Features: Teaching L2 Writing Harnessing the Power of Music Bolstering Resiliency During the Pandemic Links to Practice: SSTESOL Annual Conference 2021 SSTESOL Collaborates with JELE and more Fall 2021, Volume 14, Issue 2
FLORIDA Sunshine State TESOL Journal
Editor Tony Erben, Ph.D. University of Tampa Assistant-Editor Keya Mukherjee, Ph.D. Saint Leo University Copy-Editor Cristiane Vicentini University of Miami Editorial Review Board Laura Ballard, Ph.D. Florida State University Maria R. Coady, Ph.D. University of Florida Ester de Jong, Ph.D. University of Florida Katya Goussakova, Ph.D. Seminole State College Xuan Jiang, Ph.D. St. Thomas University Jennifer Killam Broward College Michelle Kroskey University of Central Florida John I. Liontas, Ph.D. University of South Florida Terri Mossgrove WIDA Sergei Paromchik, Ph.D. Hillsborough County Public Schools Robyn Percy-Socha, Ph.D. Full Sail University Cheryl A. Shamon, Ph.D. Saint Leo University Lindsay Vecchio,Ph.D. Alachua Public Schools Caroline Webb Broward College
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Manuscript Guidelines The manuscript should appeal to the instructional, administrative, or research interests of educators at various levels, such as adult education, K-12 issues, or teacher education issues. • The manuscript should be substantive and present new ideas or new applications of information related to current trends in the field. • The manuscript should be well written, clearly organized, and carefully proofed. • A complete reference list should be supplied at the end of the manuscript, and the entire manuscript should be formatted according to guidelines in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 5th Ed. (2001) or later. • Manuscripts should generally be no longer than 15-20 double-spaced pages. • An abstract of 150 words or less should accompany each manuscript. • A biographical statement of 50 words or less should be included for each author. Information should include current job or title, institution, degrees held, professional experience, and any other relevant information. • Please include a cover letter with the name, postal and e-mail address, and phone number of the first author (or other contact person) clearly noted. • Manuscripts must be submitted in electronic format as an e-mail attachment. Manuscripts must be submitted in Microsoft Word). Camera-ready figures and tables are requested. • Manuscripts are accepted throughout the year and sent out for review. Reviews may take up to three months. Revisions are usually expected within one month (30 days) after receiving the initial review. Book Review Guidelines • Materials reviewed must have been published within the last three years. • Reviews should be a maximum of three pages. (double spaced). • Each review must provide complete bibliographic information, a description of the book/material, the audience for whom it is designed and how well it accomplishes its purpose. • A cover letter should provide the author's name, email address, telephone number and a brief (25 word) bibliographic statement. • Reviews should be sent as an email attachment.
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Manuscripts Manuscripts may be submitted via the Sunshine State TESOL www site: https://sunshinestatetesol. wildapricot.org/page-1075471 or send to Tony Erben at terben@ut.edu Manuscript Reviewer Interested in being a manuscript reviewer? Please contact Keya Mukherjee at keya.mukherjee@saintleo.edu and detail your area(s) of expertise, a brief bibliography, and if relevant, select publications from the past five years. Advertising Interested in advertising? Submit an inquiry through the Sunshine State TESOL www site or email Keya Mukherjee at keya.mukherjee@saintleo.edu Affiliation Florida Sunshine State TESOL Association is an affiliate of TESOL International Association. Sunshine State TESOL 4801 Riverside Dr. Yankeetown, FL, 34496
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About Sunshine State TESOL Journal The Sunshine State TESOL Journal is a refereed journal published annually by the Sunshine State Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Inc. The main purpose of the Journal is to provide a forum for TESOL professionals to share ideas and research on second language teaching and learning. The Journal welcomes submissions of manuscripts based on research projects, classroom practices, conference presentations, and other professional activities of substance and interest to the general membership. A double-blind review process is used in which submitted manuscripts are distributed by the editor to two-three reviewers with expertise in the areas addressed in each manuscript. Written comments by reviewers and a recommendation on acceptance are returned to the editor, who then communicates the comments and decision on acceptance to the authors.
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Outgoing President A Year in Review: 2021 My Journal of Building on SSTESOL’s Achievements to Forge the Future Arlene Costello, Ed.D., SSTESOL President 2019 - 2021 and Advocacy Liaison SSTESOL Members and Friends, As I am writing this missive, I am feeling hopeful that our perspectives on SSTESOL volunteerism and what’s important in life, family, and profession will come to some normalcy soon. But what is “normal?” Has your pace in life changed dramatically? Leading SSTESOL in 2020 through 2021 meant creating inspirational and transformational themes for our members through the pandemic. SSTESOL Journal is one avenue of inspiration for our contributors. Thank you for your sharing your expertise through writing. When I became president of this great organization of language professionals in December 2019, I said I wanted SSTESOL to be “a trusted leader in Florida for advancing the quality of English language reaching through professional learning, research, standards, and advocacy.” I learned from history and I am excited about our path forward. I also renewed my commitment to expand SSTESOL’s mission by “providing leadership, advocacy and access to quality opportunities for members to a lively interaction in a professional network of all levels.” Leading the Board to agree in continuing to align SSTESOL’s programs, events, financial health and activities to its strategic goals which we launched in 2020, was the surest way to adopt some continuity of my goals in serving the organization and its members. Today, our vision and mission are strong and alive, and the proofs of our success are evident in the many programs, initiatives, policies, and rules we helped shape, and that have been completed and implemented. They are aligned with the SSTESOL strategic goals in order to effectively deliver the necessary supports for you, our members, partners in education and sponsors. So, what exactly are the SSTESOL’s 2021 Strategic Goals? In 2021, the SSTESOL Board voted to continue advancing the 2021 strategic goals that focused on five priorities which are listed below. A. Advocacy: Create opportunities for leadership growth and development. B. Professional learning and engagement: Provide opportunities for professional growth to enhance expertise and practice. C. Governance: Strengthen local chapters and support the establishment of new ones. Maintain organizations’ financial stability. D. Communication: Improve communication with members. E. Leadership: Expand SSTESOL’s presence, roles, and influence in the state of Florida and TESOL International. Under my leadership, you can find the detailed President’s Reports from this site, https://sunshinestatetesol.wildapricot.org/page-1075394.However, I picked some key 2021 SSTESOL’s accomplishments to highlight and share with you in this article which I will describe below. In Advocacy, as President, one of my projects was successfully implementing an advocacy training to all the local SSTESOL Chapters, which I called Advancing Advocacy: A SSTESOL Advocacy Roadshow Project. Also, together with SSTESOL’s Advocacy team (Andrea Lypka, Carla Huck and former Board member Ryan Pontier), we launched a series of virtual advocacy webinars. Over 50 trainees from Florida and other states in the nation participated in this free webinar series. Our most current work was writing position statements to make amendments to the FLDOE Rule 6A-109422. You can find SSTESOL’s position statements herehttps://sunshinestatetesol.wildapricot.org/page-1075449.SSTESOL made a mark in this process when FLDOE enacted a substantial change in the rule by deleting the word “immersion” and adding the approved instructional models to the text of the rule, as we have recommended. As such, when we collaborate with other entities (LULAC and SALA Advisory Committee), support each other, as well as having an established relationships with people who matter in this process, we will find ourselves both effective and successful. In Professional Learning and Engagement,the Professional Learning Committee (Amany Habib, Raydel Hernandez, Pamela Jo Wilson and Zaynep ) carried out SSTESOL’s Professional Development Plan and held three webinar series on different topics. 2021 was also the year that brought back liveliness and hope in more than 400 members and other professionals as we gather in Reconnecting, the theme of the 2021 Hybrid Annual Conference, at the Westshore Grand Hotel in Tampa, FL. You may follow this site to enjoy the photos of the eventhttps://sunshinestatetesol.wildapricot.org/page-1075477 In Governance,Edwidge Bryant, Pamela Jo Wilson, and Raydel Hernandez were elected as Member-at-Large and took office on July 1, 2021. SSTESOL President Arlene Costello, with the support of the SSTESOL Board, worked with Robin Socha, interim Central Florida TESOL (CFTESOL) President, in reactivating the Chapter. After Robyn worked tirelessly for months to recruit TESOL professionals to the Board, the CFTESOL Board is now fully organized, and it plans to hold its first annual conference in August 2022. Currently, all eight SSTESOL Chapters are active and involved in SSTESOL’s activities. One presidential initiative that presidents of local chapters look forward to is the Virtual Quarterly Conversations with SSTESOL President and Local Chapter Presidents. In this venue, each president shares his or her plans for the year and discusses ways to support each other as well as how SSTESOL can support them. They find this meeting relevant and full of ideas to apply in their chapters. Most importantly, the Board approved the president’s recommendation to create a visionary committee for rethinking and reimagining SSTESOL 2021 and beyond. Thus, the Rethink and Reimagine SSTESOL Committee was formed. The Board approved the committee’s recommendations which included: ·Rename the six elected Member-At-Large positions to Directors and revise job descriptions. ·Divide Florida into six SSTESOL Regions. ·Adopt the calendar year rather than the fiscal year for its daily operations. ·Revise the Constitution and Bylaws. SSTESOL’s fiscal statusis strong and healthy, with thanks to Keya Mukherjee, SSTESOL treasurer, for reinvigorating the financial reporting of revenue and expenditures. In communication, SSTESOL’s newly minted newsletter, thePerspectives, is published monthly, written and edited by Arlene Costello and Carla Huck, viewed by 45% of our members, is now in its 17thissue. Our website is updated constantly to reflect the moment with thanks to our webmaster, Carla Huck. Members follow SSTESOL social media manager’s (Andrea Lypka) posts with “like” or “love.”Finally, the SSTESOL Press (Tony Erben, editor) published its first ebook,45 Years of SSTESOL: A Chronicle of ESOL Advocacy, Research and Practice in Florida. Please visithttps://sunshinestatetesol.wildapricot.org/:to purchase this book for $25.00. In leadership,SSTESOL Board members (Arlene Costello, Tony Erben, Andrea Lypka, and Carla Huck) presented and participated actively at the TESOL International Affiliate training on April 11, 2021. SSTESOL was well represented at the Policy and Advocacy Summit (Arlene and Andrea) in June 2021. Finally, SSTESOL Board members participated in the Covid-19 Vaccination Campaign from October 11-23, 2021 to help save members’ and their loved one’s lives. SSTESOL has made great strides in expanding its presence, roles, and influence in the state of Florida, across the nation, and in the TESOL International realm. As 2022 begins, get involved! Together, we will remain committed to make SSTESOL even stronger and better as I have confidence that Dr. Tony Erben, 2022 SSTESOL President, will continue to advance SSTESOL’s mission and vision that works to support and guide you, all our English learners and the diverse ESOL programs in Florida. Onward, Dr. Arene Costello President, 2019-2021 2019-2021
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Editor's Commentary It always fills my professional heart with pride to read how vibrant our ESOL professional community is here in Florida. We had a very successful SSTESOL hybrid Conference in October 2021 and some of the presentations are in this issue's "Links to Practice" section. While this Fall 2021 issue is somewhat late, and I do apologize for this, there are, like always, some amazing articles to read. I have included a section called "From the Field" which highlights work done by educators in classrooms. In this Fall 2021 issue we have a number of submissions on supporting ELLs and their families during the on-going pandemic, the effects of poverty as well as anxiety. I was very happy to accept a submission about the importance of music in teaching ELLs as I am a great proponent of STEAM in education. On behalf of the Sunshine State TESOL of Florida and SSTESOL Press, I am extremely excited about our new collaborative efforts with the Board of the Journal of English Learner Education (JELE) and the tremendous work that they do in publishing a quality journal biannually. In the last issue, JELE republished a work that was published by SSTESOL Press in 2020 entitled Voices from the Sunshine State: Program and Policy Advocatesby Ryan Pontier, Rosa Castro-Feinberg and Arlene Costello. In doing this, we at SSTESOL see another way we can highlight the wonderful work done in Florida with English Language Learners. Similarly, the SSTESOL Journal will also republish an article from a past JELE journal, again in the hope of focusing on the wonderful work with the ESOL community. We expect a reprint will appear in our Fall 2022 issue. In May 2022, JELE will publish a special issue focusing on Florida. Please see p. 9 for more details. I look forward to further collaborations between JELE and SSTESOL. Lastly, SSTESOL Press will be publishing a 2nd edition of our inaugural book; 45 Years SSTESOL, which will include a chapter of assessing ELLs. Our SSTESOL members want to read about your research, your practice and/or your work in ESOL! If you have never submitted to a journal, we invite new research, manuscripts that describe classroom practice or thought pieces on advocacy or theory in ESOL. If you are a K-12 ESOL teacher, you probably do things in your classroom that other ESOL teachers across Florida would love to read about or see. Did I write "see"? Since the SSTESOL Journal is an e-publication, you can also send in annotated videos of your classroom practice! The videos don't have to be long. They can describe an activity that works well for you when working with pre-production ELLs, with Elementary ELLs or with adults. If you are unsure, send me an email and let me help you. In this Fall 2021 issue of the SSTESOL Journal we have an array of articles and reviews. I hope you enjoy them. BTW, we had an acceptance rate of 60%. this time. Lastly, let me thank our SSTESOL board members for their unwavering support as well as my co-editor Keya Mukherjee from Saint Leo University and the rest of the editorial board who give up their time to make this journal a worthy professional platform. Sincerely, Tony Erben, Ph.D. SSTESOL Editor, 2017/2018 & 2022 President
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President’s Corner 4 Editor’s Commentary 7 SSTESOL Chapter PD Initiatives & Confference Emerald Coast TESOL PD Virtual Confeerence , Saturday February 5th 10 SWFL TESOL F2F PD Conference, Saturday February 26th 11 Research Renata Pavanelli The Most Efficacious Way to Teach L2 Writing: Is TBLT More Effective Than PPP? 14 Taj Bakhsh, Hosseini EFL Learners' Anxiety Caused by Private Speech at Foundation Universities in Turkey 26 Pedagogy Melissa A. Salek Harnessing the Power of Music to Support English Language Learners 35 From the Field Rui Wang The Power of Self-Growth: Challenges and Possibilities in Soonhyang Kim Transnational Higher Education 41 Oxcanne Jean Second Language Learners’ Experiences in Fully Online Composition Courses in Community Colleges 45 Tia Kimball What Districts, Schools, and Teachers Need to Know: Supporting Multilingual Learners and Their Families’ in an Ongoing Global Pandemic 47 Lynda Franco High Growth Scores in a Combined K-1 Online Class: How was it done? 52 Carla Wood, Maria Pouncey Bolstering Resiliency of Students who are English Learners Against Catherine Timm Harmful Effects of Poverty 57 Links to Practice Carla Huck Using the SIOP Model to Engage Teachers of Multilingual Learners in Face-to-Face and Virtual Professional Learning 66 Melissa Salek Harnessing the Power of Music to Support English Language Learners 67 Christine Kassover Inheritance Tracks: Using Student Playlists to Build Engagement 68 Aviva Katzenell and Confidence in SLP
'The Journal of English Learner Education A Multidisciplinary Journal on English Learner Education Call for Papers for Special Themed Issue: TESOL Theory, Research, and Practice in the Sunshine State Manuscript Submission Deadline:March 10, 2022 Use our online submission form athttps://stars.library.ucf.edu/jele/ Potential authors are encouraged to send a brief description of the proposed manuscript to one ofthe co-editors for this issue to explore whether the topic and format of the proposed manuscript is suitable for the special issue. The co-editors for this issue are Tony Erben, President, Sunshine State TESOL (2022), terben@ut.edu, and Kerry Purmensky, JELE, at kerry.purmensky@ucf.edu The purpose of this special themed issue is to address the topic of TESOL research and pedagogical practices in the state of Florida. This issue will feature both research-oriented as well as practical articles that address descriptions of effective research and practices used by teachers, school counselors, and/or administrators in their instruction of ELs in Florida. This special issue is a collaboration between the Journal and the Sunshine State TESOL organization. This special issue requests papers that discuss the following suggested topics or other topics of relevance to English learners: •English learners’ social and emotional development •English learners’ language development •English learners’ academic achievement •Assessment of English learners •Challenges to successful implementation of state and federal policy for English learners •Ensuring comprehension of language for English learners at various levels of English proficiency and literacy •Dual language programs or other approaches to English learner education •Professional development for teachers of English learners •School-family connections for English learners •School-wide approaches to improving school experiences for English learners •Immigration stress and English learners •Cultural adjustment of English learners •COVID-specific changes to education for English learners and their implications For information about The Journal of English Learner Education, please visit our website: https://stars.library.ucf.edu/jele/
Florida Sunshine State TESOL Journal Contents Contents
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For more information on submission guidelines, click here.
Introduction L2 students have specific learning goals that reflect their real-life needs. Therefore, language teachers need to closely attend to their needs and engage them in language learning that mainly focuses on appropriate teaching approaches and assessments that can expand their learning of L2 writing. Due to the complexity of writing, L2 students might encounter difficulty initiating their writing if they are not provided with enough input to help them produce new ideas and actively participate in the learning process. Thus, it is crucial that students develop a good command of writing skills in order to improve language learning in L2 classrooms. However, the role of students in L2 writing classes is largely passive where theey are to come up with correct target language forms (Nunan, 2006; Phuong et al., 2015). They practice grammar or larger components of written texts rather than use language to communicate (Kroll, 1991). The lack of writing production and communication in L2 writing classes is due to the use of commercially ESL teaching materials (Long, 2015, 2016; Willis & Willis, 2007), which lead to the use of form-focused approaches in L2 classrooms (Careless, 2009; Foster, 2009; McDonough & Chaikitmongkol, 2007; Skehan, 2016). Form-focused approaches are based on isolated grammatical features and use linguistic controlled materials, leading teachers to adapt a more form-focused sequence in their classes (Ellis, 2020; Long, 2016). In addition, form-focused approaches do not provide students the opportunity to repeatedly practice learning skills in a realistic environment (Bryfonski & McKay, 2019). Nahavandi & Mukundan (2012) stated that “the use of grammar-focused teaching activities in many language classrooms does not reflect the cognitive learning processes employed in naturalistic language learning settings outside the classroom” (p. 115). One of the most popular form-focused approaches is the Presentation, Practice, Production (PPP) model, in which teachers first present an isolated linguistic component and then students practice these linguistic items through controlled activities (Li, 2020). Only later do students work on the production of language for communication. According to Li (2020), “During the presentation-practice-production sequence, fluency is acquired after accuracy” (p. 1119). Therefore, PPP is primarily centered on language study and practice rather than conveying the intended message (Harris & Leeming, 2021). Task-based language teaching (TBLT) is a framework that can refine this situation. Contrary to form-focused approaches, TBLT relies on meaning to form rather than form to meaning and emphasizes how the language is used instead of learning the language. In addition, TBLT emphasizes the use of authentic language through meaningful tasks and allows students to actively engage in real-life activities. Li (2020) summarized that the primary focus of TBLT is on “meaning and communicative features in the real world; focus on form is involved at the language focus stage to raise students’ awareness” (p. 1119). Using TBLT in L2 writing instruction provides students with the proper amount of input and tasks, actively involving them in the learning process. Furthermore, TBLT allows students to process the content of a text using various types of linguistic and non-linguistic resources (Ellis, 2021; Nunan, 2006) wherein they can improve their writing skills since these linguistic and non-linguistic components are interrelated (Han, 2014). In the field of TBLT for the teaching of L2 writing, empirical research is scarce (Benati, 2020; Harris & Leeming, 2021; Samuda et al., 2018). In addition, Harris and Leeming (2021) stated that studies comparing form-focused and meaning-focused instructions are urgently needed in L2 writing in order to identify which approach to teaching students results in better performance and higher scores. Further academic research into the effectiveness of task-based language teaching in L2 writing classrooms is needed because it is limited at present, especially in the academic field of English for Academic Purposes (EAP). Based on this background, an empirical study was conducted which aimed to analyze whether the application of TBLT to L2 writing classes could positively affect students’ writing performance. In regard to the above-mentioned points, the following research questions were raised: 1. Is there a significant difference between instructions (PPP and TBLT) on student writing performance in EAP writing classes? 2. Does student writing performance differ between instructions across a period of time? Literature Review Form-Focused and Meaning-Focused Approaches Approaches to language teaching and learning have two extremes: form-focused and meaning-focused. Form-focused approaches involve a focus on form in which language grammatical rules are introduced and presented as a formal system. After students understand how a linguistic form is structured, they then use it for communication. Form-focused approaches also follow a teacher-centered instruction in which teachers identify and isolate particular forms and require students to work with those forms in a controlled way. Willis & Willis (2007) argued that “focus on form occurs when a teacher isolates particular forms for study and begins to work on those forms outside the context of a communicative activity” (p. 114). Long (2015) also asserted that form-focused approaches employ a grammatical, lexical, and notional-functional syllabus and focus on the language to be taught, which is divided into linguistic units. In addition, form-focused approaches use linguistically controlled materials and pedagogic procedures for practices of target forms (Ellis, 2016, 2020). On the contrary, meaning-focused approaches involve focus on meaning. Meaning-focused approaches rest on the belief that students develop language on their own attempt to use the language. When using a meaning-focused approach, teachers provide students with the opportunity to use authentic language in the classroom (Li, 2020; Spada, 2021). Teachers act as facilitators by making utterances clearer or supplying new words and phrases in order to help students shape their message (Li, 2020). Additionally, students are exposed to natural and authentic representations of the target language and engaged in genuine communication. Attention is given to message and pedagogy rather than to language. Classroom language use is meaningful and communicative rather than mechanical (Li, 2020; Long, 2015). Spada (2021) argued that focus on form may be more appropriate when students need to learn less relevant language features such as the third person ‘s’ in English while focus on meaning may suit students who need to learn task-essential structures that highly occur in communicative tasks. She explained that students with low-proficiency levels, for example, need to pay attention to isolated linguistic forms in order to engage in an activity and be motivated, so “they are not interrupted with information about how language works when they are engaged in communicative interaction (Spada, 2021, p. 3). Ellis (2020), on the other hand, suggested that attention to linguistic elements should be controlled until after students have finished performing a task in order to not override meaning or communication. Ellis (2021) also proposed that form-focused instruction should be decontextualized in order to facilitate learning. Presentation, Practice, Production (PPP) A well-known form-focused approach used in both classrooms and language lessons is the Presentation, Practice, Production (PPP) model. The PPP method is an approach to teaching that involves three stages: presentation, practice, and production. Initially, the aspect of the language is presented. After presenting the target language, students then have the opportunity to practice it through controlled activities with appropriate assistance from the teacher. Finally, students produce the target language in context with minimal assistance from the teacher. Figure 1 provides a visual display of the PPP sequence. Figure 1:PPP sequence. With this model, teachers first select and present a linguistic structure of the target language. Next, students practice the language items through controlled activities, and then they produce a task that is designed to elicit its use in less controlled speaking or writing activities. According to Willis and Willis (2007), the PPP model highlights one or more new forms and then illustrates their meaning. It then goes into practice under a teacher-controlled instruction until “finally learners are offered the opportunity to produce the target form in a communicative activity” (p. 4). PPP is one of the most appealing and influential approaches to teaching as it reflects the notion of ‘practice makes perfect’ (Skehan, 1998; Careless, 2009). PPP is still the dominant paradigm in language teaching because it provides a clear teacher role where teachers are placed at the center of the teaching learning process (Bygate, 2020). In addition, PPP generates clear goals and a precise syllabus, allowing teachers to control the content and pace of the lesson (Phuong et al., 2015). However, PPP came under attack from academics in the 90’s since it was considered to be behaviorist in nature. Criticism is that initial focus on form affects any later effort to focus on meaning (Bryfonski & McKay, 2019; Ellis, 2020, 2021; Willis & Willis, 2007). Even though students are set towards the production of prescribed forms,they have difficulty in giving priority to meaning since PPP embodies a linguistic syllabus via form-focused methodology in which students are expected to master the linguistic items one at a time (Li, 2020). Willis and Willis (2007) claimed that a particular language form cannot be isolated and should be presented to students in a way that it becomes part of their communicative performance. By isolating linguistic items, students are denied comprehensible input and the opportunity to notice a language item. Finally, meaningful communication only occurs during the final stage of a PPP lesson, which is not based on authentic language (Willis & Willis, 2007). Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) In a distinction between language learning and acquisition, Krashen (1982) stated that traditional approaches lead to knowledge of language as an object of formal study rather than communicative competence.With the need for communicative competence in language classrooms, new instructional approaches have been emerged since the 1970’s. Under the influence of the communicative language teaching and its theoretical foundation from the cognitive-interactionist theory, TBLT was created in the early 1980’s with respect to developing process-oriented syllabi and designing psycholinguistic and communicative tasks to foster actual language use. The main objections to TBLT come from advocates of more traditional approaches to teaching (Bygate, 2020; Sheen, 2006; Swan, 2005). They affirmed that language needs to be taught before students perform a task. TBLT is based entirely on theoretical hypotheses, lacking empirical support with no global comparative method studies that have investigated the relative effectiveness of form-based approaches and TBLT (Bygate, 2020). However, TBLT meets specific criteria according to recent studies. TBLT has meaningful and relevant activities towards communication (Littlewood, 2004; Li, 2020; Long, 2015; Spada, 2021); it is equipped with specific outcome (Skehan, 1998; Willis, 1996), it involves a final product appreciated by others (Willis, 1996), students interact in a truly learner-centered environment (Ellis, 2003; Li, 2020; Long, 2015; Spada, 2021), and tasks are achieved through natural use of language (Bryfonski & McKay, 2019; Ellis, 2003, 2020; Li, 2020). In addition,TBLT helps students prepare to use the language in real-life situations (Li, 2020; Willis & Willis, 2007) and provides them with the opportunity to interact by promoting language acquisition through meaningful communication (Benati, 2020; Spada 2021). Proponents of TBLT have argued that it is an ideal medium for incorporating meaning and form in which students learn form in a context of meaning. Long (2015, 2016) stated that TBLT is a middle path which avoids the problem associated with either adopting a form-focused approach or a meaning-focused approach. TBLT represents “a middle ground between naturalistic forms of communicative language teaching focused on comprehensible input and traditional language teaching focused almost exclusively on grammar” (Bantis, 2008, p. 36). The primacy of TBLT is the meaning negotiation supported by a focus on form (Long, 2016), which is referred to as procedures designed to attract learners’ attention to form while they are engaged in a communicative task (Ellis, 2016). According to Ellis (2016), these procedures “belong naturally to task-based teaching” (Ellis, 2016, p. 19). In a later study, Ellis (2020) also explained that “acquisition takes place naturally when learners are engaged in the effort to communicate” (p. 6). He also asserted that “TBLT aims to facilitate this process by creating contexts where learners’ attention is drawn to linguistic form while they are primarily focused on meaning” (p. 6). Finally, teaching through TBLT should be student-centered with meaning-based instruction that provides purposeful and contextualized interaction (Careless, 2009; Spada, 2021). Students should be active while using authentic and meaningful language to carry out communicative tasks (Bryfonski & McKay, 2019; Li, 2020). Methodological Principle. Willis and Willis (2007) have revealed the importance of organizing a teaching sequence. They organize the teaching sequence in three phases: priming, target task, and language focus. In the priming phase, teachers introduce and define the topic, and students engage in tasks that help them recall or learn new words or phrases that will be useful during the performance of the main task. This phase begins with a teacher led discussion in which teachers can discuss their own views or engage the class by highlighting issues where students articulate their own ideas. This stage is followed by thetask cyclephase. Wills (1996) shapes the target task in a three-stage sequence: task-planning-report. The task stage involves a group discussion in which students perform the task in pairs or small groups. At the next stage, students plan and prepare a report with their findings to be presented to the class in spoken or written forms. In the final stage, students deliver their report, focusing on expressing meaning rather than on form. The sequence than moves from the target task to the language focus phase. In this phase, students are given further opportunities to practice activities which focus on form. Specific language features and forms from the task are highlighted and exercised. Figure 2:TBLT sequence. In this methodological principle by Willis and Willis (2007), the first two phases, priming and target task, focus on language within a sequence of meaning-based activities. Students set their own priorities by deciding for themselves which forms are important to help them express their own meanings. The language focus phase, on the other hand, comes at the end of the teaching sequence and relates to a focus on form. Students then produce specific forms in controlled practice. Figure 2 (above) presents a visual display of the TBLT sequence. PPP vs TBLT Opponents to PPP have emphasized that it does not apply as a model consistent with SLA theories, as TBLT does (Bryfonski & McKay, 2019). In SLA, students best learn a language if the concentration is on meaning rather than on form itself. The aim of the PPP model is to lead from accuracy to fluency whereas the focus of TBLT is to move from fluency to accuracy and back to fluency. Skehan (1996) compared the two approaches: A PPP approach looks on the learning process as learning a series of discrete items and then bringing these items together in communication to provide further practice and consolidation. A task-based approach sees the learning process as one of learning through doing – it is by primarily engaging in meaning that the learner’s system is encouraged to develop. (p. 20) In addition, PPP is viewed as teacher-driven while TBLT views language learning as learner-driven. Within a standard pedagogic such as the PPP sequence, the teacher operates as a controller, while the teacher’s role in TBLT is as a facilitator (Li, 2020; Samuda, 2001). According to Long (2016), “Attention to grammar and other code features in TBLT occurs in context, embedded in meaning-based activities, not in separate drill-and-kill sessions” (p. 24). Therefore, the integration of form and meaning is incorporated better in TBLT than in traditional methods, like PPP. A few studies have shown that students using TBLT perform better than students using lessons based on form-focused approaches. Han (2014) conducted a qualitative study in order to explore students’ attitudes about TBLT performed in college writing English classes. Participants were 94 sophomore college students placed either into a control group or an experimental group. The experimental group consisted of activities based on the TBLT sequence while thecontrol group adopted a traditional approach to teaching writing. Students in both groups were assigned writing tasks related to daily life situations, which were carried out for two hours every week for one semester. Students in the experimental group were also asked to complete a questionnaire that consisted of three open-ended questions. Findings revealed that students perceived TBLT as a very effective approach that enhanced their writing competence and language proficiency. Furthermore, students were more active and motivated in the TBLT class. A limitation of this study was that performance was simply measured by means of a qualitative questionnaire, which consisted of three open-ended questions based simply on student motivation. Similarly, Sabet, Tahriri, and Haghi (2014) investigated the impact of TBLT and PPP on student performance and motivation in EFL writing classes. Participants were 68 EFL college students enrolled in a research class that met once a week for ten sessions. The instruments were a pre-test, a post-test, two types of tasks completed in the experimental group, three types of activities distributed to students in the control group, and a motivation questionnaire. The student outcome was to write an abstract to a research article. Students in TBLT worked collaboratively while students in PPP completed the activities individually. Results indicated that TBLT was more successful in terms of motivating students, resulting in better student performance. Even though their findings added to the existing literature, they were limited. In order to analyze student writing performance, students in PPP were limited to individual activities with no opportunity for group interaction. The lack of interaction in the control group could have affected students’ motivation, favoring the TBLT group that worked collaboratively. Another study investigating the impact of task-based language teaching in writing was Phuong, Van den Branden, Steendam, and Sercu (2015). They examined the effectiveness of the commonly used PPP model and the TBLT framework on students’ writing performance and self-regulation in Vietnam. The study included 138 students enrolled in a freshman L2 program. They were randomly assigned to a PPP or TBLT group and completed a pretest, an immediate posttest, and a delayed posttest, as well as a self-regulatory questionnaire. Findings from statistical analysis indicated that both approaches were effective in improving students’ text quality. However, students improved their linguistic accuracy in the PPP group while they developed their lexical diversity in the TBLT group. With regard to self-regulation, students in the TBLT group performed better and had significantly higher scores. This study, however, did not include a diverse variety of participants, who were also accustomed to teacher-centered learning. In addition, the main instructional materials used in both groups were two ESL traditional textbooks that follow a linguistic syllabus that focus on grammar features rather than materials based on real-life language. Although these studies focused on the latest trends in task-based writing,they were limited, and do not provide reliable results. Therefore, empirical research studies on writing and TBLT are still needed, especially in the field of English for Academic Purposes (EAP).To fill this gap, this study aimed to further investigate whether task-based language teaching (TBLT) over Presentation, Practice, Production (PPP) had a positive effect on student writing performance across time points. The results of this study were intended to impact both instructors and program directors in order to help them better understand how EAP students could improve their writing skills and achieve academic writing success. Methods This study was conducted at a large southern state college in the United States, which offers a variety of EAP courses for a growing population of international students with the intention of pursuing undergraduate studies.This study adopted aquantitative methodology in orderto explore howtask-based language teaching affected EAP writing classes. This quasi-experimental study, through a pretest-posttest-delayed posttest design, was conducted in six intermediate EAP writing classes over a period of four weeks. Participants Participants in this study were comprised of 105 EAP students (women, n = 61; men, n = 44) between the ages of 17 and 69 (M= 15.30, SD= 2.37). Seventy-one of the participants were native speakers of Spanish, fourteen were native speakers of Creole, and twenty were native speakers of other languages. Participants were enrolled in six intermediate EAP writing courses and randomly selected into a control group and an experimental group. The control group consisted of 49 participants who were instructed in the form-focused approach following a standard PPP sequence. Students in the control group used a traditional ESL writing textbook and were taught using textbook-based activities. The experimental group, on the other hand, entailed a total of 56 participants and was taught via task-based language teaching and used authentic task-based activities. Both the control and experimental groups consisted of three different 16-week writing classes that received the same length of instruction. They contained the same course program, which included a 2-hour lesson, a questionnaire, and three tests. Data Collection A questionnaire and tests were used to collect data in this study. The background student questionnaire contained two sections. The first section asked students about their personal information, such as name, gender, age, language, and length of time living in the US. The second section included questions related to their frequency learning English and language proficiency. The test used to analyze student performance consisted of three versions: pretest, immediate posttest, and delayed posttest. All three versions of the test contained the same content. Participants were asked to choose a topic and write a formal e-mail to the research professor requesting information regarding the college. The acquisition of productive knowledge was measured by a holistic rubric. The rubric was worth 20 points and consisted of four levels (4 - excellent, 3 - good, 2 - satisfactory, 1 - needs improvement) and five components (format & structure, salutation & closing, content, tone, and language use). The format & structure criterion assessed whether students included a clear subject line that described the message content. The salutation & closing criterion examined whether the e-mail contained three items: greeting, closing, and signature. The content criterion analyzed whether students included student information (name and class), a brief explanation of the content, and a clear and organized message or request. The tone criterion analyzed students’ ability to be formal and appropriate for the audience. Finally, the language use criterion examined whether the message contained complete and well-constructed sentences, using the modal verbs of request. Procedure Data were collected with six intermediate EAP writing classes over the course of four weeks. The study was divided into three sessions instructed by the research professor. Session one took place during the first week of the study. Participants were given instructions that explained why they were asked to participate in the study as well as the consent form. Next, students were asked to complete the student background questionnaire and consequently the pretest, using their student e-mail account. In the pretest, students were instructed to write a formal e-mail requesting information about academic work, a school event, a work opportunity at their school, or any other topic they would like to know more about. Session two occurred in the second week of the study in which both groups received a 2-hour lesson. The lesson for the control group was organized based on Presentation, Practice, Production (PPP) while the lesson for the experimental group was organized based on pre-task, task cycle, and language focus (Willis & Willis, 2007). Immediately after the lesson, students completed the immediate posttest using their student e-mail account. Session three took place during the fourth week of the study, after an interval of two weeks followed session 2. The delayed posttest was given to the students. The immediate posttest and the delayed posttest were the same as the pretest. In addition, all e-mails completed by participants during the pretest, posttest, and delayed posttest were sent to the research professor in order to maintain students’ anonymity. The questionnaire and the tests were also taken inside the classroom. Figure 3 provides a visual display of the study procedure. Figure 3: Study procedure for both groups. Materials For the purpose of this study, the textbook Grammar and Beyond 2 by Randi Reppen (2011) was used as the main instruction material in the control group. For the experimental group, the main teaching materials were designed by the research professor using her own personal teaching resources. These materials were adapted in order to make the tasks authentic with the aim to expose students to authentic real-life language. Lesson Design The lesson for both the control and experimental groups introduced students to how to write a formal e-mail using modal verbs of request in polite situations. The control group was taught using the Presentation, Practice, Production (PPP) model, whereas the experimental group was taught using task-based language teaching (TBLT). In the control group, the lesson began with an instructional presentation. In the