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English Language Proficiency Standards

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Proficiency Level Descriptors

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Under civil rights law, schools are obligated to ensure that ELLs have equal access to education.

Approximately 5 million students in U.S. schools have limited English language skills that affect their ability to participate successfully in education programs and achieve high academic standards. It is the responsibility of schools to ensure that all students, including these English language-learning (ELL) students, have equal access to a quality education that enables them to progress academically while learning English. The specific services to be provided are not specified by federal or state law; however, legislation provides the following broad outlines.

In 1970, the federal Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued a memo regarding school districts' responsibilities under civil rights law to provide an equal educational opportunity to ELLs. This memorandum stated:

Where the inability to speak and understand the English language excludes national origin minority group children from effective participation in the educational program offered by a school district, the district must take affirmative steps to rectify the language deficiency in order to open its instructional program to these students.

Although the memo requires school districts to take affirmative steps, it does not prescribe the content of these steps. It does, however, explain that federal law is violated if:

students are excluded from effective participation in school because of their inability to speak and understand the language of instruction;

national origin minority students are inappropriately assigned to special education classes because of their lack of English skills;

programs for students whose English is less than proficient are not designed to teach them English as soon as possible, or if these programs operate as a dead end track; or

parents whose English is limited do not receive school notices or other information in a language they can understand.

In its 1974 decision in Lau v. Nichols, the United States Supreme Court upheld OCR's 1970 memo. The basis for the case was the claim that the students could not understand the language in which they were being taught; therefore, they were not being provided with an equal education. The Supreme Court agreed, saying that:

There is no equality of treatment merely by providing students with the same facilities, textbooks, teachers, and curriculum; for students who do not understand English are effectively foreclosed from any meaningful education.

The case reaffirmed that all students in the United States, regardless of native language, have the right to receive a quality education. It also clarified that equality of opportunity does not necessarily mean the same education for every student, but rather the same opportunity to receive an education. An equal education is only possible if students can understand the language of instruction.

Within weeks of the Lau v. Nichols ruling, Congress passed the Equal Educational Opportunity Act (EEOA) mandating that no state shall deny equal education opportunity to any individual, "by the failure by an educational agency to take appropriate action to overcome language barriers that impede equal participation by students in an instructional program." This was an important piece of legislation because it defined what constituted the denial of education opportunities.

The U.S Department of Education's OCR oversees school districts broad discretion concerning how to ensure equal educational opportunity for ELLs. OCR does not prescribe a specific intervention strategy or program model that a district must adopt to serve ELLs.

The following guidelines have been outlined for school districts to ensure that their programs are serving ELLs effectively. Districts should:

identify students as potential ELLs;

assess student's need for ELL services;

develop a program which, in the view of experts in the field, has a reasonable chance for success;

ensure that necessary staff, curricular materials, and facilities are in place and used properly;

develop appropriate evaluation standards, including program exit criteria, for measuring the progress of students; and

assess the success of the program and modify it where needed.

For additional information regarding the provision of equal education opportunity to ELLs, see resources below or contact the Office for Civil Rights enforcement office at:

Phone: (800) 421-3481
Email: ocr@ed.gov
URL: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/index.html
Resources

Office for Civil Rights (2006).

Office for Civil Rights (2006). English Language Learner Resources.

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Q: What legal obligations do schools have to English language learners (ELLs)? | NCELA

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Under civil rights law, schools are obligated to ensure that ELLs have equal access to education. Approximately 5 million students in U.S. schools have limited English language skills that affect their ability to participate successfully in education programs and achieve high academic standards.

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The population of English learners (ELs) in K-12 schools continues to grow. Between the 2009-10 and 2014-15 school years, the percentage of English learners increased in over half of the states, and in 2017, English learners made up 10.1% of the total student population. Research suggests that in their transition to English, non-native speakers fall behind academically, which can intensify the longer a student remains in an English learner program. State education leaders are mindful of this and have implemented policies to identify, serve and reclassify English learners as they become proficient.

