Education Commons^™

Application Of Multicultural Literature In The Early Childhood Classroom, Deborah Wheeler, Jennifer Hill

Journal of English Learner Education

Culture equates to identity; therefore, the implementation of multicultural literature in the early childhood curriculum is an essential method for securing children’s concept of self and cultural identity. This qualitative study explored the implementation of multicultural literature in early childhood classrooms, and the research included questions pertaining to multicultural literature training, instructional methods, and barriers encountered. The purpose of the study was to answer questions regarding teachers use of multicultural literature in the classroom, how often teachers read multicultural literature and how teachers integrated multicultural literature into instruction. An additional question inquired about what multicultural books titles were teachers reading …

Language, Cultural Knowledge, And Privileged Practices: A Case Study Of Understandings That Shape Family Engagement For Parents Of Spanish-English Emergent Bilinguals, Alissa Blair

Journal of English Learner Education

This research examines the ways in which parents of Spanish-English emergent bilinguals perceive and navigate the implicit and explicit expectations for family engagement through analysis of contrasting case studies of focal students from two 4^th grade classrooms, one characterized by English-medium instruction and the other by a developmental bilingual program. One case sheds light on the language barriers that hampered parents’ participation in their children’s education at school, while the other case highlights discrepancies in the understandings of parental and teacher roles and expectations. Findings demonstrate that parents’ capacity to meet school-based expectations was constrained by assumptions about their …

Best Practices For English Learners With Disabilities In Us Schools – A Systematic Review, Samiratu Bashiru, Jennifer E. Smith

Journal of English Learner Education

This systematic review investigated best practices for enhancing academic achievement among English Learners with Disabilities (ELDs) in US schools. By examining 17 peer-reviewed articles and comparing them to the CEC 2014 Quality Indicators, the study identifies significant practices, including culturally responsive methods, technology integration, evidence-based strategies, addressing service delivery challenges, and improving assessment tools. This review has limitations related to inconsistent terminology and highlights the need for standardized language and continued research. It recommends integrating culturally responsive practices, leveraging technology, and refining inclusive assessment tools. This review provides educators, policymakers, and researchers insights, emphasizing ongoing teacher development and policy alignment …

"Our Students Vs. Their Students:" Perceptions Of Teachers In English Language Learning, Leah Day

Journal of English Learner Education

The purpose of the study was to understand the perceptions of teachers on English Language Learners and how this shapes the educational paths of students. Data was collected in the form of interviews with the participants. The interviews were guided by a set of questions that were designed to interrogate perceptions and experiences with regard to language learning in the context of one student. Interviews were recorded and transcribed and the data was coded inductively. This study does not seek to generalize beyond this context but can provide insight into similar experiences and perceptions of the English Language Learning process. …

Asset-Based Teaching; Uncover, Cultivate, And Empower Students’ Uniqueness, Stephanie K. Knight, Marjaneh Gilpatrick, Tracy Vasquez

Journal of English Learner Education

As instructors who are in tune with their learners learning and communication styles as well as their family and cultural backgrounds, it makes sense that they view their students’ skills and abilities from an asset-based lens. This article provides the readers with some tactics on how to develop and nurture that growth mindset.

When we consider the assets students bring to individual classrooms, the teaching becomes more personalized and relevant to their learning needs. By implementing these teaching practices, instructors are uncovering, cultivating, and empowering their students’ unique abilities. Ultimately students are able to apply their knowledge, skills, and abilities …

Empowering Chinese Students To Regain The “Voice” Via Vygotsky’S Zpd Integrated With The Socratic Seminar, Zhengjie Li Dr.

