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In this article it discusses the growing ratio of ELLs around the US and specifically in the classroom in Maryland schools. This article suggests that the lack of quality resources in schools is what’s lacking in supporting ELLs and suggest models and strategies to implement. The models suggested in this article are the Prism Model and the SIOP model.

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Like most teachers across America, I have students that are described as English Language Learners (ELLs). It seems an opportune time to raise awareness among educators about the state of flux in the demography of learners in our classrooms and to offer research-based principles and approaches for their education.

According to the Migrant Policy Institute, in 2013, approximately 61.6 million individuals, foreign and U.S. born, spoke a language other than English at home, and of that number about 41% (25.1 million) were considered Limited English Proficient.

An English Language Learner is a student in the process of attaining proficiency in English as a new, additional language (Wright, W.E., 2015). Under this unifying definition are several diverse groupings based on race, ethnicity, home language, level of schooling, socioeconomic status, parents' level of education, parents' proficiency in English, proficiency and literacy in their home language, and proficiency and literacy in English.

Data from the U.S. Census Bureau indicate that there has been a rapid growth in the ELL population across the United States, bringing about an urgent imperative for all educators and personnel directly involved with ELL education to be trained and certified appropriately.

In Maryland, according to current National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition (NCELA) data, my school district, Prince George's County, with over 17,000 English learners, ranks second to Montgomery County in terms of the population size of ELLs. In the public school where I teach, the current enrollment suggests we have less than 5% of the school's student population as ELL students -- at various levels of English acquisition -- and mostly in various content-area classrooms. The population and spread of ELL students suggests that almost all teachers have one. By race and ethnicity, most of our ELLs are Hispanic, with very few Africans and Asians.

We've done well thus far. For starters, the flags of every nation on earth adorn our cafeteria. We endeavor to make our ELLs feel welcome and this pluralist outlook recognizes that the ELLs' home languages and cultures aren't a problem, but rather a rich resource for helping ELLs learn both English and academic content.

The Prism Model

The pluralist approach adopted by our school is very much in sync with the Prism Model, which holds that the process of second language acquisition has four main interdependent components: sociocultural, linguistic, academic, and cognitive processes (p. 42). According to Thomas and Collier (1997), the sociocultural component is at the heart of the Prism Model and it's central to the individual student's acquisition of language.

What Does This Mean for You as an ELL Teacher?

It's imperative that all educators embrace and celebrate diversity in a vivid manner that encourages students' self-esteem and allays all anxieties about prejudice or any other affective factors that might negatively impact the acquisition of language.

The sociocultural component of the Prism Model asserts that language is a part of students' identities; if you tell students their language isn't important, you devalue them. There are several ways an educator or school staff could debase a student's first (home) language implicitly or explicitly -- this ought not to be.

In the same vein of affirming the importance of a student's first language, the Prism Model's academic development component asserts that "academic knowledge and conceptual development transfer from the first language to the second language" (p. 43).

It's very instructive to develop academic work through a student's first language, while teaching a second language through meaningful academic content at other times.

As much as possible, teachers should encourage ELLs to learn academic content in their first language, especially when the teacher is proficient and literate in the language as well.

Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP)

Another instructional model is the Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP) -- a research-based and validated instructional model for teaching ELLs. This model has been adopted by our school district, with professional training scheduled for all teachers and administrators throughout the system; training is crucial to successful implementation. The SIOP Model consists of eight interrelated components:

Lesson Preparation

Building Background

Comprehensible Input

Strategies

Interaction

Practice / Application

Lesson Delivery and Review

Assessment

Since these SIOP components are all interrelated, certain key elements and pedagogical approaches cut across them.

What Does This Mean for You as an ELL Teacher?

It's worth restating that attending SIOP professional development training is vital to the successful implementation of the model, especially with regards to lesson preparation. However, there are several simple instructional strategies that connect the SIOP components that you can implement right now.

ELLs should be able to give feedback about their learning on the spot to the teacher. Basic learning phrases or sentences should be displayed around the classroom and taught to the students to enhance and prompt feedback from them. Here are a few model statements/questions you can use to reinforce this important skill:

-- "I don't understand"

-- "Is it important for the test?"

-- "Would you please show me how?"

Effective grouping of students is crucial.

-- Effective grouping allows ELLs to practice language skills and development

-- Effective grouping helps overcome the usual complaints from teachers that ELLs don't talk in class

Scaffolding (both verbal and procedural) is another worthwhile instructional strategy that will enhance ELLs' academic achievement and language acquisition.

Students in classrooms all across America, more than ever before, stand to benefit immensely from research-based instructional approaches and informed mindset (principles and beliefs) in the education of our ever-growing ELL population. I believe diversity or variance in student populations is no longer (or should never have been) an outlier, but the norm.

What research-based instructional approaches are you using in your classroom? We'd love to hear what works for you in the comments below.
For more information on perspectives and pedagogy with ELLs, see the following resources:

The Limited English Proficient Population in the United States culled from http://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/limited-english-proficient-population-united-states

Thomas, W. P., & Collier, V. P. (1997). School effectiveness for language minority students. Washington, DC: Disseminated by National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education, the George Washington University, Center for the Study of Language and Education.

Title III State Profiles culled from http://www.ncela.us/t3sis/maryland.php

What is SIOP Model? Culled from http://www.cal.org/siop/about/

Wright, W. E. (2015). Foundations for teaching English language learners: Research, theory, policy, and practice. Philadelphia: Caslon Pub.

Olukayode (Olu) Banmeke is a high school AP Environmental Science and Biology teacher at DuVal High School in Lanham, Maryland. He has been teaching for 20 years (15 overseas and 5 in the United States). Olu is a Ph.D. student (with focus on Instructional Leadership for a Changing Population) at Notre Dame of Maryland University. He has served on the NSTA Committee on Multicultural/Equity in Science Education since 2014 and currently serves as curriculum writer (Environmental Science) in his school district. He is a member of Teaching Channel's NextGen Science Squad. Connect with Olu on Twitter: @kaybanms

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Like most teachers across America, I have students that are described as English Language Learners (ELLs). It seems an opportune time to raise awareness among educators about the state of flux in the demography of learners in our classrooms and to offer research-based principles and approaches for their education.

