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Second language learners currently constitute approximately 25% of all students enrolled in California's public schools, K-12 (retrieved June 23, 2006 at http://www.ed-data.k12.ca.us/Navigation/fsTwoPanel.asp?bottom=/profile.asp?level=04&reportNumber=16). California state standards require that candidates develop knowledge, skills, and competencies necessary to meet the needs of second language learners. To help meet the individual needs of linguistically and culturally diverse students, teachers need to understand the nature of language, how individuals acquire it, and how language and literacy development intertwine through various sociocultural settings. Teachers also need to understand how oral language uses in the classroom relate to, promote, and enhance reading and writing development among English language learners (ELLs). While necessary, however, these knowledge, skills, and competencies are not sufficient for teachers to meet the needs of second language learners. They must be supported by a firm, foundational belief that second language learners can achieve at a high academic level. Accordingly, this class focuses not only on helping candidates to understand (knowledge) and, to an extent, implement teaching strategies (skills and competencies) to meet the needs of language minority students; it also seeks to help candidates develop the attitudes and dispositions--the belief that second language learners can achieve at high academic levels--that must be the foundation of any successful skills and competencies. This course presents research and theory on relationships between oral and written language development and use from infancy through adolescence among various language and culture groups in the United States. Given the significant linguistic and cultural diversity among students in California and the rest of the country, a major goal of the course is to describe not only what is known about universals in language development, but also to explain issues related to language differences in terms of dialect, bilingualism, and second language acquisition. This course considers these language issues within the sociocultural contexts of the home, family, community, and-most important for teachers-school. Also, the course focuses on the relationship between language acquisition and classroom practices. Participants become familiar with best practices instruction for second language learners and develop strategies to make the curriculum accessible to those students. Equity is an important theme of this class. Second language learners tend to be marginalized in public schools, especially since the disablement (at best) or demise (at worst) of bilingual education, following the passage of California's Proposition 227 in 1998. The current emphasis on accountability and standardized testing and the absence of coherent public policy that supports primary language instruction present special challenges to all second language learners and their teachers. The overall goal of this class is to help participants become effective teachers of second language learners.
EDTE 262 Classroom Issues in the Language/Literacy Development of L2 Learners
EDTE 162: Meeting the Needs of Second-Language Learners
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Linked below are (1) an anticipation guide that my students completed prior to the class meetings on ELD instruction upon which the inquiry documented in this website focuses and (2) a survey about their experience with Sarah Capitelli's website.
Anticipation Guide
Questionnaire re: Sarah Capitelli's Website
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