LANGUAGE MINORITY STUDENTS IN HIGH SCHOOL AND COLLEGE ENGLISH CLASSES: ISSUES AND STRATEGIES

Mark RobergeSan Francisco State University

& Vanessa WenzellCSUDH (Feb. 28, 2014)

INCREASE IN IMMIGRANT ESL STUDENTS IN SCHOOLS

In 1965 the National Origins Act of 1924 was repealed.

National origin favored Family unification as favored criteria

Low quotas Higher quotas

European Much more varied ethnic mix

Moderately well-off Large socio-economic variation (esp. education)

Small # of children Large # of children (1/3 are children)

Indo-European languages Mix of languages

Enclaves in North East Enclaves in South and West

WHERE DO IMMIGRANTS LIVE?

California

9 million

New York 4 million

Texas 3 million

Florida 3 million

Illinois 2 million

(22% of CA population is foreign-born)

WHY IS A COLLEGE-BOUND PATH NECESSARY?

Firstgeneration

Secondgeneration

Thirdgeneration

Labor

Minimal language and

literacy requirements

Skilled

Language intensive

Not literacy intensive

Professional

Language intensive

Literacy intensive

“Traditional” path of upward mobility

WHY IS A COLLEGE-BOUND PATH NECESSARY?

Firstgeneration

Secondgeneration

Thirdgeneration

Labor

Minimal language and

literacy requirements

Skilled

Language intensive

Not literacy intensive

Professional

Language intensive

Literacy intensive

“Traditional” path of upward mobility

WHY IS A COLLEGE-BOUND PATH NECESSARY?

Firstgeneration

Secondgeneration

Thirdgeneration

Labor

Minimal language and

literacy requirements

Skilled

Language intensive

Not literacy intensive

Professional

Language intensive

Literacy intensive

“Traditional” path of upward mobility

STUDENT LANGUAGENative-like

English

Juan 1 Juan 2

Standard Community

Dialect Dialect

Juan 3 Juan 4

Learner-likeEnglish

STUDENT LANGUAGE

Native-like English

Juan 1: “Mainstream” native speaker Arrived before “critical period”Exposure to standard native speakersProbably bilingual But may have forgotten Spanish

Standard Community

Dialect Dialect

Learner-likeEnglish

STUDENT LANGUAGENative-like

English

Juan 2: Chicano English speakerU.S.-bornEnglish monolingual; doesn’t speak SpanishLanguage features look like ESL but aren’t

Standard Community

Dialect Dialect

Learner-likeEnglish

STUDENT LANGUAGENative-like

English

Standard Community

Dialect Dialect

Juan 3: Late arrival immigrant Lacks oral fluencyNon-idiomatic English Non-colloquial EnglishHighly variable ESL errors

Juan 4: Early arrival immigrantSo-called “Generation 1.5” Mixture of ESL and dialect features

Learner-likeEnglish

STUDENT LANGUAGENative-like

English

Standard Community

Dialect DialectJuan 4: Early arrival immigrantSo-called “Generation 1.5” Began learning English after critical periodFluent (but not accurate) in EnglishMixture of ESL and dialect features

Learner-likeEnglish

GENERATION 1.5

2nd Generation

Children of immigrantsUS-born

US-educatedEnglish-dominant

Generation 1.5

Childhood immigrantsForeign-born

Partially foreign-educated

Partially US-educatedL1- or English-dominant

1st Generation

Adult immigrantsForeign-born

Foreign-educatedL1-dominant

Pre-School Arrival Age

Elementary Arrival Age

Middle School Arrival Age

High School Arrival Age

CollegeArrival Age

GENERATION 1.5

Pre-School Arrival Age

Elementary Arrival Age

Middle School Arrival Age

High School Arrival Age

CollegeArrival Age

LEARNING ACADEMIC ENGLISH

Early arrival immigrants: “Generation 1.5”

INFORMAL LANGUAGE LEARNINGGeneration 1.5

1. “Aural” (listening) learners: Grammatical structures that are difficult to hear may be missing from their linguistic repertoire.