This resource provides a national comparison of EL policies in all states. Unless otherwise noted, all information in this resource was gathered from state statutes or regulations and does not include policies in state-level guidance documents or arising from court orders.

Click on the metrics below for 50-State Comparisons showing how all states approach these policies. Or view a specific state's approach by going to the individual state profiles page.
Key Takeaways

States primarily use four methods for funding English learner programs:

Foundation formula (33 states and the District of Columbia).

Resource allocation model (six states).

Grants (six states).

Reimbursements (one state).

To identify English learners, at least 21 states require the administration of a home language survey, while at least 27 states require the use of an English language proficiency screening assessment for students whose primary or home language is not English.

At least 28 states provide for specific qualifications or pre-service and in-service training and professional development for general classroom teachers in statute or regulation.

At least 39 states provide for training, professional development, teaching standards, certification or endorsements for EL-specific teachers in statute or regulation.

At least 24 states explicitly require students to score proficiently on an English language proficiency exam to be reclassified as English proficient.
Some states consider additional metrics, including academic performance, statewide assessments, and teacher observations and recommendations.

50-State Comparisons
Click on the items below to see data for all states
Basics

1. State resource page for English learners

2. Percentage and number of English learners

3. Type of funding

4. Funding per student

Identification

1. How is "English learner" defined in state policy?

2. How does the state identify English learners?

Serving English Learners

1. Which program approaches does state policy authorize?

2. Is parent membership required on EL advisory councils or committees?

3. Can state-funded pre-K programs provide DLL/EL instruction?

4. What EL training or ongoing professional development is required of general classroom teachers?

5. Are EL-only instructors in K-12 required to hold a specialist certification or endorsement?

Reclassification

1. What is the process for EL reclassification?

2. What measures do schools use to reclassify students as "English proficient"?

3. How do states monitor former English learners?

How States Allocate Funding for English Language Learners (blog post)
Dear Colleague Letter: English Learner Students and Limited English Proficient Parents

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50-State Comparison: English Learner Policies - Education Commission of the States

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The population of English learners (ELs) in K-12 schools continues to grow. Between the 2009-10 and 2014-15 school years, the percentage of English learners increased in over half of the states, and in 2017, English learners made up 10.1% of the total student population.

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María "Cuca" Robledo Montecel, Ph.D., and Josie Danini Cortez, M.A.

Twenty-five characteristics contribute to the high academic performance of students served by bilingual education programs. The Intercultural Development Research Association (IDRA) identified these characteristics through funding by the U.S. Department of Education. IDRA rigorously and methodically studied exemplary bilingual education programs in schools across the nation as determined by limited-English-proficient (LEP) students' academic achievement. IDRA now is helping others identify successful programs or raise the bar with their own bilingual education programs.

Amid a backdrop of great language diversity among the students and parents that U.S. schools serve are schools with exemplary bilingual education programs and extraordinary individuals who are committed to equity and excellence. This commitment manifests itself as academic success for all students, including LEP students. These schools refuse to make excuses for a lack of student achievement; they refuse to settle for anything less than excellence and high standards for all.

While there are many such schools and classrooms across this country, time and resources dictated that IDRA work with only 10 schools and use their lessons learned as a guide for developing criteria that others can use to assess their own programs.

This study comes at a critical time. There are 4.4 million LEP students in the United States, a persistent achievement gap between LEP and non-LEP students, and a critical shortage of bilingual education teachers with the preparation, skills and tools to ensure that all of their students succeed.

The primary purpose of this study was not to prove that bilingual education works - there are years of rigorous research that prove it does work when implemented with integrity. Instead, the purpose of this research study was to identify the characteristics that are contributing to the high academic performance of students served by bilingual education programs.

As IDRA visited, interviewed, and surveyed the teachers, administrators, parents and students in 10 different bilingual education programs and their schools, one thing became evident: leadership is an essential ingredient in the formula for student success. Leadership manifests itself in different ways, such as commitment to students, valuing of students and their families, and openness to innovation and change. But, one aspect was evident in all of the individuals involved with the programs: each had the ability to inspire and see what was possible.

