Special Interest Groups
Adult Education
Teaching Adults Students about Communication in the Health Field
By Megan Butler
Throughout my years of teaching adult English as a Second Language (ESL,) I always ask my students what they struggle with most so I can make sure I am giving them exactly what they need. Of course, almost every topic is mentioned; however, the vast majority asks for how to effectively communicate with doctors and medical professionals. There are many topics to be covered, especially, how to describe and communicate ailments.
I use a vocabulary list from a website called “English Club” that is geared toward ESL students. I choose 10 words a week to give to the students to research and use in sentences and then create dialogues. They then confirm they have the correct definitions through group discussion.
After a few classes of talking about medical vocabulary, I was fortunate to be chosen by first and second year medical students to visit my classroom twice a month to explain important terminology to students who do not yet fully grasp the language. The medical students use detailed pictures to explain definitions, as well as creating real-life scenarios where the students have to thoroughly explain their situations, symptoms, and then understand the diagnosis.
With each visit they bring another challenge for the students to overcome. By the end of the project (of about 5 months,) the students should be able to feel more comfortable with communication, reading prescriptions, filling out medical information forms, and how to properly research doctors and treatments. The students are given well-detailed packets to work with created by the medical team. They are encouraged to use laptops to become comfortable with research.
This project is successful because doctors are able to answer difficult questions better than teachers. It also helps to have the students talk about situations in class that may be embarrassing; after the class, they are more prepared to have that difficult conversation with their doctors.
Megan Butler is an ESL Teacher at Brookdale Community College and at the New Brunswick Adult Learning Center.
Bilingual Elementary
Reflections Everyone Needs to Consider
By Sandra Nahmias
As we stand on the threshold of ‘Old Man Winter,’ I’d like to look back on the Fall. One of the highlights of my Fall was our organization’s Northern Regional Conference on October 29, 2016, at William Paterson University. The conference, “Preparing for ACCESS through Yearlong Formative Assessment,” was arranged so that our organization’s members could begin preparing our English learners (ELs) for this coming year’s ACCESS 2.0. I want to give a special “shout out” to Hilary Almeida, Joan Pujol, and Dr. Gladys Vega for making it happen and go smoothly.
The keynote speaker was Dr. Gilda del Risco; Maggie Churchill, and I were presenters. Each of us approached the topic differently. Dr. del Risco is the Executive Director of the School of Curriculum and Teaching at Kean University. Her presentation, “Brain Based Learning and Assessment for English Language Learners: Theory into Practice,” was fascinating. It dealt with the fact that educators need to understand how the brain of an English language learner works so that they can then develop effective strategies and techniques to make content comprehensible for students and then design formative assessments accordingly.
Maggie Churchill’s presentation was entitled “Preparing for ACCESS: Formative Assessment- Samples from the Classroom” in which Maggie showed actual examples of differentiated formative assessments from her middle school classroom. She also brought a plethora of resources to utilize to differentiate classroom instruction and assessment for middle school ELs. Maggie is on our Executive Board.
I began my presentation, “Making ACCESS 2.0 Accessible: Ensuring EL Success through Differentiation, Conversation, and Collaboration” by enumerating the lessons learned from last year’s ACCESS 2.0. This included focusing on student strengths through formative assessments and classroom differentiation; building oral language in the classroom to develop the skills needed to recount, explain, argue, and discuss according to the World-Class Instructional Design and Assessment (WIDA)’s Can Do Descriptors, Key Uses Edition; and collaborating with content area/general education teachers to ensure the success of our ELs. After that introduction I focused on differentiation by showing a YouTube video called “Immersion.” “Immersion” is about a day in the life of an English learner which served as a segue into developing differentiated classroom instruction by building on an EL’s strengths. This in turn allowed for the exploration of WIDA’s Performance Level Definitions and Can Do Descriptors in order to emphasize that we can use these tools to inform our classroom instruction and design formative assessments in each of the four domains of listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Furthermore, the Can Do Descriptors can be utilized in the realm of collaboration for they allow general education/content area teachers and teachers of ELs to have productive conversations about the students they both teach in order to move them along the language acquisition continuum.
We concluded with a tour of the WIDA website to familiarize the workshop participants with the resources for 2017’s ACCESS 2.0. We know that change is on the way. WIDA has already announced that they will be “raising the bar for language proficiency” through what they call “Standard Setting” and that as a result some students’ ACCESS 2.0 scores may go down and fewer students may exit program support. The Northern Regional Conference’s content was prescient. Prepare. Now.