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This article discusses Jim Cummins theory on the difference of academic language and social language acquisition. Cummins differentiates these two aspects as Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills (BICS) and Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP).

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In this article it discusses early a theories of language acquisition, from Skinner and Chomsky. Skinner believing that environmental influxes impact language development, while Chomsky believed in an innate set of grammar skills born into humans (Universal Grammar).

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Language Acquisition in psychology refers to the process by which humans acquire the ability to perceive, produce, and use words to understand and communicate. This innate capacity typically develops in early childhood and involves complex interplay of genetic, cognitive, and social factors.

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Stephen Krashen's theory of second language acquisition

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Stephen Krashen's theory of second language acquisition

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This entry discusses Stephen Krashen’s theory on second language acquisition. His most known theory, the Acquisition-Learning theory is comprised of two independent components, natural communication and learned communication.

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Página inicial Portuguese version

Language acquisition does not require extensive use of conscious grammatical rules, and does not require tedious drill.

Acquisition requires meaningful interaction in the target language - natural communication - in which speakers are concerned not with the form of their utterances but with the messages they are conveying and understanding.

... 'comprehensible input' is the crucial and necessary ingredient for the acquisition of language.

The best methods are therefore those that supply 'comprehensible input' in low anxiety situations, containing messages that students really want to hear. These methods do not force early production in the second language, but allow students to produce when they are 'ready', recognizing that improvement comes from supplying communicative and comprehensible input, and not from forcing and correcting production.

In the real world, conversations with sympathetic native speakers who are willing to help the acquirer understand are very helpful.

Stephen Krashen

Introduction

Stephen Krashen (University of Southern California) is an expert in the field of linguistics, specializing in theories of language acquisition and development. Much of his recent research has involved the study of non-English and bilingual language acquisition. Since 1980, he has published well over 100 books and articles and has been invited to deliver over 300 lectures at universities throughout the United States and Canada.

This is a brief description of Krashen's widely known and well-accepted theory of second language acquisition, which has had a large impact in all areas of second language research and teaching.

The 5 hypotheses of Krashen's Theory of Second Language Acquisition

Krashen's theory of second language acquisition consists of five main hypotheses:

the Acquisition-Learning hypothesis;

the Monitor hypothesis;

the Input hypothesis;

and the Affective Filter hypothesis;

the Natural Order hypothesis.

The Acquisition-Learning distinction is the most fundamental of the five hypotheses in Krashen's theory and the most widely known among linguists and language teachers. According to Krashen there are two independent systems of foreign language performance: 'the acquired system' and 'the learned system'. The 'acquired system' or ' acquisition' is the product of a subconscious process very similar to the process children undergo when they acquire their first language. It requires meaningful interaction in the target language - natural communication - in which speakers are concentrated not in the form of their utterances, but in the communicative act.

The "learned system" or " learning" is the product of formal instruction and it comprises a conscious process which results in conscious knowledge 'about' the language, for example knowledge of grammar rules. A deductive approach in a teacher-centered setting produces " learning", while an inductive approach in a student-centered setting leads to " acquisition".

According to Krashen 'learning' is less important than 'acquisition'. (See here our in-depth analysis of the Acquisition/Learning hypothesis and its implications).

The Monitor hypothesis explains the relationship between acquisition and learning and defines the influence of the latter on the former. The monitoring function is the practical result of the learned grammar. According to Krashen, the acquisition system is the utterance initiator, while the learning system performs the role of the 'monitor' or the 'editor'. The 'monitor' acts in a planning, editing and correcting function when three specific conditions are met:

The second language learner has sufficient time at their disposal.

They focus on form or think about correctness.

They know the rule.

It appears that the role of conscious learning is somewhat limited in second language performance. According to Krashen, the role of the monitor is minor, being used only to correct deviations from "normal" speech and to give speech a more 'polished' appearance.

Krashen also suggests that there is individual variation among language learners with regard to 'monitor' use. He distinguishes those learners that use the 'monitor' all the time (over-users); those learners who have not learned or who prefer not to use their conscious knowledge (under-users); and those learners that use the 'monitor' appropriately (optimal users). An evaluation of the person's psychological profile can help to determine to what group they belong. Usually extroverts are under-users, while introverts and perfectionists are over-users. Lack of self-confidence is frequently related to the over-use of the "monitor".

The Input hypothesis is Krashen's attempt to explain how the learner acquires a second language - how second language acquisition takes place. The Input hypothesis is only concerned with 'acquisition', not 'learning'. According to this hypothesis, the learner improves and progresses along the 'natural order' when he/she receives second language 'input' that is one step beyond his/her current stage of linguistic competence. For example, if a learner is at a stage 'i', then acquisition takes place when he/she is exposed to 'Comprehensible Input' that belongs to level 'i + 1'. Since not all of the learners can be at the same level of linguistic competence at the same time, Krashen suggests that natural communicative input is the key to designing a syllabus, ensuring in this way that each learner will receive some 'i + 1' input that is appropriate for his/her current stage of linguistic competence.

See here an enlightening video by Krashen about comprehensible input.
Your browser does not support the video tag.

The Affective Filter hypothesis embodies Krashen's view that a number of 'affective variables' play a facilitative, but non-causal, role in second language acquisition. These variables include: motivation, self-confidence, anxiety and personality traits. Krashen claims that learners with high motivation, self-confidence, a good self-image, a low level of anxiety and extroversion are better equipped for success in second language acquisition. Low motivation, low self-esteem, anxiety, introversion and inhibition can raise the affective filter and form a 'mental block' that prevents comprehensible input from being used for acquisition. In other words, when the filter is 'up' it impedes language acquisition. On the other hand, positive affect is necessary, but not sufficient on its own, for acquisition to take place.

Finally, the less important Natural Order hypothesis is based on research findings (Dulay & Burt, 1974; Fathman, 1975; Makino, 1980 cited in Krashen, 1987) which suggested that the acquisition of grammatical structures follows a 'natural order' which is predictable. For a given language, some grammatical structures tend to be acquired early while others late. This order seemed to be independent of the learners' age, L1 background, conditions of exposure, and although the agreement between individual acquirers was not always 100% in the studies, there were statistically significant similarities that reinforced the existence of a Natural Order of language acquisition. Krashen however points out that the implication of the natural order hypothesis is not that a language program syllabus should be based on the order found in the studies. In fact, he rejects grammatical sequencing when the goal is language acquisition.

