Integrating Language, Literacy, and Content: Addressing the Instructional Challenges of English Learner Reclassification

• In Event: Reassessing the Long-Term English Learner: Theorizing and Conceptualizing Multilingual Learners in Research, Policy, and Practice

Abstract

After years of research panels and evidence-based practices, language, literacy and content instruction for English learners (ELs) in most classrooms is still disjointed and not as effective as it could be (August & Shanahan, 2006; Calderón & Minaya-Rowe, 2011). Social emotional learning (SEL) is rarely given a second thought (Calderón, 2007; CASEL, 2019; Frey Fisher & Smith, 2019). Could this lack of cohesion be one of the main reasons there are so many Long-Term ELs (LTELs)? There are multiple instructional reasons many students are still LTELs at secondary schools. For instance, vocabulary/academic language might have been taught as an end in itself, and rarely connected to the core content reading expected in their subject areas. Reading comprehension skills were most likely taught as a separate curriculum or reading intervention. Students often had to enter a text without being pre-taught vocabulary that could have facilitated comprehension. Thus, the habit of superficial reading was created. Writing might have consisted of non-text-based worksheets or free writing instead of being taught techniques for drafting, editing and revising. Unfortunately, this separation of skills and approaches have been particularly detrimental to LTELs (Calderón, 2007; Calderón et al., 2020). Due to poor instruction, assessment and misplacement into segregated ESL classes, LTELs are immediately perceived as inferior, different and unapproachable (Calderón & Montenegro, in press). Educators commonly lack the basic skills and training in SEL to fully understand the consequences of social segregation and isolation and lack either the know-how or ability to address this inequitable form of de facto segregation. This is unfortunate because what LTELs need the most are opportunities to practice English and learn cultural norms from non-ELs, and meaningful participation in mainstream classes and activities. Worse yet, during these COVID19 days, LTELs are struggling with economic hardship, fear of family deportation, self-identity crisis, social pressures to belong and to be accepted. Left emotionally unregulated, LTELs run the risk of making unwise decisions and engaging in dangerous and socially unacceptable behavior in addition to experiencing higher rates of stress and depression. This session will present an evidence-based instructional model, empirically tested in New York and Kauai middle and high schools for five years with different student language populations and ELLs. The session will focus on the findings from the LTEL experimental and control cohorts. The study was funded by the New York Carnegie Corporation and the U.S. Department of Education. It is a multi-tiered model focusing on (1) professional development (PD) for math, science, social studies, language arts, and ESL/ELD teachers with small and large populations of ELs; (2) instructional strategies for integrating language, literacy, SEL and core content components that were compared with existing popular models until a successful framework with evidence was formed; and (3) the design of a comprehensive whole-school PD program with follow-up coaching and teacher support systems for administrators, coaches and teachers. ELs in the experimental schools outperformed matched ELs in the control schools in all instances. The implications for school districts with high LTEL populations will be discussed.

Author

• Margarita E. Calderon, Johns Hopkins University