OBSTACLES FACED BY MONOLINGUAL TEACHERS OF BILINGUAL STUDENTS

By: Aisling Kennedy

CONTEXT Does being bilingual help or harm the student? Do teachers hold particular expectations of bilingual students? Do these expectations influence your teaching style and/or create obstacles?

Japanese speaking students can converse with one another in a second language that no one else in the class can comprehend however it appears as though their English speaking and reading ability suffers

LITERATURE REVIEW

ELLs struggle with feelings of inadequacy, fear of failure, low self esteem and isolation (CH in K)
Due

to differing accent, pronunciation, grammatical errors in oral speech and lack of proper vocabulary to accurate describe thought and feelings

Teachers often only speak English and require no further training to properly and adequately teach those students who are also learning English alongside the curriculum content area In NYC, over 100 languages are represented in the public school classroom with 1/3 of children coming from homes in which English is not spoken

REVIEW
Negative

Positive

Some view bilingualism as an impairment, insisting there is an evident weakness in language ability.

Speculation that inferior development is due to the negative stigma placed upon them due to their teachers expectation

Others believe bilinguals have a language asset, are more facile in concept formation and have greater mental flexibility

Therefore teachers overestimate their performance and ability

REVIEW
Expectations of teachers towards bilingual students influence teaching style and methods used to inform and support Immigrant students often lack sufficient cognitive academic language proficiency (CALP), even if their basic interpersonal communication skill (BICS) are good. Teachers should work to develop a new style of teaching created on the understanding of culture and language in the individual students learning ability

COLLECTION

Surveyed teachers at random in a Pre-K through 5th grade at a local private school

14 responded

On average, each class held 20 students with approximately three bilingual

Many spoke home language with a parent that did not speak English
assessing the breakdown of the bilingual population within each class, the expectations both positive and negative by the teacher of those students, and the efforts taken by the individual teacher to accommodate those students

Survey consisted of 10 questions

COLLECTION
Most commonly spoken language among students was Spanish followed by Chinese and Korean Almost 75% of those who participated in the survey expected bilingual students to perform higher Teachers ideally want to remain aware that a student is bilingual, but not let that change their expectation of him or her. Overall, the majority of teachers surveyed would conclude that their expectations arent influenced by bilingualism.

COLLECTION
Major obstacles include: topics of language arts, grammar, writing, sounds and spelling self esteem of students delay in following directions comprehending a languageheavy lessons language barriers with parents need for multiple entry points for information Postive outcomes include: Enriching and empowering to observe a child transition from struggling due to language barriers to feeling confident in their schoolwork and abilities Bilingual students and their families can share their experiences, culture and language with the rest of the class and expand their knowledge. Bilingual students overcome their feelings of apprehension and fear, and realize their amazing ability to converse in two languages. Positively influences on their selfesteem allowing them to feel comfortable and take risks.

ACTION BASED
Teachers should work to develop a new style of teaching created on the understanding of culture and language in the individual students learning ability. Strategies for educators of bilingual students: creating separate activities and practice sheets to facilitate bilingual learning and promote understanding expressing interest and desire in knowing two languages to make the student feel less self conscious and more accepted keeping and updating continual honest progress reports with parents to create open paths of communication being patient, slow and clear with directions and new information using multiple methods to explain a new concept, working one and one with each student (not only ELLs), incorporating the languages into curriculum so other students learn words in languages other than English using positive feedback

REFLECTION
Change the time of year at which the survey is administered Assess a varied population and cross-reference the findings with a wider survey pool by targeting a different schools Create a more detailed survey with more informative questions as a follow-up Consider collecting on-site or firsthand data by shadowing a few students, as well as interviewing students, teachers, parents and siblings.