The Role of Grammar in Krashen's View

According to Krashen, the study of the structure of the language can have general educational advantages and values that high schools and colleges may want to include in their language programs. Any benefit, however, will greatly depend on the learner being already familiar with the language. It should also be clear that analizing the language, formulating rules, setting irregularities apart, and teaching complex facts about the target language is not language teaching, but rather is "language appreciation" or linguistics, which does not lead to communicative proficiency.

The only instance in which the teaching of grammar can result in language acquisition (and proficiency) is when the students are interested in the subject and the target language is used as a medium of instruction. Very often, when this occurs, both teachers and students are convinced that the study of formal grammar is essential for second language acquisition, and the teacher is skillful enough to present explanations in the target language so that the students understand. In other words, the teacher talk meets the requirements for comprehensible input and perhaps, with the students' participation, the classroom becomes an environment suitable for acquisition. Also, the filter is low in regard to the language of explanation, as the students' conscious efforts are usually on the subject matter, on what is being talked about, and not the medium.

This is a subtle point. In effect, both teachers and students are deceiving themselves. They believe that it is the subject matter itself, the study of grammar, that is responsible for the students progress, but in reality their progress is coming from the medium and not the message. Any subject matter that held their interest would do just as well.

References

Crystal, David The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language. Cambridge University Press, 1997.

Krashen, Stephen D. Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition. Prentice-Hall International, 1987.

Krashen, Stephen D. Second Language Acquisition and Second Language Learning. Prentice-Hall International, 1988.

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Stephen Krashen's Theory of Second Language Acquisition

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Página inicial Portuguese version Language acquisition does not require extensive use of conscious grammatical rules, and does not require tedious drill. Acquisition requires meaningful interaction in the target language - natural communication - in which speakers are concerned not with the form of their utterances but with the messages they are conveying and understanding.

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Educator Toolkit | Using Educational Technology

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Educator Toolkit | Using Educational Technology

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The Office of Educational Technology, has outlined and created a great toolkit for educators and how to use technology ELLs. It uses five guiding principles that help build awareness on the role technology can play for ELLs. This toolkit is more about awareness as opposed to exact hardware components to use.

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Share this Report

This toolkit and a companion Developer's Toolkit are based on insights from the findings of the National Study of English Learners and Digital Learning Resources conducted by the U.S. Department of Education, Policy and Program Studies Service, on behalf of the Office of English Language Acquisition and the Office of Educational Technology. Both toolkits focus on use of technology that is software or "digital learning resources," that is, the apps, programs, or websites that engage students in learning activities and support students' learning goals. The toolkits do not focus on the use of hardware (such as laptops, computers, tablets, or other devices).The study provides the first national data on how districts and teachers of English learners (including general education teachers and English learner specialists) use educational technology in instructing English learners. The study conducted surveys, case studies, and meetings with experts in the field, including educational technology publishers, researchers, and educators. To learn more about the study and the toolkits, you can read a brief description on page 22.

The study's final report describes how districts and teachers identify and use technology in instructing English learners as well as related supports and barriers. This toolkit builds awareness of the role technology can play and notes areas where educators can improve the use of technology and related supports for their English learners, based on needs suggested by the study.

Guiding Principles

1. Understand what educational technology offers for instructing English learners

2. Discover the types of educational technology available

3. Maximize the supports that educational technology offers English learners

4. Seek out hands-on, instruction-focused professional development

5. Learn more about English learners and educational technology

Principle I: Understand what educational technology offers for instructing English learners

As we've entered the 21st century, the landscape for students in kindergarten through grade 12 (K-12) has changed, and developments in the world of instruction and instructional resources continue. Key changes for educators in many schools and classrooms include enrollments of new English learners and rapid increases in educational technology use. The technology offers important new ways for English learners to access learning academic content and language.

What to know

English learners bring significant assets of language and culture to enrich their classrooms and schools, and their backgrounds and experiences will inform different instructional needs. For example, English learners who will use educational technology may:

Have had very different experiences before coming into their K-12 classrooms. Many will have been born in the United States, but others will have just entered the United States for the first time, perhaps after difficult experiences as refugees;

Have grade-level skills and knowledge based on a high-quality education in their country of origin but not yet have proficiency in English;

Have had little or no formal education, or some years of interrupted education, prior to entering schools in the United States;

Appear proficient in English based on their fluency in everyday conversations but not yet have the level of academic English proficiency they will need to succeed in learning academic content;

Differ in their level of acquisition and use of their home language, and some may not be literate in that language. This has implications for their path to English literacy;

Have had little or no experience using technology, and may not understand many of the basics about using computers or navigating in a website or software program;

Come from cultures with very different norms and expectations around education. For example, some may expect collaboration to be the norm, while others may expect that students work alone; and

Have disabilities, and some may require the use of assistive technology, including software to support their accessibility needs.

Educational technology opens up a new breadth and depth of resources for instruction and learning. These resources can be particularly valuable for supporting English learners' engagement in instruction and access to content in many ways. For example, technology resources can:

Offer multi-modal means of presenting information. Visual images, short videos, and interactive features can expand English learners' ability to understand academic content.

Present examples and images of events, daily life, and other cultural information from many countries and population groups. These can help students share languages, cultures, and experiences to understand one another's backgrounds.

Offer important supports to assist students to more fully participate in learning activities. Embedded support features, such as short videos or images used to define new vocabulary, can assist English learner (and other) students in understanding content. In addition to these supports, there are audio recordings and translation functions that can help English learners in communicating content as they collaborate with their peers. When such embedded support features comply with accessibility requirements, English learners with disabilities also may be able to benefit from these supports in addition to, or in conjunction with, any assistive technologies, including accessible software, that they may use.

Offer instruction that is differentiated to the English learner's level of proficiency and academic learning needs.

Many educators are using educational technology in their classrooms, but they are really just beginning to understand how best to use these new resources effectively with English learners.

