Title: Teaching World English Speakers: A ResearchBased Approach
1Teaching World English Speakers A Research-Based
Approach
- Christa de Kleine, PhD
- Associate Professor of Education/TESOL
- College of Notre Dame, Baltimore, MD
2World English speakers in ESOL
- Who are the World English-speaking students in
your school?
- Where are they from?
- What are their challenges?
3Defining World English Kachrus model
4World English speakers in ESOL Who are they and
what are their challenges?
- Most World English-speaking students in ESOL in
the US come from the Anglophone parts of the
Caribbean and West Africa.
- Issues
- Relatively strong oral English skills, but much
lower written English skills
- Pattern of academic underachievement
- Help with Standard English often necessary, but
ESOL instruction typically not sufficiently
helpful
5Reasons for underachievement among West African
students
- Interrupted education
- poor literacy and academic skills (Crandall
Greenblatt 1998, Crandall 2003, Sewell et al.
2003)
- Psychological trauma
- Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (Sewell et al.
2003)
- Linguistic background
- grammatical interference from local World English
varieties (de Kleine 2005)
6World English speakers in ESOL The study
- Focus Writing skills of World English-speaking
ESOL students in secondary schools
- Data A total of 786 writing samples, produced by
101 students from West Africa
- 41 from Sierra Leone
- 15 from Liberia
- 45 from Ghana
-
7Anglophone West Africa
- Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ghana and Nigeria
8West African World English speakers Language
backgrounds
- Liberian students Vernacular Liberian English
(Creole English)
- Sierra Leonean students Krio (Creole English)
- Ghanaian students Twi (Akan) and Ghanaian Pidgin
English
- All students had received education in West
Africa in West African Standard English prior to
coming to the US.
9Pidgin and Creole Languages Some theory
- A pidgin language is a reduced language that
results from extended contact between groups of
people with no common language. A pidgin has no
native speakers. - A pidgin develops into a creole language when
children are born into a community that uses the
pidgin, causing the pidgin to develop into a
full-blown language.
10World English speakers in ESOL The findings
- Error types
- Organization Punctuation Spelling Vocabulary
Grammar
- Massive grammatical interference from West
African Pidgin/Creole English
- Clear confusion between West African
Pidgin/Creole English and American English
grammatical patterns
- Noticeable persistence of grammatical errors even
when other writing skills improved
11Findings Verb phrase errors
- Lack of past tense marking
- He was 10 years old when his grand father dieØ
- All the members liked him because he contributeØ
and participateØ in all activities
-
- Lack of subject-verb agreement
- She live in England
- It make me sick
- and it also help us in our ability
- the moon have people in it
12Findings Verb phrase errors
- Absence of to be
- if you Ø having a conversation with somebody
- That Ø how big the land in Sierra Leone is.
- First of all, it Ø important for us to show
respect.
- Modal verb use will for would
- If I was sarina I will always be respectful to my
mom and dad.
- Now I will like to talk little bit about Sister
and I.
13Findings Noun phrase errors
- Lack of plural marking
- a lot of studentØ
- so many thingØ
- five different important holidayØ
- Lack of possessive s
- his fatherØ failure in life
- from my uncleØ house
- My motherØ older-sister
14FindingsNoun phrase errors
- Zero article
- She was my friend, and she was also Ø nice
person.
- Miss T. have small eyes, Ø small mouth and Ø big
head.
- I say something but Its Ø lie.
- Non-count count
- Sometimes they can help me if I need help on my
homeworks or projects.
- There are many advices that new students needs to
know.
- Using a violence to solve a promble problem is
going to make the situation worse.