Journal of English Learner Education

Many Chinese students studying in the United States (U.S.) today report that they do not have a “voice.” They feel marginalized because of a lack of communicative competence in English and their inability to understand Western cultures, especially during their first year in the U.S. (Ching et al.). Some Chinese students are unable to adapt to the academic environment in American high schools, which leads to feelings of exclusion. To smooth this transitional period, this study suggests that the scaffolding (see Bruner, 1978, 1985) from ESL teachers in both verbal and written forms be implemented before students are placed into …

Effectiveness Of English Learners Computer-Based Testing Accommodations: A Meta-Analysis, Tuba Gezer Dr., Claudia Flowers, Richard Lambert

Journal of English Learner Education

With the increased number of English learners (ELs) participating in large-scale state testing, there has been an increased focus on fairness in testing for these students. Test accommodations have shown promise in eliminating barriers and improving accessibility, and computer-based testing (CBT) allows individual customization of tests with built-in accessibility features. Most research on testing accommodations focuses on paper-based tests, but CBT is the most predominant mode of delivering large-scale state assessments. This study aims to synthesize research on the validity and effectiveness of CBT accommodations for EL students. Meta-analysis methodology was used to summarize the findings from previous CBT studies. …

Accelerate Beginner English Learner’S Writing Skills From Day One, Eugenia F. Krimmel Ed.D.

Journal of English Learner Education

This article addresses the customary practice of delaying teaching of writing for Beginner English Learners (BELs) which often results in slowing writing development. Barriers preventing teachers from earlier writing instruction include a belief BELs cannot produce written English before learned orally first, a lack of teaching writing know-how, and few level-appropriate materials for older BELs. The systematic approach ALL Beginner Learners of English (ABLE) Writing Method is a solution to build both teachers’ confidence and BELs’ phonics, spelling, and writing skills from day one. The basic premise of the ABLE Writing Method is that if one is able to think, …

Vocabulary Masks, Kim Hardiman

Journal of English Learner Education

As language instructors, we should teach vocabulary in every lesson. How can we combine L2 vocabulary with active teaching and learning techniques? In the past, language instructors taught EL to write long word lists int their notebooks. Do ELs remember these new words? Is there a better way to teach vocabulary for ELs to practice using them in authentic context? Wearing masks has become a daily activity around the world. ELs can express and share their raw emotions by writing and wearing inspirational words on their masks. Vocabulary masks will ignite salient discussions and reconnect ELs with their emotional journeys …

Effects Of Synchronous And Asynchronous Online Instructional Approaches On English-Learning Undergraduate College Students: An Exploratory Study, Ivana Markova, Cristina Azocar

Journal of English Learner Education

Although the significance of the use of online classes remains evident due to their growing prevalence at US universities, they still remain an untested experience for countless English learners (ELs). This research explores EL students’ perceptions of the opportunities for interaction in synchronous and asynchronous online university classroom modalities. It also examines how socioacademic relations and Bandura’s social learning theory can explain the interactions between students and instructors that influence EL students’ literacy development. Participants (n=105) were selected from a large sample pool of 261 EL undergraduate student participants aged 18 to 35. A mixed methods design was …

Creating Pedagogically Effective And Visually Appealing Instructional Slides: Design Tips For Language Educators, Anny Fritzen Case

Journal of English Learner Education

Utilizing slides to augment instruction is a common and promising practice among language educators. However, slide design matters. While well-designed slides can support students' comprehension and engagement, poorly designed slides can produce misunderstanding, frustration, and disengagement. This article describes five basic graphic design principles teachers can apply when creating slide presentations. Through the application of these principles, instructional materials have a higher potential of being both visually appealing and pedagogically effective.

Technology In The Classroom: The Features Language Teachers Should Consider, Sophie Cuocci, Padideh Fattahi Marnani

Journal of English Learner Education

The fast development of technology and the new generation of highly computer literate students led to consider the integration of technology in school as essential. Throughout the last two decades, research has identified multiple factors leading to the successful and unsuccessful integration of technology in the classroom. Educators must consider these factors when deciding on which technology tools to use and how to integrate them to their lessons. Simultaneously, the increasing number of English learners in the United States calls for the identification of teaching strategies that will best support their needs. Many language teachers now rely on teaching techniques …

Foreign Language Anxiety: A Review On Theories, Causes, Consequences And Implications For Educators, Padideh Fattahi Marnani, Sophie Cuocci