Lee Bolman and Terrence Deal write of this ability in Leading with Soul: "Perhaps we lost our way when we forgot that the heart of leadership lies in the hearts of leaders. We fooled ourselves, thinking that sheer bravado or sophisticated analytic techniques could respond to our deepest concerns. We lost touch with a precious human gift - our spirit" (1995). This aspect of leadership is difficult to measure but immediately recognizable. And it is this aspect that is critically needed to achieve equity and excellence for all students.

Research also finds that exemplary bilingual education programs hold school staff accountable for their students' success, while providing them with the support and tools they need. These programs also nurture meaningful parent and community involvement. Our study of 10 exemplary bilingual education programs confirms this.

IDRA researched school- and classroom-level indicators of successful bilingual education programs. Our extensive review of other research provided a strong theoretical framework with indicators conducive to successful programs for LEP students. IDRA framed these indicators as research questions in areas of leadership, vision and goals, school climate, linkages, school organization and accountability, professional development, parent involvement, staff accountability and assessment, staff selection and recognition, and community involvement.

IDRA's primary research question for this study was, "What contributed to the success of a bilingual education classroom as evidenced by LEP student academic achievement?" In addition to the student data, qualitative and contextual research questions for other indicators emerged from our extensive review of the research and IDRA's own history in bilingual education.

To help others identify successful programs or improve their own bilingual education programs IDRA has produced Good Schools and Classrooms for Children Learning English. This guide is a rubric, designed for people in schools and communities to evaluate five dimensions that are necessary for success:

School Indicators,

Student Outcomes,

Leadership,

Support, and

Programmatic and Instructional Practices.

This research study, and the corresponding publication, highlight some of the practices in schools that enable students to grow academically and socially in their native language as well as English.

Students who speak a language other than English have the right to comprehensible instruction that fosters learning. In 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the failure of schools to respond to the language characteristics of LEP children was a denial of equal educational opportunity ( Lau vs. Nichols, 1973).

The Equal Educational Opportunities Act of 1974 states, "No state shall deny equal educational opportunity on account of his or her race, color, sex or national origin by... the failure of an educational agency to take appropriate action to overcome language barriers that impede equal participation by its students in its instructional program" (20 U.S.C., Section 1703 (f)).

This was followed in 1975 by detailed guidelines for determining the language characteristics of students and appropriate educational responses to those characteristics.

Most recently, President Bush signed into law the No Child Left Behind Act, in which Title VII (the Bilingual Education Act) has become Title III. In the 120 pages of the new Title III regulations, the term bilingual education is never used. It has been replaced by English language acquisition. But the primary purpose is the same.

One key distinction is that the new regulation does not specify the methods for achieving such standards. The former law specified the development and implementation of exemplary bilingual education programs, development of bilingual skills and multicultural understanding, and development of English and the native language skills. Now, schools must determine for themselves how they will implement effective bilingual education programs.

As the country enters this new legislative era, it must be remembered that the civil rights of children remain unchanged. Educators must use the most appropriate tools available to ensure their students' success. One of these tools is bilingual education.

Thirty years of research have proven that bilingual education, when implemented well, is the best way to learn English. Children in such programs achieve high academic standards.

IDRA's research re-affirms what is possible when committed and dedicated individuals use research to develop and provide excellent bilingual education programs for their students.

This article is excerpted from a series of articles that appeared in the IDRA Newsletter between September 2001 and February 2002. The series is available online at http://www.idra.org/resource_center_categories/idra-newsletter/.

Resources

Bolman, L.G., and T.E. Deal. Leading with Soul: An Uncommon Journey of Spirit Revised (San Francisco, Calif.: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1995) p. 6.

María "Cuca" Robledo Montecel, Ph.D., is the IDRA executive director. Josie Danini Cortez, MA, is the IDRA production development coordinator. Comments and questions may be directed to them via e-mail at feedback@idra.org.

