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To enhance learning for ESL students the authors provide selected background knowledge and strategies. When I was taked Literature I start to read different books for the class, but I first think that I really don't need read that kind book but I remember that
learn about such complexities as parallelism? How can she begin to understand 16th-century English when she is confused by 21st-century English? How can she see the subde differences and nuances between guilt and compassion Ernst-SI avid teaches at during a discussion of Toni Morrisones an Stat IUniversity Washlngtni I NE Salmon (1420 (2000) TheBluestEye? CP2ak AVE
Inue, VUancouver, WA 98888, USA). She may ba
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when I finished the book, was really inGeP"Sft@ rsu.edan.Maore Is teresting so I start to read by myself... an ESL specialis twith the etosatorall....lm te a chdool nfstnIct In Pulmar m, Was]hinalan. This changed a lot my life, because now fllaleney coaris nates the I love read book of any subject, I don't BIfual ESILSupp ort Tralinln
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provide teachers with selected background knowledge and strategies that enhance the learning process for English as a Second Language (ESL) students in secondary classrooms. With the changing U.S. demographic
Pprlect at' kWashb iutcn State Unvluers ty,UaiICauver. J picture and its impact in schools as a -
but I can't read scary books, because I
afraid to this kind of story. Ana
HaVing Students who are already familiar with the joy of reading and the importance of books is a paradise awaited by many teachers. Yet, having a student likeAna for whom reading and books started out as a means to an end, but ended up as a joy, is one of the things teachers appreciate most, for it means that the student has learned the power and agency that the world of literature can bring (see Christensen, 2000). Joyous as Ana's discovery is,the path there is not an easy one. Helping students like Ana who struggle with basic literacy skills in their second language may at first appear to be a tremendous challenge for teachers who already face a myriad of other responsibilities. How do we help Ana
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The purpose of this article is to
backdrop, key principles in the field of ESL and a brief description of various program models for second-language learning are presented. Also discussed are the stages of language development and cultural adaptation that all second-language learners navigate through. Important linguistic and cultural processes are outlined and effective activities are suggested for students in various stages within those processes.
Who are our second-language learners? According to a 1990 census, there were 42,791,000 students enrolled in elementary and secondary schools in the U.S. During the 1991-1992 school year, approximately 6% of those students were
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language minority students, that is,students who are in the process of learning English as a Second Language. Furthermore, according to data from the 1993-1994 Schools and Staffing Survey, available on the National Center for Education Statistics website (http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/ display.asp?id=96), "forty-two percent of all public school teachers [had] at least one LEP student in their classes." Finally, census 2000 data indicated that the total number of foreign-born children enrolled in elementary (not including kindergarten) and secondary schools in the United States was 2.6 million. That number increases to over 12 million when we include children who were born in the United States to foreign-born parents. Although not all students from these figures would be ESL students, a significant portion of them are likely to be. These figures also suggest the immninent reality that all teachers, at some point during their careers, will have in their dassrooms at least one student for whom English is a second language. The recorded numbers of ESL students at the secondary level can be quite misleading. In a report entitled "Characteristics of SecondarySchool-Age Language Minority and Limited English Proficient Youth" (Strang, Winglee, & Stunkard, 1993), the data reflects a phenomenon known as the Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills/Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency Skills threshold (Cummins, 1989). The basic point to this theory is that second-language learners are capable of obtaining the everyday language used in conversation within a relatively quick period of time-around two years. However, the acquisition of the academic language and literacy needed for high school coursework takes anywhere from 5 to 11 years depending upon which research you base your numbers. The large span in years that it takes to develop academic language primarily reflects the varying degrees of academic preparation and literacy skills students bring with them to secondary school in their new country.
