Placement, Assessment, Pogramming Myths

Myth: L2 students just need to be placed in an English-speaking environment and they'll learn the language. That's how my grandparents learned English.

Reality: To be considerate of students' ever-developing language, they need to be provided an appropriate education that nourishes that. This is true for older learners especially, who have been exposed to their L1 for a substantial amount of their life.

I know that my family would agree with this myth, but it is just unrealistic to think someone can just be thrown into a classroom and pick up all the components of a language like grammar, vocabulary, reading, speaking, etc. without any formal instruction. On top of that, legally students have rights to a quality education that is equal, NOT necessarily identical. These students are most likely not handicapped nor non-achieving, they are just at a disadvantage in their language proficiency at the moment. Some support in and out of the content area, like an ELL class, can serve to be a great scaffold to English competence.


The idea that we should only assess ELL learners to see if they are "ELLs" is not only wrong, but ignorant. "L2 learners should be assessed for not only placement reasons, but also on diagnosing students' progress and needs, assessing students' performance, and determining program effectiveness" (Samway & McKeon, 2007). It is the responsibility of the teacher to be sensitive to all their students by knowing their needs and giving them the best possible way to succeed.

NCLB (No Child Left Behind) holds schools responsible for all students, including ELLs. They are tested in their proficiency of listening, reading, writing, and speaking. Now, I am not the biggest fan of NCLB, but however, I do agree that districts should be responsible for ALL students. As the book lists (Supreme Court Cases), schools are legally bound to provide equal education to all students. It is their responsibility to provide further assistance so that students can have a better opportunity to succeed and move-on in their academic careers.