Essay On English Language Learners

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English language learners are found in every state and number of English language learners are increasing every year. These English language learners come from a range of backgrounds. There are over 470 different languages included in the categorized group of English language learners, however 75 percent of the students that will be encountered in schools will have a home language of Spanish as stated by Linan-Thompson and Vaughn (2007). There are goals for effective practice of English language learners and are based on comprehension, learning, and student interest. In earlier grade levels students are taught skills to start a foundation on, such as phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, and vocabulary. After achieving these skills it is possible to develop an English language learners literacy skills to be used in all content areas. According to August and Hakuna (1997) there are attributes that contribute to positive student outcome. These tributes include, explicit skill instruction, student directed activities, instructional strategies for enhancing understanding, opportunity to practice, student assessment, and a curriculum that is balanced. Students also learn content when the instruction is focused on routine, redundancy, and structure. Linen-Thompson and Vaughn (2007) states teachers who teach explicitly by modeling and explaining skills in the context can provide students the meta-cognitive thinking required by proficient readers.
In language arts an important strategy to use is explicit instruction. Explicit instruction refers to specific tasks that are teacher led and demonstrated, and is used to teach basic and higher order thinking based on the level of the students. Explicit instruction is specifically ...

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... ideas, and keeping all information easily organized for students. Monitor the cognitive progress by creating accurate duration times for activities, making sure students are on track, and keeping an eye open for the need to backtrack, revise meaning, analyzing information and delving deeper into the material in order to help students more accurately understand. Evaluate by reviewing material, asking students questions, and analyzing assessments to be sure of student accomplishment.
According to Moore-Harris (2005) English language learners that are still learning the English level at an academic level benefit greatly by integrating vocabulary and grammatical ideas while concurrently building on mathematical concepts by using lessons intefrated with concrete objects, manipulative, graphics, and activities that can be hands on to help visually reinforce learning.

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