21st Century Linguistic Apartheid: English Language Learners in Arizona Public Schools

2007 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 268-271

07–449Barber, Richard (Dubai Women's College, UAE), A practical model for creating efficient in-house placement tests. The Language Teacher (Japan Association for Language Teaching) 31.2 (2007), 3–7.07–450Chang, Yuh-Fang (National Chung Hsing U, Taiwan), On the use of the immediate recall task as a measure of second language reading comprehension. Language Testing (Hodder Arnold) 23.4 (2006), 520–543.07–451Hyun-Ju, Kim (U Seoul, Korea), World Englishes in language testing: A call for research. English Today (Cambridge University Press) 22.4 (2006), 32–39.07–452Mahon, Elizabeth A. (Durham Public Schools, North Carolina, USA), High-stakes testing and English language learners: Questions of validity. Bilingual Research Journal (National Association for Bilingual Education) 30.2 (2006), 479–497.07–453McCoy, Damien (Australian Centre for Education and Training, Vietnam), Utilizing students' preferred language learning strategies for IELTS test preparation. EA Journal (English Australia) 23.1 (2006), 3–13.07–454Menken, Kate (City U New York, USA), Teaching to the test: How no child left behind impacts language policy, curriculum, and instruction for English language learners. Bilingual Research Journal (National Association for Bilingual Education) 30.2 (2006), 521–547.07–455Pae, Tae-Il (Yeungnam U, China) & Gi-Pyo Park, Examining the relationship between differential item functioning and differential test functioning.Language Testing (Hodder Arnold) 23.4 (2006), 475–496.07–456Rimmer, Wayne (U Reading, UK), Measuring grammatical complexity: The Gordian knot. Language Testing (Hodder Arnold) 23.4 (2006), 497–519.07–457Rupp, André A. (Humboldt U, Berlin, Germany) Tracy Ferne & Hyeran Choi, How assessing reading comprehension with multiple-choice questions shapes the construct: A cognitive processing perspective. Language Testing (Hodder Arnold) 23.4 (2006), 441–474.07–458Vanderveen, Terry (Kangawa U, Japan), The effect of EFL students' self-monitoring on class achievement test scores. JALT Journal (Japan Association for Language Teaching) 28.2 (2006), 197–206.07–459Van Moere, Alistair (Lancaster U, UK), Validity evidence in a university group oral test. Language Testing (Hodder Arnold) 23.4 (2006), 411–440.


2016 ◽  
Vol 32 (7) ◽  
pp. 936-968 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kendall King ◽  
Martha Bigelow

U.S. public schools are required to establish policies ensuring that English language learners have equal access to “meaningful education.” This demands that districts put into place mechanisms to determine student eligibility for specialized English language services. For the most states, this federal requirement is fulfilled through the local administration of the WIDA–Access Placement Test (W-APT), arguably the most widely used, yet under-studied, English language assessment in the country. Through intensive participant observation at one, urban new student intake center, and detailed qualitative, discursive analysis of test administration and interaction, we demonstrate how the W-APT works as a high-stakes assessment, screener, and sorter, and how test takers and test administrators locally negotiate this test and enact this federal and state policy. Our analysis indicates that the W-APT is problematic in several respects, most importantly because the test does not differentiate adequately across students with widely different literacy skills and formal schooling experiences.


2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Margaret René Watring Yoesel

Classrooms in the United States are changing as the population of the United States becomes more diverse with growing numbers of English language learners (Banks, 2005; Capps, Fix, Murray, Ost, Passel and Herwantoro, 2005; Cartledge, Gardner, and Ford, 2009; DeVillar, Faltis, and Cummins, 1994; Diaz, 2001; Dilg, 2003; Hernandez, 2001; Ovando and McLaren, 2000; Sadowski, 2004; Sleeter and Grant, 1994). Immigrants and their families have traditionally settled in larger urban communities, but recent trends indicate a growing number of English language learners are enrolling in rural mid-west public schools. Many rural districts have very little experience or resources to meet the needs of this new diverse group of students. As a result teachers, especially in rural and low-incidence districts, are experiencing academic and cultural challenges of educating students whose first language is not English (Berube, 2000; Hill and Flynn, 2004). The purpose of this study was to examine elementary teacher perceptions regarding experience with instructing mainstreamed English language learners in a low-incidence district. This study also explores issues these teachers feel most influence their ability to successfully teach students from diverse cultures and who speak a first language other than English. Research examining teacher perceptions should provide important insight to teachers, administrators and policy makers regarding teacher needs and support in the education of English language learners.


2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 107
Author(s):  
Viviana Alexandrowicz

The idea of offering all children and youth an education that is experiential, student centered, engaging, and relevant to life is not a new concept (Dewey, 1938; Kolb, 1981). Preparing students with the competencies, skills, and character for full participation in the 21st century has become the vision of schools, educators, and organizations around the world (NEA, 2020; Geisinger, 2016; Trilling, B. & Fadel, C. 2009). Changemaker teachers, staff, and administrators believe in facilitating children and youth development as citizens for the 21st century. These educators also guide them as agents of change who empathize with others and solve real life problems for the greater good. These children and youth are what Ashoka calls “Changemakers”. (Ashoka, 2020). This article explores the potential for facilitating the development of English Learners (Els) as Changemakers by using effective Second Language Acquisition (SLA) approaches in combination with experiential approaches. The intent is to contribute a theoretical framework and curriculum ideas for effective practice to help English language learners develop language, access content, and develop 21st century skills as Changemaker attributes.