presentation phase, the grammar rules of modal verbs of request were presented. Following the presentation, students were given practice opportunities (practice phase), so they could exercise the format of a formal e-mail and the politeness in modal verbs of request. There was a total of three exercises which focused on the language structure. The first practice consisted of an article and a labeling exercise. Students read the article on how to write a formal e-mail and circled the bolded verbs in order to analyze their forms. Next, students were provided with the exercise to check their understanding of the suitability of the e-mail format and language by labeling its parts as A (appropriate) or NA (not appropriate). In the second practice, students were provided with an e-mail model and two comprehension exercises. They first read the e-mail and then completed the two comprehension exercises. The first exercise was a matching activity in which students matched each person from the e-mail to his or her work assignment. In the second exercise, students completed a gap-filling activity. They found the answers in the e-mail and filled in the blanks. After completely mastering the language form in the controlled exercises, students moved to theproduction phase. In this phase, students used the language structure learned in class to write a formal e-mail requesting information about academic work, a school event, a work opportunity at their school, or any other topic they would like to know more about. Figure 4 displays the PPP model used in the control group. Figure 4.The PPP model. The experimental group, on the other hand, received a task-based lesson thatwas built around the Willis and Willis’ model. In the first phase of the lesson (pre-task stage), there was an introduction to the topic and task. The class was introduced with a brief discussion about the frequency and importance of students writing e-mails. Still in the pre-task stage, students were provided with a short true or false exercise to engage students in general knowledge as a way of promoting discussion. Useful words and phrases were brainstormed to help students learn new words and broaden their knowledge of vocabulary items related to the topic. In the next phase, the task-cycle stage, students were given an e-mail sample written by an EAP student and asked to work in pairs or small groups to label the seven parts of the e-mail message a subject, greeting, introduction, body, attachment, request, and closing. Students were also asked to rewrite the e-mail message using the new words and phrases learned in the previous stage in order to achieve a professional effect. After completing the task, students prepared themselves for the next step where they presented their report to the class. In the final phase, thelanguage focus stage, the forms of the modal verbs of request and lexical items that express politeness were introduced. Next, students used the language structure learned in class to write a formal e-mail requesting information about academic work, a school event, a work opportunity at their school, or any other topic they would like to know more about. Figure 5 demonstrates how the Figure 5:The TBLT framework. TBLT model was used in the experimental group. Data Analysis Before answering the question whether the experimental group performed better than the control group, the test scores were calculated by means of Cohen’s kappa. In order to evaluate the reliability of the tests, interrater reliability was used to test the similarity of scored items by two teachers. Thirty percent of the dataset were randomly selected and coded by an independent rater (an EAP writing instructor.) The overall agreement rate was 93%. Based on Cohen’s kappa, the interrater reliability was .83 for pretest, .71 for posttest, and .70 for delayed posttest. A series of parametric tests were applied since the scores met the assumption of normality. Two measures were used to analyze the data. One-way ANCOVA was conducted to examine whether there was a significant improvement between groups (PPP vs TBLT) on student writing performance. Followed up, the repeated measures analysis was performed to statistically compare student writing performance in order to probe whether their scores varied across time periods. Results To answer the research questions, one-way ANCOVA and repeated measures ANOVA were performed. Analysis was carried out using SPSS 26 with the alpha level set at .05. Before computing the descriptive statistics, one-way ANOVA was performed to ensure the statistical comparability of the control group and the experimental group at the beginning of the study. ANOVA showed that there were no statistical differences between the mean scores of students in the control and experimental groups before the instruction (p> .05). Consequently, the two groups were equivalent on this dependent measure. Thus, any differences between the control and experimental groups were attributed to the treatment. Descriptive statistics were calculated for student writing performance on the pretest, posttest, and delayed posttest. Descriptive statistics mean and standard deviation differed from pretest to posttest, indicating that there was a marked difference between PPP and TBLT on student performance. The delayed posttest also indicated mean improvement on student performance, depending on the type of instruction. The descriptive statistics, including the means and standard deviations of each group’s pretest, posttest, and delayed posttest scores are displayed in Table 1. Table 1: Means and Standard Deviations for All Test Scores The first research question asked whether or not students performed better while using the TBLT framework in EAP writing classes. In order to test the effect of student performance after receiving different instructions, an analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was carried out. By using ANCOVA, it was possible to control for differences between the participants at the beginning of the experiment. Results can be interpreted since the covariate (pretest) was controlled. The pretest as a covariate was validated with a significant F-value for the posttest (F(1, 102) = 23.347, p< .05) and the delayed posttest (F(1, 102) = 38.314, p< .05). Significant differences could be determined between the control group and the experimental group at the posttest and delayed posttest. Therefore, there was a statistically significant difference between the groups on posttest scores (F(1, 102) = 19.719, p< .05) and delayed posttest scores (F(1, 102) = 6.965, p< .05). Consequently, these findings supported the hypothesis that students perform better in the TBLT group rather than in the PPP group, resulting in a better score on the posttest and the delayed posttest. Table 2 and 3 display the SPSS results of the ANCOVA with the pretest as covariate. Table 2: ANCOVA Results Comparing Posttest Scores by Groups with Pretest as Covariate Table 3: ANCOVA Results Comparing Delayed Posttest Scores by Groups with Pretest as Covariate The second research question investigated how instructions (TBLT and PPP) affected student writing performance at different time points. In order to answer the second research question, the repeated measures ANOVA was performed to statistically compare writing performance across two conditions at three time periods. As shown in Table 4, the main effect when comparing the two conditions was significant, F(1, 103) = 6.299, p= .014, partialη2= .058, suggesting significant difference between groups on student writing performance. Table 4: Repeated Measures Analysis of Variance for Between-Subjects Effects Mauchly's Test of Sphericity indicated that the assumption of sphericity was not violated, approximateW= 990, χ2(2) = .995,p= .608. Results showed that there was a significant main effect of performance, F(2, 206) = 255.528, p< .05, partialη2= .713. Similarly, the performance-group interaction was also statistically significant, F(2, 206) = 6.183, p< .05, partialη2= .057. The results are illustrated in Table 5. Table 5: Repeated Measures Analysis of Variance for Within-Subjects Effects Overall, time effect between groups revealed that the TBLT group scored higher than the PPP group across time periods. Time effect for the TBLT group scored significantly higher at posttest (M= 16.13, SD= 2.05) but slightly decreased in scores on the delayed posttest (M= 15.50, SD= 2.56). Pair-wise comparisons showed a significant difference from pretest to posttest (p< .05) and pretest to delayed posttest (p< .05) but no significant difference between posttest and delayed posttest (p> .05). Students in the TBLT group performed better than students in the PPP group across the time periods. Figure 6 summarizes the change over time on student writing performance. Figure 6: Student performance between groups across three time periods. Discussion This study aimed to investigate whether EAP writing students performed better in task-based language teaching (TBLT) or Presentation, Practice, Production (PPP) and whether student writing performance differed between these two groups across a period of time. Contrary to Swan’s (2005) claim that a meaning-focused instruction does not result in retention, the findings of this study revealed that students in the TBLT group retained more information rather than students in the PPP group. Therefore, students improved their writing while interacting in the TBLT framework compared to the PPP model. Furthermore, there was a statistically significant difference between the TBLT and PPP groups across three time points. Students in the TBLT group performed better immediately after the treatment as well as two weeks later. Although the PPP model is a commonly used model and has a long history in language teaching (Bygate, 2020; Careless, 2009; Foster, 2009; Phuong et al., 2015), TBLT helps students to get ready to use the language in real-life situations (Li, 2020; Spada, 2021; Willis & Willis, 2007). In addition, TBLT offers meaningful and relevant activities towards communication (Ellis, 2020, 2021; Littlewood, 2004; Long, 2015) that foster actual language use. TBLT is based on the student-centered approach that develops “students’ communicative competence through purposeful and contextualized interaction” (Careless, 2009, p. 50). Students are also active learners and use authentic and meaningful language to carry out communicative tasks (Li, 2020). According to Willis and Willis (2007), not having the focus on form at the beginning of the sequence allows students to focus on meaning rather than be concerned with reproducing the target forms. By not presenting and practicing specific forms before introducing a task, students are free to notice and incorporate useful concepts. Furthermore, they can express themselves during the task and organize language to get their meaning across. As a result, students are given the opportunities to focus on language which occurs naturally in the students’ attempts to process language for meaning (Ellis, 2020). Even though the findings of this study were largely positive, the following limitations should be noted. Due to school policy and students’ availability, participants in both groups were not randomly assigned to either PPP or TBLT condition. For this reason, this study used statistical approaches to control for differences between participants in the PPP group and the TBLT group when determining the influence of these instructions on student writing performance. In addition, classes invited to participated in this study were selected due to the course length (16 weeks) and the instructors’ flexibility in allowing a research professor to conduct this study during their class time. To cope with these limitations, the research professor had no access to students’ grades nor had any authority over the participants; no student was under the supervision of any member of the research team. Therefore, the research team ensured participation was completely voluntary. Students also sent their final tasks to the research professor to ensure anonymity. In addition, an independent rater evaluated students’ final task using the same rubric as the research professor in order to evaluate the reliability of the tests and assess the similarity of scored items. Another limitation regards to the sampling and class time. Participants were mainly native speakers of Spanish and Creole, with similar backgrounds and experiences. Thus, these findings might not apply to other ethnic groups. In addition, this study investigated an individual task during a 2-hour lesson. For future research, more studies with large ethnic groups and lessons throughout a course need to be conducted. Although there are some empirical studies that support the use of TBLT in L2 learning (Benati, 2020; Ellis, 2003; Harris & Leeming, 2021; Norris & Ortega, 2000), more research still needs to be undertaken in order to investigate the use of TBLT in EAP writing classrooms. This study is only the beginning of empirical research into TBLT in EAP writing classrooms, but it seeks to contribute to filling that gap. Conclusion As teachers, we have to take into consideration our students’ individual needs. Students need to be exposed to approaches that emphasize the importance of communication. For students to improve their L2 writing skills, it is important that learners be taught through effective teaching methods that encourage them to participate in writing activities actively and effectively. For these reasons, we need to take into consideration the use of approaches that will provide students with this opportunity. We need to use approaches in EAP environments that do not allocate a large portion of students’ time teaching grammatical items. We, as teachers, cannot deny learners exposure to the language. Students need to draw attention to form in the context of meaning in a learner-centered environment by addressing learners’ real-world needs and interests. References Bantis, A. M. (2008). Using task based writing instruction to provide differentiated instruction for English language learners. Benati, A. (2020). Key Questions in Language Teaching: An Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Bryfonski, L., & McKay, T. H. (2019). TBLT implementation and evaluation: A meta-analysis.Language Teaching Research, 23(5), 603–632. Bygate, M. (2020). Some directions for the possible survival of TBLT as a real world project. Language Teaching, 53(3), 275-288. Careless, D. (2009). Revising the TBLT versus P-P-P debate: Voices from Hong Kong. Asian Journal of English Language Teaching, 19, 49-66. Ellis, R. (2003).Task-based language learning and teaching. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. Ellis, R, (2016). Focus on form: A critical review. Language Teaching Research, 1-24. Ellis, R. (2020). Task-based language teaching for beginner-level young learners. Language Teaching for Young Learners, 2(1), 4-27. Ellis, R. (2021). Options in a task-based language-teaching curriculum: An educational perspective. TASK, 1(1), 11-46. Foster, P. (2009). Task-based language learning research: expecting too much or too little? International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 19(3), 247-263. Han, M. (2014). The effects of task-based teaching approach on college writing classes. Studies in Literature and Language, 9(3), 182-186. Harris, J., & Leeming, P. (2021). The impact of teaching approach on growth in L2 proficiency and self-efficacy: A longitudinal classroom-based study of TBLT and PPP. Journal of Second Language Studies. Krashen, S. D. (1982).Principles and practice in second language acquisition. Oxford: Pergamon Press. Kroll, L. R. (1991).Meaning making: Longitudinal aspects of learning to write. Symposium conducted at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, San Francisco, CA. Retrieved from http://www.mills.edu/academics/faculty/educ/ lindak/lindak_cv.php Li, S. (2020). Research on the PPP versus TBLT debate.Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, 466, 1117-1120. Littlewood, W. (2004). The task-based approach: Some questions and suggestions. ELT Journal, 58, 319-326. Long, M. H. (2015). Second language acquisition and task-based language teaching. Oxford, UK: Wiley Blackwell. Long, M. H. (2016). In defense of tasks and TBLT: Nonissues and real issues. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 36(1), 5-33. McDonough, K., & Chaikitmongkol, W. (2007). Teachers’ and learners’ reaction to a task-based EFL course in Thailand.TESOL QUARTELY, 41(1), 107-132. Nahavandi N., & Mukundan, J. (2012). Task-based language teaching from teachers’ perspective. International Journal of Applied Linguistics & English Literature, 1(6), 115-121. Norris, J. M., & Ortega, L. (2000). Effectiveness of L2 instruction: A research synthesis and quantitative meta-analysis. Language Learning, 50(3), 417-528. Nunan, D. (2006). Task-based language teaching in Asia context: Defining task. Asian EFL Journal, 8(3), 1-4. Phuong, H. Y., Van den Branden, K., Steendam, E. V., & Sercu, L. (2015). The impact of PPP and TBLT on Vietnamese students’ writing performance and self-regulatory writing strategies. ITL - International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 166(1), 37-93. Sabet, M. K., Tahrini, A., & Haghi, E. B. (2014). The impact of task-based approach on Iranian EFL learners‟ motivation in writing research abstracts.Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 5(4), 953-962. Samuda, V. (2001). Guiding relationships between form and meaning during task performance: The role of the teacher. In M. Bygate, P. Skehan, & M. Swain (Eds.), Researching pedagogic tasks: Second language learning, teaching and testing(pp. 99-118). Harlow: Longman. Samuda, V., Van den Branden, K., & Bygate, M. (2018). TBLT as a researched pedagogy. Amsterdam, the Netherlands: John Benjamins. Sheen, R. (2003). Focus on form–a myth in the making? ELT Journal,57, 225–233. Skehan, P. (1996). A framework for the implementation of task-based instruction. Applied Linguistics,17(1), 38-62. Skehan, P. (1998). A cognitive approach to language learning. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. Skehan, P. (2016). Tasks versus Conditions: Two Perspectives on Task Research and Their Implications for Pedagogy. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 36(1), 34-49. Spada, N. (2021). Reflecting on task-based language teaching from an Instructed SLA perspective. Language Teaching, 1-13. Swan, M. (2005). Legislation by hypothesis: The case of task-based instruction. Applied Linguistics, 26(3), 376-401. Willis, J. (1996). A framework for task-based learning. Harlow: Longman. Willis, D., & Willis, J, (2007). Doing Task-based Teaching. Oxford, NY: Oxford University Press.
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Research The Most Efficacious Way to Teach L2 Writing: Is TBLT Really More Effective than PPP? Renata Pavanelli Broward College ABSTRACT This study adopted the Willis and Willis’ framework for Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) in order to examine the effectiveness of student writing performance in English for Academic Purposes (EAP). For these aims, 105 students in six intermediate-level EAP writing courses participated in this study. The classes were randomly selected either into a control group, which was taught using the Presentation, Practice, Production (PPP) approach, or into an experimental group, which was instructed using the TBLT framework. Over the course of four weeks, students were pretested, required to carry out a chosen task, tested immediately, and then retested two weeks after the treatment. Results from ANCOVA indicated that students performed better in the TBLT group compared to students in the PPP group. Repeated measures ANOVA also showed a significant difference in student writing performance between the two groups across three time periods. Therefore, the data suggested that students instructed by the TBLT framework improved their writing performance immediately after the treatment and two weeks later.
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Introduction The educational bodies all around the world have scrutinized foreign language anxiety (FLA) persistently in order to reveal or evidence how it can affect both foreign language teaching and learning. Out of the studies done on FLA so far, verbal communication is evidenced to be the most anxiety-causing skill. FLA causes a psychosomatic disequilibrium in foreign language learners, which in turn lowers the efficiency of their performance by giving them mental blocks. Of significance, is that some studies postulate a positive link between FLA and experience aligned with your proficiency while other research indicates a negative relationship between the variables mentioned earlier. The current study, focusing on private speech (PS) with its potential effect on EFL learners’ FLA in a Turkish setting, is unique because it heightens awareness of the interelatedness of Sociocultural Theory (SCT) and FLA. Research Questions ·Is there a significant connection between PS, and EFL learners ‘anxiety in a Turkish setting? ·Is there any significant difference between the rate of PS’ impact on female EFL learners’ anxiety and male EFL learners? ·Is there any relationship between PS, and students’ achievement? Literature Review Anxiety, and Foreign Language Speaking Anxiety (FLSA) Anxiety is construed as a factor relevant to the personality gamut performing an indispensable part in second language acquisition together with self-esteem and inhibition (Brown, 2000). It is also seen as connected with feelings of worry, frustration, apprehension or self-doubt (Scovel, 1978). Anxiety given Brown (2000) can embody itself in different forms such as trait, state or situation aligned with either debilitative or facilitative effects. One's permanent inclination to having anxiety, reflective of individual differences in proclivity, is called trait anxiety (Brown, 2000; Rachman, 2019; Scovel, 1978; Spielberger, 1966; Tovilovic; Novovic; Mihic & Jovanovic, 2009). Conversely, a discontinuous feeling condition which reflects one's discernment of a distinct state at a definite length of time is considered as state anxiety or Situation-Specific Anxiety (SSA) (Vitasari; Wahab; Othman; Herawan & Sinnadurai, 2010). With this being said, it can be said that trait anxiety is a transient feel exuded once one is driven out of one's comfort zone. This is in fact the erratic feeling experienced by almost all of us. What’s more, SSA leading to apprehension emanates from inadequacy in knowledge (MacIntyre; Gardner, 1991). Insufficiency in knowledge can cause linguistic insecurity mainly when one is expected to be part of a communication line in both first language (L1) and second language (L2). Ostensibly, the rate of the named insecurity is heightened when one is exposed to an EFL setting. Therefore, the linguistic insecurity due to negative emotional reaction resulting from disproportionate use of a foreign language in an EFL setting can cause SSA or situational language anxiety (Allen & Herron; Effiong, 2003). It is also believed that anxiety has two origins, inherited and learned, affecting social learning depending firstly on conditioned fear and, secondly, on the condition of the nervous system. As Gardner (1985) has projected, in learning a foreign language, we are exposed to a unique type of anxiety; therefore, the intricate notion of anxiety should be taken as a phenomenon specific to the context of language acquisition contributing to second language acquisition [Foreign Language Anxiety or FLA]. With this being said, it becomes apparent that an SSA is the anxiety experienced upon using the second language to communicate. In addition to this belief, the term "xenoglosophobia" is introduced to mean a type of chronic or pathological fright experienced when you are learning a foreign language (Bustos; Malolos; Ramirez; Ramos; Bustos-orosa, 1999). If the term xenoglosophobia is scrutinized further, it will become crystal clear that this phobia is experienced by both language learners and even non-native foreign teachers to the extent that they might evade communicative tasks. As an EFL teacher for approximately twenty years or so, the author confirms the experience of FLA or xenoglosophobia as he with his EFL students has actually observed the state while in the classroom. Reticence as a result of pressuring anxiety is experienced by those language learners placed in a vulnerable setting, it is the likelihood to lose face and feel embarrassed (Horwitz, et al., 1986). A study conducted on fifty six language students in Iran to find out any possible link between students’ uncommunicativeness, and lexicon knowledge, together with foreign language classroom anxiety (FLCAS) evidenced a positive connection between the first two variables and a negative one between vocabulary knowledge and students’ reticence (Mousapour, Negari, & Nabavizadeh, 2012). The Means to Measure and Factors to Cause FLA One of the principal means or scales used for evidencing FLA as of 1986 is called FLCAS. Horwitz et al. (1986) created this scale to obtain a dependable psychometric measure of the amount of FLA in both male and female learners. Further, one of the studies conducted on FLA employing FLCAS in Iran on two groups of male and female students revealed twenty two of the thirty eight female students of the study experienced anxiety with fourteen of them suffering from a high rate of anxiety. This study evidenced that the major cause of the anxiety is females’ social status, their sense of identity and self- concept, the idea taken from six teachers interviewed (Sadeghi, Mohammadi & Sedaghatgofta, 2013) . What is realized from this study is that girls’ higher level of anxiety compared to boys’ is because of the way girls are treated in Iran where they are not afforded as much liberty as boys to act in public. As a result, anxiety emerges upon a conflict between foreign language learners who interact mutually and the reality, the outside (Leary, 1982; Horwitz, 1988; Terrel & Koch, 1991). Consequently, the social setting created by EFL teachers can seriously affect learners’ learning efficiency. Another study by Tsui (1996) revealed students’ uncommunicativeness in the wake of the FLA as it is attributed to three main factors including low English proficiency, lack of confidence and fear of making mistakes. The last factor in Tsui’s study can be mentioned as one of the major causes of FLA asserted and evidenced by Horwitz et al. (1986). Likewise, another study conducted to further scrutinize the principal sources of EFL students’ speaking anxiety at Anadolu university in Turkey revealed a positive relationship between an individual’s fear of negative evaluation and his/her anxiety level (Subasi, 2010). In fact, three main sources of foreign language anxiety, which Turkish students experience, are negative self-assessment of ability, illogical individual expectations, and irrational beliefs about language learning (Aydin, cited in Gonen, 2007). The other study on FLA carried out much earlier evidenced a correlation between language anxiety and performance ( MacIntyre &Gardner, 1991b). Vygotsky’s Socio-Cultural Theory (SCT) According to Vygotsky (1978), thinking is the reflection of language, whereby language mediates between thought and society where interpersonal/intrapersonal contacts with the environment are actualized.In addition, learning is taken as a socially mediated process, which becomes possible by means of strengthening the use and control of language, resources, and technologies (Mitchell and Myles, 2004, cited in Kao, 2010, p. 118).Vygotsky’s mediation theory, by extension, can be extended to second language learning taking students as active learners learning how to use language interactively (Arecls, 2010) . Furthermore, Weinstein (1986) states that our cognitive and material actions are performed through the mediatory functions of the symbolic tools as well as physical tools. For us to be able to establish and fortify our connection with the world and ourselves, we employ language as the most effective mechanism (Thorne, & Lantolf, 2006). One of the building-blocks of SCT is regulation, one mode of mediation, which refers to children’s ability to regulate their own tasks resorting to linguistic means upon participating in activities initiallyregulated by others [ending up in self-regulation] (Aimin, L., 2013). In the preliminary stage of learning, learners are scaffolded or helped by an MKO or More Knowledgeable Other to regulate their learning. After this stage, learners move up to the self-regulation stage where internalization of the knowledge takes place. In other words, external assistance in learning transforms into an internal state of learning to turn to (Brooks, & Donato, 1994). For Brooks and Donato, social interaction is the source of higher modes of thinking and performing complex skills. Additionally, these interactions are dialogically internalized and the external dialogic becomes the internal dialogic resulting in a socially constructed dialogic mind (Hyland and Hyland, 2013). The other constituent of Vygotsky’s SCT is called ZPD Zone of Proximal Development or ZPD which is defined as the distance between the actual development level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance or collaboration of more capable peers (Vygotsky, 1978, cited in Christmas, Kudzai and Josiah, 2013, p.371). Methodology Research Design The design used in this study is exploratory, causal and quantitative through which the author strived to evidence a reliably evaluative survey on the PS with its potential impact on EFL learners’ anxiety and achievement. To serve the study purpose given the research questions, the author managed to define a new dimension for the original questionnaire of the study by putting two procedures into consideration. First, some SPSS operations were performed such as factor analysis. Next, some relevant studies were examined in order to deal with the labeling stage of the questionnaire given sociocultural theory. Participants For the study, 370 prep students from three different foundation universities in Istanbul were asked to participate in the study by filling in a questionnaire. The students were placed in three different levels of elementary, pre-intermediate, and intermediate following the prep placement exam in two stages, the first stage is a written exam followed by an interview exam. Having completed their yearly prep program, all the prep students are expected to pass the end-of-the-prep exit exam. Each prep year in these three universities is held in four tracks with each track lasting for eight weeks and each week the prep students are expected to attend a twenty-two or twenty-four hours of English program. Out of 370 students, 273 were considered for the study as those omitted had not completed either the demographic information or the questionnaire completely. Instruments and Procedures A questionnaire called the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) with thirty-three items on a five point Likert scale by Horwitz et al. (1986) was used. The foreign language (FLA) anxiety score for the FLCAS ranges between 33 (not anxious at all) and 165 (extremely anxious). The scale displayed an internal reliability with alpha co-efficiency of 0.93, together with a significant correlation. The reliability, obtained out of test-retest over eight weeks, was r = 0.83 (p <0.001). FLCAS has a bearing on performance evaluation which requires one to set up a parallel between the anxiety and three performance related anxieties such as communication apprehension (CA) tested with items 1, 4, 9, 14, 15, 18, 24, 27, 29, 30, and 32; fear of feedback by peers and teachers (FFP) measured with the items 2, 7, 13, 19, 23, 31, and 33 in addition to fear of language tests (FLT) calibrated by the respondents’ opting for the items 3, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11, 12, 16, 17, 20, 21, 22, 25, 26 and 28. In fact, the questionnaire incorporates 33 items, scored on a 5-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 (stronglydisagree) to 5 (strongly agree). Moreover, some of the items denote FLA and others reflect lack of anxiety with 5 signifying a high rate of anxiety and 1 indicating a low rate of anxiety. With that said, items 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 29, 30, 31 and 33 should be scored considering ranges 1 through 5, whereas items 2, 5, 8, 11, 14, 18, 22, 28 and 32 are to be reverse-scored. Reverse-scoring means if a respondent checks 5 on the questionnaire, the checked number on the scale is reverse-scored to 1. For this current study, the English prep students from three universities were given an end of track final exam testing all four skills. Later, the exam papers were corrected and marked. Following that, the scores were typed into the excel program. After that, the scores in the excel were transferred into the SPSS program. The procedures to define a New Dimension for the FLCAS Originally the FLCAS is used to measure FLA based on affective variables, but the author has defined a new dimension called PS based on Vygotsky’s SCT, having validated via factor analysis (FA) in SPSS 25.00, whereby he manged to evidence that actually FLCAS could be administered to measure the PS, derived from the self-regulation stage of Vygotsky which potentially engenders FLA. To see the procedure for the new dimension, first, the labelling process of the PS based on the related studies is presented. Secondly, the output analysis extracted from the data for the new dimension. Thirdly, the reliability test is applied to the FLCAS to see how reliable the new dimension for each item is. Administering the mentioned procedures leads to lowering the number of the FLCAS with 33 items to the one with 18 items, but the most reliable items given the loadings. The Labelling Process of the New Dimension, PS, Based on the Related Studies Private Speech (PS) Based on Vygotsky’s SCT, Pavlenko and Lantolf hold that private speech (PS) is construed as a self-pivoted or hidden speech, and a means of helping learners move from other or object regulation to self- regulation. Lantolf elaborates further on the concept by adding that by PS “we ask ourselves questions, tell ourselves to interrupt a particular activity, tell ourselves we are wrong or that we cannot do something, and that we have completed a task” (2000, cited in Ozfidan et al., 2014, p. 186). Given the above studies, the items obtained by the SPSS and labeled as PS are as follows: 20, 24,1 6,1 9, 3, 27, 31, 12, 7, 21, 29, 25, 23, 26, 2, 9, 2, and 33. Output Analysis for the New Dimension Every single item of the FLCAS has a relevant loading. All thirty-three items have different loading ranges extracted by the SPSS but only the loadings for the PS are maintained as illustrated in table 1. The labeling process of some of the items as PS is based on the pertinent studies above mentioned. Table 1: PS Dimension Designation As illustrated in Table 1, the first column indicates the number of items making up the entirety of the questionnaire, FLCAS created by Horwitz et al. (1986) to evidence and measure the FLA experienced by foreign language learners in different parts of the world. The original factors that the FLCAS use include measuring Communication Apprehension, Fear of Peers ’ or Teachers ‘ Feedback and Fear of Test. This study helps to evidence some of the items of the original aims that function as PS suggested by the SPSS system itself based on the loading rate ranging between 0 and 1 in addition to the related studies. Considering this range, 0 to 1, the highest loading for every item has been chosen and listed in the Table. Given the fact that the loading below 0.30 is not considered significant, the authors to an extent have increased the loading rate to the meaningful level by manipulating the FA as far as the SPSS standard allowed. Reliability Test (RT) Administration to Evidence the Reliability of the New Dimension By administering the RT, the author managed to extract the reliable factor loading as in Table 2. The column for the corrected item total correlation (CITC) is the one checked to pinpoint if the loading is reliable or not. The loadings under 0.300 are deleted due to being considered as unreliable. Performing and considering the conditions just mentioned helped us lower the FLCAS with 33 items to the one with 18 items. The new FLCAS with 18 items receives another factor analysis along with rotated component matrix (RCM) operation yielding the factor loadings as in Table 2. Table 2: FA, FL for the 18-item FLCAS with SCF For the author to be able to see whether or not there exists any difference in the rate of the FLA experienced by both male and female learners given the data analysis, t-test is administered mainly to compare two means or averages in order to find out how much they differ from each other. The values for t and p are displayed as a measure ranging between 0% -100% going together. As Table 2 illustrates, eighteen out of thirty three items for the new FLCAS with the newly defined dimension are labeled as PS. Scrutinizing the related table, it becomes clear that 0.750 is the highest PS factor loading for the item numbered as 18, and then further investigation tells us of the FL for the item number 18 to be the most significant and valuable in terms of the factor impact, when compared to other items in this group. By contrast, the item, numbered 33 with a loading range of 0.397 is taken as the lowest loading, but significant despite being at the bottom of the table in its group as regards FL and the impact volume it might have on EFL learners ’ anxiety. The table encapsulating only private speech as one of the four SCFs reveals that the number of items for PS in this table is the same as the FA table with 33 items. The major reason for leaving the number of the items for the private speech intact is because of their acceptable level of Cronbach values. Does PS causing FLA in EFL learners differ in gender? For the author to be able to see whether or not there exists any difference in the rate of the FLA experienced by both male and female learners given the data analysis, t-test is administered mainly to compare two means or averages in order to find out how much they differ from each other. The values for t and p are displayed as a measure ranging between 0% -100% going together. Table 3: PS, gender and anxiety As illustrated in the table, "n" refers to the number of males and females who participated in the study. The second column as indicated herein refers to the mean for the factor as far as gender is related. S.D. stands for standard deviation of this factor and other variables. As it is displayed, 273 candidates out of which180 are females with 93 maleswho attended the survey with roughly similar rates for the PS. The mean rates for the PS’ effect on males and females is tabulated as follows: PS shows 53.95 percent of the study population are females of the study) and 53.27 percent of them are males. What’s more, the t and p values for the PS’ relation are to some extent significant statistically.For example, the t-value for PS is 0.351, whereas the p-value for PS is 0.726.Considering the t-value for the related factor is indicative of being within the acceptable range, defined for the t-test while the statistic for the p-value shows how insignificant the difference could be. To summarize, the p-value displayed around 0.05 in the table 3 evidences that there exists no difference between the genders in the FLA rates they experience.From this, it becomes clear that there is no significant difference between the amount of anxiety experienced by the gender. This reasoning supports research question 2 ostensibly. FLA in Anxiety Groups To discover the significance of the FLA level in anxiety groups, the author conducted a one-way ANOVA. The values for the anxiety groups were tallied based on the FLCAS with 18 items of the PS given the values already calculated for the FLCAS with 33 items. For instance, the total anxiety score, based on the 18 items, amounts to the raw score of 90. Performing the SPSS operation brought forth three groups with the three different ranges of the anxiety. The raw scores of anxiety were tallied out of 100%. Table 4: Anxiety Group Distribution Table 4 displays the total anxiety raw scores for 273 candidates, in three groups, who participated the survey. In the original FLCAS with 33 items, the anxiety score for group 1 is < 75, taken as low anxiety, the anxiety score for group 2 is≥76, considered as mid anxiety and the anxiety score for group 3 is≥120, construed as high anxiety. Statistically put, the the acceptable p-value rates with pertinent interpretations are listed as follows: ≤ 0.1 → highly significant: ≤ 0.05→ significant; ≤ 0.10 → marginally significant; 0.10 → not significant, Table 4 is based on the new FLCAS with 18 items, taken from the original FLCAS with 33 items. As mentioned above, the total anxiety scoring for the 18 items is 90 with the score of 5 allocated for each item. We got three anxiety groups (AGs). Anxiety group 1 score is < 41 (between 18 and 41), taken as low anxiety; anxiety group 2 score is ≥ 42 (between 42 and 65), considered as mid anxiety and anxiety group 3 score is ≥ 66 (between 66 and 90), considered as high anxity. Of significance to mention is that Table 4 shows the anxiety group distribution in the columns, entitled as AGs, frequency, percentage and cumulative percent. As appreciated from the outputs for the frequencies of anxiety among anxiety groups, the anxiety group 3 with 24 students are suffering high anxiety making up 8.8 %, the least percent, and 65 students being impacted by low anxiety make up 23.8 %, whereas 184 students, inflicted by moderate anxiety, compose 67.4%. PS and Students’Achievement Table 5 illustrates the correlations in different ways, the correlation existing between the sociocultural factor (SCF), PS and students’ exam scores in addition to the correlation between the total anxiety of the subjects and the exam scores. The minus scores Table 5: PS and achievement for the correlations (r) between the factors, and the exam scores point out to the probability of either a negative or downhill linear relationship between the factors on the left side of the column in the table and the exam scores on the right column. Examining the p-values for the factors, which are 0.045 for PS, and the exam scores; 0.017 for the total anxiety and the exam scores, it becomes evident that there is a significant connection between the SCF (PS), TA and the exam scores.In fact, there is a significantly negative correlation between the SCF and the students’ scores. This statistical reasoning herein helps support research questions 1 and 2. Discussion As demonstrated in Tables 3 and 5 of the study, the p-values around 0.05 are indicative of the genders’ not being impacted by the FLA differently. This output is not completely in line with the study conducted on 155 Yemeni EFL learners in which female learners experienced a higher level of FLA, but the difference was not remarkable (Yassin and Razak, 2018). Another study proved that female EFL learners in Iran experienced higher levels of anxiety with a big difference because female and male learners are not in the same sociocultural status (Sadeghi, Mohammadi and Sedaghatgoftar, 2013:117). Evidentially, females in the countries mentioned earlier are not given as much freedom as their male peers. If the aforementioned studies are compared with our study, it is revealed that in our study done in Turkey there is no difference in the rate of the FLA (Foreign Language Anxiety) experienced in terms of gender because females and males enjoy almost an even-handed level of social status and freedom. This supports question number two. Another study conducted by Hasan and Fatimah (2014) indicates that males experienced more anxiety while in Indonesia than they did in Australia as Indonesia males are more limited socio-culturally, whereas in Australia that is not the case. The relevant result of this study should not be generalized internationally. Instead, it could be generalized to the foundation universities in Turkey. This study revealed that learning English in a Turkish setting is subject to the penetrating effect of the SCF and PS, based on Vygotsky’s SCT. This theory aimed at scrutinizing the factors, which could facilitate or debilitate the process of child development. The study turned out to lay bare, and evidence that the SCF and PS, could be responsible for causing the FLA. This disclosure of the SCF as being the main source of the FLA in EFL learners by the authors was actualized and confirmed via having conducted a partly modified version of the FLCAS by Horwitz et al. in 1986. The output for the SCF PS, with the significant t and p-values shows that there is no difference in the FLA regarding gender experiences. By contrast, a couple of other studies carried out in the M.E. in 2013 was indicative of the fact that females of the same study were more strained (anxious) and suppressed than the males. This outcome, in fact, did not support the main evidenced question of the current study that indicated no differences in terms of the anxiety rate each gender experiences. In conclusion, the SCF PS may be one of the main source of EFL learners’ anxiety in a Turkish setting. These factors can influence the achievement of learners once they reach a high rate of the FLA. It can also be assured that the modified version of the FLCAS with 18 items is the only questionnaire available at this time for assessing and checking the impacts of the SCF on EFL leaners’ anxiety. Every study conducted around the world could have its strong points and shortcomings, but the studies could be ameliorated in nature in order to get the best of the studies carried out beforehand. This study has yielded some noteworthy and unique finds. By extension, the finding of this study supports the findings of the studies by Tanveer (2007) and Kumaravadivelu (2003) who stated that learners’ judgemental view of their competence subject them to a notable rate of FLA resulting in their uncommunicativeness. Taking the SCF of Vygotsky empowers the idea that the judgemental view of competence and self is self-efficacy, a constituent of the private speech, making the EFL learners’ FLA either soar or plummet. It also supports the outcomes of the studies by Daly and Miller who used their apprehension test together with the FLCAS questionnaire and evidenced that having low self-confidence or perception in one's second language speaking and writing competence results in second language classroom anxiety where second language writing anxiety ends up in impacting speaking and writing achievements of the FL learners negatively ( Cheng, Horwitz and Schallert, 1999:417). 