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##  Strategies for Success: Engaging Immigrant Students in Secondary                Schools. ERIC Digest.                                                        

High dropout rates among language-minority secondary school students            are one indication that many schools are failing to adequately                  support the needs of these students. The belief that student dropout            is due to a lack of proficiency in English often leads educators to             overlook the economic, cultural, academic, and personal issues that             immigrant adolescents must confront on a daily basis. To be                     effective, programs must begin with a compassionate understanding of            these students and recognize and build on the identity, language,               and knowledge they already possess. Instruction developed for                   native-English-speaking students may not be appropriate for students            who are still learning English. To engage immigrant adolescents in              school, educators must provide them with avenues to explore and                 strengthen their ethnic identities and languages while developing               their ability to study and work in this country. This digest                    discusses 10 principles for developing effective teaching and                   learning contexts for immigrants adolescents and profiles one                   program that has been successful in promoting the academic success              of its students by implementing these principles. TEN PRINCIPLES              OF EFFECTIVE INSTRUCTION FOR IMMIGRANT STUDENTS1. The culture of            the classroom fosters the development of a community of learners,               and all students are part of that community. 
Immigrant teenagers              bring a variety of experiences to the classroom that, if tapped, can            serve as a springboard for new explorations that enrich everyone's              experience. In effective classrooms, teachers and students together             construct a culture that values the strengths of all participants               and respects their interests, abilities, languages, and dialects.               Students and teachers shift among the roles of expert, researcher,              learner, and teacher, supporting themselves and each other. 
2.                Good language teaching involves conceptual and academic                         development. 
Effective English as a second language (ESL) classes             focus on themes and develop skills that are relevant to teenagers               and to their studies in mainstream academic classes. Immigrant                  students need to learn not only new content, but also the language              and discourse associated with the discipline. Therefore, all subject            matter classes must have a language focus as well. 
Effective                  teaching prepares students for high-quality academic work by                    focusing their attention on key processes and ideas and engaging                them in interactive tasks that allow them to practice using these               processes and concepts. ESL teachers need to know the linguistic,               cognitive, and academic demands that they are preparing their                   students for and help them develop the necessary proficiencies.                 Content-area teachers need to determine the core knowledge and                  skills that these students need to master. 
3. Students'                       experiential backgrounds provide a point of departure and an anchor             in the exploration of new ideas. 
Immigrant adolescents know a                 great deal about the world, and this knowledge can provide the basis            for understanding new concepts in a new language. Students will                 learn new concepts and language only when they build on previous                knowledge and understanding. Some students have been socialized into            lecture and recitation approaches to teaching, and they expect                  teachers to tell them what lessons are about. But by engaging in                activities that involve predicting, inferring based on prior                    knowledge, and supporting conclusions with evidence, students will              realize that they can learn actively and that working in this way is            fun and stimulating. 
4. Teaching and learning focus on substantive            ideas that are organized cyclically. 
To work effectively with                 English learners, teachers must select the themes and concepts that             are central to their discipline and to the curriculum. The                      curriculum should be organized around the cyclical reintroduction of            concepts at progressively higher levels of complexity and                       interrelatedness. Cyclical organization of subject matter leads to a            natural growth in the understanding of ideas and to gradual                     correction of misunderstandings. 
5. New ideas and tasks are                   contextualized. 
English language learners often have problems                 trying to make sense of decontextualized language. This situation is            especially acute in the reading of textbooks. Secondary school                  textbooks are usually linear, dry, and dense, with few                          illustrations. Embedding the language of textbooks in a meaningful              context by using manipulatives, pictures, a few minutes of a film,              and other types of realia can make language comprehensible to                   students. Teachers may also provide context by creating analogies               based on students' experiences. However, this requires that the                 teacher learn about students' backgrounds, because metaphors or                 analogies that may work well with native English speakers may not               clarify meanings for English language learners. In this sense, good             teachers of immigrant students continually search for metaphors and             analogies that bring complex ideas closer to the students' world                experiences. 