2016 ◽  
Vol 24 ◽  
pp. 53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peggie Garcia ◽  
P. Zitlali Morales

Although there has been a great deal of debate about the effectiveness of charter schools in the research literature, there has been surprisingly little attention paid to English language learners (ELLs) in charter schools. Moreover, the charter school research has predominantly focused on whether or not charter schools are effective rather than how or why high-performing charter schools work, particularly for ELLs. We contend that researchers must expand their focus beyond access and achievement and begin to grapple with questions related to the quality of programs for ELLs in charter schools. To meet an emerging need in the field, we synthesize several strands of existing research—related to charter schools, school improvement, and ELLs in traditional public schools—to propose a five-component framework that describes essential elements of quality programs for ELLs in charter schools. We conclude with a discussion of implications of our framework for research, policy, and practice. 


ASHA Leader ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 9 (17) ◽  
pp. 8-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Celeste Roseberry-McKibbin ◽  
Laureen O’Hanlon ◽  
Alejandro Brice

Corpora ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 153-179 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cynthia Berger ◽  
Eric Friginal ◽  
Jennifer Roberts

This study details a comparative, corpus-based discourse analysis of corpora containing educational documents distributed to parents and guardians of K-12 children in public schools in the United States (US). The exploratory local corpus (n=152,934) contains parent-directed educational documents collected from four public schools in a city located in the south-eastern US with an unusually high percentage of foreign-born residents. The comparison corpus (n=147,796) contains parent-directed documents collected from a sampling of K-12 schools across the US. Following Baker et al. (2008) , keyness and collocations were utilised as central theoretical notions and tools of analysis, in addition to a lexical sophistication comparison, in order to investigate text simplification across corpora. Results show that while the first corpus used labels for students that were superficially inclusive, English language learners themselves were discursively represented as outsiders facing barriers to inclusion that native-English speaking monolingual students do not face. Furthermore, the first corpus revealed an emphasis on identifying and categorising language learners so as to provide them with immediate services, while the non-geographically specific corpus focussed more on the long-term development of learners and on preparation for post-secondary education. We discuss the implications for language policy in public education and for policies related to K-12 school-to-home correspondence.


2017 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 203-220 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takahiro Sato ◽  
Jennifer Walton-Fisette ◽  
Insook Kim

Public schools in the United States (US) have become more linguistically diverse. With the rise of English as a global language, English Language Learners (ELLs) experience “transnationalism”, which requires them to gain a critical and reflective knowledge of diverse cultures and the valuing of a new language and culture. Many teachers do not recognize the importance of language as a tool for teaching academic subjects. Teachers struggle to shape and guide conversations using language to help ELLs further their development. The purpose of this study was to explore elementary physical education (PE) teachers’ experiences with teaching ELLs. Based on positioning theory, this study employed an interpretive case study research design. Six PE teachers volunteered to participate in the study. Data were collected from a survey questionnaire, face-to-face interviews and follow-up e-mails. Three major interrelated and complex themes emerged from the data analysis. These recurrent themes were (a) race and cultural-based stereotype, (b) social inclusion and communication challenges, and (c) PE teachers’ learning experiences. Although each of the PE teachers expressed the view that there were challenges in working with ELLs, they believed that they should implement effective pedagogical methods (inclusive pedagogy), address social justice and diversity issues of ELLs, and develop a positive learning atmosphere for all students.


Author(s):  
Jennifer J. Chen

The purpose of this chapter is threefold: (a) to highlight the importance of teaching and learning multiliteracies for today's students to succeed in the 21st century, (b) to discuss the literature about multiliteracies and new technologies for teaching and student learning, and (c) to provide strategies for integrating technology effectively in teaching multiliteracies to English language learners (ELLs), the fastest growing segment of public student population in the USA. In this digital age, it is imperative that today's students acquire multiliteracies needed to succeed in school, in life, and in the global economy. Situated within this context, the chapter seeks to address this central inquiry: How can teachers of ELLs infuse technology effectively to facilitate these students' acquisition of multiliteracies? As educators continue to seek new and better approaches to optimizing ELLs' educational success, this chapter represents a contribution to this quest.


Author(s):  
Judi Simmons Estes

From the fall of 2003 to the fall of 2013, the number of Hispanic students in K-12 schools increased from 19 percent to 25 percent; in addition, the percentage of English language learners (ELLs) in U.S. public schools was 9.4 percent during the 2014-2015 school year, ranging from 1.0 percent in West Virginia to 22.4 percent in California (NCES, 2016). General education teachers are increasingly likely to have ELL students in their classrooms, yet a majority of classroom teachers have little to no training in working with English language learners (NCES, 2011). This chapter provides a discussion of the role of language in learning, the needs of English language learners and their families, as well as the role of teacher preparation programs in preparing pre-service teachers to work with culturally and linguistically diverse young children.


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