What
instructional setting can provide the most integrated
learning experience for English Language Learner
students?
Summary
Nationwide,
great demands and challenges are being placed on
schools with large minority populations. The same
challenges occur in schools like Georgetown Elementary,
where I am a first-grade English Language Learner
(ELL) teacher. One of the greatest challenges that
I face is to serve the instructional needs of the
ELL students. Instruction to first- and second-grade
ELL students at Georgetown Elementary has been primarily
provided through a pullout program. In this program,
students are pulled out of their mainstream classes
for a period of 45 minutes a day for special instruction
in the English language. While aimed at meeting
the academic and social needs of second-language
learners, this program is problematic because the
number of students has increased and instructional
time has decreased.
Consequently,
a new instructional program was implemented, namely,
a structured immersion program. In this program,
students are taught by an ELL-certified teacher
who in most cases is bilingual in self-contained
classes. The ELL teacher uses the same curriculum
as the other first-grade mainstream teachers, yet
adapts it to the students’ needs and sets the pace
according to their academic levels.
The research
on both of these programs clearly distinguishes
the effectiveness that each program has in meeting
the needs of ELL students. In the academic arena,
students show greater gains by being in the immersion
program. Not only academically, but also socially,
students demonstrate greater ownership and are less
xenophobic about language learning, when they are
in an immersion program. English Language Learners
feel more empowered when they are in a classroom
with students who have their same needs, study the
same units, and go to special events at the same
time.
In conclusion,
for first- and second-grade ELL students at Georgetown
Elementary, the immersion program provides a more
effective way to become proficient in the English
language. Consequently, ELL students show greater
ownership when they stay in one classroom, get to
know their peers and teacher, and are willing to
take chances. ELL students become empowered by this
sense of belonging, and this in turn provides them
with the ability to be more successful academically
and socially.
RECOMMENDATIONS
- Policy
makers should study the results of immersion programs
locally and nationally.
- Immersion
programs should be implemented and supported in
districts that have a large population of non-English-speaking
constituents.
- The
results regarding academic performance and social
comfort levels among students in immersion programs
should be used to generate policy and educational
reform.
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