Indicators of Success for Bilingual Programs

Retention Rate

Dropout Rate

Enrollment in Gifted and Talented/Advanced Placement Programs

Enrollment in Special Education or Remedial Programs

Test Exemption Rates

Program Exiting Standard

Oral Language Proficiency

Reading and Writing Proficiency

Content Area Mastery in English

Content Area Mastery in Native Language

Leadership

Vision and Goals

School Climate

Linkages

School Organization and Accountability

Professional Development

Parent Involvement

Teacher Accountability and Student Assessment

Staff Selection and Recognition

Community Involvement

Appropriate Program Models

Positive Classroom Climate

Academically Challenging Curriculum

High Teacher Expectations

Program Articulation

Intercultural Development Research Association, 2001

[©2003, IDRA. This article originally appeared in the IDRA Newsletter by the Intercultural Development Research Association. Every effort has been made to maintain the content in its original form. However, accompanying charts and graphs may not be provided here. To receive a copy of the original article by mail or fax, please fill out our information request and feedback form. Permission to reproduce this article is granted provided the article is reprinted in its entirety and proper credit is given to IDRA and the author.]

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Successful Bilingual Education Programs - IDRA

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María "Cuca" Robledo Montecel, Ph.D., and Josie Danini Cortez, M.A. Twenty-five characteristics contribute to the high academic performance of students served by bilingual education programs. The Intercultural Development Research Association (IDRA) identified these characteristics through funding by the U.S. Department of Education.

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First Language Vs. Second Language Acquisition Chart

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First Language Vs. Second Language Acquisition Chart

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Culture shock and the stages of culture shock are part of the acculturation process. Scholars in different disciplines have developed more than 100 different theories of acculturation (Rudiman, 2003); however contemporary research has primarily focused on different strategies and how acculturation affects individuals, as well as interventions to make the process easier (Berry, 1992).

Berry proposed a model of acculturation that categorizes individual adaptation strategies along two dimensions (Berry, 1992). The first dimension concerns the retention or rejection of an individual's native culture (i.e. "Is it considered to be of value to maintain one's identity and characteristics?"). The second dimension concerns the adoption or rejection of the host culture. ("Is it considered to be of value to maintain relationships with the larger society?") From these two questions four acculturation strategies emerge:

Assimilation occurs when individuals adopt the cultural norms of a dominant or host culture, over their original culture.

Separation occurs when individuals reject the dominant or host culture in favor of preserving their culture of origin. Separation is often facilitated by immigration to ethnic enclaves.

Integration occurs when individuals are able to adopt the cultural norms of the dominant or host culture while maintaining their culture of origin. Integration leads to, and is often synonymous with biculturalism.

Marginalization occurs when individuals reject both their culture of origin and the dominant host culture.

Studies suggest that the acculturation strategy people use can differ between their private and public areas of life (Arends-Tóth, & van de Vijver, 2004). For instance, an individual may reject the values and norms of the host culture in his private life (separation) but he might adapt to the host culture in public parts of his life (i.e., integration or assimilation). Moreover, attitudes towards acculturation and the different acculturation strategies available have not been consistent over time. For example, for most of American history, policies and attitudes have been based around established ethnic hierarchies with an expectation of one-way assimilation for predominantly white European immigrants (Fredrickson, 1999).

The metaphor of the melting pot has been used to describe the immigration history of the United States but it doesn't capture the experiences of many immigrant groups (Allen, 2011). Generally, immigrant groups who were white, or light skinned, and spoke English were better able to assimilate but immigrant groups that we might think of as white today were not always considered white enough. For example, Irish and Italian immigrants were discriminated against and even portrayed as black in cartoons that appeared in newspapers and it wasn't until 1952 that Asian immigrants were allowed to become citizens of the United States (Allen, 2011).

