dalibor plavsic | LLED 360 307

Chapter 3: Linguistic and Academic Support for Newcomers and Language Learners

LLED 360 – 307

September 20, 2017

Dalibor Plavsic

Reading Analysis Reflection

Reading: Coelho, E. (2012). Language and Learning in Multilingual Classrooms. A Practical Approach. Toronto: Multilingual Matters

Chapter 3: Linguistic and Academic Support for Newcomers and Language Learners (pages 59 – 82)

Outside Source:

Main Themes:

The challenges of learning a new language for school so the student has the ability to further pursue their education without putting a pause on their learning
In younger children some students can be put into classrooms within 2 to 3 years with minimal to no supervision from their ESL teacher. The responsibility is then passed onto the classroom teacher who will continue their support until the student has understands all aspects of language proficiency
Everyday Language vs Academic Language – the amount of time it takes to transform basic survival words such as “Hi my name is …” to more advanced vocabulary – the textbook demonstrates a mathematics example using words such as diameter and circumference à these terms could be misrepresented by a beginner L2L learner

Educational Implication:

It’s extremely important that ESL teachers as well as classroom teachers are cooperative and understanding of the students needs in the academic setting
The student requires a strong and focused instructional academic teaching method
Newcomer students should be continuing their education with as little interruption as possible
It requires a greater amount of time to develop a strong sense of academic language; it takes four to five years to acquire academic language. Thus, we shouldn’t be holding these students back from the exposure of being in an academic language setting, it will further enhance their knowledge base without compromising their educational abilities in the given subjects
The most meaningful and age appropriate activities are ones that promote linguistic and cognitive development.
Academic language is mainly happening in the classrooms and is important to the student’s development
Thinking systems are more mature in older peer groups – therefore it allows them to understand reading comprehension à Literacy assessment in Ontario

Critical Argument

The reading has a personal touch to the problem with students that are in the public school system trying to learn a new language. For instance, I was an immigrant 18 years ago and moved to Canada when I was 7 years old. My ESL teacher told me that I had to speak English because It was the only way I could get better at learning the language. Looking through the text it shows evidence that it is extremely important for cognitive development. Students with a first language, retain their mother tongue as studies show a higher academic achievement across subject areas.
I do find though a counter argument for the previous statement as well; I found it extremely difficult to learn the English language when I barely new formal greetings and such. I had to communicate to peers in my ESL class in my first language (Serbo-Croatian) in order to get my message across. It’s a difficult understanding as well to measure their academics and understanding of another language. I was forced to be in classroom settings and do spelling tests where I would score 10/10 and children with English as a first language would score 6/10, why aren’t those kids put into ESL?

Questions to Facilitate Further Discussion:

How can teachers assess students in different subject areas if ESL is not their first language (i.e. mathematics or sciences) ?
Should we have teachers who speak the same language as ESL students be in classrooms together; why or why not?
What are some ways to introduce your ESL student into the classroom as an initial introduction?
Should there be a parental presence for these children while they’re in school for the first 2-3 years of ESL?

LLED 360 307