I love teaching English-language learners and I suspect most other educators feel the same way.
Nevertheless, teaching anyone comes with all sorts of challenges, and ELLs are no different.
Today鈥檚 post begins a series exploring what those unique challenges might be and how we can best rise to them.
鈥楧ifferentiated Instruction鈥�
Marie Moreno, Ed.D., is an educator and administrator with over 30 years of experience specializing in newcomer and second-language acquisition. She is passionate about refugee and immigrant education by focusing on social and emotional needs and newcomer programming:
Teaching English-language learners presents several challenges that educators must navigate to ensure effective instruction. These challenges often stem from linguistic, cultural, and academic differences that ELLs bring to the classroom, making it crucial for teachers to adopt strategies that address these diverse needs.
1. Linguistic Barriers
The most significant challenge, I feel, is the language barrier itself. ELLs come into the classroom with varying levels of English proficiency, ranging from beginner to advanced. This variability can make it difficult for teachers to ensure all students comprehend the lesson content. Additionally, academic language鈥攙ocabulary and grammar specific to subjects like science or math鈥攃an be incredibly challenging for ELLs who may be more familiar with conversational English.
2. Cultural Differences
We must also look at cultural differences that can pose classroom challenges. ELLs may come from educational systems vastly different from those in the United States, leading to differences in classroom behavior, expectations, and participation.
In a recent trip to Uganda, I saw that if students do not perform at expected student-achievement levels, they are 鈥渃aned鈥� in front of their peers or 鈥渒icked out of school.鈥� Although corporal punishment is not common in American schools, students still see a difference in how we educate them. These cultural differences can affect how students interact with their teachers and respond to classroom instruction.
3. Social-Emotional Challenges
Many ELLs face social-emotional challenges, mainly if they are recent immigrants who have experienced trauma or disruption in their lives. The stress of learning a new language, in a new environment, and learning a new culture can affect their academic success.
4. Academic Gaps
ELLs often have academic gaps due to interruptions in their education, either from moving between countries or having limited access to schooling in their home country. These gaps can make it challenging for them to keep up with grade-level content.
A few recommendations to address these challenges are:
- Implement sheltered instruction strategies, such as visual aids, modeling academic language, and scaffolding lessons to break down complex concepts into manageable parts. Interactive strategies like Total Physical Response, in which students physically act out vocabulary words, can also be beneficial.
- Create a culturally responsive classroom environment. This includes incorporating students鈥� cultural backgrounds into the curriculum, respecting diverse perspectives, and establishing classroom norms encouraging all students to participate actively. Building relationships with students and their families can help teachers better understand their cultural backgrounds and tailor instruction accordingly.
- Create a trauma-sensitive classroom environment where ELLs feel safe and valued. Fostering a sense of community within the classroom can offer support by providing regular check-ins with students to address their emotional needs and providing access to counseling services if necessary. Incorporating social-emotional learning into the curriculum can help them develop coping skills and build resilience.
- Differentiated instruction, my favorite, is vital to addressing academic gaps. Teachers can assess students鈥� current knowledge and provide targeted support through small-group instruction (learning stations). Regular formative assessments help track progress and adjust instruction to meet students鈥� evolving needs. Teachers must ensure they provide the I+1 model, making the content not too hard but not too easy!
Teaching ELLs requires a multifaceted approach considering their linguistic, cultural, social-emotional, and academic challenges. By employing strategies like sheltered instruction, culturally responsive teaching, SEL, and differentiated instruction, educators can create an inclusive classroom environment that supports the success of all students. The goal is to ensure that ELLs learn English and thrive academically and socially, contributing their unique perspectives to the classroom community.
Teachers Need 鈥榓 Big Heart and Tailored Strategies鈥�
Anastasia M. Martinez is an English-language development coach in Pittsburg, Calif.:
Teaching multilingual learners is a highly rewarding and challenging task. Having worked with multilingual learners in the United States and abroad, I realize that I would not be the teacher I am today without working with multilingual learners from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Working with them requires a big heart and tailored strategies that will help this group of students thrive academically and socially. Here are some challenges and recommendations for addressing them:
1. Knowing different types of multilingual learners.
There are different typologies of multilingual learners, such as newly arrived students, long-term English learners, students with limited and interrupted education, etc., which can overwhelm teachers. Even two multilingual learners in the same content-area classroom might not have the same linguistic levels and needs.
Recommendation: It is very important to know who your multilingual learners are in the classroom and what their levels of proficiency are. This will help content-area teachers in intentional grouping and lesson scaffolding to address their unique needs.
2. Making multilingual learners visible in the classroom
Teaching content to multilingual learners might be challenging because the curriculum does not represent our multilingual learners.
Recommendation: Knowing students鈥� cultural and linguistic backgrounds, as well as their interests, and incorporating them into the daily lessons will help students see themselves in the content and engage with it more effectively.
3. Giving access to academic language
Teaching content-area-specific academic language might seem challenging and unnecessary when students are at the beginning stages of language acquisition.
Recommendation: Teaching academic language in context using visuals, gestures, and modeling will help not only newly arrived multilingual learners and long-term English learners but also all students who need to access academic language through multiple modalities.
