ITEC 7430 ELL Report Lin-Chiou Lee

What do teachers need to know about students who are learning to speak English?

Students who qualify for the ELL program really want to learn English and master the language.

Oftentimes, they are really good students in their countries and become discouraged with their academic

performance when they come to the U.S. with the language barrier. Many ELL students go through a silent phase

where they do not talk much, but that does not mean they are not listening and taking in all the information to

their best abilities. Just like any other student new to an environment, ELL students will not ask questions when

they do not understand certain concepts until they feel comfortable with their teachers and classmates. Many may

also come from cultures where it is rude to ask the teacher questions or even look at teachers in the eyes during a

conversation.

Teachers must know the difference between social/conversational English (Basic Interpersonal

Communicative Skills – BICS) and academic English (Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency – CALP).

Since it does take ELL students on average five to seven years to fully develop their Cognitive Academic

Language Proficiency, teachers might have the misconception that ELL students cannot perform as well as their

peers whose first language are English. Moreover, just because ELL students can become fluent in conversational

English within the first two to three years at school does not mean they are ready to be independent learners

without instructional scaffolding. Just like other students, the levels ELL students are at today may or may not the

levels they will be at tomorrow.

English Language Learners who are stronger in speech tend to be weaker in their writing skills and

reading comprehension and vice versa. It is not necessarily a language deficiency when an ELL student cannot

read and/or write well in English since oftentimes he or she cannot read and/or write well in his or her own

language to begin with. Those students who are weaker in speech will test out of the ELL program faster than

their peers with stronger conversational English due to the fact that they are usually better readers in their native

language. Just like any other student who is new to the class, teachers must get to know the student and meet

where the student is before a relationship can be shaped.

What are some general instructional practices that can be beneficial to students who are learning to speak
English?
ITEC 7430 ELL Report Lin-Chiou Lee

Teachers should always meet students where they are in order to build a safe and trustworthy relationship.

Foster an environment where they are safe to ask questions and show where they are struggling. Start with where

they are and chunk information down to ensure small success before challenging them little by little. ELL

students need to feel empowered by completing tasks similar to their English-speaking peers. Help ELL students

prioritize what concepts are important to grasp in a lesson by providing them with a key vocabulary list ahead of

time and allowing them to preview the materials. Discreetly introduce them to a few students in the class who can

be their “buddies” to sit and work with.

Effective teachers must be culturally responsive because they care what the students bring to the situation,

what the students know or care about, and what might motivate them. Find ways to communicate to them through

pictures, gestures, and Google Translate. Allow ELL students to translate words they do not know so that they can

bridge their understanding and learning from their own language to English. Give them the opportunity to choose

how they want to demonstrate mastery of learning. Teachers must find ways to gauge into student understanding

Wait time is very important to ELL students. Be patient and listen carefully to what they can tell you in

both English and their native language. Encourage them to express their thoughts and contribute to small group

discussions in either speech or writing according to their comfort levels. Let them know that they can make up or

redo the work if they did not do it correctly the first time. They need to understand that learning is a process and

making mistakes is part of that process.

What should teachers consider when testing students who are learning to speak English?

Teachers should always imagine what would be helpful to themselves if they were to take a test in a

language they do not know or are not familiar with. Consider what parts of the test questions might have potential

cultural bias and be prepared for their questions. The testing vocabulary used should be consistent with the key

vocabulary list supplemented in the daily instruction. Make it clear to the students what is on the test aligns with

the content they have been learning in class. Multiple-choice tests are going to be the most challenging to ELL

students as they try to decipher different parts to each question. Encourage them to use their dictionary or

translators. Give them the test a few sections at a time to minimize their test anxiety.
ITEC 7430 ELL Report Lin-Chiou Lee

Be accessible to ELL students when they take the time to make sure that they fully understand the

direction on the test. English Language Learners definitely need extra time on every test. The best practice is to

have them come in early in the morning on the day of the assessment to complete a section or two without

showing them the rest of the test. They will then have ample time to complete the rest of the time in class. All test

accommodations should be given discreetly as ELL students already feel different from their classmates due to

the language barrier. If they still cannot finish the test, they are expected to write not finished right below their

names so that the teachers can find time for them to finish right after school or the next morning. Since the

purpose of a test is to understand what content they have mastered, ELL students should be able to recover a test

if they did not do well. They will never self-advocate for this so it is crucial for the teachers to put the recovery

process in place with the students.