2. “Oral” learners: They may have well-developed communicative strategies that compensate for grammatical problems.

3. Fossilized learners: Their pattern of errors get “stuck” at a certain stage and become resistant to change.

INFORMAL LANGUAGE LEARNING

Generation 1.51. Their language may be influenced by

other language learners.

2. Their language may be influenced by multiple ethnic dialects.

3. They may have features in their speech and writing that look like learner errors but aren’t.

LEARNING ENGLISH IN SCHOOLGeneration 1.5

1. Many have had inconsistent instruction—a merry-go-round of placements, pedagogies, teaching practices.

2. Many have been misdiagnosed—premature mainstreaming, ESL tracking, repeated re-designation.

3. Many have been in remedial classes—where there’s a low level of linguistic input and output.

LEARNING ENGLISH IN SCHOOL

Honors EnglishRemedial/Low-track

English

More student talk Less student talk

Complex verbal interaction IRE, imperatives, silence

More group workMore whole class work and

individual work

Active behaviors rewarded Passive behaviors rewarded

Complex reading & writing tasks

Mechanical reading & writing tasks

Reading-writing-listening-speaking connections

Isolated activities

Language input in 2 class environments

ACQUIRING READING AND WRITING SKILLS

Generation 1.5 immigrants' difficulties as second language readers and writers1. Typical second language reading and

writing difficulties

2. Special generation 1.5 difficulties: Acquisition of second language literacy without first language literacy

ACADEMIC LITERACY

Generation 1.5 by the end of high school Stronger ORAL English

Weaker ACADEMIC English

Inexperienced readers and writers (so-called “Basic Writers,”

“Developmental writers”) Oral composers, oral editors, speech-

based writers.

WAN

There are different ways language can be use in communication. The language I use in school, family, and friends are all different. In school, I use English to talk to my instructors and fellow classmates. At home, I speak three different languages. I speak English to my brothers and sister, while speaking Mandarin to my parents and speaking Laotian with my brother-in-law. With all these different languages I use in my daily life, I find I am most comfortable with the language I use with my friends.

WAN

When I speak to my friends, I always use English. Even if some of my friends are Chinese and can speak the same language as I can, I have never spoke Chinese with any of my friends. I find myself to communicate better in English than my own language. When I speak to my friends, I don't pay attention to my grammars. We often talk to each other using slangs, that others might find it weird. But to us, it's fun because instead of saying one complete word, we tend to say a short cut of the word. Although I find myself speaking English, my best language, to my friends, it has somewhat affected me in my grammars.

#1 LEARN ABOUT YOUR STUDENTS

Use beginning-of-semester info sheets or surveys to find out about your students’ language and literacy backgrounds.

Sample questions: Do you enjoy reading for school? Do you enjoy reading for pleasure? If so, what kinds of things

do you like to read? How would you rate your reading ability?: very good

/good /OK How would you rate your writing ability?: very good /good

/OK Do you know any languages other than English? Can you read/write in any other languages? Do you think you might need/want tutoring this semester? If

so, why?

*

#2 MULTIMODAL PRESENTATION Students need see texts, images, and visuals

of all sorts in addition to just listening. Build in redundancy.Use the board.Use handouts.Use an overhead projector or PowerPoint.Direct students to specific portions of a text.Use a class web site.Use email as a preview or follow-up.Create out-of-class discussion groups that

share notes.Create on-line discussion groups that

discuss the material.

#3 STRUCTURED PARTICIPATION

Students need many structured opportunities to interact in class and they need to be given the tools to participate.Make your expectations explicit in the

course description.Talk about what counts as good

participation.Use both whole-class and small-group

activities.Model the skills and the language students

may need for the activity.Design the small group activities so that

everyone has to participate: Assign tasks or roles, e.g. reporter, a note-taker.

#4 OPPORTUNITIES FOR PLANNING

Students need opportunities for planning their writing. This capitalizes on their oral proficiency.