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International Journal of English Linguistics, 9(4), 83-92. doi:10.5539/elt.v11n10p38 Appendix A.FLCAS Questionnaire @ https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LperizK4nm WzK_I45rj8iuts1zrMealJ/edit?usp=sharing&ouid= 113667969004788992859&rtpof=true&sd=true additional practice and more opportunities to interact with curricula material. What e-resources promote continuous learning opportunities for ELLs? The following websites and other web 2.0 tools can be suggested to students and their families. Alternatively, teachers can incorporate them into the curriculum to assist learners in their understanding of content and for their development of language proficiency. Subscription-based For young learners. PebbleGo contains content specifically designed for K-3 students. With this website, ELLs get access to a variety of content in English and Spanish (e.g., science, animals, biographies, social studies). Most articles include read-alouds with text highlighting for readers to follow along, as well as other media such as videos, timelines, or interactive activities (e.g., listening exercises). Subscription options offer districts with unlimited, simultaneous access to students, both at school and at home. Scholastic Learn at Home offers a variety of educational activities (e.g., picture book read-alouds, videos, interactive games, slideshows, etc.) for students aged 4-10. Content is self-paced and tailored by grade level (PreK-K, 1-2, and 3-5). Users can subscribe for a monthly fee, which can be cancelled at any time. For all ages. BrainPop ELL is a website which includes animated movies and other interactive features (e.g., flashcards, games, quizzes, etc.) that provide ELLs with listening, reading, speaking, and writing skills practice for beginner, intermediate, and more advanced levels of proficiency. The website offers different subscription options for school districts, individual teachers, and for families. In a similar manner, ESL Library offers lessons for academic and everyday English, a flashcard library with commonly used vocabulary and grammar, as well as various interactive exercises that can be assigned to students for additional practice. The website’s reporting feature allows teachers to view the completion status of assigned activities, the time students spent on tasks, and the results obtained by students in each activity. Teachers can also leave personalized feedback to students. There are different subscription options, with each teacher account enabling access to 100 students. Free-of-Charge For young learners. Epic contains a digital library for children ages 12 and under, offering more than 35,000 books/audiobooks, and learning videos that can be personalized to each student, according to their preferences and reading levels. Students can take quizzes to check their understanding and earn badges and rewards. Moreover, Epic content can be accessed either online or offline. For all ages. Khan Academy includes a library of lessons and practice exercises for math, English grammar, reading and language arts, science, history, computing, test preparation (e.g., SAT), as well as life skills (e.g., social and emotional learning, personal finance, growth mindset, etc.). Newsela is a reading platform that affords differentiated instruction via the assignment of reading content to students in lexile levels that reflect their reading proficiency. Newsela content is accessible both digitally and in print, which expands access to students without technology. One of the best features of this website is that it gets updated every day with 10 new texts, which keeps the content relevant and up-to-date. Newsela also contains case studies, white papers, webinars, and a blog that includes tips for instruction and describes new features added to the website. ReadWorks offers reading comprehension passages for K-12 students in a variety of lexile levels. Reading topics include STEM, poetry, social studies, literary fiction, arts, and holidays & events. The website allows students to access both digital and printed content, which facilitates access to all students. When accessing material online, students can listen along to audio versions, as well as highlight, annotate, and answer questions about the assigned texts. ReadWorks also gives teachers the option to track students’ progress and provide individual feedback. The website also includes guides for teachers and parents to best utilize the available resources. ReadWriteThink offers educators and families a variety of free lesson/unit plans, activities, games, and resources for professional development in printable or digital formats. The website includes content in arts, careers, community, science, math, social studies, among many others, which can be selected by grade level (K-12). Juxtaposed and complementary to the above tools is Rewordify. This tool enables a user to simplify any imported text based on lexile level. Rewordify offers the user to create and/or complete activities based on the imported text as well as a grammar function that allows users to deconstruct the text based on its grammatical parts. Affiliation Affiliation centers on the social dimension of learning. On the one hand, it is underpinned by the acknowledged importance of interaction between individuals and the role it plays in the facilitation of language acquisition (Gass, 1997; Swain, 2000). On the other hand, it weighs the importance of social-emotional (SE) growth as a metric in considerations about the health of social engagement between individuals (CASEL, 2020). If a language learner is emotionally closed to the people in his/her linguistic environment, then any benefits derived from dialogic engagement, collaboration, cooperation and/or mediation are minimal at best. What technologies can foster the social-emotional well-being of ELLs and how can technologies be used to minimize social distancing and increase emotional support? Since 1994, CASEL[2] has worked to establish high-quality social-emotional learning (SEL) in K-12 schools. Its work has led to the creation of the five core SEL competencies of self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making,providing a framework educators can utilize to inform how they engage with students at a social-emotional level. Research (Durlak et al., 2015) has illustrated that social-emotional health can be nurtured and competencies in social-emotional aspects can be fostered using a variety of approaches in K-12 settings. These include: • Incorporating SEL in free-standing lessons; • Embedding SEL within instructional practices; • Integrating SEL into subject-area courses; • Promoting SEL at an institutional level. In 2020, technology has been pivotal in allowing K-12 schools to respond instructionally to the necessities of “going remote” due to COVID-19. Here, we repurpose CASEL’s core competencies and encapsulate how technologies can equally continue to support educators as they nurture and grow the social-emotional skills of their ELLs while working in online, hybrid and e-learning environments. Free-Standing Lessons Educators can take advantage of many stand-alone online lessons, webinars and student-oriented trainings within Nearpod. This online student-engagement platform merges dynamic media and formative assessment in order to create opportunities for collaborative interactions between students. Additionally, teachers are able to assign professional crafted videos that anchor an array of activities and game-based learning tasks. In terms of CASEL’s five core competencies, Nearpod provides free-standing lessons for all K-12 students that help both students and teachers acquire understanding and skills in each of the five SEL areas. Figure 13 (yellow) lists some of the SEL specific lessons contained within the Nearpod library. Instructional Practices Over a lifetime of teaching, educators develop an array of teaching strategies and practices that are used to augment any number of learning needs. Specific to our five core SEL competencies are the following: Self-Awareness.The ability to accurately recognize one’s own emotions, thoughts, and values and how they influence behavior. Classroom practices may include helping students label their emotions, or having students use an emotional planner to identify and verbalize feelings and/or act on positive emotional strengths. Recommended tools include (i) Plutchik’sWheel of Emotion, for students to get a better understanding of deeper emotions; and (ii) Flippity,in which a range of instructional templates can easily embed Plutchik’s Wheel of Emotion to use with online learners (e.g.,random wheel spinner, flashcards, matching game, and manipulatives activities). Self-Management. The ability to successfully regulate one’s emotions, thoughts, and behaviors in different situations — effectively managing stress, controlling impulses, and motivating oneself. One easy technique that is often advocated consists of breathing exercises. In face-to-face settings, countless techniques can be utilized: lying down and breathing with a pebble on the chest, blowing into a paper fan, etc. For online students, a suggested website is https://www.calm.com/breathe, which is also available in Calm mobile applications for both Apple and Android devices. Have ELLs link to the site or mobile app at regular intervals during a lesson. Just as Figure 13: Highlighting Technologies that Foster SEL in Remote Learning Contexts one would have a brain break, so too can this site be used as an emotional regulator. Social-Awareness.The ability to take the perspective of and empathize with others, including those from diverse backgrounds and cultures. This is particularly important for ELLs. In brick-and-mortar classrooms, engaging in culturally-responsive, trauma-informed, and restorative justice strategies helps ELLs build skills in social awareness. For online students, GoNoodle is one of many webtools in English and Spanish that provides cooperative games for educators to assign to ELLs. Relationship Skills.For newly arrived ELLs who undergo stages of cultural adaptation, particularly culture shock, this competency is of special importance to foster. Even for ELLs raised in the USA, being new to an online learning environment also brings with it a period of adjustment. CASEL (2020) defines this skill as “The ability to establish and maintain healthy and rewarding relationships with diverse individuals and groups. The ability to communicate clearly, listen well, cooperate with others, resist inappropriate social pressure, negotiate conflict constructively, and seek and offer help when needed” (item 4 on CASEL’s SEL webpage). Several strategies for building relationship skills can be utilized with students, including storytelling, team-building activities, turn & talk activities, as well as learning circles/centers. Such strategies allow learners to think about, to practice healthy group interactions, and to negotiate cooperative dynamics. For online settings, three useful tools can mirror these same activities, described below: 1. WebQuests.These are online problem / project / inquiry-based activities that have a 5-step structure (introduction, task, process, evaluation, conclusion) supporting critical thinking through analyzing, creating, and evaluating. Although there are many design patterns to consider when creating a webquest, the most important is that the end-user (i.e., the ELL), is placed in a learning role that builds relationship skills. A number of sites offer teachers online templates to create their own webquests: Zunal, QuestGarden, Createwebquest, and Google Sites. 2. Google Slides. One technique to help students reflect on their choices and to negotiate circumstances and relationships is to use Google Slides to create interactive storybooks (i.e.,choose your own adventurestories, in which the reader controls the plot). This tool offers teachers a way to create an online interactive story that can be easily embedded into any classroom lesson (click here for an example). In order to make such a story, one needs to storyboard it out. The following are two examples of storyboard templates (#1 and #2). A number of educators have put the concept of interactive storybooks on Google Slides to good use. Sylvia Duckworth, a noted Google certified innovator and trainer as well as an Apple distinguished educator, shares many of her creations. Click here for a fillable interactive storybook. 3. TalkingPoints. It is important to take into consideration that low proficient ELLs do not always have the language skills to verbalize their emotions, especially as they traverse the ups and downs of living in and interacting with people in their adopted new homeland. In view of this, we suggest using TalkingPoints. This app provides a means for ELLs and their families to verbalize their emotions and feelings in their native language and be read in English by any recipient (i.e., a teacher, administrator, buddy, neighbor, school staff). As online learning can be an isolating and sometimes frustrating experience, offering ELLs the opportunity to express and explain how they feel using their own language is an important first step in growing skills in this area. Responsible Decision-Making. Handing over responsibility for learning helps students take ownership of their educational journeys while also fostering proactivity. Project-based Learning (PBL) provides opportunities for real-world, authentic experiences, which can empower learners and build their confidence. E-tools such as Flipgrid, Padlet, and Linoit furnish platforms for PBL, affording opportunities for students to share their projects as well as provide and receive feedback. Integrating SEL into Subject-Area Courses While there is a wide array of web 2.0 tools available as resources to educators, utilizing all of them can make it overwhelming for students and/or their families. With that in mind, consider meshing e-tools when creating the digital resources needed to fulfil the goals of instruction, or combining the different e-tools within a single platform. One platform that certainly respects the importance of SEL is Edmodo. In Edmodo, ELLs can share their work, and teachers can flip and/or gamify their instruction. Moreover, in its Discover section, Edmodo offers a range of best practice resources in SEL and ideas on how to integrate SEL into instruction to foster better positive online classroom climates. Edmodo also has a built-in Wellness Check Poll so that teachers can quickly gauge how their students are feeling. Equally, a Messenger function on Edmodo allows for private one-on-one synchronous communications. Lastly, within the platform’s communal blog feature, teachers can access ‘live’ SEL suggestions. A further two e-tools worth noting that can be meshed with Edmodo to help an ELL build relationships and develop good decision-making skills within an online classroom are Flippity and WriteReader. Flippity provides a range of activity templates to alternate student groupings and to make e-resources less static. On the other hand, WriteReader minimizes the isolating effects of writing activities by enabling students to share writing spaces. Institutional Initiatives At a school level, administrators need to be mindful of the types of supports extended to ELLs to underpin remote learning needs. Supports inculture (feeling safe and minimizing isolation), structure (transparent instructional processes and rules), communication (comprehensible information flow), proprietorship, (goal-setting and buy-in), collaboration (fostering interpersonal work and connectedness), celebration (building community and providing reinforcement), and feedback (being SMART[3]) can frame successful initiatives. As outlined above, Edmodo offers teachers and their ELLs a solid platform to promote SEL practices in the school while simultaneously enabling the above supports. Equally, as outlined above, Nearpod provides these same functions. Final Thoughts Technologies, as outlined, offer countless opportunities for educators to offer instructional and emotional support to students. However, these same technologies need to be used in measured and strategically intentional ways in order to maximize their benefits and minimize their challenges for ELLs. As bridge builders, teachers should be cognizant of the 6 As (i.e., availability, access, awareness, application, assistance, and affiliation) when deciding what strategies, instructional supports, and tools to utilize in their lessons in order to offer ELLs engaging and effective instruction in remote learning environments. [1] In this sense the aim is to be successful at transactional competence (the ability to get things done with the language), interactional competence (the ability to manage relationships and social interactions in the target language), and translingual competence (the ability to appropriately make use of a range of linguistic resources in a multilingual society). [2] Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning [3] SMART - Specific (simple, sensible, significant). Measurable (meaningful, motivating). Achievable (agreed, attainable). Relevant (reasonable, realistic and resourced, results-based). Time bound (time-based, time limited, time/cost limited, timely, time-sensitive). References Collaborative for Social-Emotional Learning (CASEL) (2020).https://casel.org/ Common Sense Media (2019).https://www.commonsensemedia.org/sites/ default/files/uploads/research/2019_8-18-infographic _final-release.pdf Dominguez, M. (2017). “Se hace puentes al andar”: Decolonial teacher education as a needed bridge to culturally sustaining and revitalizing pedagogies. In D. H. Paris & Samy Alim (eds.).Culturally sustaining pedagogies: Teaching and learning for justice in a changing world.New York, NY: Teachers College Press. Dorn, E., Hancock, B., Sarakatsannis, J., & Viruleg, E. (2020). COVID-19 and learning loss — disparitiesg row and students need help. McKinsey & Company. Durlak, J.A., Domitrovich, C., Weissberg, R.P., & Gullotta, T.P.(Eds.),Handbook of social and emotional learning (SEL): Research and practice. (pp. 3-19). New York: The Guilford Press. Florida Department of Education Recommendations to Reopen Florida’s Schools and the Cares Act Plan (2020). Retrieved from http://fldoe.org/core/fileparse.php/19861/urlt /FLDOEReopeningCARESAct.pdf 2020-21 Florida’s Optional Innovative Reopening Plan [Hillsborough County] (2020). Retrieved from http://fldoe.org/core/fileparse.php/7501/urlt/ Hillsborough-reopenPlan.pdf Garcia-Arena, P. & D’Souza St.(2020). Research Brief. Spotlight on English Learners. National Survey of Public Education’s Response to COVID-19. American Institutes for Research. https://www.air.org/sites/default/files/ COVID-Survey-Spotlight-on-English-Learners-FINAL- Oct-2020.pdf Gass, S. (1997).Input, interaction, and the second language learner. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Parris, H., Estrada, L., & Honigsfeld, A. (2016).ELL frontiers: Using technology to enhance instruction for English learners. Corwin Press. Song, K., Kim, S., & Zhao, Y. (2020). Manifesting multidimensional creativity in a technology‐mediated online TESOL practicum course.TESOL Journal,11(2), 1-17. St. George, D. (2020, December 4). Failing grades double and triple—some rising sixfold — amid pandemic learning.Washington Post. shorturl.at/qCEU5 Swain, M. (2000). The output hypothesis and beyond: Mediating acquisition through collaborative dialogue. In J. P. Lantolf (Ed.),Sociocultural theory and second language learning(pp. 97– 114). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. Tarbutton, T. (2018). Leveraging 21st Century Learning & Technology to Create Caring Diverse Classroom Cultures.Multicultural Education,25(2), 4-6. Tutwiler, S. J. W. (2017).Teachers as collaborative partners: Working with diverse families and communities. Routledge.
Research EFL Learners' Anxiety Caused by Private Speech at Foundation Universities in Turkey Taj Bakhsh, Hosseini Istanbul Kultur University ABSTRACT Foreign language anxiety (FLA) is considered one of the most detrimental factors affecting foreign language learning. This article probes into whether or not Private Speech (PS) based on Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory (SCT) has any influence on EFL learners’ anxiety at three Foundation universities in Turkey. To this end, a questionnaire called Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) with a new dimension was administered to 370 students of English prep schools. The collated data demonstrates that there exists a significantly negative correlation between PS and EFL learners’ anxiety in a Turkish setting. The new dimension for the FLCAS was approved via administering factor analysis (FA) and reliability test (RT).This survey has significant implications for the EFL teachers and learners.
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Introduction It has been said that music transcends language. Music educators are therefore uniquely positioned to assist students who are English language learners (ELLs); however, many may not be aware of how to harness the power of music to help this population. According to the Florida Department of Education (FLDOE, n.d.), Florida ranks third in the nation with its 265,000 ELL students.The 300 languages spoken by these ELLs furthers the challenge of providing services to this diverse population. With so many ELLs in the Florida schools, the odds are strong that educators will have at least one ELL in their classroom. The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of how music supports ELLs as well as provide examples of research-based applications for the general classroom. By gaining an understanding of ways to assist ELLs through music, educators will be better prepared to provide an inclusive classroom environment that not only provides opportunities for learning English but also supports the ELLs’ transition to a new culture. How can music help teach language? Many studies tout the benefit of using music to help ELLs learn English and transition to a new culture (Gosselin, 2017; Lems, 2018; Li & Brand, 2009; McCormack et al., 2018; Neel, 2017; Temur, 2021). Kao and Oxford (2013) wrote that “music inspires language, and language makes music come alive. Use of music as the learning material sustains the inspiration to learn the language” (p.120). This sentiment was supported by English as a Secondary Language (ESL) teachers who “recognize that music animates their teaching and enlivens their classroom” (Li and Brand, 2009, p. 74). Researchers found that music helps in learning basic aspects of the English language, from grammar and vocabulary to speaking and comprehension skills. Lems (2018) concluded that music provides a “great natural introduction to new grammar forms, in many ways resembling our effortless first-language acquisition” (p. 18), enabling ELLs to learn phrasal verbs and other aspects of grammar. Music, especially singing, also improved listening comprehension skills (Temur, 2021) and pronunciation (McCormack et al., 2018). Singing highlighted the rhythm, intonation, and the pattern of words that are stressed, components that are also needed for proper pronunciation and introduced ELLs to the sounds of the local accents and idioms (McCormack et al.). In addition, since “listening to songs and singing is a natural and enjoyable way to practice new sounds, words, and phrases” (Lems, 2018, p. 15), students were open to the repetition needed to learn a new language, allowing them to “gradually correct their errors and achieve a more native-like pronunciation” (Shen, 2009, as quoted in McCormack et al., p.52). Several researchers expanded on the motivational benefits of music for ELLs. Music may be particularly relevant to students as it resonates with the ways that student think and prefer to learn (Abrahams, 2017). Li and Brand (2009) found that students who learned vocabulary through music were more engaged in learning vocabulary than students whose learning opportunities did not include music. Students tend to listen to music repetitively, and that this repetition helps with learning (Temur, 2021). Lems (2018) agreed, stating that “young adults in particular listen to music almost nonstop, and their playlists form an important part of their identities. It only makes sense to use students’ interest in music as a motivator for their English studies” (p. 14). Akbary, Shahriari, & Hosseini Fatemi’s 2018 study compared music to other forms of media as means of teaching English. They found that due to the tendency to listen to music multiple times, music and in specific song lyrics were more effective in learning English than most other forms of media. In addition to being motivational, music is a unique way to understand American culture as well as have Americans understand the ELL’s own cultures. Learning English is more than learning the grammar and vocabulary. It also entails an “the awareness of the public’s cultural traditions and values” (Borisova & Letkina, 2019, p.621). Song lyrics are particularly useful in assisting ELLs learn how to interact with others in their new culture. Li & Brand (2009) wrote: “Song lyrics are embedded within a culture, its values, symbols, and beliefs. Thus, exposure to song lyrics … not only teaches vocabulary, grammar, rhythmic speech, phrases, and meanings, but a song, as a sort of ambassador of a culture, offers ESL students lessons in grasping the nature and style of a particular culture” (p. 74). Abrahams (2015) agreed that music helps students understand other cultures, stating that “to know and understand hip-hop, for example, is to have insights into particular American culture. To know and understand a Shaker hymn, like "Simple Gifts," is to have a glimpse into the values of a particular American religious group” (p. 99). An additional benefit of music for ELLs is that the United States’ popular music is listened to in many other cultures around the world and may therefore already be familiar to ELLs (Akbary, Shahriari, & Hosseini Fatemi, 2018). This familiarity provides a sense of comfort and contributes to the motivational aspect of music for learning English. Music also allows for self-expression for ELLs. Neel (2017) emphasized the goal of “identifying arts instruction models that support literacy, while also serving as an expression of personal and cultural identity” (p. 209) by studying the effects of a Mariachi music program in a California high school. In this school, the ELLs were primarily Hispanic, many with cultural roots in Mexico. Both instructors and students were often bilingual, with the songs sung in Spanish; however, instruction was primarily in English, allowing opportunities for ELLs to practice English in a familiar and supportive environment. More importantly, ELLs “thus find themselves ‘at home’ in a culturally relevant setting while being immersed in the English language” (p. 212). Barriers to the Use of Music to Teach English Despite the benefits of using music to assist ELLs in acquisition of English skills and positive attitudes of educators towards including music in classrooms with language learners (Xi, 2021), there are barriers to implementing these music-based supports. While core subject teachers are open to using music as a means to support ELLs, very few actually implemented this approach in their classrooms. This may be due to a lack of training and experience in using music effectively in their lessons as a means to support ELLs (Xi, 2021). Music teachers could be key in guiding teachers in how to best use music in their classrooms; however, opportunities for collaboration are often limited due to time and scheduling constraints. In an in-depth case study of an experienced music educator in a title one turn-around school, Conkling & Conkling (2018) found that the resource teachers often had planning periods and lunch times that did not correlate with those for grade-level teachers. Thus, the lack of opportunities during the school day for the music teacher to “plan for arts integration with grade-level teachers or discuss learning needs of individual students with them” (p. 523) was detrimental to using music as a teaching tool for ELLs throughout the school. Implementation of Musical Interventions for ELLs Despite the barriers faced by both students and teachers, the benefits of music for ELLs outweigh the challenges. The next section reviews recommendations for selection of appropriate music as well as ideas of how to integrate music into individual lesson plans and school-wide initiatives. Selection of Music Music needs to be relevant and student centered, so the first step in music selection is finding out what style of music is preferred by your ELLs. Gosselin (2017) wrote: Teachers must be aware of non-native speakers’ music preferences relating to their diverse backgrounds. For example, by listening to authentic music provided or recommended by students, teachers can learn music trends, such as tempos and styles, from those particular cultures. These methods will help teachers target students’ music preferences in their curriculum design and selection of materials to enhance students’ interest, which may assist the students in learning both music and the second language (p. 224). Several studies looked at what types of music were preferred. First, while it may be assumed that students prefer music from their home country (Gosselin,), American popular music is listened to around the world. ELLs may already be familiar with popular music prior to arriving in the United States (Akbary et al., 2018; Tegge, 2017). Familiarity with American music, however, does not necessarily mean that this type of music is the most accessible by ELLs. Gosselin, in his 2017 study on the language preferences of Chinese graduate students, recommended a multi-step approach to incorporating music into the curriculum, starting with the survey of students’ musical preferences. The teacher may choose to start with music in the ELL’s native language that is similar in genre, tempo, and style to music selected by the students in the survey. This has the dual benefit of both motivating ELLs through the use of familiar music and introducing the rest of the class to the music and cultures of other countries. Gosselin then recommended using music with English lyrics that are well-known internationally and then moving on to including Western and American songs with English lyrics. The benefit of this approach is that “ELL students will not only learn the culture and music styles of their new environment but also have the opportunity to develop their English language skills” (p. 224). Popular songs such as rock and hip hop are one of the more common types of music used to teach language. With lyrics written at approximately the level of 11-year-old native English speakers (Murphey, 1992, as quoted in Li & Brand, 2009), the lexical levels are more accessible for lower English proficient learners (Akbary et al., 2018). Pop lyrics are also often conversational, containing relevant vocabulary and short, often repetitive phrases (Li & Brand, 2009). In addition, the short duration of songs to be advantageous, especially compared with other forms of texts such as books and plays (Tegge, 2017). Since the average length of pop songs is three minutes and thirty seconds (Sanchez, 2019), these songs “suitable for repeated listening and singing during a lesson, a practice that can support the entrenchment of word knowledge. And finally, the relative brevity of songs compared to other scripted aural texts allows more readily for the implementation of one or several additional activities around the song” (Tegge, p. 97). While the advantages of using pop songs to teach English are clear, Tegge reminded educators that they still need to provide support for ELLs as the idioms and vocabulary requirements may still be out of the range of ELLs newer to the language.While pop songs are less useful for learning new vocabulary for more experienced ELLs, it is still “useful to consolidate and entrench already familiar words and to support the acquisition of deep word knowledge beyond a first-form-meaning connection, including collocations and syntagmatic relationships” (Tegge, p. 97). Rap and hip-hop are also types of popular songs that are useful for teaching English; however, these songs have more complex lexical requirements than pop songs and may contain idioms or references to culture that may need to be explained (Akbary et al., 2018). Kao & Oxford (2013) found rap and hip-hop music to be highly motivating for more advanced ELLs.These styles also help ELLs make connections between cultures.Kao & Oxford wrote: “Hip Hop culture, street language (sometimes referred to as Black English), and rap music always influence each other. These three factors form the basis of my learning strategy. They work as a triad or triangle. The learner can start from any side–music, language, or culture–and follow the edge to the next side and ultimately to the last side...” (p. 118). Regardless of the particular style of popular music preferred by the students, learning about music that interests them motivates students and leads subsequent opportunities for learning. Implementation of Music for ELLs in Elementary and Secondary Classrooms Research overwhelmingly touted the benefits of using music to support ELLs in both their acquisition of English as well as their assimilation into the culture; however, not all methods are recommended for all grade levels. The next section organizes practical implementations of music-based activities by elementary and secondary school levels. Elementary School The first recommendation for elementary teachers is to collaborate with your music teacher so that he or she may reinforce concepts taught your class. An example is a case study where Miranda (2021) followed Rhonda, a seasoned music educator in a turn-around title one school. By collaborating with grade-level teachers, Rhonda reinforced aural awareness of rhyming words and beginning letter sounds that were being learned by beginning readers and used songs and musical activities that correlated with vocabulary words and concepts from subject units being learned in the classroom. By knowing what material was being covered in the regular classrooms, music teachers may not only support what is learned in the classroom, but also find creative ways to support ELLs as they learn to navigate in English. Another way to support ELLs in primary schools is through sound stories. Lawson-Adams and Dickinson (2020) described sound stories as “interactive read‐alouds that add sound effects to characters, scenes, or target words during the story” (p. 419). In this style of reading, teachers work with students to assign movements or sounds to associate with keywords. These sounds or movements reflect the meaning of the keywords which help tune in students to the vocabulary. This has the added benefit of activating students’ prior knowledge about the words and helps them to remember their meanings. Lawson-Adams and Dickinson (2020) found that “making cross‐modal links between word meanings and semantically related sound effects supported students’ word learning” (p. 419). In addition, students naturally incorporated in gestures with the sounds, such as raising their hands up and using raised voices for the word “hoist.” While the sound story was found to be more effective than traditional approaches to teaching vocabulary through book reading for all students (Lawson-Adams & Dickinson, 2020), this approach is especially beneficial to ELLs as it also reinforces proper pronunciation and helps ELLs associate the vocabulary word to its meaning. Another way to use music to support ELLs is through musical games. March & Dieckmann (2017) observed musical games as played by both ELLs and regular students on the playground. They found the characteristics of singing games to be beneficial for ELLs as formulaic and often repetitive aspects of these games can be learned through observation.In addition, the “high levels of textual repetition, alliteration and assonance, functioned as mnemonic devices that assisted learning of text and also created a sense of security and familiarity for these children” (p. 12). Given the familiarity of most elementary music teachers with musical games such as folk songs, call and response songs, and music with movement, this approach to supporting ELLs may be easily implemented in music classrooms. Upper Primary through Secondary Music Classrooms As shared earlier, studying popular music lyrics in-depth is a relevant and therefore highly motivating approach to learning English for older elementary and secondary students. Akbary, Shahriari, & Hosseini Fatemi (2018), however, cautioned that this familiarity with this genre may result in students not tuning in to the lyrics. To bring the lyrics to the forefront of the students’ attentions, they recommended using websites and applications that display the song lyrics in sync with the music. Karaoke or lyric videos are another method that highlights the song lyrics. Lems (2018) recommended students practice the lyrics and then perform the songs, possibly including movement and gestures. Another activity that allows for student exploration of lyrics is to have students create and share a playlist of songs that represent different times of their lives. Students were to choose songs in English or their native language, and then “transcribe the lyrics, annotate and analyze them, print a copy, and share it with the class…. Also, as students prepare to present the song and playlist to the class, they design a CD jacket and write liner notes about their choices. This is displayed as the songs on the playlist are played, on speakers, for the class” (Lems 2018, 16). Last, Kao & Oxford (2013) recommended the ELLs paraphrase the lyrics and write down any questions they may have about vocabulary or cultural references in a notebook. This notebook may then be “formulated systematically, with new vocabulary boldfaced, notes in italics, and phrases or clauses underlined” (p. 119). As the students continue to explore music and write down the lyrics and vocabulary definitions, they are in essence creating their own English language textbook which is tailored to their own particular language requirements. In addition to using song lyrics, music teachers may support ELLs through project-based learning. WhileBorisova and Letkina’s 2019 study focused on practical project-based learning for college-aged English language learners in Russia, the concepts may easily be implemented with secondary students. Borisova and Letkina defined project-based learning as “a teaching method in which students gain knowledge and skills by working for an extended period of time to investigate and respond to an authentic, engaging, and complex question, problem, or challenge” (p. 610). They felt that this approach not only improves ELLs overall communication skills, it also “makes students engage in real-world professional situations, promotes deeper learning not limited to academic content, encourages more creative and critical thinking, better self-awareness, self-reflection, self-assessment and develops multicultural identity” (p. 621). While students in Borisova and Letkina’s 2019 study focused on projects related to being a professional musician, many of their approaches can easily be adapted to a middle or high school classroom. One possible project is for students to imagine they are in charge of promoting a band from another country. They need to research and provide the background of the band and to present to the class why they selected that band or musician. Additional activities may include selecting and translating a song from that artist or writing a review of or response to that song.As with Kao & Oxford (2013), Borisova and Letkina recommended having students create and maintain a notebook with an ongoing vocabulary list or glossary. Conclusion The benefits of music to assist ELLs learn English and transition to a new culture are clearly supported through the results of this literature review. The intent of this article was to provide a summary of how music may be used to teach English and how the ELLs benefit from this approach. This article also focused on research-based methods and lessons that may be implemented in classrooms to provide support for ELLs.It has been stated that “there is music in every child. The teacher’s job is to find it and nurture it” (Viss 2013). In the case of ELLs, this music has the potential to be the source of motivation and encouragement they need to find success in school. References Abrahams, F. (2015). Another perspective: teaching music to millennial students. Music Educators Journal, 102(1), 97-100. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24755637 Alegrado, A., & Winsler, A. (2020). Predictors of taking elective music courses in middle schoolamonglow-SES, ethnically diverse students in Miami. Journal of Research in MusicEducation, 68(1), 5–30. Akbary, M., Shahriari, H., & Hosseini Fatemi, A. (2018). The Value of Song Lyrics for Teachingand Learning English Phrasal Verbs: A Corpus Investigation of Four Music Genres.Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching, 12(4), 344–356.https://doi.org/10.1080/17501229. 2016.1216121 Borisova, E. N., & Letkina, N. V. (2019). English for Professional Communication: A Project-Based Approach to Teaching University Students (a Case Study of MusicStudents). Integration of Education, 23(4), 607–627. https://doi.org/10.15507/1991-9468.097.023. 201904.607-627 Conkling, S. W., & Conkling, T. L. (2018). I’m the one who’s here: an experienced music teacher, alow-income school, and arts participation as a reform strategy. Music Education Research, 20(4), 517–530.https://doi.org/10.1080/ 14613808.2018.1445211 Florida Department of Education (FLDOE). (n.d.) English Language Learners. http://www.fldoe.org/academics/ eng-language-learners/ Gosselin, P.L. (2017). The effects of language on English language learners’ music preferences. International Journal of Music Education, 32(2). 216-226.http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/ 0255761415582346 Kao, T., & Oxford, R. L. (2014). Learning language through music: A strategy for building inspiration and motivation. System, 43, 114–120. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2014.01.003 Lawson-Adams, J. & Dickinson, D.K. (2020). Sound stories: Using nonverbal sound effects tosupport English word learning in first-grade music classrooms. Reading Research Quarterly, 55(3), 419.https://doi.org/10.1002/rrq.280 Lems, K. (2018). New ideas for teaching English using songs and music. English Teaching Forum, 56(1),14–21. Li, X., & Brand, M. (2009). Effectiveness of music on vocabulary acquisition, language usage,and meaning for mainland Chinese ESL learners. Contributions to Music, 36(1), 73–84. Lorah, J., Morrison, S.J., & Sanders, E.A. (2015). Music achievement of English Language Learnereighth grade students. Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, 206, 23–39.https://doi.org/10.5406/ bulcouresmusedu.206.0023 Lorah, J., Sanders, E., & Morrison, S. (2014). The relationship between English Language Learnerstatus and music ensemble participation. Journal of Research in Music Education, 62(3), 234-244. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43900253 Marsh, K., & Dieckmann, S. (2017). Contributions of playground singing games to the socialinclusion of refugee and newly arrived immigrant children in Australia. Education 3-13,45(6), 710–719. Miranda, M. (2011). My name is Maria: supporting English language learners in the kindergartengeneral music classroom. General Music Today, 24(2), 17. McCormack, B. A., Klopper, C., Kitson, L., & Westerveld, M. (2018). The potential for music todevelop pronunciation in students with English as an additional language or dialect(EAL/D). Australian Journal of Music Education, 52(1), 43–50. Neel, M. M. (2017). Mariachi and Spanish speaking English learners: District initiatives, models, and education policy.Arts Education Policy Review, 118(4), 208–219. Pendergast, S. (2020). Understanding participation in secondary music classes: A literature review. Applications of Research in Music Education, 39(1), 38-49. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/8755123320928479 Sanchez, D. (2019, January 18)What’s the average length of a song? It’s shorter than youthink. Digital Music News. https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/ 2019/01/18/streaming-music-shorter-songs -study/#:~:text=The%20average%20length %20of%20a%20song%20on%20the%20 Billboard%20Hot,songs%20are%20 becoming%20increasingly%20common. Tegge, F. (2017). The lexical coverage of popular songs in English language teaching. System, 67, 87–98. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2017.04.016 Temur, M. (2021). The impact of awakening perception of learners’ comprehension on Englishlearning via regularly listening to songs in English. International Journal of Progressive Education, 17(1), 145–157. http://dx.doi.org/10.29329/ijpe.2020.329.10 VanDeusen, A. J. (2019). A Cultural Immersion Field Experience: Examining Preservice MusicTeachers’ Beliefs about Cultural Differences in the Music Classroom. Journal of MusicTeacher Education, 28(3), 43–57. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1057083718824729 Viss, L. (2013, October 14). Who is Frances Clark anyway?88 Piano Keys. https://www.leilaviss.com/blog/musings/ who-is-frances-clark-anyway Xi, X. (2021). English Teachers’ Perspectives on Using Music in English Language Teaching in Thai Secondary Schools. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 11(2), 145. https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.1102.05
Pedagogy Harnessing the Power of Music to Support English Language Learners Melissa A. Salek Mayport Coastal Sciences Elementary School, Atlantic Beach, Florida ABSTRACT The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of how music supports ELLs as well as provide examples of research-based applications for the music classroom. Music helps ELLs learn basic aspects of the English language from grammar and vocabulary to speaking and comprehension skills, is highly motivational, and provides a unique way for them to understand the local culture. Music that is relevant and student-centered such as pop and rap work best; however, educators need to provide appropriate language support for the lyrics. Ideas for supporting ELLs in the music classroom include sound stories and musical games for primary grades, while Karaoke-style performances, song lists, and musical projects are appropriate for older elementary and secondary students.