What to do

Consider the needs of your English learners. What are the instructional goals necessary to meet each student's needs? You'll want your choices of technology to always be based on these.

Learn about the range of English learners, their acquisition of a second language, and what we know about promising and effective instructional practices for English learners. A recent summary developed by a committee of experts can guide you to understanding what we know thus far: Promoting the Educational Success of Children and Youth Learning English: Promising Futures (https://www.nap.edu/catalog/24677/promoting-the-educational-success-of-children-and-youth-learning-english). The summary includes an overview of what the field knows about promising and effective instructional practices for English learners in grades Pre-K to 12. Note that you don't need to purchase the book: You can read the whole book online or download a free pdf. Also, scroll down to the list of "Resources at a Glance," which includes blogposts and webinars on several key topics.

Explore visions for the future of educational technology in instruction, such as through the National Educational Technology Plan. See: Reimagining the Role of Technology in Education: National Educational Technology Plan (https://tech.ed.gov/netp/). The plan includes discussions on several aspects of technology use that educators will find of interest and applicable to instructing all students, including English learners. Note that pages 21-23 focus on ways in which technology can support all learners, addressing their different needs, through a Universal Design for Learning (UDL) approach to designing new resources. While UDL initially focused on designing for accessibility for students with disabilities, it applies to resources for all students and their needs (e.g., see the box on page 23). This includes English learners, for whom multiple modes of understanding and communicating offer important supports.

What to ask

General Education Teachers and English Learner Specialists

How can educational technology:

Help me engage and support English learners in learning grade-level academic content and academic language skills? In what ways does it assist in scaffolding language learning?

Assist English learners to collaborate and work with their peers, including English-proficient peers?

Help differentiate instruction to better meet English learners' needs?

Administrators

How can our selection of educational technology resources best support English learners in learning academic content and making gains in English language proficiency?

What will best support our teachers in planning for and using educational technology in instructing English learners?

Principle 2: Discover the types of educational technology available

There are thousands of educational technology options. As an educator, you will want to know where to begin in determining which resources best fit your English learners' needs and your instructional goals for students.

Whether a teacher or an administrator, the challenge is the same: How do you begin to choose the right educational technology for your English learners from among the thousands available? To help you make those choices, it may help to first think about the following broad categories of technology resources available and to explore the different types within each.

Digital Academic Content Tools offer academic content resources or engage students in activities to learn academic content or skills including, but not limited to, language and literacy content or skills. Examples are a tutorial on a new math skill, a simulation of a physics concept, or visual resources such as a short video that describes a geographic formation.

Digital Productivity Tools offer resources to help students plan, document, organize, and analyze content. These tools don't contain academic content; examples include a slide presentation tool, a timeline tool, or a concept-mapping tool.

Digital Communication Tools offer resources students can use to communicate, collaborate, network, or share information. These tools don't contain academic content; examples include document-sharing tools to support joint work, or a journal or blog tool.

Explore the different types of educational technology within each of the three categories of resources. These are outlined in the Digital Learning Resources Matrix, a summary matrix showing three categories and types of technology resources that was developed for the study. Are you aware of the wide range of resources available?

Consider new types of resources to try with your English learners to meet their language and content goals. Reflect on how you might use them in the future as part of your lesson plans to help English learners-as well as other students-meet their learning goals.

Share the Digital Learning Resources Matrix in discussions with other teachers. Can the categories and types be useful as a common reference for talking about the technology resources you use?

Explore a wide range of educational technology. Look online to sites that offer collections of educational technology and examine the reviews many offer, talk with other teachers, and look at publishers' websites.

Find examples of educational technology that will help your individual English learners to gain English proficiency, learn grade-level academic content, and collaborate with peers on academic tasks. Consider whether these tools provide content and images that reflect your English learners' languages, backgrounds, and experiences.

Be alert to protecting student information, especially when you are selecting tools that help you tailor instruction to individual students. Be aware of the individual student information that the resource gathers and ensure that it adequately protects students' personally identifiable information. You can learn more at: https://studentprivacy.ed.gov/Apps and at: https://www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/ptac/pdf/idea-ferpa.pdf.

As you explore the types of educational resources in the Digital Learning Resources Matrix, ask yourself the following questions:

General Education Teachers

Are English learners able to fully participate when the class uses educational technology during academic instruction?

Are there digital resources that will help my English learners gain English proficiency while working on academic content with their English learner and English-proficient peers?

English Learner Specialists

Are there types of educational technology that my English learners don't use but I should explore? What might these offer for them?

When I discuss educational technology with general education teachers, do we discuss ways we can use technology to support English learners in learning content and in using language to communicate about grade-level content?

Administrators

Do our English learners use and benefit from the educational technology provided by the district? In what ways? How do we know?

Are there other types of educational technology that our district doesn't provide but could consider using to better support our English learners?