Ironically, qualifying for many states' ESL programs means that students score at the 35th percentile or below on language proficiency scales, roughly equivalent to the two-year level of everyday English. Thus, once students are situated to begin acquiring academic English, they are often no longer eligible for language support programs. This occurs even when students themselves report that their English is not up to par. According to Strang et al. (1993), when teachers' opinions of students' language proficiency were the only consideration, the number of 10th-grade ESL students was determined to be 97,000. Alternatively, when students' opinions of their own language proficiency were the only consideration, the number of 10th-grade ESL students was 256,000. These numbers point out an interesting difference in the perception of language proficiency between teachers and students. Could it be that the students are trying to tell us something? ESL students maybe very different from other learners in their background, skills, and past experiences. Some may come to the U.S. having attended school regularly, and they will bring with them literacy skills and content knowledge, although in another language. It is likely that these students will have an easier transition into an academic setting than students who may come from a war-torn country or from a natural disaster area where schooling was not always available or accessible. Many will belong to low-income families even though some of their parents may have been highly educated in their own country and may have once 'held professional positions. The resources and the needs individual students bring are therefore likely to be very different. It is imperative that we find out who our students are and where they come from before we can begin to appreciate the resources they bring and to understand their needs. In spite of the differences among ESL students, they all have similar needs. In addition to building their oral English skills, they also need to acquire reading and writing skills in English, while continuing their learning in the content areas. Some ESL students will have other needs that
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make the task of learning much more difficult. For example, students whose first language is Persian, Chinese, or Arabic are not always familiar with the Latin alphabet. Their writing system may be completely different (e.g., ideographic, pictographic, logographic); the language may be written from right to left and top to bottom; letters may be written to extend both above and below the line; or letters may not be joined and punctuation not always precise. For many of these ESL students, the transition to the Latin alphabet is an additional source of confusion.
Ppinciples that make for good practice This section outlines selected theoretical principles that address some of the complexities of second-language learning and the needs of second-language learners. These principles are based on the work of educators and researchers in the areas of language and literacy learning, second language acquisition, and the anthropology of education (see, for example, Au & Jordan, 1981; Cazden, 1986; Ernst, 1994b; Ernst, Castle, & Frostad, 1992; Freire, 2000; Goodman, 1982; Heath, 1983; Philips, 1983; Wells, 1986). These principles represent a constellation of theoretical and pedagogical perspectives that guide the practice of caring, knowledgeable, effective educators working in successful programs for ESL students. They should be helpful to educators interested in understanding the trajectory ESL students follow in their efforts to learn English. The student'sfirst languageplaysan essential role in the acquisition of a second language. Evidence of the influence of native-language development on academic achievement in a second language derives from program evaluation studies of the 1980s and early 1990s. These studies have demonstrated that the more the native language is academically supported, in combination with balanced second-language development, the more ESL students are able to academically achieve in
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the second language (Ernst-Slavit, 1998; Krashen & Biber, 1988; Ramirez, Yuen, & Ramey, 1991). Educationalprogramsneed to include what students bringwith them. Educators need to focus on what students have rather than on what they lack. Teaching and learning can be extended and enhanced when participants' own experiences (vis-a-vis their language and culture) are mixed with those generalizations and conceptualizations offered in schools. Such acknowledgment often stimulates learning and helps students construct meanings by connecting what they already know and what the new environment offers them (Ernst, 1993). Learninga second language is a long and difficult process. It's a big task for anyone. After all, learning a first language is a process that involves much of a young child's day, and ESL students must work even harder to acquire a second language. It can be emotionally difficult for children and adults to take the step into a new language and culture. Adolescents, perhaps even more than adults, can be shy and embarrassed around others when trying out beginning language skills. Fluency in the hallway does not necessarily mean proficiency in the classroom. Often we hear our ESL students conversing easily in English in the hallway with other students. This, however, does not mean that students are fluent in English. It is important to mention that good conversational skills do not necessarily mean equivalent literacy skills. The work of Corier and Thomas (1989), Cummins (1989), and others, has clearly demonstrated the different levels of language proficiency needed depending on the context. In essence, this body of work suggests that proficiency in everyday language can be achieved in one to two years; however, proficiency in the language needed to succeed in content-area classes (e.g., literature, mathematics, chemistry) can take five to seven years or more, especiallywhen academic reading and writing is included in the consideration of proficiency.
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Learnersacquirea second language in different ways. There are many similarities in how a second language is learned, but there are also differences based on individual student characteristics and language background. For example, outgoing students may begin to imitate phrases and expressions very early and try them without worrying about making mistakes. Conversely, other learners may not use their new language for some time. Instead, they observe quietly until they are sure of what they should say. It may be difficult for teachers to remember that the outgoing student may be less proficient than he or she appears, and the quiet student may actuallybe much more proficient than he or she seems. Both will eventually learn to speak fluently. Errorscan indicateprogress. As with firstlanguage acquisition, errors can actually have a positive outcome. Many language errors are developmental and will eventually be replaced by appropriate forms without teacher intervention. For students in the early stages of language acquisition, errors that impede communication maybe corrected in a sensitive and natural way, especially those involving vocabulary. Direct correction of errors, on the other hand, can hinder students' efforts and discourage further attempts to use the newly acquired language. Rather than direct correction, a better strategy that does not hinder communication is to model the correct form. Languagedevelops best in a variety of settings thatpromote talk and interaction. Talk and interaction not only help students understand new concepts but also provide a scaffold for learning through the other language modes of reading and writing. Through talking and listening to one another (not only to the teacher) and working on activities involving reading and writing (not only their own), learners are able both to develop increasing facility in all language modes and increasing control over social interaction, thinking, and learning (Ernst, 1994a). Literacy is partof language; thus, readingand writing develop alongsidespeaking and listening.
