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chapter

1 Learning about the

Language Learner

English learners
comprise a growing
proportion of school
children in the
United States.

I n sixth grade, I had one of the first in a lucky to be a flower with roots in the ground? Sister
line of English teachers who began to nurture in Maria filled the board with snowy print . . . until
me a love of language, a love that had been there English . . . became a charged, fluid mass that
since my childhood of listening closely to words. carried me in its great fluent waves, rolling and
Sister Maria Generosa did not make our class moving onward, to deposit me on the shores of
interminably diagram sentences from a workbook my new homeland, I was no longer a foreigner
or learn [a] catechism of grammar rules. Instead with no ground to stand on. I had landed in the
she asked us to write little stories imagining we English language.
were snowflakes, birds, pianos, a stone in the
pavement, a star in the sky.What would it feel like Julia Alvarez (2007, p. 34)

2
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English Learners: Demographic Trends 3

B ecause of her English-language development teachers, Julia Alvarez is a writer. She

can communicate her memories, her joys, her terrors—those ideas and feelings
that make her human. Learning a second language connects people across cultures,
making it possible for immigrants to achieve their dreams and aspirations. This cross-
cultural process enriches everyone.
Teachers in the United States are increasingly expected to educate students whose
native languages are not English and whose cultural backgrounds vary considerably from
that of the American mainstream culture. Although the teaching profession includes ed-
ucators from minority cultures in the United States as well as from other countries, the
core of the profession remains the white, middle-class, usually monolingual teacher who
can benefit from teacher education that includes specialized methods and strategies for
the effective education of culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students.
Moreover, research has documented the effectiveness of long-term primary-
language education. However, numerous classrooms contain students speaking vari-
ous home languages. Thus English-language development (ELD) classrooms that require
modified instruction in English become increasingly important. Teachers with a strong
interest in language acquisition and a sense of compassion for the difficulties faced by
CLD students are often the most successful in promoting their academic success.
Schools, as institutions within a society, perform an important role in socializing
students and helping them gain the knowledge, skills, roles, and identities they need
for success. Students who enter school must develop a high level of English proficiency,
and teachers are challenged to develop students’ English skills during the K–12 pe-
riod of schooling. The first part of this chapter presents current demographic trends.
The chapter then introduces the English learner and offers ways for teachers to in-
form themselves about these learners’ needs.

English Learners: Demographic Trends

The profession of teaching has changed dramatically in the early twenty-first century;
many more classrooms contain English learners, students whose home language is
not English and who are not classified as “fluent English proficient” based on test
scores and other criteria. By 2025, one in every four students will initially be classi-
fied as an English learner. A quick overview of the demographics of English learners
in the United States can help teachers to visualize the numbers of these learners and
their distribution in the schools.
Throughout the United States, 47 million people (18 percent of the population) speak
a language other than English at home (U.S. Census Bureau, 2003c). Although the largest
percentage of non–English speakers (37 percent) lives in the West, English learners and
their families are increasingly living in places such as the Midwest (9 percent) and the
South (15 percent) that have not previously needed to hire ELD teachers. The previous
concentration of English learners in the West and Southwest has shifted; during
1997–2007, sixteen states had a 200 percent increase in English learners (Rahilly &
Weinmann, 2007).
California had the largest population percentage of non-English-language
speakers; 43 percent speak a language other than English at home. Following
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4 Chapter 1 Learning about the Language Learner

California are New Mexico, Texas, New York, Hawaii, Arizona, and New Jersey
(see Table 1.1). Other states—Florida (3.5 million), Illinois (2.2 million), and Mass-
achusetts (1.1 million)—also have large populations of non-English-language speak-
ers. The majority of English learners in the United States are Spanish speaking
(28.1 million); Asian and Pacific Islanders constitute the second-largest demographic
group of English learners.
The National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition and Language In-
struction Educational Programs (NCELA) put the number of children of school age
with a home language other than English at 9,779,766—one of every six children of
school age—and 31 percent of all American-Indian/Alaska Native, Asian/Pacific
Islander, and Hispanic students enrolled in public schools (National Center for
Education Statistics, 2005). Of these language-minority students, in 2005–2006,
5,074,572 do not yet have sufficient proficiency in English to be able to succeed ac-
ademically in traditional all-English-medium classrooms (NCELA, 2007). Los Angeles
Unified School District leads all other school districts in the nation both in the num-
ber (326,040) of English learners (in 2006–2007), number of languages (56), and per-
cent of total enrollment (40 percent), followed by New York City; Dade County,
Florida; Chicago; Houston; Dallas; San Diego; and Long Beach. In 2008, California,
with a school enrollment of approximately 1.6 million English learners, led the states
in need for English-learner services at the K–12 level. In California, 85 percent of
English learners are Spanish-speaking, and 83 percent of these Spanish-speaking learn-
ers are from Mexico. The majority of them live in Southern California, the San
Francisco Bay area, and the Central Valley. Los Angeles Unified School District has
32 percent of all English learners (EdSource, 2008).
The national distribution of English learners by grade levels is as follows: Grades
PreK–3, 44 percent; grades 4–8, 35 percent; grades 9–12, 19 percent; and alternative
schools, 2 percent (Rahilly & Weinmann, 2007). Of children who speak a language
other than English at home, 81 percent are U.S.-born or naturalized U.S. citizens
(Lapkoff & Li, 2007).

Table 1.1
States with the Highest Percent of Population Speaking a Language Other Than English

Population of Non-English-Language Percent of the State’s

State Speakers (in millions) Population

California 12.4 39.5

New Mexico 0.5 36.5
Texas 6.0 31.2
New York 5.0 28.0
Hawaii 0.3 26.6
Arizona 1.2 25.9
New Jersey 2.0 25.5

Source: www.census.gov/population/www/cen2000/phc-t20.html/tab04.pdf
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Psychological Factors That Influence Instruction 5

These population demographics indicate that all states need to provide services
for English learners, with the need greatest in California, New Mexico, New York,
and Texas, serving Hispanics or Asian/Pacific Islanders. The linguistic and cultural
variety of English learners suggests that more and more teachers serve as intercultural
and interlinguistic educators—those who can reach out to learners from a variety of
backgrounds and offer effective learning experiences.

Psychological Factors That Influence Instruction

Learners do not learn language in a vacuum. They learn it by interacting with oth-
ers. Psychological and sociocultural factors play important roles in a learner’s acquiring
and using a second language. Teachers who are aware of these individual (psycho-
logical) and group (sociocultural) factors are able to adapt instruction to meet the
individual needs of the learners so that each student can achieve academic success.
Figure 1.1 offers an outline that can help teachers organize the factors they know about
a given learner.
Psychological factors are traits specific to individuals that enable them to acquire
a second language (L2). Learners use the assets of their personalities to absorb the
ambiance of the culture, to process the language they hear, and to create meaningful
responses. Psychological factors can be divided into three categories: background fac-
tors, social–emotional factors, and cognitive factors. Teachers can help students be
aware of those psychological factors that further their language learning and can work
with students to ensure that these factors promote rather than impede their learning.