SSTESOL Journal Volume 14 Issue 2, Fall 2021 p.35
SSTESOL Journal Volume 14 Issue 2, Fall 2021 p.34
SSTESOL Journal Volume 14 Issue 1, Spring, 2021 p.37 p.2
SSTESOL Journal Volume 14 Issue 1, Spring, 2021 p36 p.2
SSTESOL Journal Volume 14 Issue 1, Spring, 2021 p.39 p.2
SSTESOL Journal Volume 14 Issue 1, Spring, 2021 p.38 p.2
As an international student in the United States, I have had different roles in transnational higher education. Two years ago, I attended the University of North Florida as an exchange student while I was an English major back in my home university in China. My first time being in the United States was an unfamiliar experience full of excitement, but there were also numerous challenges regarding cultural differences (e.g., collectivism and individualism) and my self-identifications (e.g., fixed mindset and growth mindset, passivity and positivity). Then, one year after I got my bachelor’s degree, I joined the same U.S. university as a graduate student. The pandemic was an unprecedented challenge because international students could not go to the host country so I had my study-abroad experiences remotely. At that time, I not only faced cultural challenges, but also new difficulties such as the time difference. However, it is those experiences that brought me many opportunities to explore cultural exchanges, on-campus resources, and class modifications. Challenges and Possibilities: Examination of Self-growth From Different Perspectives Holding disparate worldviews, people of diverse cultures have different understandings of social obligations, relationships, roles, and behaviors (DeCapua & Wintergerst, 2016). One of the cultural differences I have encountered is that the United States is an individualistic society while China values collectivistic culture. People in an individualistic society are encouraged to pursue independence, personal achievement, self-expression, and satisfaction while collectivists emphasize interdependence, hierarchical roles, group objectives over individuals’ needs and efforts (DeCapua & Wintergerst, 2016). Due to the conflicts of my cultural awareness between individualism and collectivism, I had a hard time adjusting to the U.S. classroom because I had been used to keeping silent and following the decisions that my group members made. Another obstacle I have confronted regarding my self-identifications is that I was not confident about my culture and academic performance. As I was experiencing the different cultures and school systems, I felt so depressed that I did not believe things could be improved. I had that fixed mindset until my professor introduced a growth mindset in the class. According to Dweck (2010), people with a fixed mindset believe that one’s abilities are predetermined at birth while people with a growth mindset believe in the power of effort. Also, the changes in one’s beliefs in the nature of intelligence can promote people’s well-being and indirectly enhance students’ academic behaviors (Alvarado et al., 2019). The development of my cultural identifications and school performance largely benefited from the growth mindset, which further helped me go over the difficulties of studying remotely in the later stage. Collectivism and Individualism: From A Group Member to A Single Self One of the challenges that I first had in my program was the difference between the focus of collectivism and individualism. Growing up in the collectivistic culture in the East, I have been taught to identify myself in a group context where my personal benefits and goals should subordinate to a community. A teacher-centered classroom was the dominant form of education I received in my home country where students had little freedom but to accept the knowledge input passively. Also, caring about a harmonious relationship within a group was more important to me than contributing to the group outcome (Luo et al., 2013), which hindered my potential of independent thinking skills. As collectivism was deeply embedded in my mind, the focus of individual accountability and achievement at the University of North Florida urged me to transition to an individualistic mindset and rely less on group support. In my first class discussion board on a topic of how English language learners (ELLs) might feel in a regular classroom, I mimicked my peers' responses and wrote my post regarding a setting where English is a second language (ESL). Part of me wanted to contribute my ideas about a setting where English is a foreign language (EFL), but I did not because I did not want to answer differently from my peers. However, the turning point was when I briefly mentioned in a peer response how I felt as an ELL myself in my EFL class in China. My classmates appreciated my comments for broadening their perspectives and my professor encouraged me to provide more insights into teaching in an EFL setting to diversify the class content. I thought that conforming to my peers would be the scholarly way to conduct myself in classes; however, these practices were not valued in a society which focuses on individual accountability. As being more immersed in an individualistic culture, I began to develop my identity as a single self by contributing my viewpoints to class projects, asking my professors for modifications as an ELL in content classes, looking for personal needs and goals, and building a sense of self-reliance. Fixed Mindset and Growth Mindset: From Diffidence to Confidence Having a fixed mindset was one of the factors undermining my academic growth as an international exchange student in the United States. Due to my past education experiences with a fixed mindset, I believed that it was predetermined intelligence rather than hard work and practice that led to success. As I was not proficient in the English language, I often felt lost in class during my first semester. The fixed mindset further marginalized me in mainstream classroom as I saw how creative, capable, and engaged the other students were. There was a turning point when I realized that I could not accept my “predetermined” failures anymore under the pressure of not passing the classes. I started to take small steps to change the situation. I asked my professors for in-class ELL modifications. I went to the writing center, the tutoring center, and the professors’ office hours to work on my grammar and class content. These on-campus student resources are invaluable resources which help new international students like me improve the quality of our schoolwork. Witnessing my improvement in my classes, I knew that I had the potential to learn and make progress. This growth mindset eliminated my discomfort with being an international student with insufficient language skills in an unfamiliar environment and built me in a sense of confidence and ownership of my academics. Passivity and Positivity: Cultural Exchanges In my personal life, feeling marginalized in the mainstream culture was another challenge. Coming from a most homogenous country, I felt uncomfortable looking and behaving differently than other people, and I identified myself as an outsider of the culture. This feeling fits in well with Banks (2004) Cultural Development Typology, which was created to describe the various stages of cultural identification development. From stage 1, Cultural Psychological Captivity, to stage 6, Globalism and Global Competency, individuals in a large society transition their identifications from cultural self-rejection, to contrivance, pride, exchange, and eventually contribution to the world community. I rejected my own culture as I began to discover its shortcomings and compare them with unique traits of other cultures. However, as I met more international friends, I learned that cultural differences make the world diverse and each culture has its advantages. I started to change my role from a passive cultural accepter into a positive cultural exchanger. I did not have cultural low-esteem anymore but felt proud of my identity. I adapted to cultural exchanges from international perspectives, and I had a strong desire to embrace the cultural diversities. There is still a long way for me to go to become a cosmopolitan citizen contributing to the world community, but I feel encouraged when I see the progress I have made. Confrontation and Adaptation: Continuing My Journey After I finished the exchange program at the University of North Florida, I returned to China to complete my degree. When I left the United States, I had made great changes in adapting to the new cultural and educational environment as a confident and positive individual. I was proud of my achievements and hoped to continue the exciting journey, so I joined a graduate program at the same U.S. university one year later. Although I have experienced the discomforts in an earlier stage,challenges still existed. Due to the pandemic, I had to stay in China studying remotely. The time differences were the biggest challenge for me as I needed to rewire my bodily clock. Getting up late at night was normal to me as it was daylight time in the Eastern Standard Time, but it might influence my mental and physical health in the long run (deVelde et al., 2021). Fortunately, I was able to return to the university this fall. However, what supported me were the responsible professors I had and the high expectations I held of my future school life. Although the pandemic made interactions difficult, school resources were available virtually, which still afforded me a good education as long as I utilized them. Now, I am familiar with how U.S. schools work and rarely rely on in-class ELL modifications. With the strong growth mindset in mind, I believe that I am doing as well as the other students, and I have received encouraging reflections from my professors saying how delightful they are to work with me. Implications For International Students My study-abroad reflection might help other international students realize the challenges they have or will have, and I have some recommendations for those who are not clear about what small steps to take to change the challenges into possibilities. First, it is important for struggling students to keep in mind that they are not alone during their study.They will meet many other international students going through the same struggles as them, and that the new learning environment is designed to help them succeed by providing access to tutoring lessons, library proofreads, and more. Having a positive attitude to face the difficulties will motivate them to work hard and better themselves. Second, international students should go out of their comfort zone and make a change in their life. Possibilities never come unless they are explored and embraced. In students’ personal life, making friends will help them understand how diverse this world is, and in scholarly environments, these international students are recommended to talk to their professors about their needs. Third, on-campus services are great resources for international students to use, including but not limited to the writing center, tutoring center, international center, professors’ office hours, library, career center, etc. Although international students might be used to keeping their questions to themselves, it will be helpful if students utilize these on-campus resources to assist with their academic achievements. Last, participating in short-term exchange programs, if possible, will help international students who have a goal to study abroad in a degree program better adjust to transnational higher education; however, it’s important to remember that it is never too late to take action and look for possibilities in a better future. For Professors International students consist of ELLs and non-ELLs, but what they have in common is that they come to an environment where the culture and education system is relatively new to them. During the time I was struggling, I eventually talked about my difficulties and asked for my professors’ help. However, given the fact that not everyone will speak for themselves, I recommend professors of international students to ask if they need any modifications. It is important to let international students know that their professors can support them as needed. Professors can also differentiate international students’ needs by offering office hours, providing bilingual books, or making their expectations clearer for students to understand. For International Centers International centers play an essential role in international students’ lives in a new environment. They not only assist students with visa regulations, but also advise students on school culture. The international center at the University of North Florida also organizes international students to participate in volunteer activities such as helping to rescue animals. These activities are a great way for international students to connect with each other in their community. Also, international centers could guide students through their curriculum systems before their program starts. This way students will have a clear understanding of how the classes are constructed because it might not be the same as classes in their home countries. Conclusion The one-year student exchange program brought me challenges from academic, personal, and cultural perspectives. It also helped me grow in a new environment as an international student, overcoming each difficulty and embracing the possibilities of my studies and personal relationships. Individual accountability, a growth mindset, and positive cultural identifications are the most valuable skills I had acquired during that period of having to adapt, which further prepared me for the next academic journey as a graduate student in the United States. Claire Fagin once said, “Knowledge will bring you the opportunity to make a difference.” My story might help other international students to develop their cultural awareness, accept academic challenges, and make full use of the opportunities in their transnational higher education institutions. References Alvarado, N. B., Ontiveros, M. R., & Gaytan, E. A. (2019). Do mindsets shape students’ well-being and performance? The Journal of Psychology, 153(8), 843-859. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223980.2019.1631141 Banks, J. A. (2004). Teaching for social justice, diversity, and citizenship in a global world. The Educational Forum, 68(4), 296-305. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131720408984645 DeCapua, A., & Wintergerst, A.W. (2016). Crossing cultures in the language classroom(2nd ed.). University of Michigan Press. de Velde, S. V., Buffel, V., Bracke, P., Hal, G. V., Somogyi, N. M., Willems, B., & Wouters, Edwin. (2021). The COVID-19 international student well-being study. Scandinavian Journal of Public Health, 49(1), 114-122. https://doi.org/10.1177/1403494820981186 Dweck, C. S. (2010). Mind-sets and equitable education. Principal Leadership, 10(5), 26-29. Luo, Y., Sun, Y., & Strobel, J. (2013). The effects of collectivism-individualism on the cooperative learning of motor skill. Journal of International Students, 3(1), 41-51. https://doi.org/10.32674/jis.v3i1.517 additional practice and more opportunities to interact with curricula material. What e-resources promote continuous learning opportunities for ELLs? The following websites and other web 2.0 tools can be suggested to students and their families. Alternatively, teachers can incorporate them into the curriculum to assist learners in their understanding of content and for their development of language proficiency. Subscription-based For young learners. PebbleGo contains content specifically designed for K-3 students. With this website, ELLs get access to a variety of content in English and Spanish (e.g., science, animals, biographies, social studies). Most articles include read-alouds with text highlighting for readers to follow along, as well as other media such as videos, timelines, or interactive activities (e.g., listening exercises). Subscription options offer districts with unlimited, simultaneous access to students, both at school and at home. Scholastic Learn at Home offers a variety of educational activities (e.g., picture book read-alouds, videos, interactive games, slideshows, etc.) for students aged 4-10. Content is self-paced and tailored by grade level (PreK-K, 1-2, and 3-5). Users can subscribe for a monthly fee, which can be cancelled at any time. For all ages. BrainPop ELL is a website which includes animated movies and other interactive features (e.g., flashcards, games, quizzes, etc.) that provide ELLs with listening, reading, speaking, and writing skills practice for beginner, intermediate, and more advanced levels of proficiency. The website offers different subscription options for school districts, individual teachers, and for families. In a similar manner, ESL Library offers lessons for academic and everyday English, a flashcard library with commonly used vocabulary and grammar, as well as various interactive exercises that can be assigned to students for additional practice. The website’s reporting feature allows teachers to view the completion status of assigned activities, the time students spent on tasks, and the results obtained by students in each activity. Teachers can also leave personalized feedback to students. There are different subscription options, with each teacher account enabling access to 100 students. Free-of-Charge For young learners. Epic contains a digital library for children ages 12 and under, offering more than 35,000 books/audiobooks, and learning videos that can be personalized to each student, according to their preferences and reading levels. Students can take quizzes to check their understanding and earn badges and rewards. Moreover, Epic content can be accessed either online or offline. For all ages. Khan Academy includes a library of lessons and practice exercises for math, English grammar, reading and language arts, science, history, computing, test preparation (e.g., SAT), as well as life skills (e.g., social and emotional learning, personal finance, growth mindset, etc.). Newsela is a reading platform that affords differentiated instruction via the assignment of reading content to students in lexile levels that reflect their reading proficiency. Newsela content is accessible both digitally and in print, which expands access to students without technology. One of the best features of this website is that it gets updated every day with 10 new texts, which keeps the content relevant and up-to-date. Newsela also contains case studies, white papers, webinars, and a blog that includes tips for instruction and describes new features added to the website. ReadWorks offers reading comprehension passages for K-12 students in a variety of lexile levels. Reading topics include STEM, poetry, social studies, literary fiction, arts, and holidays & events. The website allows students to access both digital and printed content, which facilitates access to all students. When accessing material online, students can listen along to audio versions, as well as highlight, annotate, and answer questions about the assigned texts. ReadWorks also gives teachers the option to track students’ progress and provide individual feedback. The website also includes guides for teachers and parents to best utilize the available resources. ReadWriteThink offers educators and families a variety of free lesson/unit plans, activities, games, and resources for professional development in printable or digital formats. The website includes content in arts, careers, community, science, math, social studies, among many others, which can be selected by grade level (K-12). Juxtaposed and complementary to the above tools is Rewordify. This tool enables a user to simplify any imported text based on lexile level. Rewordify offers the user to create and/or complete activities based on the imported text as well as a grammar function that allows users to deconstruct the text based on its grammatical parts. Affiliation Affiliation centers on the social dimension of learning. On the one hand, it is underpinned by the acknowledged importance of interaction between individuals and the role it plays in the facilitation of language acquisition (Gass, 1997; Swain, 2000). On the other hand, it weighs the importance of social-emotional (SE) growth as a metric in considerations about the health of social engagement between individuals (CASEL, 2020). If a language learner is emotionally closed to the people in his/her linguistic environment, then any benefits derived from dialogic engagement, collaboration, cooperation and/or mediation are minimal at best. What technologies can foster the social-emotional well-being of ELLs and how can technologies be used to minimize social distancing and increase emotional support? Since 1994, CASEL[2] has worked to establish high-quality social-emotional learning (SEL) in K-12 schools. Its work has led to the creation of the five core SEL competencies of self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making,providing a framework educators can utilize to inform how they engage with students at a social-emotional level. Research (Durlak et al., 2015) has illustrated that social-emotional health can be nurtured and competencies in social-emotional aspects can be fostered using a variety of approaches in K-12 settings. These include: • Incorporating SEL in free-standing lessons; • Embedding SEL within instructional practices; • Integrating SEL into subject-area courses; • Promoting SEL at an institutional level. In 2020, technology has been pivotal in allowing K-12 schools to respond instructionally to the necessities of “going remote” due to COVID-19. Here, we repurpose CASEL’s core competencies and encapsulate how technologies can equally continue to support educators as they nurture and grow the social-emotional skills of their ELLs while working in online, hybrid and e-learning environments. Free-Standing Lessons Educators can take advantage of many stand-alone online lessons, webinars and student-oriented trainings within Nearpod. This online student-engagement platform merges dynamic media and formative assessment in order to create opportunities for collaborative interactions between students. Additionally, teachers are able to assign professional crafted videos that anchor an array of activities and game-based learning tasks. In terms of CASEL’s five core competencies, Nearpod provides free-standing lessons for all K-12 students that help both students and teachers acquire understanding and skills in each of the five SEL areas. Figure 13 (yellow) lists some of the SEL specific lessons contained within the Nearpod library. Instructional Practices Over a lifetime of teaching, educators develop an array of teaching strategies and practices that are used to augment any number of learning needs. Specific to our five core SEL competencies are the following: Self-Awareness.The ability to accurately recognize one’s own emotions, thoughts, and values and how they influence behavior. Classroom practices may include helping students label their emotions, or having students use an emotional planner to identify and verbalize feelings and/or act on positive emotional strengths. Recommended tools include (i) Plutchik’sWheel of Emotion, for students to get a better understanding of deeper emotions; and (ii) Flippity,in which a range of instructional templates can easily embed Plutchik’s Wheel of Emotion to use with online learners (e.g.,random wheel spinner, flashcards, matching game, and manipulatives activities). Self-Management. The ability to successfully regulate one’s emotions, thoughts, and behaviors in different situations — effectively managing stress, controlling impulses, and motivating oneself. One easy technique that is often advocated consists of breathing exercises. In face-to-face settings, countless techniques can be utilized: lying down and breathing with a pebble on the chest, blowing into a paper fan, etc. For online students, a suggested website is https://www.calm.com/breathe, which is also available in Calm mobile applications for both Apple and Android devices. Have ELLs link to the site or mobile app at regular intervals during a lesson. Just as Figure 13: Highlighting Technologies that Foster SEL in Remote Learning Contexts one would have a brain break, so too can this site be used as an emotional regulator. Social-Awareness.The ability to take the perspective of and empathize with others, including those from diverse backgrounds and cultures. This is particularly important for ELLs. In brick-and-mortar classrooms, engaging in culturally-responsive, trauma-informed, and restorative justice strategies helps ELLs build skills in social awareness. For online students, GoNoodle is one of many webtools in English and Spanish that provides cooperative games for educators to assign to ELLs. Relationship Skills.For newly arrived ELLs who undergo stages of cultural adaptation, particularly culture shock, this competency is of special importance to foster. Even for ELLs raised in the USA, being new to an online learning environment also brings with it a period of adjustment. CASEL (2020) defines this skill as “The ability to establish and maintain healthy and rewarding relationships with diverse individuals and groups. The ability to communicate clearly, listen well, cooperate with others, resist inappropriate social pressure, negotiate conflict constructively, and seek and offer help when needed” (item 4 on CASEL’s SEL webpage). Several strategies for building relationship skills can be utilized with students, including storytelling, team-building activities, turn & talk activities, as well as learning circles/centers. Such strategies allow learners to think about, to practice healthy group interactions, and to negotiate cooperative dynamics. For online settings, three useful tools can mirror these same activities, described below: 1. WebQuests.These are online problem / project / inquiry-based activities that have a 5-step structure (introduction, task, process, evaluation, conclusion) supporting critical thinking through analyzing, creating, and evaluating. Although there are many design patterns to consider when creating a webquest, the most important is that the end-user (i.e., the ELL), is placed in a learning role that builds relationship skills. A number of sites offer teachers online templates to create their own webquests: Zunal, QuestGarden, Createwebquest, and Google Sites. 2. Google Slides. One technique to help students reflect on their choices and to negotiate circumstances and relationships is to use Google Slides to create interactive storybooks (i.e.,choose your own adventurestories, in which the reader controls the plot). This tool offers teachers a way to create an online interactive story that can be easily embedded into any classroom lesson (click here for an example). In order to make such a story, one needs to storyboard it out. The following are two examples of storyboard templates (#1 and #2). A number of educators have put the concept of interactive storybooks on Google Slides to good use. Sylvia Duckworth, a noted Google certified innovator and trainer as well as an Apple distinguished educator, shares many of her creations. Click here for a fillable interactive storybook. 3. TalkingPoints. It is important to take into consideration that low proficient ELLs do not always have the language skills to verbalize their emotions, especially as they traverse the ups and downs of living in and interacting with people in their adopted new homeland. In view of this, we suggest using TalkingPoints. This app provides a means for ELLs and their families to verbalize their emotions and feelings in their native language and be read in English by any recipient (i.e., a teacher, administrator, buddy, neighbor, school staff). As online learning can be an isolating and sometimes frustrating experience, offering ELLs the opportunity to express and explain how they feel using their own language is an important first step in growing skills in this area. Responsible Decision-Making. Handing over responsibility for learning helps students take ownership of their educational journeys while also fostering proactivity. Project-based Learning (PBL) provides opportunities for real-world, authentic experiences, which can empower learners and build their confidence. E-tools such as Flipgrid, Padlet, and Linoit furnish platforms for PBL, affording opportunities for students to share their projects as well as provide and receive feedback. Integrating SEL into Subject-Area Courses While there is a wide array of web 2.0 tools available as resources to educators, utilizing all of them can make it overwhelming for students and/or their families. With that in mind, consider meshing e-tools when creating the digital resources needed to fulfil the goals of instruction, or combining the different e-tools within a single platform. One platform that certainly respects the importance of SEL is Edmodo. In Edmodo, ELLs can share their work, and teachers can flip and/or gamify their instruction. Moreover, in its Discover section, Edmodo offers a range of best practice resources in SEL and ideas on how to integrate SEL into instruction to foster better positive online classroom climates. Edmodo also has a built-in Wellness Check Poll so that teachers can quickly gauge how their students are feeling. Equally, a Messenger function on Edmodo allows for private one-on-one synchronous communications. Lastly, within the platform’s communal blog feature, teachers can access ‘live’ SEL suggestions. A further two e-tools worth noting that can be meshed with Edmodo to help an ELL build relationships and develop good decision-making skills within an online classroom are Flippity and WriteReader. Flippity provides a range of activity templates to alternate student groupings and to make e-resources less static. On the other hand, WriteReader minimizes the isolating effects of writing activities by enabling students to share writing spaces. Institutional Initiatives At a school level, administrators need to be mindful of the types of supports extended to ELLs to underpin remote learning needs. Supports inculture (feeling safe and minimizing isolation), structure (transparent instructional processes and rules), communication (comprehensible information flow), proprietorship, (goal-setting and buy-in), collaboration (fostering interpersonal work and connectedness), celebration (building community and providing reinforcement), and feedback (being SMART[3]) can frame successful initiatives. As outlined above, Edmodo offers teachers and their ELLs a solid platform to promote SEL practices in the school while simultaneously enabling the above supports. Equally, as outlined above, Nearpod provides these same functions. Final Thoughts Technologies, as outlined, offer countless opportunities for educators to offer instructional and emotional support to students. However, these same technologies need to be used in measured and strategically intentional ways in order to maximize their benefits and minimize their challenges for ELLs. As bridge builders, teachers should be cognizant of the 6 As (i.e., availability, access, awareness, application, assistance, and affiliation) when deciding what strategies, instructional supports, and tools to utilize in their lessons in order to offer ELLs engaging and effective instruction in remote learning environments. [1] In this sense the aim is to be successful at transactional competence (the ability to get things done with the language), interactional competence (the ability to manage relationships and social interactions in the target language), and translingual competence (the ability to appropriately make use of a range of linguistic resources in a multilingual society). [2] Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning [3] SMART - Specific (simple, sensible, significant). Measurable (meaningful, motivating). Achievable (agreed, attainable). Relevant (reasonable, realistic and resourced, results-based). Time bound (time-based, time limited, time/cost limited, timely, time-sensitive). References Collaborative for Social-Emotional Learning (CASEL) (2020).https://casel.org/ Common Sense Media (2019).https://www.commonsensemedia.org/sites/ default/files/uploads/research/2019_8-18-infographic _final-release.pdf Dominguez, M. (2017). “Se hace puentes al andar”: Decolonial teacher education as a needed bridge to culturally sustaining and revitalizing pedagogies. In D. H. Paris & Samy Alim (eds.).Culturally sustaining pedagogies: Teaching and learning for justice in a changing world.New York, NY: Teachers College Press. Dorn, E., Hancock, B., Sarakatsannis, J., & Viruleg, E. (2020). COVID-19 and learning loss — disparitiesg row and students need help. McKinsey & Company. Durlak, J.A., Domitrovich, C., Weissberg, R.P., & Gullotta, T.P.(Eds.),Handbook of social and emotional learning (SEL): Research and practice. (pp. 3-19). New York: The Guilford Press. Florida Department of Education Recommendations to Reopen Florida’s Schools and the Cares Act Plan (2020). Retrieved from http://fldoe.org/core/fileparse.php/19861/urlt /FLDOEReopeningCARESAct.pdf 2020-21 Florida’s Optional Innovative Reopening Plan [Hillsborough County] (2020). Retrieved from http://fldoe.org/core/fileparse.php/7501/urlt/ Hillsborough-reopenPlan.pdf Garcia-Arena, P. & D’Souza St.(2020). Research Brief. Spotlight on English Learners. National Survey of Public Education’s Response to COVID-19. American Institutes for Research. https://www.air.org/sites/default/files/ COVID-Survey-Spotlight-on-English-Learners-FINAL- Oct-2020.pdf Gass, S. (1997).Input, interaction, and the second language learner. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Parris, H., Estrada, L., & Honigsfeld, A. (2016).ELL frontiers: Using technology to enhance instruction for English learners. Corwin Press. Song, K., Kim, S., & Zhao, Y. (2020). Manifesting multidimensional creativity in a technology‐mediated online TESOL practicum course.TESOL Journal,11(2), 1-17. St. George, D. (2020, December 4). Failing grades double and triple—some rising sixfold — amid pandemic learning.Washington Post. shorturl.at/qCEU5 Swain, M. (2000). The output hypothesis and beyond: Mediating acquisition through collaborative dialogue. In J. P. Lantolf (Ed.),Sociocultural theory and second language learning(pp. 97– 114). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. Tarbutton, T. (2018). Leveraging 21st Century Learning & Technology to Create Caring Diverse Classroom Cultures.Multicultural Education,25(2), 4-6. Tutwiler, S. J. W. (2017).Teachers as collaborative partners: Working with diverse families and communities. Routledge. additional practice and more opportunities to interact with curricula material. What e-resources promote continuous learning opportunities for ELLs? The following websites and other web 2.0 tools can be suggested to students and their families. Alternatively, teachers can incorporate them into the curriculum to assist learners in their understanding of content and for their development of language proficiency. Subscription-based For young learners. PebbleGo contains content specifically designed for K-3 students. With this website, ELLs get access to a variety of content in English and Spanish (e.g., science, animals, biographies, social studies). Most articles include read-alouds with text highlighting for readers to follow along, as well as other media such as videos, timelines, or interactive activities (e.g., listening exercises). Subscription options offer districts with unlimited, simultaneous access to students, both at school and at home. Scholastic Learn at Home offers a variety of educational activities (e.g., picture book read-alouds, videos, interactive games, slideshows, etc.) for students aged 4-10. Content is self-paced and tailored by grade level (PreK-K, 1-2, and 3-5). Users can subscribe for a monthly fee, which can be cancelled at any time. For all ages. BrainPop ELL is a website which includes animated movies and other interactive features (e.g., flashcards, games, quizzes, etc.) that provide ELLs with listening, reading, speaking, and writing skills practice for beginner, intermediate, and more advanced levels of proficiency. The website offers different subscription options for school districts, individual teachers, and for families. In a similar manner, ESL Library offers lessons for academic and everyday English, a flashcard library with commonly used vocabulary and grammar, as well as various interactive exercises that can be assigned to students for additional practice. The website’s reporting feature allows teachers to view the completion status of assigned activities, the time students spent on tasks, and the results obtained by students in each activity. Teachers can also leave personalized feedback to students. There are different subscription options, with each teacher account enabling access to 100 students. Free-of-Charge For young learners. Epic contains a digital library for children ages 12 and under, offering more than 35,000 books/audiobooks, and learning videos that can be personalized to each student, according to their preferences and reading levels. Students can take quizzes to check their understanding and earn badges and rewards. Moreover, Epic content can be accessed either online or offline. For all ages. Khan Academy includes a library of lessons and practice exercises for math, English grammar, reading and language arts, science, history, computing, test preparation (e.g., SAT), as well as life skills (e.g., social and emotional learning, personal finance, growth mindset, etc.). Newsela is a reading platform that affords differentiated instruction via the assignment of reading content to students in lexile levels that reflect their reading proficiency. Newsela content is accessible both digitally and in print, which expands access to students without technology. One of the best features of this website is that it gets updated every day with 10 new texts, which keeps the content relevant and up-to-date. Newsela also contains case studies, white papers, webinars, and a blog that includes tips for instruction and describes new features added to the website. ReadWorks offers reading comprehension passages for K-12 students in a variety of lexile levels. Reading topics include STEM, poetry, social studies, literary fiction, arts, and holidays & events. The website allows students to access both digital and printed content, which facilitates access to all students. When accessing material online, students can listen along to audio versions, as well as highlight, annotate, and answer questions about the assigned texts. ReadWorks also gives teachers the option to track students’ progress and provide individual feedback. The website also includes guides for teachers and parents to best utilize the available resources. ReadWriteThink offers educators and families a variety of free lesson/unit plans, activities, games, and resources for professional development in printable or digital formats. The website includes content in arts, careers, community, science, math, social studies, among many others, which can be selected by grade level (K-12). Juxtaposed and complementary to the above tools is Rewordify. This tool enables a user to simplify any imported text based on lexile level. Rewordify offers the user to create and/or complete activities based on the imported text as well as a grammar function that allows users to deconstruct the text based on its grammatical parts. Affiliation Affiliation centers on the social dimension of learning. On the one hand, it is underpinned by the acknowledged importance of interaction between individuals and the role it plays in the facilitation of language acquisition (Gass, 1997; Swain, 2000). On the other hand, it weighs the importance of social-emotional (SE) growth as a metric in considerations about the health of social engagement between individuals (CASEL, 2020). If a language learner is emotionally closed to the people in his/her linguistic environment, then any benefits derived from dialogic engagement, collaboration, cooperation and/or mediation are minimal at best. What technologies can foster the social-emotional well-being of ELLs and how can technologies be used to minimize social distancing and increase emotional support? Since 1994, CASEL[2] has worked to establish high-quality social-emotional learning (SEL) in K-12 schools. Its work has led to the creation of the five core SEL competencies of self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making,providing a framework educators can utilize to inform how they engage with students at a social-emotional level. Research (Durlak et al., 2015) has illustrated that social-emotional health can be nurtured and competencies in social-emotional aspects can be fostered using a variety of approaches in K-12 settings. These include: • Incorporating SEL in free-standing lessons; • Embedding SEL within instructional practices; • Integrating SEL into subject-area courses; • Promoting SEL at an institutional level. In 2020, technology has been pivotal in allowing K-12 schools to respond instructionally to the necessities of “going remote” due to COVID-19. Here, we repurpose CASEL’s core competencies and encapsulate how technologies can equally continue to support educators as they nurture and grow the social-emotional skills of their ELLs while working in online, hybrid and e-learning environments. Free-Standing Lessons Educators can take advantage of many stand-alone online lessons, webinars and student-oriented trainings within Nearpod. This online student-engagement platform merges dynamic media and formative assessment in order to create opportunities for collaborative interactions between students. Additionally, teachers are able to assign professional crafted videos that anchor an array of activities and game-based learning tasks. In terms of CASEL’s five core competencies, Nearpod provides free-standing lessons for all K-12 students that help both students and teachers acquire understanding and skills in each of the five SEL areas. Figure 13 (yellow) lists some of the SEL specific lessons contained within the Nearpod library. Instructional Practices Over a lifetime of teaching, educators develop an array of teaching strategies and practices that are used to augment any number of learning needs. Specific to our five core SEL competencies are the following: Self-Awareness.The ability to accurately recognize one’s own emotions, thoughts, and values and how they influence behavior. Classroom practices may include helping students label their emotions, or having students use an emotional planner to identify and verbalize feelings and/or act on positive emotional strengths. Recommended tools include (i) Plutchik’sWheel of Emotion, for students to get a better understanding of deeper emotions; and (ii) Flippity,in which a range of instructional templates can easily embed Plutchik’s Wheel of Emotion to use with online learners (e.g.,random wheel spinner, flashcards, matching game, and manipulatives activities). Self-Management. The ability to successfully regulate one’s emotions, thoughts, and behaviors in different situations — effectively managing stress, controlling impulses, and motivating oneself. One easy technique that is often advocated consists of breathing exercises. In face-to-face settings, countless techniques can be utilized: lying down and breathing with a pebble on the chest, blowing into a paper fan, etc. For online students, a suggested website is https://www.calm.com/breathe, which is also available in Calm mobile applications for both Apple and Android devices. Have ELLs link to the site or mobile app at regular intervals during a lesson. Just as Figure 13: Highlighting Technologies that Foster SEL in Remote Learning Contexts one would have a brain break, so too can this site be used as an emotional regulator. Social-Awareness.The ability to take the perspective of and empathize with others, including those from diverse backgrounds and cultures. This is particularly important for ELLs. In brick-and-mortar classrooms, engaging in culturally-responsive, trauma-informed, and restorative justice strategies helps ELLs build skills in social awareness. For online students, GoNoodle is one of many webtools in English and Spanish that provides cooperative games for educators to assign to ELLs. Relationship Skills.For newly arrived ELLs who undergo stages of cultural adaptation, particularly culture shock, this competency is of special importance to foster. Even for ELLs raised in the USA, being new to an online learning environment also brings with it a period of adjustment. CASEL (2020) defines this skill as “The ability to establish and maintain healthy and rewarding relationships with diverse individuals and groups. The ability to communicate clearly, listen well, cooperate with others, resist inappropriate social pressure, negotiate conflict constructively, and seek and offer help when needed” (item 4 on CASEL’s SEL webpage). Several strategies for building relationship skills can be utilized with students, including storytelling, team-building activities, turn & talk activities, as well as learning circles/centers. Such strategies allow learners to think about, to practice healthy group interactions, and to negotiate cooperative dynamics. For online settings, three useful tools can mirror these same activities, described below: 1. WebQuests.These are online problem / project / inquiry-based activities that have a 5-step structure (introduction, task, process, evaluation, conclusion) supporting critical thinking through analyzing, creating, and evaluating. Although there are many design patterns to consider when creating a webquest, the most important is that the end-user (i.e., the ELL), is placed in a learning role that builds relationship skills. A number of sites offer teachers online templates to create their own webquests: Zunal, QuestGarden, Createwebquest, and Google Sites. 