According to Goodman (1982), the two most important resources that language learners have are their competence in oral language and their undiminished ability to learn language as it is needed for new functions. The role of literacy instruction in school is to teach learners to use these resources. Research indicates that ESL students benefit from working in classrooms where speaking and listening are regarded as integral to the process of negotiating knowledge, exchanging personal experiences and thoughts, and the development of language and literacy abilities. Schools should demonstrateappreciationand respectfor culturaldiversity. Providing equal opportunities for all students depends on the degree to which classroom teachers are able to institute classroom practices and develop curriculum that responds to the diversity represented in their classrooms. Implementation of these practices is dependent upon supportive school staff and programs, district guidelines, and state language policies that recognize diversity as.an asset and not a handicap.
languaee education in the Unitedl Staltes Often ESL students are placed in some kind of bilingual or ESL program-if available in the school or district-before being assigned to mainstream classrooms. Although there are a myriad of programs and approaches designed for ESL students, most of these programs fall into two major categories: bilingual and ESL. Bilingual programs are those where instruction is provided in two languages (e.g., Chinese and English); ESL programs offer instruction in English only but are tailored to the needs and abilities of ESL students. Table 1 presents an overview of the major variations in program types for limited-English proficient students in the United States.
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Tab,le 1 Educational programs for ESL students Immersion bilingual programs Instruction through both the first or minority language (Li) and second or majority language (L2) for grades K-12. Originally developed in Canada. Early total immersion Grades K-1 Grade 2 Grade 3 Grades 4-5 or 6 Grade 6 or 7-12
More than 90% of instruction in Li One hour of instruction in L2 Two hours of instruction in L2 Half-day instruction in each language 60% of instruction in L2 and 40% in LI
Partial immersion Grades K-5 or 6 Grades 6 or 7-12
Half-day instruction in each language 60% of instruction in L2 and 40% in Li
Two-way developmental bilingual programs There are a variety of ways of delivering this program. In essence, language majority and language minority students are in the same bilingual class. Late-exit or maintenance bilingual programs H-Ialf-day instruction in each language, with gradual transition to Li instruction after two years. Instruction in English English as a Second Language (ESL) or English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) (No LI instruction) Elementary education Stnrctured immersion
Taught by a bilingual teacher with all instruction conducted in English ESL or ESOL self-contained
Taught through academic content all day ESL orESOLpullout
Varying from 30 minutes to half a day Secondary education ESL orESOL
Taught through academic content or sheltered English ESL or ESOL Taught as a subject Newcomer programs Short-term programs designed to assist students' transition to a new language and culture. They range from a few weeks to several months. Subnersion (also called "sink or swim approach") No instructional support isprovided by a trained specialist. (This is not a program model; it is illegal in the U.S.) I
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Stages of language developmenlt and cultupal adaptotion Students acquiring a second language are involved in a predictable pattern of both linguistic and cultural processes. The ability to determine the stage the student is passing through and what strategies are effective in a given stage can provide both teacher and student with a means of communicating effectively at any point in the language-acquisition process. It is important to underscore that the duration of each stage will vary according to the student's age, language background, proficiency in the first language, individual personality, and motivational factors, among other considerations. This means that some students might be able to go through all four stages within one year, while others might need as much as two years before reaching the third stage.
Stage I-Preproduction Linguisticconsiderations.In the first stage of learning a second language, students listen and watch others carefully and often communicate with gestures, actions, and some verbal formulas (e.g., "no, thank you"). As depicted in Table 2, effective activities include face-to-face conversations; lessons that focus on building receptive vocabulary and recycled vocabulary (i.e., key words in a lesson or unit that are visited more than once); activities that focus on listening comprehension (e.g., using a tape player to hear a target piece of literature, lectures where a target piece of literature is broken down into short passages, guided yes or no answer activities following a brief lecture); as well as the use of visuals and manipulative or real objects. Manipulatives and visuals might include, for example, using pictures from Never Say Macbeth (Front, 1990) to contrast London's Globe Theatre with modern versions, or showing clips from films about Shakespeare such as Shakespearein Love (Zwick, Madden, Norman, & Stoppard, 1998).
