Nikki Hoffman-Schepers

Language and Standardized Testing

In today's society, we continually see an influx in immigrants on an annual basis. The majority of these immigrant students are subsequently placed in English as a Second Language (ESL) courses due to their low skill level in the English language. Have ESL students in the classroom certainly raises more questions than it does answers, as teachers are faced with various new situations in helping ESL students better understand not only the English language, but the English culture as well. Another difficulty that is faced is exactly what methods teachers need to be implementing in their goals of better acclimating students to the English language. The school board needs to allow
There is no need to confuse the ESL student by throwing in overbearing phrases. The teacher should be clear as to what is being asked of the student, rather than include material that causes the student to question exactly what the teacher is attempting to gather from the student. All questions should be as specific as possible, thereby minimizing any room for error on the part of the teacher. Appearance also plays a large part in assisting ESL students. Ensuring that testing material is eligible and preferably typed out in an easy to follow format is also key. These key points to follow will certainly be beneficial in allowing students to better function on subject tests given to them in the English language.

ESL students face plenty of challenges in today's educational system. One of the most apparent challenges to consider is the ESL students are the cultural knowledge backgrounds that are brought into the classroom. This can certainly make it tougher for ESL students to adjust to English speaking classrooms. Teachers need to understand how their students' cultures affect their perception, classroom behavior, and general learning abilities. Cultural knowledge backgrounds make it tougher for students to transition to a new language. The different cultural backgrounds force the students to learn new languages, learn new classroom rules and behaviors, learn new learning principles, and on top of it all an entirely new culture. Having to learn a new culture