Introduction
I have learned a great deal about teaching English Language Learners (ELLs) from my mentor’s expertise and the ELL Case Studies. They require a different approach to reading skills, vocabulary, and language development, and often need complex strategies to achieve the necessary skills. Hence, it is essential to summarize and reflect on these findings and how they will impact my future practice.
Reading and Vocabulary Strategies
First, it is crucial to reflect on the strategies for improving the foundational reading skills and vocabulary. Using the home languages of the ELLs can promote the ideas of fluency, phonics, print, and phonological awareness. I encouraged pupils to use them to find parallels with English or to communicate when they are struggling (“Reading 101”, n.d.). Moreover, I used scaffolding to improve both vocabulary and student practice. For this, I have constructed a word wall to help pupils better memorize the words and use them to construct their own phrases (“Vocabulary Development”, n.d.). Therefore, using home languages and scaffolding were 2 of the strategies that I used during practice.
Teaching Language Elements
Another critical factor is teaching the elements of language to ELLs. Teaching phonetics and phonology required singing songs with repeating words to students to improve their pronunciation of phonemes. To study morphology—the study of how language units form words—ELLs consulted cognate words in their native tongues (“Reading 101”, n.d.; “Glossary”, 2020). With lexicon, I utilized a word wall and pre-taught relevant vocabulary (“Vocabulary Development”, n.d.).
With semantics, students learned antonyms and synonyms, as well as the basics of English-speaking culture, as some phrases lose meaning in translation. For syntax, I used dialogue journals so that ELLs could construct sentences (Malone, 2013). From a pragmatic perspective, I employed role-playing exercises to teach students how to utilize language in various situations. Hence, teaching ELLs the elements of language requires various approaches.
Response to Intervention
While teaching ELLs, I have also applied the Response to Intervention (RTI) strategy. As no ELLs were significantly lagging behind their peers, only Tier 1 interventions were utilized to prevent future issues. In particular, I focused on basic language elements during the initial instruction and then shifted my focus to vocabulary and concept building (Vaughn, n.d.). Therefore, a portion of my teaching approach involved RTI instruction.
Interactionism and Behaviorism in Practice
The two additional questions that my mentor and I discussed were how interactionist and behaviorist theories can be applied in practice. We used interactionism through fostering classroom discussions through the “think-pair-share” method. For behaviorism, he mentioned modeling and how he used songs to teach phonetics and phonology (Nor & Rashid, 2018). Hence, interactionism and behaviorism can be utilized through classroom discussions and modeling.
Conclusion
Hence, the insights I have gained in the field experience will be important in my future practice. The difficulties of teaching ELLs the fundamentals of language were maybe the most important result; I will continue to study this to enhance my performance in future practice and additional field experiences. To summarize, ELL education is a complex subject that requires extensive knowledge and adequate practice.
References
Glossary for the 2019 English Language Proficiency Standards. (2020). Arizona Department of Education.
Malone, S. (2013). Theories and Research of Second Language Acquisition. SIL.
Nor, M.N. & Rashid, R.A. (2018) A review of theoretical perspectives on language learning and acquisition. Kasetsart Journal of Social Sciences, 39(1), 161-167.
Reading 101 for English Language Learners. (n.d.). Colorín Colorado.
Vocabulary Development with ELLs. (n.d.). Reading Rockets.
Vaughn, S. (n.d.). Response to Intervention in Reading for English Language Learners. RTI Action Network.