English Language Proficiency Standards Aligned With Content Standards

2018 ◽  
Vol 47 (5) ◽  
pp. 317-327 ◽  
Author(s):  
Okhee Lee
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
English Learners ◽  
English Language ◽  
English Language Proficiency ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Content Standards ◽  
Federal Legislation ◽  
Content Areas ◽  
Disciplinary Practices

As federal legislation requires that English language proficiency (ELP) standards are aligned with content standards, this article addresses issues and concerns in aligning ELP standards with content standards in English language arts, mathematics, and science. It starts with a brief description of federal legislation for alignment between ELP standards and content standards along with challenges of ensuring alignment. Then, it highlights how current efforts to ensure alignment center on the language used to engage in disciplinary practices of content standards. Next, taking a perspective on ELP standards from the vantage point of content areas, the article presents a critique of ELP standards developed by the two major consortia of states, WIDA and English Language Proficiency Assessment for the 21st Century (ELPA21). Specifically, the critique focuses on how each consortium addresses two aspects of alignment: (a) disciplinary practices across content areas and (b) cognitive expectations across proficiency levels. Both consortia fall short in accurately reflecting disciplinary practices and maintaining consistent cognitive expectations. Lessons learned from this critique offer recommendations for the field to move forward in ensuring English learners capitalize on the opportunities and meet the demands for both content and language learning presented by content standards. As the challenges in ELP standards development lie squarely at the intersection of content and language learning, the article ends with a call to action for closer collaboration between language and content educators.

Aligning English Language Proficiency Standards With Content Standards: Shared Opportunity and Responsibility Across English Learner Education and Content Areas

2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (8) ◽  
pp. 534-542 ◽  
Author(s):  
Okhee Lee
Keyword(s):  
Language Proficiency ◽  
English Learners ◽  
English Language ◽  
English Language Proficiency ◽  
Content Standards ◽  
Content Areas ◽  
Disciplinary Practices ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
English Language Proficiency Standards ◽  
K 12

The Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015 mandates that English language proficiency (ELP) standards align with content standards. As the fast-growing population of English learners (ELs) is expected to meet college- and career-ready content standards, the purpose of this article is to highlight key issues in aligning ELP standards with content standards. The overarching question is how to align ELP standards with academically rigorous and language-intensive disciplinary practices of content standards while respecting and maintaining the nature of the discipline within each area. I begin by describing contributions and shortcomings of content standards and ELP standards. Next, I propose consideration of three components in aligning ELP standards with content standards: (a) norms of disciplinary practices across content areas, (b) developmental progressions of disciplinary practices across K–12 grade levels or bands and across content areas, and (c) language use across levels of English proficiency. For each component, the challenges in establishing alignment and potential trade-offs in addressing these challenges are discussed. Finally, I highlight how these challenges present opportunities for substantive collaboration between EL education and content areas to move these fields forward and ensure ELs achieve academically rigorous content standards while developing ELP.

Borrowing legitimacy as English learner (EL) leaders: Indiana’s 14-year history with English language proficiency standards

2016 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 241-270 ◽  
Author(s):  
Trish Morita-Mullaney
Keyword(s):  
Language Development ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
English Learners ◽  
English Language ◽  
English Language Proficiency ◽  
English Language Development ◽  
Content Standards ◽  
Critical Leadership ◽  
English Language Proficiency Standards ◽  
K 12

English language proficiency or English language development (ELP/D) standards guide how content-specific instruction and assessment is practiced by teachers and how English learners (ELs) at varying levels of English proficiency can perform grade-level-specific academic standards in K–12 US schools. With the transition from the state-developed Indiana ELP/D standards adopted in 2003 to the World Class Instructional Design and Assessment (WIDA) English language development standards adopted in 2013, this paper explores Indiana’s ELP/D standard’s 14-year history and how its district EL/Bilingual district leaders have interpreted and implemented these two sets of standards between the school years 2002–03 and 2015–16. Using critical leadership and feminism within a narrative design, EL/Bilingual leaders illuminate distinct leadership logics as they mediate and implement ELP/D standards in their districts. Academic content standards are regarded with greater privilege, complicating how EL/Bilingual leaders can position ELP/D standards. Restricted by this standards hierarchy, EL/Bilingual leaders found limited educational venues in which to discuss the performance-based nature of ELP/D standards. Implications for assessment, policy, and leadership preparation are discussed.

scholarly journals Improving English Language Proficiency of Graduate Students by Online Learning Apps available on Smartphone

2019 ◽  
Vol IV (III) ◽  
pp. 535-543
Author(s):  
Shahida Naz ◽  
Mamuna Ghani ◽  
Shahid Nawaz
Keyword(s):  
Online Learning ◽  
Graduate Students ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Digital Literacy ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
English Language Proficiency ◽  
English Language Skills

The field of digital literacy is developing rapidly; consequently, the interest of researchers has also shifted now. The current research study was to explore the role of online learning Apps available on smartphones in improving graduate students' English language proficiency. Quantitative and qualitative research methods were used in this study. Data were collected through a questionnaire that had close-ended and open-ended questions. Questionnaires were distributed among 480 graduate-level students studying in 6 universities of Punjab, Pakistan. Data were analyzed by using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS 22.0) to find out results in the form of Percentage, Mean Score, Standard Deviation by applying the Independent Sample T-Test. The results of the study demonstrated the potential of Mobile Assisted Language Learning (MALL) as an anticipatory approach to improving English language skills. Results showed that students were pleased to use smartphones to improve their English language proficiency. They responded positively about the role of smartphones in improving English language skills. On the basis of findings, the researcher concluded that smartphone plays an important role in improving students' English language proficiency.

