Using Home Language as a Resource in the Classroom: A Guide for Teachers of English Learners

By Kate Paterson

What can educators do right now, in their own classrooms, to support students of varied cultures and languages? Written for current and future teachers of ELs across various educational and geographical settings, this concise guide provides educators with specific instructional practices to promote greater inclusion and educational equity for their students. Key topics covered in this book include: why home language is essential to student success; incorporating home language into instruction; planning plurilingual lessons and inclusive classrooms; home language and learning in the digital age; reimagining instructional materials; and using home language to advance social justice. Educators can practice what they learn with 30+ activities, guiding questions, key insights, and downloadable templates, checklists, and tools!**This title also includes a companion website with online resources.**

• Language: English
• Publisher: TESOL Press
• Release date: Jul 27, 2021
• ISBN: 9781945351976

Book preview

Front Cover of Using Home Language as a Resource in the ClassroomBook Title of Using Home Language as a Resource in the Classroom

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Recommended citation:

Paterson, K. (2021). Using home language as a resource in the classroom: A guide for teachers of English learners. TESOL International Association.

ISBN 978-1-945351-96-9

ISBN (ebook) 978-1-945351-97-6

Library of Congress Control Number 2021936798

CONTENTS

Introduction

Chapter 1

Evidence-Based Teaching and Social Justice: Why Home Language Is Essential to Student Success

Language Learning: Assumptions vs. Evidence

Five Types of Cross-Lingual Transfer

The Role of Home Language in Student Identity Formation

Using Home Language to Advance Social Justice in the Classroom

Chapter 1 Review

Chapter 2

Out of Minds and Into Classroom Spaces: When, How, and How Much Home Language to Incorporate Into Instruction

Structured Home Language Time

Spontaneous Home Language Moments

Bilingual Teaching Strategies

Older Students

Students With Limited or Interrupted Formal Education

Home Language and Learning in the Digital Age

Chapter 2 Review

Chapter 3

Home Language and TESOL’s The 6 Principles for Exemplary Teaching of English Learners®

Principle 1: Know Your Learners

Principle 2: Create Conditions for Language Learning

Principle 3: Design High-Quality Lessons for Language Development

Principle 4: Adapt Lesson Delivery as Needed

Principle 5: Monitor and Assess Student Language Development

Principle 6: Engage and Collaborate Within a Community of Practice

Chapter 3 Review

Chapter 4

Moving Toward a More Equitable Future

The Monolingual Native Speaker Bias

Redefining Success

Reimagining Instructional Materials

Language Competence vs. Language Performance

A Final Review and a Look to the Future

References and Further Reading

Indexes, Appendixes, and Resources

Index 1: Practice Items

Index 2: Reflection Questions

Appendix A: Online Resources

Appendix B: Personal Teacher Identity Reflection Tool

Appendix C: Plurilingual Lesson Planning Template

Appendix D: Plurilingual Unit Planning Template

Appendix E: Promoting an Inclusive Multilingual Classroom Checklist

Appendix F: Student (Plurilingual) Performance by Task

Appendix G

G.1: Student Self-Assessment Tool

G.2: Student Self-Assessment Tool (Spanish-English)

INTRODUCTION

Language is inextricably linked to students’ identities, experiences and, most importantly, opportunities to learn.

Jacqueline D’warte (2014, p. 22)

An educator’s role is multifaceted; we are resources, collaborators, role models, leaders, and lifelong learners. We play an impactful role in the relationship students develop with school. What we do in the classroom profoundly influences students’ attitudes toward learning, how they see themselves as learners, and how much of themselves they choose to invest in school.

As professionals, we continually reflect on our practice and ask critical questions. Am I serving my students well? Do they feel included, valued, and capable? How can I expand my knowledge and deepen my understanding to ensure I am providing optimal learning conditions for everyone? This guidebook was written to facilitate and extend this meaningful dialogue. Its central purpose is to address one of the most pressing questions teachers are asking themselves today: What can I do right now, in my own classroom, to support students of varied cultures and languages in thriving and achieving, both academically and personally? In an era of unprecedented cultural and linguistic diversity, formulating innovative answers to this question is imperative.

There are currently more than seven million English learners (ELs) in schools in the United States and Canada today—a number that continues to rise (National Center for Education Statistics, 2020; Statistics Canada, 2020). The goal of Using Home Language as a Resource in the Classroom is to assist educators in supporting this growing, yet underserved, student demographic by drawing on their rich and complex linguistic repertoires as valuable resources for learning. Generally absent from professional discourse, the vital role for home language (L1) in supporting additional language (L2) and content learning at school has been documented by a large and comprehensive body of research. The monolingual (English-only) instructional principles that currently dominate English as a second language (ESL) and mainstream K–12 classroom teaching are inconsistent with current understandings about the ways in which we learn. This book addresses this troubling research-to-practice gap by making connections between what we know (empirical evidence that establishes L1 as being essential to students’ success) and what we do (teaching that predominantly excludes students’ L1) every day in the classroom, linking the most up-to-date knowledge about language learning and bilingualism with actual instructional practice. This guide outlines what teachers need to know to orchestrate evidence-based instruction for ELs and bilingual students and offers guidance—teaching strategies, in-class activities, and lesson ideas—on how to make those understandings actionable in the classroom.

Who Is This Guide For?

The primary audience for this guide is current and future teachers of ELs across various educational and geographical settings. This includes preservice, novice, and experienced teachers; those providing direct English language instruction (e.g., ESL teachers), those in bilingual programs (transitional as well as dual-language education); and generalist or subject-area grade-level teachers in mainstream K–12 schools—the majority of whom count ELs among their student ranks. Though many of the teaching resources in this book have been aligned with K–12 Common Core State Standards in the United States, the teaching strategies, lesson ideas, classroom activities, and online resources (throughout and in Appendix A) found within these pages can be readily adapted to other educational contexts, including adult, postsecondary, foreign language, and immersion programs. In addition to being applicable across varied classroom contexts, the inclusion of L1 in teaching and learning is relevant in increasingly diverse and multilingual classrooms across the globe.

Whether you are an ESL instructor, a high school science teacher, a college professor, or a provider of literacy support in elementary school, your instructional decisions impact how successfully the ELs in your classroom develop English language and literacy skills and meet content standards. This guide encourages you not to approach this work as a challenge but as an opportunity. It advocates for adopting a language-as-resource rather than a language-as-problem mindset. It challenges you to critically reflect on how you think about and act on ELs’ language practices both inside and outside of the classroom.

Though the principal audience for this book is educators, there is much within these covers for policymakers, administrators, teacher educators, curriculum designers, and materials developers to consider when making decisions around what matters in promoting academic success among learners of English at school. If administrators incorporate accountability for ELs more broadly throughout the school district, for example, and make it clear that everyone is responsible for the success of ELs—not exclusively EL teachers and EL department staff—it spurs collaboration and aligns various stakeholders in common purpose. If principals are sufficiently knowledgeable on effective instruction for ELs, they can make more informed policy decisions around which language support program(s) they will implement in their school. If school leaders provide all teaching staff, not just EL support personnel, with professional development on effective instruction of ELs, the result will be greater access to general education curriculum and resources for these students. If curriculum designers and materials developers understand the value of students’ L1 in enhancing classroom learning for all students, we will begin to see changes in classroom resources that promote inclusion and more efficient learning—materials that support the development of both L1 and English for ELs and promote metalinguistic awareness and intercultural competence for everyone.

Why Is This Guide Needed?

In English-medium K–12 schools, more teachers than ever before are providing direct instruction to ELs. The majority of ELs are placed in mainstream classrooms for at least part of their school day and are expected to learn the same academic content as their native-English-speaking peers. The success of these students is a shared responsibility; it is not solely the job of ESL or bilingual teachers to promote language and literacy development at school. However, broad support for ELs in K–12 schools is impeded by the fact that many teachers, as well as administrators (e.g., principals, vice principals) and support personnel (e.g., guidance counselors, literacy specialists, special education aides), have not had training or professional development focused on appropriate instruction for a linguistically diverse student body. Generally speaking, there is no significant expectation or requirement for educators or school leaders to be familiar with the knowledge base pertaining to effective instruction for ELs. Many teachers report low self-efficacy and a lack of preparedness to teach these students effectively (Durgunoglu & Hughes, 2010; Moore, 2014). This is problematic in light of continually increasing numbers of ELs in classrooms across the United States and their consistently poor academic outcomes in comparison to non-ELs. As Sanchez (2017) summarizes:

Many ELLs [English language learners] remain stuck in academically segregated programs where they fall behind in basic subjects. Only 63 percent of ELLs graduate from high school, compared with the overall national rate of 82 percent. In New York State, for example, the overall high school graduation rate is about 78 percent. But for ELLs, it’s 37 percent, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Of those who do graduate, only 1.4 percent take college entrance exams. (p. 8)

Research findings across numerous school districts show that ELs both at the elementary level in ESL pullout programs and at the secondary level who are taking ESL as a subject frequently fail to catch up to their same-age peers. The sizable achievement gap between ELs and non-ELs shows no signs of narrowing (Murphy, 2014; U.S. Department of Education, 2018).

The status quo is not working. Schools are in dire need of instructional practices that promote greater inclusion and educational equity for these students. It is important to note, however, that although this book focuses on teachers and their unique opportunity to make a positive difference in the schooling experiences of ELs, they cannot go it alone. Enduring change will need to involve multiple levels of the educational system as well as organizations in the public and private sector.

Outside of the mainstream K–12 context (e.g., in ESL classrooms where the instructors have been specially trained to deliver English language instruction), English-only policies remain the norm. Traditionally, teaching English to speakers of other languages training programs make little to no mention of students’ L1, other than to advise minimizing its use. The ideal classroom is portrayed as having as little of students’ L1 as possible, essentially by omitting reference to it (Cook, 2001, p. 404). Permitting ELs to explicitly draw on their L1 to support their English language learning is generally the exception and not the rule in ESL learning environments, despite comprehensive empirical evidence that demonstrates the benefits of L1 inclusion, including (but not limited to) improved academic outcomes. If we problematize some of the core assumptions that underlie monolingual language teaching, we can begin to move toward normalizing more flexible language pedagogies that value students’ prior knowledge, including their L1, and build upon it to support classroom learning. Moreover, we can start to shift our focus away from trying to create individuals who as closely as possible resemble monolingual native English speakers and instead strive to produce multicompetent bilinguals. For many of us, this may involve changing both the way we teach and the standards we use to evaluate success.

How to Make the Most of This Guide

To make the guide as useful and accessible as possible, the following three types of information have been singled out for easy access. Look for these graphic features:

PRACTICE: Practical strategies, lessons, in-class activities, and culminating projects that use students’ L1 to enrich learning.

REFLECT: Guiding questions meant to challenge you to think more deeply about what you do in the classroom and why you do it. These questions can be answered independently or be used as talking points in a professional development or teacher education session.

INSIGHT: Key insights from teachers, students, and scholars. These quotes and bits of wisdom