Pedagogical Practices for Bilingual Learners: Assessing Bilingual and ESL Classrooms

• In Event: 33.042 - Toward Justice: Preparing Teachers and Teacher Candidates to Better Serve English Language Learners

Abstract

Introduction
With the evolution of the society from local to global, many schools are working toward preparing students to be more competitive in this universal civilization. There is much controversy about how bilingual education programs should be structured and implemented in the early stages of education. This issue becomes even more complex when examining the pedagogical practices and classroom activities occurring in these programs. Researchers have noted that the risk of school failure can be attributed to the inconsistency of effective instructional strategies, including language of instruction (Waxman & Padrón, 2004). Authors (2012) defined quality instruction as student centered instruction that incorporates a number of pedagogical techniques such as: (1) using culturally relevant content; (2) develop life-long problem solving skills with increased rigor; and (3) heterogeneously collaborating and engaging with other students during the learning process.

Research Statement and Questions
The research problem addressed in this study was the need to understand what motivates and promotes student academic and linguistic successful performance. Additionally, there is a great need for observational evidence collected in bilingual and ESL elementary classrooms. These observations need to be associated to quality instruction that results in positive student academic outcomes. This study addressed two imperative research questions: (1) what are some common classroom pedagogical occurrences for bilingual students? and (2) what are the attributes of instruction based on the use of language of instruction?


Method
The researchers observed 10 certified teachers delivering instruction to bilingual (English and Spanish) students during language arts and mathematics in grades Kindergarten (ages 5-6) through fifth grade (ages 10-11) enrolled in either bilingual or ESL classrooms. The Transitional Bilingual Observational Protocol (Lara-Alecio & Parker, 1994) was used with 60, 20-second observations to measure and analyze the common classroom instructional strategies selected in bilingual classrooms. f


Preliminary Research Findings
Data from this study showed that common instructional strategies used consisted of remedial approaches. Some common classroom pedagogical occurrences for bilingual students included academic language scaffolding and read alouds. The overall chi-square test was statistically significant at α=0.05, with a moderate strong association. The attributes of content instruction based on the use of language of instruction was statistically significant at α=0.05, with a weak association based on a chi-square test. It can be implied that Upper Elementary teachers tend to spend more time teaching social and academic routines as compared to Lower Elementary teachers that spent more time in the cognitive areas. Additionally, there was significant difference between the lower grades and upper grades concerning the consistency of language of instruction in the bilingual and ESL classrooms observed.

Scholarly Significance:

Quality of instruction is a large predictor of student success. Research has shown that the teacher and his/her teaching abilities are a significant variable in determining student success. Therefore, it is imperative to evaluate what are some common instructional strategies used with English Language Learners (ELLs). This study will bring attention to need for high quality instruction for ELLs, in order to increase their academic and cognitive performance and success.

Authors

• J. Joy Esquierdo, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley

• Isela Almaguer, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley