WK1 | Reading Reflection Response

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Finding	Summary/Context	Analysis/Application
“Reading, Writing, and Learning in ESL” by Suzanne F. Peregoy, Owen Boyle, and Steven Amendum Page 11: “It is important to note that cultures are neither monolithic nor static. Rather they include many layers and variations related to age, gender, social status, occupation, wealth, and power. Cultural changes occur as people encounter or develop new ideas and ways of being”	This quote has 2 very relevant implications. Firstly, because cultures are not monolithic, we cannot assume any characteristics of an individual person based on their cultural heritage. We must assess each individual person for who they are and not make assumptions based on any group identities that they may possess. Secondly, this claim is in alignment with the research on instructional practices cited on page 28 from the same text which indicates that: “Program success depends on specialized instruction aimed at meeting multilingual learners’ unique needs, whether instruction is focused primarily on content learning or language acquisition.”	The further implication as it would apply to Educators is that you need to take actions to learn about your students and any unique needs that each student may have. This same text provides a number of classroom activities on pages 4-9 that can be used to learn about your students, and the type of information that is useful to learn about them.
“Reading, Writing, and Learning in ESL” by Suzanne F. Peregoy, Owen Boyle, and Steven Amendum Page 11: “As the teacher, you are in a position to inspire your students and introduce them to the future in ways that no one else can.”	The phrase that is most fascinating here is ‘introduce them to the future’. This quote touches on the larger goals of education more generally, but is presented in the context of making a difference in the lives of your students.	What does it mean to introduce someone to the future? This idea could have a number of interpretations. Practically, the Educator might reflect a student's progress back to them. Perhaps by keeping a Language Development Portfolio as is described in the “50 Strategies” text, you can show a student the state that they once were at, and how far they have come. In many cases, language learning is so incremental and slow paced that the learner might not be able to perceive their progress. By illustrating the student progress that they have already made in the past, you can introduce them to the possibility of progress that they will make in the future. Thereby, “introducing them to the future”.
“Reading, Writing, and Learning in ESL” by Suzanne F. Peregoy, Owen Boyle, and Steven Amendum Page 22 “With standardized test scores at the forefront of education policy, it is important to note that socioeconomic status has proven to be the strongest predictor of standardized test scores.”	This quote is profound because it shows us that the socioeconomic status of a student is able to predict an outcome. The variable of socioeconomic status is so strong that it affects the success or failure of a student. This concept necessarily must extend beyond the classroom into larger issues that must be addressed by society, but that doesn’t mean that we cannot take this into consideration when we are differentiating our lessons.	This is yet another reminder to learn about your students. This quote alone, does not tell us the reasons why there is a link between educational success and socioeconomic status, but we know that it is in everyone’s best interest to help the students that suffer the most from this factor. This is tricky because it is not totally clear from the passage what is needed to produce success for these students of low economic status, but we should try to support these students as much as we can.
“50 Strategies for Teaching English Language Learners” by Adrienne Herrell and Michael Jordan Page 4: “They (Hart and Risley (2003)) found that a child’s experience with language mattered more than socioeconomic status, race, or anything else they measured.”	This quote appears to directly contradict with the passage above from the other text about socioeconomic status. This quote indicates that ‘experience with language’ is more powerful than socioeconomic status, but it is not clear if the 2 quotes are discussing the same kind of outcomes for the students. This quote comes during a discussion of Leo Von Lier’s work with cognitive theory. It is not clear from the text what kinds of outcomes Von Lier was measuring, as compared with the standardized test scores that are being referred to in the other text.	What is more important than this discrepancy is the methodology of Von Lier that is being described in this section of the text. The techniques that are being discussed here are directly usable in a classroom setting. Von Lier’s AAA curriculum includes the following items: awareness, autonomy and authenticity. Awareness refers to the meta understanding of the lessons being presented. It is important that everyone (teachers and students) understands the purpose and scope of what is being taught. Autonomy refers to the student being able to drive their own learning. This is similar to the constructivist approach where students are able to derive meaning from their own experiences. And lastly, Authenticity, which refers to connection of the learned content to real-world experiences. This is related to the transfer of learning theory.
“50 Strategies for Teaching English Language Learners” by Adrienne Herrell and Michael Jordan Page 4: ““Meaningful exposure to language is not enough. Students need many opportunities for language interaction”	This quote is useful for understanding the list of types of ELL programs we looked at in the other text. The table for Figure 1.7 from “Reading, Writing, and Learning in ESL” lists 8 different types of language programs that range from full English immersion to fully dual-language classrooms. The section of that book emphasizes the value of Bilingual instruction for ELL students. However, this quote introduces another factor into this matrix. “Meaningful exposure to language is not enough”, means that the variable on which this table is sorted is not enough to ensure success for students. “Students need many opportunities for language interaction” means that students must be able to interact in different contexts in order to be successful learning the language. A student, merely immersed in a new language will not learn it by osmosis.	The implication for the classroom is very straightforward in this case. What is required is opportunities for the student to interact in multiple ways. This could mean discussing with their peers, writing, speaking out loud in class, etc etc. A student will not learn the language simply because the teacher is utilizing it.