English Language Learners: Are we Failing to Educate or Educating to Fail?

English Language Learners (ELL) have become the largest growing segment of the student population in Michigan. As reported by the Michigan Facts Resource Guide: The 2012-13 school year, Michigan's schools were home to more than 80,000 English language learners (ELLs), which marked a 47% increase from the 2002-2003 school year (Migration Policy Institute, 2015). Jump to 2017-2018 and the total of students has significantly increased as follows:

The Michigan Department of Education reported there were 97,000 English learners enrolled in Michigan’s school system in 2017. Oakland, Macomb and Wayne County account for 66,000 of these students. Currently, the most common five languages spoken by ELLs in Michigan are Spanish, Arabic, Bengali, Albanian, and Vietnamese. Students are failing miserably!

Who is to Blame? Parents and Administrators Roles

Parents of ELLs face daunting and discouraging obstacles as they try to become informed or involved in their child's learning. These difficulties include the inability to understand English, unfamiliarity with the school system, and differences in cultural norms. One or all of these combined variables can limit the parents’ communication and participation with both student and school. In addition, The Michigan Department of Education reported that they had experienced inconsistencies across the state in terms of the process districts use when determining English learner eligibility for ELL programs. This situation reportedly violated several federal requirements and forced them to reassess the process. The above situation, coupled with teachers who do not have an ESL endorsement, and the rigorous exam each student must take, clearly shows a skills gap in the process of English language acquisition programs.

The results of the exam determines if they are ready to transcend out of the ELL programs. Unfortunately, in the past, only 13%-15% of students successfully exited the program. But! It has gotten worse! The 2016-17 school year showed a sharp decline in students who could transition, mostly because the English proficiency test was made much more difficult. The results were sobering, less than 1% of the 97,221 students in the state who took the exam reached the minimum score. This is according to data from the Michigan Department of Education (McVicar, 2017).

Teachers in Public Schools and Additional Resources?

”Mainstream teacher attitudes toward ELLs can strongly influence the type of instruction that their students receive” -Dr. Cristina Gonzalez Dekutoski

“Approximately only 29.5% of teachers of Limited English Proficient (LEP) students nationally have LEP or ESL/TESOL training. 11.6% of Midwest teachers currently have ESL endorsement training (spring, 2010) (Dekutoski, 2011). According to a study 60% of ELLs receive all-English instruction with no bilingual education at all. Twenty percent of this population (about 12% of ELLS) do not have access to services that can assist in English language acquisition (NWREL, 2004).

ELL students as a majority spend an hour or perhaps two in an actual ELL class. Furthermore, with less than 1/3 of teachers endorsed to teach ELL, they have reported that they often find themselves at a loss for teaching language acquisition across cultures.

Importance of English Language Enrichment Programs to Empower Students:

"Tell me, and I will forget. Show me, and I may remember. Involve me, and I will understand." Confucius

The Fluency Studio has developed an Experiential English Language Enrichment Program (ELEP) which is based on two complementary methodologies. First, it adopts the philosophy of Experiential, whole language learning which emphasizes the following principles based on John Dewey’s philosophies:

(1) Direct experiences of phenomenon under assumption that this will lead to genuine (meaningful and long-lasting) learning" (Neill 2005b).

(2) A strong emphasis on learner's free decision-making and a sense of responsibility for his/her decisions. Students have the ability to make decisions about what and how to learn and what to accomplish

(3) Students are given the opportunities to use English in realistic and relevant contexts

(4) Learning by doing is a main strategy of the approach

(5) The teacher’s role is an initiator, a mediator, a participant, and the one who provides support and encouragement

(6) We employs a learner-centered curriculum model which stresses the collaborative effort between teachers and learners. The learners are closely involved in the decision-making process regarding the curriculum content, objectives and decision about how the content should be addressed.

Our main strategy is to employ only ESL and TESOL endorsed language acquisitions, teachers many of whom hold Masters Degrees and have global teaching experience.

With flexible hours, easy and affordable enrollment, online learning resources, classrooms and qualified teachers, we feel that each and every student, child or adult should have the opportunity to learn English at their convenience with no hassle and no pressure. Learning English is and can be fun, when it is approached the Experiential Way! We have free classes, drop in classes, Exam prep, Business English and Naturalization

courses. A time, platform and budget for every family’s needs.

*All on campus courses are group settings with private one-on-one tutoring available. Our Off to Class on line center is a face to face online learning platform.

References

Dekutoski, C. G. (2011). Mainstream teacher attitudes toward english language learners. Detroit: Wayne State University.

McHugh, J. B. (20010, August). Number and growth of students in U.S. schools in need of english Instruction. Retrieved from Migration policy institute: https://www.migrationpolicy.org/research/number-and-growth-students-us-schools-need-english-instruction-2009

McVicar, B. (2017, August 15). Rigorous test poses challenges to Michigan's English language learners. Retrieved from Michigan Live: https://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2017/08/rigorous_test_poses_challenges_1.html

NWREL. (2004, March). English Language Learner (ELL) Programs. Retrieved from Creating Communities of learning and excellence: https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED484554.pdf