Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students: Rising to the Challenge

1
Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students
Rising to the Challenge

• Christine Kahanak
• and
• Deborah Hansen

2

• 2004
• 5.5 million English Language Learners
• 400 different languages
• 2040
• No single ethnic group will make up the majority
  of school-age population

3
Students with Insufficient English Language Skills

• Bilingual
• Culturally linguistically diverse (CLD)
• English-language learner (ELL)
• Second language learner (SLL)
• Limited English proficiency (LEP)

4
Goals for this Presentation

1. Increase general knowledge about CLD students
   awareness of their educational challenges needs
2. Offer practical suggestions resources for
   educational professionals who work with CLD
   students

5
Underlying Forces in the Move Toward Greater
Responsiveness to the Needs of CLD Students
6
Underlying Forces

• Trend from students accommodating schools to
  school systems accommodating students
• Consent decrees
• Case law
• Public law
• Professional ethics guidelines

7
No Child Left Behind Act of 2002Title III

• Funding for ELL at state level through grants
• English Language Proficiency Test given to each
  ELL yearly
• Ell students in U.S. Schools for 3 years must be
  tested in reading/language arts in English
• By 2014 all schools must have ELL programs in
  place bring students to same proficiency level
  as native English speaking students

8
Cultural Competence of Schools as a Goal in
Educational Settings

• A culturally competent school is one that
  honors, respects, and values diversity in theory
  and in practice and where teaching and learning
  are made relevant and meaningful to students of
  various cultures.
• (Klotz, 2006)

9
Richards, Brown Forde (2006)

• 3 Dimensions of Culturally Responsive Pedagogy
• Institutional dimension
• Personal dimension
• Instructional dimension

10
Instructional Dimension

• Policies Procedures
• Allocation of human financial resources
• Physical structures where students are
• educated
• Purchase of curricula
• instructional materials

11
Instructional Dimension

• Controversy Surrounding ELL Students
• English Language Acquisition
• Mainstream teach English as an additional
  subject
• Place ELL students in bilingual settings for
  limited time, then mainstream

12
Who should be involved in the movement toward
cultural competence in educationalsettings?EVERY
ONE
13
8 Activities for Teachers

1. Reflective teaching writing
2. Exploring personal family history
3. Recognize acknowledge affiliations with social
   groups
4. Learn about history experiences of diverse
   groups

• 5. Visit students families communities
• 6. Visit or read about successful teachers in
  diverse settings
• 7. Develop appreciation of diversity
• 8. Take an active role in educational system
  reform

14
Preservice Teacher Education

• Limited progress implementing recommendations
  based upon research dating pre-1977
• Promise- teachers acquiring second language

15
CLD Students Special Education

• Overrepresented in special education populations
  
• Cognitive Impairment
• Severe Emotional Impairment
• Learning Disabled
• More likely to be placed in restrictive
  educational settings (self contained classrooms)

16
Samuel Ortiz (2004, 2005)

• Acculturation
• Language development
• English proficiency
• Bilingual assessment vs. assessment of bilingual
• Language differences vs. language disorders
• Resources Publications
• www.nasponline.org

17
Stage Model for Nondiscriminatory Assessment of
CLD ChildrenPre-referral Procedures

• Develop cultural linguistic hypotheses
• Assess language development proficiency
• Assess cultural linguistic differences
• Assess environmental community factors
• Evaluate, revise, re-test hypotheses
• VI. Determine need for languages of assessment

18
Stage Model for Nondiscriminatory Assessment of
CLD ChildrenPre-referral Procedures

• Modify adapt traditional practices
• Utilize non-discriminatory practices
• Evaluate all data within cultural/linguistic
  context
• X. Link assessment with intervention

19
Things are not always what they seem

• ADD
• Inattentive
• Hyperactive
• Impulsive
• Distractible
• Disruptive
• Disorganized
• Slow to begin tasks
• Slow to finish tasks
• Forgetful

• ELL
• ?
• ?
• ?
• ?
• ?
• ?
• ?
• ?
• ?

20
ELLs looking for information trying to conform

• Inattentive Dont understand dont know what
  they are supposed to do
• Hyperactive Not clear about rules expectations
• Impulsive Dont fully comprehend instructions
• Distractible Attend to the language they can
  understand
• Disruptive Excessive talking to find out what
  they are supposed to do

21
ELLs looking for information trying to conform

• Disorganized
• Dont understand instructions dont know how
  to organize materials
• Slow to begin tasks
• Dont comprehend language well enough to know
  how to start tasks
• Slow to finish tasks
• Takes longer to translate information back
  forth between English native language to
  complete task quickly
• Forgetful
• Cant fully encode information into memory
  because of limited comprehension

22
Factors Affecting ELL Students at School

• Stressful or traumatic early life experiences
• War political persecution
• Separation from close family members
• Uprooting frequent moves
• Hunger poverty
• Fear of immigration authorities

23
Factors Affecting ELL Students at School

• Medical care
• Lack of proper medical care in the country of
  origin
• Lack of access to proper medical care in the
  United States

24
Factors Affecting ELL Students at School

• Previous School Experiences
• Enrolled early or late
• Inconsistent schooling
• Limited educational resource
• Programs to meet their needs not available
• Had to stop going to school to go to work

25
Factors Affecting ELL Students at School

• Everyday Life
• Holidays how they are celebrated
• Foods mealtimes
• Clothing
• Standards of etiquette
• How names dates are written
• Concepts of time punctuality
• Communication styles

26
Factors Affecting ELL Students at School

• Family Life
• English proficiency
• Child rearing practices
• Familiarity with participating in education of
  children, including parent-teacher conferences
  asking questions of school personnel

27
Factors Affecting ELL Students at School

• Speaking, Reading Writing
• Varying degrees of literacy in native language
  English
• Master English oral skills before reading
  written language skills
• Native language may have different alphabet

• Mental Health Services
• Help-seeking behavior
• View of mental health services
• Willingness to accept mental health interventions
• Response to mental health professionals during a
  crisis situation

28
Suggestions for Mainstream Teachers

• Increase comprehensibility
• Promote student interactions
• Support dialogue journals
• Assign cultural studies to students as projects
• Employ realia strategies
• Encourage story-telling
• (Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory,
  2003)

29
Suggestions for Mainstream Teachers

• Enunciate clearly
• Write legibly in print rather than cursive
• Develop maintain routines use hand signals
• Repeat information review frequently
• Avoid slang idioms
• Present new information in context of previous
  material
• List instructions in step-by-step process
• Provide frequent summaries
• Recognize successes frequently

30
Social Psychological Principles CLD Students