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A Literature Review of Using English to teach STEM effectively.
Introduction
The urgency and complexity in given shifts in science and math standards is the vital part of
development where students, including English learners, achieve high academic standards
and have opportunities to participate in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics
(STEM) – learning. As the demand for workers and professionals in STEM fields is unmet
and increasing, these students are underrepresented as a group. According to (Pew Research
Center, 2018), since 1990, Jobs in STEM have outpaced all other fields. They still represent a
diminishing portion of the STEM workforce although the number of underrepresented
minorities in STEM fields has also increased over this period. Hispanics comprise 16 percent
of the United States work force, but only 7 percent of the STEM workforce. Since English
learners status during schooling could not be interfered from ethnicity, and because English
learners come from many ethnic segments of society, these data do not speak directly to the
underrepresentation of English learners. Nonetheless, the decrease in participation and
success in STEM coursework in high school and college among English learners lend backup
to the interference based on the participation data of workforce. Non-STEM jobs have less
earning potential than jobs in STEM fields at the same time. Organising schools and
preparing teachers so that all students can reach their full potential in STEM has the potential
to transform student’s individual lives as well as for teachers, the school and the society as a
whole. In consistency with the federal definition, the term English learner is used throughout
the review, students aged 3 to 21 is enrolled in elementary or secondary school, whose native
language is a language other than English, and whose proficiency in speaking, reading,
writing or understanding the English language may be sufficient to not accept the ability to
successfully achieve in classrooms where the instruction language is English. These students
are approached differently where they are instructed under a variety of different program
models to support both language and content learning (U.S Department of Education, 2012).
The proficiency of language is not a prerequisite for content instruction, but an effective
content instruction outcome. It is suggested that the language to be learned needs to focus on
the important STEM content. English language proficiency standard must also change as
content standards are continuously evolving.
English learners and Language
The first response is to prepare teachers who would teach English as the number of English
learners increase. That would be in a separate classroom before sending them to content class
room. The idea is for them to develop sufficient proficiency. Children learn language best
when it is taught in meaningful contexts of use, their subject areas. The work of Cummins
(1981); he made a distinction particularly between informal conversational language and
formal academic language in his research on children bilingual competence development at
school.
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There is a controversy generated for the distinction from Cummins, but has nonetheless
proved valuable in attention drawn to the many ways that individuals use and comprehend
language in education. It is unclear as the development of content-based language teaching
begins and how the relationship among content learning and the learning of language has to
be articulated. As part of the second language learning process in school contexts, research is
increasingly pointing to the need for explicit attention to language itself. Language alone does
not lead to proficiency development (Lightbown and Spada, 2013). This research initially
studies the way teachers use English by providing feedback on errors with greater accuracy.
The main focus of research on English development changes in recognition that errors are
inevitably made as their meaning-making repertoires expands (Valdes, 2005). The use of the
construct academic language has become an issue in research on English learners. Cummins
introduced it through his notion of cognitive academic language proficiency. This term has
been widely employed as a description to the language exposed to children and that they may
need to develop to prosper in school. It has also been critiqued as presenting a symbolic
language border (Valdes, 2016, p. 330). If English learners are seen to bring only limited
language resources to STEM education, it is used in this review in description to the register
range used in STEM learning.
English learning with Math
Over the past 30 to 40 years, mathematics learning with English learners shows movement
towards new way of conceptualizing the meaning of mathematics language. It is on research
rather than obstacles, the definition of mathematics activity and the focus is on the resources.
As a resource, bilingual mathematics learner’s early studies failed to include bilingualism,
framing the problem as one entire owing to linguistic challenges: solving word problems,
understanding individual vocabulary terms, or translating from English to mathematics
symbols (Cocking and Mestre, 1988). A broader view of mathematics activity was developed
by later studies, examining not only arithmetic computation, reasoning and problem solving
responses, but also the strategies used by children to solve arithmetic word problems (Secada,
1991), and students’ conceptions of two digits quantities (Fuson et al., 1997). Conclusions are
limited to these two mathematics topics since these early studies focus on carrying out
arithmetic computation and solving word problems. Generalizing from studies on arithmetic
computation and algebra word problem to other topics in mathematics, such as geometry or
proportional reasoning is not possible. The approaches that include the other strand of
mathematics proficiency are on research (Cobb, et al, 1993). How students use and connect
their linguistic and cultural resources to the learning of mathematics is in an additional
research.
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English learners with Science
While developing English proficiency, the general early research direction on learning of
science with English learners does not attend to the practical needs for all students to meet the
full range of science standards or abilities. Studies of disciplinary practices in science
education emerged from the scholarship of science studies—the empirical study of science
communities. According to (Kelly & Chen, 1999), Sociology and anthropology of science
identified the important ways that science is constructed through discourse and social
practices. Much of the early literature on effective science instruction with English Learners
focuses on engaging English Learners in hands-on activities to make science concrete and
experiential while reducing language load (Roth, 1999). Moreover, discrete science process
skills for example; hypothesizing perceives as compatible with language functions, for
example; describing and summarizing. The focus on social and discourse practices of science
education situates instances of talk and action around meaning – making in on-going social
and cultural practices of the specified classroom or other educational settings. Studies of
discourse in science education identifies ways that student interests, personal and cultural
world contributes to how they are positioned and how they come to see themselves as science
learners (Brown, 2006). Culture and language practices, educators sought to understand how
student identities are constructed within the context of science learning (Bang, 2015).
