NES Profile: English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) (507)

Several English language learners in a second-grade class have recently emigrated from the same country. The teacher observes that these students often arrive late to school and also tend to continue engaging in an activity after other members of the class have moved on to the next activity. As a result, the new students often find themselves engaging in activities on a different schedule than the other students in the class. Which of the following questions should the teacher consider first when trying to determine the most likely source of the students' difficulty?

1. Do concepts of time in the students' home culture differ from typical time expectations in U.S. schools?
2. Are the students experiencing stress at home that may be hindering their emotional adjustment to the new culture?
3. Do the students have learning disabilities that may be interfering with their ability to manage their time effectively?
4. Are the students feeling accepted and comfortable in the school environment?

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A. This question requires the examinee to understand the role of culture in language learning and academic achievement and how to apply this knowledge to ESOL instruction. Different cultures have different values related to time. In the typical U.S. classroom, punctuality is highly valued and time is highly structured. Some other cultures place less significance on punctuality and adherence to a schedule. Students from these cultures often have difficulty adjusting to the time constraints of the U.S. classroom. Because these students are newly arrived English language learners from the same home culture and are experiencing common difficulties associated with cross-cultural differences in concepts of time, cultural factors should be this teacher's first consideration in this situation.

Which of the following historical trends in ESOL instruction has had the most direct effect on current approaches to ESOL instruction?

1. a movement away from immersion toward greater use of the L1 in instruction
2. an increased emphasis on accurate production of oral language under carefully structured conditions
3. a shift in focus from explicit learning of language to implicit acquisition of language
4. an increased emphasis on communicative functions and authentic uses of language

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D. This question requires the examinee to understand principles of standards-based ESOL instruction, including appropriate application of ESOL instructional approaches. Communicative competence can be defined as the ability to use language appropriately for various purposes in various situations. A primary emphasis of most current approaches to ESOL instruction is to develop English language learners' communicative competence. This emphasis has its roots in the trend of the 1990s toward communicative language teaching, which is characterized by a focus on communicative functions and authentic uses of language.

A high school ESOL teacher is choosing a standards-based assessment to measure the academic achievement of English language learners. Which of the following questions should be the teacher's most important consideration when evaluating the appropriateness of a potential test for this purpose?

1. Are students familiar with the format of the test?
2. Is the test recommended by other secondary educators?
3. Are students likely to find the test interesting and engaging?
4. Is the test free of cultural and linguistic bias?

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D. This question requires the examinee to understand concepts and issues related to assessment of English language learners. Many standards-based achievement assessments designed for native speakers of English contain culture-specific content and complex language that can hinder English language learners' ability to demonstrate their actual knowledge of academic content. While other factors, such as lack of familiarity with test format, can be addressed during test preparation, cultural and linguistic bias is much more difficult to prepare students for. Therefore, choosing a test that is relatively free of bias should be this teacher's most important consideration in this situation.

An ESOL teacher would like to serve as a resource for content-area teachers who work with English language learners. Which of the following strategies would be most appropriate and effective for this purpose?

1. providing the teachers with current journal articles that describe the importance of differentiating content instruction for English language learners
2. visiting the teachers' classes routinely to monitor the class curriculum and recommend modifications to meet the needs of English language learners
3. offering the teachers interactive workshops that provide concrete strategies for supporting English language learners' language development and content learning
4. reviewing the teachers' lesson plans to ensure that adequate consideration is being given to English language learners' cultural and linguistic differences

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C. This question requires the examinee to understand how ESOL instruction is impacted by school partnerships. When serving as a resource for content-area teachers, an ESOL teacher should establish him- or herself as an expert in the field of ESOL while respecting the content-area teachers as experts in their areas of specialty. The ESOL teacher should also treat content-area teachers as equal partners in the endeavor of educating English language learners. One particularly useful strategy for fulfilling this role effectively is to offer professional workshops that provide content-area teachers with concrete, practical ideas for working with the English language learners in their classrooms.