Principle in Action
Mr. Ruiz, a high school math teacher The day of the lesson, Mr. Ruiz begins non-digitally, showing a shoebox, first whole, and then cut through at an angle, showing the resulting 2D shapes. Next, he uses the app to show cuts through a cylinder, using different angles, and does the same with other 3D shapes, such as rectangular and triangular pyramids. Later, as they work in groups, all of the students, including the English learners Ms. Shore's kindergarten class In circle time, students make predictions as the teacher reads the story and they talk together about it. They are excited as they break into groups to draw pictures of the story: each group draws the first, middle, or last part. When they finish, Ms. Shore creates new groups of three to include students from all three story parts. The groups create digital videos, with each student in the group telling his or her part of the story, holding a drawing to illustrate. The groups view and redo their videos. They save the videos in digital portfolios (e.g., Seesaw, FreshGrade) and share with each other. Ms. Shore shares the videos with the students' families. Ms. Sayed's seventh-grade earth science class is studying geologic processes and learning about plate tectonics, earthquakes, and volcanoes. She assigns groups of students to research an earthquake or volcanic eruption that has occurred in the past 30 years, and to provide their explanation of factors leading to the event they have chosen. One group includes Monica, an English learner from a Spanish language background, who is a high beginner English learner. Ms. Sayed encourages Monica to make use of the support features in the research resource they use, which she introduced to Monica earlier. As the students do their research, Monica does her part, too, working with her English-proficient peers to search within an online science curriculum resource their class uses. She joins them in identifying information about the earthquake they have selected. She finds and clicks on an embedded video tutorial that accompanies the text they are reading to understand the event overall. The text about the earthquake is still a bit difficult for her, and so when she returns to reading it, she sometimes accesses the translation feature that shows her the Spanish word or definition of an English term she doesn't recognize. As the group works, they use an embedded document-sharing function, and she and the other students edit and mark up the group product. includes Mr. Sato In the lesson, the English learners read in pairs and look engaged as they access the supports. But Mr. Sato also notices that some who are new to working with computers are having trouble with the multi-step navigation needed to use the support features. The students keep losing their place. Mr. Sato plans to work more individually to guide them in using the supports. He makes a mental note to look for resources with more direct interfaces for his students. is eager to give his third-grade English learners more independence in reading about their social studies topics. He finds an academic content resource that includes digital texts on several topics aligned with the curriculum. He is glad to see several support features that his English learners can use. There are definitions of key terms that are both visual and in text, so that the students can understand visually and connect with the new terms. There is an auditory, text-to-speech feature that lets them hear the new vocabulary so they can connect the sounds with the written words and phrases. This will help them to build their reading skills. When he introduces the resource, he shows students how the features can work and gives guidelines for using them. English learners from many different language backgrounds. She wants to plan a lesson where they talk about and retell a story they are reading. Her local English learner specialist helps with the lesson plan, suggesting that using digital productivity tools such as slides or videos could give the students chances to practice and improve their English. As they discuss, Ms. Shore also notes that students can use digital communication tools such as shared portfolios or workspaces to let one another know what they created. , look fully engaged as they predict and confirm the resulting 2D shapes. , wants to be sure that all of his students, including his four English learners, understand 2D and 3D geometry concepts. To find the right resource for his lesson plan, he talks with other math teachers, who suggest various digital academic content tools Mr. Ruiz goes online to check out the fit of the suggestions with his plan and searches technology sites he knows. He looks at what several tools offer and reads online reviews. He wants his students to understand the relationship between the 2D planes that result from different cuts through 3D objects. Realizing that his students will "get it" better if they can actively engage with a number of examples, he selects an open source dynamic modeling geometry app (e.g., GeoGebra, Geometer's Sketchpad).
Principle in Action

Resources

The Digital Learning Resources Matrix describes three categories of resources and lists several types of educational technology within each. You may find it useful as a tool for thinking about different types of technology or for organizing your thinking about technology you might use in instructing your English learners.

There are online sites that offer links to many different technology resources, and many offer the ability to filter for resources, for example, in specific subject areas or for English learners or other students. Two examples of sites that offer collections of educational technology are:

For further information on protecting student privacy, you can access several webinars at: https://studentprivacy.ed.gov/content/recorded-webinars.

Principle 3: Maximize the supports that educational technology offers English learners

In the digital world, teachers and students have access to a range and number of supports that can mean important new opportunities for English learners in engaging with academic content.

Digital Support Features are specific embedded features in educational technology that assist students in understanding or communicating the content and/or activities presented in a resource. There are many types of Digital Supports, and you can see examples listed in the Digital Support Features Matrix. It includes four categories of support features that can be important for English learners in particular.

Visual Support Features provide visual images or other visual support to assist a student in understanding and/or communicating a concept or idea. The visual content replaces or lessens the language proficiency that would otherwise be required. Examples are images, graphics, or short videos to explain a concept to students.

Auditory Support Features provide speech and/or other use of sound to assist a student in understanding or communicating a concept or idea. Examples are a text-to-speech or "read-aloud" function and a record and playback function. These features allow students to hear text or hear their own speech played back to them for review before sharing the recording.

Translation Support Features provide embedded functions to translate from one language to provide a word, phrase, or longer text in another language, either spoken or in print. For example, an embedded translation function could let a student hear the Spanish version of a sentence in English.

Collaboration Support Features provide functions to help students communicate, collaborate, work, or share information about academic content. For example, collaboration support features might offer students functions that assist them in sharing and jointly working on a document or

Look for embedded support features in resources. Determine if resources include supports to assist your English learners when you review any educational technology for possible use or purchase.

Ask vendors to provide information on the types of digital support features a resource includes that may be particularly helpful for English learners. For example, does the resource include auditory supports such as text-to-speech ("read aloud") functions? Does it offer visual tutorials to help explain concepts?

Assess how easily students can access and use specific support features. Keep in mind, some English learners may be just learning to use computers. For example, observe whether they have difficulty in following the navigational steps needed to access the features.

Plan how you will guide your students in using support features. Plan ways to facilitate students' use of the support features so that they can use them productively-especially if they are working on their own.

General Education Teachers and English Learner Specialists

What support features are there in the resources I already use? Are there any that I was not aware of but that may help my English learners to more fully participate in and benefit from instruction?

What languages do the resources I use offer? How well do these match with the languages of my English learners?

Are the supports such as those that provide images, content, or other examples appropriate to my English learners' backgrounds and experiences?

Can my English learners easily access and make use of the support features in the educational technology we use in class? Do they use the features productively and appropriately?

Administrators

What support features does our district (or school) look for when we make educational technology purchase decisions? Do we consider our English learners, including those with disabilities, when we review the support features available?

Do we consider the languages, backgrounds, and experiences of our English learners as we review the supports provided?

Are the teachers in our district (or school) familiar with the support features in the resources they are using, and are they comfortable in using them in instructing English learners? Do we provide professional development to assist teachers in using and facilitating students' use of support features? Does the resource provide implementation support for teachers-perhaps as embedded modules on how to access and use the supports in instruction?

Principle in Action

Principle in Action

The Digital Support Features Matrix describes the four categories of supports: visual, auditory, translation, and collaboration supports. It also lists and describes examples of the different types of supports within each category.

Principle 4: Seek out hands-on, instruction-focused professional development

You'll want to be sure that professional development leads to appropriate choices of educational technology and that it helps to build capacity to use technology in instructing English learners as well as other students.

Many teachers-English learner specialists in particular-receive very little professional development (PD) related to educational technology.

Teachers request PD that shows them examples of instructional practice with English learners and not just the descriptions of the "nuts and bolts" of a resource.