2. Google Slides. One technique to help students reflect on their choices and to negotiate circumstances and relationships is to use Google Slides to create interactive storybooks (i.e.,choose your own adventurestories, in which the reader controls the plot). This tool offers teachers a way to create an online interactive story that can be easily embedded into any classroom lesson (click here for an example). In order to make such a story, one needs to storyboard it out. The following are two examples of storyboard templates (#1 and #2). A number of educators have put the concept of interactive storybooks on Google Slides to good use. Sylvia Duckworth, a noted Google certified innovator and trainer as well as an Apple distinguished educator, shares many of her creations. Click here for a fillable interactive storybook. 3. TalkingPoints. It is important to take into consideration that low proficient ELLs do not always have the language skills to verbalize their emotions, especially as they traverse the ups and downs of living in and interacting with people in their adopted new homeland. In view of this, we suggest using TalkingPoints. This app provides a means for ELLs and their families to verbalize their emotions and feelings in their native language and be read in English by any recipient (i.e., a teacher, administrator, buddy, neighbor, school staff). As online learning can be an isolating and sometimes frustrating experience, offering ELLs the opportunity to express and explain how they feel using their own language is an important first step in growing skills in this area. Responsible Decision-Making. Handing over responsibility for learning helps students take ownership of their educational journeys while also fostering proactivity. Project-based Learning (PBL) provides opportunities for real-world, authentic experiences, which can empower learners and build their confidence. E-tools such as Flipgrid, Padlet, and Linoit furnish platforms for PBL, affording opportunities for students to share their projects as well as provide and receive feedback. Integrating SEL into Subject-Area Courses While there is a wide array of web 2.0 tools available as resources to educators, utilizing all of them can make it overwhelming for students and/or their families. With that in mind, consider meshing e-tools when creating the digital resources needed to fulfil the goals of instruction, or combining the different e-tools within a single platform. One platform that certainly respects the importance of SEL is Edmodo. In Edmodo, ELLs can share their work, and teachers can flip and/or gamify their instruction. Moreover, in its Discover section, Edmodo offers a range of best practice resources in SEL and ideas on how to integrate SEL into instruction to foster better positive online classroom climates. Edmodo also has a built-in Wellness Check Poll so that teachers can quickly gauge how their students are feeling. Equally, a Messenger function on Edmodo allows for private one-on-one synchronous communications. Lastly, within the platform’s communal blog feature, teachers can access ‘live’ SEL suggestions. A further two e-tools worth noting that can be meshed with Edmodo to help an ELL build relationships and develop good decision-making skills within an online classroom are Flippity and WriteReader. Flippity provides a range of activity templates to alternate student groupings and to make e-resources less static. On the other hand, WriteReader minimizes the isolating effects of writing activities by enabling students to share writing spaces. Institutional Initiatives At a school level, administrators need to be mindful of the types of supports extended to ELLs to underpin remote learning needs. Supports inculture (feeling safe and minimizing isolation), structure (transparent instructional processes and rules), communication (comprehensible information flow), proprietorship, (goal-setting and buy-in), collaboration (fostering interpersonal work and connectedness), celebration (building community and providing reinforcement), and feedback (being SMART[3]) can frame successful initiatives. As outlined above, Edmodo offers teachers and their ELLs a solid platform to promote SEL practices in the school while simultaneously enabling the above supports. Equally, as outlined above, Nearpod provides these same functions. Final Thoughts Technologies, as outlined, offer countless opportunities for educators to offer instructional and emotional support to students. However, these same technologies need to be used in measured and strategically intentional ways in order to maximize their benefits and minimize their challenges for ELLs. As bridge builders, teachers should be cognizant of the 6 As (i.e., availability, access, awareness, application, assistance, and affiliation) when deciding what strategies, instructional supports, and tools to utilize in their lessons in order to offer ELLs engaging and effective instruction in remote learning environments. [1] In this sense the aim is to be successful at transactional competence (the ability to get things done with the language), interactional competence (the ability to manage relationships and social interactions in the target language), and translingual competence (the ability to appropriately make use of a range of linguistic resources in a multilingual society). [2] Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning [3] SMART - Specific (simple, sensible, significant). Measurable (meaningful, motivating). Achievable (agreed, attainable). Relevant (reasonable, realistic and resourced, results-based). Time bound (time-based, time limited, time/cost limited, timely, time-sensitive). References Collaborative for Social-Emotional Learning (CASEL) (2020).https://casel.org/ Common Sense Media (2019).https://www.commonsensemedia.org/sites/ default/files/uploads/research/2019_8-18-infographic _final-release.pdf Dominguez, M. (2017). “Se hace puentes al andar”: Decolonial teacher education as a needed bridge to culturally sustaining and revitalizing pedagogies. In D. H. Paris & Samy Alim (eds.).Culturally sustaining pedagogies: Teaching and learning for justice in a changing world.New York, NY: Teachers College Press. Dorn, E., Hancock, B., Sarakatsannis, J., & Viruleg, E. (2020). COVID-19 and learning loss — disparitiesg row and students need help. McKinsey & Company. Durlak, J.A., Domitrovich, C., Weissberg, R.P., & Gullotta, T.P.(Eds.),Handbook of social and emotional learning (SEL): Research and practice. (pp. 3-19). New York: The Guilford Press. Florida Department of Education Recommendations to Reopen Florida’s Schools and the Cares Act Plan (2020). Retrieved from http://fldoe.org/core/fileparse.php/19861/urlt /FLDOEReopeningCARESAct.pdf 2020-21 Florida’s Optional Innovative Reopening Plan [Hillsborough County] (2020). Retrieved from http://fldoe.org/core/fileparse.php/7501/urlt/ Hillsborough-reopenPlan.pdf Garcia-Arena, P. & D’Souza St.(2020). Research Brief. Spotlight on English Learners. National Survey of Public Education’s Response to COVID-19. American Institutes for Research. https://www.air.org/sites/default/files/ COVID-Survey-Spotlight-on-English-Learners-FINAL- Oct-2020.pdf Gass, S. (1997).Input, interaction, and the second language learner. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Parris, H., Estrada, L., & Honigsfeld, A. (2016).ELL frontiers: Using technology to enhance instruction for English learners. Corwin Press. Song, K., Kim, S., & Zhao, Y. (2020). Manifesting multidimensional creativity in a technology‐mediated online TESOL practicum course.TESOL Journal,11(2), 1-17. St. George, D. (2020, December 4). Failing grades double and triple—some rising sixfold — amid pandemic learning.Washington Post. shorturl.at/qCEU5 Swain, M. (2000). The output hypothesis and beyond: Mediating acquisition through collaborative dialogue. In J. P. Lantolf (Ed.),Sociocultural theory and second language learning(pp. 97– 114). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. Tarbutton, T. (2018). Leveraging 21st Century Learning & Technology to Create Caring Diverse Classroom Cultures.Multicultural Education,25(2), 4-6. Tutwiler, S. J. W. (2017).Teachers as collaborative partners: Working with diverse families and communities. Routledge. additional practice and more opportunities to interact with curricula material. What e-resources promote continuous learning opportunities for ELLs? The following websites and other web 2.0 tools can be suggested to students and their families. Alternatively, teachers can incorporate them into the curriculum to assist learners in their understanding of content and for their development of language proficiency. Subscription-based For young learners. PebbleGo contains content specifically designed for K-3 students. With this website, ELLs get access to a variety of content in English and Spanish (e.g., science, animals, biographies, social studies). Most articles include read-alouds with text highlighting for readers to follow along, as well as other media such as videos, timelines, or interactive activities (e.g., listening exercises). Subscription options offer districts with unlimited, simultaneous access to students, both at school and at home. Scholastic Learn at Home offers a variety of educational activities (e.g., picture book read-alouds, videos, interactive games, slideshows, etc.) for students aged 4-10. Content is self-paced and tailored by grade level (PreK-K, 1-2, and 3-5). Users can subscribe for a monthly fee, which can be cancelled at any time. For all ages. BrainPop ELL is a website which includes animated movies and other interactive features (e.g., flashcards, games, quizzes, etc.) that provide ELLs with listening, reading, speaking, and writing skills practice for beginner, intermediate, and more advanced levels of proficiency. The website offers different subscription options for school districts, individual teachers, and for families. In a similar manner, ESL Library offers lessons for academic and everyday English, a flashcard library with commonly used vocabulary and grammar, as well as various interactive exercises that can be assigned to students for additional practice. The website’s reporting feature allows teachers to view the completion status of assigned activities, the time students spent on tasks, and the results obtained by students in each activity. Teachers can also leave personalized feedback to students. There are different subscription options, with each teacher account enabling access to 100 students. Free-of-Charge For young learners. Epic contains a digital library for children ages 12 and under, offering more than 35,000 books/audiobooks, and learning videos that can be personalized to each student, according to their preferences and reading levels. Students can take quizzes to check their understanding and earn badges and rewards. Moreover, Epic content can be accessed either online or offline. For all ages. Khan Academy includes a library of lessons and practice exercises for math, English grammar, reading and language arts, science, history, computing, test preparation (e.g., SAT), as well as life skills (e.g., social and emotional learning, personal finance, growth mindset, etc.). Newsela is a reading platform that affords differentiated instruction via the assignment of reading content to students in lexile levels that reflect their reading proficiency. Newsela content is accessible both digitally and in print, which expands access to students without technology. One of the best features of this website is that it gets updated every day with 10 new texts, which keeps the content relevant and up-to-date. Newsela also contains case studies, white papers, webinars, and a blog that includes tips for instruction and describes new features added to the website. ReadWorks offers reading comprehension passages for K-12 students in a variety of lexile levels. Reading topics include STEM, poetry, social studies, literary fiction, arts, and holidays & events. The website allows students to access both digital and printed content, which facilitates access to all students. When accessing material online, students can listen along to audio versions, as well as highlight, annotate, and answer questions about the assigned texts. ReadWorks also gives teachers the option to track students’ progress and provide individual feedback. The website also includes guides for teachers and parents to best utilize the available resources. ReadWriteThink offers educators and families a variety of free lesson/unit plans, activities, games, and resources for professional development in printable or digital formats. The website includes content in arts, careers, community, science, math, social studies, among many others, which can be selected by grade level (K-12). Juxtaposed and complementary to the above tools is Rewordify. This tool enables a user to simplify any imported text based on lexile level. Rewordify offers the user to create and/or complete activities based on the imported text as well as a grammar function that allows users to deconstruct the text based on its grammatical parts. Affiliation Affiliation centers on the social dimension of learning. On the one hand, it is underpinned by the acknowledged importance of interaction between individuals and the role it plays in the facilitation of language acquisition (Gass, 1997; Swain, 2000). On the other hand, it weighs the importance of social-emotional (SE) growth as a metric in considerations about the health of social engagement between individuals (CASEL, 2020). If a language learner is emotionally closed to the people in his/her linguistic environment, then any benefits derived from dialogic engagement, collaboration, cooperation and/or mediation are minimal at best. What technologies can foster the social-emotional well-being of ELLs and how can technologies be used to minimize social distancing and increase emotional support? Since 1994, CASEL[2] has worked to establish high-quality social-emotional learning (SEL) in K-12 schools. Its work has led to the creation of the five core SEL competencies of self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making,providing a framework educators can utilize to inform how they engage with students at a social-emotional level. Research (Durlak et al., 2015) has illustrated that social-emotional health can be nurtured and competencies in social-emotional aspects can be fostered using a variety of approaches in K-12 settings. These include: • Incorporating SEL in free-standing lessons; • Embedding SEL within instructional practices; • Integrating SEL into subject-area courses; • Promoting SEL at an institutional level. In 2020, technology has been pivotal in allowing K-12 schools to respond instructionally to the necessities of “going remote” due to COVID-19. Here, we repurpose CASEL’s core competencies and encapsulate how technologies can equally continue to support educators as they nurture and grow the social-emotional skills of their ELLs while working in online, hybrid and e-learning environments. Free-Standing Lessons Educators can take advantage of many stand-alone online lessons, webinars and student-oriented trainings within Nearpod. This online student-engagement platform merges dynamic media and formative assessment in order to create opportunities for collaborative interactions between students. Additionally, teachers are able to assign professional crafted videos that anchor an array of activities and game-based learning tasks. In terms of CASEL’s five core competencies, Nearpod provides free-standing lessons for all K-12 students that help both students and teachers acquire understanding and skills in each of the five SEL areas. Figure 13 (yellow) lists some of the SEL specific lessons contained within the Nearpod library. Instructional Practices Over a lifetime of teaching, educators develop an array of teaching strategies and practices that are used to augment any number of learning needs. Specific to our five core SEL competencies are the following: Self-Awareness.The ability to accurately recognize one’s own emotions, thoughts, and values and how they influence behavior. Classroom practices may include helping students label their emotions, or having students use an emotional planner to identify and verbalize feelings and/or act on positive emotional strengths. Recommended tools include (i) Plutchik’sWheel of Emotion, for students to get a better understanding of deeper emotions; and (ii) Flippity,in which a range of instructional templates can easily embed Plutchik’s Wheel of Emotion to use with online learners (e.g.,random wheel spinner, flashcards, matching game, and manipulatives activities). Self-Management. The ability to successfully regulate one’s emotions, thoughts, and behaviors in different situations — effectively managing stress, controlling impulses, and motivating oneself. One easy technique that is often advocated consists of breathing exercises. In face-to-face settings, countless techniques can be utilized: lying down and breathing with a pebble on the chest, blowing into a paper fan, etc. For online students, a suggested website is https://www.calm.com/breathe, which is also available in Calm mobile applications for both Apple and Android devices. Have ELLs link to the site or mobile app at regular intervals during a lesson. Just as Figure 13: Highlighting Technologies that Foster SEL in Remote Learning Contexts one would have a brain break, so too can this site be used as an emotional regulator. Social-Awareness.The ability to take the perspective of and empathize with others, including those from diverse backgrounds and cultures. This is particularly important for ELLs. In brick-and-mortar classrooms, engaging in culturally-responsive, trauma-informed, and restorative justice strategies helps ELLs build skills in social awareness. For online students, GoNoodle is one of many webtools in English and Spanish that provides cooperative games for educators to assign to ELLs. Relationship Skills.For newly arrived ELLs who undergo stages of cultural adaptation, particularly culture shock, this competency is of special importance to foster. Even for ELLs raised in the USA, being new to an online learning environment also brings with it a period of adjustment. CASEL (2020) defines this skill as “The ability to establish and maintain healthy and rewarding relationships with diverse individuals and groups. The ability to communicate clearly, listen well, cooperate with others, resist inappropriate social pressure, negotiate conflict constructively, and seek and offer help when needed” (item 4 on CASEL’s SEL webpage). Several strategies for building relationship skills can be utilized with students, including storytelling, team-building activities, turn & talk activities, as well as learning circles/centers. Such strategies allow learners to think about, to practice healthy group interactions, and to negotiate cooperative dynamics. For online settings, three useful tools can mirror these same activities, described below: 1. WebQuests.These are online problem / project / inquiry-based activities that have a 5-step structure (introduction, task, process, evaluation, conclusion) supporting critical thinking through analyzing, creating, and evaluating. Although there are many design patterns to consider when creating a webquest, the most important is that the end-user (i.e., the ELL), is placed in a learning role that builds relationship skills. A number of sites offer teachers online templates to create their own webquests: Zunal, QuestGarden, Createwebquest, and Google Sites. 2. Google Slides. One technique to help students reflect on their choices and to negotiate circumstances and relationships is to use Google Slides to create interactive storybooks (i.e.,choose your own adventurestories, in which the reader controls the plot). This tool offers teachers a way to create an online interactive story that can be easily embedded into any classroom lesson (click here for an example). In order to make such a story, one needs to storyboard it out. The following are two examples of storyboard templates (#1 and #2). A number of educators have put the concept of interactive storybooks on Google Slides to good use. Sylvia Duckworth, a noted Google certified innovator and trainer as well as an Apple distinguished educator, shares many of her creations. Click here for a fillable interactive storybook. 3. TalkingPoints. It is important to take into consideration that low proficient ELLs do not always have the language skills to verbalize their emotions, especially as they traverse the ups and downs of living in and interacting with people in their adopted new homeland. In view of this, we suggest using TalkingPoints. This app provides a means for ELLs and their families to verbalize their emotions and feelings in their native language and be read in English by any recipient (i.e., a teacher, administrator, buddy, neighbor, school staff). As online learning can be an isolating and sometimes frustrating experience, offering ELLs the opportunity to express and explain how they feel using their own language is an important first step in growing skills in this area. Responsible Decision-Making. Handing over responsibility for learning helps students take ownership of their educational journeys while also fostering proactivity. Project-based Learning (PBL) provides opportunities for real-world, authentic experiences, which can empower learners and build their confidence. E-tools such as Flipgrid, Padlet, and Linoit furnish platforms for PBL, affording opportunities for students to share their projects as well as provide and receive feedback. Integrating SEL into Subject-Area Courses While there is a wide array of web 2.0 tools available as resources to educators, utilizing all of them can make it overwhelming for students and/or their families. With that in mind, consider meshing e-tools when creating the digital resources needed to fulfil the goals of instruction, or combining the different e-tools within a single platform. One platform that certainly respects the importance of SEL is Edmodo. In Edmodo, ELLs can share their work, and teachers can flip and/or gamify their instruction. Moreover, in its Discover section, Edmodo offers a range of best practice resources in SEL and ideas on how to integrate SEL into instruction to foster better positive online classroom climates. Edmodo also has a built-in Wellness Check Poll so that teachers can quickly gauge how their students are feeling. Equally, a Messenger function on Edmodo allows for private one-on-one synchronous communications. Lastly, within the platform’s communal blog feature, teachers can access ‘live’ SEL suggestions. A further two e-tools worth noting that can be meshed with Edmodo to help an ELL build relationships and develop good decision-making skills within an online classroom are Flippity and WriteReader. Flippity provides a range of activity templates to alternate student groupings and to make e-resources less static. On the other hand, WriteReader minimizes the isolating effects of writing activities by enabling students to share writing spaces. Institutional Initiatives At a school level, administrators need to be mindful of the types of supports extended to ELLs to underpin remote learning needs. Supports inculture (feeling safe and minimizing isolation), structure (transparent instructional processes and rules), communication (comprehensible information flow), proprietorship, (goal-setting and buy-in), collaboration (fostering interpersonal work and connectedness), celebration (building community and providing reinforcement), and feedback (being SMART[3]) can frame successful initiatives. As outlined above, Edmodo offers teachers and their ELLs a solid platform to promote SEL practices in the school while simultaneously enabling the above supports. Equally, as outlined above, Nearpod provides these same functions. Final Thoughts Technologies, as outlined, offer countless opportunities for educators to offer instructional and emotional support to students. However, these same technologies need to be used in measured and strategically intentional ways in order to maximize their benefits and minimize their challenges for ELLs. As bridge builders, teachers should be cognizant of the 6 As (i.e., availability, access, awareness, application, assistance, and affiliation) when deciding what strategies, instructional supports, and tools to utilize in their lessons in order to offer ELLs engaging and effective instruction in remote learning environments. [1] In this sense the aim is to be successful at transactional competence (the ability to get things done with the language), interactional competence (the ability to manage relationships and social interactions in the target language), and translingual competence (the ability to appropriately make use of a range of linguistic resources in a multilingual society). [2] Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning [3] SMART - Specific (simple, sensible, significant). Measurable (meaningful, motivating). Achievable (agreed, attainable). Relevant (reasonable, realistic and resourced, results-based). Time bound (time-based, time limited, time/cost limited, timely, time-sensitive). References Collaborative for Social-Emotional Learning (CASEL) (2020).https://casel.org/ Common Sense Media (2019).https://www.commonsensemedia.org/sites/ default/files/uploads/research/2019_8-18-infographic _final-release.pdf Dominguez, M. (2017). “Se hace puentes al andar”: Decolonial teacher education as a needed bridge to culturally sustaining and revitalizing pedagogies. In D. H. Paris & Samy Alim (eds.).Culturally sustaining pedagogies: Teaching and learning for justice in a changing world.New York, NY: Teachers College Press. Dorn, E., Hancock, B., Sarakatsannis, J., & Viruleg, E. (2020). COVID-19 and learning loss — disparitiesg row and students need help. McKinsey & Company. Durlak, J.A., Domitrovich, C., Weissberg, R.P., & Gullotta, T.P.(Eds.),Handbook of social and emotional learning (SEL): Research and practice. (pp. 3-19). New York: The Guilford Press. Florida Department of Education Recommendations to Reopen Florida’s Schools and the Cares Act Plan (2020). Retrieved from http://fldoe.org/core/fileparse.php/19861/urlt /FLDOEReopeningCARESAct.pdf 2020-21 Florida’s Optional Innovative Reopening Plan [Hillsborough County] (2020). Retrieved from http://fldoe.org/core/fileparse.php/7501/urlt/ Hillsborough-reopenPlan.pdf Garcia-Arena, P. & D’Souza St.(2020). Research Brief. Spotlight on English Learners. National Survey of Public Education’s Response to COVID-19. American Institutes for Research. https://www.air.org/sites/default/files/ COVID-Survey-Spotlight-on-English-Learners-FINAL- Oct-2020.pdf Gass, S. (1997).Input, interaction, and the second language learner. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Parris, H., Estrada, L., & Honigsfeld, A. (2016).ELL frontiers: Using technology to enhance instruction for English learners. Corwin Press. Song, K., Kim, S., & Zhao, Y. (2020). Manifesting multidimensional creativity in a technology‐mediated online TESOL practicum course.TESOL Journal,11(2), 1-17. St. George, D. (2020, December 4). Failing grades double and triple—some rising sixfold — amid pandemic learning.Washington Post. shorturl.at/qCEU5 Swain, M. (2000). The output hypothesis and beyond: Mediating acquisition through collaborative dialogue. In J. P. Lantolf (Ed.),Sociocultural theory and second language learning(pp. 97– 114). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. Tarbutton, T. (2018). Leveraging 21st Century Learning & Technology to Create Caring Diverse Classroom Cultures.Multicultural Education,25(2), 4-6. Tutwiler, S. J. W. (2017).Teachers as collaborative partners: Working with diverse families and communities. Routledge. additional practice and more opportunities to interact with curricula material. What e-resources promote continuous learning opportunities for ELLs? The following websites and other web 2.0 tools can be suggested to students and their families. Alternatively, teachers can incorporate them into the curriculum to assist learners in their understanding of content and for their development of language proficiency. Subscription-based For young learners. PebbleGo contains content specifically designed for K-3 students. With this website, ELLs get access to a variety of content in English and Spanish (e.g., science, animals, biographies, social studies). Most articles include read-alouds with text highlighting for readers to follow along, as well as other media such as videos, timelines, or interactive activities (e.g., listening exercises). Subscription options offer districts with unlimited, simultaneous access to students, both at school and at home. Scholastic Learn at Home offers a variety of educational activities (e.g., picture book read-alouds, videos, interactive games, slideshows, etc.) for students aged 4-10. Content is self-paced and tailored by grade level (PreK-K, 1-2, and 3-5). Users can subscribe for a monthly fee, which can be cancelled at any time. For all ages. BrainPop ELL is a website which includes animated movies and other interactive features (e.g., flashcards, games, quizzes, etc.) that provide ELLs with listening, reading, speaking, and writing skills practice for beginner, intermediate, and more advanced levels of proficiency. The website offers different subscription options for school districts, individual teachers, and for families. In a similar manner, ESL Library offers lessons for academic and everyday English, a flashcard library with commonly used vocabulary and grammar, as well as various interactive exercises that can be assigned to students for additional practice. The website’s reporting feature allows teachers to view the completion status of assigned activities, the time students spent on tasks, and the results obtained by students in each activity. Teachers can also leave personalized feedback to students. There are different subscription options, with each teacher account enabling access to 100 students. Free-of-Charge For young learners. Epic contains a digital library for children ages 12 and under, offering more than 35,000 books/audiobooks, and learning videos that can be personalized to each student, according to their preferences and reading levels. Students can take quizzes to check their understanding and earn badges and rewards. Moreover, Epic content can be accessed either online or offline. For all ages. Khan Academy includes a library of lessons and practice exercises for math, English grammar, reading and language arts, science, history, computing, test preparation (e.g., SAT), as well as life skills (e.g., social and emotional learning, personal finance, growth mindset, etc.). Newsela is a reading platform that affords differentiated instruction via the assignment of reading content to students in lexile levels that reflect their reading proficiency. Newsela content is accessible both digitally and in print, which expands access to students without technology. One of the best features of this website is that it gets updated every day with 10 new texts, which keeps the content relevant and up-to-date. Newsela also contains case studies, white papers, webinars, and a blog that includes tips for instruction and describes new features added to the website. ReadWorks offers reading comprehension passages for K-12 students in a variety of lexile levels. Reading topics include STEM, poetry, social studies, literary fiction, arts, and holidays & events. The website allows students to access both digital and printed content, which facilitates access to all students. When accessing material online, students can listen along to audio versions, as well as highlight, annotate, and answer questions about the assigned texts. ReadWorks also gives teachers the option to track students’ progress and provide individual feedback. The website also includes guides for teachers and parents to best utilize the available resources. ReadWriteThink offers educators and families a variety of free lesson/unit plans, activities, games, and resources for professional development in printable or digital formats. The website includes content in arts, careers, community, science, math, social studies, among many others, which can be selected by grade level (K-12). Juxtaposed and complementary to the above tools is Rewordify. This tool enables a user to simplify any imported text based on lexile level. Rewordify offers the user to create and/or complete activities based on the imported text as well as a grammar function that allows users to deconstruct the text based on its grammatical parts. Affiliation Affiliation centers on the social dimension of learning. On the one hand, it is underpinned by the acknowledged importance of interaction between individuals and the role it plays in the facilitation of language acquisition (Gass, 1997; Swain, 2000). On the other hand, it weighs the importance of social-emotional (SE) growth as a metric in considerations about the health of social engagement between individuals (CASEL, 2020). If a language learner is emotionally closed to the people in his/her linguistic environment, then any benefits derived from dialogic engagement, collaboration, cooperation and/or mediation are minimal at best. What technologies can foster the social-emotional well-being of ELLs and how can technologies be used to minimize social distancing and increase emotional support? Since 1994, CASEL[2] has worked to establish high-quality social-emotional learning (SEL) in K-12 schools. Its work has led to the creation of the five core SEL competencies of self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making,providing a framework educators can utilize to inform how they engage with students at a social-emotional level. Research (Durlak et al., 2015) has illustrated that social-emotional health can be nurtured and competencies in social-emotional aspects can be fostered using a variety of approaches in K-12 settings. These include: • Incorporating SEL in free-standing lessons; • Embedding SEL within instructional practices; • Integrating SEL into subject-area courses; • Promoting SEL at an institutional level. In 2020, technology has been pivotal in allowing K-12 schools to respond instructionally to the necessities of “going remote” due to COVID-19. Here, we repurpose CASEL’s core competencies and encapsulate how technologies can equally continue to support educators as they nurture and grow the social-emotional skills of their ELLs while working in online, hybrid and e-learning environments. Free-Standing Lessons Educators can take advantage of many stand-alone online lessons, webinars and student-oriented trainings within Nearpod. This online student-engagement platform merges dynamic media and formative assessment in order to create opportunities for collaborative interactions between students. Additionally, teachers are able to assign professional crafted videos that anchor an array of activities and game-based learning tasks. In terms of CASEL’s five core competencies, Nearpod provides free-standing lessons for all K-12 students that help both students and teachers acquire understanding and skills in each of the five SEL areas. Figure 13 (yellow) lists some of the SEL specific lessons contained within the Nearpod library. Instructional Practices Over a lifetime of teaching, educators develop an array of teaching strategies and practices that are used to augment any number of learning needs. Specific to our five core SEL competencies are the following: Self-Awareness.The ability to accurately recognize one’s own emotions, thoughts, and values and how they influence behavior. Classroom practices may include helping students label their emotions, or having students use an emotional planner to identify and verbalize feelings and/or act on positive emotional strengths. Recommended tools include (i) Plutchik’sWheel of Emotion, for students to get a better understanding of deeper emotions; and (ii) Flippity,in which a range of instructional templates can easily embed Plutchik’s Wheel of Emotion to use with online learners (e.g.,random wheel spinner, flashcards, matching game, and manipulatives activities). Self-Management. The ability to successfully regulate one’s emotions, thoughts, and behaviors in different situations — effectively managing stress, controlling impulses, and motivating oneself. One easy technique that is often advocated consists of breathing exercises. In face-to-face settings, countless techniques can be utilized: lying down and breathing with a pebble on the chest, blowing into a paper fan, etc. For online students, a suggested website is https://www.calm.com/breathe, which is also available in Calm mobile applications for both Apple and Android devices. Have ELLs link to the site or mobile app at regular intervals during a lesson. Just as Figure 13: Highlighting Technologies that Foster SEL in Remote Learning Contexts one would have a brain break, so too can this site be used as an emotional regulator. Social-Awareness.The ability to take the perspective of and empathize with others, including those from diverse backgrounds and cultures. This is particularly important for ELLs. In brick-and-mortar classrooms, engaging in culturally-responsive, trauma-informed, and restorative justice strategies helps ELLs build skills in social awareness. For online students, GoNoodle is one of many webtools in English and Spanish that provides cooperative games for educators to assign to ELLs. Relationship Skills.For newly arrived ELLs who undergo stages of cultural adaptation, particularly culture shock, this competency is of special importance to foster. Even for ELLs raised in the USA, being new to an online learning environment also brings with it a period of adjustment. CASEL (2020) defines this skill as “The ability to establish and maintain healthy and rewarding relationships with diverse individuals and groups. The ability to communicate clearly, listen well, cooperate with others, resist inappropriate social pressure, negotiate conflict constructively, and seek and offer help when needed” (item 4 on CASEL’s SEL webpage). Several strategies for building relationship skills can be utilized with students, including storytelling, team-building activities, turn & talk activities, as well as learning circles/centers. Such strategies allow learners to think about, to practice healthy group interactions, and to negotiate cooperative dynamics. For online settings, three useful tools can mirror these same activities, described below: 1. WebQuests.These are online problem / project / inquiry-based activities that have a 5-step structure (introduction, task, process, evaluation, conclusion) supporting critical thinking through analyzing, creating, and evaluating. Although there are many design patterns to consider when creating a webquest, the most important is that the end-user (i.e., the ELL), is placed in a learning role that builds relationship skills. A number of sites offer teachers online templates to create their own webquests: Zunal, QuestGarden, Createwebquest, and Google Sites. 