Who are ELL students?ELL stands for English Language Learner and refers to any student with a primary language other than English. Click HERE for more information regarding ELL students.
Arizona Department of Education (2014). Primary home language survey. Retrieved from http://www.azed.gov/wp-content/uploads/PDF/HomeLanguageSurvey-English.pdf. To view a copy of this form to use as a guide click HERE. What to look for online. . .
Because there is not a specific process for identifying ELL students at the university level, we must look for other signs to determine if our students are ELL or not. Depending upon class design, if students are required to write a short bio on themselves, an obvious clue would be their indication of being born in another country. They may also state knowing another language. We may also analyze their posts in discussion forums for a pattern of syntactical errors or misuse of vocabulary words.
Characteristics of ELL Students
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Why do I need to know if my students are ELL in an online modality?ELL students may experience difficulties with the language that may impact their ability to turn in highly academic writing. They may also experience difficulties with regular communication in the online environment. Knowing if your student(s) is ELL or not can enable you to give them the support they need to experience higher levels of academic success, increasing the likelihood of retention here at GCU. Important to higher education is the ability to use academic vocabulary. Academic vocabulary and knowledge of grammatical structures are at the core of successful instructional programs that promote rapid language proficiency among ELL students (Hummel, 2013; Sibold, 2011; Sharifalnasab & Fotovatnia, 2013). To fully support our online ELL students, we must find ways to support their efforts for success by providing feedback to help them understand how to use academic vocabulary in proper language structures.
References Hummel, C. (2013). Academic word use in the ESL classroom. TESOL, May 2013. Retrieved from http://newsmanager.commpartners.com/tesolc/downloads/features/2013-05_Academic%20Word%20Use_Hummel.pdf. Sharifalnasab, A. & Fotovatnia, Z. (2013). The effect of different tasks on L2 learners’ acquisition of grammar. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 4(2), pp. 386 – 391. Sibold, C. (2011). Building English language learners’ academic vocabulary. Multicultural Education, Winter, 2011, pp. 24 – 28. |
While this resource is not meant to be exclusive in identifying common characteristics, there are many identifiers that can be used in the online setting. Click HERE to access a comprehensive list of common characteristics you may notice in your students. This might assist you in determining how to best meet their online learning needs.
Reference
Alberta Education (2010). Characteristics of English Language Learners. Retrieved from http://www.learnalberta.ca/content/eslapb/documents
Reference
Alberta Education (2010). Characteristics of English Language Learners. Retrieved from http://www.learnalberta.ca/content/eslapb/documents