Teachers often turn to local technology leaders-that is, other teachers whom they view as experts in technology and who are willing to share what they know. Teachers value these technology leaders because they are embedded in the local context and so they give very practical suggestions that fit the teachers' goals and their students' needs.

Both formal and informal collaboration are important to teachers in learning how to use educational technology. Collaboration gives ongoing support in trying new resources and practices.

General Education Teachers and English Learner Specialists

Request PD sessions on educational technology that are hands-on and relevant to your classroom instruction.

Let administrators know that you want to receive information on all PD on educational technology that the district offers. This may be especially important if you are an English learner specialist.

Ask about embedded supports for English learners and how to use them effectively whenever you participate in PD on a specific resource. For example, ask what visual or auditory supports are located within the resource that will assist English learners. Are these appropriate to the languages, cultures, and experiences of your students? Ask whether it includes translation supports in the languages of your students and/or if there are other functions that will help English learners to collaborate in their work.

Reach out to other teachers. Work as a pair with another teacher and/or work with a group of teachers. Meet face to face with others in your school, or collaborate remotely with teachers in other schools or districts. Share with one another examples of how you are using educational technology with your English learners.

Join online communities of practice that can connect you with a wide range of other teachers of English learners. Use social media to find other teachers who are using technology outside of your local community. Share your approach to identifying and using technology and learn from their experiences. Online communities of practice can bring you in contact with many teachers and opportunities that will align with your interests and challenges.

Be sure to connect with other teachers who work with your same English learners. It is particularly important for general education teachers and English learner specialists of the same English learners to collaborate on instruction and the use of technology.

Administrators

Provide support for all teachers of English learners to collaborate in discussing their planning, selection, and use of educational technology in instructional activities with their students.

When providing PD on specific technology resources, ensure that it goes beyond the "nuts and bolts." Teachers want guidance on instructional use and best practices for English learners, as well as opportunities for ongoing support for using the technology with their English learners.

Be aware of the local technology leaders to whom teachers turn for guidance. However, recognize that these technology leaders--whether formally designated technology specialists or teachers recognized by their peers as having technology expertise-may not be aware of English learners' needs. It will be important to ensure that they receive ongoing PD on promising and effective practices for English learners.

General Education Teachers and English Learner Specialists

Do I talk with other teachers to share what we've learned in using technology with our English learners?

Have I explored connecting with teachers in online communities of practice to draw upon the experiences of participants from other regions and with similar challenges and goals?

When I participate in PD on a specific technology resource, do I ask about how it can contribute to supporting my English learners?

ADMINISTRATORS

Are teachers receiving PD that will guide them in using technology so that their English learners participate in and benefit from instruction?

Do I ensure that English learner specialists, including those who are itinerant across schools, receive information about and participate in PD on using educational technology?

Principle 5: Learn more about English learners and educational technology

Educators can visit a number of online resource sites to learn more about English learners and the use of educational technology in instruction-and to find educational technology for instructing their English learners. Explore these sites to learn more.

The National Clearinghouse on English Language Acquisition (NCELA) disseminates information on education of English learner students. NCELA disseminates data on the numbers and language backgrounds of English learners nationally and by state. It also provides links to information and publications on English learners published through the U.S. Department of Education, Office of English Language Acquisition, and maintains a resource library of over 20,000 items on English learners. For example, searching on the term "digital" will pull up documents that describe use of digital technology relevant to English learners.

There are several online sites that offer collections of educational technology. Many include descriptions and reviews of resources by teachers and/or site reviewers. In several of these sites, there is a filtering function that allows users to search by keywords, including terms such as English learner and English language learner. (However, note that the sites may vary in how the site defines and manages criteria for search keywords and for English learner-related keywords.) You may also be able to search by content area and/or grade levels, depending on the site.

Explore online sites that offer descriptions of educational technology products and resources, and try out searches for those that will meet your English learners' needs. Be aware, however, that these resources may vary in their value for your English learners.

Read reviews of specific educational technology products and look for discussions of actual instructional practice using these with English learners.

Am I keeping the needs of English learners in mind as I seek out and explore educational technology, including searches focused on resources for general education instruction? For example, do I ask whether the resource will support the specific languages of my English learners or their levels of English language proficiency? Are the resources culturally appropriate?

Resources for Searches of Educational Technology

There are a number of educational technology collection sites to explore. The list below includes the two sites presented earlier and some additional sites. All provide access to many different resources. Several include Open Educational Resources (OER), which are free, openly licensed resources that you can use, reuse, adapt, and share. Some offer user and/or expert reviews. The lists provide collections of available resources and are not lists of research-based resources. Also, they offer a wide range of resources that are not specific to English learners.

The sites vary in how users are able to search. Some allow several different filters; others have less functionality. As you use the filters to search, be aware that the criteria for meeting the definition of a resource that is for English learners will vary.

Common Sense Education (https://www.commonsense.org/education/). The Common Sense Education product review site allows browsing of educational technology products, using filters to sort by grade level, subject, platform, and more. In-depth editorial reviews by educators provide detailed information on educational apps and teaching tips to help educators decide what is best for their students.

My Digital Chalkboard (https://www.mydigitalchalkboard.org/). My Digital Chalkboard is an interactive online environment that allows educators to search for teaching resources and participate in an online community of teaching professionals.

OER Commons (https://www.oercommons.org/). OER Commons is a public digital library of open educational resources. It is a site where educators from around the world explore, create, and collaborate. The site provides curated collections of technology, and users can search by keywords and refine the search results with filters.

The EdSurge Product Index (https://www.edsurge.com/). EdSurge is "an independent information resource and community for everyone involved in education technology." The EdSurge Product Index site lists and organizes a number of educational technology products from various sources, and provides users with a means of searching for needed educational technology. Educators can select subcategories and browse through the options currently listed, filtering by age and learner, curriculum type, tech and requirements, cost, and usage.

Resources for General Information

The National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition (NCELA) website (https://ncela.ed.gov) provides a range of resources, including current demographic data on English learners, and information on federal grant programs and policy. NCELA also publishes NCELA Nexus (https://ncela.ed.gov/ncela-nexus), a semimonthly e-newsletter. It shares new resources, upcoming events, and other announcements, and provides links to opportunities for jobs, education, and funding related to the education of English learners. Nexus subscribers may also receive occasional, time-sensitive announcements from OELA and NCELA.