The Learner’s Background

Naming Practices and Forms of Address. A learner’s name represents the learner’s
individuality as well as a family connection. People feel validated if their names are
treated with respect. Teachers who make the effort to pronounce students’ names
accurately communicate a sense of caring. Students may be asked to speak their names
into a tape recorder so the teacher can practice privately. Expecting students to say
their names again and again so the teacher can rehearse may be embarrassing for both
parties.
Naming practices differ across cultures. The custom in the United States is to have
a first (or given), middle, and last (or family) name. On lists, the first and last names
are often reversed in order to alphabetize the names. In other parts of the world, nam-
ing practices differ. In Vietnam, for example, names also consist of three parts, in the
following order: family name, middle name, and given name. The names are always
given in this order and cannot be reversed because doing so would denote a different
person—Nguyên Van Hai is different from Hai Van Nguyên. In Taiwan the family
name also goes first, followed by given names. Puerto Ricans, as well as other
Hispanics, generally use three names: a given name, followed by the father’s surname
and then the mother’s surname. If one last name must be used, it is generally the fa-
ther’s surname. Thus, Esther Reyes Mimosa can be listed as Esther Reyes. If the first
name is composed of two given names (Hector Luis), both are used. This person may
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6 Chapter 1 Learning about the Language Learner

Figure 1.1 English-Learner Profile

Psychological Factors
The Learner’s Background
Learner’s name _______________________________________________________Age ____________ Gender (M / F)
Grade ____________ L1 proficiency _______________________________________________________________
Type of bilingualism _____________________________________________________________________________
Previous L2 experience _____________________________________
______________________________________
Assessed L2 level: Reading ____________ Writing ____________ Listening _____________ Speaking _____________
Prior academic success ___________________________________________________________________________
Likes/dislikes __________________________________________________________________________________
Social–Emotional Factors
Self-esteem ___________________________________________________________________________________
Motivation ____________________________________________________________________________________
Anxiety level ___________________________________________________________________________________
Attitudes toward L1/L2 __________________________________________________________________________
Attitudes toward the teacher and the class ____________________________________________________________

Cognitive Factors
Stage of L2 acquisition ___________________________________________________________________________
Cognitive style/Learning style ______________________________________________________________________
Learning strategies ______________________________________________________________________________

Sociocultural Factors
Family acculturation and use of L1 and L2_____________________________________________________________
Family values __________________________________________________________________________________
Institutional support for L1 ________________________________________________________________________
Sociocultural support for L1 in the classroom environment ________________________________________________

have a brother who is Hector José; for either to be called simply Hector would rep-
resent a loss of identity.
In many cultures, adults are referred to by their function rather than their name.
In Hmong, xib fwb means “teacher,” and Hmong children may use the English term
teacher in the classroom rather than a title plus surname, as in “Mrs. Jasko.” Middle-
class European-American teachers may consider this to be rude rather than realizing
this is a cultural difference.
Osgood (2002) suggests ways to enlist native-English-speaking students to make
friends with newcomers: Challenge them to teach a new student their names and to
learn the new student’s first and last names, using recess, lunchtime, or free time to
accomplish this task.
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Psychological Factors That Influence Instruction 7

Adapted Instruction: Students’ Names

■ Understand the use and order of names and pronounce
them correctly.
■ Don’t change a student’s name, apply a nickname, or use an
“English” version of a student’s name (even at the student’s
request) without first checking with a member of the
student’s family.

Age. Second-language acquisition (SLA) is a complex process that occurs over a long
period of time. Although many people believe that children acquire a second language
more rapidly than adults, recent research counters this notion. While it is true that
the kind of instruction varies greatly according to the age of the learner, there is lit-
tle evidence to indicate that biology closes the door to learning a second language at
certain ages (see Singleton & Ryan [2004] and Han [2004] for further discussion of
age-related issues in SLA, as well as the Point/Counterpoint box on page 8).

First-Language Proficiency. Research has shown that proficiency in the first language
(L1) helps students to achieve in school. In order to learn a student’s strengths in the
first language, a teacher, primary-language-speaking aide, or parent who is fluent in
the language of the student may observe a student working or playing in the primary
language and take notes on the child’s language behavior, or schools may rely on for-
mal testing. Knowledge about the student’s linguistic and academic abilities may as-
sist the teacher in second-language academic content instruction.
Acceptance of the first language and use of the first language to support instruction
promotes a low-anxiety environment for students. A lower anxiety level in turn pro-
motes increased learning.

Adapted Instruction: First-Language Proficiency

■ Monitor students’ fluency in their primary languages and
share concerns with parents if students appear to be
dysfluent in their home languages.
■ In cooperative groups, allow use of the first language so that
students can discuss concepts.

Types of Bilingualism. Cummins (1979) analyzed the language characteristics of the

children he studied and suggested that the level of bilingualism attained is an impor-
tant factor in educational development. Limited bilingualism, or subtractive bilin-
gualism, can occur when children’s first language is gradually replaced by a more
dominant and prestigious language. In this case, children may develop relatively low
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8 Chapter 1 Learning about the Language Learner

Point/Counterpoint:
What Is the Best Age for Second-Language Acquisition?
For adults, learning a second language can be a frustrat- lescents and adults outperform children in controlled
ing and difficult experience. In contrast, it seems so easy language-learning studies (e.g.,Snow & Hoefnagel-Hoehle,
for children. Is there a best age for learning a second 1978). Adults have access to more memory strategies;
language? are, as a rule, more socially comfortable; and have
greater experience with language in general. The self-
POINT: Children Learn Second Languages Easily. discipline,strategy use,prior knowledge,and metalinguistic
Those who argue that a child can learn a second language ability of the older learner create a distinct advantage for
more rapidly than an adult generally ascribe this ability the adult over the child in language acquisition.
to the critical period hypothesis—that the brain has a Marinova-Todd, Marshall, and Snow (2000) analyzed
language-acquisition processor that functions best before misconceptions about age and second-language learning
puberty (Lenneberg, 1967)—despite the fact that the and reached the following conclusions:“[O]lder learners
critical period hypothesis has not been proved. have the potential to learn second languages to a very
Evidence from child second-language studies indi- high level and introducing foreign languages to very young
cates that the language children speak is relatively sim- learners cannot be justified on grounds of biological readi-
ple compared to that of adults; it has shorter construc- ness to learn languages” (p. 10). “Age does influence
tions with fewer vocabulary words and thus appears more language learning, but primarily because it is associated
fluent. Moreover, adults are often unaware that a child’s with social, psychological, educational, and other factors
silence indicates lack of understanding or shyness,and they that can affect L2 proficiency, not because of any critical
underestimate the limitations of a child’s second-language period that limits the possibility of language learning by
acquisition skills. One area that seems to be a clear ad- adults” (p. 28).
vantage for children is phonology:The earlier a person
begins to learn a second language, the closer the accent
will become to that of a native speaker (Oyama, 1976). Implications for Teaching
Teachers need to be aware that learning a second
COUNTERPOINT: Adults Learn Languages language is difficult for children as well as for adults. Help-
More Skillfully Than Children. Research comparing ing children to feel socially comfortable reduces their anx-
adults to children has consistently demonstrated that ado- iety and assists acquisition.

levels of academic proficiency in both languages. The most positive cognitive effects
are experienced in proficient bilingualism, when students attain high levels of profi-
ciency in both languages. This is also called additive bilingualism.