scholarly journals Editorial

2014 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 190-197 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ingrid Piller
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Social Inclusion ◽  
English Language ◽  
Equal Opportunity ◽  
Linguistic Diversity ◽  
English Language Proficiency ◽  
Editorial Introduction ◽  
Original Research

This editorial introduction orients the reader to current public debates and the state of research with regard to the intersection of linguistic diversity and social inclusion in contemporary Australia. These are characterised by a persistent lack of attention to the consequences of linguistic diversity for our social organisation. The editorial introduction serves to frame the five original research articles that comprise this special issue and identifies the key challenges that linguistic diversity presents for a fair and just social order. These challenges run as red threads through all the articles in this issue and include the persistent monolingual mindset which results in a pervasive language blindness and an inability to even identify language as an obstacle to inclusion. Furthermore, where language is recognised as an obstacle to inclusion this usually takes the form of assuming that an individual suffers from a lack of English language proficiency. Improving English language proficiency is then prescribed as a panacea for inclusion. However, on close examination that belief in itself can constitute a form of exclusion with detrimental effects both on language learning and equal opportunity.

The discursive (mis)representation of English language proficiency

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-28
Author(s):  
Agnes Bodis
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
International Students ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
International Education ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
English Language ◽  
English Language Proficiency ◽  
Media Representation ◽  
The Media

Abstract International education constitutes a key industry in Australia and international students represent a third of university students at Australian universities. This paper examines the media representation of international students in terms of their English language proficiency. The study applies Critical Discourse Analysis to the multimodal data of an episode of a current affairs TV program, Four Corners, and social media comments made to the episode. Using Social Actor Analysis, the study finds that the responsibility for declining standards at universities is assigned to international students through representations of their language use as problematic. This is supported by the visual representation of international students as different. By systematically mapping out the English-as-a-problem discourse, the paper finds that the media representation of language proficiency and language learning is simplistic and naïve and the social media discussion reinforces this. This further contributes to the discursive exclusion of international students.

ROLE OF STUDY SKILLS IN IMPROVING ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNING PROCESS

2020 ◽  
pp. 32-37
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Study Skills ◽  
English Language ◽  
English Language Proficiency ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Extensive Reading ◽  
Object A ◽  
Spoken English ◽  
Smart Learning

This study aims at finding out inadequate English Language Proficiency in spoken English. Apart from study skills verbal blows appear mightier than the physical ones. Not just the words both written and spoken have acquired a significantly crucial and an almost decisive force in contemporary times. Essentially, ours is a society which moves on the wheels of communication though it is only a means and not the end. In English language teaching ( ELT) especially, when English is connected to class room teaching (CRT ) .Self endeavour plays a very significant role in engrossing the attention and attitude of the students. A student has to incorporate a variety of skills as dictionary, thesaurus, encyclopedia, extensive, reading, Exploration, four language skills (LSRW), , dialogue writing, note making, note taking, report writing, email etiquette are part in improving one's English language proficiency effectively. To achieve this object, a lot of reference work has to be done by the students effectively. Since language is acquired only proper self-efforts by the students and learners, study skills will back up the knowledge of understanding a language. When understanding sounds in English, it is easier to improve the accuracy in pronunciation. Learning a language is quite different from teaching any language like English. As English language has a peculiar in its diction of usage, word stress, sentence stress and intonations, keeping attention on them is very important. For improving proficiency, the way we study should be designed and challenged to the present era. Ancient teaching methods, approaches, techniques will be replaced by latest modern smart communication approaches and strategies. For smart learning of study Skills, several factors have been contributed to the adoption of new trends in ELT for improving a learner as adept in English language proficiency. This paper also includes some quick tips on how to teach study skills. It has also been discussed the good study techniques.

Language testing and technology: problems of transition to a new era

ReCALL ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia Dooey
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
English Language ◽  
Test Validity ◽  
Language Testing ◽  
English Language Proficiency ◽  
Validity And Reliability ◽  
Technological Advances ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Computer Based

AbstractTechnological advances have revolutionised methods of both teaching and testing in languages, and practitioners have eagerly embraced the opportunity to provide more innovative ways of doing this. The unique features offered by technology make it increasingly possible to test for a wide range of language skills required for a specific purpose. With the increasing need to test for English language proficiency and the importance placed on this facility, technology is being utilised to address issues of practicality, speed and efficiency. However, such advantages should not be embraced without due consideration for the essential qualities of any test; validity and reliability. With the inevitable shift towards computer-based testing, certain areas need special consideration. While computer-based tests can provide constructive diagnostic information to complement the language learning process, they should be used more selectively in other contexts, for example in high-stakes tests, examples of which are International English Language Testing System (IELTS) and Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). These tests provide an assessment of English language proficiency, a key component of university admissions criteria. This paper examines a number of issues related to the design and application of computer-based tests, with particular reference to construct validity, computer familiarity and practicality. It is recommended that in the short term at least, test-takers be offered the choice of test medium in the interests of fairness and equity.

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