The Office of Educational Technology (OET) website (https://tech.ed.gov/) provides links to recent reports on professional development and instructional practices using educational technology, among other resources. Explore the website for additional information that, while not specific to English learners, can inform your thinking about technology use.

Learn About the Study

The National Study of English Learners and Digital Learning Resources is a national descriptive study conducted in the 2016-17 school year by the U.S. Department of Education, Policy and Program Studies Service, on behalf of the Office of English Language Acquisition and the Office of Educational Technology under contract number ED-PEP-11-O-0088/TO27. The study included a nationally representative survey of districts, a survey of teachers, and six case studies, and meetings with experts to examine what digital learning resources are used in instructing English learners and how they are used. The study provided findings that describe the use of digital learning resources in instructing English learners in grades K-12 in U.S. public schools.

The study provided descriptive data to identify current uses of digital learning resources, needs for additional information and/or supports in their uses, professional development on use of technology in instructing English learners, and areas in which educators wished to see improvements in the digital learning resources available to them for instructing English learners.

The full study report is posted on the Department's website at: https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/opepd/ppss/reports.html#ells.

Disclaimer

Examples Are Not Endorsements

This document contains examples and resource materials that are provided for the user's convenience. The inclusion of any material is not intended to reflect its importance, nor is it intended to endorse any views expressed, or products or services offered. These materials may contain the views and recommendations of various subject matter experts as well as hypertext links, contact addresses, and websites to information created and maintained by other public and private organizations. The opinions expressed in any of these materials do not necessarily reflect the positions or policies of the U.S. Department of Education. The U.S. Department of Education does not control or guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of any outside information included in these materials. Mentions of specific programs or products in these examples are designed to provide clearer understanding and are not meant as endorsements.

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Educator Toolkit | Using Educational Technology - 21st Century Supports for English Learners - Office of Educational Technology

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Introduction U.S. Department of Education data show that English learners in grades K-12 in U.S. public schools in the 2015-16 school year numbered over five million students-about 10 percent of all enrolled students-and that roughly three-fourths of public school districts included students who are English learners.

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Educators Voice IV: Technology Integration

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Educators Voice IV: Technology Integration

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This journal discusses various technology uses to support ELLs, including graphics, video and audio.  It discusses how visual information through the use of technology can help bridge the learning gap of everyday oral language to learned academic language. It also provides a few suggestion to integrate technology into the classroom for ELLs, such as interactive whiteboards.

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Source: Research and Educational Services

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The Word and the World: Technology Aids English-Language 	Learners. 

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The Word and the World: Technology Aids English-Language 	Learners. 

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In this article it discusses how technology can assist with giving ELLs one-to-one practice with learning a new language. The article also note that technology allows students to engage and interact with the language. The article then discusses various reading programs that assist ELLs and boost their English language skills.

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Read Naturally, a multimedia reading program that helps students develop English fluency, is one of the programs they use in the lab. Another application is Rosetta Stone language-learning software, which helps them associate images with English words and sentence structures to build their vocabularies. Wegener-Taganashi says of Rosetta Stone, "It's really great, because it's geared to individual students. The idea is that they are always being challenged."

Honing Skills

Wegener-Taganashi says software, online tools, and other technologies help students hone basic language skills they can later apply in authentic social settings. "The kids spend most of their day listening and not interacting with the language as much," she notes. But technology mixes things up, captures students' attention, and engages them in a way traditional classroom instruction doesn't.

Sixth grader Diego, who speaks Spanish at home but picked up English easily, says technology has improved his languages skills and makes school fun. "The computers helped me a lot," Diego says. "We go to the computer lab and make PowerPoint presentations and write a lot of letters and essays. I like writing on the computer better than writing with a pencil."

Cinnabar is not alone in its tech-aided quest to meet the needs of a rapidly growing population of nonnative English speakers in U.S. schools. Projections show that by 2015, one in three American students will be an English-language learner. The number of students learning English as a second language has already nearly tripled to more than 9.9 million students in the last two decades. Roughly 70 percent of these students are Spanish speakers, but the group includes speakers of more than 400 languages, from Arabic to Tagalog. As ELL needs increase at a pace that far outstrips most schools' human and financial resources, many are looking to technology to fill the gap.

Laying the Groundwork

There hasn't been a comprehensive study of the technologies teachers are using to aid K-12 English-language learners, but educators strongly recommend individual computer programs and other technologies because they say they accelerate the acquisition of phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and reading-comprehension skills and other language building blocks.

Alma Rodriguez, assistive-technology coordinator for the special education department of the Laredo Independent School District, in Laredo, Texas, uses a medley of technology products to bolster the English-language skills of its largely Spanish-speaking population. They include Scientific Learning's Reading Assistant, Kurzweil Educational Systems's Kurzweil 3000, Lexia Reading, and MindPlay's My Reading Coach to bolster students' English skills.

Kurzweil 3000 boosts accessibility to grade-level content because it can scan and read content in any text format and in multiple languages. Lexia Reading teaches phonics and phonemic awareness. My Reading Coach goes beyond phonics to address articulation. And Reading Assistant, a one-on-one guided oral-reading support program, has sophisticated speech-recognition software that helps children pronounce words correctly. The programs cost from hundreds to thousands of dollars for a license that grants use to a limited number of users or computers.

Rodriguez says Reading Assistant's stories are fun and hold the attention of what she calls today's "multisensory" students. The selections also support increasing levels of academic vocabulary with definitions, pronunciations, contextual sentences, and illustrations. Most important for teachers, the program can record audio of the students reading, makes corrections, documents errors, evaluates comprehension, and provides extensive data for monitoring student progress.

The results speak for themselves, Rodriguez says. With a password, she can access audio files of any district student reading aloud to monitor his or her progress over time. Teachers can even email the sound clips to parents. "The students can progress from reading twenty words per minute to seventy words per minute," Rodriguez says of Reading Assistant's results. "It's like magic."