Knowledge of English Language Learners (ELLs)

I have worked closely with five ELL students in a class where they focus on acquiring and enriching their

social/conversational English (Basic Interpersonal Communicative Skills – BICS) and academic English

(Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency – CALP) in both speaking and writing. I was granted two weeks to

work with this group of students for a 55-minute session each day. During our first two days together, I focused

on building the connection – observing and facilitating student work to gain a better understanding of each

student’s academic abilities. I was then asked to design an activity where students can have ample opportunities

to practice the oral and written language needed to explain the information and compare the data portrayed in

different types of graphs such as bar, circle, and line graphs, histograms, stem-and-leaf, and dot plots, etc.

Here are some observations I have made on the five ELL students I have worked with.

Student Name Level of English Proficiency Personal Characteristics

Alex speaks mostly in short and
Alex is a 9th grade simple sentences. He is hard to
understand most of the time due to
male student from
his limited English vocabulary words
Venezuela
and his pronunciation.
Alex is mostly quiet until he is distracted by
Roger and Michael when they speak in Spanish.
Alex has the ability to understand the content and
complete the assignment when he works with the
teacher one-on-one. Without constant reminder
and supervision, Alex is usually the one who
turns in his assignment last.
ITEC 7430 ELL Report Lin-Chiou Lee

Gary’s speaking and writing are both
Roger is a 9th limited to simple phrases and short
grade male from sentences. He is hard to understand
Dominican sometimes due to his limited English
Republic vocabulary words and his
pronunciation.
Michael’s speaking and writing are
Michael is a 9th both in the intermediate level. He can
grade male from produce some complex sentence
Spain structures. He can clearly
communicate what he wants to say.
Kai can communicate his ideas
clearly to teachers and other students.
Kai is a 9th grade
He can speak English better than he
male from Japan
can write.
Jillian can communicate very well
with teachers and other students in
Jillian is a 10th
English. Her speaking and writing
grade female
from Belarus does go beyond short simple
sentences with some syntactic errors.
Jillian can be easily understood.
Roger is very outspoken in both his primary
language and English. He is not afraid to ask
questions during a task when he does not
understand something. He is very interested in
learning English. He does need the constant
reminder to sit down and finish his work.
Michael is a quiet student. When I worked with
him one-on-one, he was very good at asking
questions so that he could better understand the
task. Michael needs to be more confident about
himself and his work.
Kai is very active in the class. He always gets his
assignment done early. He does not always
produce the best work. He is always willing to
help others. He also likes to make sure that he
pronounces his English words correctly.
Jillian is probably the most advanced student in
the entire class. She always turns in quality work
on time. Jillian tends to help Roger a lot since he
sits right next to her in class.

Pedagogical Strategies

1. Contextualize vocabulary – I made sure to help ELL students prioritize what concepts are important to grasp

in a lesson by teaching key vocabulary in tiers – Tier 1 words are “high-frequency words in everyday

conversations” that students are usually familiar with, Tier 2 words are words “frequently used in written

language” that are crucial to “students’ verbal functioning in the classroom,” and Tier 3 words are content-

specific words that must be taught directly (Beck, McKeown, & Kucan as cited in Miller, 2016, p. 60).

2. Activate background knowledge – I introduced the lesson by having each student make a graphic organizer in

his or her OneNote notebook with drawings to bar, circle, and line graphs, histograms, stem-and-leaf, and dot

plots using Microsoft Surface Pen.