Journal of English Learner Education

Anxiety has been considered one of the main obstacles in second language learning in instruction-based contexts. During the last few decades, many scholars have tried to shed light on different aspects of this phenomenon. This literature review clarifies previous scholarly works and covers some of the most significant empirical studies conducted in this field. The purpose of this literature review is to review various aspects of foreign language anxiety, its corresponding theoretical frameworks and models, causes, consequences, gender differences, class modalities (face-to-face and online) and lastly, implications for educators. Foreign language anxiety is a significant barrier that hinders the learning …

Implementing A Humanistic Approach Towards Educational Equity For English Learners, Deborah Wheeler

Journal of English Learner Education

Schools must provide equitable education to English learners (ELs), ensure equitable opportunities to education programs, and facilitate comprehensible instruction. ELs encounter challenges consisting of learning English, adjusting to a new culture, achieving academic expectations, and assimilating. Implementing a humanistic approach helps ELs mediate through cultural nuances, language learning, academic objectives, and by applying a humanistic approach, educational equity will be established. To guarantee that every student is given an equitable opportunity, all stakeholders are responsible for ensuring the educational system is prepared for diversity, equipped with multicultural knowledge, provided with enriching resources, and ready to implement of a humanistic approach. …

Three Steps To Create A Designated Eld Curriculum Aligned To Academic Content, Melanie Wolf-Greenberg, Tracey Horvath, Eugenia F. Krimmel

Journal of English Learner Education

One of the top five factors influencing student achievement is the development of a curriculum that ensures all students have an equal opportunity to learn (Marzano, 2003). Many schools today do not have a comprehensive plan for the education of English Learners (ELs) blended or aligned to the mainstream content classroom. The authors have developed a process to create a designated English Language Development (ELD) curriculum which uses content area academic standards as its foundation. The benefits of a designated ELD curriculum reach beyond the individual ELD specialist’s lesson planning. School administrators and key stakeholders in the community will be …

Six Strategies For Classroom Success: Enhancing Teaching And Learning For English Learners In Diverse Content Areas, Scott Freiberger

Journal of English Learner Education

As a result of the pandemic, teaching and learning has changed drastically over the past few years (Dascalu et al., 2021). Planning for classroom success for English Learners (ELs) includes pivoting to using educational technology to keep students motivated with well-planned topics, thought-provoking discussions, and respectful yet probing questioning techniques (Freiberger, 2020). In addition to enhancing academic language, educators may also consider infusing various contemporary technologies to revamp vocabulary knowledge, uplift language and literacy, and polish academic performance. Here are six strategies for enhancing teaching and learning for ELs in diverse content areas.

When Teachers Are The Gatekeepers Of Gifted And Talented Programs: Potential Factors For English Learners' Underrepresentation And Possible Solutions, Isabel Haller-Gryc

Journal of English Learner Education

The inclusion of English learners (ELs) in gifted and talented (GT) programs is an issue needing attention as data reveal that this group is still disproportionately under-represented. This article discusses the concerns when the GT identification process is dependent upon general education teacher referrals. Teachers’ implicit biases, lack of familiarity with the knowledge and skills required to work with English learners, and a lack of understanding of what "gifted" looks like in diverse students are identified as potential contributors to an inequitable gifted identification process that many ELs experience. The author discusses perceived solutions to combat the under-representation that results …

The First Days Of School Are The Most Challenging: English Learners’ Stories Of Resilience And Their Recommendations, Jill Hendrickson Lohmeier, Shanna Rose Thompson, Bangsil Oh

Journal of English Learner Education

The Multilingual learner (ML) population is steadily increasing in U.S. schools. Navigating new educational environments can be challenging for MLs, especially on the first day. This study draws upon data collected during two improvement-focused evaluations and is guided theoretically by the extant ML literature as well as Bronfenbrenner’s (2005) bioecological model of human development and Bandura’s (2018) concept of human agency in social cognitive theory. Mixed methods were used to identify the strengths and opportunities for improvement for two school districts’ ML programs. This article draws mainly from the data collected through student focus groups. Through the high school MLs’ …