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Likewise, using Dorothea Lange's photos of the 1930s while the class is reading The Grapes of Wrath (Steinbeck, 1939) can help students understand and intuit what life might have been like in the U.S. during the Great Depression. Teacherdirected questioning techniques that are understandable for students are also presented in Table 2. The visual techniques listed previously can make a subject matter accessible to students who may not yet understand the original texts. Cultural considerations.The stages of cultural adaptation, like those of language acquisition, follow predictable patterns. However, individual factors (e.g., personality, motivation, reasons for leaving the homeland, socioeconomic status, language, and cultural backgrounds) can greatly influence a student's response to the stages. While often misinterpreted by teachers as an unwillingness to participate, the silentperiod (Krashen, 1992) plays a crucial role in language acquisition and cultural adaptation. During this silent time, a tremendous amount of cognitive activity is taking place within the student. The second-language learner is beginning to build the parameters of how their new school system works. What are the acceptable behaviors exhibited by the native English speaking students? How do they sit, stand, and talk to the teacher or one another? Questions such as these draw tremendous amounts of attention away from the task at hand, which often happens to be the ongoing lesson. During the silent period, students' participation in class is limited because most of their energy is spent absorbing the information they see and hear. Typically, student behavior at this point includes minimal oral or written production, distractibility, and confusion. Providing a stress-free environment with continued support and encouragement, where students are able to pass and not respond, is a requirement at this stage. For ESL students, it is very comforting to trust that the teacher will not single them out by turning the spotlight on them and requiring a response when they are not able to give one. By reducing student anxiety in the classroom,
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considerations
Suggestions for teachers
Questioning
' Create a stress-free environment -Provide support and encouragement ' Avoid asking direct questions
Appropriate questions
Effective activities
itechniques
Student... ccommunicates with gestures, actions, and verbal formulas ' is building receptive vocabulary 'is recycling learned language practice zbenefits from listening comprehension activities (e.g., tape player)
Silent period
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Who did _ ? 'What is his/her name?
*Face-to-face conversation' Simple demonstrated directions ' Participation in art/music/ItPE *Puzzles/games, real objects/manipulatives *Picture books ' Encouraging drawing
*What is this (concrTete
object)?
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Stage II-Early production Linguistic
considerations
Cultural considerations
Suggestions for teachers
Questioning techniques
Effective activities
Student,.. 'intuitively
' Adaptation fatigue
understand that English is a system *label and categonrze *encounter Li interference 'use one- and tVo-
word responses and chunks of language t say 'I don't can
' Monitor error correction (i.e., use modeling) ' Use anticipation .. guides *Use list of key terms for previewing -Use audiotapes of readings and lectures ' Use gmphic organizers
Appropriate questiDns include ..
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a yes/no answer -questions that ask either/or
understand"
' Low-level questions *Reteling a story 'Picture books with simple texts 'Simple yritten responses ' Copying words and sentences ' Recipes *Oral reading 'Written practice (continued)
teachers can lead students to the next stage of language development and cultural adaptation.
Stage Il-Early production Linguistic considerations.During the early production stage, students are in the process of assimilat-
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ing basic vocabulary and intuitively understanding that English, like any other language, is a system derived of rules, patterns, and sound-symbol relationships. Students will begin to speak using one or two words. In some cases, short utterances as well as chunks of social language are also produced. One of us had a student who often
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Table 2 (continued) Stages of language development and cultural adaptation Stage III-Speech emergence Linguistic considerations Student... I uses language purposefully (e.g., to clarify, refuse) nproduces complete sentences
I Cultural l considerations ; *Tension between assimilation and" acculturation
*Recovering from' previous frustration andfatigue 0
Suggestions for teachers *Use frequent comprehension checks *Design lessons focusing on concepts *Introduce expanded vocabulary *Use models/charts/ 'maps/timelines
Questioning
b Open ended; why or how questions Specific questions *How is it that _...L -Tell me about _?