Sandra Nahmias, Bilingual/ESL Teacher, Grades 1 and 2, School Two, Linden, New Jersey and
WIDA Certified Trainer, 201-412-5905 nahmfam@comcast.net
My Advocacy: Proud and Strong
By Larry Bello
My advocacy for English learners (ELs) and their parents started in the classroom and it continues today as a Bilingual/ESL Resource Specialist. Fortunately, I have come across educators and community activists who have taught me how to be a voice for those who are in the shadows, afraid and unaware of their rights as parents and students. Many of my former students continue to be voices for our society’s most vulnerable immigrants who continue to be targets for those who blame them for the problems of society instead of recognizing their contributions to our great nation.
My first 13 years of teaching took place in Rochester, NY, where the majority of ELs were of Puerto Rican descent. The community embraced and cherished their cultural and language heritage by promoting a Two-way Bilingual Program during a period where the English Only movement was growing in the United States. They taught me to defend and promote bilingualism by organizing parent advisory groups when bilingual education had a negative connotation. I felt so proud when the parents became a strong voice in the community and defended bilingual education.
When I started teaching in New Jersey, I came across another group of ELs where the majority did not have the same rights of citizenship as Puerto Ricans had. They were from Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean. I encountered a culture of cultural shame and the suppression of their native language. I kept hearing educators say to our Spanish-speaking ELs, “Speak English, you are in America!”
As a history teacher, my first instinct was to teach our ELs the facts: The United States is a country that is part of North America. South America is where most of the Spanish-speaking countries are located. So I asked my students, “Why should United States’ citizens be the only ones to identify as American. Aren’t we all American, even if we are from Central or South America?”
Another organization, of which I am a member, is the American Federation of Teachers, AFT. This union has been the vanguard of protecting the invisible, unknown students who had no voices or influence by educating teachers on how to best serve them. Two of their most successful initiatives are Colorin’ Colorado and Share My Lesson, websites full of resources for educators and parents of ELs. AFT continues to promote inclusiveness by pledging to Protect Undocumented Students and Educators. AFT and AFTNJ have supported the Spring NJTESOL/ NJBE Conference for the past 3 years and they will continue this year. Advocacy for ELs, and other groups of students who are not represented, has been one of their priorities. AFT has advised NJTESOL/ NJBE on how to promote and advocate the new changes under the new ESSA, Every Student Succeeds Act, in New Jersey.
I am very proud to be part of both organizations.
Larry Bello is the Bilingual Secondary Special Interest Group Representative.
A Tale of Two Counties
By Michelle Land
Wednesday, January 11th, was the first meeting of the Morris/Sussex NJTESOL/NJBE Chapter. Participants learned about ACCESS 2017 and networked with other educators and administrators in our area. Morris and Sussex Counties are counties with an increasing need for support and resources for our ELs (English Learners) and the professionals who work with them. Read on to understand the tale of two counties.
Morris County is filled with contradictions. As of 2012, Morris County was listed as the 10th wealthiest county in the country. And yet, according to the United Way, it takes $67,871 for a family of two adults, an infant, and toddler to afford the basics – more than double the U.S. poverty rate of $23,050. As a result, 25% of the population in Morris County are struggling to meet their basic needs and 4% are living below the U.S. poverty line. In addition, 21% fall into the ALICE* population; this is described by the United Way as families that earn more than the official U.S. poverty level but less than the basic cost of living. This means that 50% of the Morris County population is struggling to meet basic needs. The graph below shows the concentration of the population struggling to meet basic needs. [*Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed- United Way Study of Financial Hardship: Ed.]
Some of the areas below the ALICE Threshold also have a higher concentration of English Learners. Even though population growth is declining in Morris County, diversity is increasing. Asian and Hispanic population has increased 65% throughout Morris County from 2010-2015.
Sussex County, on the other hand, only has 30% of the population below the ALICE level. The Asian and Hispanic population has increased a modest 15% from 2010-2015. While Vernon, Hopatcong, and Newton have had larger EL populations in the past, Franklin, Sparta, Stanhope and Montague have seen an increase in past years. The map below shows that these areas also have a greater percentage of households below the ALICE Threshold.
While the actual numbers of students in Sussex County are still much fewer than in Morris County, the percentage increase has been steady while the NJ residents moving out of Sussex County has also increased. Once again, the areas with greater economic needs are also some of the areas with a larger immigrant population. One might venture to say that Sussex and Morris Counties, while vastly different, have a similar change in demographics as a result of an influx of immigrants, and with them, children who need ESL and bilingual services in their public schools.
