-native level of speech
Teacher Prompts
• Decide if…
• Retell…
Promote language development by:
• Exposing students to words beyond their current
repertoire.
(Krashen & Terrell, 1983; Hill & Flynn, 2006)
13. Provide comprehensible input.
• Speak more slowly.
• Repeat, rephrase, and explain.
• Use prompts and cues for questions.
• Use gestures and body language.
• Make lessons visual.
• Help students make connections.
14. Scaffold instruction and assignments.
• Review the learning objective at the beginning and
end of each lesson.
• Use a research-based model, such as Balanced
Literacy, to structure your lesson.
• Explicitly teach vocabulary.
• Give students plenty of opportunities to
collaborate or engage in academic discourse.
• Maintain high expectations!
15. Accommodate more; modify less.
• Provide extended time.
• Allow extra “think time.”
• Adjust reading materials (as appropriate).
• Provide extra examples.
• Give oral prompts and cues.
• Give one-step directions.
• Read directions aloud.
• Have students repeat and/or rephrase directions.
• Provide read-aloud for assessments.
• Use manipulatives.
• Allow use of a picture dictionary.
16. Adkins, M., DeCapua, A., & Urrutia, J. (2013, May 15).
Teaching and learning for students with interrupted formal
education and refugee backgrounds [Webinar]. Retrieved
from
http://www.ncela.us/files/webinars/39/adkins_decapua.pdf.
Calderón, M. (Ed.) (2012). Breaking through: effective
instruction & assessment for reaching English learners.
Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press.
Hill, J. & Flynn, K. (2006). Classroom instruction that works
with English language learners. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Krashen, S. & Terrell, T. (1983). The natural approach:
Language acquisition in the classroom. Hayward, CA:
Alemany Press.
17. Bethy Butler
Program Coordinator & Instructor
English for Academic Purposes
Lipscomb University
bethy.butler@lipscomb.edu
615.966.5075
Editor's Notes
What relevance does this presentation have for you professionally?
What relevance does this presentation have for you personally?
Example of #1: Scaffolding—providing support and gradually removing it until the learner can perform the task independently
Example of #2: Forward-thinking—planning for the next grade level or course, college, careers, etc.
Example of #3: Success is an independent venture in America. We receive individualized grades, praise, awards, salaries, etc.
Example of #4: Decontextualized tasks, such as comparing, sorting/classifying, etc.
In the US, the majority of educators would answer True to all of these statements.
First, introduce the chart. Show comparison between US students and meaning of SLIFE.
Next, talk about the fact that aspects of learning are not limited to formal instruction; rather, these are cultural norms that start from birth and continue through daily activities.
Immediate relevance includes technical skills, such as cooking, farming, a specific technique that you learn through hands-on training, etc.
Interconnectedness: Achievement is generally seen as a group goal from students of collectivist cultures.
In developing countries, text is an unnecessary means of communication. Only highly educated people know how to read and write, and it is not an expectation that even the majority will ever learn to do so.
Achievement is generally seen as a group goal from students of collectivist cultures.
Most ELs go through a “silent period” in which students are unwilling to communicate orally in English. ELs should not be forced to speak before they are ready.
Example: Ask questions that students can answer by pointing at pictures in the book. “Show me the wolf,” “Where is the house?” Teach vocabulary words such as “wolf,” “pig,” “house,” “straw,” “bricks,” and “blow.”
At this point, students may have around 500 words in their vocabulary. Compare that to 8,000 word families known by the average 3rd grader (Beck, McKeown, & Kucan, 2013)!
Example: Ask questions that students can answer with one or two words. “Did the brick house fall down?” “Who blew down the straw house?” If a student says, “Wolf blowed,” you can say, “Yes, the wolf blew and blew.” Note: Explicit corrections should not be made.
Example: Ask “why” and “how” questions that students can answer with short sentences. “Explain why the third pig built his house out of brick.” “What does the wolf want?” If a student says, “He blew the house down,” you can say, “Yes, he blew the straw house down.” You expanded by adding an adjective.
Example: Ask “What would happen if…” and “Why do you think…” questions. “What would happen if the pigs outsmarted the wolf?” “Why could the wolf blow down the house made of sticks, but not the house made of bricks?” Students should sound like a book.
Example: Ask students to retell the story, including main plot elements but leaving out unnecessary details. Students should sound like a book.
Comprehensible input means that students are able to understand the essence of the lesson/lecture/text despite not knowing all of the words.
Visuals: Use graphs, maps, photos, drawings, charts, and models to introduce vocabulary and concepts. During shared activities and application, use graphic organizers, concept maps, and anchor charts.
Connections: Link instruction to previous lessons and/or students’ personal and cultural experiences.
Objectives: Write and state the lesson’s goal in student-friendly language, and tell them exactly what they should be able to do after the lesson.
Balanced Lit.: Modeling, Shared Application, Guided Application, Independent Task (formative assessment)
Vocab: ELs need a lot of exposure to new terms, words, idioms, and phrases, as well as direct vocabulary instruction.
Expectations: Don’t assume that limited language usage is the same as limited thinking ability! We don’t want our ELs at the lowest levels of Bloom’s.
Don’t discourage use of native language. This may be their only connection to the content, and it’s the way they’ll process information as early English learners.
