English language learners (ELLs) bring a rich tapestry of cultural knowledge, diverse perspectives, and multilingual skills to the classroom, enriching the learning experience for everyone. However, along with their strengths, ELLs often face unique challenges in navigating a learning environment designed for native English speakers. As the number of ELLs in American classrooms continues to grow, it’s essential for educators to understand and address these challenges. This article offers strategies to adapt online teaching practices to support ELLs effectively, helping them thrive academically and personally.
Frequent Feedback
Research highlights the importance of personal interaction in maintaining student motivation, especially in online learning (Costa-Guerra & Costa-Guerra, 2015). For ELLs, frequent feedback is not just beneficial—it’s essential for overcoming language barriers and mastering new content. Here are some practical ways to offer consistent, quality feedback:
- Host regular office hours. Keep the door open for optional, informal check-ins, and remind students often of this opportunity.
- Break down larger assignments. Allow students to submit parts of a project for feedback before the final submission, enabling them to make adjustments along the way.
- Enhance auto-graded assessments. Add meaningful explanations to “correct” and “incorrect” answers, providing resources or tips to deepen understanding.
- Create a peer-review space. Encourage students to collaborate and review each other’s work before submission, fostering community and improving drafts.
By normalizing feedback and offering multiple avenues for interaction, you’ll help ELLs feel more comfortable seeking assistance and equip them with skills to monitor and fill gaps in their understanding (Ferlazzo, 2016).
Rubrics
Clear, detailed rubrics are invaluable for all students but especially for ELLs. They demystify assignments by outlining expectations and grading criteria, reducing misunderstandings that can lead to frustration.
For instance, an American student may know how to structure a reflective essay or an annotated bibliography, but an ELL might struggle due to unfamiliarity with these formats. A comprehensive rubric paired with explicit instructions ensures students have the tools to succeed.
Consider adding a verbal component, like a short video walkthrough of the rubric, to complement the written instructions (Ferlazzo, 2016). This extra step helps students process the information in multiple ways, increasing their confidence and ability to meet the requirements. A well-crafted rubric also becomes a teaching tool, guiding students to improve future assignments and master course objectives.
Scaffolding to Fill in Prior Knowledge Gaps
ELLs often lack exposure to U.S.-centric content such as American history, culture, and educational norms so U.S. history, English, and literature courses can be particularly challenging for them. The lack of exposure can create challenges when an assignment pulls from this foundational knowledge. Scaffolding bridges these gaps by providing essential background information and resources.
For these students, you’ll often need to provide background information that’s necessary for understanding the new material. For example, you might compose a preface or provide background information as part of the assignment instructions. When more extensive background reading is necessary, direct students to a resource that imparts information in an accessible way. Providing these resources allows ELLs to explore topics as needed, and will help ensure all students have the opportunity to succeed.
The chart below provides examples of assignments and additional resources to help scaffold instruction for ELLs.
| Assignment | Challenge for ELLs | Suggestions for Scaffolding Your Instruction |
|---|---|---|
| Choose a prominent person from U.S. history and explain his or her impact on modern legislation. | ELLs may be unfamiliar with most U.S. historical figures. |
|
| The environment and the landscape greatly influenced the style of Native American architecture. Select two pieces of Native American architecture and explain how their styles are still relevant. | ELLs may not be able to make connections between architectural forms and landscape without background knowledge of Native Americans. |
|
| Write a four-page paper in APA format about Isaac Newton. Include at least five references in your paper. |
APA, MLA, and other style guides will likely be new to ELLs. |
|
Multiple Forms of Assessments
Flexibility in assessment is another key strategy for supporting ELLs. Traditional written assignments can place a heavy burden on language skills, overshadowing the actual content mastery being assessed. By providing alternative ways to demonstrate understanding, you can keep the focus on learning objectives.
For example, instead of requiring a written paper, you could allow students to:
- Create a presentation with voiceover narration.
- Record a screencast analyzing online resources.
- Develop a mind map or other visual representation of their understanding.
These options align with Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles, which aim to make learning accessible and engaging for all students, and providing these options allows both ELLs and native English speakers to engage in the learning style and domain of language they excel in (Nesbitt, 2015). Regardless of the medium, clear rubrics with expectations stated in a simple, straightforward manner are essential.
Conclusion
By enrolling in your class, English language learners have chosen to challenge themselves to learn in a language not native to them. As an instructor, you can ease many of their challenges by taking the time to understand the areas where they might need some assistance and provide additional materials and clarification where needed. If you apply some of the strategies from this article, you can help any ELLs enrolled in your class work toward your learning objectives just as successfully as native English speakers.
References
Alrubail, R. (2016, July 7). Equity for English-language learners [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/equity-for-english-language-learners-rusul-alrubail
Costa-Guerra, B., & Costa-Guerra, L. (2015, March). Do online courses help or hinder English language learners’ experience with math credit recovery? Retrieved from http://elearnmag.acm.org/featured.cfm?aid=2745842
Ferlazzo, L. (2016, November 3). Do’s and don’ts for teaching English-language learners [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/esl-ell-tips-ferlazzo-sypnieski
Nesbitt, J. (2015, September 9). 4 strategies to help ELLs in the mainstream classroom [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/strategies-help-ells-mainstream-classroom-joylynn-nesbitt
Rowe, E. (n.d.). ESL writing rubrics. In Academic Subjects for English Language Learners. Retrieved from https://study.com/academy/lesson/esl-writing-rubrics.html
