Common Core Standards Can English learners meet them? Lily Wong Fillmore September 27-28, 2010
The buzz many questions Have the needs of English learners been addressed in the common standards? What level of English proficiency is assumed by the standards? The CCS do not say what to do about students at different levels of English proficiency--so what happens to them? The statement on applying the CCS for ELs mentions their likely need for appropriate instructional support, but what does that mean?
My view on the CCS? I applaud them. They not only take on the gap between current K-12 standards and readiness for college and the world beyond school... They also force us to ask whether the problem that has diminished standards in K-12 schooling has also made it harder for ELs to make progress in our schools. I will argue that it has.
The CCS document The problem is spelled out in the Appendices A & B lay out a predicament in instruction that I will argue affects ELs and language minorities disproportionately. There has been over the past 2 or 3 decades, a gradual erosion in the complexity of texts students are expected to handle and produce in school, resulting in a huge gap between what even successful students can understand and do at the end of high school, and what they face in college or on the job. Not everyone is negatively affected by the erosion of complexity and richness in texts used in school, of course.
The lucky ones are... Kids whose caretakers read to them in the early years of life, and engaged them in discussions of situations and ideas drawn from books. Kids whose teachers augmented the materials they were working with, and provided the help they needed to discover how language works in texts. Such students become eager learners and independent readers once they learn to read.
How ELs and LMs fare... If texts have been dumbed down in general, they have been doubly and triply so for students who are thought not to be able to handle the regular curriculum. Language minority students find themselves increasingly segregated whether by schools or by classes, where the materials are pitched at a much lower level than materials meant for mainstream students. English learners, especially, are provided adapted texts materials that are so greatly simplified that they provide virtually no exposure to the forms and structures of the language they should be learning.
Will the CCS change things? The Common Core Standards can be thought of as a blueprint for preparing students for college and beyond, but they can hardly guarantee that students will be better educated a decade from now than they currently are. California, for example, has had a superb set of standards in place for over a decade now. Its ELA standards were adopted in 1996, its math standards in 1997. Take a look at how CA s students performed in the 2009 NAEP reading test, and you ll see what I mean. Notice too how few kids in any state performed at an advanced level!
Much depends on what happens at the state & local levels... That s where decisions about structure, instructional approach, textbooks, and other teaching materials are made. Such decisions are especially critical to the education of English learners.
EL instruction in far too many places A lot of attention and energy focused on turning ELs into English speakers, and not nearly enough on educating them. How is the adequacy of EL programs judged at the state and district levels? Reclassification rates! If the real concern was in educating ELs, rapid reclassification would not be as important as it is made out to be. Is English the be-all, end-all? All students coming out of our schools must know and speak English well, but as we know, there are many students call them language minorities who know and speak English only, and do not perform much better than ELs do in our schools currently.
Why bring up language minorities? The instructional concerns discussed here do not affect ELLs exclusively. LMs speak English, but they too face a language barrier that is not all that different from the one that prevents ELs from making progress. All of which suggests: English proficiency by itself is not enough.
The problem?
Confusion about what s needed... About what ELs and LMs need in order to meet any curricular standards, old or new, and at every level. A lot of confusion across the board about how to support language and literacy development in ELs and LMs, leaving too many students proficient in neither for much too long. The result: many long term ELLs i.e., ELs even after 6+ years in U. S. schools, a phenomenon that has been documented across the nation (e.g., the recent study of ELs in CA s high schools by Californians Together.)
Counter-productive practices Glitches galore stemming, sadly, from some popular practices in educating ELs and in fact, any student who is perceived as being at risk educationally. Support coming from peer tutors, who are sometimes only slightly more proficient in English than their tutees. The biggest problem is the use of text materials that are adapted for ELs often so greatly simplified that they do not offer access to the English ELs are supposed to learn.
You might wonder Why? Such practices are based on the assumption that ELs and LMs will be turned off to anything that is too hard. Decodable, simplified texts are supposed to allow them to learn to read on their own and have direct and immediate access to meaning. What s wrong with simplified materials and approach? Simplified + decodable usually means limited, restricted, and thin in meaning. Most importantly, such materials provide no access to the language of real texts. If students were learning language from such texts, it wouldn t be academic language.
Truth is for ELs especially, any text is too hard to manage initially, and they will need instructional support for a while (although not for as long as commonly believed) to read and interpret texts in English. Adapted texts are probably necessary for a year or so, but not much longer than that! Even then, there must be a gradual increase from one text to another in the level of complexity of language and content. What ELs and LMs need are authentic and age appropriate texts, which they work on with appropriate instructional support from teachers who know how to support language development. Academic language can only be learned from texts by noticing how it works in reading texts, engaging with, thinking about, discussing their content with others, and by writing.
