What
is the cognitive process that takes place in ELL students that allows them to
begin writing fluently in another language? This is the question that I am
dedicated to finding an answer to. I came to this topic because I have recently
been interested in teaching ELL students. As far as the process of teaching
writing to ELL students, at this point I know very little about what takes
place in ELL classrooms. Although I plan on earning an ELL certificate after I
graduate, I have not yet taken any ELL courses. However, I am going to be
observing several ELL classes in the near future at Central Falls high school,
so hopefully I will get a better idea about what an ELL class looks like, and
how these students are being taught to develop their writing skills in order to
become fluent writers.
Growing
up in a school district that did not offer any ELL services, I was not exposed
to the ELL program until my college years. Coming from a rural area, I was
intrigued when learning that many of my friends at RIC spent years in the ELL
program between middle and high school. My true interest in learning how ELL
students begin writing in English sparked after witnessing a friend go from being
able to produce hardly any spoken or written English, to speaking and writing
fluently in only one year’s worth of schooling. I was, and still am stunned by
how little time it took him to start speaking and writing papers fluently in
English. Around this time last year I was helping him to write a short
paragraph about himself in English. Today, he is able to write narratives
easily with little effort, and he no longer has to translate his thoughts to
English because he is now fluent in his second language. I find this amazing
because I took Spanish in high school for four long years and was still not
able to write fluently. I want to learn what needs to happen for students to
make the leap from slowly writing in another language, to becoming a fluent
writer. What was the key that lead my friend to become a fluent writer in
English in such a short period of time versus my four years in taking another
language?
I think it's cool that your actually researching what the cognitive process is. I think that is an important part of learning how our students actually interpret language. I wish I learned language as fast as your friend did, I have been studying Portuguese for 6+ years and I still get really shy to speak it aloud. Also being submersed into a language (I.e: moving to a country with a foreign language) helps a lot because you are forced to hear the language and read it on a day to day basis.
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to our teacher's telling us that brain research is important to learning, I have drank the kool-aid, so I'm really into your project. I really do think that the theory and research that is behind our practices makes a big difference! When a lesson goes off script, if a favorite strategy for ELLs doesn't seem to be working, your background knowledge will definitely help you improvise. Looking forward to mooching off the rewards of your research!
ReplyDeleteI will share a little with you about what I know about all the crazy acronyms for folks who are learning English. Sometimes people use ESOL, English for Speakers of Other Languages, because you may get a student who is learning their 3rd language. I think the certification is called TESOL now. (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages). I like ELLs, English Language Learners, it just seems to have less baggage with it than ESL students? I know most classrooms are labeled ESL rooms, so I understand using that term. Just thought I would share!
Good point! Thank you
DeleteWow, this sounds really interesting! It's one thing to know, practice, and understand the process in the classroom, but it's a whole different animal to figure out how it is learned. I have never really given it much thought before. I know what ESL teachers do in their classes (my mom taught it for 15 years) but it will be really cool to see what you discover about the learning process from the student's perspective.
ReplyDeleteCarina, I find it amazing that your friend was able to write English fluently with just the timing of a year. Also, my I-Search project is on exploring the ELL's cognitive process so your insight just intrigued me into my own investigation even more. To be able to pretty much perfect a language in a year is fascinating to me and I, too, would like to know exactly what it was that propelled this student to get to that point?
ReplyDelete