15Findings Prepositional errors
- Preposition omitted
- look down at my feet
- I want to go to a party
- Different preposition
- My dad, in on the other hand,
- share things to with people
- Preposition added
- I got stuck in midway
- communities nowadays are also passing on laws
to stop teens
16Findings Subjectless sentences and clauses
- Often with main verb form of to be
- I think Ø is important because
- .. and this is not my opinion. Ø Is general
knowledge
17(No Transcript)
18Writing sample 1 Author female from Liberia, 15
years old, 9th grade, 3 years in the US
- If I want to be like any body I will want to be
like Nelly because I like the way he look, talk,
sing, dance, dress, smile and how he act when
they are making his song. when I grow up I want
to be a singer and a dance like Nelly. - I also want to be like Nelly because I like
where he live, his house, his pool, his stideo in
his house and how he have party any time he wand,
he go out when he want to, and how tall he is. I
like all of the song that come out of his mouth
and the body guide he have. - I like where he do his recording how his bath
tub wok and his bed room. I which to be like
Nelly when I grow up.
19Writing sample 2Author male from Ghana, 20
years old, 10th grade, 3 years in the US
- I walking home from school, I stopped to play at
the park, suddenly I meet friends when I come to
school. They tell me we dont have go to school
today because we need go to the mall and buy some
clothes. When they tell me this, I said, we can
go to school and after school we can go to mall
buy whatever we needs. After all this other one
of my friend start to fight with me because I
said we need go to school. Other boys try to
follow me what I said. We come back to school.
20Writing sample 3Author female from Sierra
Leone, 17 years old, 10th grade, 1 year in the US
- My grandfather is one of the best people in the
whole for me. He loves me like his own daughter.
He used to take me to different place and at
night he will read me bed time story. I was
always at his house. Even if there was something
important going on at my house. My grandfather
was an enegieer. he fix people phone and also
made roads. He was not like a grand father to me
because he was not as old as grandfather could
be. He was my hero. He die try to protect my
for Soildrens.
21Writing sample 3 (cont.)
- 8 years ago a Civil war break out in
Sierra-Leone. These people where firghting for
power (who should rule the country). One of these
group was in power and other group was trying to
gain power. These group trying to gain power were
from the village and they have been smokeing hard
thing like marijuana and nicotine. So they do not
care what they do to gain power. They kill
people, rape girls and also capture young boy and
inject them with Drug. - I was at my grandfather house when they came
ask for little boys to join there group. As they
were talking to my Grandfather I came in an they
want to take me with them but my grandfather says
no. So they hit him and try to take me.
22Writing sample 4Author male from Sierra Leone,
15 years old, 9th grade, 5 months in US
- Yesterday I stole my sister candy, and went to
my bedroom to ate the candy, while I was eating
the candy she came to me and asks Alusine do you
took my candy, I dont answer. then she went out
and went to grama to tell grama that I stole her
candy in her school bag. When she told grama,
grama shout on him, dont told me that you fool.
Why you telling lying on your elder brother.
What the matter with you. You elder brother use
to give you candy and today you hang thief on
him. Appologise to him and say sorry for that
mistake. As a result she cry and say sorry
Alusine. After a while I went to her and told, I
am very sorry sister I stole you candy, please
forgive me.
23Writing sample 5Author female from Sierra
Leone, 15 years old, 9th grade, 15 months in US
- Since I came to the United States, My life has
be change. This country is the best place were
you can get what you want. Im going to talk
about the three things that I like about this
country. This is the three thing that I like
about this country. I like the education, school,
and the langauge. Now Im going to talk about
each one of these things. - Frist of all the education. The education in
this country is very good and not too hard. The
teacher will teach you unill you understand what
you have to do. They also teach you about
different things in the world that already past.
The education in this country is the best because
it make you understand and they teach how to do
everythings, and they would also make it very
easey for you to know what you doing. -
24Writing sample 5 (cont.)