Within the United States, separation as an acculturation strategy can still be seen today in some religious communities such as the Amish and the Hutterites. An integration strategy for acculturation can be observed within Deaf culture. Individuals who are deaf use a different language to communicate, learn about their culture and language from institutions and not their family (most deaf children have hearing parents) and are united by shared experiences as persons with disabilities. Deaf individuals in the United States live within the dominant culture and share the same cultural values but are separated by language and disability (Maxwell-McCaw, et al., 2000). Members of the Deaf culture have created their own unique cultural and social norms for communicating, interacting and experiencing the world around them.

Some acculturation research suggests that the integrated acculturation strategy has the most favorable psychological outcomes (Nguyuen, et al., 2007; Okasaki, et al., 2009) for individuals adjusting to a host culture and marginalization has the least favorable outcomes (Berry, et al., 2006). Additionally, marginalization has been described as a maladaptive acculturation and coping strategy (Knust et al., 2013). Other researchers have argued that the four strategies have very little predictive validity because people do not always fall neatly into the four categories (Kunst et al., 2013; Schwartz et al., 2010). Situational determinants (e.g., traveling with family, familiarity with language) and environment factors also impact the availability, advantage, and selection of different acculturation strategies (Zhou, 1997).

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Culture shock and the stages of culture shock are part of the acculturation process. Scholars in different disciplines have developed more than 100 different theories of acculturation (Rudiman, 2003); however contemporary research has primarily focused on different strategies and how acculturation affects individuals, as well as interventions to make the process easier (Berry, 1992).

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Basic Sentence Structure for ELL Students

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Basic Sentence Structure for ELL Students

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Sentence structure is the order of the words in an English sentence. Since it follows a rather rigid formula, it is something that English learners need to know in order to make themselves comprehensible.

The beauty of working with English learners is that you also get a first-hand glimpse into how their native language sentence structure plays out when learning English. I know, I know, my inner nerd is coming out but bear with me for a moment.

Just recently, I asked my students to use the vocabulary word "cultivate" and come up with a sentence using it. One example was: My grandfather is cultivate tomatoes in his garden.

For my older students, this is a fairly frequent error. So we dissected the sentence and split it into two possible variations using the two verbs separately.
My grandfather is a tomato. My grandfather cultivates tomatoes.
Yes, they chose the first sentence. And yes, we all had a really good laugh. But sentence structure is something we also have to work at every day.

Here is another simple English sentence, such as:
My mother cooks dinner every night.
And now take a look at a few variations (all taken from my personal teaching experience)
My mother is cook dinner every night. My mother cook dinner every night. Every night cook my mother dinner. My mother, she cook dinner every night.
The sentence is comprehensible most of the time. But to an English speaker, even though he/she may understand what the person is saying, it sounds awkward.

So yes, we should teach sentence structure to our ESL students. And it can be done at all ages and with the help of different activities.

How do I teach sentence structure?

This blog post was inspired by a question from one of my readers. Here it goes:
What I would like to know is how do I move on to full sentences and conversation? Should I start stringing the vocab into short sentences and hope that repetition will lead to understanding?
Below I provide a few tips on how you can move into a conversation. Most of this is not linear because the words are strung into sentences as we learn them. In addition, some students are more open to practicing the language right away while others wait longer to produce until they think they are perfect.

However, once the students get a chance to practice, they will be able to retrieve more and more information on their own.

It is important to remember, that it takes some time for absolute beginners to string longer sentences together. Just like with children learning their first language, ESL students first listen to determine the words and the overall rhythm, then work through the words that carry the most meaning (nouns and verbs), and are then able to add more information. For example, add a descriptive adjective (a brown dog, a great poet), or make a compound and even complex sentence.

However, you can have a great conversation with just the basics. Remember, body language is also a fantastic tool to convey meaning.

Start with the simplest sentence structure

Determine your goal. Is your goal to get the students speaking in general? Or is it to get them to use what they know and create longer sentences?

At the most basic level, the English sentence structure follows a simple rule. First, we have a subject (who or what the sentence is about) and then we have a verb (what is that subject doing/did/will do).