Adapted Instruction: Promoting Additive Bilingualism

■ Seek out or prepare handouts that encourage families to
preserve the home language.
■ Make sure classroom or community libraries feature books
in the home language and encourage students to check out
books in both languages.
■ Welcome classroom visitors and volunteers who speak the
home language, and ask them to speak to the class about the
importance of proficiency in two languages.
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Psychological Factors That Influence Instruction 9

Previous L2 Experience. English learners in the same grade may have had vastly dif-
ferent prior exposure to English, ranging from previous all-primary-language in-
struction to submersion in English—including students with no prior schooling at all.
Moreover, no two students have been exposed to exactly the same input of English
outside of class. Therefore, students’ prior exposure to English and attainment of pro-
ficiency are often highly varied.
Students who have been overcorrected when first learning English may have “shut
down” and be unwilling to speak. It may take time for a more positive approach to L2
instruction to produce results, combined with a positive attitude toward L1 maintenance.
Assessed L2 Level. An important part of the knowledge about the learner that a teacher
amasses as a foundation for instruction is the student’s assessed level of proficiency
in listening, speaking, reading, and writing in English. This can be obtained during
the process of assessment for placement. In California, the California English Lan-
guage Development Test (CELDT) (online at www.cde.ca.gov/ta/tg/el) is the desig-
nated placement instrument; other states have other ways to assess proficiency. (See
each state’s Department of Education Website.) No matter the source of information,
the student’s L2 level is the beginning point of instruction in English.

Adapted Instruction: Assessing L2 Proficiency Levels

■ Be aware that a student’s listening/speaking proficiency may
surpass that of reading and writing, or vice versa.
■ Assess each language skill independently.
■ Use a measure such as the Student Oral Language Observation
Matrix (SOLOM) to assess students’ oral proficiency.
■ Use The English–Español Reading Inventory for the Classroom
(Flynt & Cooter, 1999) to provide a quick assessment of
reading levels in two languages.

Second-language learners are individuals who vary greatly in their acquisition of

a second language. However, there appear to be some generally accepted stages of
development through which learners progress. These stages include preproduction,
early production, speech emergence, and intermediate fluency. In preproduction—also
called the silent period—the learner is absorbing the sounds and rhythms of the new
language, becoming attuned to the flow of the speech stream, and beginning to iso-
late specific words. In this stage, the learner relies on contextual clues for understanding
key words and generally communicates nonverbally.
Once a learner feels more confident, words and phrases are attempted—the early
production stage. Responses can consist of single words (“yes,” “no,” “OK,” “you,”
“come”) or two- or three-word combinations (“where book,” “no go,” “don’t go,”
“teacher help”). Students can sometimes recite simple poems and sing songs at this
point. In the third stage, speech emergence, learners respond more freely. Utterances
become longer and more complex, but as utterances begin to resemble sentences,
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10 Chapter 1 Learning about the Language Learner

syntax errors are more noticeable than in the earlier stage (“Where you going?” “The
boy running.”). Once in intermediate fluency, students begin to initiate and sustain
conversations and are often able to recognize and correct their own errors.
Regardless of the way one labels the stages of second-language acquisition, it is
now recognized that, in natural situations, learners progress through predictable stages,
and learners advance through them at their own pace. Undue pressure to move through
the stages rapidly only frustrates and retards language learning.

Adapted Instruction: Matching Instruction

to Students’ L2 Levels

Ideally, classroom activities match the students’ second-language

acquisition levels.

Beginning Level (preproduction stage)

■ Provide concrete activities featuring input that is augmented
by pictures, real objects, carefully modified teacher speech,
and frequent repetition of new vocabulary.

Early Intermediate and Intermediate Levels (early production

and speech emergence)
■ Ask questions that evoke responses of single words and brief phrases.
■ Provide opportunities for students to use their primary language as they acquire the
second language.

Early Advanced Level

■ Engage students in opportunities to speak with greater complexity, read several pages of text
even though they may have limited comprehension, and write paragraphs.
■ Offer a curriculum that supports and explicitly teaches learning strategies (see Chapter 5).

Prior Academic Success. A valid predictor of school success is prior academic suc-
cess. By reading a student’s cumulative academic record, a teacher may get a sense
of the student’s strengths and weaknesses. This can be augmented by observations
of the student during academic activities and interviews of family members and for-
mer teachers. It is important for the current teacher to assemble as complete a record
of students’ prior schooling as possible to best inform instructional decisions.

Likes/Dislikes. Inquiring about students’ favorite academic subjects, television shows,

and extracurricular activities is one way of bridging adult–child, teacher–student, or
intercultural gaps. Getting-to-know-you activities can be based on the following ques-
tions: Who/what is your favorite [native-language/culture] singer? Actor? Video game?
Outdoor game? Storybook? Grocery store? Holiday? What do you like about it?
Students can write about favorite subjects, and teachers can then use these culturally
familiar ideas in math story problems and other content.
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Psychological Factors That Influence Instruction 11

Psychological Factors: Social–Emotional

The affective domain, the emotional side of human behavior, is the means through
which individuals become aware of their environment, respond to it with feeling, and
act as though their feelings make a difference. This emotional dimension helps
determine how language acquisition and communication take place. The affective
factors discussed here are self-esteem, motivation, anxiety, and learner attitudes.

Self-Esteem. A large part of one’s feelings revolve around how one feels about one-
self, one’s self-esteem. High self-esteem may cause language success or result from
language success. Many teachers, however, intuitively recognize that self-esteem is-
sues play important roles in their classrooms, and they encourage students to feel
proud of their successes and abilities. Self-esteem enhancement, such as efforts to
empower students with positive images of self, family, and culture, may facilitate lan-
guage learning. Teachers also strive to ensure that learners feel good about specific
aspects of their language learning (e.g., speaking, writing) or about their success with
a particular task.
Self-esteem is particularly at risk when learning a second language, because so
much identity and pride are associated with language competence. Schools that
honor the primary languages and cultures of students and help students to develop
additive bilingualism foster strong identities; schools in which students face
disrespect and discrimination hinder students’ social and emotional development
(Cummins, 2001).
Children who do poorly in school face daily degradation to their sense of self-
esteem as they often receive low grades, and experience disapproval from their teach-
ers and even social ostracism from peers (McKay, 2000). A healthy sense of success
is necessary not only to master academics, but also to feel valuable to society.

Example of Concept: Building Self-Esteem

Anita Alvarez was a Spanish-speaking first-grade student at the beginning stages of English-
language acquisition. She was shy and retiring, and Mrs. Figueroa noticed that she seldom took
advantage of opportunities to chat with her peers. Anita seemed to have good sensorimotor
abilities and to be particularly adept at building three-dimensional models following printed
diagrams.When Mrs. Figueroa observed that Mary, another student in the class, had a lot of
difficulty in constructing objects,she teamed Anita with Mary;and,with Anita’s help,Mary com-
pleted her project successfully. Noting this success, Mrs. Figueroa publicly praised her to the
class and referred students to her for help.Mrs.Figueroa was pleased to see that,subsequently,
Anita talked more with other students and seemed to acquire English at a faster rate.

Many classroom activities can be used to enhance students’ self-esteem. In the

Name Game, students introduce themselves by first name, adding a word that de-
scribes how they are feeling that day—using a word that begins with the same letter
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12 Chapter 1 Learning about the Language Learner

as their first name (the teacher may provide English learners with an alphabetized list
of adjectives). Each subsequent person repeats what the others have said in sequence.
Another activity, Name Interviews, lets students work in pairs to use a teacher-
provided questionnaire. This includes questions such as, “What do you like about
your name? Who named you? Were you named for someone? Are there members of
your family who have the same name?” and more (Siccone, 1995).