4. Reducing Teacher-Talking Time
As teachers, we want to share a lot during our classes, which leads to lecturing, long directions, and disengaged and confused students.
Recommendation: To help multilingual learners process content and teacher directions, teachers should speak in concise sentences and use checks for understanding to make sure students understand the instructions and directions. Replacing 鈥淒oes it make sense?鈥� or 鈥淒o you understand?鈥� with something like, 鈥淚n the next activity, are we speaking or are we writing?鈥� makes it more concrete to the students and reminds them of what they need to know for the upcoming task.
5. Make connections with families
Language barriers might seem to be challenging in making connections with families.
Recommendation: Use translation apps (ex. Talking Points, Parent Square, etc.) to communicate with families and build relationships with them. Our families are the first teachers to our students, which is why engaging families to share their expertise or experiences would help teachers get to know their multilingual students better.
Overall, addressing the challenges in working with multilingual learners and their families requires a combination of empathy, creativity, and commitment to equity. By implementing the recommended strategies, teachers can help multilingual learners feel more confident and connected to their school.
Looking Through the Lens of Assets
Fran莽oise Thenoux is an accomplished educator and advocate with a career spanning nearly two decades. For more information about her work and resources, you can follow her on :
As a racialized immigrant in the U.S.A. and a native Spanish speaker ESL teacher with 20 years of teaching experience, I have witnessed firsthand the challenges of teaching English language learners. It鈥檚 important to note that the term 鈥淓LL鈥� is evolving, as it often reflects deficit narratives about students who are actually emergent bilinguals or multilinguals. These students bring a wealth of linguistic and cultural assets to the classroom, yet the challenges they face often stem from the educational system and the teachers rather than themselves.
Biggest Challenges
1. Monolingual Teachers and Lack of Linguistic Knowledge
Many teachers in the U.S.A. are monolingual and lack the linguistic knowledge and understanding of the cognitive processes involved in language acquisition. This lack of preparation often leaves them unprepared to address the specific needs of emergent bilingual and multilingual students. The United States鈥� educational system, which prides itself on monolingualism, often reflects a nationalistic mentality dating back to colonial times, intertwined with a white gaze and racism. This perspective sees students through a deficit lens rather than appreciating the richness and diversity that multilingual students bring.
2. Deficit Narratives
The prevalent deficit narratives in education view emergent bilingual and multilingual students as lacking rather than recognizing their bilingualism as an asset. This perspective can negatively impact students鈥� self-esteem and academic performance. Instead of valuing their linguistic abilities, the focus is often on what these students can鈥檛 do in English, which undermines their confidence and hinders their educational experience.
3. Lack of Teacher Preparation and Training
Many educators lack updated, research-based knowledge about language acquisition, translanguaging, and culturally responsive teaching. This gap in knowledge is a significant barrier to effectively teaching emergent bilingual and multilingual students. Teachers who are not equipped with these skills and understandings are less likely to implement strategies that support the linguistic and academic development of these students.
Recommendations
1. Professional Development in Linguistics and Language Acquisition
To address these challenges, it鈥檚 crucial to invest in professional development that focuses on the cognitive processes of language acquisition, translanguaging strategies, and the principles of culturally responsive teaching. Teachers need to understand how languages are learned and how they can leverage students鈥� native languages as resources in the classroom. This knowledge will enable them to create more inclusive and effective learning environments.
2. Adopting an Asset-Based Perspective
Shifting from a deficit-based to an asset-based perspective is essential. Educators must recognize and celebrate the linguistic and cultural diversity that emergent bilingual and multilingual students bring. This includes valuing students鈥� home languages and incorporating them into the curriculum. By doing so, teachers can help students build on their existing linguistic strengths while learning English.
3. Integrating Translanguaging Practices
Translanguaging, or using multiple languages in the classroom to support learning, is a powerful strategy for emergent bilingual and multilingual students. Teachers should be trained to integrate translanguaging practices into their teaching. This can involve allowing students to use their home languages to understand new concepts, encouraging bilingual peer support, and providing materials in multiple languages.
4. Culturally Responsive Teaching
Implementing culturally responsive teaching is critical for creating an inclusive and supportive classroom environment. Teachers should engage in continuous self-reflection and bias unpacking, develop an intersectional and anti-bias approach, and commit to understanding their students鈥� cultures and histories deeply. This involves adapting the curriculum to be representative of students鈥� cultural backgrounds and experiences, creating lesson plans that reflect students鈥� cultural ways of learning, and fostering genuine relationships with students and their families.
5. Policy Changes and Advocacy
On a broader scale, advocating policy changes that support bilingual education and the professional development of teachers in these areas is crucial. This includes lobbying for more resources, better teacher-training programs, and educational policies that recognize and support the linguistic diversity of students.
Thanks to Marie, Anastasia, and Francoise for contributing their thoughts!
Today鈥檚 post answered this question:
What do you think are the biggest challenges to teaching English-language learners, and what are your recommendations for how to meet them?
Consider contributing a question to be answered in a future post. You can send one to me at lferlazzo@epe.org. When you send it in, let me know if I can use your real name if it鈥檚 selected or if you鈥檇 prefer remaining anonymous and have a pseudonym in mind.
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