3. Explicit Instruction with ample practice – We first had a short class discussion on what students could identify

from each type of graph. After listing what the students have said, we then discussed the sentence structures

needed to successfully interpret and compare the data in bar, circle, and line graphs, histograms, stem-and-

leaf, and dot plots. Lastly, students were given ample time and opportunities to practice with one another all
ITEC 7430 ELL Report Lin-Chiou Lee

the sentence structures in speaking before recording with Spreaker and then writing before taking the online

final summative assessment.

4. Online Assessment through Google Docs – I made sure the final summative assessment given separates

assessing students’ content knowledge from their English language knowledge.

Objectives and Assessments

Objective Assessment Evidence of Student Learning

(Content) – Students (Formative) – During the According to my observations and final assessment results,
will compare and lesson, I will observe and all five students were able to clearly explain the
distinguish the many ask questions while the information and compare the data displayed in bar, circle,
different types of data students are working. and line graphs, histograms, stem-and-leaf, and dot plots.
displayed in bar,
circle, and line graphs, (Summative) – see final
histograms, stem-and- assessment attached to
leaf, and dot plots. my project submission.
(Language) – Students (Formative) – I will When Alex and Roger spoke in shorter and simpler oral
will acquire the oral listen to the student's sentences, their peers and I could understand the content
language needed to descriptions as he/she they wanted to communicate better. From time to time, it
further analyze the works. I will also would be hard for these two to tell the class what they
data displayed in bar, observe/ask questions wanted to say about their graphs because they experienced
circle, and line graphs, while the students are either phonological difficulties with content-related
histograms, stem-and- working. vocabulary or syntactic errors with a sentence structure
leaf, and dot plots. they were unfamiliar with.
(Summative) – Students Michael, Kai, and Jillian had a really good grasp of the
will record what they content language and key vocabulary words as they all
submitted in their final tried to provide as many details as possible in their
assessments and listen conversations about the different graphs. They were very
back to their own comfortable going between simple and expanded oral
pronunciations. sentences as well.
(Writing) – Students (Formative) – I will Alex and Roger’s graph interpretations and analyses were
will acquire the listen to the student's easy to read since both of them followed all the basic
written language discussions as they work written sentence structures we discussed and outlined as a
structure needed to with one another. I will whole class. Some of the key content vocabulary words
further analyze the also observe/ask were misspelled. It was evident that they tried to add a few
data displayed in bar, questions while the details of their own, making it more interesting to read.
circle, and line graphs, students are writing. Overall, Jillian, Kai, and Michael’s writing were
histograms, stem-and- comprehensible with some spelling and syntax errors.
leaf, and dot plots. (Summative) – see final There were also a few spelling errors but nothing major.
assessment attached to They all attempted to produce more complex sentence
my project submission. structures that are different from the suggested sentence
structures. The three of them were not afraid to make
mistakes because they all attempted to use specific
ITEC 7430 ELL Report Lin-Chiou Lee

language related to the content area such as range,

frequency, percentage, etc.

Guiding Sources

SIOP 8 components and 30 features. Retrieved from https://esol.leeschools.net/SIOP/pdf/SIOP%208.pdf

This resource carefully details the eight components – lesson preparation, building background,

comprehensible input, strategies, interaction, practice and applications, lesson delivery, and review and

assessment – in the Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP). This resource has successfully expanded

my pedagogical strategies because of all the concrete examples and strategies listed under each SIOP component.

For instance, this guide further discussed how creating personal dictionaries or glossaries, making a content word

wall for this class, allowing ELL students to self-select essential vocabulary words, and contextualizing key

vocabulary words can guarantee to build all ELL students a stronger background knowledge to better understand

the content. I highly recommend this guide to novice ELL teachers because they can easily implement all the

effective instructional strategies discussed in this resource in the classroom for all students.

