Regardless of the amount of time that a mainstream teacher spends with PEP students, he or she plays an important role in those students' educational development. Mainstream classroom teachers can have five major functions in the education of PEP students. Some of these functions emerge through daily contact with the students in the classroom and concern actual instruction. Others result from students' exposure to teachers in the larger school setting and may affect students' general linguistic, academic, social, and cultural development.
Mediator and Facilitator of Learning
The first role that a mainstream classroom teacher can
play vis-a-vis PEP students is that of a mediator and facilitator of learning.
This notion of mediation is discussed by Feuerstein; the teacher is seen
as a mediating agent who interposes him or herself "between the child and
external sources of stimulation, and 'mediates' the world to the child
by framing, selecting, focusing, and feeding back environmental experiences
in such a way as to produce in him appropriate learning sets and habits"
(Feuerstein, 1982, p.71). By virtue of their limited proficiency in the
language of instruction, PEP students cannot optimally benefit from content
area classes (e.g., math and science,) taught entirely in English. PEP
students do not have the language proficiency necessary to meet the linguistic
demands of content area classes. They may lack the ability to reason in
English, and they are likely to have difficulty learning new vocabulary
in English related to new content area concepts. Since both of these cognitive
processes are in continual demand in the content area classroom (Chamot
and O'Malley, 1986), some type of mediation is necessary.
The most direct way of mediating content area instruction for PEP students would be through their native language, but that is not always a feasible option, especially for a monolingual English-speaking mainstream classroom teacher. Other, albeit less desirable, options are available through the medium of English: teachers can help the PEP students in their classrooms gain access to instruction by specifically preparing them for content area lessons prior to introducing new concepts and by modifying their own teaching slightly (see Hamayan and Perlman, 1990, for practical suggestions). They can also help create a support system for the PEP students by setting up a peer tutoring arrangement in which PEP students are tutored by an English proficient peer or by simply pairing them up with buddies in the classroom who guide them through content area lessons as they unfold.
Facilitate the Acquisition of English as a Second Language
The second role that a mainstream classroom teacher can
play in the education of PEP students is that of a person who facilitates
the acquisition of English as a second language, especially the cognitively-demanding
academic type of language that is used in content area classes. Essentially,
any interaction between an ESL learner and a native speaker of English
is an opportunity for the student to learn in the second language. Whether
in the classroom, the playground, or the school hallway, the teacher provides
the student with valuable information about the new language as well as
feedback regarding the student's own language. In the classroom, the teacher
can foster the development of forms and language proficiency related to
literacy, particularly in the content areas. This type of language proficiency
has been referred to as Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (Cummins,
1980) and is essential in succeeding in an academic setting.
Classroom language has other beneficial effects: interactions between the teacher and the entire group of students have instructional value for the PEP students in that class. The students learn from listening to the teacher talk and to other students respond. Classroom interaction can have especially great value to PEP students if it is structured in such away that students know what to expect both in terms of the content area being taught and the language that accompanies it (Simich-Dudgeon, McCreedy, and Schleppegrell, 1989). It is also important for PEP students to learn the language that accompanies classroom routines so that they may become fully functioning participants in the classroom.
Outside the classroom, a third role emerges for the teacher, that of the proficient English language user. As a proficient speaker of English, the teacher can provide a valuable model for PEP students that they may not get from their peers. Teachers can also provide students with valuable feedback regarding their language that they are also not likely to get from their peers. As feedback that PEP students receive from their English proficient peers may be rather critical and harsh, the teacher's contributions are helpful and timely. Outside the classroom, interactions between mainstream teachers and PEP students usually focus on the message rather than the form of language, making the situation more conducive to the development of communicative skills used in informal interpersonal relations (referred to as the Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills by Cummins, 1980.)
Teachers need to provide students with feedback about
their language, but they need to do so indirectly and implicitly, avoiding
the mere correction and replacement of the student's utterances. One useful
method is to expand and extend what the student says. For example, if the
student says: "I think so he no come to school today," the teacher might
respond: "Oh, you think he didn't come to school today? Do you know why?"
rather than focusing on the erroneous structures in the student's utterance.
This gives the student the correct linguistic model and, as an important
corollary, sends the message that the student's attempts at communication
are accepted. (See Simich-Dudgeon, McCreedy, and Schleppegrell, 1989, for
some useful guidelines for teachers in helping PEP students to communicate.)
The fourth role for the mainstream classroom teacher is that of a representative of the mainstream culture and a mediating agent in the socialization and acculturation of the student into the mainstream school community. In the case of students who come from a cultural background that is vastly different from that of the mainstream population, there is a need for developing and maintaining the social and cultural bridges between the students' home culture and that of the school (Ovando, 1989). Teachers can help PEP students who come from a cultural background that is different from that of the school by making the norms of the school culture as explicit as possible, but in a non-threatening way. Students need time to learn about a new culture and will need even more time to adopt its norms. Also the adoption of a new culture does not need to occur at the expense of the native culture. Students need to feel proud of their own heritage to be motivated to learn and to be proud of their new second culture (Simich-Dudgeon, McCreedy, and Schleppegrell, 1989).
The mediation between cultures, that of the mainstream population and that of the linguistically diverse student populations, must be multidirectional. That is, members of the mainstream can also benefit from learning about the various cultures that PEP students represent. Teachers can play an extremely valuable role in creating a truly multicultural environment in their school by giving a prominent place to PEP students' culture in everyday school life. This means going beyond the annual multicultural food festival, or the occasional lesson about pi:atas. Creating a truly multicultural school milieu implies viewing every aspect of the curriculum from the perspective of other cultures. By doing so, PEP students, who are typically perceived as being in need of remediation, gain significant status as valuable resources.
A final and vital role for mainstream classroom teachers
to play in the education of PEP students is that of an advocate. An advocacy-oriented
attitude is essential in counteracting the potentially disabling process
that many PEP students face in school (Damico and Hamayan, 1990). Some
researchers argue that programs for linguistically diverse students have
been less than successful because they generally have not significantly
altered the relationship between educators and minority students and between
schools and linguistically diverse communities (Cummins, 1986). Sociological
analyses of schools (Ogbu, 1978; Paulston, 1980) suggest that students
from "dominated" societal groups are either empowered or disabled as a
direct result of how the school incorporates the students' language and
culture; how the participation of the linguistically diverse community
is encouraged; and how teachers and administrators become advocates for
PEP students and begin to focus on their assets rather than their problems.
In the face of a disabling attitude which considers PEP
students disadvantaged, with little esteem attached to their actual or
potential bilingualism, students can experience a loss of control over
their lives. This disabling attitude is exhibited in the label "limited
English proficient" -- the official and legal name for students with a
primary language other than English whose proficiency in English has not
reached a high enough level to allow them to survive in a classroom where
English is the medium of instruction. This label focuses on the negative
aspect of not being proficient in English rather than stressing the positive
aspect of adding one language on to another and becoming bilingual. When
faced with this type of negativism, students lose confidence in their cultural
and linguistic identity as well as in their ability to learn, and this
lack of confidence may have devastating effects on their academic life
(Ovando, 1989). Advocacy is not a political stance as much as it is an
outlook of professionals who work in the best interest of their clients
-- in this case, the students.
In addition to the five functions described in the preceding sections that pertain directly to PEP students, mainstream classroom teachers also play two indirect roles by collaborating and consulting with other teachers in the school.
For additional information, please click on the link below:
Preparing
Mainstream Classroom Teachers To Teach Potentially English Proficient Students
by Else V. Hamayan