Louise Dube, vice president and general manager for speech products at Scientific Learning, maker of Reading Assistant, says the software offers "individual, private, just-in-time coaching." She describes it as a supportive environment in which teachers don't ask students to read in front of their peers when they know the kids are not great readers yet.

Learning Language in Context

Others, however, aren't convinced that using such software is effective. Margaret Hawkins, a professor at the University of Wisconsin at Madison School of Education, says few classrooms have the equipment and few teachers have the training, flexibility, or motivation to mine the power of computers and the Web for language learning. "I see principals and teachers, many of whom are overwhelmed by this new influx of language learners, buying software and sitting kids at computers and saying, 'This one drills vocabulary or this one does this or that,'" she says. "When you sit a kid one-on-one at a computer, it's not a very good use of anybody's time."

Hawkins adds that students don't really acquire language by performing computer tasks divorced from an authentic learning environment. Instead, she says, they need social interactions that make them actively use language to negotiate meaning. In her view, much of today's language-learning software is rooted in old Second Language Acquisition and English as a Second Language research that treats listening, speaking, reading, and writing as separate areas and posits that students can learn general language out of context, then apply it specifically later.

"It's a throwback to looking at language as one monolithic thing that's made up of discrete parts, and if you can master those parts -- the sounds, symbols, and structures -- then you are going to be a competent language learner," she explains.

Hawkins says the most exciting use of technology for language learning is taking place outside of classrooms: A growing body of academic research is revealing the language-acquisition value of building teams, solving problems, and thinking critically through online games, chat rooms, and other Web-based interactions.

It suggests that there are several benefits to language learners from social online communication, such as more opportunities for expression and meaningful discourse than in face-to-face discussions, greater linguistic production overall, more student engagement, and more multidirectional (versus teacher-centered) interaction. But schools have been slow to view many of these Internet activities as educational, so community centers and other venues are taking the lead, Hawkins notes.

"We need to find a way to bridge the inside-school world and the outside-school world," she says. "The potential of technology for classrooms is huge, but schools are light-years behind what's out there."

Authentic Connections

Mark Warschauer, a professor of education and informatics at the University of California at Irvine, says the key is to use technologies that allow learners to focus in on text and to engage with real-life audiences and issues. "The biggest problem related to English-language learning is not so much developing oral-conversation skills, but gaining academic written-language skills," he explains. "One of the things that has been shown is that when students talk about things in online discussions, they use more complicated vocabulary, because it is easier to see what's been written by others and incorporate it into their own writing."

Basic Internet, word processing, and presentation technologies can facilitate authentic connections to the world. Warschauer cites student work at Mar Vista Elementary School, in Oxnard, California, as an example. Third and fifth graders there researched the lives and work of nearby strawberry-field laborers. For Project FRESA, they came up with research questions in English, translated them into Spanish to conduct interviews with the workers, and then translated the responses into English.

They wrote poetry about the workers, created graphs based on the data they collected, conducted online research, wrote letters to strawberry growers and government agencies requesting additional information, had online exchanges with students in Puerto Rico who were studying coffee-plantation conditions, and gave a community presentation to share their findings.

"That's an example of using a project to really immerse literacy activities in something that is culturally relevant to the students' lives," Warschauer says. "It gives them a chance to focus on text and what it means."

But it's also the type of project where the benefits -- creating an interest in computers, research and revision skills, real-life writing skills, and academic engagement -- may be too broad for current assessment tools. "The skills you learn with computers don't necessarily translate to the paper-and-pencil tests that have such high currency in our school systems right now," Warschauer notes.

Maya Payne Smart is an education and business writer in Gainesville, Florida.

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The Word and the World: Technology Aids English-Language Learners

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A growing number of software programs and Web tools help educators teach academic English.

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Technology is a huge part of everyday life and this article mentions how technology has revolutionized the classrooms. It mentions very important 21st century skills students need and how technology integration can help with that.

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Edutopia is a free source of information, inspiration, and practical strategies for learning and teaching in preK-12 education. We are published by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization.

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Achieve3000 is a blended learning literacy program that has differentiated instruction with grade level lessons, specifically aligned to individual needs. This is an online literacy program to support ELLs with its many customizable functions and ongoing assessments to keep ELLs on track. For Spanish speaking ELLs, there are text-to-speech and bilingual dictionaries, built into every lesson.

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Founded with the mission to transform literacy one student, one teacher, and one district at a time, Achieve3000 has been unlocking potential and accelerating learning for over 21 years.

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Achieve3000 - Achieve3000 | Differentiated Instruction. Accelerated Learning. | Grades PreK-12

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Founded with the mission to transform literacy one student, one teacher, and one district at a time, Achieve3000 has been unlocking potential and accelerating learning for over 21 years.

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ISTE© - International Society for Technology in Education (Digital Assistant)

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ISTE© - International Society for Technology in Education (Digital Assistant)

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This particular article from ISTE discusses the ease of having a digital assistant in the classroom. Not only can digital assistants like Google Home and Amazon Echo be used for classroom reminders, play and audio books or set the tone with realizing music, but there are many apps that can be set up to help with language learning. Digital assistants also get students curious about asking questions and getting answers back and learn about different types of questions.

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Flocabulary is an online vocabulary learning platform that has engaging cross- curricular vocabulary lessons (ELA, Math, Science, Social Studies, Life Skills, Current Events). Lesson engages students through video definitions, interactive vocab cards, games, read and respond questions, quizzes and vocab rap. ELLs have options for slower playback speeds, captions, text-to speech, and "Life Skills" vocab.

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With Flocabulary, every lesson is an opportunity to bring the curriculum to life and reinforce core knowledge and skills.

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Seesaw is an online source for students to have digital portfolios and to create presentations. It empowers and engages students to creatively show their learning to other students, teachers and parents. Students can take pictures, videos, draw, and record their subject matter. Giving teachers immediate feedback on student learning to adjust instruction. Gives ELLs (and all students) an opportunity to show their learning in various ways that is meaningful to them.

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Seesaw | Elementary Learning Experience Platform

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Seesaw | Elementary Learning Experience Platform

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Elementary Learning Experience Platform | Seesaw

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Seesaw is a Learning Experience Platform with 25M+ users, enhancing elementary education, engagement, and school culture while improving academic success.