Living abroad can be an exciting and wonderful experience. It may also be a difficult transition for children for many factors including being away from friends, culture-shock and language barriers. Many challenges present themselves for students adapting to the predominate language of society and academics. Although there are many language support programs available in various school districts, finding the right approach for each student may be challenging.
The students’ learning style, level of language proficiency, academic and cultural backgrounds should all be taken into consideration for the language learners’ academic success. Takeshi is a high school sophomore temporarily living in the United States from Japan while his father works for his company’s overseas branch office. Though his parents requested Takeshi be placed in the highest academic track, the high school counselor recommended him for an ESL program. The counselor based this on Takeshi’s entry placement exam score, where he tested low in the English portion although he scored high in mathematics.
Takeshi’s parents declined the placement in the ESL program as they believe he was sufficient enough for mainstream English instructional classes. The main challenge facing Takeshi as an English language learner is that his parents are hard to accept the fact that Takeshi needs additional language instruction for success in mainstream English classes. According to his placement exam score in English, Takeshi may benefit greatly from such language programs, especially while living in a native English-speaking country.
The Research paper on English Proficiency and Academic Achievement
Introduction For many years now, linguists and researchers have examined the impact of English language proficiency on various fields like academic success and employability. While early researches suggested that English proficiency does not dictate high academic rating and employment aptitude, evidences are now showing that proficiency of the English language is a cutting-edge asset in areas of ...
With his limited proficiency in what the school determines as low academic language fluency, he may fall behind in his academic levels before returning to Japan without proper language instruction. This is a great opportunity for Takeshi to not only develop his English language skills, but also an additional development of his creative thinking skills. According to Cintron (2012), The creative thinking skills of students are sharpened when they learn a second language.
A student in a foreign language class is seeing and hearing a lot of unfamiliar words. Consequently, he or she must use creative thinking skills to put together sentences using unfamiliar vocabulary words. Foreign language students also improve their thinking skills by comparing the words they are learning with words of their native language. (Cintron, 2012) Although Takeshi’s parents and the school may disagree on his English language proficiency, one thing is certain with the limited information we know about Takeshi’s academic background.
That is, teachers need more knowledge about Takeshi and his academic background in order to adapt instruction to meet his needs. If his parents refuse to accept an ESL program to develop Takeshi’s language proficiency, his mainstream classroom teachers must be able to do this in order to also meet the needs of all students. In order to gain this knowledge, teacher may have Takeshi provide information through a questionnaire called an English learner profile. This process may be accomplished by the teacher interviewing the student in a comprehensible and conversational tone.
The Term Paper on What is academic English?
You may be confident in using English in everyday situations, but the kind of English you need for study is rather different. It is what is known as ‘academic English’ and is the type of English you need for * reading and understanding your study materials * writing about your subject. Academic English is different from everyday spoken English. It may be used to * describe an object or ...
This will provide the teacher will valuable information about the student’s background, such as his likes and dislikes both in and out of school, language level, and academic successes. It also provides social-emotional psychological factors like his motivations, anxieties and attitudes towards school and language acquisition. And finally, this would really aid the teacher in gaining greater insight into the sociocultural factors about his family, use of English by his family and community, and their degree of assimilation (Balderrama & Diaz-Rico, 2006).
Once the teacher has gained the background knowledge about Takeshi through the English learner profile questionnaire, he or she may develop strategies for adapting instruction in support of his communication skills and academic success. One such approach that should be considered for not only Takeshi but among all students is their learning styles. “Learning styles are the preferences students have for thinking, relating to others and for particular types of classroom environments and experiences” (Balderrama & Diaz-Rico, 2006, p. 52).
This is an ongoing process developed by the teacher through observations and assessments and may determine the effectiveness of instruction and adaptation of lessons. Another strategy to consider for Takeshi is his level of oral interaction with his peers. Much may be learned about students like Takeshi by observing his language usage during conversation with his peers. Not only the volume of chatter, but the quality may be determined from peer oral interaction. Like observing students’ learning styles to adapt instructional approaches, studying peer interaction is an ongoing process to aid in the development of English learners.
The teacher who can observe this process skillfully can help promote students’ success by practicing a pedagogy that is responsive to English learner” (Balderrama & Diaz-Rico, 2006, p. 61).
Takeshi may achieve academic and second language success during his time living in the United States through the adaptation developed by his teachers and peer interaction. Even if his parents continue to refuse an ESL program for him, Takeshi may still improve his English skills and academics in mainstream instruction if the proper instructional approaches are implemented by his instructors who teach with integrity.
The Essay on Teacher Student Interactions And Race In Integrated Classrooms
"Teacher--Student Interactions and Race in Integrated Classrooms" Studies have shown in the past that there is racial bias in classrooms. Many say that African American students are treated more poorly than Caucasian American students. Examples include less student-teacher interaction, less praise given and less help being given to African American students. A recent study showed that ...