Ethnography One-Pager

Looking into Languages
A Study of Language Acquisition for English as Second Language Learners

I. Research Questions:
What strategies wok best for ESL learners?
How have teaching methods for ESL students progressed?
How important is it for teachers to know how language is acquired when instructing ESL students?
What are commons misconceptions about ESL learners?
How do students who have participated in an ESL program feel about the strategies and which were ineffective or effective for them?

II. Primary Sources
Victor Sam, a former high school, ESL student who speaks Cantonese
Rick Muzy, a former elementary school ESL student who speaks Russian
Dr. Mary Jo Pelanek, an ESL classroom teacher and researcher

III. Major Findings:
Students were found to be struggling not only with the materials, but the way the teachers presented each topic. Teachers frequently spoke too fast, used too much new vocabulary and had ineffective assessments. Teachers were also found to be not only causing frustration and confusion, but feeling it as well. When assessments were showing now progress, teachers would lump ESL students with the mentally disabled.
Patterns suggested teaching teachers about how to teach ESL students by teaching how language is acquired, putting teachers in the shoes of an ESL student and by adapting materials and assignments to fit the specific needs of an ESL students. The structure of a class needs to change from other classrooms by focusing on a “need to know” informational basis and leaving out the “nice to know” information that often just creates confusion for an ESL student.

IV. Implications and Future Questions:
This study shows ways to help ESL students from being frustrated and dropping out of school as early as eighth grade. It can help improve the success of a student within the school system and without. This can also improve the lives of immigrants by having at least the child be fairly proficient in English.
Future questions include, but are not limited to:
Ø How big is the ESL community and how fast is it growing?
Ø How often is ESL addressed in teacher education programs? Is there a way to implement it more often?
Ø Is there money out there to help ESL programs?
Ø Would these tactics also work for students proficient in English, but who also struggle in school?
Ø What impact does it have on the community to have so many ESL students struggling?

V. List of Secondary Sources
v "Facts and Figures from the Colorado Literacy Research Initiative" By Keith Curry Lance
v "Influences on the Educational Experiences of Immigrant Students in U.S. Schools" by Tamara Lucas
v "Myths And Misconceptions About Second Language Learning: What Every Teacher Needs To Unlearn" by Barry McLaughlin
v "Overlooked and Underserved: Immigrant Students in U.S. Secondary Schools" by Jorge Ruiz-de-Velasco, Michael E. Fix, and Beatriz Chu Clewell