Stage IV -Intermediate Linguistic considerations
' Cultuial considerations
Effective activities
V techniques
fluency Questioning techniciues
Suggestions for teachers
*Demonstrations *Simple oral presentations *Answering higherlevel questions *Hands-on activities *Small group work *Word sound symbol production *Simple writing *Computer lessons *Play and role-playing *Choral reading
Effective activities
Student... *can produce connected narrative *can use reading and writing incorporated into lesson *can wvrite answers to higher level questions *can resolve conflicts verbally
-Cultural adjustment
*Validate students' languages and cultures
*Content/subject explanations *Paragraph writing *What would you *Reading for recommend or information in suggest? content areas -'How do you thinlk * Summaries, outlines, this-story will end? book reports *What is the story Explanations of new about? ideas/concepts *What is your opinioniil *Workbooks/ on this? worksheets, tests .Describe/compare/ *lecture discussions contrast *Literary analysis of *-low are these the plot, character, same or different? setting What would happen *Simple report writing Appropriate ques:tions include..,
*Which do you prefer? :Why?0S;p'
responded to inquiries with a hearty "no problem!" The truth was that he really did not understand the task at hand; what he did know, however, was how to produce a socially accepted
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Modeling the correct response without calling attention to the error allows students to hear the information again while they formulate a correct response of their own. Because the degree of proficiency in the students' native language, especially in terms of literacy and academic competency, greatly determines how well and when students will decode the second-language system, it behooves teachers to find out about students' literacy levels and education in their first language. There are many ways to do this. Perhaps the best place to begin is with your building or district ESL professional. Often the determination of English language proficiency also gives some clues about the student's academic achievement. Even though these clues are rough estimates, they are better than nothing. Data about students English proficiency should be a part of their ESL, if not general, school file. Students who arrive with little or no formal schooling or low literacy levels have very little upon which to build this new system of language; those with strong academic backgrounds will be better equipped to make the connections needed to move ahead academically. During the early production stage, several strategies have proven useful. Anticipation guides used before reading the target literature allow students to identify and think through their positions in relation to complex abstract concepts such as truth, war, honor, love, or responsibility (for an excellent description of anticipation guides, see Vacca &Vacca, 1999, pp. 372-377). Providing learners with a list of key terms for previewing and ample opportunities to use the new vocabulary more than once will increase students' participation. Audiotaped recordings of the assigned readings for previewing and of the lecture or class activity for review are also useful. As always, clusters, semantic webs, Venn diagrams, T-graphs, and graphic organizers are good tools for all students but especially for second-language learners (see Collie & Slater, 1987; Johnson & Louis, 1987; Sasser, 1992; Scarcella, 1990). In the early production stage, students are able to grasp
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and offer responses to yes/no and either/or questions and make short responses to general questions about key vocabulary. Culturalconsiderations.At this point students' frustrations with the language and culture come to a peak. After observation during the silent period, students begin to try out new behaviors and make their first tentative steps communicating with the new language. This is where they find difficulty trying to be a part of their surroundings. This frustration is known as adaptation fatigue. As defined byKhols (1984), adaptationfatigue is the general unwillingness to interact due to the constant emotional and cognitive drain of interpreting both linguistic and cultural signals and then responding accordingly. In the public school environment, ESL students spend an average of six hours a day absorbing a massive amount of information to which they essentially have no way to respond. During this stage of early production, they summon huge amounts of emotional energy to make their first forays into becoming a participant in this new environment. Whether ESL students' risk taking results in a positive encounter or, sadly, an embarrassing one, they are often exhausted from the effort. Observable behaviors in the classroom include daydreaming, boredom, and an inability to cope with seemingly insignificant issues (see, for example, Townsend & Fu, 2001, for a description of the potentially debilitating effects of this inability to cope). A good strategy for teachers during this time is to suspend judgment and continue to provide ample and safe opportunities to facilitate students' experimentation with the new language.
