Grand Canyon University
Socio-cultural influences on ELLs
The social context of the English language learners is very important in their academic learning processes. They offer an environment rich in funds of knowledge which can be utilized by teachers in their efforts towards improving their teaching methods to ELLs. The family is the essential unit of the socio-cultural environment of the ELLs. According to a research by Sugarman (2012), the family should be viewed more as strategizing households rather than struggling households as has been previously viewed. This is because families respond to the difficulties that they encounter by developing a coping mechanisms and skills which can be rich resources for learning. The belief that education is the key to a better life, the funds of knowledge by parents, and the funds of knowledge by the learners are factors in the socio-cultural environment which offer resources to ELLs which can be utilised for educational purposes.
The family interests and jobs can be integral in the teaching of the ELLs. This is because activities arising from such can be used as resources for the teaching of the learners. An example was given by Sugarman (2012) of the use of digital technology in a home to facilitate the learning of an ELL by manoeuvring through English language menus, watching English movies and listening to music. These offered funds of knowledge to the teacher which could be used to create appropriate academic content for teaching. This shows that the family environment offers many opportunities which can be utilised as a source of funds of knowledge for use in learning for ELLs.
Bilingualism and home language use
Bilingualism is one of the principal characteristics of ELLs. According to Vera et al (2012) most ELLs use two languages, with English being secondary. However, fluency in speaking the primary language does not translate in fluency in writing. This poses a challenge to learners since fluency in both spoken and written English is wanting. Another challenge that ELLs face is the usage of different languages in home and school. English is usually the principal language of instruction in schools which the native language of the ELLs is the principal language for communication at home. This becomes a challenge since attempts to improve grasp of the English language at home is hampered, and very slow at best. This poses a challenge to the learning process of the language to ELLs. This is because there is no reinforcement of what is learned in school at home, and the resources available for learning the English language cannot be effectively utilised at such environment.
Parental and community resources for English in my area
In my area, the parental resources for the learning of English are immense. The parents are involved in diverse careers which offer a huge number of opportunities. The personal lives of the parents, their lifestyles and hobbies add to these resources and if well utilised, they would serve as an excellent resources that can be utilised in teaching the English language to ELLs.
Most ELLs come from families who are in the low income earners. The kinds of jobs that the parents have are manual in nature. A system of using the jobs that parents have in learning English could be very effective. Descriptions of the chores and processes that the parents conduct in their jobs could be used in teaching English to ELLs as a source of funds of knowledge.
According to Vera et al (2012) in-home educational involvement by parents is most common and involved activities such as monitoring homework and asking about the school day. In the case of ELLs, this can be made more difficult by the presence of language barriers and may lead to an improper utilization of the resources available for learning in the family. This is a problem that affects a sizeable portion of my local area. Another hindrance to the use of resources available to parents is the perceived cost implications in their use. Parents tend to look at the availability of resources such as museums and other educational venues which require use of cash. This means that they do not effectively use the resources available at the family level.
Lack of linguistic abilities by parents also acts as a barrier to the effective use of the resources available at the family and in the community. Since most of the parents are unable to communicate effectively using the English language, it becomes very difficult to effectively make use of the educational resources available which may require communication using the English language. The use of the resources available in public places like shopping malls and cinemas is thus made difficult by the linguistic barriers to parents.
Involvement of parents in the use of the educational resources available both in the family and in the community is hindered by lack of familiarity with the education system and the reluctance to engage teachers on the progress of their children. Though this may be determined by the level of education of the parents, reluctance of parents to be involved in the education of their children’s education may hinder the utilization of these resources.
Improving Home and School partnerships with ELL families
Partnerships with ELL families need to be improved to ensure that learners gain more from the learning experiences available both at home and in school. To achieve this goal, a more close partnership between the families of the earners in my class and the teacher need to be established. This will be through visits to the families where I as the teacher will seek to identify the environment at which my learners come from and the kind of interactions that they have with their family members. These visits will be conducted for all the learners in the class, and from them, insights on ways of improving their learning experiences will be developed and implemented. The funds of knowledge available to the parents and learners will be used by the teacher to develop academic content most appropriate to each learner and to ensure that resources available both in school and home are effectively utilised.
A closer relationship with the parents of the learners will be developed. As the teacher, I will see to it that those relationships do not operate in the traditional way of giving progress reports and resolving disputes, but rather a sincere discussion with the parents on how we can use the resources available at home and in the community to improve the academic performance of the ELLs in the class. An effort will also be made to ensure that such relationships are long term and the trap of inaction does not catch up with the methods being employed.
References
Genzuk, M. (1999). Tapping Into Community Funds of Knowledge. In: Effective Strategies for English Language Acquisition: A Curriculum Guide for the Development of Teachers, Grades Kindergarten through Eight. Los Angeles, CA: Los Angeles Annenberg Metropolitian Project/ARCO Foundation.
Sugarman, S. (2010). Seeing Past the Fences: Finding Funds of Knowledge for Ethical Teaching. New Educator, 6(2), 96-117.
Vera, E. M., Israel, M., Coyle, L., Cross, J., Knight-Lynn, L., Moallem, I., & Goldberger, N. (2012). Exploring the Educational Involvement of Parents of English Learners. School Community Journal, 22(2), 183-202.