Vanderbilt Peabody College. (2018). The Iris Center. Retrieved from https://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/

module/ell/

I find the Iris Center website houses the most comprehensive information when it comes to characteristics

of English Language Learners, phases of second language acquisition, differences among all the ELL programs

(Two-Way Immersion, Developmental Bilingual Education, Transitional Bilingual Education, and English as a

Second Language), culturally responsive instruction, contextual supports, comprehensible input, differentiated

instruction, and so much more. Detailed explanations, sample lessons, and expert testimonials are provided under

every important topic. The Iris Center website has guided me to incorporate some of the instructional strategies

such as sheltered instruction and comprehensible input into my own data analysis lesson.

Miller, R.D. (2016). Contextualizing instruction for English language learners with learning disabilities. Teaching

Exceptional Children, 49(1), 58-65, doi: 10.1177/0040059916662248.

Miller focused on discussing how important it is to utilize certain instructional strategies that can best

contextualize learning for ELL and students with disabilities. The use of graphic organizers and visual mnemonic
ITEC 7430 ELL Report Lin-Chiou Lee

to chunk information down ensures small success and empowerment that ELL and students with disabilities all

need to feel. Help ELL students prioritize what concepts are important to grasp in a lesson by teaching key

vocabulary in tiers – Tier 1 words are “high-frequency words in everyday conversations” that students are usually

familiar with, Tier 2 words are words “frequently used in written language” that are crucial to “students’ verbal

functioning in the classroom,” and Tier 3 words are content-specific words that must be taught directly (Beck,

McKeown, & Kucan as cited in Miller, 2016, p. 60). This resource helped me recognize that my data analysis

lesson must provide “ELLs repeated opportunities to practice new vocabulary through listening, speaking,

reading, and writing activities” (Beck et al. as cited in Miller, 2016, p. 60)

Post-Field Experience Reflection

After working with these five ELL students, I have observed how the different levels of

social/conversational English (Basic Interpersonal Communicative Skills – BICS) and academic English

(Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency – CALP) influence how ELL students acquire knowledge. English

Language Learners who are stronger in speech tend to be weaker in their writing skills and reading

comprehension and vice versa. ELL students should be allowed to confer about the content and communicate

their own thinking in their primary language first before they can successfully make the connections to decipher

the meaning in English.

It is essential for teachers to build a safe and trustworthy relationship and foster an environment where

students are safe to ask questions and show where they are struggling. It is also imperative for teachers to

contextualize learning for ELL students in order to build a solid background knowledge for key vocabulary words

and content. “Students who are given opportunities to practice the pronunciation of words and learn the meaning

of words prior to reading a text or participating in a classroom discussion are more likely to participate and

understand the content” (Miller, 2016, p. 60). ELL students must also have “repeated opportunities to practice

new vocabulary through listening, speaking, reading, and writing activities” (Beck et al. as cited in Miller, 2016,

p. 60).

I made sure that all the vocabulary words used in my final summative assessment were consistent with the

ones used in our daily instruction. The students are clear what is on the final written assessment aligns perfectly
ITEC 7430 ELL Report Lin-Chiou Lee

with the content they have been learning in class. The students are also clear that they have ample time on the

final assessment to demonstrate their understanding. When they made a mistake on the test, they were given

another question of similar type to redo until they were comfortable with the written sentence structure to further

analyze the data displayed in bar, circle, and line graphs, histograms, stem-and-leaf, and dot plots.

References

Miller, R.D. (2016). Contextualizing instruction for English language learners with learning disabilities. Teaching

Exceptional Children, 49(1), 58-65, doi: 10.1177/0040059916662248.

SIOP 8 components and 30 features. Retrieved from https://esol.leeschools.net/SIOP/pdf/SIOP%208.pdf

Vanderbilt Peabody College. (2018). The Iris Center. Retrieved from https://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/

module/ell/