An Informational Brief  

Most administrators are informed about how to create quality schools; however, as an administrator you may embrace or act on one the following myths and in doing so hinder the performance of the ELs at your school.   

Myth 1: Using a particular model, including Sheltered Instruction, guarantees EL success in the classroom. There are several models for supporting the literacy development and academic achievement for ELs; yet, administrators are often aware of only one. These models include: Push-in (EL teacher works with the EL student in the mainstream classroom); Pull-out in which the EL student goes to the EL teacher’s room, missing mainstream classroom learning; and ELD: a group of ELs go to a classroom to learn English with a teacher using a written program, often lacking meaningfulness for students. You can read about these programs and the needed resources and the kinds of contexts they support here. Recommendations: Administrators should choose the program model that best responds to the context and learning needs of your school. Support your teachers in engaging in professional development opportunities that prepare them to work with ELS during their regular classroom instruction and allows them to provide direct language instruction as well as use learning content as a vehicle to support learning English. Be aware of and monitor the language and literacy progress students are making and adjust as need.  Avoid tracking ELs into lower-level ability groups. ELS’ instruction should be scaffolded up, not down. Be sure program decisions are based on student needs and research-based best practice. You can find information about these programs here. 

Myth 2: Translating materials is adequate for communicating with EL families: Often administrators believe that just providing information from the school in written form in the parents' language is sufficient. However, written communication is one-way and doesn’t engage families with the school.  Parents need to feel that they are partners with the school and need to feel comfortable in the building and with the teachers of their children. Parents often don’t understand the ‘school game’ and are new to the cultural knowledge embedded in written language. The schools in their homeland are usually very different from American schools. Recommendations: Build strong relationships to empower families with the knowledge necessary to advocate for their children. Include much more than written communication—add phone calls, in-person discussions, parent meetings in more than one language and at times when parents can attend. Encourage the district to supply interpreters for parent-teacher conferences and other school gatherings (Remember not everyone will be a Spanish speaker and you need to include the range of language interpreters needed) If your district has more than five languages in its families, work with the district to develop a core of interpreters for each language represented. 

Myth 3: ESL Teaching is just good teaching: While good teaching does support second language learners, without teachers’ understanding the role of language in learning and the ways in which teachers can use content learning to promote language development; just good teaching is not enough. Teachers need to know how to scaffold instruction in ways that lead to deep disciplinary learning and focus on differentiating for language levels. ELS need multiple opportunities to discuss, read, and write (not just worksheets) to reach parity with their English-speaking peers. Teachers must process the language of the discipline instruction, including vocabulary, to provide that in lessons. They need to provide ELs with many opportunities to use English in meaningful ways with other students. Recommendations: Provide support for teachers to learn about quality language instruction in their discipline. Help them deconstruct standards to determine the language associated with academic tasks. Hire licensed, qualified EL staff to teach and collaborate on professional development for all staff. You can find more information about quality EL instruction here. 

Myth 4: EL language development is the responsibility of the ESL/ELD teacher. Section 504 states that ELS are entitled to ‘free and appropriate public education’. This is met when all teachers of ELs are ESL endorsed. Mainstream teachers also bear this responsibility. Even teachers who teach math, PE, or other areas that don’t rely on language as much, need to scaffold and use EL instructional practices. The entire school should focus on the support of the learning and development of all students.  Recommendations: Be sure you understand second language acquisition, the kind of instruction that supports it and the processes your district has in place that monitor and promote ELs’ development. Make sure all teachers understand how to promote students’ language proficiency and development and observe them for that. If teachers at your school aren’t endorsed, provide professional development to increase their capacity. 

Myth 5: ELs no longer need language support once they meet language program exit criteria. Language development is a long-term process. Language demands increase throughout the years of schooling, beyond the ‘exit’ stage. ELs should continue to be monitored for several years after exiting an ESL program. Els may need further support in academic areas to be successful.  Recommendations: Work with all teachers to better understand the language demands in academic areas. Develop language-rich pedagogies, measure language progress, and provide feedback to students, even after they have exited the program. Encourage all teachers to be part of the monitoring process. You can find more information about exiting programs at this link. 

Myth 6: EL automatically means ‘struggling students’ who would not be successful in gifted and talented programs. Just because ELs are learning English doesn’t mean they are struggling students. Recognizing giftedness in culturally diverse students requires a new lens. The Office of Civil Rights says that schools/districts may not categorically exclude EL students from gifted programs. Recommendations: Review how ‘giftedness’ is defined in your school and district. Monitor how effective the core instruction is to allow ELs to be successful and showcase their giftedness. Help parents to recognize giftedness outside of school and support it. Make parents aware of gifted programs and answer their questions about navigating a new school system and knowledge of program options. If your district tests students for gifted programs, be sure teachers endeavor to prepare ELs to be ready for testing. Advocate for ELs you feel are appropriate for placement in a gifted program. 

References 

Alrubail, R. (May, 2015). Debunking the myths of English language learners. Eudtopia https://www.edutopia.org/discussion/debunking-myths-english-language-learners 

colorin colorado, Rislana Westerlund and Kristina Robertson (2018)  

https://edtechbooks.org/-fHYb 

Gottschalk, B. (2016). Ten (usually wrong) ideas about ELLs: An esol teacher responds to 10 common misconceptions about English language learners. Educational Leadership, 73(5) 62-64 https://edtechbooks.org/-dtjS 

Kim, S., & Plotka, R. (2016). Myths and Facts Regarding Second Language Acquisition in Early Childhood: Recommendations for Policymakers, Administrators, and Teachers. Dimensions of early childhood, 44(1), 18-24. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1150266.pdf