What does this mean for ESL and bilingual teachers in Morris and Sussex County? A greater likelihood that our EL population in these areas will be struggling to meet basic needs, and with that, struggling to meet success in school. The New York Times reports that “results of the 2009 reading tests conducted by the Program for International Student Assessment show that, among 15-year-olds in the United States and the 13 countries whose students outperformed ours, students with lower economic and social status had far lower test scores than their more advantaged counterparts within every country.” As a result, we are trying to bridge a linguistic and (often) an achievement gap, with the cards stacked against us.
If you missed the first meeting of our new chapter, look for information about our second meeting for the spring. The information, networking, and sharing of resources will be beneficial for all.
Some resources used:
http://censusviewer.com/county/DE/Sussex
http://www.census.gov/quickfacts/table/PST045215/34027
http://www.census.gov/quickfacts/table/PST045215/34037
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sussex_County,_New_Jersey
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morris_County,_New_Jersey#Census_2010
http://www.unitedwaynnj.org/aboutus/ourcommunitiesmorris.php
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/12/opinion/the-unaddressed-link-between-poverty-and-education.html
http://www.njherald.com/article/20060907/ARTICLE/309079965#
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2015/03/as_tens_of_thousands_flee_nj_immigrants_are_filling_the_void.html
Michelle Land is the NJTESOL/NJBE Bilingual/ESL Middle School 6-8 Special Interest Group Representative. She teaches ESL at Randolph Township Schools. michelleland88@hotmail.com
The Angels are Always with Us
By Angeline Sturgis
Every morning Josefina walks her kindergarten son, Julio, to the edge of the school property. She kisses him, adjusts his coat and backpack, and watches as he makes his way down the sidewalk, up the front steps of the school, and through the front door when he turns, gives a little wave and disappears inside. Only then does she turn and head back to their little house a few blocks away. I’ve witnessed this touching scene many times, and thought what a wonderful way for a little boy to start his school day.
One day a staff member also noticed this ritual, but had a different take on it. “Why does she wait like that? Doesn’t she trust us? Is she afraid some immigration agent is going to snatch her kid? Honestly, these illegals are just so wary all the time.” The comments continued, morphing into a commentary on “just coming to this country to have their anchor babies.” My heart sank. How could I feel so differently from a colleague who works in the same school, with the same population? Does she even know this mother and little boy?
I do know Josefina and her family. She was one of the parents who helped form a Latino parents’ support group six years ago when her daughters were in our school. I remember when Julio was born. I’ve only ever seen Josefina as a gentle, smiling, hard-working mother who loves her children. I knew that her early life in Mexico was hard but had never heard details. I also knew that she has always been openly grateful to her children’s teachers, once even bringing in a homemade lunch for the entire faculty because she was so delighted at her daughters’ report cards.
Not long after I heard those troubling remarks from my fellow faculty member, Josefina volunteered for a project I call “Telling the Family Story.” She would tell me about her life in Mexico, and the circumstances that brought her to Lawrenceville, New Jersey. Then Julio would illustrate the story, and I would use an online company to make a hardback book of her story, presenting it at our Latino Family Night. I arrived at Josefina’s house early one Saturday morning, laptop in hand, and she and I sat with her eldest daughter who helped me change Josefina’s Spanish into English.
Josefina began her story by giving a picture of her daily life as one of nine children born into poverty in rural Oaxaca. The family literally had no money, living off food grown on their land as well as wild animals they ate for meat including armadillo, skunks, opossums, and iguanas. She told of the yearly influx of flying ants that were captured at the children’s peril and then ground into salsa and eaten on tortillas. I felt tears well up in my eyes, but Josefina went on. She told how, at 8 years old, her oldest brother arranged for her to go to live with a rich family in Mexico City. It was the first time she had ridden in a car, and she had no idea she would be taken hundreds of miles away. The family was dominated by an abusive matriarch, and Josefina was put to work as a cleaner and responsible for doing the family’s laundry every day, by hand, in cold water, standing on a little stool to reach the washtub. She was allowed to go to school, but only until the fourth grade. She was happy to point out that she learned to read and write before she had to leave school, and how grateful she has always been for that. At this point, I realized Josefina’s daughter was also in tears. She had never heard the details of her mother’s life and was horrified. Josefina looked at us, with our tears streaming, chests heaving, and calmly said, “Wait, girls, this story has such a happy ending.” Of course it does. It’s Josefina’s story full of gratitude and praise for the struggles in her past that brought her to this life she “treasures as a gift from God.”