Collaborative Writing With Young Multilingual Learners, Loren D. Jones, Luciana C. De Oliveira

Journal of English Learner Education

Effectively teaching writing to multilingual learners (MLs) has been identified as one of the most prominent challenges currently facing educators. Collaborative writing has been identified as one promising pedagogical practice that responds to this challenge; however, little of the existing research focuses on the elementary level. This study seeks to address this gap in the literature, describing a design-based research study focused on collaborative writing with MLs in a diverse first-grade classroom. This paper showcases two iterations of collaborative writing, closely examining the how-to and opinion texts that two focal MLs produced with their peers. The evaluation of students’ writing …

Closing The Opportunity Gap: A Story Of English Learners And Their True Ability, Natasa Karac

Journal of English Learner Education

When English learners (ELs) are presented with opportunities to participate in enrichment activities, their motivation to learn and their performance mimic those of their non-EL peers. Opportunities that offer authentic engagement and challenge student thinking bring together learners of all profiles to show that their true ability is more than that observed through a lens of standardized test scores. EL academic outcomes can be negatively impacted by limited opportunities offered within academic settings as a result of perceived differences. This text challenges the perspective of standard, remedial English learning program models and calls for a model that truly builds on …

Teaching Young Dual Language Learners: A Critical Review Of The Strengths And Limitations Presented In Alanís And Colleagues’ 2021 Book, The Essentials: Supporting Dual Language Learners In Diverse Environments In Preschool & Kindergarten, Jessica Summers

Journal of English Learner Education

The increase in dual language learners (DLLs) in the United States is shifting the way many districts, schools, and individual educators approach teaching and learning in order to better meet the needs of emergent bilinguals. Iliana Alanís, María G. Arreguín, and Irasema Salinas-González’s wrote The essentials: Supporting dual language learners in diverse environments in preschool and kindergarten (2021) to help early childhood educators, administrators, and instructional coaches understand guiding principles of bilingual education and implement evidence-based practices for working with young DLLs. This book review highlights five strengths and provides three critiques.

Bilingual Refugee-Background Student Resilience, Meta-Linguistic Awareness, And Pride In Bilingual Skills, Tunde Szecsi Dr., Debra Giambo, Rachel Bledsoe Bass, William Buchanan

Journal of English Learner Education

This qualitative phenomenological study sought to explore the experiences of emergent bilingual refugee-background [1] students in Florida and their self-perceptions as bilingual learners. Data were collected through in-depth, semi-structured interviews with seven participants learning English both in-person and virtually in high school or adult education programs during the pandemic. The researchers completed content analysis individually and, in subsequent collaboration, identified patterns, and themes. Findings indicated that students took pride in their bilingual skills, demonstrated metalinguistic awareness, and were resilient and proactive learners with strong determination to succeed in the new country. The following recommendations for teachers are offered: (1) building …

Strategies For Equitable Ell Family And Community Engagement, Stephanie K. Knight, Tracy Vasquez, Marjaneh Gilpatrick

Journal of English Learner Education

Families have been involved in their ELL students' education now more than ever. Families are truly now ALL IN. How can we make this dynamic engagement we are seeking to be easier and more seamless for our families? It’s no secret that students whose families reinforce and extend learning at home are more successful in school; moreover, when there exists a mutually supportive network of educators, families, and students, a climate is created to promote learning and success. In this article, the authors have highlighted the significance of family and community engagement in the academic achievement of students.

Teachers Of Culturally And Linguistically Diverse Students And Effective Professional Development: A Critical Review Of Research, Irish Farley

Journal of English Learner Education

Effective Professional Development (PD) is essential for teachers of Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CLD) students. Despite the continuing increase of diversity of students, teachers are underinformed with best practices for teaching and support. Many good teachers may not know how to best support CLD students. In 2018, the National Center for Education Statistics reported that only 44% of surveyed teachers who had at least one CLD student in their classroom received professional development specifically for working with these students. This review of the literature covers two distinct but related topics: why teachers of CLD students need more PD and what …