Adapted Instruction: Fostering Self-Esteem

in Classroom Groups

Weber (2005) suggests ways that classroom teachers can

“create a tone that encourages thought” (p. 16).These ideas can
also foster students’ self-esteem. Students will
■ feel free to express their minds, in respect, and without any
attack in response
■ contribute freely to ideas and feel valued in small teams and
in class
■ show positive attitudes to others’ different ideas, even when
they disagree

The ability to take risks, to “gamble,” may facilitate second-language acquisi-

tion. Educators believe that those who are willing to guess at meaning when it is not
clear and to be relatively unconcerned about making errors will progress in language
skills more rapidly than their more inhibited peers. As Brown (2000) pointed out, how-
ever, students who make random guesses and blurt out meaningless phrases have not
been as successful. It appears that moderate risk takers stand the best chance at lan-
guage development.

Motivation. “The impulse, emotion, or desire that causes one to act in a certain way”
is one way to define motivation. Gardner and Lambert (1972) postulated two types
of motivation in learning a second language: instrumental, the need to acquire a lan-
guage for a specific purpose such as reading technical material or getting a job, and
integrative, the desire to become a member of the culture of the second-language group.
Most situations involve a mixture of both types.
Generally, in classrooms, teachers may believe that motivation is a trait or a state.
As a trait, motivation is seen as being relatively consistent and persistent and is at-
tributed to various groups: parents, communities, or cultures. Students are motivated
to learn English by such incentives as the desire to please—or not to shame—their
families or by the drive to bring honor to their communities. As a state, motivation
is viewed as a more temporary condition that can be influenced by the use of highly
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Psychological Factors That Influence Instruction 13

interesting materials or activities, or by contingencies of reward or punishment (Tharp,

1989b).

Adapted Instruction: Motivating Students

■ Give pep talks to remind students that anything worth doing
may seem difficult at first.
■ Provide students with a list of encouraging phrases to repeat
to themselves as self-talk.

Anxiety Level. Anxiety when learning a second language can be seen as similar to gen-
eral feelings of tension that students experience in the classroom. Almost everyone feels
some anxiety when learning a new language—that is, they have feelings of self-
consciousness, a desire to be perfect when speaking, and a fear of making mistakes.
Using a foreign language can threaten a person’s sense of self if speakers fear they
cannot represent themselves fully in a new language or understand others readily.
Anxiety can be debilitating. As one student recalled,
During these several months after my arrival in the U.S.A., every day I came back
exhausted so I had to take a rest for a while, stretching myself on the bed. For all the
time, I strained every nerve in order to understand what the people were saying and make
myself understood in my broken English. I sometimes have to pretend to understand by
smiling, even though I feel alienated, uneasy, and tense. (Barna, 2007, p. 71)
Because anxiety can cause learners to feel defensive and can block effective learn-
ing, language educators strive to make the classroom a place of warmth and friend-
liness, where risk-taking is rewarded and encouraged and where peer work,
small-group work, games, and simulations are featured. Highly anxious learners must
divide their attentional resources into both learning and worrying about learning. This
reduces the ability to concentrate and be successful at learning tasks. Accepting English
learners’ use of both languages during instruction may help reduce their anxiety about
speaking English (Pappamihiel, 2002).

Example of Concept: Reducing Anxiety

In a series of lessons, Mr. Green has students write a letter to an imaginary “Dear Abby,” relat-
ing a particular difficulty they have in language learning and asking for advice.Working in groups,
the students read and discuss the letters, offer advice, and return the letters to their origina-
tors for follow-up discussion.
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14 Chapter 1 Learning about the Language Learner

Adapted Instruction: Ways to Deal with

Excessive Student Anxiety

■ Monitor activities to ensure that students are receiving no

undue pressure.
■ Avoid having anxious students perform in front of large groups.
■ When using a novel format or starting a new type of task,
provide students with examples or models of how the task
is done.
■ Occasionally make available take-home tests to lower unnecessary
time pressures for performance.
■ Teach test-taking skills explicitly and provide study guides to help students who may need
extra academic preparation.
■ To increase energy levels in class, give students a brief chance to be physically active by
introducing stimuli that whet their curiosity or surprise them.
Source: Adapted from Woolfolk (2007).

Attitudes of the Learner. Attitudes play a critical role in learning English. Attitudes
toward self, toward language (one’s own and English), toward English-speaking people
(particularly peers), and toward the teacher and the classroom environment affect
students (Richard-Amato, 2003). One’s attitude toward the self involves cognition
about one’s ability in general, ability to learn language, and self-esteem and its related
emotions. These cognitions and feelings are seldom explicit and may be slow to change.
Attitudes toward language and those who speak it are largely a result of experi-
ence and the influence of people in the immediate environment, such as peers and
parents. Negative reactions are often the result of negative stereotypes or the experi-
ence of discrimination or racism. Peñalosa (1980) pointed out that if English learners
are made to feel inferior because of accent or language status, they may have a defen-
sive reaction against English and English speakers. Students may also experience
ambivalent feelings about their primary language. In some families, parents use English
at the expense of the primary language in the hope of influencing children to learn
English more rapidly. This can cause problems within the family and create a back-
lash against English or English speakers.
Students’ attitudes toward the primary language vary; some students may have
a defensive reaction or ambivalent feelings toward their own primary language as a
result of internalized shame if they have been made to feel inferior. Peers may incite
attitudes against the L1 or may try to tease or bully those who speak the same pri-
mary language with a different dialect.
Attitudes toward the teacher and the classroom environment play an important
role in school success in general and English acquisition in particular. One way to
create a sense of belonging is to assign a new student to a home group that remains
unchanged for a long time. If such groups are an ongoing aspect of classroom social
organization, with rules of caring, respect, and concern already in place, then the home
group provides an ideal social group to receive newcomers and help them develop in-
terdependence, support, and identity (Peregoy & Boyle, 2008).
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Psychological Factors That Influence Instruction 15

Teachers can do much to model positive attitudes toward the students’ primary
language (see Chapter 8). A teacher–family conference may be advisable if a student
continues to show poor attitudes toward the first or second language or the school.
(Chapter 10 offers a range of strategies for involving the family in schooling.)

Psychological Factors: Cognitive

The cognitive perspective helps educators understand language learners as people who
are active processors of information. Language is used in school in expanded ways: to
create meaning from print, to encode ideas into print, to analyze and compare infor-
mation, and to respond to classroom discussion. All of these activities involve cogni-
tive factors. Students learn in many different ways using a variety of strategies and styles.
This section addresses students’ cognitive styles, learning styles, and learning strategies.
Cognitive Style. A cognitive style refers to “consistent and rather enduring tendencies
or preferences within an individual” (Brown, 1987, p. 79). Tharp (1989b) suggested two
cognitive styles that have relevance for classrooms: visual/verbal and holistic/analytic.
Schools expect and reward verbal more than visual, and analytic more than holistic styles.
For students who learn by observing and doing rather than through verbal instructions,
schools may be mystifying until they catch on to a different cognitive style. Similarly, stu-
dents with more holistic thought processes learn by seeing the “big picture.”