Contrarian thinking... I m reminded of Hank Levin s approach to educating at risk students Accelerate rather than remediate. That might seem like contrarian thinking in the case of English learners how could students who have to learn the school language possibly manage the kind of complexity being promoted in the CCS document? I would argue that the only way students can gain the complex language skills needed for doing anything in school is by working with complex demanding materials.
What all students (ELs included) need The English that figures in complex thought and communication: Academic English, often mentioned, nevertheless, under-specified and poorly understood. It is vocabulary, yes, but it involves so much more. What is it exactly, and why do so many students--els and LMs especially--have trouble acquiring it?
Here s a sample An excerpt from a text offered as an example of materials kids should be reading in Gr. 6-8 (see Appendix B, p.98): That much- reviled bottleneck known as the American supermarket checkout lane would be an even greater exercise in frustration were it not for several technological advances. The Universal Product Code and the decoding laser scanner, introduced in 1974, tally a shopper s groceries far more quickly and accurately than the old method of inputting each purchase manually into a cash register. But beeping a large order past the scanner would have led only to a faster pileup of cans and boxes down the line, where the bagger works, had it not been for the introduction, more than a century earlier, of an even greater technological masterpiece: the square- bottomed paper bag.
A look at the subject of the first sentence reveals one feature of AE! An excerpt from a text offered as an example of materials kids should be reading in Gr. 6-8 (see Appendix B, p.98): That much- reviled bottleneck known as the American supermarket checkout lane would be an even greater exercise in frustration were it not for several technological advances. The Universal Product Code and the decoding laser scanner, introduced in 1974, tally a shopper s groceries far more quickly and accurately than the old method of inputting each purchase manually into a cash register. But beeping a large order past the scanner would have led only to a faster pileup of cans and boxes down the line, where the bagger works, had it not been for the introduction, more than a century earlier, of an even greater technological masterpiece: the square- bottomed paper bag.
Another complex NP in the predicate! An excerpt from a text offered as an example of materials kids should be reading in Gr. 6-8 (see Appendix B, p.98): That much- reviled bottleneck known as the American supermarket checkout lane would be an even greater exercise in frustration were it not for several technological advances. The Universal Product Code and the decoding laser scanner, introduced in 1974, tally a shopper s groceries far more quickly and accurately than the old method of inputting each purchase manually into a cash register. But beeping a large order past the scanner would have led only to a faster pileup of cans and boxes down the line, where the bagger works, had it not been for the introduction, more than a century earlier, of an even greater technological masterpiece: the square- bottomed paper bag.
Bloated NPs are a hallmark of academic discourse. An excerpt from a text offered as an example of materials kids should be reading in Gr. 6-8 (see Appendix B, p.98): That much- reviled bottleneck known as the American supermarket checkout lane would be an even greater exercise in frustration were it not for several technological advances. The Universal Product Code and the decoding laser scanner, introduced in 1974, tally a shopper s groceries far more quickly and accurately than the old method of inputting each purchase manually into a cash register. But beeping a large order past the scanner would have led only to a faster pileup of cans and boxes down the line, where the bagger works, had it not been for the introduction, more than a century earlier, of an even greater technological masterpiece: the square- bottomed paper bag.
Constructions calling for complex cognitive processing in interpretation An excerpt from a text offered as an example of materials kids should be reading in Gr. 6-8 (see Appendix B, p.98): That much- reviled bottleneck known as the American supermarket checkout lane would be an even greater exercise in frustration were it not for several technological advances. The Universal Product Code and the decoding laser scanner, introduced in 1974, tally a shopper s groceries far more quickly and accurately than the old method of inputting each purchase manually into a cash register. But beeping a large order past the scanner would have led only to a faster pileup of cans and boxes down the line, where the bagger works, had it not been for the introduction, more than a century earlier, of an even greater technological masterpiece: the square- bottomed paper bag.
Comparative expressions calling for reconstruction of missing standards An excerpt from a text offered as an example of materials kids should be reading in Gr. 6-8 (see Appendix B, p.98): That much- reviled bottleneck known as the American supermarket checkout lane would be an even greater exercise in frustration were it not for several technological advances. The Universal Product Code and the decoding laser scanner, introduced in 1974, tally a shopper s groceries far more quickly and accurately than the old method of inputting each purchase manually into a cash register. But beeping a large order past the scanner would have led only to a faster pileup of cans and boxes down the line, where the bagger works, had it not been for the introduction, more than a century earlier, of an even greater technological masterpiece: the square- bottomed paper bag.