Stage IIl-Speech emergence Linguistic considerations.In this stage, students' linguistic capabilities have increased in ways that allow for successful participation in small-group activities. Students are also able to demonstrate comprehension and use language purposefully (e.g., to clarify, request, refuse, interrupt, apologize). Lessons that focus on key concepts rather
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than just key terms are accessible to students (e.g., discussing the concepts of ambition, betrayal, and idealism while reading Shakespeare's [1980] Julius Caesar). Zigo (2001) argued that the narrative mode of thinking is an excellent medium through which to introduce such otherwise abstract concepts. It stands to reason, thefi, that literature is one of the best ways to establish a common experience amongst students from which discussions involving abstract concepts can be built. Students can be encouraged to tell their own stories that relate to the text being read. The students, through their own experiences and voice, make personal connections to the concepts and find it easier to describe and talk about them. Similarly, teachers can introduce expanded vocabulary and ask open-ended questions that stimulate language production. Strategies that are especially helpful for assessment purposes include activities that provide for frequent comprehension checks (e.g., as you discuss Cisneros's The House on Mango Street [1989], rather than asking "Do you understand?" you might ask specific questions such as, "How did Esperanza Cordero feel in her neighborhood?"). Effective questioning techniques at this stage include open-ended ques' "Tell me about tions such as, "How is it that ' and "How "Describe about ""Talk would you change this part _?" Performancebased assessment can be particularly useful at the speech emergence stage. Culturalconsiderations.From the ESL student's perspective there is a great sense of relief during this stage of cultural adjustment. The orientation and subsequent interpretation of linguistic and subtle cultural clues has been intense and learners now have a knowledge base from which to build. The feelings of isolation begin to fade and students begin to recover from the frustration found in the earlier stages. While they are still under great pressure, students have gained control over their lives and can participate in the school environment. At this point, the dilemma faced by students regarding whether to assimilate(i.e., toss away their own cultural identities and follow the
examples of the native English-speaking students in order to be like them) or to acculturate(i.e., meeting the new culture with a mix of their own, thereby retaining their identity but still being able to participate in the mainstream) emerges. The difference between assimilation and acculturation. is an important one since it has been hypothesized that successful language learning is more likely when learners acculturate (Ellis, 1986). In essence, then, when students are able to add a new language and culture rather than replace the old with the new, the learning process is enhanced, both in terms of language and in terms of content. Students' acculturation can be facilitated greatly by the teacher and the classroom environment. Activities that permit students to extrapolate from the complex ideas represented in literary masterpieces, for example, to their own emerging bicultural selves validate students' identity-inmotion. This is of course true for all students in our classrooms. The teacher's own awareness of this general adolescent need to invent and reinvent themselves can be expressed through a classroom environment that encourages students to explore their own identities within the context of the greater social and psychological themes that are expressed in the world's great stories.
Stage IV-Intermediate fluency Linguistic considerations.Intermediate fluency is characterized by students' abilities to engage in conversation and produce connective narratives. Often students view reading and writing activities as a way to acquire and process new information. This is an excellent place to add some direct instruction regarding basic study skills such as notetaking techniques, skimming text for specific information, scanning text for main ideas, recognizing specific attributes within a particular literary genre, and using those attributes to produce one's own representation of that genre, to name a few. In the classroom, understanding content is evidenced by student participation in activities that require higher levels of language use
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(Maloney, 2001). The level of student response to teacher questions develops considerably during this stage, as is demonstrated by their ability to answer the following types of questions: "What would you recommend or suggest?"' "How do you think this story will end?'; "What is the story about?', "What is your opinion on this matter?' "How are these the same or different?', and "Which do you prefer?" The answers to these and similar questions could be organized with seman-
tic maps or outlines that could, in turn, form the basis for essay writing given the students' greater ability to produce written narratives and connected discourse at this stage of language development. Cultural considerations.The fourth stage finds the
student functioning well in school, and as teachers we need to celebrate our ESL students who have arrived at this point. It has been an arduous journey and we must not lose sight of the efforts they have made. Having successfilly learned a new language and navigated through an ocean of cultural contexts and clues, they are now able to ask for assistance, share insights, and stage opinions. More important, on a social level they have made friends and are able to critically examine information, creatively suggest solutions, and consistently hypothesize possible avenues to follow.
