TE 846 Accommodating Differences in Literacy Learners
This course examines various ways that the needs of all students can be met in a language arts classroom. We explored studies of learning disabilities and behavioral issues, and focused on ways to differentiate instruction in a heterogeneous classroom. I focused on ways to match reading content to students' intellectual capacity even though they may not have the requisite reading comprehension skills. The essay below is a reflection on working with second language learners who do not have a strong foundation in their primary language.
This course examines various ways that the needs of all students can be met in a language arts classroom. We explored studies of learning disabilities and behavioral issues, and focused on ways to differentiate instruction in a heterogeneous classroom. I focused on ways to match reading content to students' intellectual capacity even though they may not have the requisite reading comprehension skills. The essay below is a reflection on working with second language learners who do not have a strong foundation in their primary language.
Linguistic Limbo
Being an English Language Learner is not a learning disability, but a unique disability occasionally manifests itself in the process of acquiring a new language. As a bilingual teacher in Texas from 1994-2004, I encountered remarkable learners, Spanish-speaking students who quickly became proficient in English due in part to a strong foundation in their native language. If you know how to use the New York City subway, then you can easily transfer your knowledge to another subway system like the London Underground. The conceptual understanding of one subway system is the foundation that allows for quick transference to another. Understanding of language transfers in a similar fashion.
However, transference is stifled and language acquisition hindered when children do not have a strong foundation in their first language. Without a strong native language, students fall into a linguistic limbo while acquiring English. They are proficient in neither language. Ramon grew up on a ranch in Mexico, attended school intermittently, read and wrote far below grade level in Spanish, and stuttered. His progress in English was glacial. Without continued instruction in Spanish and slow progress in English, he lacked a language to communicate in. I worried about Ramon when I left Texas….
In 2009 at Taipei American School in Taiwan, I met Nicky Chang. I was warned by the principal and counselor that Nicky had not gotten along with his fourth grade teacher and had spent a lot of time in the office. Nicky and I got along well and I began to see his behavior was caused in part by his frustration of being in a linguistic limbo. Nicky’s family speaks Mandarin and Taiwanese (a Chinese oral dialect) at home, yet according to the bilingual support teacher he does not have proficiency in his native language.
Nicky, at the beginning of fifth grade, was reading on the early second grade level in English while his peers were reading on the fourth and fifth grade levels. We spent the beginning of the year in Writer’s Workshop selecting “just right” books and establishing habits of keeping a Reader’s Notebook and Home Reading Log. Nicky struggled to pick books on his level; instead he attempted to read the books his peers read. He would carry around The Lightening Thief and similar titles and thumb through them during Independent Reading time. I resorted to assigning him books. Although the books I assigned him were appropriate for his reading ability, they were not age-appropriate and did not hold his interest.
In Book Club, Nicky read Brian’s Winter and The River by Gary Paulsen. His peers supported him and they read parts of the chapters together. He was engaged in the novels and was showing unprecedented effort reading a very challenging book. Nicky also showed great effort and growth during our poetry unit. Poems were manageable for him and he demonstrated the ability to summarize, analyze literary devices, and discuss cause and effect. Lastly, he finally found his preferred genre for Independent Reading: graphic novels. He started with Garfield, then moved on to Bone and then tried out some non-fiction titles like a graphic novel about Charles Darwin.
The lack of a strong foundation in his first language disabled Nicky and hindered his acquisition of English. I’ve known children in linguistic limbo several times and have realized that a strong foundation in one’s native language fosters transference and allows for quicker acquisition of a second language.
Being an English Language Learner is not a learning disability, but a unique disability occasionally manifests itself in the process of acquiring a new language. As a bilingual teacher in Texas from 1994-2004, I encountered remarkable learners, Spanish-speaking students who quickly became proficient in English due in part to a strong foundation in their native language. If you know how to use the New York City subway, then you can easily transfer your knowledge to another subway system like the London Underground. The conceptual understanding of one subway system is the foundation that allows for quick transference to another. Understanding of language transfers in a similar fashion.
However, transference is stifled and language acquisition hindered when children do not have a strong foundation in their first language. Without a strong native language, students fall into a linguistic limbo while acquiring English. They are proficient in neither language. Ramon grew up on a ranch in Mexico, attended school intermittently, read and wrote far below grade level in Spanish, and stuttered. His progress in English was glacial. Without continued instruction in Spanish and slow progress in English, he lacked a language to communicate in. I worried about Ramon when I left Texas….
In 2009 at Taipei American School in Taiwan, I met Nicky Chang. I was warned by the principal and counselor that Nicky had not gotten along with his fourth grade teacher and had spent a lot of time in the office. Nicky and I got along well and I began to see his behavior was caused in part by his frustration of being in a linguistic limbo. Nicky’s family speaks Mandarin and Taiwanese (a Chinese oral dialect) at home, yet according to the bilingual support teacher he does not have proficiency in his native language.
Nicky, at the beginning of fifth grade, was reading on the early second grade level in English while his peers were reading on the fourth and fifth grade levels. We spent the beginning of the year in Writer’s Workshop selecting “just right” books and establishing habits of keeping a Reader’s Notebook and Home Reading Log. Nicky struggled to pick books on his level; instead he attempted to read the books his peers read. He would carry around The Lightening Thief and similar titles and thumb through them during Independent Reading time. I resorted to assigning him books. Although the books I assigned him were appropriate for his reading ability, they were not age-appropriate and did not hold his interest.
In Book Club, Nicky read Brian’s Winter and The River by Gary Paulsen. His peers supported him and they read parts of the chapters together. He was engaged in the novels and was showing unprecedented effort reading a very challenging book. Nicky also showed great effort and growth during our poetry unit. Poems were manageable for him and he demonstrated the ability to summarize, analyze literary devices, and discuss cause and effect. Lastly, he finally found his preferred genre for Independent Reading: graphic novels. He started with Garfield, then moved on to Bone and then tried out some non-fiction titles like a graphic novel about Charles Darwin.
The lack of a strong foundation in his first language disabled Nicky and hindered his acquisition of English. I’ve known children in linguistic limbo several times and have realized that a strong foundation in one’s native language fosters transference and allows for quicker acquisition of a second language.