Linguistic Heterogeneity
A students’ English proficiency may be reported at particular levels of proficiency in
listening, reading (language comprehension), speaking, and writing (language production), or
they may receive an overall proficiency level if teachers get information about the English
learners in their classrooms. Language assessments may be a problematic way to measure
language proficiency (Cumming, 2008), they might miss much of the communicative aspects
of authentic classroom interaction during instructions. English learners vary in control of
these different skills and this can interact with their prior schooling (Solano, 2008). It is very
important for an educator to identify the learners’ prior knowledge about STEM subject from
their previous schooling experiences and to make connections and build on prior learning in
their first language. According to (NASEM, 2017), English learners can develop fluency in
language and the language of STEM subjects over years of engagement and participation in
grade appropriate activities. English learners go through different trajectories in their learning
of language although the process of language learning is similar for all students, and STEM
contents related to their ages and levels of English proficiency (Solano, 2008). Older children
who can read and write in their first language may be in the right position over the younger
ones because the younger ones are still developing literacy in any language. When young
children learn language and STEM contents, they may need additional support. Children who
live in more linguistically homogeneous communities are well positioned to draw on their
first language proficiency as an asset in STEM learning. It is with respect to community
context.
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Conclusion
The designation of a group of students as English learners is important to the U.S.
educational system. However, clear and consistent designations of English Learners and
English proficiency status are needed to reduce misperceptions of English Learners
proficiency in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics academic achievement,
including misestimating of achievement gaps. Consistent identification, including the ability
to report on educational attainment of English Learners after they have become proficient in
English, would enable a deeper understanding of academic achievement of students who
begin school as English learners, as well as what program models and instructional strategies
work best, and to determine whether specific approaches work best for particular English
Learner subpopulations under specific conditions. The integration of science, technology,
engineering, and mathematics (STEM) content and language learning can be achieved in
various ways but is facilitated when teachers of STEM content work in concert with English
as second language teachers who recognize the functional use of language in STEM
instruction.
Recommendation
Develop a high-quality framework to identify and remove barriers to English learners’
participation in rigorous science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)
learning opportunities. District and school leaders should identify and enact norms of shared
responsibility for success of English Learners in STEM both within the district central office
and within schools, developed by teams of district and school leaders associated with STEM
and English language development/English as a second language education. States should
take an active role in collecting and sharing resources across schools and districts. Leaders in
states, districts, and schools should continuously evaluate, monitor, and refine policies to
ensure that English Learners’ STEM learning outcomes are comparable to their never-EL
peers.
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Reference
Bang, M., Curley, L., Kessel, A., Marin, A., Suzukovich, E. S., III, and Strack, G. (2014).
Muskrat theories, tobacco in the streets, and living Chicago as Indigenous land.
Environmental Education Research, 20(1), 37–55.
Brown, B., Ryoo, K., and Rodriguez, J. (2010). Pathway towards fluency: Using
“disaggregate
instruction” to promote science literacy. International Journal of Science Education,
32(11), 1465–1493.
Cobb, P., Wood, T., and Yackel, E. (1993). Discourse, mathematical thinking, and classroom
practice. In E.A. Forman, N. Minick, and C.A. Stone (Eds.), Context for Learning:
Sociocultural Dynamics in Children’s Development (pp. 91–119). New York: Oxford
University Press.
Cumming, A. (2008). Assessing oral and literate abilities. In E. Shohamy and N. Hornberger
(Eds.), Encyclopedia of Language and Education: Language Testing and Assessment (pp.
3–18). New York: Springer.
Kelly, G.J., and Chen, C. (1999). The sound of music: Constructing science as sociocultural
practices through oral and written discourse. Journal of Research in Science Teaching,
36(8), 883–915.
NASEM. (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine). (2017). Promoting
the Educational Success of Children and Youth Learning English: Promising Futures.
Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
Solano-Flores, G., and Li, M. (2013). Generalizability theory and the fair and valid
assessment of linguistic minorities. Educational Research and Evaluation, 19(2–3), 245–263.
Solano-Flores, G., and Nelson-Barber, S. (2001). On the cultural validity of science
assessments. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 38(5), 553–573.
U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, and What Works
Clearinghouse. (2013). English Language Learners Intervention Report: Sheltered Instruction
Observation Protocol® (SIOP®). Available: http://whatworks.ed.gov [August 2018].
Valdés, G., Kibler, A., and Walqui, A. (2014). Changes in the Expertise of ESL
Professionals:
Knowledge and Action in an Era of New Standards. Alexandria, VA: TESOL International
Association.
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ST. PETER CHANEL COLLEGE OF SECONDARY TEACHER EDUCATION- ULAPIA
EDLS – 411 – LITERATURE REVIEW
TASK NO. 1
NAME : OWEN PALANGAT
GROUP: 4B
ID: 190498
DATE: 27TH March 2023
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