6. Academic strategies, sociocultural expectations,              and academic norms are taught explicitly. 
Effective teachers                  develop students' sense of autonomy through the explicit teaching of            strategies that enable them to approach academic tasks successfully.            The teaching of such metacognitive strategies is a way of                       scaffolding instruction; the goal is to gradually hand over                     responsibility to the learners as they acquire skills and                       knowledge. 
Delpit (1995) argues that the discourse of power--the              language used in this country to establish and maintain social                  control--should also be taught explicitly, because it is not                    automatically acquired. Guidance and modeling can go a long way                 toward promoting awareness of and facility with this discourse. For             example, preferred and accepted ways of talking, writing, and                   presenting are culture specific. Developing student awareness of                differences, modeling by teachers of preferred styles, and study by             students themselves of differences and preferred styles are three               steps in the development of proficiency and autonomy that need to be            included in the education of language minority students. 
7. Tasks             are relevant, meaningful, engaging, and varied. 
Some research                 indicates that most classes for immigrant students are monotonous,              teacher-fronted, and directed to the whole class; teacher monologues            are the rule (Ramirez & Merino, 1990). If students do not interact              with each other, they do not have opportunities to construct their              own understandings and often become disengaged. Because immigrant               students are usually well behaved in class, teachers are not always             aware that they are bored and are not learning. Good classes for                immigrant students not only provide them with access to important               ideas and skills, but also engage them in their own constructive                development of understandings. 
8. Complex and flexible forms of               collaboration maximize learners' opportunities to interact while                making sense of language and content. 
Collaboration is essential              for second language learners, because to develop language                       proficiency they need opportunities to use the language in                      meaningful, purposeful, and enticing interactions (Kagan &                      McGroarty, 1993). Collaborative work needs to provide every student             with substantial and equitable opportunities to participate in open             exchange and elaborated discussions. It must move beyond simplistic             conceptions that assign superficial roles, such as being the "go                getter" or the "time keeper" for the group (Adger et al., 1995). In             these collaborative groups, the teacher is no longer the authority              figure. Students work autonomously, taking responsibility for their             own learning. The teacher provides a task that invites and requires             each student's participation and hands over to the students the                 responsibility for accomplishing the task or solving the                        problem. 
9. Students are given multiple opportunities to extend               their understandings and apply their knowledge. 
One of the goals              of learning is to be able to apply acquired knowledge to novel                  situations. For English learners, these applications reinforce the              development of new language, concepts, and academic skills as                   students actively draw connections between pieces of knowledge and              their contexts. Understanding a topic of study involves being able              to carry out a variety of cognitively demanding tasks (Perkins,                 1993). 
10. Authentic assessment is an integral part of teaching               and learning. 
Assessment should be done not only by teachers, but             also by learners, who assess themselves and each other. Considerable            research supports the importance of self-monitoring of language                 learning (O'Malley & Chamot, 1989). Authentic assessment activities             engage second language learners in self-directed learning, in the               construction of knowledge through disciplined inquiry, and in the               analysis of problems they encounter. CALEXICO HIGH SCHOOL:                    RESTRUCTURING FOR SUCCESSCalexico High School in Calexico,                  California, is attempting to put the principles described above into            practice. Calexico is a bilingual/bicultural community on the                   southern border of the United States; 98% of the students are                   Latino, and 80% are English language learners. 
Once an                        unsupportive environment for English language learners, Calexico                High School now operates with a philosophy that is based on such                principles as respect for students' culture, language, and                      background; a strong belief that all students can learn; and equal              opportunities for all students to pursue further education. Calexico            staff view bilingualism as an asset for the future and strive to                develop academic proficiency, regardless of language. They have                 eliminated the tracking system and have high expectations for all               students. 
An efficient system of counseling is in place that                  provides support ranging from interventions to sustain or improve               academic success to coordination with agencies outside the school               that provide social services. Groups of students are organized into             academies and supervised by teams of teachers to help all students              feel connected academically. In addition, the school actively                   involves parents by holding all school meetings in Spanish and                  English and by having bilingual/bicultural staff that develop and               maintain connections between home and school. 
