English Language Learners Analysis

As we know, American classrooms are becoming progressively more diverse, and the fastest growing demographic of students are those whose first language is not English. Today, the majority of students are English Language Learners, and they may speak several languages and come from many different cultural backgrounds. These are students who have significant challenges in English which include: reading, writing, and responding to the subject-matter demands of school. Assessment strategies have influence over the education of English Language Learners since assessments impact the classification, identification, placements, and ongoing specialist care of such students. Also, assessment results come from the teachers’ belief systems about the students’
Schools and districts must help ELL students, among other subgroups, make continuous progress toward this goal, as measured by performance on state tests, or risk serious consequences” (Abedi, J. D. 2004). Therefore, the No Child Left Behind Act recommended more help needs to be directed to states, districts, and school facilities to progress the success of English Language Learners. Also, all students including English Language Learners must reach high standards by demonstrating proficiency in English Language Arts and mathematics. Therefore, teacher must have high expectations for all students regardless of their diverse background. Teachers need to assess these students appropriately per their levels of their language proficiency and
Giving students a lot of extra support in the beginning of an assessment and provide step-by-step instructions to help ELLs better understand the assignment. Once students understand the concepts and know what they need to do, at that stage, the teacher can slowly give higher level assignments and responsibility to the student.“Scaffolding in the classroom is a major learning tool for ELL’s that might include better contextualization, metacognitive support, and representing text” (Siegel, Wissehr & Halverson, 2008). Bottom line, teachers need to be aware of students that are struggling with English and their literacy skills. Once a teacher is aware, then he or she can give extra direction to clarify confusion and make his or her expectations clear to students. These actions help contribute to an effective and efficient learning