Josefina’s book was read in Spanish and English, for the first time on November 30, 2016, in front of an audience of 130 people packed into the all-purpose room of a small elementary school. Julio’s illustrations were projected on a large screen, which was the first time his mother had seen his beautiful depictions of her story. She radiated love and pride during the event, probably the first time in her life she had been in the spotlight. The title, The Angels are Always With Us, is from Josefina’s final thoughts on her immigration story:
It doesn’t do any good to look back and dwell on the sufferings that were in my old life. Because of those things I am now a grateful, happy, hopeful wife and mother. This country is an amazing land of opportunities. The angels are always with us. Just look for them and be grateful.
I ordered two copies of the book, one for the family, of course, and one to keep at the school. I decided to circulate the school copy and there was no question which faculty member would be getting it first. I don’t have high expectations for changing her opinion on immigration, but maybe she will realize that you just can’t guess a family’s story. You really need to have that story told to you, and then you might just realize that there are angels right here with us. Just admire them as they watch their kindergarten sons walk into the school each morning.
Angeline Sturgis, ESL Teacher, K-3, Lawrence Township, NJ, asturgis@ltps.org
Book Review: Notice and Note Strategies for Close Reading
By Sonya Bertini
I have taught reading to English language learners (ELLs) for over thirty years and in the last six I have been teaching ELLs who are classified for Special Education services. My students are high schoolers who are required to follow a rigorous curriculum based on the Core Content standards. The majority of them are boys who read anywhere from 2 to 6 years below grade level in their native language. They are not intrinsically motivated enough to pick up a book to read on their own; they don’t come from print-rich environments and very few of them have the sustained attention, or ability required, to read anything at a high school level. Nevertheless, my job is to get them to read - The Great Gatsby and Othello- no less. Notice and Note Strategies for Close Reading by Kylene Beers and Robert Probst has been a lifesaver as it has changed the way I teach reading to my special education ELL students. What I had noticed in my high school students was that they were toiling through a novel and for the most part dutifully answering my questions, but they were not interacting with the text; they were not “inside” it. They were neither engaged nor committed.
The authors of Notice and Note, Beers and Probst, became concerned when they noticed the same thing: too many readers plod through a book just to finish a page or chapter and then look up to the teacher and wait. They do not express a thought about what they have just read or ask a question. They seem “not to have noticed anything, responded to anything, been touched or troubled or amused by anything.” In short, if we consider that rigor is the attention and energy a student brings to a task, they are in fact not reading with any sort of rigor. The question that guided the authors’ work was how teachers might affect the moments in which reader and text come together so as to improve the reading experience and deepen a student’s understanding of the text.
Beers and Probst began by surveying more than 2,000 teachers to.find out what books are most commonly taught in grades 4-10. They then read those books more than once and in those re-readings began to notice some elements which they eventually called signposts that occurred in all books across genres. They came up with an “anchor question” for each signpost: a question that students could ask themselves once they spotted a signpost. The anchor question leads to insight about the text and moves the students into deeper thinking. Students learn that out of that question many other questions may naturally emerge. Finally, the authors developed lessons and activities to teach each signpost and its corresponding anchor question.
The signposts in order of appearance are:
- Contrasts and Contradictions
- Aha Moment
- Tough Questions
- Words of the Wiser
- Again and Again
- Memory Moment
The book is in essence a “how to teach reading of fiction” manual - based on solid research and theory. The example lessons are a cinch to follow. Each one has a “classroom close-up” which describes real classroom application of the ideas proposed. The texts used to teach the signposts are all included in the appendix. I have used this “signpost” approach for three years now and it has been extremely successful. My students talk about the novel, they reflect on a passage, ask questions and discuss answers, infer, predict and make connection. They go beyond the superficial and those text-dependent questions that in the words of the authors “create teacher-dependent kids.” (my favorite line!) In the words of the authors:
“We hope that the students will be alert, observant, responsive, responsible, self-reliant readers, respecting their own perspectives and values but also willing to change their minds when evidence and reading demand. The signposts and their accompanying anchor questions are nothing but a scaffold to move them toward that ultimate goal.“
I strongly recommend all teachers of struggling or low attaining students read this book and implement its proposals. You won’t be sorry.
Sonya Bertini, Special Education (SPED) Special Interest Group Representative, Vineland Public Schools stb582000@yahoo.com
Teacher Education
Tech Tools for Teacher Education: A Starter Kit
By Bryan Meadows
Greetings, fellow SIG members.
