With the ELL population on the rise in the United States, 13.5% (3.8 million) in 1990 to 25% (5 million) in 2010 (Batalova & McHugh 2010), the classroom demographics are no longer able to accommodate just one type of learner--native English speakers. Since our student population is evolving and more and more non-native English speakers are becoming the "norms", we must look at English as a foreign language. Many ELLs in American schools fall short academically, especially in literacy, because of the lack of first language support. The biggest influence for not supporting first language: 1. Funding 2. Standardized testing. In America, leaders have gotten caught up in a "race-to-the-top" idealism, but have forgotten the racers (the learners).
In the struggle to make learning more meaningful and engaging, the education system falls short when it comes to the English Language Learner (ELL). Wolfgang Butzkamm,contributor to Foreign Lanuguage Education in the 21st Century blog, explains the significance of teaching to the learner versus teaching to an idea of what the learner is. The blog, Foreign Language Learning in the 21st Century, boasts many well researched commentary and thought provoking excerpts about the subject of second language acquisition (SLA). After reading Butzkamn commentary on December 18, 2014, titled, "How to Improve Foreign Language Teaching Significantly" I became even more convinced that the American educational system will fall further behind in the race if we do not change the way we approach language development in the classroom.
The significance of this excerpt in regards to American education is that the U.S. educational system teaches against the learner. Jurgen argues for first language support to create a sophisticated dialogue. Jurgen (2014) argues that:
"Sophisticated dialogues are possible from the very beginning because we teach them with systematic mother tongue support, via the bilingual sandwich-technique. In a laudable effort to make teachers conduct classrooms in the foreign language, mainstream philosophy has thrown out the baby with the bathwater. However, a naturally acquired language is the greatest pedagogical resource that learners bring to foreign language classes, as it lays the foundations for all other languages we might want to learn".
His argument is exactly what's wrong in today's public schools. We throw away first language development and push "English-only" classrooms in an ineffective attempt to save money. The lack of first language support not only threatens the culture of the learner, but stunts growth in all learning and social arenas. The sooner legislature realizes and addresses that the new classroom dynamic--multilingual fusions-- the sooner America will earn its trophy.
Works Cited
Batalova, Jeanne. McHugh, Margie. 2010. Number and Growth of Students in U.S. Schools in Need of English Instruction. Migration Policy Institute (MPI). Website. Accessed 18 Feb. 2015. http://www.migrationpolicy.org/research/number-and-growth-students-us-schools-need-english-instruction.
Butzkamm, Wolfgang. (2014). "How to Improve Teaching Foreign Language Significantly". Foreign Language Education in the 21st Century. Website. https://juergenkurtz.wordpress.com/2014/12/03/how-to-improve-foreign-language-teaching-significantly/#comment-1295
