Cultural Characteristics and History of LEP students
Many cultures are individualistic and view success as an individual achievement, this is not the case with many Hispanic cultures. “Collectivistic cultures, like those of Japan and Mexico, achievement motivation is often correlated with social versus individual goals” (Trumball&Rothstein-Fisch, 2011, p.28).
Trumball and Rothstein-Fisch found that “Positive relationships with peers have been cited as especially important for the engagement and success of immigrant Latino students. Relationships with teachers were more strongly related to engagement than were peer relationships” (p. 28).
Ivey indicates a large problem that arises, stating “Hispanic families within the American school system are not fully participating in their child’s education due to language and cultural barriers, and therefore missing out on the opportunity to help their child succeed” (2011, p. 6). This emphasizes the importance for schools to involve all parents, regardless of language and cultural barriers.
Trumball and Rothstein-Fisch found that “Positive relationships with peers have been cited as especially important for the engagement and success of immigrant Latino students. Relationships with teachers were more strongly related to engagement than were peer relationships” (p. 28).
Ivey indicates a large problem that arises, stating “Hispanic families within the American school system are not fully participating in their child’s education due to language and cultural barriers, and therefore missing out on the opportunity to help their child succeed” (2011, p. 6). This emphasizes the importance for schools to involve all parents, regardless of language and cultural barriers.
Teaching Strategies for LEP students
Academic Challenges for LEP students
According to Coleman and Goldenberg, "The fundamental challenge ESLs in all-English instruction face is learning academic content while simultaneously becoming proficient in English" (2009).
Research shows that “effective practices for LEPs and ESL students are that they need to be taught expressive, answering verbally or written, as well as receptive language and suggests that teachers do not completely isolate conversational English from academic English” (Coleman & Goldenberg, 2009).
White, Graves, & Slater (as cited in Wessels, 2011) found that “vocabulary knowledge is the single best predictor of EL’s (English Learners) academic achievement”. Implementing research-based vocabulary strategies as well as SIOP are essential to closing the achievement gap between LEP and non-LEP students.
SIOP Practices
SIOP is a program that includes many different elements that ensure LEP students are exposed to a variety of scaffolds to ensure their success. “SIOP includes eight components: preparation, building background, comprehensible input, strategies, interaction, practice/application, lesson delivery, and review/assessment” (Chen, Kyle & McIntyre, 2008, p.9).
Echevarria and Vogt argue “Effective teachers consistently write, post, and orally share with their students both language objectives and content objectives for every lesson they teach. This provides English learners with a road-map of what they are to learn” (2010, p. 9).
When implementing SIOP, it is imperative to the success and fidelity of the program that each step is implemented correctly. Calderon and Zamora believe “The failure in complete implementation may result first and foremost in underperformance by the ELL student and second in the intervention being classified as inadequate” (2014, p.24).
When implemented correctly, SIOP has been found to help improve academic achievement of LEP students and improve language acquisition.
According to Coleman and Goldenberg, "The fundamental challenge ESLs in all-English instruction face is learning academic content while simultaneously becoming proficient in English" (2009).
Research shows that “effective practices for LEPs and ESL students are that they need to be taught expressive, answering verbally or written, as well as receptive language and suggests that teachers do not completely isolate conversational English from academic English” (Coleman & Goldenberg, 2009).
White, Graves, & Slater (as cited in Wessels, 2011) found that “vocabulary knowledge is the single best predictor of EL’s (English Learners) academic achievement”. Implementing research-based vocabulary strategies as well as SIOP are essential to closing the achievement gap between LEP and non-LEP students.
SIOP Practices
SIOP is a program that includes many different elements that ensure LEP students are exposed to a variety of scaffolds to ensure their success. “SIOP includes eight components: preparation, building background, comprehensible input, strategies, interaction, practice/application, lesson delivery, and review/assessment” (Chen, Kyle & McIntyre, 2008, p.9).
Echevarria and Vogt argue “Effective teachers consistently write, post, and orally share with their students both language objectives and content objectives for every lesson they teach. This provides English learners with a road-map of what they are to learn” (2010, p. 9).
When implementing SIOP, it is imperative to the success and fidelity of the program that each step is implemented correctly. Calderon and Zamora believe “The failure in complete implementation may result first and foremost in underperformance by the ELL student and second in the intervention being classified as inadequate” (2014, p.24).
When implemented correctly, SIOP has been found to help improve academic achievement of LEP students and improve language acquisition.