In recent semesters, I have been thinking about the role of teacher educators to help candidates develop competencies with digital tools. It is important that teacher candidates gain some mastery of commonly-used digital apps before they enter the profession. They will need it to succeed in the job market, to provide quality instruction, and to collaborate with community members and fellow educators. In this newsletter installment, I will share some digital apps which teacher candidates may benefit exploring in their teacher prep coursework. The list is far from comprehensive because I am drawing on those apps that I am familiar with, so let us call it a “starter kit”.
Google Apps (docs, forms, slides). These are online, collaborative versions of Microsoft’s popular software, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Each app allows an online space for students and teachers to share real-time control over a document. There are countless possibilities for differentiating assignments and for providing formative feedback. Basic competence with Google apps is becoming increasingly more valuable in that some districts are issuing Google Chromebooks to students. In my teacher education setting, I have used google docs as a shared space where candidates and I can collaborate online in real-time during an ongoing whole-class discussion. Additionally, candidates have collaborated on google docs to create instructional materials that they then try out in class with cohort students during class time.
Gsuite: https://gsuite.google.com/
Kahoot/Socrative/Plickers. With these apps, teachers are able to administer quizzes during class time and to monitor student performance in real-time. Designing quizzes is easy since there are many templates available. There are also several different ways for the teacher to receive student performance data on each quiz. Kahoot and Socrative require that the teacher and students are connected to the internet. Students answer quiz items using any digital device, and it helps if there is wifi available in the classroom. On the other hand, Plickers only requires the teacher to be connected since the students respond with pre-printed paper answer cards. In the context of teacher education, I have been incorporating online quiz apps into my classroom teaching in order to model their application for candidates. For example, I now use Socrative for “chunk n chew” breaks and for reflective discussions that involve candidate position-taking.
Kahoot: https://getkahoot.com/
Socrative: http://www.socrative.com/
Plickers: https://plickers.com/
Glogster. This app provides an alternative to PowerPoint presentations. Students are provided with a large digital canvas in which they can creatively insert images, videos, hyperlinks, textboxes, among other features. They can then share the document online with the teacher and other classmates. Candidates in previous semesters have used Glogster as a platform for their course capstone project. The candidates also reported that their middle-school ELL students use the app often because it allows a greater amount of creative freedom over PowerPoint.
Glogster: http://edu.glogster.com/?ref=com
Edmodo/Schoology.These Learning Management System (LMS) apps provide an online environment similar to Facebook (in that there is a social networking component) and to Blackboard (in that there is a file exchange component). They allow teachers to communicate with students and parents in an online environment. Practicing teachers report that some districts require teachers to use Edmodo on a regular basis. Therefore, it is a good idea to provide candidates with some practice in using it. In my own teaching, I have used Schoology previously to connect a group of candidates here in New Jersey with a counterpart group of teacher candidates in Tunja, Colombia. We used the Schoology platform to share readings, to exchange ideas, and to learn from one another. It was a valuable chance for both sides to build not only digital literacy but their global identity as ELT professionals.
Edmodo: https://www.edmodo.com/
Schoology: https://www.schoology.com/
Twitter. This familiar social media app is a key tool for candidates to develop a presence in the field as professional educators. It is important that candidates start into conversations with ESL/bilingual professionals from early on in their teacher education program. In the context of teacher education, instructors can encourage candidates to open an account and to follow ESL/bilingual teacher organizations (such as our beloved NJTESOL/NJBE organization.) They can also directly collaborate with professionals in the field by participating in weekly discussions on #ELLCHAT. I incorporated Twitter into an Applied Linguistics course several semesters ago as an online space for students to support one another with linguistics terminology and concepts. What students had accomplished was a Professional Learning Community centered on linguistics. For many, this was their introduction to collaborating online with a community of professionals.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/
Two basic objectives when integrating digital apps into teacher education coursework are the following: (1) teach candidates the major functions of the app so that they can use it without assistance, and (2) lead candidates to create their own instructional materials and/or activities that involve the app. The list, Tech Tools for Teacher Educators, is just a starter one and is far from comprehensive. What digital apps do you incorporate into your teacher education program? What are the different ways that you prepare candidates for digital literacy? Please let me know. You can email your SIG representative directly at meadowsb@fdu.edu or bmeadows@njtesol-njbe.org.
Best wishes for another successful semester.
Bryan Meadows, Ph.D., Teacher Education Special Interest Group Representative, Fairleigh Dickinson University.
