Assessment 2 1

Assessment 2

Tch&Lrn 301

Brooke Thomas

Washington State University

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ELL, Immigrant, and Refugee’s

When discussing how to best approach ELL, immigrant, and refugee students in the

classroom some key issues come up. These issues can stem from language barriers, cultural

differences, or even simply feeling like they don’t belong. I am getting my endorsement for the

teaching program in ELL so I feel as though I am very educated in how to deal with the issues

these students face in their everyday life’s, and in the classroom.

First, when talking about the key issues ELL face most of the issues relate back to how

proficient they are with speaking English. In the textbook Woolfolk describes these students

who are just learning English as “limited English proficient or LEP” (2016, p.191). Most of these

students come from a very different background that students that were born and raised in

America. For example, when I volunteered in a classroom over spring break I worked with a

little boy named Christian. He was born in Mexico but then his family moved to America when

he was 4. Christian has had some struggles with school because although he has put in a lot of

time to learn English and be somewhat proficient with it, his whole family at home speaks only

Spanish or Spanglish. Although Christian is a very bright boy, he needs a lot of after and before

school assistance because at home no one can understand or help him with school work.

Teachers need to be informed on how to deal with these types of students because as out world

becomes more diverse so do our classrooms. I have seen first hand how an ELL student can be

embarrassed or feel lost when emerged in a predominantly English speaking classroom. This can

be solved through adapting to the child’s learning needs.

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Secondly, immigrants and refugees face these same types of issues that are equally as

important. In the textbook Woolfolk describes that in the 1960’s and 1970’s these students were

looked at as having a disadvantage in school because they were not culturally stimulated in the

American society. The assumption with this statement was that because of immigrants or

refugee’s home life, they were not “prepared to fit into the schools” (2016, p.188). In todays

society we have come a long way wit now the goal being “Multiculturalism” (2016, p.188). This

is the idea that every student with a different cultural background can benefit from each other

making classrooms more diverse and culturally stimulated. This can even bring students closer

together as a whole making them see at early ages that there is more that one way to be raised

and that all families are different.

Teachers all across the nation do their best to accommodate to the issues these students

may face in their everyday life and in school. Even with teacher’s best intentions sometimes its

hard to get these students motivated to do well in school. Intrinsic motivation is a natural drive

students have to achieve personal goals through what as an individual we are capable of

(Woolfolk 2016, p. 445). Students who don’t come from an American background or speak

fluent English might struggle with Intrinsic motivation. For example, coming into a new school

for a student who doesn’t speak good English can be pretty confusing and hard on them.

Activities in America are very different from other cultures so it might be hard for a student to

get involved or have motivation to find something they enjoy. Extrinsic motivation is being

motivated to please someone like a teacher or a parent. This could be hard for these students

because they might not feel like they can succeed in school because they are not at the same

proficiency as other students. For example, if a student doesn’t understand or know how their
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teachers grading system works they might not have any sort of incentive to get good grades to

prove their abilities.

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Cooperative learning and Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory

Creativity is one of the most important pieces of learning there is. Children with vast

imaginations and creativity will excel in school just by thinking more critically. A good goal for

every teacher to have is for students to be able to be creative without a teacher instructing them

to be. When a child is able to do this the possibilities to make learning fun and exciting again are

endless.

Cooperative learning is one learning style that can assist creativity inside and outside of

the classroom in major ways. According to Woolfolk, cooperative learning is a way to work with

others around oneself to accomplish some sort of common goal (2016, p. 386). When student

collaborate with one another their brains are actively bouncing off of each others ideas getting

the creative process flowing. This type of leaning style can be use as a group activity or even in

partner work. Cooperative learning can be used in many different ways.

Cooperative learning can be used in a classroom by doing a critical thinking activity. For

example, one of my math classes in high school my teacher use to use this method all the time.

He would put a math word problem on the board where the scenario was always some form of

mystery. He would then stay silent for the rest of the class and let up talk to each other and think

creatively to solve it. We respected him as a teacher because he shows us trust in the form of us

solving a problem completely independent of him, but with the help of each other. My class

always found a way to utilize everyone’s best skills to help solve different parts of the problem.

More teachers should use these kinds of activities because not only did it make us think critically
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and cooperative; it helped us form a strong bond with our teacher. Students can then apply these

skills formed in the classroom to the outside world. For example, at a new job or to solve their

own family issues.

Going off of cooperative learning, Bandura’s social cognitive theory can relate. Woolfolk

explains Albert Bandura’s (1960) theory as people learning by observing others (2016, p.412).

They relate because as people are cooperating with each other and bouncing ideas back and

fourth they are also seeing how other people are reacting and going about the certain situation.

Social cognitive theory can be used in the classroom in various different ways. For

example, in a classroom a teacher could do a no talking and only observing activity. We did this

method in our 301 classroom the other day and it was a great representation of how people can

preform by just watching others. In this activity we had to pose our fellow classmates in a

sculpture representing our group. The trick to this whole activity was that no one was aloud to

talk. It was great to see how creative students could get with this activity simply because they

were forced to think critically.

Along with using this theory inside a classroom, we use it everyday without even

realizing it. For example, when I was in Europe over the summer I learned so many different

concepts by just observing others. People in everyday life can come up with a creative new

concept of something just from being inspired by something they have observed.
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My alterative education group was Experiential learning and it is so important to stress

learning by doing to our future children. Students brains then think more critically and

creatively.
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References

Woolfolk, A. (2016). Educational Psychology (13th ed.). The Ohio State University: Pearson

Education, Inc .