Learning English is             given utmost importance. However, teachers realize that developing              second language fluency is a long process, and that while it is                 essential to continue supporting and nurturing language development,            cognitive growth also has an impact on long-range academic outcomes.            Strong support is given to continuous development of students'                  academic skills. 
Three language options are available for required            courses: They may be taught through Spanish, English, or sheltered              English. The same number of credits are granted for all options, and            all options provide academically challenging study for students that            will open doors to postsecondary education and other                            opportunities. 
Through their commitment to providing all students             with more opportunities to succeed, the staff at Calexico High                  School have created a highly effective secondary school program for             immigrant students. (For a description of other successful secondary            school programs for immigrant students, see Walqui,                             2000). CONCLUSIONThe 10 principles of effective programs                  discussed in this digest can contribute to the success of immigrant             secondary school students by creating positive and engaging learning            contexts. A strong commitment to the educational success of                     immigrant students is ultimately the foundation for all successful              programs. For society, this commitment involves supporting the                  development of effective programs through resources, funding,                   professional development, and research. REFERENCESAdger, C.,              Kalyanpur, M., Peterson, D., & Bridger, T. (1995). "Engaging                    students: Thinking, talking, cooperating." Thousand Oaks, CA:                   Corwin. 
Delpit, L. (1995). "Other people's children: Cultural                 conflict in the classroom." New York, NY: The New Press. 
Kagan,               S., & McGroarty, M. (1993). Principles of cooperative learning for              language and content gains. In D.D. Holt (Ed.), "Cooperative                    learning: A response to linguistic and cultural                                 diversity" (pp.47-66). McHenry, IL, and Washington, DC: Delta                   Systems and Center for Applied Linguistics. 
O'Malley, J.M., &                 Chamot, A.U. (1989). "Learning strategies in second language                    acquisition." Cambridge, England: Cambridge University                          Press. 
Perkins, D. (1993). "An apple for education: Teaching and              learning for understanding" (EdPress Elam Lecture, Rowan College of             New Jersey). Glasboro, NJ: EdPress. 
Ramirez, J.D., & Merino,                  B.J. (1990). Classroom talk in English immersion, early-exit, and               late-exit transitional bilingual education programs. In R.                      Jacobson & C. Faltis (Eds.), "Language distribution issues in                   bilingual schooling" (pp. 61-103). Clevedon, England: Multilingual              Matters. 
Walqui, A. (2000). "Access and engagement: Program design            and instructional approaches for immigrant students in secondary                schools." McHenry, IL, and Washington, DC: Delta Systems and Center             for Applied Linguistics. 
This digest is drawn from "Access and                Engagement: Program Design and Instructional Approaches for                     Immigrant Students in Secondary Schools," by Aida Walqui, the fourth            volume in the Topics in Immigrant Education series. 
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This              digest was prepared with funding from the U.S. Dept. of Education,              Office of Educational Research and Improvement, National Library of             Education, under contract no. ED-99-CO-0008.  The opinions expressed            do not necessarily reflect the positions or policies of ED, OERI, or            NLE.                                                                         **Title:** Strategies for Success: Engaging Immigrant Students in Secondary                Schools. ERIC Digest.                                                        **Document Type:** Information Analyses---ERIC Information Analysis Products (IAPs) (071); Information Analyses---ERIC Digests (Selected) in Full Text (073); **Available From:** ERIC/CLL, 4646 40th Street NW, Washington, DC 20016-1859. For full              text: http://www.cal.org/ericcll.                                            **Descriptors:** Academic Achievement, Acculturation,  Educational Strategies,                    English (Second Language), High Risk Students,  Immigrants,                     Instructional Effectiveness, Program Descriptions, Second Language             Learning, Secondary Education, Secondary School Students,  Success           **Identifiers:** ERIC Digests                                                                 
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