Benefits of Instructional Models for Teaching Elementary English Language Learners
English language learners are the fastest growing population in education and make up nearly one out of every four students in California classrooms. They are in need of successful classroom models in the mainstream elementary classroom to benefit their education. The purpose of this study is to examine the benefits of instructional models for teaching mainstream elementary English language learners, which is done through the review of literature and mainstream teacher surveys. Of the surveys conducted, 84% of the teachers believe that their current classroom models in place are beneficial; however, there is little evidence to support this in Monterey County. There are genuine benefits to implementing a successful classroom model for English language learners such as growth in reading comprehension, fluency, accuracy level, and linguistic growth. The findings of my senior capstone indicate that there is a need for explicit beneficial evidence based programs to be in place for ELLs in the mainstream classrooms. BENEFITS OF INSTRUCTIONAL MODELS FOR ELLS 3 Introduction and Background English language learners (ELLs) are a population that I hold close to my heart, due to witnessing their struggles inside and outside of the classroom. As a future teacher, I plan to do everything in my power to ensure the academic and overall success of not only the English language learners in my class but for all ELLs. I was first interested in how outside resources, after school programs, etc. can benefit ELLs. Then, I realized my interest is on what happens in the mainstream classroom, where students spend most of their time. It all begins with how the instructional models ran by the mainstream teachers operate in the classroom. Professor Kerry Enright said, "We need to stop talking about 'adapting for special populations' like English learners and realize that these populations are the mainstream now" (Abedi et al. 2016, p.10) English language learners are the fastest growing population in education and make up nearly one out of every four students in California classrooms and are in need of beneficial classroom models in the mainstream elementary classroom (Ed Source, 2008) I am interested in looking at the benefits of instructional models for teaching elementary English language learners. This topic sparked my interest because of my service learning and substitute teaching experiences in various schools within 3 districts in Monterey County, I have seen significant differences in the classroom models implemented during English language development (ELD) I noticed that elementary schools, even within the same school district have drastically different methods of instructing English language development within their classrooms. One school in particular that I substitute taught in was implementing a school wide "ELD block" or "Blended classrooms" model. I was interested in the reason why this was not a district BENEFITS OF INSTRUCTIONAL MODELS FOR ELLS 4 wide implementation across all of the elementary school sites. It seemed so beneficial to me for the students to be grouped together with peers at their same ELD learning levels. I then thought of how there should be a uniform instructional model from the school level to the district level and perhaps even the county level (Monterey County Office of Education, 2015) The primary research question I will seek to answer through this project is: How do successful instructional models benefit elementary English language learners? The secondary research questions I will be answering are: What does research say about instructional models that benefit elementary English language learners? Are there effective instructional models available to support elementary English language learners? If there are, what are they? Are there effective instructional models being implemented in Monterey County? Is there evidence to show either the success or failure of the models? If so, what is it? How do these instructional models close the achievement gap between elementary English language learners and their native English speaking peers? Lastly, what can be done for school districts in Monterey County to include successful and beneficial instructional models into their curricula? The purpose of my project is to examine the current mainstream classroom instructional models and how they benefit elementary English language learners. Literature Review English language learners are such a crucial part of America's public educational system and they are in need of successful instructional models that benefit them in the mainstream elementary school classroom. In order to examine the research questions proposed in this research project, an overview of literature is necessary. This section will BENEFITS OF INSTRUCTIONAL MODELS FOR ELLS 5 include some syntheses on the classroom models, laws and legislations, history and development of instructional models and the theories on language development. Defining an English Language Learner An English Language Learner (ELL) is classified as someone who, based on objective assessment, has not developed listening, speaking, reading and writing proficiencies in English. ELLs are commonly from non English speaking homes and nearly one out of every four students in California classrooms is an ELL. In California alone, this state represents one third of the English Language Learners' population in the nation. Seventy three percent of ELLs are enrolled in elementary school (California Department of Education, 2015) There is an alarming amount of ELLs who enroll in elementary school without proficiency in English. These students often have a teacher without the proper knowledge to best meet the specific needs of their education in the mainstream classroom. English language learners have a lot in common, Garcia, Kleifgen, Falchi (2008) said, "Most live in urban areas (91% most ELLs are Spanish speaking Latinos (7579% most are poor (75% most live in households in which no one over the age of 14 is a speaker of English (80% half live with parents who have not completed eight years of schooling, half were born in the United States, although approximately half are in elementary schools, the greatest increase of the ELL population is in high school aged students, there is a death of early childhood programs for ELLs, and few are enrolled in school prior to kindergarten" (p.17) English Language learners progress through the stages of second language acquisition at their own pace. Each ELL will pass through all of the stages in their journey of BENEFITS OF INSTRUCTIONAL MODELS FOR ELLS 6 becoming fluent. Krashen and Terell (1993) explored the 5 stages of language acquisition. The first stage is Preproduction, which typically lasts 0 6 months and during this time the student is typically nonverbal or will simply nod, draw or point. Early Production stage is next when students begin to use single word or two word responses, such as yes/no, names or repetitive language patterns such as "How are you?" Students typically spend 6 months to a year in this stage. The third stage is the Speech Emergence stage, which lasts anywhere from 1 to 3 years. Students in this stage are able to say simple sentences, phrases and have fairly good comprehension. The Intermediate Stage takes 3 to 5 years to go through and this is when students make few grammatical errors and use complex sentences. The Advanced Fluency stage takes 5 7 years to achieve and the student is a near native level of speech. Instructional Models According to Colorin Colorado (2015) "ESL programs can accommodate students from different language backgrounds in the same class, and teachers do not need to be proficient in the home language(s) of their students" (p.1) Title VI (a federal law) requires programs that educate children with limited English proficiency to be: Based on a sound educational theory; Adequately supported, with adequate and effective staff and resources, so that the program has a realistic chance of success; and Periodically evaluated and, if necessary, revised. "A strong English Language Development program is absolutely essential to each school's effort to close the achievement gap." (Sonoma County Office of Education, 2009, p.1) It is true that closing the achievement gap between ELLs and their peers will BENEFITS OF INSTRUCTIONAL MODELS FOR ELLS 7 take a resilient ELD program in order to successfully target and address the students' language acquisitions needs properly. Some popular models that are implemented in the mainstream elementary classroom are described below. Direct Instruction is a model where the teacher provides English language development (ELD) instruction to the entire class first, and then the teacher assigns differentiated tasks to students grouped by language proficiency. During this model the teacher can pull out groups as needed for specific ELD work (Sonoma County Office of Education, 2008) Centers or sheltered instruction are a model where students are grouped by proficiency and rotate for differentiated activities and ELD instruction by their teacher. Depending on the resources of the school district, this model may also have a specialist or para educator facilitating one of the centers. Other groups that are not facilitated by their teacher are engaged in independent work (Sonoma County Office of Education, 2008) The Integrated Services approach is an instructional model which specialists provide "push in" support. "Push in" support means the support of an ESL teacher/specialist is happening in the mainstream classroom. This model allows for students identified as English Language Learners to remain in the mainstream classroom and learn with their native English speaking peers in comparison to being in a self contained ESL class (Sonoma County Office of Education, 2008) Another model that can be considered an integrated services approach is the Coteaching o