Technology to Support English Learners in Community Colleges

• In Event: 31.080 - English Language Learners in Community Colleges: Challenges and Opportunities

Abstract

Institutions of higher education in the United States serve a growing number of English learner (EL) students. ELs in postsecondary institutions represent a wide range of backgrounds, skills, and motivations for studying English, including highly educated international students, recent immigrants, and generation 1.5 students. Despite such differences, postsecondary institutions with limited resources often assess, place, and instruct EL students uniformly. Although there is limited research and systemic data collection about ELs in higher education, we do know that they are enrolling in and graduating college at much lower rates than their non-EL peers (Kanno & Cromley, 2013; Moore & Shulock, 2010; Nuñez & Sparks, 2012; Sengupta & Jepson, 2006) and that ELs are more likely to enter community colleges and thus less likely to earn a bachelor’s degree (Cabrera, Burkum & La Nasa, 2005).

While greater research is needed to understand policies and practices that shape ELs challenges in community colleges, there are several possible reasons for ELs lower levels of college completion. Several studies have pointed out the burden of time and money for additional classes and that students who take remedial courses are less likely to persist and attain a degree compared with students who do not require remediation (Bailey, Jeong & Cho, 2010; Conway, 2010; Hodara, 2015). In addition to the challenge of time and money, ELs in higher education are often placed in ESL coursework that does not effectively meet their needs (Scott-Clayton, Crosta & Belfield, 2014). Finally, when ELs are placed in English as a Second Language (ESL) coursework, English is often taught in isolation of academic content and thus does not prepare them for the disciplinary language skills needed for future coursework (Grubb et al., 2011, Parrish, 2015).

The current study examines the potential of an online learning platform, to address the aforementioned challenges and improve English language proficiency for students enrolled in higher education. Researchers compared English proficiency scores of students who used the web and mobile platform for learning English in addition to face-to-face instruction to a similar group of students who did not have access to this technology. In the fall semester, students completed coursework as usual including face-to-face instruction and lab time with English language learning software. In the spring, a treatment group participated in face to face instruction and were given access to a web and mobile platform that aligned to their course objectives and contained content and activities that were personalized to their skills and interests. The platform included real time personalized instruction and adaptive lessons based on authentic, English language resources from a range of media.
Findings indicate that students who utilized the web and mobile platform demonstrated higher English language proficiency gains than students who did not have access to the platform. Discussion will include a description of the web and mobile platform, a summary of the research methods, and implications for how technology can be leveraged to support ELs in post-secondary institutions by offering flexible, personalized, and authentic learning materials that enhance classroom instruction.

Author

• Rebecca Bergey, American Institutes for Research