As an educator working with English language learners, it can be a tricky balancing act to correct errors while also fostering confidence in students. It is specifically challenging with the younger kiddos, such as kindergarten and first grade. On the one hand, it’s important to teach proper grammar and pronunciation early on, but on the other hand, it’s crucial to encourage students to feel comfortable using the language. One approach is to focus on positive reinforcement and praise while also providing gentle corrections and feedback. It’s also essential to create a safe and supportive classroom environment where students feel comfortable making mistakes and asking questions. Ultimately, the goal should be to help students develop both accuracy and fluency in the language while also building their confidence and self-esteem.
Erring is part of academic and personal growth. Some additional strategies below would be excellent ways to assist students in navigating.
- Individual conversations- Whenever possible, meet with students individually and ask them to share their thoughts as they write. Sometimes, a misused word completely alters the message, and clarification helps to edit the piece accurately. Most importantly, it validates their ideas and emphasizes their message rather than the errors. Meeting with students individually can be a valuable way to provide targeted feedback and help them improve their writing skills. By asking students to share their thoughts as they write, teachers can gain a better understanding of their thought processes and identify areas where they may need additional support. Additionally, clarifying misused words or phrases can help ensure that the student’s message is accurately conveyed and can also serve as a valuable editing exercise. Most importantly, this approach emphasizes the student’s ideas and message rather than the errors, which can help build confidence and motivation. Overall, individual conversations can be a powerful tool for supporting student learning and growth.
- Peer reviewing- Peer review and editing can be a valuable tool for improving writing skills, especially in classrooms with mixed proficiency levels. However, it’s important to be mindful of the potential risks, such as undetected errors or the possibility of more mistakes. To ensure its effectiveness, it’s essential to provide clear guidelines and criteria for the peer review process and model effective feedback techniques. Pairing students with different proficiency levels can also be helpful, with more advanced students offering guidance and support to those who need it. By implementing peer review thoughtfully, teachers can provide a valuable learning experience that fosters growth and improvement in writing skills, alongside building problem-solving and conflict-resolution skills.
References:
Ferlazzo, L. (2016). Response: Effective Strategies For ELL Error Correction. https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/opinion-response-effective-strategies-for-ell-error-correction/2016/04
————————————————————————————————
Select Total Physical Response (#26) AND two other strategies and how you would apply them in the classroom with ELLs. Respond to one other classmate.
In my classroom, I chose Total Physical Response (TPR) alongside Wait Time and Scaffolding, as well as Graphic Organizers, to improve my English Language Learners’ (ELLs) experience in learning language. To incorporate TPR into my classroom, there will be different ways in which I will include bodily movements in the lesson. Some weather conditions can be acted out by the students during warm-up activities, or they can act like various animals and attach such movements to vocabulary and concepts. For example, during vocabulary lessons, I might gesture or act out new words that are difficult for students to understand. It is through storytelling that I am going to pretend to be some characters or reenact some events to help learners get the plot and vocabulary better. Again, traditional yes/no questions would be changed into actions like thumbs up/down for comprehension checks, thus making it more interactive and kinesthetic.
My attention would be on affording ELLs ample time for rumination as well as guidance in constructing replies based on the wait time and scaffolding. Students will be given clear instructions, visuals, and demonstrations to ensure that they understand what is involved in the activities. Confidence will improve if they are provided with prompts or sentence beginnings to start speaking or writing. I can pose questions that do not have direct answers so as to get students to develop their ideas further. Through pausing and repeating strategies, there is enough pause time for students to think over the question and answer it well
For thought organization, I would use graphic organizers, which make visual aids more appealing. In writing or speaking activities, graphic organizers can be applied for brainstorming; this helps to activate students’ prior knowledge and build their vocabulary. This way, students will be able to structure their ideas logically by using these graphic organizers when they are preparing their presentations. Moreover, graphic organizers make it easier for learners to understand information from texts or lectures as they chart out information symbolically. Also, writing assignments can be supplemented with graphic organizers so that people may guide themselves through the process of planning and structuring their ideas in a logical manner.
Reference
Ferlazzo, L., & Sypnieski, K. (2018). Teaching English Language Learners Tips from the Classroom. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1192755.pdf