When we are teaching beginners, we provide them with a variety of words. Some of them are nouns (such as things in their immediate environment) and some of them are actions.
For example, I sleep. Mary reads. We talk.
The simplest way to begin teaching sentence structure to English students is to provide pictures of people or objects and pictures of actions and have the students put the two together.
Note: once the students get this (which usually does not take a lot of time), you should also do a lesson on personal pronouns. It is important to teach that the third person singular (he/she/it) takes a suffix -s in present simple tense. It is just as important to remember that this grammatical rule is one of the more difficult to master and will take a considerable amount of time.
Once the students have the basic subject + verb down, you can introduce the subject + verb + object structure. This can be manipulated in a variety of ways but building on what they know is key.

Subject + verb + object
I play basketball My mother cooks dinner. My brother and I like movies.
To get you started, here is a simple worksheet that the students can use to practice stringing sentences together.

Parts of speech are similar in many languages (for more information about the specifics, you can read this article), at least the way different languages express nouns (concepts, places, people, events, etc.) and verbs (actions). In some, it is more complicated and therefore it transfers when learning English.

For the purpose of this blog post, though, let's focus on the parts of speech you will teach your beginners right away.

Nouns, verbs, adjectives, prepositions (in, on, at, etc.). When teaching the sentence structure, you can give examples of where in the sentence you will find each of those. In addition, remember that the part of speech of a word is determined by where in the sentence it is found.

For example:

The view from the mountain was wonderful.

We view movies in class and then talk about it.

And of course, teaching prepositions will take a longer period of time, possibly a few lessons and constant repetition.

Sentence structure activities

Below are a few activities you can incorporate into your classroom and turn it into both speaking and writing tasks.

Sentence structure writing practice

Give a map of word order in the longer sentence
Who? - the subject What? - the verb Why? - the reason (why was the action taken?) Where? - the place where it all happened (action, using the appropriate tense) When? - the time (using prepositions) How? - the manner in which it all happened
The cat jumped on the table because it wanted to taste the milk.
The who and the what are the questions for a simple sentence, but once your students begin to feel more comfortable, encourage them to answer the other questions as well.

Once the students know the basics, have them play around with the parts of speech and put a sentence in order following a formula
(adjective) Subject + (adverb) verb + ( preposition, adjective ) object A black cat quickly jumped on the big table.
Whenever your students write, either have them color code the parts of speech or use colors yourself when you are giving feedback. For example, subject (yellow), verb (pink), object (green).

Pair students up and give them a few sentences that are written incorrectly. The students must fix the mistakes and then share out their results.

Sentence structure speaking practice

Interview
Students work in pairs for this activity. Depending on your topic, prepare a few interview questions. One of the students asks his/her partner the questions and the other student has to answer them in complete sentences. Then they switch. You can observe by walking around and listening in and finishing up the lesson by having each pair share - in a complete sentence! - one thing they learned or found out from the interview.

Picture/photo discussion

This activity is very versatile and you can utilize it teaching almost anything, including the sentence structure.

Students can work in pairs or groups. Each student takes a turn to say what they see in the picture. One of them can be a scribe and write it down (it is not necessary, but if you think it would help them remember, you can utilize this too). Again, the task is to use complete sentences and, if this is something you have already practiced a number of times, have them add adjectives, or form compound sentences.

Here is a high-interest and low-stress ESL speaking activity to get your students going.

Provide sentence frames

When we give open-ended practice activities to beginner level ESL students, we sometimes forget that it takes some time to retrieve the information that is already there.

Therefore, providing sentence frames and word banks for the students to work with will help them tremendously.

To grab your free sentence practice worksheet, click here.

And if you are ready to take your ESL teaching to the next level with not only ready-made resources but also personalized guidance, check out The ESL Teaching Roadmap => access it here
And finally, if you like this article, share it with friends and colleagues! Share buttons are on your left <=

What is your favorite way to teach sentence structure? Let us know in the comments!