2. Google Slides. One technique to help students reflect on their choices and to negotiate circumstances and relationships is to use Google Slides to create interactive storybooks (i.e.,choose your own adventurestories, in which the reader controls the plot). This tool offers teachers a way to create an online interactive story that can be easily embedded into any classroom lesson (click here for an example). In order to make such a story, one needs to storyboard it out. The following are two examples of storyboard templates (#1 and #2). A number of educators have put the concept of interactive storybooks on Google Slides to good use. Sylvia Duckworth, a noted Google certified innovator and trainer as well as an Apple distinguished educator, shares many of her creations. Click here for a fillable interactive storybook. 3. TalkingPoints. It is important to take into consideration that low proficient ELLs do not always have the language skills to verbalize their emotions, especially as they traverse the ups and downs of living in and interacting with people in their adopted new homeland. In view of this, we suggest using TalkingPoints. This app provides a means for ELLs and their families to verbalize their emotions and feelings in their native language and be read in English by any recipient (i.e., a teacher, administrator, buddy, neighbor, school staff). As online learning can be an isolating and sometimes frustrating experience, offering ELLs the opportunity to express and explain how they feel using their own language is an important first step in growing skills in this area. Responsible Decision-Making. Handing over responsibility for learning helps students take ownership of their educational journeys while also fostering proactivity. Project-based Learning (PBL) provides opportunities for real-world, authentic experiences, which can empower learners and build their confidence. E-tools such as Flipgrid, Padlet, and Linoit furnish platforms for PBL, affording opportunities for students to share their projects as well as provide and receive feedback. Integrating SEL into Subject-Area Courses While there is a wide array of web 2.0 tools available as resources to educators, utilizing all of them can make it overwhelming for students and/or their families. With that in mind, consider meshing e-tools when creating the digital resources needed to fulfil the goals of instruction, or combining the different e-tools within a single platform. One platform that certainly respects the importance of SEL is Edmodo. In Edmodo, ELLs can share their work, and teachers can flip and/or gamify their instruction. Moreover, in its Discover section, Edmodo offers a range of best practice resources in SEL and ideas on how to integrate SEL into instruction to foster better positive online classroom climates. Edmodo also has a built-in Wellness Check Poll so that teachers can quickly gauge how their students are feeling. Equally, a Messenger function on Edmodo allows for private one-on-one synchronous communications. Lastly, within the platform’s communal blog feature, teachers can access ‘live’ SEL suggestions. A further two e-tools worth noting that can be meshed with Edmodo to help an ELL build relationships and develop good decision-making skills within an online classroom are Flippity and WriteReader. Flippity provides a range of activity templates to alternate student groupings and to make e-resources less static. On the other hand, WriteReader minimizes the isolating effects of writing activities by enabling students to share writing spaces. Institutional Initiatives At a school level, administrators need to be mindful of the types of supports extended to ELLs to underpin remote learning needs. Supports inculture (feeling safe and minimizing isolation), structure (transparent instructional processes and rules), communication (comprehensible information flow), proprietorship, (goal-setting and buy-in), collaboration (fostering interpersonal work and connectedness), celebration (building community and providing reinforcement), and feedback (being SMART[3]) can frame successful initiatives. As outlined above, Edmodo offers teachers and their ELLs a solid platform to promote SEL practices in the school while simultaneously enabling the above supports. Equally, as outlined above, Nearpod provides these same functions. Final Thoughts Technologies, as outlined, offer countless opportunities for educators to offer instructional and emotional support to students. However, these same technologies need to be used in measured and strategically intentional ways in order to maximize their benefits and minimize their challenges for ELLs. As bridge builders, teachers should be cognizant of the 6 As (i.e., availability, access, awareness, application, assistance, and affiliation) when deciding what strategies, instructional supports, and tools to utilize in their lessons in order to offer ELLs engaging and effective instruction in remote learning environments. [1] In this sense the aim is to be successful at transactional competence (the ability to get things done with the language), interactional competence (the ability to manage relationships and social interactions in the target language), and translingual competence (the ability to appropriately make use of a range of linguistic resources in a multilingual society). [2] Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning [3] SMART - Specific (simple, sensible, significant). Measurable (meaningful, motivating). Achievable (agreed, attainable). Relevant (reasonable, realistic and resourced, results-based). Time bound (time-based, time limited, time/cost limited, timely, time-sensitive). References Collaborative for Social-Emotional Learning (CASEL) (2020).https://casel.org/ Common Sense Media (2019).https://www.commonsensemedia.org/sites/ default/files/uploads/research/2019_8-18-infographic _final-release.pdf Dominguez, M. (2017). “Se hace puentes al andar”: Decolonial teacher education as a needed bridge to culturally sustaining and revitalizing pedagogies. In D. H. Paris & Samy Alim (eds.).Culturally sustaining pedagogies: Teaching and learning for justice in a changing world.New York, NY: Teachers College Press. Dorn, E., Hancock, B., Sarakatsannis, J., & Viruleg, E. (2020). COVID-19 and learning loss — disparitiesg row and students need help. McKinsey & Company. Durlak, J.A., Domitrovich, C., Weissberg, R.P., & Gullotta, T.P.(Eds.),Handbook of social and emotional learning (SEL): Research and practice. (pp. 3-19). New York: The Guilford Press. Florida Department of Education Recommendations to Reopen Florida’s Schools and the Cares Act Plan (2020). Retrieved from http://fldoe.org/core/fileparse.php/19861/urlt /FLDOEReopeningCARESAct.pdf 2020-21 Florida’s Optional Innovative Reopening Plan [Hillsborough County] (2020). Retrieved from http://fldoe.org/core/fileparse.php/7501/urlt/ Hillsborough-reopenPlan.pdf Garcia-Arena, P. & D’Souza St.(2020). Research Brief. Spotlight on English Learners. National Survey of Public Education’s Response to COVID-19. American Institutes for Research. https://www.air.org/sites/default/files/ COVID-Survey-Spotlight-on-English-Learners-FINAL- Oct-2020.pdf Gass, S. (1997).Input, interaction, and the second language learner. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Parris, H., Estrada, L., & Honigsfeld, A. (2016).ELL frontiers: Using technology to enhance instruction for English learners. Corwin Press. Song, K., Kim, S., & Zhao, Y. (2020). Manifesting multidimensional creativity in a technology‐mediated online TESOL practicum course.TESOL Journal,11(2), 1-17. St. George, D. (2020, December 4). Failing grades double and triple—some rising sixfold — amid pandemic learning.Washington Post. shorturl.at/qCEU5 Swain, M. (2000). The output hypothesis and beyond: Mediating acquisition through collaborative dialogue. In J. P. Lantolf (Ed.),Sociocultural theory and second language learning(pp. 97– 114). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. Tarbutton, T. (2018). Leveraging 21st Century Learning & Technology to Create Caring Diverse Classroom Cultures.Multicultural Education,25(2), 4-6. Tutwiler, S. J. W. (2017).Teachers as collaborative partners: Working with diverse families and communities. Routledge.
From The Field The Power of Self-Growth: Challenges and Possibilities in Transnational Higher Education Rui Wang & Soonhyang Kim University of North Florida ABSTRACT While international students are enrolled in transnational higher education, the school system they experience, the way they live their lives, and the people they interact with in the host country can challenge students’ personal and academic performances. In this reflective paper, I focus on my struggles I first encountered when I started my education as an undergraduate exchange student in the United States. Then, I examine how much I have grown now as a graduate student while facing some new challenges that the pandemic has brought to my school life. Based on my study-abroad experiences, I also make recommendations for international students, professors, and international centers to develop helpful resources. While acknowledging that my experiences in transnational higher education might not be the same as the other international students, it might help them develop a growth mindset and build confidence as they are adapting to a new school and culture.
SSTESOL Journal Volume 14 Issue 1, Spring, 2021 p.40 p.2
SSTESOL Journal Volume 14 Issue 2, Fall 2021 p.41
SSTESOL Journal Volume 14 Issue 2, Fall 2021 p.42
SSTESOL Journal Volume 14 Issue 2, Fall 2021 p.43
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The advent of technology has greatly impacted the landscape of higher education. Administrators, faculty members, and students have gravitated towards distance learning due to its economical and virtual appeal (Allen & Seaman, 2008; Pierce, 2014). The recent coronavirus pandemic has proven now more than ever the great utility distance learning has in educational sector. Distance learning will soon be one of the leading modalities for students pursuing a higher education. In conjunction, community colleges (CCs) have been the pioneers in providing affordable and effective mediums such as, distance education for students seeking a higher degree. Due to its open admissions process, community colleges provide non- traditional students (i.e. adult learners, first generation students, full-time workers, L2 learners, etc.) a pathway to earn a degree while maintaining their additional responsibilities (Travers, 2016). Hence, this is precisely why there has been an influx of second language learners enrolled in online learning programs. Nevertheless, many L2 learners enrolled in online courses are not prepared for the demands of online learning or college-level writing (Clausen, 2017; Fernandez, Peyton & Schaetzel, 2017; Flynn, 2016; Kim &Diaz, 2013). As such, a three- dimensional narrative inquiry was conducted to explore the following grand tour research question: What are the lived experiences of second languages learners enrolled in fully online composition courses in community colleges? The study was guided by Vygotsky’s (1978) sociocultural theory, which highlights the interconnectedness of learning development, culture, and interaction. After receiving approval from the institutional board from one of the largest colleges in southeastern Florida and signed consent forms, six female students between the ages of 18-34from different countries including, Nicaragua, Haiti, Italy, Russia, South Korea, and Peru. were recruited as participants for the study. The findings of the study were presented as participant narratives and themes were generated from the transcripts using the Delve Tools qualitative analysis software. There were four major themes unearthed: Cultural Duality, Learning on a Continuum, Interaction is Transactional, and Online Space is a Situation. The four sub- themes gleaned from the study were: Language Development Overtime, Writing Development Overtime, Interaction with Professors, and Interaction with Peers. The findings of the study crystallized several key elements. The resounding sentiment from the L2 learners participating in this study was the absence of connection and human element in their online courses. Stakeholders of distance education must find ways to bring forth meaningful experiences by way of more visibility of faculty and interaction between students and between faculty and students. Students must be afforded opportunities to build community by integrating group projects, chats, discussion boards, etc. Online faculty must maintain an intentional presence by integrating video or audio feedback, ZOOM conference one on one meetings, etc. Feedback is above all the most important factor in developing L2 learner’s writing skills. Thus, there must be, immediate formative and post assignments feedback auditory and or written feedback. Curriculum designers and faculty must incorporate inclusive assignments, the modeling approach, step- by-step process, scaffolding methods of learning and assessments. Finally, online support by way of embedded tutors, 24- hour writing and technical support is needed to curtail and remedy gaps in writing development as well as technological issues. Distance learning is definitely a pervasive platform of learning and stakeholders have to prepare to meet the challenges that L2 learners and traditional learners face. References Allen, I. E., & Seaman J. (2008) Staying the course: Online education in the United States, 2008 Needham, MA: Sloan Consortium. Clausen, D. (2017). Empowering Second language learners in Postsecondary Classrooms An Inquiry into Best Practices. Journal Of Alternative Perspectives In The Social Sciences,8(4), 452-473. Fernandez, R., Peyton, J. K., & Schaetzel, K. (2017). A Survey of Writing Instruction in Adult ESL Programs: Are Teaching Practices Meeting Adult Learner Needs?. Journal Of Research & Practice For Adult Literacy, Secondary & Basic Education,6(2), 5-20. Flynn, E. (2016). Should At-Risk Students Take Online Courses?. College Student Journal,50(1), 130-134. Kim, E., & Díaz., J. (2013). Immigrant Students and Community Colleges. ASHE Higher Education Report, 38(6), 91-107. Pierce, S. R. (2014).Governance Reconsidered: How Boards, Presidents, Administrators, and Faculty Can Help Their Colleges Thrive. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Travers, S. (2016). Supporting Online Student Retention in Community Colleges. Quarterly Review of Distance Education,17(4), 49-61. Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. The COVID-19 pandemic brought with it both challenges and opportunities for the education field.Among the thousands of classes being taught entirely online during the 2020-2021 school year was a combination group of kindergarteners and first graders from a rural Title I school in central Florida.As their quarantine periods began and ended, students who were required to quarantine from their in-person classes at the school joined and left the core online group throughout the year. A static group of 12 students, however, was enrolled in the online-only classroom for the entire year and attended routinely with one teacher assigned to them.They did join in-school groups via Zoom for music, art, and PE.Among that group were 6 kindergarteners and 6 first graders.The group of 12 included high numbers of students living in poverty; bilingual children; and students identified as in need of special education services:92% qualified for free and reduced-priced lunch; 58% spoke a language other than English at home; 16% were identified as English language learners (ELL); and 25% received some sort of special education services for 60 minutes per week, with 2/3 of those students identified as being on the autism spectrum.A large number of parents, as the primary contact for these children, needed to be communicated with only in Spanish (42%). In August 2020, when the school year began, 25% of the students in the core group were not able to identify 24 of the 26 letters of the alphabet, and they could not match any letters to their sounds.The results of beginning-of-the-year assessments showed that all 6 of the first graders were reading below grade level. Nevertheless, end-of-the year assessments (NWEA Maps Growth) showed that 10 of the 12 core students had made high or very high growth in both reading and math during their time in the online-only classes. How did that happen? The group met using Zoom – a free and easily used meeting platform. The following is a summary of procedures followed and the resulting recommendations of the teacher for how to motivate young learners and increase achievement in an online-only format, based on how instruction was organized for the group discussed above: 1.Establish and reinforce class rules. Rules for online etiquette were established from the start of the school year, were reinforced regularly, and reviewed often.The class rules were as follows: ·Be ready to learn when class is scheduled to begin. oThis meant being on time and with materials at hand. ·Eat before or after you meet in a group. oThis meant eating during the day should be done during scheduled breaks or during individual work time. ·Use a quiet work space. oThis meant that background noise and activity should not be noticeable to the rest of the group. ·Use no other devices or websites during class time. ·Be respectful. ·Only adults post in the chat. ·Take responsibility for your independent work. The teacher was enthusiastic and fervent about having students stick to the rules, explaining regularly that these rules allowed all students to participate in the group and understand instruction more easily. 2.Keep a routine and stay on time. The initial class schedule was shared with families before school sessions began.As students were assessed during the first week of class meetings to place them into reading groups based on proficiency needs, the schedule became regular and static.Changes to the schedule as it evolved over the first two weeks of class were communicated with parents by text on a daily basis.By the third week, the schedule had settled and remained for the rest of the school year.The schedule below reflects the basic schedule, with the varying meeting times for music, art, and PE happening within the first block of time: additional practice and more opportunities to interact with curricula material. What e-resources promote continuous learning opportunities for ELLs? The following websites and other web 2.0 tools can be suggested to students and their families. Alternatively, teachers can incorporate them into the curriculum to assist learners in their understanding of content and for their development of language proficiency. Subscription-based For young learners. PebbleGo contains content specifically designed for K-3 students. With this website, ELLs get access to a variety of content in English and Spanish (e.g., science, animals, biographies, social studies). Most articles include read-alouds with text highlighting for readers to follow along, as well as other media such as videos, timelines, or interactive activities (e.g., listening exercises). Subscription options offer districts with unlimited, simultaneous access to students, both at school and at home. Scholastic Learn at Home offers a variety of educational activities (e.g., picture book read-alouds, videos, interactive games, slideshows, etc.) for students aged 4-10. Content is self-paced and tailored by grade level (PreK-K, 1-2, and 3-5). Users can subscribe for a monthly fee, which can be cancelled at any time. For all ages. BrainPop ELL is a website which includes animated movies and other interactive features (e.g., flashcards, games, quizzes, etc.) that provide ELLs with listening, reading, speaking, and writing skills practice for beginner, intermediate, and more advanced levels of proficiency. The website offers different subscription options for school districts, individual teachers, and for families. In a similar manner, ESL Library offers lessons for academic and everyday English, a flashcard library with commonly used vocabulary and grammar, as well as various interactive exercises that can be assigned to students for additional practice. The website’s reporting feature allows teachers to view the completion status of assigned activities, the time students spent on tasks, and the results obtained by students in each activity. Teachers can also leave personalized feedback to students. There are different subscription options, with each teacher account enabling access to 100 students. Free-of-Charge For young learners. Epic contains a digital library for children ages 12 and under, offering more than 35,000 books/audiobooks, and learning videos that can be personalized to each student, according to their preferences and reading levels. Students can take quizzes to check their understanding and earn badges and rewards. Moreover, Epic content can be accessed either online or offline. For all ages. Khan Academy includes a library of lessons and practice exercises for math, English grammar, reading and language arts, science, history, computing, test preparation (e.g., SAT), as well as life skills (e.g., social and emotional learning, personal finance, growth mindset, etc.). Newsela is a reading platform that affords differentiated instruction via the assignment of reading content to students in lexile levels that reflect their reading proficiency. Newsela content is accessible both digitally and in print, which expands access to students without technology. One of the best features of this website is that it gets updated every day with 10 new texts, which keeps the content relevant and up-to-date. Newsela also contains case studies, white papers, webinars, and a blog that includes tips for instruction and describes new features added to the website. ReadWorks offers reading comprehension passages for K-12 students in a variety of lexile levels. Reading topics include STEM, poetry, social studies, literary fiction, arts, and holidays & events. The website allows students to access both digital and printed content, which facilitates access to all students. When accessing material online, students can listen along to audio versions, as well as highlight, annotate, and answer questions about the assigned texts. ReadWorks also gives teachers the option to track students’ progress and provide individual feedback. The website also includes guides for teachers and parents to best utilize the available resources. ReadWriteThink offers educators and families a variety of free lesson/unit plans, activities, games, and resources for professional development in printable or digital formats. The website includes content in arts, careers, community, science, math, social studies, among many others, which can be selected by grade level (K-12). Juxtaposed and complementary to the above tools is Rewordify. This tool enables a user to simplify any imported text based on lexile level. Rewordify offers the user to create and/or complete activities based on the imported text as well as a grammar function that allows users to deconstruct the text based on its grammatical parts. Affiliation Affiliation centers on the social dimension of learning. On the one hand, it is underpinned by the acknowledged importance of interaction between individuals and the role it plays in the facilitation of language acquisition (Gass, 1997; Swain, 2000). On the other hand, it weighs the importance of social-emotional (SE) growth as a metric in considerations about the health of social engagement between individuals (CASEL, 2020). If a language learner is emotionally closed to the people in his/her linguistic environment, then any benefits derived from dialogic engagement, collaboration, cooperation and/or mediation are minimal at best. What technologies can foster the social-emotional well-being of ELLs and how can technologies be used to minimize social distancing and increase emotional support? Since 1994, CASEL[2] has worked to establish high-quality social-emotional learning (SEL) in K-12 schools. Its work has led to the creation of the five core SEL competencies of self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making,providing a framework educators can utilize to inform how they engage with students at a social-emotional level. Research (Durlak et al., 2015) has illustrated that social-emotional health can be nurtured and competencies in social-emotional aspects can be fostered using a variety of approaches in K-12 settings. These include: • Incorporating SEL in free-standing lessons; • Embedding SEL within instructional practices; • Integrating SEL into subject-area courses; • Promoting SEL at an institutional level. In 2020, technology has been pivotal in allowing K-12 schools to respond instructionally to the necessities of “going remote” due to COVID-19. Here, we repurpose CASEL’s core competencies and encapsulate how technologies can equally continue to support educators as they nurture and grow the social-emotional skills of their ELLs while working in online, hybrid and e-learning environments. Free-Standing Lessons Educators can take advantage of many stand-alone online lessons, webinars and student-oriented trainings within Nearpod. This online student-engagement platform merges dynamic media and formative assessment in order to create opportunities for collaborative interactions between students. Additionally, teachers are able to assign professional crafted videos that anchor an array of activities and game-based learning tasks. In terms of CASEL’s five core competencies, Nearpod provides free-standing lessons for all K-12 students that help both students and teachers acquire understanding and skills in each of the five SEL areas. Figure 13 (yellow) lists some of the SEL specific lessons contained within the Nearpod library. Instructional Practices Over a lifetime of teaching, educators develop an array of teaching strategies and practices that are used to augment any number of learning needs. Specific to our five core SEL competencies are the following: Self-Awareness.The ability to accurately recognize one’s own emotions, thoughts, and values and how they influence behavior. Classroom practices may include helping students label their emotions, or having students use an emotional planner to identify and verbalize feelings and/or act on positive emotional strengths. Recommended tools include (i) Plutchik’sWheel of Emotion, for students to get a better understanding of deeper emotions; and (ii) Flippity,in which a range of instructional templates can easily embed Plutchik’s Wheel of Emotion to use with online learners (e.g.,random wheel spinner, flashcards, matching game, and manipulatives activities). Self-Management. The ability to successfully regulate one’s emotions, thoughts, and behaviors in different situations — effectively managing stress, controlling impulses, and motivating oneself. One easy technique that is often advocated consists of breathing exercises. In face-to-face settings, countless techniques can be utilized: lying down and breathing with a pebble on the chest, blowing into a paper fan, etc. For online students, a suggested website is https://www.calm.com/breathe, which is also available in Calm mobile applications for both Apple and Android devices. Have ELLs link to the site or mobile app at regular intervals during a lesson. Just as Figure 13: Highlighting Technologies that Foster SEL in Remote Learning Contexts one would have a brain break, so too can this site be used as an emotional regulator. Social-Awareness.The ability to take the perspective of and empathize with others, including those from diverse backgrounds and cultures. This is particularly important for ELLs. In brick-and-mortar classrooms, engaging in culturally-responsive, trauma-informed, and restorative justice strategies helps ELLs build skills in social awareness. For online students, GoNoodle is one of many webtools in English and Spanish that provides cooperative games for educators to assign to ELLs. Relationship Skills.For newly arrived ELLs who undergo stages of cultural adaptation, particularly culture shock, this competency is of special importance to foster. Even for ELLs raised in the USA, being new to an online learning environment also brings with it a period of adjustment. CASEL (2020) defines this skill as “The ability to establish and maintain healthy and rewarding relationships with diverse individuals and groups. The ability to communicate clearly, listen well, cooperate with others, resist inappropriate social pressure, negotiate conflict constructively, and seek and offer help when needed” (item 4 on CASEL’s SEL webpage). Several strategies for building relationship skills can be utilized with students, including storytelling, team-building activities, turn & talk activities, as well as learning circles/centers. Such strategies allow learners to think about, to practice healthy group interactions, and to negotiate cooperative dynamics. For online settings, three useful tools can mirror these same activities, described below: 1. WebQuests.These are online problem / project / inquiry-based activities that have a 5-step structure (introduction, task, process, evaluation, conclusion) supporting critical thinking through analyzing, creating, and evaluating. Although there are many design patterns to consider when creating a webquest, the most important is that the end-user (i.e., the ELL), is placed in a learning role that builds relationship skills. A number of sites offer teachers online templates to create their own webquests: Zunal, QuestGarden, Createwebquest, and Google Sites. 2. Google Slides. One technique to help students reflect on their choices and to negotiate circumstances and relationships is to use Google Slides to create interactive storybooks (i.e.,choose your own adventurestories, in which the reader controls the plot). This tool offers teachers a way to create an online interactive story that can be easily embedded into any classroom lesson (click here for an example). In order to make such a story, one needs to storyboard it out. The following are two examples of storyboard templates (#1 and #2). A number of educators have put the concept of interactive storybooks on Google Slides to good use. Sylvia Duckworth, a noted Google certified innovator and trainer as well as an Apple distinguished educator, shares many of her creations. Click here for a fillable interactive storybook. 3. TalkingPoints. It is important to take into consideration that low proficient ELLs do not always have the language skills to verbalize their emotions, especially as they traverse the ups and downs of living in and interacting with people in their adopted new homeland. In view of this, we suggest using TalkingPoints. This app provides a means for ELLs and their families to verbalize their emotions and feelings in their native language and be read in English by any recipient (i.e., a teacher, administrator, buddy, neighbor, school staff). As online learning can be an isolating and sometimes frustrating experience, offering ELLs the opportunity to express and explain how they feel using their own language is an important first step in growing skills in this area. Responsible Decision-Making. Handing over responsibility for learning helps students take ownership of their educational journeys while also fostering proactivity. Project-based Learning (PBL) provides opportunities for real-world, authentic experiences, which can empower learners and build their confidence. E-tools such as Flipgrid, Padlet, and Linoit furnish platforms for PBL, affording opportunities for students to share their projects as well as provide and receive feedback. Integrating SEL into Subject-Area Courses While there is a wide array of web 2.0 tools available as resources to educators, utilizing all of them can make it overwhelming for students and/or their families. With that in mind, consider meshing e-tools when creating the digital resources needed to fulfil the goals of instruction, or combining the different e-tools within a single platform. One platform that certainly respects the importance of SEL is Edmodo. In Edmodo, ELLs can share their work, and teachers can flip and/or gamify their instruction. Moreover, in its Discover section, Edmodo offers a range of best practice resources in SEL and ideas on how to integrate SEL into instruction to foster better positive online classroom climates. Edmodo also has a built-in Wellness Check Poll so that teachers can quickly gauge how their students are feeling. Equally, a Messenger function on Edmodo allows for private one-on-one synchronous communications. Lastly, within the platform’s communal blog feature, teachers can access ‘live’ SEL suggestions. A further two e-tools worth noting that can be meshed with Edmodo to help an ELL build relationships and develop good decision-making skills within an online classroom are Flippity and WriteReader. Flippity provides a range of activity templates to alternate student groupings and to make e-resources less static. On the other hand, WriteReader minimizes the isolating effects of writing activities by enabling students to share writing spaces. Institutional Initiatives At a school level, administrators need to be mindful of the types of supports extended to ELLs to underpin remote learning needs. Supports inculture (feeling safe and minimizing isolation), structure (transparent instructional processes and rules), communication (comprehensible information flow), proprietorship, (goal-setting and buy-in), collaboration (fostering interpersonal work and connectedness), celebration (building community and providing reinforcement), and feedback (being SMART[3]) can frame successful initiatives. As outlined above, Edmodo offers teachers and their ELLs a solid platform to promote SEL practices in the school while simultaneously enabling the above supports. Equally, as outlined above, Nearpod provides these same functions. Final Thoughts Technologies, as outlined, offer countless opportunities for educators to offer instructional and emotional support to students. However, these same technologies need to be used in measured and strategically intentional ways in order to maximize their benefits and minimize their challenges for ELLs. As bridge builders, teachers should be cognizant of the 6 As (i.e., availability, access, awareness, application, assistance, and affiliation) when deciding what strategies, instructional supports, and tools to utilize in their lessons in order to offer ELLs engaging and effective instruction in remote learning environments. [1] In this sense the aim is to be successful at transactional competence (the ability to get things done with the language), interactional competence (the ability to manage relationships and social interactions in the target language), and translingual competence (the ability to appropriately make use of a range of linguistic resources in a multilingual society). [2] Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning [3] SMART - Specific (simple, sensible, significant). Measurable (meaningful, motivating). Achievable (agreed, attainable). Relevant (reasonable, realistic and resourced, results-based). Time bound (time-based, time limited, time/cost limited, timely, time-sensitive). References Collaborative for Social-Emotional Learning (CASEL) (2020).https://casel.org/ Common Sense Media (2019).https://www.commonsensemedia.org/sites/ default/files/uploads/research/2019_8-18-infographic _final-release.pdf Dominguez, M. (2017). “Se hace puentes al andar”: Decolonial teacher education as a needed bridge to culturally sustaining and revitalizing pedagogies. In D. H. Paris & Samy Alim (eds.).Culturally sustaining pedagogies: Teaching and learning for justice in a changing world.New York, NY: Teachers College Press. Dorn, E., Hancock, B., Sarakatsannis, J., & Viruleg, E. (2020). COVID-19 and learning loss — disparitiesg row and students need help. McKinsey & Company. Durlak, J.A., Domitrovich, C., Weissberg, R.P., & Gullotta, T.P.(Eds.),Handbook of social and emotional learning (SEL): Research and practice. (pp. 3-19). New York: The Guilford Press. Florida Department of Education Recommendations to Reopen Florida’s Schools and the Cares Act Plan (2020). Retrieved from http://fldoe.org/core/fileparse.php/19861/urlt /FLDOEReopeningCARESAct.pdf 2020-21 Florida’s Optional Innovative Reopening Plan [Hillsborough County] (2020). Retrieved from http://fldoe.org/core/fileparse.php/7501/urlt/ Hillsborough-reopenPlan.pdf Garcia-Arena, P. & D’Souza St.(2020). Research Brief. Spotlight on English Learners. National Survey of Public Education’s Response to COVID-19. American Institutes for Research. https://www.air.org/sites/default/files/ COVID-Survey-Spotlight-on-English-Learners-FINAL- Oct-2020.pdf Gass, S. (1997).Input, interaction, and the second language learner. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Parris, H., Estrada, L., & Honigsfeld, A. (2016).ELL frontiers: Using technology to enhance instruction for English learners. Corwin Press. Song, K., Kim, S., & Zhao, Y. (2020). Manifesting multidimensional creativity in a technology‐mediated online TESOL practicum course.TESOL Journal,11(2), 1-17. St. George, D. (2020, December 4). Failing grades double and triple—some rising sixfold — amid pandemic learning.Washington Post. shorturl.at/qCEU5 Swain, M. (2000). The output hypothesis and beyond: Mediating acquisition through collaborative dialogue. In J. P. Lantolf (Ed.),Sociocultural theory and second language learning(pp. 97– 114). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. Tarbutton, T. (2018). Leveraging 21st Century Learning & Technology to Create Caring Diverse Classroom Cultures.Multicultural Education,25(2), 4-6. Tutwiler, S. J. W. (2017).Teachers as collaborative partners: Working with diverse families and communities. Routledge. additional practice and more opportunities to interact with curricula material. What e-resources promote continuous learning opportunities for ELLs? The following websites and other web 2.0 tools can be suggested to students and their families. Alternatively, teachers can incorporate them into the curriculum to assist learners in their understanding of content and for their development of language proficiency. Subscription-based For young learners. PebbleGo contains content specifically designed for K-3 students. With this website, ELLs get access to a variety of content in English and Spanish (e.g., science, animals, biographies, social studies). Most articles include read-alouds with text highlighting for readers to follow along, as well as other media such as videos, timelines, or interactive activities (e.g., listening exercises). Subscription options offer districts with unlimited, simultaneous access to students, both at school and at home. Scholastic Learn at Home offers a variety of educational activities (e.g., picture book read-alouds, videos, interactive games, slideshows, etc.) for students aged 4-10. Content is self-paced and tailored by grade level (PreK-K, 1-2, and 3-5). Users can subscribe for a monthly fee, which can be cancelled at any time. For all ages. BrainPop ELL is a website which includes animated movies and other interactive features (e.g., flashcards, games, quizzes, etc.) that provide ELLs with listening, reading, speaking, and writing skills practice for beginner, intermediate, and more advanced levels of proficiency. The website offers different subscription options for school districts, individual teachers, and for families. In a similar manner, ESL Library offers lessons for academic and everyday English, a flashcard library with commonly used vocabulary and grammar, as well as various interactive exercises that can be assigned to students for additional practice. The website’s reporting feature allows teachers to view the completion status of assigned activities, the time students spent on tasks, and the results obtained by students in each activity. Teachers can also leave personalized feedback to students. There are different subscription options, with each teacher account enabling access to 100 students. Free-of-Charge For young learners. Epic contains a digital library for children ages 12 and under, offering more than 35,000 books/audiobooks, and learning videos that can be personalized to each student, according to their preferences and reading levels. Students can take quizzes to check their understanding and earn badges and rewards. Moreover, Epic content can be accessed either online or offline. For all ages. Khan Academy includes a library of lessons and practice exercises for math, English grammar, reading and language arts, science, history, computing, test preparation (e.g., SAT), as well as life skills (e.g., social and emotional learning, personal finance, growth mindset, etc.). Newsela is a reading platform that affords differentiated instruction via the assignment of reading content to students in lexile levels that reflect their reading proficiency. Newsela content is accessible both digitally and in print, which expands access to students without technology. One of the best features of this website is that it gets updated every day with 10 new texts, which keeps the content relevant and up-to-date. Newsela also contains case studies, white papers, webinars, and a blog that includes tips for instruction and describes new features added to the website. ReadWorks offers reading comprehension passages for K-12 students in a variety of lexile levels. Reading topics include STEM, poetry, social studies, literary fiction, arts, and holidays & events. The website allows students to access both digital and printed content, which facilitates access to all students. When accessing material online, students can listen along to audio versions, as well as highlight, annotate, and answer questions about the assigned texts. ReadWorks also gives teachers the option to track students’ progress and provide individual feedback. The website also includes guides for teachers and parents to best utilize the available resources. ReadWriteThink offers educators and families a variety of free lesson/unit plans, activities, games, and resources for professional development in printable or digital formats. The website includes content in arts, careers, community, science, math, social studies, among many others, which can be selected by grade level (K-12). Juxtaposed and complementary to the above tools is Rewordify. This tool enables a user to simplify any imported text based on lexile level. Rewordify offers the user to create and/or complete activities based on the imported text as well as a grammar function that allows users to deconstruct the text based on its grammatical parts. Affiliation Affiliation centers on the social dimension of learning. On the one hand, it is underpinned by the acknowledged importance of interaction between individuals and the role it plays in the facilitation of language acquisition (Gass, 1997; Swain, 2000). On the other hand, it weighs the importance of social-emotional (SE) growth as a metric in considerations about the health of social engagement between individuals (CASEL, 2020). If a language learner is emotionally closed to the people in his/her linguistic environment, then any benefits derived from dialogic engagement, collaboration, cooperation and/or mediation are minimal at best. What technologies can foster the social-emotional well-being of ELLs and how can technologies be used to minimize social distancing and increase emotional support? Since 1994, CASEL[2] has worked to establish high-quality social-emotional learning (SEL) in K-12 schools. Its work has led to the creation of the five core SEL competencies of self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making,providing a framework educators can utilize to inform how they engage with students at a social-emotional level. Research (Durlak et al., 2015) has illustrated that social-emotional health can be nurtured and competencies in social-emotional aspects can be fostered using a variety of approaches in K-12 settings. These include: • Incorporating SEL in free-standing lessons; • Embedding SEL within instructional practices; • Integrating SEL into subject-area courses; • Promoting SEL at an institutional level. In 2020, technology has been pivotal in allowing K-12 schools to respond instructionally to the necessities of “going remote” due to COVID-19. Here, we repurpose CASEL’s core competencies and encapsulate how technologies can equally continue to support educators as they nurture and grow the social-emotional skills of their ELLs while working in online, hybrid and e-learning environments. Free-Standing Lessons Educators can take advantage of many stand-alone online lessons, webinars and student-oriented trainings within Nearpod. This online student-engagement platform merges dynamic media and formative assessment in order to create opportunities for collaborative interactions between students. Additionally, teachers are able to assign professional crafted videos that anchor an array of activities and game-based learning tasks. In terms of CASEL’s five core competencies, Nearpod provides free-standing lessons for all K-12 students that help both students and teachers acquire understanding and skills in each of the five SEL areas. Figure 13 (yellow) lists some of the SEL specific lessons contained within the Nearpod library. Instructional Practices Over a lifetime of teaching, educators develop an array of teaching strategies and practices that are used to augment any number of learning needs. Specific to our five core SEL competencies are the following: Self-Awareness.The ability to accurately recognize one’s own emotions, thoughts, and values and how they influence behavior. Classroom practices may include helping students label their emotions, or having students use an emotional planner to identify and verbalize feelings and/or act on positive emotional strengths. Recommended tools include (i) Plutchik’sWheel of Emotion, for students to get a better understanding of deeper emotions; and (ii) Flippity,in which a range of instructional templates can easily embed Plutchik’s Wheel of Emotion to use with online learners (e.g.,random wheel spinner, flashcards, matching game, and manipulatives activities). Self-Management. The ability to successfully regulate one’s emotions, thoughts, and behaviors in different situations — effectively managing stress, controlling impulses, and motivating oneself. One easy technique that is often advocated consists of breathing exercises. In face-to-face settings, countless techniques can be utilized: lying down and breathing with a pebble on the chest, blowing into a paper fan, etc. For online students, a suggested website is https://www.calm.com/breathe, which is also available in Calm mobile applications for both Apple and Android devices. Have ELLs link to the site or mobile app at regular intervals during a lesson. Just as Figure 13: Highlighting Technologies that Foster SEL in Remote Learning Contexts one would have a brain break, so too can this site be used as an emotional regulator. Social-Awareness.The ability to take the perspective of and empathize with others, including those from diverse backgrounds and cultures. This is particularly important for ELLs. In brick-and-mortar classrooms, engaging in culturally-responsive, trauma-informed, and restorative justice strategies helps ELLs build skills in social awareness. For online students, GoNoodle is one of many webtools in English and Spanish that provides cooperative games for educators to assign to ELLs. Relationship Skills.For newly arrived ELLs who undergo stages of cultural adaptation, particularly culture shock, this competency is of special importance to foster. Even for ELLs raised in the USA, being new to an online learning environment also brings with it a period of adjustment. CASEL (2020) defines this skill as “The ability to establish and maintain healthy and rewarding relationships with diverse individuals and groups. The ability to communicate clearly, listen well, cooperate with others, resist inappropriate social pressure, negotiate conflict constructively, and seek and offer help when needed” (item 4 on CASEL’s SEL webpage). Several strategies for building relationship skills can be utilized with students, including storytelling, team-building activities, turn & talk activities, as well as learning circles/centers. Such strategies allow learners to think about, to practice healthy group interactions, and to negotiate cooperative dynamics. For online settings, three useful tools can mirror these same activities, described below: 1. WebQuests.These are online problem / project / inquiry-based activities that have a 5-step structure (introduction, task, process, evaluation, conclusion) supporting critical thinking through analyzing, creating, and evaluating. Although there are many design patterns to consider when creating a webquest, the most important is that the end-user (i.e., the ELL), is placed in a learning role that builds relationship skills. A number of sites offer teachers online templates to create their own webquests: Zunal, QuestGarden, Createwebquest, and Google Sites. 2. Google Slides. One technique to help students reflect on their choices and to negotiate circumstances and relationships is to use Google Slides to create interactive storybooks (i.e.,choose your own adventurestories, in which the reader controls the plot). This tool offers teachers a way to create an online interactive story that can be easily embedded into any classroom lesson (click here for an example). In order to make such a story, one needs to storyboard it out. The following are two examples of storyboard templates (#1 and #2). A number of educators have put the concept of interactive storybooks on Google Slides to good use. Sylvia Duckworth, a noted Google certified innovator and trainer as well as an Apple distinguished educator, shares many of her creations. Click here for a fillable interactive storybook. 3. TalkingPoints. It is important to take into consideration that low proficient ELLs do not always have the language skills to verbalize their emotions, especially as they traverse the ups and downs of living in and interacting with people in their adopted new homeland. In view of this, we suggest using TalkingPoints. This app provides a means for ELLs and their families to verbalize their emotions and feelings in their native language and be read in English by any recipient (i.e., a teacher, administrator, buddy, neighbor, school staff). As online learning can be an isolating and sometimes frustrating experience, offering ELLs the opportunity to express and explain how they feel using their own language is an important first step in growing skills in this area. Responsible Decision-Making. Handing over responsibility for learning helps students take ownership of their educational journeys while also fostering proactivity. Project-based Learning (PBL) provides opportunities for real-world, authentic experiences, which can empower learners and build their confidence. E-tools such as Flipgrid, Padlet, and Linoit furnish platforms for PBL, affording opportunities for students to share their projects as well as provide and receive feedback. Integrating SEL into Subject-Area Courses While there is a wide array of web 2.0 tools available as resources to educators, utilizing all of them can make it overwhelming for students and/or their families. With that in mind, consider meshing e-tools when creating the digital resources needed to fulfil the goals of instruction, or combining the different e-tools within a single platform. One platform that certainly respects the importance of SEL is Edmodo. In Edmodo, ELLs can share their work, and teachers can flip and/or gamify their instruction. Moreover, in its Discover section, Edmodo offers a range of best practice resources in SEL and ideas on how to integrate SEL into instruction to foster better positive online classroom climates. Edmodo also has a built-in Wellness Check Poll so that teachers can quickly gauge how their students are feeling. Equally, a Messenger function on Edmodo allows for private one-on-one synchronous communications. Lastly, within the platform’s communal blog feature, teachers can access ‘live’ SEL suggestions. A further two e-tools worth noting that can be meshed with Edmodo to help an ELL build relationships and develop good decision-making skills within an online classroom are Flippity and WriteReader. Flippity provides a range of activity templates to alternate student groupings and to make e-resources less static. On the other hand, WriteReader minimizes the isolating effects of writing activities by enabling students to share writing spaces. Institutional Initiatives At a school level, administrators need to be mindful of the types of supports extended to ELLs to underpin remote learning needs. Supports inculture (feeling safe and minimizing isolation), structure (transparent instructional processes and rules), communication (comprehensible information flow), proprietorship, (goal-setting and buy-in), collaboration (fostering interpersonal work and connectedness), celebration (building community and providing reinforcement), and feedback (being SMART[3]) can frame successful initiatives. As outlined above, Edmodo offers teachers and their ELLs a solid platform to promote SEL practices in the school while simultaneously enabling the above supports. Equally, as outlined above, Nearpod provides these same functions. Final Thoughts Technologies, as outlined, offer countless opportunities for educators to offer instructional and emotional support to students. However, these same technologies need to be used in measured and strategically intentional ways in order to maximize their benefits and minimize their challenges for ELLs. As bridge builders, teachers should be cognizant of the 6 As (i.e., availability, access, awareness, application, assistance, and affiliation) when deciding what strategies, instructional supports, and tools to utilize in their lessons in order to offer ELLs engaging and effective instruction in remote learning environments. [1] In this sense the aim is to be successful at transactional competence (the ability to get things done with the language), interactional competence (the ability to manage relationships and social interactions in the target language), and translingual competence (the ability to appropriately make use of a range of linguistic resources in a multilingual society). [2] Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning [3] SMART - Specific (simple, sensible, significant). Measurable (meaningful, motivating). Achievable (agreed, attainable). Relevant (reasonable, realistic and resourced, results-based). Time bound (time-based, time limited, time/cost limited, timely, time-sensitive). References Collaborative for Social-Emotional Learning (CASEL) (2020).https://casel.org/ Common Sense Media (2019).https://www.commonsensemedia.org/sites/ default/files/uploads/research/2019_8-18-infographic _final-release.pdf Dominguez, M. (2017). “Se hace puentes al andar”: Decolonial teacher education as a needed bridge to culturally sustaining and revitalizing pedagogies. In D. H. Paris & Samy Alim (eds.).Culturally sustaining pedagogies: Teaching and learning for justice in a changing world.New York, NY: Teachers College Press. Dorn, E., Hancock, B., Sarakatsannis, J., & Viruleg, E. (2020). COVID-19 and learning loss — disparitiesg row and students need help. McKinsey & Company. Durlak, J.A., Domitrovich, C., Weissberg, R.P., & Gullotta, T.P.(Eds.),Handbook of social and emotional learning (SEL): Research and practice. (pp. 3-19). New York: The Guilford Press. Florida Department of Education Recommendations to Reopen Florida’s Schools and the Cares Act Plan (2020). Retrieved from http://fldoe.org/core/fileparse.php/19861/urlt /FLDOEReopeningCARESAct.pdf 2020-21 Florida’s Optional Innovative Reopening Plan [Hillsborough County] (2020). Retrieved from http://fldoe.org/core/fileparse.php/7501/urlt/ Hillsborough-reopenPlan.pdf Garcia-Arena, P. & D’Souza St.(2020). Research Brief. Spotlight on English Learners. National Survey of Public Education’s Response to COVID-19. American Institutes for Research. https://www.air.org/sites/default/files/ COVID-Survey-Spotlight-on-English-Learners-FINAL- Oct-2020.pdf Gass, S. (1997).Input, interaction, and the second language learner. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Parris, H., Estrada, L., & Honigsfeld, A. (2016).ELL frontiers: Using technology to enhance instruction for English learners. Corwin Press. Song, K., Kim, S., & Zhao, Y. (2020). Manifesting multidimensional creativity in a technology‐mediated online TESOL practicum course.TESOL Journal,11(2), 1-17. St. George, D. (2020, December 4). Failing grades double and triple—some rising sixfold — amid pandemic learning.Washington Post. shorturl.at/qCEU5 Swain, M. (2000). The output hypothesis and beyond: Mediating acquisition through collaborative dialogue. In J. P. Lantolf (Ed.),Sociocultural theory and second language learning(pp. 97– 114). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. Tarbutton, T. (2018). Leveraging 21st Century Learning & Technology to Create Caring Diverse Classroom Cultures.Multicultural Education,25(2), 4-6. Tutwiler, S. J. W. (2017).Teachers as collaborative partners: Working with diverse families and communities. Routledge. additional practice and more opportunities to interact with curricula material. What e-resources promote continuous learning opportunities for ELLs? The following websites and other web 2.0 tools can be suggested to students and their families. Alternatively, teachers can incorporate them into the curriculum to assist learners in their understanding of content and for their development of language proficiency. Subscription-based For young learners. PebbleGo contains content specifically designed for K-3 students. With this website, ELLs get access to a variety of content in English and Spanish (e.g., science, animals, biographies, social studies). Most articles include read-alouds with text highlighting for readers to follow along, as well as other media such as videos, timelines, or interactive activities (e.g., listening exercises). Subscription options offer districts with unlimited, simultaneous access to students, both at school and at home. Scholastic Learn at Home offers a variety of educational activities (e.g., picture book read-alouds, videos, interactive games, slideshows, etc.) for students aged 4-10. Content is self-paced and tailored by grade level (PreK-K, 1-2, and 3-5). Users can subscribe for a monthly fee, which can be cancelled at any time. For all ages. BrainPop ELL is a website which includes animated movies and other interactive features (e.g., flashcards, games, quizzes, etc.) that provide ELLs with listening, reading, speaking, and writing skills practice for beginner, intermediate, and more advanced levels of proficiency. The website offers different subscription options for school districts, individual teachers, and for families. In a similar manner, ESL Library offers lessons for academic and everyday English, a flashcard library with commonly used vocabulary and grammar, as well as various interactive exercises that can be assigned to students for additional practice. The website’s reporting feature allows teachers to view the completion status of assigned activities, the time students spent on tasks, and the results obtained by students in each activity. Teachers can also leave personalized feedback to students. There are different subscription options, with each teacher account enabling access to 100 students. Free-of-Charge For young learners. Epic contains a digital library for children ages 12 and under, offering more than 35,000 books/audiobooks, and learning videos that can be personalized to each student, according to their preferences and reading levels. Students can take quizzes to check their understanding and earn badges and rewards. Moreover, Epic content can be accessed either online or offline. For all ages. Khan Academy includes a library of lessons and practice exercises for math, English grammar, reading and language arts, science, history, computing, test preparation (e.g., SAT), as well as life skills (e.g., social and emotional learning, personal finance, growth mindset, etc.). Newsela is a reading platform that affords differentiated instruction via the assignment of reading content to students in lexile levels that reflect their reading proficiency. Newsela content is accessible both digitally and in print, which expands access to students without technology. One of the best features of this website is that it gets updated every day with 10 new texts, which keeps the content relevant and up-to-date. Newsela also contains case studies, white papers, webinars, and a blog that includes tips for instruction and describes new features added to the website. ReadWorks offers reading comprehension passages for K-12 students in a variety of lexile levels. Reading topics include STEM, poetry, social studies, literary fiction, arts, and holidays & events. The website allows students to access both digital and printed content, which facilitates access to all students. When accessing material online, students can listen along to audio versions, as well as highlight, annotate, and answer questions about the assigned texts. ReadWorks also gives teachers the option to track students’ progress and provide individual feedback. The website also includes guides for teachers and parents to best utilize the available resources. ReadWriteThink offers educators and families a variety of free lesson/unit plans, activities, games, and resources for professional development in printable or digital formats. The website includes content in arts, careers, community, science, math, social studies, among many others, which can be selected by grade level (K-12). Juxtaposed and complementary to the above tools is Rewordify. This tool enables a user to simplify any imported text based on lexile level. Rewordify offers the user to create and/or complete activities based on the imported text as well as a grammar function that allows users to deconstruct the text based on its grammatical parts. Affiliation Affiliation centers on the social dimension of learning. On the one hand, it is underpinned by the acknowledged importance of interaction between individuals and the role it plays in the facilitation of language acquisition (Gass, 1997; Swain, 2000). On the other hand, it weighs the importance of social-emotional (SE) growth as a metric in considerations about the health of social engagement between individuals (CASEL, 2020). If a language learner is emotionally closed to the people in his/her linguistic environment, then any benefits derived from dialogic engagement, collaboration, cooperation and/or mediation are minimal at best. What technologies can foster the social-emotional well-being of ELLs and how can technologies be used to minimize social distancing and increase emotional support? Since 1994, CASEL[2] has worked to establish high-quality social-emotional learning (SEL) in K-12 schools. Its work has led to the creation of the five core SEL competencies of self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making,providing a framework educators can utilize to inform how they engage with students at a social-emotional level. Research (Durlak et al., 2015) has illustrated that social-emotional health can be nurtured and competencies in social-emotional aspects can be fostered using a variety of approaches in K-12 settings. These include: • Incorporating SEL in free-standing lessons; • Embedding SEL within instructional practices; • Integrating SEL into subject-area courses; • Promoting SEL at an institutional level. In 2020, technology has been pivotal in allowing K-12 schools to respond instructionally to the necessities of “going remote” due to COVID-19. Here, we repurpose CASEL’s core competencies and encapsulate how technologies can equally continue to support educators as they nurture and grow the social-emotional skills of their ELLs while working in online, hybrid and e-learning environments. Free-Standing Lessons Educators can take advantage of many stand-alone online lessons, webinars and student-oriented trainings within Nearpod. This online student-engagement platform merges dynamic media and formative assessment in order to create opportunities for collaborative interactions between students. Additionally, teachers are able to assign professional crafted videos that anchor an array of activities and game-based learning tasks. In terms of CASEL’s five core competencies, Nearpod provides free-standing lessons for all K-12 students that help both students and teachers acquire understanding and skills in each of the five SEL areas. Figure 13 (yellow) lists some of the SEL specific lessons contained within the Nearpod library. Instructional Practices Over a lifetime of teaching, educators develop an array of teaching strategies and practices that are used to augment any number of learning needs. Specific to our five core SEL competencies are the following: Self-Awareness.The ability to accurately recognize one’s own emotions, thoughts, and values and how they influence behavior. Classroom practices may include helping students label their emotions, or having students use an emotional planner to identify and verbalize feelings and/or act on positive emotional strengths. Recommended tools include (i) Plutchik’sWheel of Emotion, for students to get a better understanding of deeper emotions; and (ii) Flippity,in which a range of instructional templates can easily embed Plutchik’s Wheel of Emotion to use with online learners (e.g.,random wheel spinner, flashcards, matching game, and manipulatives activities). Self-Management. The ability to successfully regulate one’s emotions, thoughts, and behaviors in different situations — effectively managing stress, controlling impulses, and motivating oneself. One easy technique that is often advocated consists of breathing exercises. In face-to-face settings, countless techniques can be utilized: lying down and breathing with a pebble on the chest, blowing into a paper fan, etc. For online students, a suggested website is https://www.calm.com/breathe, which is also available in Calm mobile applications for both Apple and Android devices. Have ELLs link to the site or mobile app at regular intervals during a lesson. Just as Figure 13: Highlighting Technologies that Foster SEL in Remote Learning Contexts one would have a brain break, so too can this site be used as an emotional regulator. Social-Awareness.The ability to take the perspective of and empathize with others, including those from diverse backgrounds and cultures. This is particularly important for ELLs. In brick-and-mortar classrooms, engaging in culturally-responsive, trauma-informed, and restorative justice strategies helps ELLs build skills in social awareness. For online students, GoNoodle is one of many webtools in English and Spanish that provides cooperative games for educators to assign to ELLs. Relationship Skills.For newly arrived ELLs who undergo stages of cultural adaptation, particularly culture shock, this competency is of special importance to foster. Even for ELLs raised in the USA, being new to an online learning environment also brings with it a period of adjustment. CASEL (2020) defines this skill as “The ability to establish and maintain healthy and rewarding relationships with diverse individuals and groups. The ability to communicate clearly, listen well, cooperate with others, resist inappropriate social pressure, negotiate conflict constructively, and seek and offer help when needed” (item 4 on CASEL’s SEL webpage). Several strategies for building relationship skills can be utilized with students, including storytelling, team-building activities, turn & talk activities, as well as learning circles/centers. Such strategies allow learners to think about, to practice healthy group interactions, and to negotiate cooperative dynamics. For online settings, three useful tools can mirror these same activities, described below: 1. WebQuests.These are online problem / project / inquiry-based activities that have a 5-step structure (introduction, task, process, evaluation, conclusion) supporting critical thinking through analyzing, creating, and evaluating. Although there are many design patterns to consider when creating a webquest, the most important is that the end-user (i.e., the ELL), is placed in a learning role that builds relationship skills. A number of sites offer teachers online templates to create their own webquests: Zunal, QuestGarden, Createwebquest, and Google Sites. 2. Google Slides. One technique to help students reflect on their choices and to negotiate circumstances and relationships is to use Google Slides to create interactive storybooks (i.e.,choose your own adventurestories, in which the reader controls the plot). This tool offers teachers a way to create an online interactive story that can be easily embedded into any classroom lesson (click here for an example). In order to make such a story, one needs to storyboard it out. The following are two examples of storyboard templates (#1 and #2). A number of educators have put the concept of interactive storybooks on Google Slides to good use. Sylvia Duckworth, a noted Google certified innovator and trainer as well as an Apple distinguished educator, shares many of her creations. Click here for a fillable interactive storybook. 3. TalkingPoints. It is important to take into consideration that low proficient ELLs do not always have the language skills to verbalize their emotions, especially as they traverse the ups and downs of living in and interacting with people in their adopted new homeland. In view of this, we suggest using TalkingPoints. This app provides a means for ELLs and their families to verbalize their emotions and feelings in their native language and be read in English by any recipient (i.e., a teacher, administrator, buddy, neighbor, school staff). As online learning can be an isolating and sometimes frustrating experience, offering ELLs the opportunity to express and explain how they feel using their own language is an important first step in growing skills in this area. Responsible Decision-Making. Handing over responsibility for learning helps students take ownership of their educational journeys while also fostering proactivity. Project-based Learning (PBL) provides opportunities for real-world, authentic experiences, which can empower learners and build their confidence. E-tools such as Flipgrid, Padlet, and Linoit furnish platforms for PBL, affording opportunities for students to share their projects as well as provide and receive feedback. Integrating SEL into Subject-Area Courses While there is a wide array of web 2.0 tools available as resources to educators, utilizing all of them can make it overwhelming for students and/or their families. With that in mind, consider meshing e-tools when creating the digital resources needed to fulfil the goals of instruction, or combining the different e-tools within a single platform. One platform that certainly respects the importance of SEL is Edmodo. In Edmodo, ELLs can share their work, and teachers can flip and/or gamify their instruction. Moreover, in its Discover section, Edmodo offers a range of best practice resources in SEL and ideas on how to integrate SEL into instruction to foster better positive online classroom climates. Edmodo also has a built-in Wellness Check Poll so that teachers can quickly gauge how their students are feeling. Equally, a Messenger function on Edmodo allows for private one-on-one synchronous communications. Lastly, within the platform’s communal blog feature, teachers can access ‘live’ SEL suggestions. A further two e-tools worth noting that can be meshed with Edmodo to help an ELL build relationships and develop good decision-making skills within an online classroom are Flippity and WriteReader. Flippity provides a range of activity templates to alternate student groupings and to make e-resources less static. On the other hand, WriteReader minimizes the isolating effects of writing activities by enabling students to share writing spaces. Institutional Initiatives At a school level, administrators need to be mindful of the types of supports extended to ELLs to underpin remote learning needs. Supports inculture (feeling safe and minimizing isolation), structure (transparent instructional processes and rules), communication (comprehensible information flow), proprietorship, (goal-setting and buy-in), collaboration (fostering interpersonal work and connectedness), celebration (building community and providing reinforcement), and feedback (being SMART[3]) can frame successful initiatives. As outlined above, Edmodo offers teachers and their ELLs a solid platform to promote SEL practices in the school while simultaneously enabling the above supports. Equally, as outlined above, Nearpod provides these same functions. Final Thoughts Technologies, as outlined, offer countless opportunities for educators to offer instructional and emotional support to students. However, these same technologies need to be used in measured and strategically intentional ways in order to maximize their benefits and minimize their challenges for ELLs. As bridge builders, teachers should be cognizant of the 6 As (i.e., availability, access, awareness, application, assistance, and affiliation) when deciding what strategies, instructional supports, and tools to utilize in their lessons in order to offer ELLs engaging and effective instruction in remote learning environments. [1] In this sense the aim is to be successful at transactional competence (the ability to get things done with the language), interactional competence (the ability to manage relationships and social interactions in the target language), and translingual competence (the ability to appropriately make use of a range of linguistic resources in a multilingual society). [2] Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning [3] SMART - Specific (simple, sensible, significant). Measurable (meaningful, motivating). Achievable (agreed, attainable). Relevant (reasonable, realistic and resourced, results-based). Time bound (time-based, time limited, time/cost limited, timely, time-sensitive). References Collaborative for Social-Emotional Learning (CASEL) (2020).https://casel.org/ Common Sense Media (2019).https://www.commonsensemedia.org/sites/ default/files/uploads/research/2019_8-18-infographic _final-release.pdf Dominguez, M. (2017). “Se hace puentes al andar”: Decolonial teacher education as a needed bridge to culturally sustaining and revitalizing pedagogies. In D. H. Paris & Samy Alim (eds.).Culturally sustaining pedagogies: Teaching and learning for justice in a changing world.New York, NY: Teachers College Press. Dorn, E., Hancock, B., Sarakatsannis, J., & Viruleg, E. (2020). COVID-19 and learning loss — disparitiesg row and students need help. McKinsey & Company. Durlak, J.A., Domitrovich, C., Weissberg, R.P., & Gullotta, T.P.(Eds.),Handbook of social and emotional learning (SEL): Research and practice. (pp. 3-19). New York: The Guilford Press. Florida Department of Education Recommendations to Reopen Florida’s Schools and the Cares Act Plan (2020). Retrieved from http://fldoe.org/core/fileparse.php/19861/urlt /FLDOEReopeningCARESAct.pdf 2020-21 Florida’s Optional Innovative Reopening Plan [Hillsborough County] (2020). Retrieved from http://fldoe.org/core/fileparse.php/7501/urlt/ Hillsborough-reopenPlan.pdf Garcia-Arena, P. & D’Souza St.(2020). Research Brief. Spotlight on English Learners. National Survey of Public Education’s Response to COVID-19. American Institutes for Research. https://www.air.org/sites/default/files/ COVID-Survey-Spotlight-on-English-Learners-FINAL- Oct-2020.pdf Gass, S. (1997).Input, interaction, and the second language learner. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Parris, H., Estrada, L., & Honigsfeld, A. (2016).ELL frontiers: Using technology to enhance instruction for English learners. Corwin Press. Song, K., Kim, S., & Zhao, Y. (2020). Manifesting multidimensional creativity in a technology‐mediated online TESOL practicum course.TESOL Journal,11(2), 1-17. St. George, D. (2020, December 4). Failing grades double and triple—some rising sixfold — amid pandemic learning.Washington Post. shorturl.at/qCEU5 Swain, M. (2000). The output hypothesis and beyond: Mediating acquisition through collaborative dialogue. In J. P. Lantolf (Ed.),Sociocultural theory and second language learning(pp. 97– 114). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. Tarbutton, T. (2018). Leveraging 21st Century Learning & Technology to Create Caring Diverse Classroom Cultures.Multicultural Education,25(2), 4-6. Tutwiler, S. J. W. (2017).Teachers as collaborative partners: Working with diverse families and communities. Routledge. additional practice and more opportunities to interact with curricula material. What e-resources promote continuous learning opportunities for ELLs? The following websites and other web 2.0 tools can be suggested to students and their families. Alternatively, teachers can incorporate them into the curriculum to assist learners in their understanding of content and for their development of language proficiency. Subscription-based For young learners. PebbleGo contains content specifically designed for K-3 students. With this website, ELLs get access to a variety of content in English and Spanish (e.g., science, animals, biographies, social studies). Most articles include read-alouds with text highlighting for readers to follow along, as well as other media such as videos, timelines, or interactive activities (e.g., listening exercises). Subscription options offer districts with unlimited, simultaneous access to students, both at school and at home. Scholastic Learn at Home offers a variety of educational activities (e.g., picture book read-alouds, videos, interactive games, slideshows, etc.) for students aged 4-10. Content is self-paced and tailored by grade level (PreK-K, 1-2, and 3-5). Users can subscribe for a monthly fee, which can be cancelled at any time. For all ages. BrainPop ELL is a website which includes animated movies and other interactive features (e.g., flashcards, games, quizzes, etc.) that provide ELLs with listening, reading, speaking, and writing skills practice for beginner, intermediate, and more advanced levels of proficiency. The website offers different subscription options for school districts, individual teachers, and for families. In a similar manner, ESL Library offers lessons for academic and everyday English, a flashcard library with commonly used vocabulary and grammar, as well as various interactive exercises that can be assigned to students for additional practice. The website’s reporting feature allows teachers to view the completion status of assigned activities, the time students spent on tasks, and the results obtained by students in each activity. Teachers can also leave personalized feedback to students. There are different subscription options, with each teacher account enabling access to 100 students. Free-of-Charge For young learners. Epic contains a digital library for children ages 12 and under, offering more than 35,000 books/audiobooks, and learning videos that can be personalized to each student, according to their preferences and reading levels. Students can take quizzes to check their understanding and earn badges and rewards. Moreover, Epic content can be accessed either online or offline. For all ages. Khan Academy includes a library of lessons and practice exercises for math, English grammar, reading and language arts, science, history, computing, test preparation (e.g., SAT), as well as life skills (e.g., social and emotional learning, personal finance, growth mindset, etc.). Newsela is a reading platform that affords differentiated instruction via the assignment of reading content to students in lexile levels that reflect their reading proficiency. Newsela content is accessible both digitally and in print, which expands access to students without technology. One of the best features of this website is that it gets updated every day with 10 new texts, which keeps the content relevant and up-to-date. Newsela also contains case studies, white papers, webinars, and a blog that includes tips for instruction and describes new features added to the website. ReadWorks offers reading comprehension passages for K-12 students in a variety of lexile levels. Reading topics include STEM, poetry, social studies, literary fiction, arts, and holidays & events. The website allows students to access both digital and printed content, which facilitates access to all students. When accessing material online, students can listen along to audio versions, as well as highlight, annotate, and answer questions about the assigned texts. ReadWorks also gives teachers the option to track students’ progress and provide individual feedback. The website also includes guides for teachers and parents to best utilize the available resources. ReadWriteThink offers educators and families a variety of free lesson/unit plans, activities, games, and resources for professional development in printable or digital formats. The website includes content in arts, careers, community, science, math, social studies, among many others, which can be selected by grade level (K-12). Juxtaposed and complementary to the above tools is Rewordify. This tool enables a user to simplify any imported text based on lexile level. Rewordify offers the user to create and/or complete activities based on the imported text as well as a grammar function that allows users to deconstruct the text based on its grammatical parts. Affiliation Affiliation centers on the social dimension of learning. On the one hand, it is underpinned by the acknowledged importance of interaction between individuals and the role it plays in the facilitation of language acquisition (Gass, 1997; Swain, 2000). On the other hand, it weighs the importance of social-emotional (SE) growth as a metric in considerations about the health of social engagement between individuals (CASEL, 2020). If a language learner is emotionally closed to the people in his/her linguistic environment, then any benefits derived from dialogic engagement, collaboration, cooperation and/or mediation are minimal at best. What technologies can foster the social-emotional well-being of ELLs and how can technologies be used to minimize social distancing and increase emotional support? Since 1994, CASEL[2] has worked to establish high-quality social-emotional learning (SEL) in K-12 schools. Its work has led to the creation of the five core SEL competencies of self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making,providing a framework educators can utilize to inform how they engage with students at a social-emotional level. Research (Durlak et al., 2015) has illustrated that social-emotional health can be nurtured and competencies in social-emotional aspects can be fostered using a variety of approaches in K-12 settings. These include: • Incorporating SEL in free-standing lessons; • Embedding SEL within instructional practices; • Integrating SEL into subject-area courses; • Promoting SEL at an institutional level. In 2020, technology has been pivotal in allowing K-12 schools to respond instructionally to the necessities of “going remote” due to COVID-19. Here, we repurpose CASEL’s core competencies and encapsulate how technologies can equally continue to support educators as they nurture and grow the social-emotional skills of their ELLs while working in online, hybrid and e-learning environments. Free-Standing Lessons Educators can take advantage of many stand-alone online lessons, webinars and student-oriented trainings within Nearpod. This online student-engagement platform merges dynamic media and formative assessment in order to create opportunities for collaborative interactions between students. Additionally, teachers are able to assign professional crafted videos that anchor an array of activities and game-based learning tasks. In terms of CASEL’s five core competencies, Nearpod provides free-standing lessons for all K-12 students that help both students and teachers acquire understanding and skills in each of the five SEL areas. Figure 13 (yellow) lists some of the SEL specific lessons contained within the Nearpod library. Instructional Practices Over a lifetime of teaching, educators develop an array of teaching strategies and practices that are used to augment any number of learning needs. Specific to our five core SEL competencies are the following: Self-Awareness.The ability to accurately recognize one’s own emotions, thoughts, and values and how they influence behavior. Classroom practices may include helping students label their emotions, or having students use an emotional planner to identify and verbalize feelings and/or act on positive emotional strengths. Recommended tools include (i) Plutchik’sWheel of Emotion, for students to get a better understanding of deeper emotions; and (ii) Flippity,in which a range of instructional templates can easily embed Plutchik’s Wheel of Emotion to use with online learners (e.g.,random wheel spinner, flashcards, matching game, and manipulatives activities). Self-Management. The ability to successfully regulate one’s emotions, thoughts, and behaviors in different situations — effectively managing stress, controlling impulses, and motivating oneself. One easy technique that is often advocated consists of breathing exercises. In face-to-face settings, countless techniques can be utilized: lying down and breathing with a pebble on the chest, blowing into a paper fan, etc. For online students, a suggested website is https://www.calm.com/breathe, which is also available in Calm mobile applications for both Apple and Android devices. Have ELLs link to the site or mobile app at regular intervals during a lesson. Just as Figure 13: Highlighting Technologies that Foster SEL in Remote Learning Contexts one would have a brain break, so too can this site be used as an emotional regulator. Social-Awareness.The ability to take the perspective of and empathize with others, including those from diverse backgrounds and cultures. This is particularly important for ELLs. In brick-and-mortar classrooms, engaging in culturally-responsive, trauma-informed, and restorative justice strategies helps ELLs build skills in social awareness. For online students, GoNoodle is one of many webtools in English and Spanish that provides cooperative games for educators to assign to ELLs. Relationship Skills.For newly arrived ELLs who undergo stages of cultural adaptation, particularly culture shock, this competency is of special importance to foster. Even for ELLs raised in the USA, being new to an online learning environment also brings with it a period of adjustment. CASEL (2020) defines this skill as “The ability to establish and maintain healthy and rewarding relationships with diverse individuals and groups. The ability to communicate clearly, listen well, cooperate with others, resist inappropriate social pressure, negotiate conflict constructively, and seek and offer help when needed” (item 4 on CASEL’s SEL webpage). Several strategies for building relationship skills can be utilized with students, including storytelling, team-building activities, turn & talk activities, as well as learning circles/centers. Such strategies allow learners to think about, to practice healthy group interactions, and to negotiate cooperative dynamics. For online settings, three useful tools can mirror these same activities, described below: 1. WebQuests.These are online problem / project / inquiry-based activities that have a 5-step structure (introduction, task, process, evaluation, conclusion) supporting critical thinking through analyzing, creating, and evaluating. Although there are many design patterns to consider when creating a webquest, the most important is that the end-user (i.e., the ELL), is placed in a learning role that builds relationship skills. A number of sites offer teachers online templates to create their own webquests: Zunal, QuestGarden, Createwebquest, and Google Sites. 