- Second is the school. They build the school
very nice and beautiful. I remember the frist day
I came to the United States the frist day of
school I saw it really big school and I ask my
dad if that the government house and he said know
that school. And I also like the classrooms?
because it big and wide and no to many student
are in the class. In my country the class are
really small and they have a lot of student in
each class room. - Last one is the langauge. I like the way the
kids who are born in this country speak their
langauge. Any time I hard them speak the langauge
I feel like join them. English is the best
langauge that I like. When I speak the langauge
to other people it make me feel like I was born
here too. - Definitely my life is change since I come to
the United State And I am have a good education.
learned how to speak good English and I like the
classroom. Since I came to the United States my
life has bee change and is the best place for
people from other country.
25Modifying ESL instruction to meet the needs of
World English speakersTowards a successful
approach
- We need to help students bridge the gap from
their English to Standard American English
26Modifying ESL instruction to meet the needs of
World English speakers
- Help students develop general language awareness
- Help students appreciate their rich linguistic
background
- Help students contrast their English and Standard
American English
27Awareness Dealing with the Broken English
myth
- Help students to develop general language
awareness. They need to understand that
- All human language varieties have a system of
grammar, a system of sounds and a full lexicon.
- There are no languages or dialects with better
grammars than others all grammars are systematic
and complex in their own way.
- Language is an important tool for people to
express their identity people often purposely
use different varieties (standard/nonstandard) to
assert their identity in different settings. - Different language varieties have different roles
in society Standard American English is a
crucial tool for success in US society.
- Useful classroom materials PBS series Do You
Speak American?
28Awareness Dealing with the Broken English myth
- Help students to develop an understanding of
their individual West African Pidgin/Creole
English language backgrounds.
- Focus on the history of Pidgin and Creole English
varieties of West Africa. Use the PBS series The
Story of English (Black on White segment).
- Focus on the unique grammatical features of
Pidgin/Creole English.
29Appreciation Students rich (!) language
backgrounds
- Have students explore West African Pidgin/Creole
English in authentic West African sources.
- Analyze lyrics in West African music (Afro-beat,
Hip-hop)
- Have students explore their individual language
backgrounds through questions
- Which language(s) did you use in West Africa at
home, at school, and in the community at large?
- How much difference is there between the English
spoken by different people in your home country?
Are there people that are seen as speaking
better English than others? - Is the English you use with your West African
family members and/or friends the same as what
you use with American friends? Is it the same as
the English you use in the classroom? Why or why
not?
30Focus on language rules
- Help students to create a written inventory of
Pidgin/Creole grammatical rules.
- As a class, organize the inventory into
grammatical categories (e.g., noun phrase
patterns, verb phrase patterns etc.).
- Teach students the difference between these rules
and Standard American English rules.
- Focus on overall grammatical patterns.
31Focus on patterns vs. errors
- Make students aware of grammatical patterns in
their writings that reflect the influence of
Pidgin/Creole English.
- Use an editing guide of PC patterns when marking
errors.
- Focus on one or two patterns at a time.
- Mark one or two examples of an error and let
students search for additional examples.
32Focus on self-editing vs. teacher correction
- Emphasize grammar correction as a crucial stage
in the writing process.
- Balance instruction focused on process writing
(brainstorming, prewriting and essay organization
etc.) with a strong focus on the grammar editing
phase. - Help students develop independent editing skills
by using their editing guide of Pidgin/Creole
symbols when proofreading their writing.
- Group students with fellow Pidgin/Creole English
speakers during peer-editing sessions so that
they can give each other the most relevant
feedback.
33Conclusion
- Much ESOL instruction can be quite useful for
World English speakers, despite their unique
needs.
- However, ESOL instruction also needs to be
modified for World English speakers. It must
focus specifically on the differences between
Pidgin/Creole English and Standard American
English. - Comprehensible input alone will not do the job
with these students!
34- ESol has somehow inprove my life. But not to
that extend. Sometimes I felt like I am in one
the most important class and at other times I
felt that I am so dome
35Teaching World English Speakers A Research-Based
Approach
- Christa de Kleine, PhD
- Associate Professor of Education/TESOL
- College of Notre Dame, Baltimore, MD