Editor’s Note: Dr. Meadows posted the following on the Hotlist on January 9.
Dear Members,
I'm collecting input from all NJTESOL/NJBE members on the topic of Teacher Education. I plan to share a summary of the survey results at the Teacher Education SIG meeting, held during the 2017 Annual Conference. Member input is a valuable resource by which the Teacher Education SIG may continue to promote and maintain quality practices in ESL/BE teacher preparation.
All NJTESOL/NJBE members are invited to complete the survey. All responses are anonymous. Summary results will be publicly shared at the Teacher Education SIG meeting, but will be available afterwards by email request to bmeadows@njtesol-njbe.org . Thank you for contributing your voice to this survey project.
The survey will be available January 9, 2017 until March 1, 2017.
Survey Link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/Teacher_Ed_Survey
Higher Education
Foreign Language Credit for Advanced Level ELL Students
By Howard Pomann
In the past two years, there have been major changes in English for Academic Purposes (EAP) programs at community colleges across New Jersey. These changes have had some significant negative and positive impacts for immigrant students in relation to completion of their degrees and access to programs. The driving force for change the past two years at the community college in EAP and Developmental Education has been the pressure to increase the 3-year graduation rates and increase completion rates overall.
On the negative side, as a response to trying to increase the 3-year graduation rates, some EAP programs have eliminated, or limited, beginning level EAP courses in their programs, and have replaced the beginning levels with either boot camp type programs, fee-paying continuing education alternatives, and/or free Workforce Development programs. These cuts at beginning level have had a significant negative impact on the access to all higher education for ELL students.
On the positive side, some programs have redesigned their courses to offer accelerated paths through their programs. Also, more EAP programs have linked content area courses with the different proficiency levels, providing students with more opportunities to gain credits while in EAP courses. To provide a laddered pathway to completion of a 2-year degree, some colleges have developed certificate programs that ELL students can begin to earn while in EAP courses.
Additionally, some colleges have begun to give college elective credit for the advanced level of EAP courses. These elective credits are useful for some majors, but for the majority of degrees, the credits cannot be used to fulfill the requirements. In Florida, the most advanced level of EAP is given credit and these credits can be used as foreign language credits. As foreign language credits, the students can use the credits to fulfill general education humanities, as well as foreign language requirements. Currently, in New Jersey, students are encouraged to take CLEP exams in their native language to meet their foreign language or humanities requirements. However, this test costs $80 and not all languages are eligible.
The rationale for giving foreign language credit for advanced EAP courses is compelling. Students who complete the advanced level of ESL have strong bilingual skills, which are much stronger than students who complete foreign language 101 and 102 courses for 6 credits. The Sunshine State TESOL of Florida(SSTESOL) “Statement on Associate Degree Credit for Community College EAP Courses” ( http://sstesol.org/?p=121 ) expresses that EAP courses should receive foreign language credit for the following reasons:
- The EAP courses are rigorous, academic courses in English comparable to advanced foreign language courses for native speakers of English;
- A lack of proficiency in a new language is not comparable to a lack of academic skill in one’s native language;
- Skills courses in developmental education are designed for native speakers who are not working at college level and are not comparable to EAP courses;
- Among students enrolled in EAP courses are those who have earned both undergraduate and advanced degrees from their home countries and seek cognitively demanding collegiate courses in English in order to acquire sufficient English proficiency to practice their professions in the U.S.;
- Receiving credit for advanced EAP courses increases motivation and student retention.
Additionally, TESOL has a “Position Statement on Academic and Degree-Granting Credit for ESOL Courses in Postsecondary Education” which also details the rationale and support for college credit for EAP courses. (http://www.tesol.org/advance-the-field/position-statements)
In New Jersey, to achieve getting foreign language credit for the upper level of EAP courses will require colleges to give academic credit for the courses, and for the concept of foreign language credit for advanced EAP to be approved at the state level.Giving academic credit for the most advanced EAP courses, will go a long way toward helping ESL students have an excellent opportunity to complete their degrees more quickly. An update on the efforts of NJ Community Colleges to gain credit for the advanced levels will be highlighted at the Higher Education SIG meeting at our Spring Conference.
I look forward to continue to serve on NJTESOL/NJBE Executive Board to enhance opportunities for our students at all levels K-12, Adult, Teacher Education, and Higher Education. Please keep in touch with any questions, concerns, or ideas you may have.
Howard Pomann is an Associate Professor of English/ESL, Union County College (pomann@ucc.edu, 908-659-5147)