SSL students Case Study

Another difficulty that is faced is exactly what methods teachers need to be Implementing in their goals of better acclimating students to the English language. Rhea school board needs to allow teachers to implement various types of methods to more efficiently evaluate SSL students. Throughout our country, we are continually seeing more and more immigrants in the United States whose first language is not English.

As a result, we should ask ourselves this day in age if it is fair for schools to use standardized testing as the sole measure of ability for determining the advancement of students for whom English is heir second language.

The short answer is as such: it is not fair for standardized testing to be the sole measure in determining advancement. The reason for this is that the main purpose of standardized tests is accountability. Even more importantly, standardized testing only measures student learning; the issue is that nothing is actually being improved upon. According to Kamala Abed’, performance assessments are additional methods that should be used in regards to more fairly assessing whether a student is prepared for advancement.

He states that “performance assessments allow all students, especially hose with different language backgrounds, to engage in cognitively complex activities such as generating strategies, monitoring work, analyzing information, and applying reasoning skills.

” The implementation of assessments allow students to become more actively engaged in learning activities that may require different approaches in finding various information regarding their studies. I believe that these assessments should also still be written in the English language, though the instructor should do their best to omit any unnecessary linguistic convolution.

There s no need to overload the students more than they already are. The material should be clear, concise, and to the point so that SSL students will not unnecessarily struggle. Implementation of performance assessments will allow teachers to further evaluate SSL students and their understanding of the English language.

Having this better understanding will very likely show that plenty of SSL students deserve advancement to the mainstream courses. One question that may arise when administering tests to students is whether or not schools subject tests should be given in a language of the student’s choosing.

I am fully against this notion of having students choose the language their tests are in because it would essentially defeat the entire purpose in understanding the English language. The more they must become acclimated to the English language, whether t be through essays, in class activities, or homework, the more well off they will be down the road in grasping the English language. Seeing as how English in the primary language of the United States, I find it counterproductive to take subject tests in any language aside from English.

In order for this to work however, certain steps just be taken to assure the progress of SSL students. The teacher must make sure to make the language given in the subject tests comprehensible. There is no need to confuse the SSL student by throwing in overbearing phrases. The teacher should be clear as to what is being asked of the student, rather than include material that causes the student to question exactly Neat the teacher is attempting to gather from the student. All questions should be as specific as possible, thereby minimizing any room for error on the part of the teacher.

Appearance also plays a large part in assisting SSL students.

Ensuring that testing material is eligible and preferably typed out in an easy to follow format is also key. These key points to follow will certainly be beneficial in allowing students to better function on subject tests given to them in the English language. SSL students face plenty of challenges in today’s educational system. One of the most apparent challenges to consider is the SSL students are the cultural knowledge backgrounds that are brought into the classroom. This can certainly make it tougher or SSL students to adjust to English speaking classrooms.

Teachers need to understand how their students’ cultures affect their perception, classroom behavior, and general learning abilities. Cultural knowledge backgrounds make it tougher for students to transition to a new language. The different cultural backgrounds force the students to learn new languages, learn new classroom rules and behaviors, learn new learning principles, and on top of it all an entirely new culture. Having to learn a new culture certainly plays a part in how quickly the SSL student adjusts to his or her ewe surroundings.

That student needs to be able to find some sort of comfort zone that will foster more enthusiastic learning and motivation from the student. The SSL student also can experience something called a “culture shock.

” Culture shock refers to a form of anxiety that results from the loss of commonly perceived and understood signs and symbols of social intercourse. One way a teacher can help counter the culture shock affecting their SSL students is to discuss cross-cultural differences with the classroom. Discussing why and how culture and language fit gather can help make these SSL students achieve better understanding.

Doctor also concludes that learning motivation in turn affects the students’ English learning directly. In English class, teacher’s Job is not only to impart English knowledge and improve students’ cultural quality, but also to pay more attention to their learning motivation. Only by this way can students become a student of comprehensive TTY Since English is not the students’ first language, it is very difficult to tint a knowledge base to build off of.

Teachers must find a way around this through the use f cross-cultural activities.

SSL students will be able to thrive as long as teachers understand the various types of challenges that SSL students face and subsequently offer class activities and cross-cultural studies to better incorporate what these students have already learned. It certainly takes both dedicated teacher and dedicated students for ample progress to take shape. Incorporating both standardized testing as well as continual performance assessments can help better motivate SSL students, which in turn will allow them to more quickly adapt to the English language.