Learning Styles. Many researchers have documented differences in the manner in which
learners approach the learning task. These preferences serve as models for instructors
in their efforts to anticipate the different needs and perspectives of students. Once learn-
ing styles have been identified, instructors can use the information to plan and to mod-
ify certain aspects of courses and assignments. Hruska-Riechmann and Grasha (1982)
offer six learning styles: competitive versus cooperative, dependent versus independ-
ent, and participant versus avoidant. For Sonbuchner (1991), learning styles refer to
information-processing styles and work environment preferences. Table 1.2 lists learn-
ing style variables that have been divided into four categories—cognitive, affective, in-
centive, and physiological—according to Keefe (1987).
Table 1.3 provides a list of learning style Websites that feature learning style in-
formation, diagnostic checklists, and ideas for adapted instruction. The teacher who
builds variety into instruction and helps learners to understand their own styles can
enhance students’ achievement.

Adapted Instruction: Teaching to Diverse

Learning Styles

Although in the typical classroom it is not possible to tailor

instruction precisely to meet individuals’ needs, some
modifications can be made that take learning styles into account.
■ Students who are dependent may benefit from encouragement
to become more independent learners; the teacher may offer a
choice between two learning activities, for example, or reduce
the number of times a student has to ask the teacher for help.
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16 Chapter 1 Learning about the Language Learner

■ Students who are highly competitive may be provided activities and assignments that
encourage collaboration and interdependent learning.
■ Students who show little tolerance for frustration can be given a range of tasks on the same
skill or concept that slowly increases in complexity, with the student gradually gaining skill and
confidence.

Learning Strategies. Aside from general language-acquisition processes that all

learners use, there are individual strategies that learners adopt to help them in the ac-
quisition process. Second-language-acquisition research divides individual learner
strategies into two types: communication and learning. Learning strategies include
the techniques a person uses to think and to act in order to complete a task. Exten-
sive work in identifying learning strategies has been done by O’Malley and Chamot
(O’Malley, Chamot, Stewner-Manzanares, Kupper, & Russo, 1985a, 1985b), who
have incorporated specific instruction in learning strategies in their Cognitive Academic
Language Learning Approach (CALLA; see Chapter 5). Communication strategies

Table 1.2
Variables That Constitute Learning Style Differences

Cognitive Affective Incentive Physiological

• Field independent/field • Need for • Locus of control • Gender-related

dependent structure (internal: seeing differences (typically,
• Scanning (broad • Curiosity oneself as responsible males are more
attention) v. focusing for own behavior; or visual–spatial and
• Persistence
(narrow) external: attributing aggressive, females
• Level of circumstances to luck, more verbal and
• Conceptual/analytical anxiety
v. perceptual/concrete chance, or other tuned to fine-motor
• Frustration people) control)
• Task constricted (easily tolerance
distracted) v. task flexible • Risk taking v. caution • Personal nutrition
(capable of controlled • Competition v. (healthy v. poor
concentration) cooperation eating habits)
• Reflective v. impulsive • Level of achievement • Health
• Leveling (tendency to motivation (high or • Time-of-day
lump new experiences low) preferences
with previous ones) v. • Reaction to external (morning, afternoon,
sharpening (ability to reinforcement (does evening, night)
distinguish small or does not need • Sleeping and waking
differences) rewards and habits
• High cognitive punishment) • Need for mobility
complexity • Social motivation • Need for and
(multidimensional arising from family, response to varying
discrimination, school, and ethnic levels of light, sound,
accepting of diversity background (high or and temperature
and conflict) v. low low)
cognitive complexity • Personal interests
(tendency to reduce (hobbies, academic
conflicting information preferences)
to a minimum)

Source: Based on Keefe (1987).

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Psychological Factors That Influence Instruction 17

Table 1.3
Websites That Feature Learning Style Information, Diagnostic Inventories,
and Ideas for Adapted Instruction

Website Source Content

www.chaminade.org/inspire/ Adapted from Colin Rose’s Users can take an inventory to

learnstl.htm 1987 book Accelerated determine if they are a visual,
Learning auditory, or kinesthetic and
tactile learner.
www.engr.ncsu.edu/ North Carolina State Users can take a learning styles
learningstyles/ilsweb.html University questionnaire with 44 items to
self-assess.
http://volcano.und.nodak.edu/ Living Laboratory Explains how to use McCarthy’s
vwdocs/msh/llc/is/4mat.html Curriculum 4-MAT system.
www.usd.edu/trio/tut/ts/ University of San Diego Learn about learning styles
style.html (auditory, visual, and
kinesthetic); identify your own
learning style.

are employed for transmitting an idea when the learner cannot produce precise lin-
guistic forms, whereas learning strategies relate to the individual’s processing, stor-
age, and retrieval of language concepts (Brown, 2000).
Communication strategies include avoiding sounds, structures, or topics that are
beyond current proficiency; memorizing stock phrases to rely on when all else fails;
asking a conversant for help or pausing to consult a dictionary; and falling back on
the primary language for help in communication. The last strategy, often called code
switching, has been studied extensively because it permeates a learner’s progression in
a second language. Code switching—the alternating use of two languages on the word,
phrase, clause, or sentence level—has been found to serve a variety of purposes, not
just as a strategy to help when expressions in the second language are lacking.
Baker (2001) lists ten purposes for code switching: (1) to emphasize a point,
(2) because a word is unknown in one of the languages, (3) for ease and efficiency of
expression, (4) as a repetition to clarify, (5) to express group identity and status and/or
to be accepted by a group, (6) to quote someone, (7) to interject in a conversation,
(8) to exclude someone, (9) to cross social or ethnic boundaries, and (10) to ease
tension in a conversation. Code switching thus serves a variety of intentions beyond
the mere linguistic. It has important power and social ramifications.
According to Buell (2004), “Code-switching is a key marker of social identities,
relations, and context. When a speaker uses or changes a code, she is signaling who
she is, how she relates to listeners or readers, how she understands the context and
what communication tools are available to her” (pp. 99, 100). Code switching can
be seen not only in spoken conversations but also in mass media, literature, in sci-
ence textbooks, and so on. Students’ writing and other discourse practices are apt to
be complex, multilayered, and sometimes contradictory. Understanding students in
the full splendor of their code-switching and use of dialect, peer-influenced, or idio-
syncratic language is part of the joy of teaching.
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18 Chapter 1 Learning about the Language Learner

Example of Concept: Code Switching

Jennifer Seitz, a third-grade teacher, uses Alicia’s primary language, Spanish, as a way to help
Alicia learn English. A recent Spanish-speaking immigrant to the United States, Alicia has acquired
whole phrases or words in English from a fellow student and intersperses these when speaking
Spanish to gain access to her peer group. On the playground, she has been heard to repeat in
Spanish something just said in English, perhaps to clarify what was said or to identify with two
groups. She often uses English when learning concepts in the classroom, but uses Spanish when
she is discussing the concept with another student or when the conversation involves a personal
matter. The content of the instruction and the interpersonal link between speakers seem to be
the main factors in her language choice.

Although language purists look down on language mixing, a more fruitful approach
is letting children learn in whatever manner they feel most comfortable, so that anxi-
ety about language will not interfere with concept acquisition. In fact, a teacher who
learns words and expressions in the students’ home language is able to use the stu-
dents’ language to express solidarity and share personal feelings when appropriate.

Adapted Instruction: Accommodating

Students’ Psychological Needs

To adjust for individual psychological factors, teachers can

provide verbal reassurances to timid students, alternative
learning activities to address multiple intelligences, explicit
opportunities to help students express their strong abilities,
and additional mediation for students who need to achieve
despite a possible weak ability in a specific area.

