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

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

Though a significant number of English language learners (ELLs) and language minority students (LMs) begin their postsecondary education at community colleges, there is a dearth of knowledge on the policies, experiences, and outcomes of these learners. As community colleges increasingly restructure developmental reading and writing programs that have traditionally served this population, it is critical to better understand how issues of categorization, placement, assessment, curriculum, and pedagogy shape these learners’ experiences and trajectories. This panel takes a comprehensive approach to examining the experiences of ELLs and LMs in their “pathways” through community colleges from the point of their identification as language learners to faculty considerations about curriculum and instruction to issues of assessment and language learning outcomes.

Sub Unit

• SIG-Second Language Research

Chairs

• Heather Bobrow Finn, Borough of Manhattan Community College

• Sharon Avni, Borough of Manhattan Community College - CUNY

Papers

• Case Studies of ESL in Community College and the Experiences of English Learners - Julia Raufman, Community College Research Center

• Technology to Support English Learners in Community Colleges - Rebecca Bergey, American Institutes for Research

• Beyond the Cut Point: College Writing Readiness for Linguistically Diverse Students - Stefani Rose Relles, University of Nevada - Las Vegas; Blanca E. Rincón, University of Nevada - Las Vegas

• Community College ESL Curricular Changes: Faculty Perspectives on Co-Requisite Models of Instruction - Sharon Avni, Borough of Manhattan Community College - CUNY; Heather Bobrow Finn, Borough of Manhattan Community College

• Valuing Teacher Knowledge: First Year College Composition (FYC) in Hawai'i Community Colleges - Meryl Siegal, Laney College

Discussant

• George C. Bunch, University of California - Santa Cruz