Underserving ELL Students in the Classroom

In this analysis, the area of cultural diversity is examined in the form of English
Language Learners (ELL) in the British Columbian public educational system with a specific
emphasis on data derived from the province in comparison to data in the city of Vancouver. In
my own experience as an ELL student, I have found that there are stark comparisons to services
and support offered between an elementary and secondary level. Within my professional practice
in Vancouver, I have observed many students in my classroom struggle with intercultural
communication and development of cultural intelligence that has negatively impacted their
learning. I argue the BC education school system is currently underserving English Language
Learners (formerly known as ESL) at a provincial and classroom level by assessing the data
provided.

To clarify, English Language Learners in BC exists as an official designation or class of

students. As determined by the policy and guidelines of the BC Ministry of Education (2009),
students who obtain this designation undergo official assessment practices to determine if they
are eligible for ELL program services where the ministry provides supplemental funding specific
to ELL services for a period of five years for each designated student. Based on BC Ministry
Statistics (2016), ELL students make up 11.4% of the students in the province. Within the
Greater Vancouver area, more than half are non-designated ELL students where some schools
have a population as high as 30% designated ELL students (Skelton, 2014). There are some
issues with the official designation as students who do not speak English at home as their
primary language may require language support services but may not receive the same amount of
support if they are not officially designated as ELL.

(Image: BC Ministry of Education, 2016)

 (Image: BC Ministry of Education, 2016)

These statistics have been drawn from Stats Canada, the BC Ministry of Education and
articles from the Vancouver Sun. The data sources are fairly current as they are all within five
years of the present date but the numbers themselves are representative of two areas. One area
identifies those who are officially designated according to the Ministry of Education or by census
data through Stats Canada. If one is looking for data on those who have been designated ELL,
then the data is accurate. The other area not captured by the data includes those students who are
ELL but in a non-official capacity. The data is collected on a regular basis as the province is
required to make data available to the public about the demographics of student enrolment. Often
times, this data is quoted by education ministers or policy makers as reasons for a specific
change or movement. Therefore, the data becomes much more of a political issue and should be
used and interpreted with caution.

In this above infographic, it appears that there is a sharp decrease in ELL students as they
transition from grades four to five, indicating they are no longer ELL students by the Ministry of
Education. The data reflects an assumption that within four to five years, English language
learners are no longer English language learners but are at the same level as native speaker which
is dangerous. As noted by Parrish and Linder-VanBerschot (2010), conflict exists for student
learners when they have to navigate a new culture to learn while bringing with them their
existing culture. Additionally, the data makes no attempt at consolidating other components of
cultural identity including class, geography, philosophy or biological as determined by Jameson
(2007).

The data suggests that the

greatest need for ELL services is at the
elementary level during the first years
of students education. The findings
from statistics taken from the
Vancouver Sun which sources BC
Ministry of Education data, indicate
very high percentages of ESL students
within metro Vancouver. Additionally,
the lower percentages of ELL identified
students in the secondary level are
misleading as the designation
percentage means fewer services and
resources are being put forward to
support these secondary students where
the greatest number of intercultural communication Image: (Skeldon, 2014)
challenges exist. What this means for front line
teachers is that teachers will need to practice a great
deal more awareness of the dominant culture and language that is presently in the classroom
environment and how students may struggle to adapt. With fewer support services, much of the
support for ELL students will solely come from the teachers of each course. Parrish and Linder-
VanBerschot (2010) identified key areas in addressing cross-cultural challenges in instruction
from adapting instructional strategies and being cognizant of your own cultural preferences to
respect individual cultural backgrounds.
The findings for British
Columbia do not necessarily surprise me
because the percentages are provincial
wide. The ratio of ELL students appear
misleading according to the BC Ministry
statistics because students appear to be
concentrated in particular districts. De
Oliveira and Athanases (2007) noted that
teachers should advocate for ELL equity
in the classroom but noted that it is
challenging to balance curriculum
content with cultural diversity among
thirty students in a classroom. Although
certain areas of British Columbia have a
much higher ELL population than others,
it is apparent that all teachers should be
equipped to teach a diverse set of
students in their classrooms.
 The reason for the original selection of this topic was the difficulty I experienced in
teaching in a strictly ELL classroom. Adaptations were made to meet the language needs of the
students but the biggest difficulty was that the majority of the students had the same language
preference and defaulted to speaking this language whenever possible. Considering Parrish and
Linder-Vanberschots (2010) cultural framework, my approach focused more on individualistic
approaches to social relationships and stability and logic in epistemology. In seeking ELL
support services, I often found that I was not provided any assistance and so I experienced many
of the common challenges addressed by Parrish and Linder-Vanberschot (2010) despite
practicing mindfulness and self-awareness. All teachers can benefit from further introspection of
their practices and considerations of the students culturally diverse backgrounds. Teachers
Establishing a strong collaborative and community within schools can create effective
environments not just for students but the teachers designing the instruction for the language
learning students identified by the data in this analysis.

References:

De Oliveira, L. C., & Athanases, S. Z. (2007, May/June). Graduates' Reports of Advocating for
English Language Learners. Journal of Teacher Education, 58(No. 3), 202-215.
doi:10.1177/0022487107299978

Linguistic Characteristics of Canadians. (2015). Retrieved from

http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2011/as-sa/98-314-x/98-314-x2011001-eng.cfm

Overview of Class Size and Composition in British Columbia Public Schools 2015/16. (2015,
December). Retrieved from https://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/reports/pdfs/class_size/2015/public.pdf

Parrish, P. & Linder-VanBerschot, J. A. (2010). Cultural Dimensions of Learning: Addressing the

Challenges of Multicultural Instruction.International Review of Research in Open and Distance
Learning, 11(2), 1-19. http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/809/1497

Skelton, C. (2014, July 08). ESL students in the majority at more than 60 schools in Metro
Vancouver. Retrieved from http://www.vancouversun.com/health/students majority more than
schools Metro Vancouver/10005768/story.html

Student Statistics - 2015/16 Province - Public and Independent Schools Combined. (2016,
January). Retrieved from https://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/reports/pdfs/student_stats/prov.pdf