The CATESOL Journal

Preparing mainstream classroom teachers to work with culturally and linguistically diverse learners is a growing concern in education as more and more schools host increasing numbers of students whose primary language is not English. Unfortunately, significant numbers of teachers have had little preparation for working with these diverse learners and feel ill equipped to support their academic development. This mixed-methods case study explores the longitudinal impact of a professional-development program designed to increase teachers’ knowledge of second language acquisition and of appropriate instructional practices for supporting English language learners (ELLs). Findings suggest that participation in the program had a positive effect on participants’ knowledge of language and literacy acquisition, their ability to plan and manage instruction for ELLs, their understanding of appropriate assessment for ELLs, and their classroom practice. A year later, though focal participants claimed maintenance, these effects were only marginally present in their classroom practice.

This article explores the teaching of English to speakers of other languages as an art, and as such, how teachers can engage in the creative process to develop their own teaching and encourage students to gain more meaningful and effective language skills. Drawing on the work of psychologists, art educators, and creative pedagogy, the writer details four stages in the creative process (Wallas, 1926/2014) and eight habits (Hetland, Winner, Veenema, & Sheridan, 2013) to practice within those stages to help all teachers identify, evaluate, and develop their creativity. A grammar lesson from the writer’s work as an ESL instructor in reading/writing for graduate students in art and design is used to exemplify how we can all become more creative and successful facilitators of language learning.

“To lead, one must follow.” Lao-Tzu’s quote embodies the belief that many 1st-semester students at our institution hold regarding their approach to creativity. Whether working on an essay or an art project, many have a tendency to imitate a more skilled person’s work as a way of learning, improving, and building confidence. Conversely, it is not uncommon for their instructors to push them to generate original ideas and think outside of the box. These conflicting approaches and other opposing cultural tendencies can lead to a host of challenges for both instructors and our student artists, especially students from Confucian heritage cultures. This article shares observations of these challenges and suggestions for addressing them.

This article details the design and implementation of a reading program in a university EFL setting as a strategy to encourage creativity, critical thinking, collaborative learning, and reading for enjoyment (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001; Richards & Renandya, 2002). This student-centered project challenged ELLs to address issues such as bullying, racism, relationships, culture, and human rights through reading texts and activities, spanning a range of language levels from beginners to high-intermediate. The program includes a combination of intensive and extensive reading, lower- and higher-order thinking skills, and creative language production in the form of reading group discussions, poster sessions, and character role-plays. Included are sample lesson plans, reading materials, and activities, which can easily be modified for other language-learning contexts.

Under critical examination, the English language and its use in daily interactions carry with them symbolic values in our social world, including social mobility, educational achievement, and employment. Its representations in government bodies, mass media, education, and legal documents have further increased those values and subtly created a hostile environment for many US immigrants who are nonnative English speakers. In the bilingual education debate, this view of nativism and monolingualism has received support from critics who believe that bilingual education serves only to disembody national unity and cohesion. As a result of the English-only view, a number of bilingual education programs are curtailed in the states of California, Arizona, and Massachusetts. In this article, I adopt the theoretical framework of equal educational opportunity (EEO) to examine bilingual education conceived by the California Education for a Global Economy Initiative. In the discussion section, I also propose a bilingual education plan that could better reflect language-positive liberalism and a participatory educational ideal.

Despite facing multiple challenges in obtaining a college degree, some immigrant students successfully navigate the US educational system. Learning about their experiences in our schools can help us identify and implement specific practices and policies that make schooling more rewarding for a large student population. The journey of a Guatemalan immigrant from elementary school to a 4-year university is described in this article. The obstacles she faced throughout are presented and ways in which hurdles were overcome are explained. Educators from kindergarten teachers to university professors are encouraged to learn about the context in which students emigrate to the US and the multitude of out-ofschool factors that influence their educational achievement.