A Growing Challenge for Mainstream Teachers

The number of ELLs attending U.S. schools has grown dramatically over the past 25 years, and it appears that this number will continue to increase. Between 1979 and 2003, the overall number of school-age children (ages 5–17) increased by 19 percent. However, during this same time period, the number of children who spoke a language other than English at home increased by 161 percent; of those, the number who spoke English with difficulty (i.e., less than “very well”) grew by 124 percent. Overall, 5.5 percent of the school-age population in the United States speaks a language other than English at home and speaks English with difficulty, but this number varies when the nation is broken down by region. Regional percentages range from 8.7 percent in the West to 3.2 percent in the South (U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2005).

Teaching English language skills to ELLs is now the responsibility of all school staff. We used to think that the English as a second language (ESL) teacher would take care of everything. Perhaps we even encouraged classroom teachers to leave this kind of teaching to the specialists, much as we did with students in pullout special education programs. After all, the reasoning went, there are federally funded programs for this special segment of the population. Along with the federal dollars come separate services with special materials, classrooms, teachers, and program directors.

But now, just as we have been told we need to include special education students in our mainstream classrooms (without being told how to accomplish this feat), we are also facing the integration of growing numbers of ELLs. According to the National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition (n.d.a), English language learners represent the fastest growing segment of the school-age population. At this moment, the greatest effect is being felt in elementary schools.

We intended to offer help for elementary school main-stream teachers who have ELLs in their classrooms for all or part of the instructional day. Forty-four percent of all ELLs in U.S. public schools are currently in grades preK–3 (Education Market Research Corner Archives, 2004). However, schools and teachers will need to be prepared to teach these students as they get older.

English language learners present many challenges for main-stream teachers. No two ELLs have the same amount of grounding in their native language, or are at the same stage of English language acquisition. The language skills of these students vary, making for even greater complexity. Some students are born in the United States but grow up in non-English-speaking households; others arrive in the classroom having received varying amounts of formal education in their country of birth. Still others may have been in U.S. schools for a number of years, but may still be in the early stages of English language acquisition. The students’ levels of exposure to English, their educational histories, the socioeconomic levels of their families, and the number of books in their homes all play a role in their readiness to learn—and learn in—a new language.

Over the past few years, staff members at Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning have worked with mainstream teachers in a small rural district in Wyoming, training them in instructional strategies for ELLs. In the course of this training, author Jane Hill turned to Classroom Instruction That Works (Marzano, Pickering, & Pollock, 2001) and found that she instinctively recognized some of the strategies. As an ESL specialist, she had been recommending some of the strategies to teachers for years. She began to wonder whether some of the strategies had been drawn from the literature on ESL instruction or whether it was the other way around.

Had experts in second-language learning taken strategies that had proven effective with English- dominant students and adapted them to meet the needs of second language learners based on their level of English proficiency and background knowledge?

Jane’s curiosity was piqued. How many of the research-based strategies for increasing student achievement in Classroom Instruction That Works had been tried with ELLs? How did the strategies need to be modified for the unique instructional needs of these students?

In searching for answers to these questions, we wrote these topics, which offer instructional strategies based on research and practical experience that will help you, as a mainstream teacher, include your ELLs in activities with English-dominant students. We examine the strategies from Classroom Instruction That Works, discuss any relevant studies, and provide examples of how to adapt the strategies for ELLs based on their level of English language acquisition. We also provide comments from K–6 mainstream teachers who are currently using these strategies in classrooms that contain both ELLs and English-dominant students.

After learning that Classroom Instruction That Works was written for all students at all grade levels, you might question how the strategies can be implemented; you may know you have to differentiate for ELLs, but maybe you’re unsure about how to make it happen. We serve as a supplement to Classroom Instruction That Works. With it, we examine each category and, whenever possible, suggest differentiation using two formulas: tiered questions and a strategy known as Word-MES (language stimulation through word selection, modeling English, expanding knowledge of English, and developing academic English so that students begin to “sound like a book”). These two formulas present content to ELLs while concurrently fostering their language development. (They can even be used with English-dominant students who come to the classroom with limited vocabulary and grammatical skills.)

As you read, you may nod your head as you come across strategies and modifications you are already employing. Confirmation for what you are currently doing is a good thing. We hope you also learn new strategies to implement, and that you come to view your ELLs as students on a journey to discover new knowledge in a new language.

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