Imagine being in a room with people who speak, look, and even act differently from you. On top of that, imagine being asked to complete assignments using a foreign language that you are unfamiliar with. Emergent Bilingual Students (EBS) face multifaceted challenges as they enter schools that only offer English as the medium of instruction. One of the many ill-structured problems that profoundly affect EBS’ academic performance is reading English texts. Understandably, Emergent Bilinguals tend to have low reading proficiency compared to their fluent English-speaking peers as English is not their first language (de Schonewise & Klingner, 2012). Yes, this is a problem, but an even bigger problem is that schools do not provide enough support to these students. According to Khong and Saito (2014), schools and the educational system, in general, do not respond appropriately to Emergent Bilingual Students’ learning needs, and they provide teachers with the same materials for both types of students. I believe that this is an urgent problem as the National Education Association reported that Emergent Bilinguals are the fastest-growing segment of the public school population in the United States. After spending some time pondering and researching about this ill-structured problem, I found a technology tool that could help both teachers and EBS alleviate the issue. Newsela is an instructional content platform that provides students and teachers with nonfiction reading texts published at five different reading (Lexile) levels. Watch the video below for more information: I think Newsela would be an effective technology tool for Emergent bilinguals. It allows them to read the same content as their English speaking peers without feeling overwhelmed. Actively engaging EBS in meaningful learning would develop a sense of being competent learners and, as a result, increase their motivation (Jones & Jones, 2015). Through using Newesla, Emergent bilinguals are encouraged to read more and eventually improve their reading skills. Reference:
de Schonewise, E. A., & Klingner, J. K. (2012). Linguistic and cultural issues in developing disciplinary literacy for adolescent english language learners. Topics in Language Disorders, 32(1), 51-68. https://journals.lww.com/topicsinlanguagedisorders/Abstract/2012/01000/Linguistic_and_Cultural_Issues_in_Developing.6.aspx Jones, V. F., & Jones, L. S. (2015). Comprehensive classroom management, Creating communities of support and solving problems (11th edition). Boston: Allyn & Bacon Khong, T. D. H., & Saito, E. (2014). Challenges confronting teachers of English language learners. Educational Review, 66(2), 210-225. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131911.2013.769425 National Research Association. (n.d.). Research & tools. Retrieved July 9, 2020, from http://www.nea.org/home/32409.htm Video: Kim, H. (2020, July 12). Technology tool for emergent bilingual students: NEWSELA [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMLzRLC4KG4&feature=youtu.be Unless otherwise noted, the video presented on this blog is the property of the blog owner.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
|