Sociocultural Factors That Influence Instruction

Language learning occurs within social and cultural contexts. A part of the sense of mas-
tery and enjoyment in a language is acting appropriately and understanding cultural
norms. Learners adapt patterns of behavior in a new language and culture based on ex-
periences from their own culture. Home culture patterns of behavior can be both help-
ful and limiting in learning the second-language community’s patterns of interaction.
Thus, sociocultural factors—how people interact with one another and how they carry
out their daily business—play a large role in second-language acquisition.
If, as many believe, prolonged exposure to English is sufficient for mastery, then
why do so many students fail to achieve the proficiency in English necessary for ac-
ademic success? Some clues to this perplexity can be found beyond the language it-
self, in the sociocultural context. Do the students feel that their language and culture
are accepted and validated by the school? A well-meaning teacher, with the most
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Sociocultural Factors That Influence Instruction 19

up-to-date pedagogy, may still fail to foster achievement if students are socially and
culturally uncomfortable with, resistant to, or alienated from schooling.
As students learn a second language, their success is dependent on sociocultural
factors. These factors are explored here with a view toward helping teachers facili-
tate student learning by bridging the culture and language gaps.

Family Acculturation and the Use

of First and Second Languages
Acculturation is the process of adapting to a new culture. English learners in the United
States, by the mere fact of living in this country and participating in schools, learn a
second culture as well as a second language. How the acculturation proceeds depends
on factors beyond language itself and beyond the individual learner’s motivation, ca-
pabilities, and style—it usually is a familywide phenomenon.
In studying students’ differential school performance, Ogbu (1978) draws a dis-
tinction between various types of immigrant groups. Castelike minorities are those
minority groups that were originally incorporated into society against their will and
have been systematically exploited and depreciated over generations through slavery
or colonization. Castelike minorities traditionally work at the lowest paying and most
undesirable jobs, and they suffer from a job ceiling they cannot rise above regardless
of talent, motivation, or achievement. Thus, academic success is not always seen as
helpful or even desirable for members of these groups.
On the other hand, immigrant minorities who are relatively free of a history of
depreciation, such as immigrants to the United States from El Salvador, Guatemala,
and Nicaragua, believe that the United States is a land of opportunity. These immi-
grants do not view education as irrelevant or exploitative but rather as an important
investment. Therefore, the internalized attitudes about the value of school success for
family members may influence the individual student.
Schumann (1978) developed the acculturation model that asserted, “the degree to
which a learner acculturates to the target language group will control the degree
to which he acquires the second language” (p. 34). He listed the following social vari-
ables that he concludes are important factors in acculturation:
• The primary-language and English-language groups view each other as socially
equal, of equal status.
• The primary-language and the English-language groups both desire that the L1
group assimilate.
• Both the primary-language and English-language groups expect the primary-
language group to share social facilities with the English-language group.
• The primary-language group is small and not very cohesive.
• The primary-language group’s culture is congruent with that of the English-
language group.
• Both groups have positive attitudes toward each other.
• The primary-language group expects to stay in the area for an extended period.
Schumann’s model demonstrates that the factors influencing a student’s L1 and
L2 use are complicated by sociocultural variables stemming from society at large. For
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20 Chapter 1 Learning about the Language Learner

example, one can infer from the model that a family living in a predominantly primary-
language community will exert fewer pressures on the children to speak English.

Adapted Instruction: Learning about the Family

■ If possible, visit the student’s home to observe the family’s
degree of acculturation.
■ Note the family’s media consumption:
What television shows does the family watch, in which
language?
Do family members read books, magazines, or
newspapers, and in which languages?

A family’s use of L1 and L2 is also influenced by the relative status of the primary
language in the eyes of the dominant culture. In modern U.S. culture, the social value
and prestige of speaking a second language varies with socioeconomic position; it also
varies as to the second language that is spoken.
Many middle-class parents believe that learning a second language benefits their
children personally and socially and will later benefit them professionally. In fact, it is
characteristic of the elite group in the United States who are involved in scholarly work,
diplomacy, foreign trade, or travel to desire to be fully competent in two languages
(Porter, 1990). However, the languages that parents wish their children to study are of-
ten not those spoken by recently arrived immigrants (Dicker, 1992). This suggests that
a certain bias exists in being bilingual—that being competent in a “foreign language”
is valuable, whereas knowing an immigrant language is a burden to be overcome.
There are many ways in which a second-class status is communicated to speak-
ers of other languages, and because language attitudes usually operate at an incon-
spicuous level, school personnel and teachers are not always aware of the attitudes
they hold. For example, the interlanguage of English learners—the language they use
as they learn English—may be considered a dialect of English. Students learning En-
glish express themselves in many different dialects, depending on the language they
hear in their homes and communities. These forms of English vary in the pronunci-
ation of words, the selection of vocabulary that is used, and the way that words are
arranged in sentences.
Some teachers only accept Standard English, the English found in textbooks. They
may view nonstandard forms as less logical, less precise, or less elegant; sometimes
they may even stigmatized these forms as corrupt or debased. Worse, they may view
those who speak nonstandard English as less intelligent or less gifted linguistically.
Research has shown that incorporating nonstandard language use in the classroom
is often a helpful bridge to the learning of Standard English. When students feel that
they are accepted and are confident of their language skills, they are more likely to
want to acquire a second language (Siegel, 1999).
If teachers devalue the accent, syntax, or other speech characteristics of students as
they learn English, English learners receive the message that their dialect is not accepted.
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Sociocultural Factors That Influence Instruction 21

If teachers use dialect to evaluate students’ potential or use proficiency in Standard

English to predict school achievement, it is possible that the teacher’s own attitude to-
ward the students’ dialects—either positive or negative—has more to do with students’
cognitive and academic achievement than does the dialect.

Adapted Instruction: Recognizing Biases

■ Recognize areas in which there may be differences in
language use and in which those differences might create
friction because the minority group’s use may be deemed
“inferior” by the majority.
■ Be honest about your own biases, recognizing that you
communicate these biases whether or not you are aware of
them.
■ Model correct usage without overt correction, and the student in time will self-correct—if the
student chooses Standard English as the appropriate sociolinguistic choice for that context.

Family Values and School Values

As student populations in U.S. schools become increasingly diversified both lin-
guistically and culturally, teachers and students have come to recognize the important
role that attitudes and values play in school success. At times, the values of the school
may differ from those of the home. Not only the individual’s attitudes as described
above, but also the family’s values and attitudes toward schooling, influence a child’s
school success.

Example of Concept: Family Values

Amol is a third-grade student whose parents were born in India. As the only son in a male-
dominant culture,he has internalized a strong sense of commitment to becoming a heart surgeon.
His approach to classwork is painstaking. Often he is the last to finish an assignment during class.
The teacher’s main frustration with Amol is that he cannot quickly complete his work. How-
ever, when talking with Amol’s family, the teacher notes that his parents seem pleased with his
perfectionism and not at all concerned with his speed at tasks. In this respect, home and school
values differ.