Early Childhood Family Education: Language And Pre-Academic Skills For Latinx Dual Language Learners, Katherine B. Green, Robert A. Griffin, Chelsea T. Morris, Mary Alice Varga

Journal of English Learner Education

This study describes the effectiveness of an early childhood family education (ECFE) program built on a two-generation and strengths-based model to support dual language learners (DLLs) and their families. The researchers investigated the extent to which participation in the ECFE program influenced adult caregivers (n = 15) and the preschool-aged Latinx DLLs (n = 32) who participated, specifically regarding change related to the children’s language and literacy skills and pre-academic skills, families’ perceptions of their home literacy environments, caregivers’ perceptions of their own literacy skills, and caregivers’ actions regarding early literacy at home. Findings were robust and revealed …

Planning For Instruction Using A Language-Based Approach To Content Instruction For Multilingual Learners, Luciana C. De Oliveira, Destini Braxton, Jia Gui

Journal of English Learner Education

This article briefly describes a language-based approach to content instruction (LACI), an approach to content instruction for multilingual learners in general education classrooms that incorporates six Cs of support for scaffolding. The authors provide examples of classroom instruction by a fifth-grade teacher who used several elements of LACI in her instruction. A planning guide to assist implementation of these elements is proposed and concrete examples of how to plan for classroom instruction for multilingual learners are included.

Voices From The Sunshine State: Program And Policy Advocates, Ryan W. Pontier, Rosa Castro Feinberg, Arlene Costello

Journal of English Learner Education

As educators, we are engrossed in a world that pushes us to critically examine what is. Particularly in language education, we explore the various theories and practices involved in learning new language(s)—or expanding our linguistic repertoire, depending on your paradigmatic stance. No matter our position—whether it refers to our jobs or to an ideological stance—we are advocates. We are thus challenged to understand our diverse roles as advocates, which, as Foley and Valenzuela (2004) demonstrate, come in many forms.

We expand Staehr Fenner’s (2014) definition of advocacy—working for students’ equitable and excellent education by taking appropriate actions on their …

Revisiting Attitudes Towards English In Cameroon And The Rush For Emi: Positioning Education For All Vision, Eric Enongene Ekembe

Journal of English Learner Education

The rush to English and English medium education (EMI) is fashionably a global tendency, and research in the domain has extensively explored the effects of such rush on social justice, quality education, economic and power dynamics across contexts. Given the multifaceted challenges related to the provision of English and accessibility to EMI, the relationship between UNESCO’s Education For All vision and access to English tends to be complicated. This paper examines the commonly-stated quest for English in Cameroon with a focus on attitudes towards English and EMI. The purpose is to understand the interface between the rush to EMI and …

Uncommon And Non-Traditional Urban Relationship Strategies: From Relationship Loss To Relationship Recovery, Lasonya L. Moore

Journal of English Learner Education

With increasing student diversity across our nation, there is a growing need to scale up educational innovations related to building holistic relationships. Many students in K-12 public schools enter educational settings with uncommon and nontraditional ways of building and developing longitudinal relationships that allow students to thrive and not just survive. Specifically, teachers/educators feel ill-equipped and ill-trained to adequately support the increasing number of English learners(ELs) and Exceptional education students (specifically Students of Color (SOC) with emotional and behavioral disorders) identified in inclusive classrooms. Thus, there remains an urgent need to share uncommon and non-traditional strategies to develop and build …

Analysis Of Elementary School English Teachers’ Perceptions Of And Design For Differentiated Reading Instruction, Chin-Wen Chien

Journal of English Learner Education

This study explored the influence of a course in an endorsement program on 22 elementary school Taiwanese English teachers’ perceptions of and designs for differentiated reading instruction. Based on the data analysis of the questionnaire, peer- and self-evaluation, and final projects, this study has two major findings. First, participants gained competence in research-based instructional strategies and approaches for differentiated reading instruction through the endorsement program. Tiered assignments were the most popular activities designed by the participants for differentiated reading instruction. Secondly, their self-efficacy gained in terms of improving their learners’ reading performance and solving their reading problems. This study suggested …