Resoupces Your school ESL specialist is a wonderful source of knowledge and information about what to do and what materials to use with your ESL students. Your librarian can suggest appropriate literature in English and perhaps in the native languages of your students. Other resources available to teachers and schools are presented below. This selection, far from comprehensive, provides an array of information for educators working with students from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds. *The National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education (NCBE), in Washington, D.C. can provide information about free or low-cost assistance with imple-
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mentation, training, evaluation, and parental involvement in bilingual education and ESL programs as well as legal requirements for bilingual education and ESL programs in various communities. 1-800321-NCBE. http://www.ncbe.gwu.edu. *Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Inc. (TESOL) in Alexandria, VA. Individual and institutional TESOL members may participate in the activities and receive the newsletter of the Bilingual Education Interest Section. 1-703-836-0774. http://www.tesol.edu/. *The National Association for Bilingual Education (NABE) in Washington, D.C. 1-202-898-1829. http://www.nabe.org/. *The U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights (OCR), in Washington, D.C. Contact the OCR for their latest policy statements on the legal responsibilities of educational agencies serving language minority students, and call NCBE for the locations and phone numbers of the 10 Desegregation Assistance Centers (DACs). *The Office of English Language Acquisition (formerly called the Office of Bilingual Education and Minority Languages Affairs, OBEMLA), Washington, D.C., has 16 federally ftinded resource centers (MRCs). Call NCBE for appropriate names and phone numbers. *State education agencies. Call your state's Department of Education or NCBE for appropriate names and phone numbers. *ERIC Clearinghouse on Languages and Linguistics leads to sources on English as a second or foreign language, bilingualism and bilingual education, and intercultural communication in publications, newsletters, and digests. http://www.cal.org/ericcll. *Center for Applied Linguistics, a contract and grant firm, has as primary objective the improvement of the teaching of English as a second or foreign language. http://www.cal.org. *The Internet TESL Journalis a monthly Internet magazine for teachers of English as a Second Language that contains articles, research papers, lesson plans, classroom handouts, teaching ideas, and links. http://www.aitech.ac.ip/-itesli/. *National Clearinghouse for ESL Literacy Education (NCLE) is the only national clearinghouse focusing on adult and adolescent literacy education. It offers
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online access to articles, books, newsletters, and bibliographies on literacy. http://www.cal.orglncle.
The light at the end of the tunnel Throughout this exploration of the field of ESL two points stand out. First, while ideally all our ESL students would move through the four stages discussed above in a manner easily recognizable to their teachers, the truth of the matter is that they do not. While indicators presented here do indeed identify behaviors and abilities inherent in each stage, students carry individual personality factors that make their involvement with the process uniquely their own. According to Richard-Amato (1988), students will pass through all. of these stages at varying rates. Additionally, there is no guarantee that each student will pass thr'ough each stage smoothly and move onto the next. Regression to previous stages is not uncommon in cases where the student has tried to leap too far ahead of their abilities. However, through simple observation, the teacher will be able to identify a student's current level. Second, back to Ana's essay-after receiving feedback from her peers and teacher, this is what Ana wrote in the last paragraph of her essay: Now I know that this class has changed my life because I learned to read books and also learned more from books. Before this happened I just read a book for reading. In some classes the teacher would tell me that I need to read and I would read. Now I read and I try to understand everything. Perhaps it will take a while before Ana can learn to use rhetorical and syntactic conventions or for her to understand that Juliet's line "O Romeo, Romeo. Wherefore art thou Romeo?" means "Why are you a Montague?" and not "Where are you Romeo?" Yet, the challenges she and her teachers will have to face dwindle when we examine what Ana has to offer and what she has accomplished in such a short time.
REFERENCES Au, K, &Jordan, C. (1981). Teaching reading to Hawaiian children: Finding a culturally appropriate solution. In H. Trueba, G. Guthrie, &K. Au, (Eds.), Culture and the bilingual classroom (pp. 139-152). Rowley, MA: Newbury House. Cazden, C. (1986). Classroom discourse. In M. Wittrock, (Ed.), Handbook of researchon teaching (3rd ed., pp. 432-463). New Yorlk Macmillan. Christensen, L. (2000). Reading&vriting; and rising up. Milwaukee, WI: Rethinking Schools. Cisneros, S. (1989). The house on Mango Street. New York. Vintage. Collie, J., &Slater, S. (1987). Literaturein the language classroom. Los Angeles: UCLA Center for Academic Interinstitutional Programs. Collier,-V., &Thomas, W.P. (1989). How quickly can immigrants become proficient in school English? Journalof EducationalIssues of LanguageMinorityStudents, 5, 26-38. Cummins, J. (1989). Empowering minoritystudents. Sacramento, CA: California Association for Bilingual Education. Ellis, I (1986). Understandingsecond language acquisition. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. Ernst, G.(1993). A multicultural curriculum for the 21st century. In C.G. Hass &F.W. Parkay (Eds.), Curriculum planning(6th ed., pp. 84-90). Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Ernst, G.(1994a). Talking circle: Conversation and negotiation ir the ESL classroom. TESOL Quarterly, 28, 293-322. Ernst, G.(1994b). Beyond language: The many dimensions of an ESL program. Anthropology &Education Quarterly,' 25,317-335.. Ernst, G., Castle, M., &Frostad, L. (1992). Teaching in multilingual/multicultural settings: Strategies for supporting second-language learners. Curriculum in Contex4 20(2), 13-15. Ermst-Slavit, G. (1998). Different words, different worlds: Language use, power, and authorized language in a bilingual classroom. Linguistics and Education, 9(1) 25-47. Freire, P. (2000). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New Yorki Continuum. Front, S.(1990). Never say Macbeth. New York. Doubleday. Goodman, K. (1982). Acquiring literacy is natural: Who skilled cock robin? In F. Goilasch (Ed.), Language &literacy: Selected -ritings of Kenneth S. Goodman (Vol. 2, pp. 243-249). Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul. Heath, S. (1983). Ways wvith words. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. Johnson, T.D., &Louis, D.R (1987). Literacy through literature Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. Khols, L.R (1984). Survival kitfor overseas living. Yarmouth, England: Intercultural.Press.