In this example, the teacher epitomizes a mainstream U.S. value: speed and effi-
ciency in learning. Teachers may describe students of other cultures as being lack-
adaisical and uncaring about learning, when in fact they may be operating within a
different time frame and value system.
Other values held by teachers and embodied in classroom procedures have to do
with task orientation. The typical U.S. classroom is a place of work in which students
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22 Chapter 1 Learning about the Language Learner

are expected to conform to a schedule, keep busy, maintain order, avoid wasting time,
conform to authority, and achieve academically in order to attain personal worth.
Working alone is also valued in school, and children may spend a great deal of time
in activities that do not allow them to interact verbally with other people or to move
physically around the room.
Children need to find within the structure and content of their schooling those
behaviors and perspectives that permit them to switch between home and school
cultural behaviors and values without inner conflict or crises of identity (Pérez &
Torres-Guzmán, 2002). Teachers need to feel comfortable with the values and be-
haviors of their students’ cultures in order to develop a flexible cultural repertoire
within the context of teaching.
The danger of excluding the students’ culture(s) from the classroom is that cul-
tural identity, if not included, may become oppositional. Ogbu and Matute-Bianchi
(1986) described how oppositional identity in a distinctly Mexican-American frame
of reference influenced the performance of Mexican-American children. They attrib-
uted achievement difficulties on the part of some Mexican-American children to a dis-
trust of academic effort. When schools were segregated and offered inferior education
to this community, a general mistrust of schools caused a difficulty in accepting, in-
ternalizing, and following school rules of behavior for achievement. This element of
resistance or opposition is not always overt but often takes the form of mental with-
drawal, high absenteeism, or reluctance to do classwork.
Schools with high concentrations of English learners often deprive children of the
use of their cultural knowledge and experience, even when staff are well meaning. It
is easy to give lip service to the validation of the students’ cultures and values. How-
ever, teachers should not use examples drawn from one culture and not another, use
literature that displays pictures and photographs of one culture only, and set up class-
room procedures that make some students feel less comfortable than others. This is
unfair and damaging. The implementation of a rich and flexible cultural repertoire
is the strategy that can allow cultures to mix constructively and promote achievement.

Adapted Instruction: Accommodating

Students’ Cultures

Dalle and Young (2003) suggest that teachers check with families
to see if family cultures have any “taboos” that would make
students uncomfortable performing certain activities; discuss with
family members the support available for homework, and arrange
for after-class supervision if needed; and explain key concepts
using ideas that are familiar from the students’ perspective.

Institutional Support for the Primary Language

and Those Who Speak It
Educators may view a student’s ability to speak a home language other than English
as an advantage or as a liability toward school success. Those who blame bilingual
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Sociocultural Factors That Influence Instruction 23

students for failing in school often operate from the mistaken beliefs that students
and/or their parents are uninterested in education; that students who are raised as
native speakers of another language are handicapped in learning because they have
not acquired sufficient English; or that cultural differences between the ways children
learn at home or among their peers and the ways they are expected to learn at school
interfere with school learning.
In fact, schools often operate in ways that advantage certain children and disad-
vantage others, causing distinct outcomes that align with social and political forces
in the larger cultural context. Institutional support for the primary language and stu-
dents who speak it is a prime factor in school success for these students.
Some social theorists see the culture of the school as maintaining the poor in a per-
manent underclass and as legitimizing inequality (Giroux, 1983). In other words, school-
ing is used to reaffirm class boundaries. This creates an educational class system in which
minority students—or any students who are not successful in the classroom—emerge
from their schooling to occupy the same social status as their parents.

Example of Concept: The Way Schools Use Language

to Perpetuate Social Class Inequality

Consider this account from Erickson of a fourth-grade class that was electing student council
representatives.
Mrs.Lark called for nominations.Mary,a monolingual English-speaking European-American student,
nominated herself. Mrs. Lark accepted Mary’s self-nomination and wrote her name on the board.
Rogelio, a Spanish-speaking Mexican-American child with limited English proficiency, nominated
Pedro. Mrs. Lark reminded the class that the representative must be “outspoken.” Rogelio again
said “Pedro.” Mrs. Lark announced to the class again that the representative must be “a good
outspoken citizen.” Pedro turned red and stared at the floor. Mrs. Lark embarrassed Rogelio into
withdrawing the nomination. No other Mexican-American child was nominated, and Mary won
the election. Pedro and Rogelio were unusually quiet for the rest of the school day.
Source: Adapted from Erickson (1977, p. 59).

Incidents like the one in Mrs. Lark’s classroom are generally unintentional on the
teacher’s part. A beginning step in helping all students feel fully integrated into the
class and the learning environment is for teachers to become sensitive to their own
cultural and linguistic predispositions.
Nieto and Bode (2008) identified numerous structures within schools that affect
English learners: tracking, testing, the curriculum, pedagogy, the school’s physical
structure and disciplinary policies, the limited roles of both students and teachers, and
limited parent and community involvement.

Tracking. The practice of placing students in groups of matched abilities, despite its
superficial advantages, in reality often labels and groups children for years and al-
lows them little or no opportunity to change groups. Secondary school personnel who
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24 Chapter 1 Learning about the Language Learner

place English learners in low tracks or in nonacademic ELD classes preclude those
students from any opportunity for higher-track, precollege work. In contrast, a sup-
portive school environment offers equal education opportunity to all students, re-
gardless of their language background.

Testing. Students who respond poorly on standardized tests are often given “basic skills”
in a remedial curriculum that is essentially the same as the one in which they were not
experiencing success. A supportive school is one that offers testing adaptations for En-
glish learners as permitted by law; for example, academic testing in the primary lan-
guage, extended time for test taking, and fully trained testing administrators.

Curriculum Design. Only a small fraction of knowledge is codified into textbooks and
teachers’ guides, and this is rarely the knowledge that English learners bring from their
communities (see Loewen, 1995). In addition, the curriculum may be systematically
watered down for the “benefit” of children in language-minority communities through
the mistaken idea that such students cannot absorb the core curriculum. A support-
ive environment is one that maintains high standards while offering a curriculum that
is challenging and meaningful.

Pedagogy. The way students are taught is often tedious and uninteresting, particu-
larly for students who have been given a basic skills curriculum in a lower-track class-
room. The pressure to “cover” a curriculum may exclude learning in depth and
frustrate teachers and students alike. Pedagogy that is supportive fully involves
students—teachers make every effort to present understandable instruction that
engages students at high levels of cognitive stimulation.

Example of Concept: A School Culture That Disconnects, Bores,

and Controls—for Teachers and Students Alike

Order predominated at the traditional high school that Wells (1996) studied. Control trumped
creativity.Teachers were not encouraged to voice their educational philosophies or innovate.
Instruction was driven by textbooks,with few opportunities for students to write.Reading became
an exercise in searching for answers to chapter questions or worksheet blanks. Little inquiry,
exploration, or reflection was asked of students. Pope (2002) came to a similar conclusion. Stu-
dents, for the most part, experienced little genuine engagement.They did schoolwork because
they had to—there was little evidence of curiosity or interest. If this is the case for the average
middle-class high school, conditions can only be worse in inner-city schools, where the majority
of immigrant students are educated.

The Physical Structure of the School. Architecture also affects the educational envi-
ronment. Many inner-city schools are built like fortresses to forestall vandalism and theft.
Rich suburban school districts, by contrast, may provide more space, more supplies,
and campuslike schools for their educationally advantaged students. Supportive school-
ing is observable—facilities are humane, well cared for, and materially advantaged.
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Sociocultural Factors That Influence Instruction 25

Disciplinary Policies. Certain students may be punished more often than others, par-
ticularly those who wear high-profile clothing, have high physical activity levels, or
tend to hold an attitude of resistance toward schooling. Rather than defining students’
predilections as deviant or disruptive, teachers can channel these interactions into co-
operative groups that allow children to express themselves and learn at the same time,
thus supporting rich cultural and linguistic expression.

