Comments on: I Don’t Know if There is a 100% Answer http://amiareplicant.wordpress.com/2007/03/29/i-dont-know-if-there-is-a-100-answer/ Just another WordPress.com weblog Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:52:17 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 By: HelloWorld http://amiareplicant.wordpress.com/2007/03/29/i-dont-know-if-there-is-a-100-answer/#comment-61 HelloWorld Sat, 28 Apr 2007 10:20:14 +0000 http://amiareplicant.wordpress.com/2007/03/29/i-dont-know-if-there-is-a-100-answer/#comment-61 Peace people We love you Peace people

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]]> By: nathan http://amiareplicant.wordpress.com/2007/03/29/i-dont-know-if-there-is-a-100-answer/#comment-26 nathan Mon, 09 Apr 2007 17:03:32 +0000 http://amiareplicant.wordpress.com/2007/03/29/i-dont-know-if-there-is-a-100-answer/#comment-26 Definitely. Language is also a huge contributing factor in the case of minority students being placed in low-track classrooms. We've been discussing this issue in my applied linguistics class. It's amazing to me that we expect second language English learners to preform on the same academic level as their native English speaking peers, when research has demonstrated over and over that, minority-language speakers who recieve more schooling in their first language, acquire a second language more quickly and perform better on academic measures in the second language than students who are instructed in the second language only. Here's a link to the (research article)</a> In most cases, when the language barrier is eliminated, those students perform on par with their peers - for example, a student who learned algebra in spanish, would fare poorly in an English speaking Algebra class. Students whose first language is not English are more often ethnic minorities - Not providing first language support to those students is one way that 'racism' is institutionailzed in our educational systems, as the Seattle times article discussed - ~Nathan Definitely. Language is also a huge contributing factor in the case of minority students being placed in low-track classrooms. We’ve been discussing this issue in my applied linguistics class. It’s amazing to me that we expect second language English learners to preform on the same academic level as their native English speaking peers, when research has demonstrated over and over that, minority-language speakers who recieve more schooling in their first language, acquire a second language more quickly and perform better on academic measures in the second language than students who are instructed in the second language only. Here’s a link to the (research article) In most cases, when the language barrier is eliminated, those students perform on par with their peers – for example, a student who learned algebra in spanish, would fare poorly in an English speaking Algebra class. Students whose first language is not English are more often ethnic minorities – Not providing first language support to those students is one way that ‘racism’ is institutionailzed in our educational systems, as the Seattle times article discussed –
~Nathan

]]> By: beyerk http://amiareplicant.wordpress.com/2007/03/29/i-dont-know-if-there-is-a-100-answer/#comment-24 beyerk Tue, 03 Apr 2007 16:56:51 +0000 http://amiareplicant.wordpress.com/2007/03/29/i-dont-know-if-there-is-a-100-answer/#comment-24 This is one of the topics that we talk about a lot in the teaching ESL class that I am taking, though this does not address all of the racial inequalities, just those that also include a language barrier. For the students who do not speak English as their first language, they are often put in these low-tracked groups because they seem to be able to communicate in the language, but they are not performing academically as well as they should be. Part of the problem there is that, while they are able to speak the language in a conversational context, they are not yet fluent in the more academic areas of the language. This takes a few more years to learn, and they are often left without any second language support before they fully understand the academic aspects of the language. The solution to this part of the problem is to continue on longer with bilingual or ESL education classes. For an ESL program to be successful, the students in the class needing to be making yearly gains in knowledge that are greater than the average student; this is not happening in the low-tracked classes where they are more likely to learn less tahn learn more. The problem could be similar with many of the other children. They are not being given enough time or intensive resources to learn the subjects. What they need is more, high quality instruction that fits their specific needs rather than being put in a classroom where they are not expected to learn much. This is one of the topics that we talk about a lot in the teaching ESL class that I am taking, though this does not address all of the racial inequalities, just those that also include a language barrier.
For the students who do not speak English as their first language, they are often put in these low-tracked groups because they seem to be able to communicate in the language, but they are not performing academically as well as they should be. Part of the problem there is that, while they are able to speak the language in a conversational context, they are not yet fluent in the more academic areas of the language. This takes a few more years to learn, and they are often left without any second language support before they fully understand the academic aspects of the language. The solution to this part of the problem is to continue on longer with bilingual or ESL education classes. For an ESL program to be successful, the students in the class needing to be making yearly gains in knowledge that are greater than the average student; this is not happening in the low-tracked classes where they are more likely to learn less tahn learn more.
The problem could be similar with many of the other children. They are not being given enough time or intensive resources to learn the subjects. What they need is more, high quality instruction that fits their specific needs rather than being put in a classroom where they are not expected to learn much.

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