Common Myths About ELL Students (page 3)

Myth: Providing accommodations for ELL students only benefits those students.

Reality: Research suggests that making mainstream classrooms more ELL-responsive will also make them more responsive to under-served learners generally. Many cognitive aspects of reading are common to both native speakers of English and ESL learners, though research shows that teachers should pay additional attention to background knowledge, interaction, and word use with ELLs. 6

Myth: Teaching ELLs means only focusing on vocabulary.

Reality: Students need to learn forms and structures of academic language, they need to understand the relationship between forms and meaning in written language, and they need opportunities to express complex meanings, even when their English language proficiency is limited. ⁷

Endnotes

¹ Artiles, A. J., & Ortiz, A. A. (2002). English language learners with special education needs. McHenry, IL: Center for Applied Linguistics and Delta Systems Co.

² Zehler, A. M., Fleischman, H. L., Hopstock, P.J., Stephenson, T. G., Pendzick, M. L., & Sapru, S. (2003). Descriptive study of services to LEP students and LEP students with disabilities, Volume 1A: Research Report. Development Associates, Inc. Retrieved May 29, 2007, from http://www.devassoc.com/reports.asp.

³ Harklau, L., Losey, K., & Siegal, M. (Eds). (1999). Generation 1.5 meets college composition: Issues in the teaching of writing to U.S.-educated learners of ESL. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Harklau, L. (2000). “From the ‘good kids’ to the ‘worst’”: Representations of English language learners across educational settings. TESOL Quarterly, 34:35-67.

Short & Fitzsimmons, 2007.

⁴ Saunders, W. J. & O’Brien, G. (2006). Oral language. In F. Genesee, K. Lindholm-Leary, W.M. Saunders, & D. Christian (Eds.), Educating English language learners: A synthesis of research evidence (pp. 2-63). New York: Cambridge University Press.

⁵ McCarthey, S.J., Garcia, G.E., Lopez-Velasquez, A.M., & Guo, S.H. (2004). Understanding contexts for English language learners. Research in the Teaching of English 38 (4): 351-394.

⁶ Garcia, G. E. (2000). Bilingual children’s reading. In M.L. Kamil, P.B. Mosenthal, & P.D. Pearson (Eds.), Handbook of reading research, (Vol. 3, pp. 813-834). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Jimenez, R.T., Garcia, G. E., & Pearson, P.D. (1996). The reading strategies of bilingual Latina/o students who are successful English readers: Opportunities and obstacles. Reading Research Quarterly, 31(1): 90-112.

⁶ Meltzer, J., & Hamann, E. (2005). Meeting the literacy development needs of adolescent English language learners through content area learning; Part two: Focus on developing academic literacy habits and skills across the content areas. Providence: The Education Alliance.

⁷ Schleppegrell, M. J., & Go, A.L. (2007). Analyzing the writing of English learners: A functional approach. Language Arts 84 (6): 529-538.