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How to Teach Sentence Structure to ESL Students

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How to teach English sentence structure to your ESL students. From the basics to speaking and writing activities that will help them with conversation.

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Varieties of English for ELLs and Their Importance

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Varieties of English for ELLs and Their Importance

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Over the past 200 years or so, English has grown to become the lingua franca (shared language) in a huge range of industries. The fields of media, engineering, medicine, shipping, air travel, international business and commerce all rely on English as the common language which can facilitate communication between countries anywhere in the world. Globally, by far the majority of international communication occurs in English between non-native speakers of English, between individuals, companies and organisations . It follows that this is also the most likely way that learners of English, wherever they are, will use the language themselves. This has enormous implications for language learning, and should inform the way in which English is studied globally.

Consider this: There are currently as many people learning English in one way or another in China alone than there are native speakers of English in the world (an estimated 500 million). Stop to think about that for a moment; in a single country, English language learners alone equal the population of every English-speaking country in the world. This is not only a humbling statistic for native speakers, but also shows the relative value of the different of English which are used by native speakers around the world. Take those English-speaking countries and split them into their major groups by accent, and we can define broad varieties of the language such as British English, American English, Australasian English and Irish English. Take one step closer, and a single broad variety of English (say British English) can be further split into accents which vary widely from Welsh, Scottish, South-western, South Eastern, Midlands, Scouse, Mancunian, Geordie...the list goes on. In addition, each of these varieties differs in both accent (the sound of the language) and dialect (the locally-used words for things), leading to even greater diversity just within one broad variety of the language.

Go back to the English-language learner population of China - what varieties of English are typically taught to this vast number of learners? What varieties are prioritised by educational authorities (government departments, school managers, etc)? The answer is predominantly standard British English or Midwestern American English, spoken by the perceived culturally 'normal' demographic, i.e. 20-40 year old Caucasians. This is in no way representative of how English is used in the world, so does it adequately prepare students for their future in a lingua franca language environment such as the 21st-century education and business world described above?

A new strand of English has been defined in EIL; English as an International Language, which is perhaps a more realistic English for the purposes that current learners will have for their language in the future. In order to ensure a realistic outcome for students, then, in many cases restricting the language environment to one or other perceived norms is doing learners a disservice for their futures.

Language diversity should be encouraged in schools for many reasons. Non-native speaker (NNS) teachers, having been English language learners themselves, often have a much more analytical grasp of the language they are teaching, and can put themselves in the place of the learners more easily (especially if they are from the same cultural background as their learners). In addition, the diversity of Englishes that international students will be exposed to in their future education and employment should be reflected in their exposure as learners. If not, there is a risk that their flexibility with language will not be sufficient to deal with the wide range of English-language situations that they will find themselves in.

A final message to school managers, HR departments and education departments: Don't think twice about hiring non-native teachers of English. Assess the benefits that they can bring rather than falling foul of the stereotyped view of what an English teacher 'should' be. Assess them by their fluency, accuracy, usage and qualifications, not by their ethnicity, nationality or language background.

Considering a Trinity CertTESOL qualification? The introductory module of the CertTESOL course is now available as a standalone fully online course - the TESOL Starter course.

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English or Englishes: are varieties of English important for learners?

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Over the past 200 years or so, English has grown to become the lingua franca (shared language) in a huge range of industries. The fields of media, engineering, medicine, shipping, air travel, international business and commerce all rely on English as the common language which can facilitate communication between countries anywhere in the world.

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Varieties of English | English Language Learning Tips | Cambridge English

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Competencies for Teaching in Multicultural Classrooms

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Creating a Plan of Action for ELL Family Engagement

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The following strategies provide a roadmap for building family engagement among the families of English language learners (ELLs) in your school community. Supporting immigrant families For related ideas, see the following: A. What you need to know A good place to begin developing a new approach to family engagement is by soliciting ideas from the school's ELL community - they know what they need.