Do you have ELs in your classroom who struggle to achieve at the same rate as their peers? Do you ever have a hard time figuring out why they are struggling? Sometimes, the natural language acquisition process can cause our students to share characteristics with our struggling learners who are native English speakers. This means that it can be hard to tease out if an English Learner is experiencing learning problems in addition to their experience acquiring English.
This list of ten ways ELs may struggle in the classroom will provide you with new perspectives. Differentiating learning problems from the natural language acquisition process will always be a challenge, but my hope is that this list will offer some clarity.
Because there’s so much to learn, this topic has been split into two posts. If you missed Part One, please take a moment to read that post first. Then you can come on back here and pick up where you left off!
Did you already read Part One? Let’s continue on!
6: English Learners may experience confusion with figurative language, idioms, and multiple-meaning words.
It can be difficult to understand and recall the nuances of a second language! Figurative language and idioms vary by language and location, so people can’t necessarily make parallels between their first and second languages. For example, in English we might comment that an easy task was “a piece of cake,” but the Portuguese equivalent is “it’s chicken soup!”
As for multiple-meaning words, consider the word run. How many different ways can you use it in a sentence?
I can run a race. Is your refrigerator running? I’d like to run an idea by you. The baby is running a temperature. Let’s run the water for your bath. Bill runs a bagel shop. I’m running late! The train runs every hour. Is Phil running for president?
As a native English speaker, even I am amazed at the multitude of ways the word run can be used! Can you imagine being an English learner and needing to make sense of it all?
How we can help: Try to find a balance. You can make a conscious effort to present language in simplified terms to prevent unnecessary confusion, but don’t neglect the need for instruction in complex language features like idioms and multiple-meaning words.
7. ELs may demonstrate slow language processing for challenging language.
Challenging language may include complex sentence structure, unfamiliar vocabulary terms, or things like figurative language and idioms. When students listen to or read challenging language, they must exert extra mental effort to process it. Their receptive language skills may not be strong enough yet to swiftly process language with these features.
How we can help: Again, try to find a balance. You can make a conscious effort to present language in simplified terms to prevent unnecessary confusion, but don’t neglect the need for instruction in complex sentence structure, useful vocabulary terms, and common idioms and figurative language. You can also consider offering written checklists or directions. Having visual or written information to refer back to will support your students’ ability to process complex language. Lastly, repeat the information as often as needed and allow wait time for the student to process and to formulate a response, if a response is expected.
8. English Learners may appear to have poor auditory memory.
When students are still developing their proficiency in a second language, it will be difficult to recall new or unfamiliar letter sounds, words, and sentences. This is not a true weakness in auditory memory, but rather an effect of having to process the verbal information in a second language.
How we can help: Provide directions in small, manageable chunks. Support verbally presented information with visuals, manipulatives, and realia whenever possible. Repeat the directions as often as necessary without reprimanding the student for their perceived inattention or forgetfulness.
If the perceived weakness in auditory memory is impacting the child’s ability to complete phonemic awareness tasks, refer back to Part One.
9. ELs may have difficulty concentrating.
Learning a second language can be tiring! Can you imagine sitting in a science classroom but all of your instruction is provided in Gujarati? Personally, I know that I would get tired and I would tune out at some points (okay, many points). You might find me doodling in my notebook or daydreaming about my next aerial arts class. Does this mean I have ADHD? No! It means that learning science in an unfamiliar language became too much for me to process and I needed a break.
How we can help: Incorporate breaks and accommodations for focus into your daily routine. You likely have students who have difficulty concentrating for a variety of reasons. Like your students with attention deficits, high energy levels, or sensory-seeking behaviors, English Learners will also benefit from accommodations like movement breaks, heavy work, a gum contract or a fidget toy contract, and so on.
10. ELs may be easily frustrated or discouraged.
Learning a second language can be challenging! And don’t be fooled by your students who are very social when conversing in English but still struggle academically. Some students may appear to be proficient in English when using social language, but it is still normal for these students to struggle with academic language.
There are so many factors that impact how easily a student acquires a new language. The length of time it takes a child to learn academic language in English can vary greatly and ranges from 4 to 7 years or more! It takes between 4 to 10 years for students to acquire full proficiency and be able to process in English, depending on the child’s schooling and background.
Take a moment to picture yourself moving to a new country tomorrow and learning a new language. How old would you be when you achieved full proficiency in the new language? Considering this perspective can help us have patience with our ELs.
How we can help: continue learning how to support your English Learners. (Great job making it this far in the post! Your students are lucky to have you as their teacher!) If your students are old enough, tell them some of the facts you learned in this blog. It may help them to understand that there is nothing wrong with them and they are simply in the process of acquiring proficiency in their second language. Applaud your students’ achievements and efforts. Remind them that knowing more than one language is an amazing gift that will open many doors in their future.
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Source: Klingner, J. K., & Eppolito, A. M. (2014). English language learners: Differentiating between language acquisition and Learning Disabilities. Council for Exceptional Children. (Amazon Affiliate link)
