Further discussion on ESL education and IT
Posted by Jaeho Choi on October 19th, 2007
The presentation of Dr. Ruth Ferree and Brendan Downey was very insightful on SLA (Second Language Acquisition). In classroom discussion, we shared helpful and informative talks on the application of narratives in various subject areas. Another topic we discuss more in this blog is native language support.
In thinking of the fast growing number of non-native English speakers in the U.S. K-12 classrooms, one of the urgent educational issues would be ESL education. Native language supported education or languages enrichment programs(both languages are used in classrooms at the same time by both language groups) is getting accepted as the effective education model by many bilingual or SLA scholars and teachers. However, the lack of qualified bilingual teachers is another barrier to expedite the program. IT may response to this current problematic situation.
- How does native language help LEP (Low English Proficiency) students of K-12 to achieve successful academic performance as well as to improve their English? Or
- How can IT assist “native language supported education” at schools?
Quite frankly, until the presentation by Dr. Ferree and Brendan last week I had very little exposure to ESL topics other than a few readings and informal class discussions during my undergraduate classes. Earlier today, however, I had the chance to observe a Pre-K classroom in Arlington, Va that was comprised of an entirely ESL population (8 boys and 4 girls). I am thankful that Dr. Ferree and Brendan have brought up issues that are clearly going to be relevant to my work on the MTP project.
In that light, I would like to address the second follow-up question that was posed by Jaeho, “How can IT assist “native language supported education” at schools?” This is actually a question that Eddie, Youngju and I currently grappling with, as we are in the process of developing an interactive story-based mathematics activity to supplement the MTP project. The digital stories presented by Dr. Ferree and Brendan seemed to be very powerful and effective learning tools for ESL students, however, they are not developmentally appropriate for Pre-K students. In our interactive story-based mathematics activities, I can envision the technology supporting students’ language development (and mathematics content knowledge) by providing a variety of pictures. Current research supports Pre-K activities that are embedded in the context of a story can be a very effective medium for instructional delivery. From a cultural perspective, stories can provide a context for children which values, beliefs, and knowledge are passed from generation to generation. Thus, children can be taught the importance of mathematics in through a story with a lot of pictures and minimal words. Hopefully, this project will begin to address the ESL population so that the students can connect abstract mathematical concepts with symbolic representations.
I agree with you about the effectiveness of content embedded in a story. I think this is one of the tools students develop very early to make meaning out of new information. Along with this, I think information presented visually can assist in the meaning making process, as well.
Even though Brendan didn’t really endorse it, I still like the potential of the Web for linking up students from different countries who want to learn each other’s languages. I know this type of informal learning environment is hard to assess, but it still seems worthwhile if a student is willing to invest the time to engage with someone else.
I think the issue Brendan had with the web application was that it was not teacher mediated.
Eunhee had recently given a demonstration of her dissertation topic to the IT Seminar class. In her project, Korean and American students learn about each others’ cultures. Interestingly, they are also learning a bit of each others’ language (although the site appeared to be mostly in English, so I think there is more English learning by the Korean students going on than Korean learning by the American students). There was a scenario that she mentioned where the students had misinterpreted something that was said, and hostilities arose as a result. In that case, the teachers were able to catch this situation and mediate it to a friendly resolution.
The web application displayed during the Colloquium was not teacher-mediated, so problems of misinterpretations due to cultural differences in language use would not be caught. This then poses a problem for that system.
IT does have the potential to bring people around the world in contact with each other, but contact across languages usually involves contact across cultures, and that is laden with misinterpretation minefields. Direct translations do not necessarily carry the same meaning across cultures. Until we can develop sophisticated AI to handle such scenarios, we will need experienced mediation.
I think you’re right on with the “teacher-mediated” element being critical to Brendan’s model. I concur with Brendan here. Not only are the misinterpretation scenarios you mentioned possible without a teacher’s input, but the unmediated opportunities are simply more social/informal. While these are great places/sites to practice your skills, they are not an efficient way to learn a language.
Brendan described it as a dynamic where having a teacher/expert there with you can’t be substituted for another method. Especially with younger students, at least some formal guidance is necessary. We see this with the “Learn a Language While Driving Your Car” CD programs…They might be fantastic uses of technology, but how many people have ever actually learned a language from them? We need someone standing in front of us, motivating us, guiding us, and holding us accountable.
But, once you’ve reached a certain level, the overseas/intracomputer conversation gadgets are a great complement to instruction.
Learning through a story embadded with pictures is a great idea, especially for the K children who are in developing language proficiency. It sounds me more like situated learning. Providing authentic context of learning, teacher helps learners to transfer the knowledge into real problem solving situation.
If we focus on the native language support, we may take a story that is more friendly to non-native students’ culture. Names, appearance of characters, scenery can be taken from their culture. The non-native English students are expected to occupy more than 40% of K-12 population in the U.S. sometime between 2020-2030. I think the multicultural and multilingual support should be seriously considered in every subject teaching.
English has been taught at the secondary education level as a foreign language in Korea. In 1997, English was designated as a formal curriculums of Elementary schools and authorized English textbooks were distributed.
There has been a controversy over what language teacher should speak mainly during their English class in an Elementary school. Those who are in favor of English only speaking settings, claim that children have to be exposed as much as possible in English class. If a teacher could lead lessons in English, children would have a chance to develop their English listening skills. Parents in Korea are very enthusiastic about their children’s English education in early grade at schools because English is regarded as a competence to get a decent job because the society become globalized.
Some of old teachers with little verbal fluency in English are stressed out and even worried to be dismissed for their incompetence. The Ministry of Education encouraged teachers to use English only in their English instruction at first, but changed to accept use of both English and Korean later.
It’s been 10 years since the English education launched at the elementary schools in Korea. In the school I work for, two English teachers which one for native Korean, the other for native English come to class for co-teaching their English lessons. The study Dr. Ferree presented gave me an insight into effective ESL language acquisitions. It was quite interesting abut the results that the experimental group with native language yields greater success compared with group in English.
Teaching English in English or native langauge? It has been a hot issue in English education in foreign countries. Though I studied TESOL, I am not sure which one is better. It is a more situational issue.
And, the research we reviewed is about ESL condition, which is quite different with EFL (English Foreign Language). In ESL situation, non-native students have very different issues like as identity or self-efficacy related with culture.
From my experience of learning English, I felt that native language can help me understand the content in English. If I have learned the content in Chinese first, and then when I am reading the same content in English, I would understand quickly. As we all know, language is a form of culture. In order to use native language to help students, I think in classroom, teachers can allow students to share their stories, histories, and experiences of their own culture. Teachers can show students their countries’ tradition or relative things to the content so that students can find relationship between the new knowledge and their prior experience.
In addition, appropriate language environment would motive children’s interest in learning foreign language. In this case, IT can help teachers to build the environment. For example, some web-based instructional resources can provide lots of materials including video, audio, and animators, etc. The interesting environment can stimulate children’s vision, and give them an opportunity to have a vivid conversation
I absolutely agree with you. According to Cummins, the first language(L1) proficiency transfers to the second language(L2) acquisition.
Interesting Post
I love the idea that Pat talked about, having English learning embedded in stories and math exercises sounds like it would be really great and stimulating. I would love to look at those lessons sometime, they sound really great.
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