Challenges and Opportunities in Teaching Content to Secondary English Language Learners: A Focus on Mathematics

This paper focuses on the needs of K-12 English Language Learners (ELLs) when learning mathematics by discussing a research-based professional development project for mathematics teachers of ELLs in a Michigan high school. The paper examines the rationale for and nature of the developed instructional activities and materials designed to enhance the current instructional practices. The implications for mathematics teachers, school administrators, mathematics teacher educators, and English as a Second Language (ESL) professionals working with content-area teachers conclude the paper. Introduction The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (2002), the Common Core State Standards Initiative, (2010) and other recent educational reform efforts have required that all students achieve high academic standards in core subject areas including mathematics. The 2009 National Assessment of Education Progress results showed that this is not the reality for adolescent English Language Learners (ELLs): 72 percent of eighth-graders identified as ELLs scored below the basic level in mathematics (United States Department of Education, 2011). Traditionally, mathematics has been viewed as a universal language which relies upon common symbols for all of its work. However, in order to engage in successful problem solving, mathematics students have to understand specialized vocabulary, be able to parse complex sentence structures, and have strong listening and reading skills. Not surprisingly, given the increased language demands, students whose first language is not English have been impacted the most by the recent shift toward more language-intensive mathematics. Nationally, the rapidly growing ELL student population has been shown to receive lower grades in mathematics, be considered less capable by mathematics teachers, and drop out of school more frequently (Moss & Puma, 1995; Ruiz-de-Velasco & Fix, 2000). Yet, little research has investigated how to maximize instructional gains for ELLs in areas such as mathematics and science (Genesee et al., 2005). The project described in this paper was designed to address an area of great need, facilitating secondary ELLs’ improvement in their mathematics achievement, through the creation of a teacher development program focused on helping mathematics teachers better address the needs of ELLs in their classroom. Achievement Improvement in Mathematics among English Language Learners (AIMELLs) Project The AIM-ELLs project was the result of collaboration between the two authors— an English as a Second Language (ESL)/Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) specialist and a Mathematics Education professor. We received a grant from our institution that provided us with release time to conduct observations of mathematics classes in a local high school and subsequently, based on the findings from the observations and the recommendations from research, develop a series of professional development workshops targeting the identified instructional needs of ELLs in these classes. The project consisted of three phases. The initial phase of the project involved establishing positive working relationships with the mathematics teachers at the local high school with whom we were partnering and collecting pre-intervention data. We attended departmental meetings and collected data from the teachers via survey and class observations. The next phase of the project consisted of using the survey and observational data and current research findings to create and administer the professional development program. Of the six mathematics teachers who enrolled in the program, three attended all of the professional development workshops. (Due to staffing changes two teachers no longer taught at the participating school and therefore did not participate. One teacher was unable to meet after school due to other commitments.) In addition to the mathematics teachers, one ESL specialist at the school attended the workshops. Her presence proved to be particularly valuable in that she was able to provide important insights about the specific ELL-related issues at the particular school and offer opinions on her own effort in helping to support content-area teachers whose classes included ELLs. The final phase of the project consisted of the program evaluation, including the teachers’ assessment of the effectiveness of the workshops and post-workshop observations and individualized debriefing sessions. Stage 1: Data collection and needs analysis For the purpose of observations, we adapted the Sheltered Instruction Observational Protocol (Echevarria, Vogt, & Short, 2000). Our specific adaptations were driven by our perceived needs to 1) simplify the document in order to increase our inter-rater reliability; and 2) focus on those aspects of instruction deemed as particularly pertinent to mathematics learning and most conducive to being addressed during the relatively short duration of our professional development program. The adapted observation rubric is presented in Appendix A. During the observations, we each completed our own rubric. Subsequently, we compared our scores and evaluative comments until we reached a consensus on our scoring and interpretations. As mentioned earlier, we also allowed the mathematics teachers participating in the program to provide input regarding what they wanted us to address in the professional development program. Consequently we designed a brief survey which provided the teachers with an opportunity to share their experiences with ELLs and articulate their desires with respect to the upcoming professional development program. Of the five teachers who responded to the survey, four had never undergone training specific to the needs of ELLs and one had some training from her previous job in the Western United States. When asked what they expected from the professional development program, two of the teachers reported that they wanted information about specific issues related to ELLs and all of the teachers wanted to learn practical strategies, activities, or “ways to engage ELLs. ” The next section describes the instructional areas that we identified as meriting interventions in our professional development program. However, we would first like to briefly outline those aspects of the observed mathematics instruction that we viewed as effective. For one, the observations uncovered the teachers’ commitment to offer rigorous content-driven lessons that frequently utilized technology. Additionally, we were able to observe some visual support for the language used during the mathematics lessons which is considered critical in effective content-based teaching of ELLs (Driscoll, Heck, & Malzahn, 2012; Moschkovich, 2012). To illustrate, some of the observed teachers used color or bolding when distinguishing the key vocabulary in a lesson while others had definitions on posters or other visuals readily available in the classroom. Finally, we witnessed extensive teacher modeling of the steps necessary for solving the types of problems addressed in the lessons. Stage 2: Development and implementation of the professional development program The observations and survey responses described above helped us identify the most optimal workshop format and content, as well as three target areas for improving instruction of ELLs in mathematics classes. With respect to the format of the three workshops, the participating mathematics teachers showed a preference for a combination of the traditional presentation and practice model with opportunities for lesson planning with individualized support and personalized debriefing. As a result, we developed a series of three workshops. The content of the workshops revolved around three target areas that were identified as the most critical in helping mathematics teachers meet the needs of ELLs. These areas were: 1) increased linguistic support and language use consistency; 2) enhanced opportunities for interaction; and 3) enriched context for concept learning. We delivered this content via PowerPoint presentations, collaborative video-based activities and discussions, lesson plan and instructional activity analyses, teaching demonstrations, and individualized support during lesson planning. In the following sections we describe our observations pertinent to these identified areas and how we addressed them in the professional development program. Increased linguistic support and language use consistency It is critical that ELLs have opportunities to listen, speak, read, and write using the language of mathematics during mathematics lessons (Moschkovich, 2012). Our observations, however, uncovered mathematics teachers’ instructional tendency to be teacher-centered, exposing students to mathematics primarily by listening to teacher explanations and modeling of steps relevant to the target mathematics concepts. Students were expected to read parts of the textbook at home, but the reality was that very few students appeared to be doing so. Across the board, students had few opportunities to engage in meaningful discussions of mathematics concepts verbally or in writing that went beyond individually producing the small number of problem-specific steps. Even the listening opportunities, which appeared to be plentiful, may not have been as effective as needed to profit ELLs. The observed teachers spoke quickly, used vocabulary inconsistently, failed to use visual and gestural support effectively, and did not appear to engage in identifying language demands in their lessons prior to teaching. Based on these observations and available research on the importance of appropriate linguistic scaffolding for ELLs (e.g., Driscoll, Heck, & Malzahn, 2012; Moschkovich, 2012), we selected increased language scaffolding as the first important topic in our initial professional development workshop. Specifically, we introduced the teachers to the following three guidelines: 1. Slowing down, simp