The School Culture. The most powerful regularities about school are not found in the
formalities such as course offerings and schedules. They are found in the school culture—
such unspoken elements as the respect shown by students for academic endeavor, the
openness that the teachers show when the principal drops in to observe instruction,
and the welcome parents feel when they take an active role in the school. In its 1996
report What Matters Most: Teaching and America’s Future, the National Commission
on Teaching and America’s Future argued that without a formal overhaul of school
culture in America, students cannot learn well. This is a warning that applies especially
to the aspects of school culture that promote success for English learners.
The Limited Role of Students. Students may be excluded from taking an active part in
their own schooling, and alienation and passive frustration may result. However, in ad-
dition to language barriers, cultural differences may preclude some students from par-
ticipating in ways that the mainstream culture rewards. The accompanying Example of
Concept illustrates the ways in which the limited role of students is disempowering.

Example of Concept: The Limited Role of Students

Natisha has not said a word to any of her teachers since the beginning of school. It’s not that
she was a “bad” student; she turned in assignments and made Bs. She certainly didn’t cause her
teachers trouble.Therefore Mr. Williams, her high school counselor, was somewhat surprised
to hear she was dropping out of school.
Natisha described her school experiences as coming to school, listening to teachers, and
going home. School was boring and not connected to her real life. Nothing she was learning in
school could help her get a job. She knew from more than ten years of listening to teachers and
reading textbooks that her chances of becoming a news anchorwoman or even a teacher were
about the same as winning the lottery.
School had helped silence Natisha. Classes provided no meaningful experience for her.The
content may have been important to the teachers, but she could find no relationship to her own
world.
Source: Adapted from Gollnick & Chinn (2006, p. 355).

The Limited Role of Teachers. Teachers of CLD students may be excluded from de-
cision making just as students are disenfranchised. This may lead teachers to have
negative feelings toward their students. A supportive environment for CLD students
is supportive of their teachers as well.
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26 Chapter 1 Learning about the Language Learner

Limited Family and Community Involvement. Inner-city schools with large populations
of English learners may exclude families from participation. Parents may find it dif-
ficult to attend meetings, may be only symbolically involved in the governance of the
school, or may feel a sense of mismatch with the culture of the school just as their
children do. In circumstances like these, school personnel, in consultation with com-
munity and parent representatives, can begin to ameliorate such perceptions by talk-
ing with one another and developing means of communication and interaction
appropriate for both parent and school communities.

Example of Concept: Building Home–School Partnerships

When students began skipping classes in high school, several teachers and staff became con-
cerned. The district’s ELD and bilingual staff and several school principals met individually with
students and parents to search for the reasons the school system wasn’t working. Community
meetings were held with parents, teachers, school principals, central office administrators, and
the school superintendent to strengthen the home–school partnership, and included informal
potluck suppers and teacher- and parent-facilitated roundtable discussions. Numerous sugges-
tions and positive actions came from these meetings—including the powerful links that were
made between the district and the families (Zacarian, 2004a, pp. 11–13).

A supportive classroom environment for CLD students is less effective if the

environment or practices of the school are discriminatory. Chapter 11 offers ways in
which teachers can exercise influence within the school and society at large to sup-
port the right of CLD students to receive an effective education.

Sociocultural Support for L1 in the Classroom Environment

Various sociocultural factors influence the support that is offered for the primary lan-
guage and its speakers in the classroom. Teaching and learning in mainstream class-
rooms are often organized with social structures that deny the ways in which students
are most likely to learn. Tharp (1989b) describes the typical North-American class-
room. Students are seated in ranks and files, and a teacher-leader instructs the whole
group. Many students are not productive and on-task in this environment. They may
benefit more from the opportunity to interact with peers as they learn, speaking their
primary language if necessary to exchange information.
Cooperative learning has positive results in the education of CLD students (Kagan,
1986). Positive race relations among students and socialization toward pro-social
values and behaviors are potential outcomes of a cooperative-learning environment.
Cooperative learning may restore a sense of comfort in the school setting to children
of a variety of cultures. Students may gain psychological support from one another
as they acquire English, and this support can help the students work as a group with
the teacher to achieve a workable sociocultural compromise between the use of L1
and L2 in the classroom.
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Learning More 27

Adapted Instruction: Supporting the

Primary Language

■ Feature the primary language(s) of students on bulletin

boards throughout the school and within the classroom.
■ Showcase primary-language skills in written and oral
reports.
■ Involve primary-language speakers as guests, volunteers, and
instructional assistants.

This chapter introduced the English learner and highlighted a variety of factors that a
teacher must consider to design and deliver effective instruction. Some of these factors
lie within the student, and others are factors in society at large that affect the individ-
ual, the family, and the school. The teacher as an intercultural, interlinguistic educator
learns everything possible about the background of the students and marshals every
available kind of support to advance the education of English learners. The United
States is expected to need at least two million teachers by 2011 (Chan, 2004). These
teachers can greatly benefit from specific techniques in crosscultural, language, and
academic development for English learners. ■

LEARNING MORE
Further Reading
Carolyn Nelson (2004), in the article “Reclaiming Teacher Preparation for Success in High-
Needs Schools,” describes her first year of teaching in an inner-city school in Rochester,
New York. This article offers a memorable glimpse at her daily challenges in a school com-
prised largely of Puerto Rican and African-American students. She details the strengths
of the elementary teacher education curriculum at San José State in the context of prepar-
ing teachers as problem-solving intellectuals, a point of view that imparts a balance to the
“prescriptive, curriculum-in-a-box” approaches to teaching.

Web Search
The U.S. Census Bureau’s Website “Minority Links” (online at www.census.gov/
pubinfo/www/hotlinks.html) features demographic information on special populations
(Hispanic/Latino, Asian, Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander, and American
Indian/Alaska Native) that includes demographics by regional, state, and local areas.

Exploration
Find out about the number of English learners in your local school district by visiting a
local school district office, or look it up in the demographics section of the State Depart-
ment of Education Website in your state. Visit a school in a neighborhood that serves CLD
students, or visit your neighborhood school and ask if there are English learners being
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28 Chapter 1 Learning about the Language Learner

served. If there are local teachers who specialize in the education of English learners, ask
them about professional development opportunities in that field.

Experiment
Give a fifteen-word list in a foreign language to three different individuals: a primary school
student (age 6–11), a middle school student (age 12–14), and an adult (age 18 or older).
Let them study the words for five minutes and then ask them to recall the list. Compare
the success of these learners. Ask them what strategy they used to complete the memory
task. Which learner had more success? Which learner had more strategies?

Culture and Self-Esteem

This video discusses that it is important for English-language learners to retain their self-
esteem. Often they are made to feel inferior to students from different cultures.Teaching
culture should go both ways.

To access the video, go to MyEducationLab (www.myeducationlab.com), choose

the Díaz-Rico and Weed text, and log in to MyEducationLab for English Language
Learners. Select the topic Diversity, and watch the video entitled “Culture and
Self-Esteem.”

Answer the following questions:

1. How would you define “self-efficacy”? What role does the teacher play in fostering
this?
2. What are the possible consequences of teaching without concern for an individual’s
native culture?
3. What specific teaching strategies should a teacher include to ensure that all students
are made to feel valued?