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Krashen, S. (1992). Principlesand practicein second language acquisition.New York. Pergamon. Krashen, S., &Biber, D. (1988). On course:Bilingualeducation's success in California.Sacramento, CA California Association of Bilingual Education. Maloney, C. (2001). Student voices and visions. Unpublished Master's thesis, Washington State University, Vancouver. Morrison, T. (2000). The bluest eye. New York: Dutton/Plume. Philips, S. (1983). The invisible culture. NewYork. Longman. Ramirez, J., Yuen, S., &Ramey, D. (1991). Longitudinal study of structured English immersion strategy, early-exit and late-exit transitionalbilingualeducationprogramsfor language-minoritychildren. San Mateo, CA: Aguirre International.
Richard-Amato, P. (1988). Making it happen. White Plains, NY: Longman. Sasser, L. (1992). Teaching literature to language minority students. In P. Richard-Amato &C.E. Snow (Eds.), The multiculturalclassroom (pp. 300-315). White Plains, NY: Longman. Scarcella, R. (1990). Teachinglanguage minoritystudents in the multicultutralclassroom. White Plains, NY: Longman.
Shakespeare, W. (1980). Julius Caesar.New York. Royal Composing Room. Steinbeck, J. (1939). The grapes ofwvrath. Garden City, NY: Sun Dial Press. Strang, W., Winglee, M., &Stunkard, J. (1993). Characteristics of secondary-school-agelanguageminority and limited,English proficientyouth. Finalanalyticreport. Washington, DC: Office of Bilingual Education and Minority Language Affairs. Townsend, J., &Fu, D. (2001). Paw's story A Laotian refugee's lonely entry into American literacy. Journalof Adolescent &AdultLiteracy, 45,104-114. Vacca, R, &Vacca, J. (1999). Content areareading.New York. Longman. Wells, G. (1986). The meaning makers: Children learninglanguage and using languageto learn. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. Zigo, D. (2001). From familiar worlds to possible worlds: Using narrative theory to support struggling readers' engagements with texts. JournalofAdolescent & Adult Literacy, 45, 62-70. Zwick, E. (Producer), Madden, J. (Director), Norman, M., & Stoppard, T. (Writers). (1998). Shakespeare in love [Motion picture]. Los Angeles: Miramax.
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Directory of Canadian
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Adult Literacy Research in English This directory represents an important developmental milestonet in the Caniadiani literacy.field. Lonig overdue, this resource will no doubt have a catalytic impact on research and practice across the country. ELLEN LONG, NATIONAL RESEARCH CONSULTANT
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Bibliographic information, annotations; and in some cases, full-text documents.
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A comprehensive on-line database containing over 200 Canadian research studies on adult literacy. '1
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O Quick and easy access to a comprehensive body of research. To access the directory, bookmark this URL: www.nald.ca/crd/start.htm
The Directory of Canadian Adult Literacy Research in English isfunded by the National Literacy Secretariat, Human Resources Development Canada, and developed by the Centre for Research on Literacy at the University of Alberta.
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Seven search engines (author, title, keyword, year, subject, location, and context).
O A venue for the international literacy community to learn about Canadian adult literacy research.
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TITLE: Changing lives: Teaching English and literature to ESL students SOURCE: Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 46 no2 O 2002 WN: 0227404940003 The magazine publisher is the copyright holder of this article and it is reproduced with permission. Further reproduction of this article in violation of the copyright is prohibited. To contact the publisher: http://www.reading.org/.
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