Brainstorming and planning for the essay #2: Argumentative essay

Discuss the following with your group:

For your introduction:Opener—What interesting fact/quote/statistic/question/statement

are you going to use to introduce the topic and catch readers' attention? Does your group thinks it’s interest-catching?

Background information—What do readers need to know before they hear the pro/con positions? Does your group think that’s enough background info?

Statement of the two positions: —What are the two sides? Does your group think you describe the 2 positions clearly?

What's your thesis? — (Remember it must state your point of view clearly and show where you're going in the essay; it's like a roadmap.)

#5 TEACHING PROOFREADING AND EDITING

Students need specific instructions and training in proofreading and editing, as well as time to edit and proofread. Make your expectations explicit. Model proofreading and editing strategies using a

sample paper, possibly on an overhead projector. Teach and model questioning strategies for

proofreading. Example—“Is this past only or true always?”

Give students a proofreading checklist. On the day they’re going to hand in their papers,

give students time to do peer editing or a last minute proofreading.

Have students do a separate proofreading draft that they mark up. “Show your work.”

#6 GRAMMAR INTERVENTIONSSave grammar instruction until students

have a draft in hand. Focus on content, organization, and

development first; work on grammar at the final stage of the writing process.

Since you can't assume that “generation 1.5" learners have knowledge of grammar terms and rules, make basic grammar information succinct and accessible.

Teach grammar points as “rules of thumb” (things that students can actually do to their essay) rather than as abstract conceptual systems.

Example—“Circle the subject and underline the verb.”

MORPHEMES OFTEN DISAPPEAR FOR 1.5S

-s bird-s-ing crying-ed landed-s sleep-s-en fallen-er higher-est highest

Only 8 Inflectional Morphemesthat can cause much trouble!

#7 INDIVIDUALIZED GRAMMAR INSTRUCTION

Have students create their own reference materials:Grammar reference cards w/rules in their

own wordsVocabulary cards w/example sentences An editing/proofreading/grammar log If you’re working one-on-one with a

student, have the student write an individualized “action plan.”

GRAMMAR REFERENCE CARD

8. SAMPLE ACTION PLAN

9. COVER MEMO FOR FINAL DRAFTDirections:

When you turn in your essay, make sure that you include a cover memo in which you discuss:

1. what you liked/disliked about this unit, the readings, and the essay assignment;

2. what you found easy/difficult about this unit, the readings, and the essay assignment;

3. a brief description of how your paper changed and developed as you revised it;

4. a summary of advice that your peer reviewers gave you during peer response and a brief discussion about how you used that advice;

5. a brief discussion of the current strengths of your paper;

6. a brief discussion of things you would work on more, if you had more time;

7. a list of grammar points that you focused on during proofreading and a description of the proofreading techniques that you used to work on them;

8. any other questions that you have for me about this assignment or anything else in the course.

Note: The cover memo is 10% of the final paper grade.

10. HANDOUT FOR GRADING RUBRIC

Essay #2 Name: ________________________Grading Criteria

Content/Fulfilling the assignment

__ You have clearly focused on a topic and stated a point from the reading about this topic.

__ You have provided an explanation, with details and information, about how the reading supports your point.

__ You have illustrated this point by a description of a personal experience (your own or someone else’s).

__ Your description of this experience is well written with clear details. You explain ideas and information thoroughly.

__ You have made clear connections between the point related to the reading and your personal example.

__ You successfully tie your ideas together in the introduction and conclusion.

GRADING RUBRIC (CONTINUED)Grammar and Editing__You accurately use the following grammar structures. For structures

circled below, be sure to follow the editing guide for that structure next time and mark your next editing/proofreading draft appropriately.

articles/nouns word forms subject—verb agreement sentence structure (fragments, run-ons) verb tenses__You demonstrate that you’re working on developing a system for

editing by identifying, analyzing, and correcting errors.

Mechanics__The spelling, punctuation, and capitalization errors are minimal in your

paperSummative Comments on what went well & what needs more work