Education Commons^™

Responding To Linguistic Diversity, Nancy Commins

Nancy L. Commins

Second language learners arrive at every grade level with a variety of experiences and differing academic backgrounds. Responding to their learning needs means accommodating the entire range of students from monolingual English speakers to monolingual speakers of other languages, and a variety of bilingual profiles in between. This article discusses how schools adopt a "blue pathway" mindset for improving instruction for all learners. The blue pathway, which also leads to academic competence, represents best practice for second language learners--strategies and approaches that from the outset account for language proficiency and cultural diversity. Instruction on the blue pathway can be summed …

A Descriptive Study Of The Linguistic Abilities Of A Selected Group Of Low Achieving Hispanic Bilingual Students, Nancy Commins, Ofelia Miramontes

Nancy L. Commins

A study investigated the notion that bilingual students' low academic achievement may be due to semilingualism (having limited language skills) in each of the two languages, and the cognitive deficits that presumably result. The subjects were two boys and two girls from the fifth and sixth grades with low proficiency in either English or Spanish. Data were drawn from observations and audiotaping of natural and structured conversations and interviews were conducted with each family to provide information on the students' language performance both within and outside school. No evidence emerged that any subject mixed Spanish and English, but all code-switched …

Latino Language Minority Students In Indiana: Trends, Conditions, And Challenges. Special Report, Bradley Levinson, Katie Bucher, Lauren Harvey, Rebecca Martinez, Becky Perez, Russell Skiba, Bryn Harris, Peter Cowen, Choong-Guen Chung

Bryn Harris

This Special Report surveys existing conditions for Latino [superscript 1] language minority students in Indiana's schools and identifies the most significant problems and challenges for improving their learning. The report opens with an overview of recent demographic shifts in Indiana's K-12 student population, and makes an important distinction between Indiana's long-standing and newcomer Latino populations; the latter account for the dramatic increase in the language minority population. The report then considers the culturally competent psychological assessment of ELL students. School psychologists, especially, bear the responsibility of balancing formal with informal assessments that take into account the unique cultural characteristics of …

Identifying Gifted And Talented English Language Learners: A Case Study, Bryn Harris, Jonathan Plucker, Kelly Rapp, Rebecca Martinez

Bryn Harris

With the sharp rise in students who are English language learners (ELL), research on identifying and serving the needs of gifted and talented (GT) ELL students offers fertile ground for best practice guidelines. The current study describes GT/ELL identification practices based on an in-depth case study of one diverse school district in the Midwest. School personnel, parents, and students participated in separate semistructured group interviews about their experiences regarding GT/ELL identification. Interviews were audiotaped, transcribed, and analyzed for thematic content. Additionally, district and state policy documents about GT and ELL identification practices were reviewed. Results highlight the theoretical and practical …

Meeting The Needs Of Chinese English Language Learners At Writing Centers In America: A Proposed Culturally Responsive Model, Crystal Machado, Peizhen Wang

Crystal Machado