Teacher Skills to Support English Language Learners

Abstract

Content-area teachers can provide rich, meaningful lessons that strengthen background information and promote the literacy of students learning English. Content-area teachers can provide rich, meaningful lessons that strengthen background information and promote the literacy of students learning English. Each year, the United States becomes more ethnically and linguistically diverse. Schools mirror this trend: Students from non-English-speaking backgrounds represent the fastest-growing subset of the K–12 student population. In the 2003–2004 school year, 5.5 million school-age children were English language learners (Leos, 2004)—up nearly 100 percent from a decade earlier, although total enrollment increased only slightly more than 10 percent during that time (National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition, 2002). Unfortunately, as a group, English language learners (ELLs) struggle in school. Compared with native English speakers, ELLs have higher dropout rates and demonstrate significant achievement gaps on state and national assessments (Snow & Biancarosa, 2003; White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans, 1999). As they strive to meet high academic standards, ELLs face the added challenge of learning, comprehending, and applying the academic English through which teachers and textbooks deliver important information. Those who teach these students must take into consideration their special language acquisition needs