Professional Documents
Culture Documents
In This Issue
A Nation with Multiple Languages
The Many Faces of English
Language Learners (ELLs)
Recent Policy History
Common Myths about ELL
Students
Research-Based Recommenda-
tions for Effective ELL Instruction
students. Set high expectations for ELLs. ELLs will perform much better if
placed according to academic achievement rather than language pro-
Reality: Research suggests that making main-
ficiency; placement in challenging classes with quality instruction will
stream classrooms more ELL-responsive will also
enable them to learn more. 17
make them more responsive to under-served
learners generally. Many cognitive aspects of Use technology effectively. Greater access to technology and com-
reading are common to both native speakers of puter-assisted learning can be effective in engaging ELLs motivation,
English and ESL learners, though research shows developing writing and editing skills, and tapping into the collabora-
that teachers should pay additional attention to tive potential of class websites and blogs. 18
background knowledge, interaction, and word Recognize socio-cultural factors. Awareness of students back-
use with ELLs. 14 grounds, recognition of their prior literacy experiences, and knowledge
Definitions
Codeswitching entails alternating between two languages or linguistic codes within a
single sentence or conversation and is a common practice of ELLs which teachers can
use to increase students awareness of their linguistic practices.
Cognates are words in two languages that have a common etymology.
Metalinguistic Awareness means understanding what language does
rather than just how to use it.
First Language is the native language or mother tongue, often abbreviated as L1.
Second Language is learned in addition to the first language, often abbreviated as L2.
Continued on page 6
This report is produced by NCTEs James R. Squire Office of Policy Research, directed by Anne Ruggles Gere with assistance from Laura Aull,
Hannah Dickinson, Chris Gerben, Tim Green, Stephanie Moody, Melinda McBee Orzulak, Moiss Damian Escudero Perales, and Ebony Elizabeth
Thomas, all students in the Joint Ph.D. Program in English and Education at the University of Michigan.
2008 by the National Council of Teachers of English, 1111 W. Kenyon Road, Urbana, Illinois 61801-1096. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, or any information storage and retrieval system, without
permission from the copyright holder. Additional copies of this policy brief may be purchased from the National Council of Teachers of English at 1-877-369-6283.
A full-text PDF of this document may be downloaded free for personal, non-commercial use through the NCTE website: http://www.ncte.org (requires Adobe
Acrobat Reader).