Yes, technical and infrequent vocabulary too. But even more noteworthy in a text like this are noun compounds, expressions, & phrases that are not altogether compositional or transparent. For example: bottleneck, supermarket, pileup, cash register, checkout lane, exercise in frustration, technological advances, technological masterpiece, laser scanner, the old method of...,
Summary of AE features in this excerpt Informational density a lot of information packed into sentences, stuffed into phrases, dependent and independent clauses, adverbials and adjuncts of every description! A lot of information crammed into heavy duty, bloated noun phrases! Complex structures, such as the be-it-not-for counterfactual conditionals that we find in this paragraph. Complex relationships between entities as in the comparative expressions we saw calling for the comprehender to engage in reconstruction to find the missing standards. Numerous instances of passivized verbs and passive constructions (25% of all finite verbs in academic prose are passivized.)
Together, they comprise the forms of speech and written discourse that are linguistic resources educated people in our society can draw on. This is language that is capable of supporting complex thought, argumentation, literacy, successful learning; it is the language used in written and spoken communication in college and beyond.
Complex, but not unclear! Many students, however, including ones who speak English only would find it difficult to read. Just knowing English, and even knowing all the words used in a text like the paper bag text is no guarantee of understanding it. Many students would need help learning to unpack the information packed in complex texts like that one--why? Written language makes use of linguistic and communicative resources that are not typically used by people in the usual course of speaking the language, and are not part of what is acquired when children learn a language, whether as a first or second language.
Should an academic language course be a part of the English language arts curriculum? ABSOLUTELY NOT! That s neither necessary or desirable.
Academic language must be learned across the curriculum It is context dependent: i.e., it depends on how it is used, by and for whom, and for what purpose. For what purpose? The common core standards spells some of them out: for reading, writing, speaking and thinking about literature, math, science, history, social studies, art, and... The various forms of written language literature, reports, poetry, informational texts, critical reviews, description, and exposition exploit different rhetorical, expressive forms and structural devices to accomplish their communicative intentions.
How does anyone learn AE? Not from parents at home (native speakers of academic English are like hen s teeth), and not from peers at school. Kids do not interact or communicate with one another using such language. Much of the language used by teachers in the classroom is in the social register rather than the academic. Fact is, the only way to learn it is through literacy that is, by interacting with complex texts that make use of AE. To learn any language, one must have access to data that reveals how it works in communicating thoughts and information, and one must notice the relationship between forms and structures and meaning.
Critical to the process... Access to linguistic data on which learners can figure out how the academic language works; Fidelity of the data to the target if the target is academic language, then the data must provide adequate and sufficient representations of its various types. Learner attention to the forms and functions in the data, and learner efforts made to figure out how they relate to meaning. Cooperation and support from more competent others in noticing the relationships between form and meaning, and help in gaining access to meaning in the linguistic data.
Why instructional support is necessary Kids do not ordinarily pay much attention to language in texts. It is like the paper the texts are printed on. Just so much background. What they notice is meaning. If they understand what they are reading, that s cool. If they don t, they simply skip over the stuff they makes no sense, and go on to something that does.
The critical role played by teachers... Learning it requires instructional support from teachers who are well prepared to provide necessary guidance: They ve got to know what AE is, and know how to make it happen. So how do they do it? They do it by engaging their students in discussions of the materials they read, calling their attention to the way language is used to convey meaning, guiding them in unpacking the meaning from parts of the text, and by relating words, phrases, clauses, and so on to its overall meaning.
The goal of instruction? Experiences like this, day after day, subject after subject, incline students to notice language in all their instructional activities, in their texts, and in the language used by others in academic settings. They discover that attention to language facilitates understanding and communication in school. The real goal? This practice becomes a habit of mind for students.
And that s why instructional support is crucial but it must be support for meeting the same set of standards that prepares students for college and beyond, and not a set of modified standards for students who are regarded as incapable of college or jobs that require much education. Educators at every level must realize that most students ELs and LMs, especially require instructional support to deal with the complex language demands of schooling. I hope that educators at the state and local level will notice this part of the statement regarding the applicability of the CCS to ELs: ELLs bring with them many resources that enhance their education and can serve as resources for schools and society. Many ELLs have first language and literacy knowledge and skills that boost their acquisition of language and literacy in a second language...
I hope they realize that language development is not a zero-sum game: the development of powerful academic language in English is facilitated rather than impeded by powerful primary language skills. It does not require the forfeiture of the students primary languages.