2. Google Slides. One technique to help students reflect on their choices and to negotiate circumstances and relationships is to use Google Slides to create interactive storybooks (i.e.,choose your own adventurestories, in which the reader controls the plot). This tool offers teachers a way to create an online interactive story that can be easily embedded into any classroom lesson (click here for an example). In order to make such a story, one needs to storyboard it out. The following are two examples of storyboard templates (#1 and #2). A number of educators have put the concept of interactive storybooks on Google Slides to good use. Sylvia Duckworth, a noted Google certified innovator and trainer as well as an Apple distinguished educator, shares many of her creations. Click here for a fillable interactive storybook. 3. TalkingPoints. It is important to take into consideration that low proficient ELLs do not always have the language skills to verbalize their emotions, especially as they traverse the ups and downs of living in and interacting with people in their adopted new homeland. In view of this, we suggest using TalkingPoints. This app provides a means for ELLs and their families to verbalize their emotions and feelings in their native language and be read in English by any recipient (i.e., a teacher, administrator, buddy, neighbor, school staff). As online learning can be an isolating and sometimes frustrating experience, offering ELLs the opportunity to express and explain how they feel using their own language is an important first step in growing skills in this area. Responsible Decision-Making. Handing over responsibility for learning helps students take ownership of their educational journeys while also fostering proactivity. Project-based Learning (PBL) provides opportunities for real-world, authentic experiences, which can empower learners and build their confidence. E-tools such as Flipgrid, Padlet, and Linoit furnish platforms for PBL, affording opportunities for students to share their projects as well as provide and receive feedback. Integrating SEL into Subject-Area Courses While there is a wide array of web 2.0 tools available as resources to educators, utilizing all of them can make it overwhelming for students and/or their families. With that in mind, consider meshing e-tools when creating the digital resources needed to fulfil the goals of instruction, or combining the different e-tools within a single platform. One platform that certainly respects the importance of SEL is Edmodo. In Edmodo, ELLs can share their work, and teachers can flip and/or gamify their instruction. Moreover, in its Discover section, Edmodo offers a range of best practice resources in SEL and ideas on how to integrate SEL into instruction to foster better positive online classroom climates. Edmodo also has a built-in Wellness Check Poll so that teachers can quickly gauge how their students are feeling. Equally, a Messenger function on Edmodo allows for private one-on-one synchronous communications. Lastly, within the platform’s communal blog feature, teachers can access ‘live’ SEL suggestions. A further two e-tools worth noting that can be meshed with Edmodo to help an ELL build relationships and develop good decision-making skills within an online classroom are Flippity and WriteReader. Flippity provides a range of activity templates to alternate student groupings and to make e-resources less static. On the other hand, WriteReader minimizes the isolating effects of writing activities by enabling students to share writing spaces. Institutional Initiatives At a school level, administrators need to be mindful of the types of supports extended to ELLs to underpin remote learning needs. Supports inculture (feeling safe and minimizing isolation), structure (transparent instructional processes and rules), communication (comprehensible information flow), proprietorship, (goal-setting and buy-in), collaboration (fostering interpersonal work and connectedness), celebration (building community and providing reinforcement), and feedback (being SMART[3]) can frame successful initiatives. As outlined above, Edmodo offers teachers and their ELLs a solid platform to promote SEL practices in the school while simultaneously enabling the above supports. Equally, as outlined above, Nearpod provides these same functions. Final Thoughts Technologies, as outlined, offer countless opportunities for educators to offer instructional and emotional support to students. However, these same technologies need to be used in measured and strategically intentional ways in order to maximize their benefits and minimize their challenges for ELLs. As bridge builders, teachers should be cognizant of the 6 As (i.e., availability, access, awareness, application, assistance, and affiliation) when deciding what strategies, instructional supports, and tools to utilize in their lessons in order to offer ELLs engaging and effective instruction in remote learning environments. [1] In this sense the aim is to be successful at transactional competence (the ability to get things done with the language), interactional competence (the ability to manage relationships and social interactions in the target language), and translingual competence (the ability to appropriately make use of a range of linguistic resources in a multilingual society). [2] Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning [3] SMART - Specific (simple, sensible, significant). Measurable (meaningful, motivating). Achievable (agreed, attainable). Relevant (reasonable, realistic and resourced, results-based). Time bound (time-based, time limited, time/cost limited, timely, time-sensitive). References Collaborative for Social-Emotional Learning (CASEL) (2020).https://casel.org/ Common Sense Media (2019).https://www.commonsensemedia.org/sites/ default/files/uploads/research/2019_8-18-infographic _final-release.pdf Dominguez, M. (2017). “Se hace puentes al andar”: Decolonial teacher education as a needed bridge to culturally sustaining and revitalizing pedagogies. In D. H. Paris & Samy Alim (eds.).Culturally sustaining pedagogies: Teaching and learning for justice in a changing world.New York, NY: Teachers College Press. Dorn, E., Hancock, B., Sarakatsannis, J., & Viruleg, E. (2020). COVID-19 and learning loss — disparitiesg row and students need help. McKinsey & Company. Durlak, J.A., Domitrovich, C., Weissberg, R.P., & Gullotta, T.P.(Eds.),Handbook of social and emotional learning (SEL): Research and practice. (pp. 3-19). New York: The Guilford Press. Florida Department of Education Recommendations to Reopen Florida’s Schools and the Cares Act Plan (2020). Retrieved from http://fldoe.org/core/fileparse.php/19861/urlt /FLDOEReopeningCARESAct.pdf 2020-21 Florida’s Optional Innovative Reopening Plan [Hillsborough County] (2020). Retrieved from http://fldoe.org/core/fileparse.php/7501/urlt/ Hillsborough-reopenPlan.pdf Garcia-Arena, P. & D’Souza St.(2020). Research Brief. Spotlight on English Learners. National Survey of Public Education’s Response to COVID-19. American Institutes for Research. https://www.air.org/sites/default/files/ COVID-Survey-Spotlight-on-English-Learners-FINAL- Oct-2020.pdf Gass, S. (1997).Input, interaction, and the second language learner. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Parris, H., Estrada, L., & Honigsfeld, A. (2016).ELL frontiers: Using technology to enhance instruction for English learners. Corwin Press. Song, K., Kim, S., & Zhao, Y. (2020). Manifesting multidimensional creativity in a technology‐mediated online TESOL practicum course.TESOL Journal,11(2), 1-17. St. George, D. (2020, December 4). Failing grades double and triple—some rising sixfold — amid pandemic learning.Washington Post. shorturl.at/qCEU5 Swain, M. (2000). The output hypothesis and beyond: Mediating acquisition through collaborative dialogue. In J. P. Lantolf (Ed.),Sociocultural theory and second language learning(pp. 97– 114). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. Tarbutton, T. (2018). Leveraging 21st Century Learning & Technology to Create Caring Diverse Classroom Cultures.Multicultural Education,25(2), 4-6. Tutwiler, S. J. W. (2017).Teachers as collaborative partners: Working with diverse families and communities. Routledge. additional practice and more opportunities to interact with curricula material. What e-resources promote continuous learning opportunities for ELLs? The following websites and other web 2.0 tools can be suggested to students and their families. Alternatively, teachers can incorporate them into the curriculum to assist learners in their understanding of content and for their development of language proficiency. Subscription-based For young learners. PebbleGo contains content specifically designed for K-3 students. With this website, ELLs get access to a variety of content in English and Spanish (e.g., science, animals, biographies, social studies). Most articles include read-alouds with text highlighting for readers to follow along, as well as other media such as videos, timelines, or interactive activities (e.g., listening exercises). Subscription options offer districts with unlimited, simultaneous access to students, both at school and at home. Scholastic Learn at Home offers a variety of educational activities (e.g., picture book read-alouds, videos, interactive games, slideshows, etc.) for students aged 4-10. Content is self-paced and tailored by grade level (PreK-K, 1-2, and 3-5). Users can subscribe for a monthly fee, which can be cancelled at any time. For all ages. BrainPop ELL is a website which includes animated movies and other interactive features (e.g., flashcards, games, quizzes, etc.) that provide ELLs with listening, reading, speaking, and writing skills practice for beginner, intermediate, and more advanced levels of proficiency. The website offers different subscription options for school districts, individual teachers, and for families. In a similar manner, ESL Library offers lessons for academic and everyday English, a flashcard library with commonly used vocabulary and grammar, as well as various interactive exercises that can be assigned to students for additional practice. The website’s reporting feature allows teachers to view the completion status of assigned activities, the time students spent on tasks, and the results obtained by students in each activity. Teachers can also leave personalized feedback to students. There are different subscription options, with each teacher account enabling access to 100 students. Free-of-Charge For young learners. Epic contains a digital library for children ages 12 and under, offering more than 35,000 books/audiobooks, and learning videos that can be personalized to each student, according to their preferences and reading levels. Students can take quizzes to check their understanding and earn badges and rewards. Moreover, Epic content can be accessed either online or offline. For all ages. Khan Academy includes a library of lessons and practice exercises for math, English grammar, reading and language arts, science, history, computing, test preparation (e.g., SAT), as well as life skills (e.g., social and emotional learning, personal finance, growth mindset, etc.). Newsela is a reading platform that affords differentiated instruction via the assignment of reading content to students in lexile levels that reflect their reading proficiency. Newsela content is accessible both digitally and in print, which expands access to students without technology. One of the best features of this website is that it gets updated every day with 10 new texts, which keeps the content relevant and up-to-date. Newsela also contains case studies, white papers, webinars, and a blog that includes tips for instruction and describes new features added to the website. ReadWorks offers reading comprehension passages for K-12 students in a variety of lexile levels. Reading topics include STEM, poetry, social studies, literary fiction, arts, and holidays & events. The website allows students to access both digital and printed content, which facilitates access to all students. When accessing material online, students can listen along to audio versions, as well as highlight, annotate, and answer questions about the assigned texts. ReadWorks also gives teachers the option to track students’ progress and provide individual feedback. The website also includes guides for teachers and parents to best utilize the available resources. ReadWriteThink offers educators and families a variety of free lesson/unit plans, activities, games, and resources for professional development in printable or digital formats. The website includes content in arts, careers, community, science, math, social studies, among many others, which can be selected by grade level (K-12). Juxtaposed and complementary to the above tools is Rewordify. This tool enables a user to simplify any imported text based on lexile level. Rewordify offers the user to create and/or complete activities based on the imported text as well as a grammar function that allows users to deconstruct the text based on its grammatical parts. Affiliation Affiliation centers on the social dimension of learning. On the one hand, it is underpinned by the acknowledged importance of interaction between individuals and the role it plays in the facilitation of language acquisition (Gass, 1997; Swain, 2000). On the other hand, it weighs the importance of social-emotional (SE) growth as a metric in considerations about the health of social engagement between individuals (CASEL, 2020). If a language learner is emotionally closed to the people in his/her linguistic environment, then any benefits derived from dialogic engagement, collaboration, cooperation and/or mediation are minimal at best. What technologies can foster the social-emotional well-being of ELLs and how can technologies be used to minimize social distancing and increase emotional support? Since 1994, CASEL[2] has worked to establish high-quality social-emotional learning (SEL) in K-12 schools. Its work has led to the creation of the five core SEL competencies of self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making,providing a framework educators can utilize to inform how they engage with students at a social-emotional level. Research (Durlak et al., 2015) has illustrated that social-emotional health can be nurtured and competencies in social-emotional aspects can be fostered using a variety of approaches in K-12 settings. These include: • Incorporating SEL in free-standing lessons; • Embedding SEL within instructional practices; • Integrating SEL into subject-area courses; • Promoting SEL at an institutional level. In 2020, technology has been pivotal in allowing K-12 schools to respond instructionally to the necessities of “going remote” due to COVID-19. Here, we repurpose CASEL’s core competencies and encapsulate how technologies can equally continue to support educators as they nurture and grow the social-emotional skills of their ELLs while working in online, hybrid and e-learning environments. Free-Standing Lessons Educators can take advantage of many stand-alone online lessons, webinars and student-oriented trainings within Nearpod. This online student-engagement platform merges dynamic media and formative assessment in order to create opportunities for collaborative interactions between students. Additionally, teachers are able to assign professional crafted videos that anchor an array of activities and game-based learning tasks. In terms of CASEL’s five core competencies, Nearpod provides free-standing lessons for all K-12 students that help both students and teachers acquire understanding and skills in each of the five SEL areas. Figure 13 (yellow) lists some of the SEL specific lessons contained within the Nearpod library. Instructional Practices Over a lifetime of teaching, educators develop an array of teaching strategies and practices that are used to augment any number of learning needs. Specific to our five core SEL competencies are the following: Self-Awareness.The ability to accurately recognize one’s own emotions, thoughts, and values and how they influence behavior. Classroom practices may include helping students label their emotions, or having students use an emotional planner to identify and verbalize feelings and/or act on positive emotional strengths. Recommended tools include (i) Plutchik’sWheel of Emotion, for students to get a better understanding of deeper emotions; and (ii) Flippity,in which a range of instructional templates can easily embed Plutchik’s Wheel of Emotion to use with online learners (e.g.,random wheel spinner, flashcards, matching game, and manipulatives activities). Self-Management. The ability to successfully regulate one’s emotions, thoughts, and behaviors in different situations — effectively managing stress, controlling impulses, and motivating oneself. One easy technique that is often advocated consists of breathing exercises. In face-to-face settings, countless techniques can be utilized: lying down and breathing with a pebble on the chest, blowing into a paper fan, etc. For online students, a suggested website is https://www.calm.com/breathe, which is also available in Calm mobile applications for both Apple and Android devices. Have ELLs link to the site or mobile app at regular intervals during a lesson. Just as Figure 13: Highlighting Technologies that Foster SEL in Remote Learning Contexts one would have a brain break, so too can this site be used as an emotional regulator. Social-Awareness.The ability to take the perspective of and empathize with others, including those from diverse backgrounds and cultures. This is particularly important for ELLs. In brick-and-mortar classrooms, engaging in culturally-responsive, trauma-informed, and restorative justice strategies helps ELLs build skills in social awareness. For online students, GoNoodle is one of many webtools in English and Spanish that provides cooperative games for educators to assign to ELLs. Relationship Skills.For newly arrived ELLs who undergo stages of cultural adaptation, particularly culture shock, this competency is of special importance to foster. Even for ELLs raised in the USA, being new to an online learning environment also brings with it a period of adjustment. CASEL (2020) defines this skill as “The ability to establish and maintain healthy and rewarding relationships with diverse individuals and groups. The ability to communicate clearly, listen well, cooperate with others, resist inappropriate social pressure, negotiate conflict constructively, and seek and offer help when needed” (item 4 on CASEL’s SEL webpage). Several strategies for building relationship skills can be utilized with students, including storytelling, team-building activities, turn & talk activities, as well as learning circles/centers. Such strategies allow learners to think about, to practice healthy group interactions, and to negotiate cooperative dynamics. For online settings, three useful tools can mirror these same activities, described below: 1. WebQuests.These are online problem / project / inquiry-based activities that have a 5-step structure (introduction, task, process, evaluation, conclusion) supporting critical thinking through analyzing, creating, and evaluating. Although there are many design patterns to consider when creating a webquest, the most important is that the end-user (i.e., the ELL), is placed in a learning role that builds relationship skills. A number of sites offer teachers online templates to create their own webquests: Zunal, QuestGarden, Createwebquest, and Google Sites. 2. Google Slides. One technique to help students reflect on their choices and to negotiate circumstances and relationships is to use Google Slides to create interactive storybooks (i.e.,choose your own adventurestories, in which the reader controls the plot). This tool offers teachers a way to create an online interactive story that can be easily embedded into any classroom lesson (click here for an example). In order to make such a story, one needs to storyboard it out. The following are two examples of storyboard templates (#1 and #2). A number of educators have put the concept of interactive storybooks on Google Slides to good use. Sylvia Duckworth, a noted Google certified innovator and trainer as well as an Apple distinguished educator, shares many of her creations. Click here for a fillable interactive storybook. 3. TalkingPoints. It is important to take into consideration that low proficient ELLs do not always have the language skills to verbalize their emotions, especially as they traverse the ups and downs of living in and interacting with people in their adopted new homeland. In view of this, we suggest using TalkingPoints. This app provides a means for ELLs and their families to verbalize their emotions and feelings in their native language and be read in English by any recipient (i.e., a teacher, administrator, buddy, neighbor, school staff). As online learning can be an isolating and sometimes frustrating experience, offering ELLs the opportunity to express and explain how they feel using their own language is an important first step in growing skills in this area. Responsible Decision-Making. Handing over responsibility for learning helps students take ownership of their educational journeys while also fostering proactivity. Project-based Learning (PBL) provides opportunities for real-world, authentic experiences, which can empower learners and build their confidence. E-tools such as Flipgrid, Padlet, and Linoit furnish platforms for PBL, affording opportunities for students to share their projects as well as provide and receive feedback. Integrating SEL into Subject-Area Courses While there is a wide array of web 2.0 tools available as resources to educators, utilizing all of them can make it overwhelming for students and/or their families. With that in mind, consider meshing e-tools when creating the digital resources needed to fulfil the goals of instruction, or combining the different e-tools within a single platform. One platform that certainly respects the importance of SEL is Edmodo. In Edmodo, ELLs can share their work, and teachers can flip and/or gamify their instruction. Moreover, in its Discover section, Edmodo offers a range of best practice resources in SEL and ideas on how to integrate SEL into instruction to foster better positive online classroom climates. Edmodo also has a built-in Wellness Check Poll so that teachers can quickly gauge how their students are feeling. Equally, a Messenger function on Edmodo allows for private one-on-one synchronous communications. Lastly, within the platform’s communal blog feature, teachers can access ‘live’ SEL suggestions. A further two e-tools worth noting that can be meshed with Edmodo to help an ELL build relationships and develop good decision-making skills within an online classroom are Flippity and WriteReader. Flippity provides a range of activity templates to alternate student groupings and to make e-resources less static. On the other hand, WriteReader minimizes the isolating effects of writing activities by enabling students to share writing spaces. Institutional Initiatives At a school level, administrators need to be mindful of the types of supports extended to ELLs to underpin remote learning needs. Supports inculture (feeling safe and minimizing isolation), structure (transparent instructional processes and rules), communication (comprehensible information flow), proprietorship, (goal-setting and buy-in), collaboration (fostering interpersonal work and connectedness), celebration (building community and providing reinforcement), and feedback (being SMART[3]) can frame successful initiatives. As outlined above, Edmodo offers teachers and their ELLs a solid platform to promote SEL practices in the school while simultaneously enabling the above supports. Equally, as outlined above, Nearpod provides these same functions. Final Thoughts Technologies, as outlined, offer countless opportunities for educators to offer instructional and emotional support to students. However, these same technologies need to be used in measured and strategically intentional ways in order to maximize their benefits and minimize their challenges for ELLs. As bridge builders, teachers should be cognizant of the 6 As (i.e., availability, access, awareness, application, assistance, and affiliation) when deciding what strategies, instructional supports, and tools to utilize in their lessons in order to offer ELLs engaging and effective instruction in remote learning environments. [1] In this sense the aim is to be successful at transactional competence (the ability to get things done with the language), interactional competence (the ability to manage relationships and social interactions in the target language), and translingual competence (the ability to appropriately make use of a range of linguistic resources in a multilingual society). [2] Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning [3] SMART - Specific (simple, sensible, significant). Measurable (meaningful, motivating). Achievable (agreed, attainable). Relevant (reasonable, realistic and resourced, results-based). Time bound (time-based, time limited, time/cost limited, timely, time-sensitive). References Collaborative for Social-Emotional Learning (CASEL) (2020).https://casel.org/ Common Sense Media (2019).https://www.commonsensemedia.org/sites/ default/files/uploads/research/2019_8-18-infographic _final-release.pdf Dominguez, M. (2017). “Se hace puentes al andar”: Decolonial teacher education as a needed bridge to culturally sustaining and revitalizing pedagogies. In D. H. Paris & Samy Alim (eds.).Culturally sustaining pedagogies: Teaching and learning for justice in a changing world.New York, NY: Teachers College Press. Dorn, E., Hancock, B., Sarakatsannis, J., & Viruleg, E. (2020). COVID-19 and learning loss — disparitiesg row and students need help. McKinsey & Company. Durlak, J.A., Domitrovich, C., Weissberg, R.P., & Gullotta, T.P.(Eds.),Handbook of social and emotional learning (SEL): Research and practice. (pp. 3-19). New York: The Guilford Press. Florida Department of Education Recommendations to Reopen Florida’s Schools and the Cares Act Plan (2020). Retrieved from http://fldoe.org/core/fileparse.php/19861/urlt /FLDOEReopeningCARESAct.pdf 2020-21 Florida’s Optional Innovative Reopening Plan [Hillsborough County] (2020). Retrieved from http://fldoe.org/core/fileparse.php/7501/urlt/ Hillsborough-reopenPlan.pdf Garcia-Arena, P. & D’Souza St.(2020). Research Brief. Spotlight on English Learners. National Survey of Public Education’s Response to COVID-19. American Institutes for Research. https://www.air.org/sites/default/files/ COVID-Survey-Spotlight-on-English-Learners-FINAL- Oct-2020.pdf Gass, S. (1997).Input, interaction, and the second language learner. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Parris, H., Estrada, L., & Honigsfeld, A. (2016).ELL frontiers: Using technology to enhance instruction for English learners. Corwin Press. Song, K., Kim, S., & Zhao, Y. (2020). Manifesting multidimensional creativity in a technology‐mediated online TESOL practicum course.TESOL Journal,11(2), 1-17. St. George, D. (2020, December 4). Failing grades double and triple—some rising sixfold — amid pandemic learning.Washington Post. shorturl.at/qCEU5 Swain, M. (2000). The output hypothesis and beyond: Mediating acquisition through collaborative dialogue. In J. P. Lantolf (Ed.),Sociocultural theory and second language learning(pp. 97– 114). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. Tarbutton, T. (2018). Leveraging 21st Century Learning & Technology to Create Caring Diverse Classroom Cultures.Multicultural Education,25(2), 4-6. Tutwiler, S. J. W. (2017).Teachers as collaborative partners: Working with diverse families and communities. Routledge.
SSTESOL Journal Volume 14 Issue 2, Fall 2021 p.44
From the Field Second Language Learners’ Experiences in Fully Online Composition Courses in Community Colleges Ocxanne Jean Barry University
From The Field What Districts, Schools, and Teachers Need to Know: Supporting Multilingual Learners and Their Families’ in an Ongoing Global Pandemic Tia Kimball University of North Florida ABSTRACT The global pandemic caused by the spread of COVID-19 has upended education globally. In the United States, the pandemic has left educators at a loss as to how to effectively meet the social and academic needs of 4.9 million multilingual learners (MLLs) on virtual learning platforms. Additionally, communicating with families has proven to be particularly challenging for schools and districts. This article provides suggestions for schools and districts to communicate with and support families of MLLs during this ongoing health crisis.
SSTESOL Journal Volume 14 Issue 2, Fall 2021 p.47
Introduction The COVID-19 virus has caused a great upheaval for all school-aged children globally and nationally. As the nation battles the global pandemic, over 4.9 multilingual learners (MLLs) and their families in the United States have been affected emotionally, socially, economically, and academically (Sugarman & Lazarín, 2020). Even pre-pandemic, MLLs needed more supports and teachers needed the resources and skills to provide them an equitable education. However, during the mass closure of schools in attempts to stop the spread of the virus, teachers had to learn a new way of teaching for which their teacher education programs had not prepared them. They were expected to teach online and manage student behaviors in a non-traditional virtual setting. During this emergency transition, the inequities in education for MLLs of low socio-economic status and the hardships their families experience became even more visible. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), communities of color have been most affected by COVID-19 and have been hospitalized and infected at greater rates (CDC, 2021). One of the most vulnerable student populations pre-pandemic have become even more vulnerable throughout this enduring pandemic. The equality gap in education is quickly becoming a chasm. Even though many schools around the U.S. have reopened, some districts are still experiencing intermittent closures due to the spreading of variants like Delta and now Omicron. Challenges for immigrant families and MLLs The hardships faced by immigrant families have been exacerbated by the pandemic as it relates to economic stability, technology, educational opportunities and support, and social-emotional support. Kochhar (2020) noted that immigrant families experienced greater unemployment rates in the first few months in the pandemic. As they typically work in essential jobs, they experienced reduced hours, lay offs, and/or missed work due to contracting COVID-19 in fields such as leisure and hospitality, retail, restaurants, construction, and education and health services (Capps et al., 2020; Kochhar, 2020). Specifically, unemployment rates in leisure and hospitality rose to almost 40 percent in April of 2020 (Capps et al., 2020). Furthermore, in 62 percent of Hispanic/Latino families at least one person became unemployed as of June 2020 (Brown, 2020); thus increasing housing insecurity and food instability. School closures nationwide compromised MLLs’ access to free breakfast and lunch for those from low socio-economic backgrounds (SES) (Sugarman & Lazarín, 2020) adding to the hardship of food instability. Families who maintained employment during the mandatory quarantine may have been left without child care. Sugarman and Lazarín (2020) noted that families who were labeled as essential workers were forced to choose between work and securing adequate child care. Consequently, children in immigrant families may have become the caretaker for their younger siblings while also attempting to complete schoolwork (Zenteno, 2020). The digital divide that MLLs experienced prior to the pandemic became starkly apparent once classes were moved online (Williamson et al., 2020). Internet access and personal laptops are luxuries that few families of low SES backgrounds can afford and with job, housing, and food insecurity concerns, acquiring these luxuries are far from a priority. Although many schools provided students with laptops, a stable and reliable internet connection was necessary for students to consistently attend classes remotely. Inconsistent access to technology significantly decreased educational opportunities and support for MLLs (Sugarman & Lazarín, 2020). Even with the district issued laptops, many MLLs did not attend the online classes and attempts to contact families were often unsuccessful (Cherewka, 2020). Consequently, MLLs ability to access online classes negatively affected their English acquisition and proficiency development as a significant portion of acquiring a new language comes from interacting with one's peers in the target language (Dixon, et al., 2012). MLLs had fewer opportunities to engage in social and academic language conversations in which they negotiate meaning and understanding with their teachers and peers (Moser et al., 2021), which has negatively affected their social and academic growth (Uro et al., 2020). The loss of human connection due to school closures and social distancing measures has impacted the social and emotional health of both MLLs and their families. During school hours, MLLs are able to interact with administration, cafeteria workers, and their peers during group and partner work, recess, lunch, in the hallway, etc. As there are often multilingual speakers at schools with high MLL populations, families are able to interact with teachers, paraprofessionals, and office staff who often provide necessary resources for their child’s success. Additionally, many districts can secure interpreters who can communicate with families whenever problems arise and arrange face-to-face conferences. While efforts have been made by community programs to interact virtually with MLLs and their families, virtual interactions cannot replicate face-to-face human connections and interactions (Wood et al., 2021). Suggestions for Improvement Our nation has been undergoing a considerable amount of distress and turbulence during the pandemic, and it is time to transform challenges into opportunities for MLLs and their families. There is no such thing as a “one size fits all” model in education. Especially traversing a global pandemic, the need for educators’ creativity, adaptability, and flexibility in teaching multilingual learners has become essential. The author provides ongoing support tools and suggestions for improvements to better support MLLs and their families that can be used at the classroom, school, and district levels using Ricento and Hornberger’s (1996) framework, which depicts the layers of an onion that together make up the whole and that affect and interact simultaneously with one another to varying degrees just as classrooms, schools, and districts interact within the education system. Classroom 1.Plan interactions to increase language acquisition. Research has shown that engaging in academic and social conversations increases language acquisition. The pandemic has made it challenging for MLLs to have the interpersonal interaction opportunities with their native English-speaking peers to practice their speaking and listening. Whether schools are face-to-face or a distance learning format, it is crucial to allow MLLs time to interact with others to increase the acquisition of both social and academic language. In face-to-face settings, MLLs can respond to prompts that encourage them to use academic language and teachers can create sentence stems to support their use of the content language. During that time, they will naturally use the social language they have in their linguistic repertoire to communicate with their peers and negotiate meaning; thereby increasing their acquisition of social language. In distance learning formats, integrating time for breakout sessions for academic content interactions, as is custom in physical classrooms, is essential for continued language development. 2.Free translation services. Oftentimes, connecting with an interpreter through the district can take days or even weeks. Therefore, teachers can take advantage of tarjimly.org, which is a free service that connects teachers to volunteers who can translate or interpret information. Teachers cannot share sensitive data about students with third party translation services, but they can communicate important class announcements, translate documents, schedule meetings with parents, explain rules, routines, and expectations, communicate behavioral concerns, or just check in to say hello and get to know the MLLs’ family. This small act can show families that their child’s teacher cares and wants them to be successful; thereby cultivating important relationships and addressing some social-emotional needs. 3.Use familiar technology. Technology can be challenging for recent immigrants and/or refugees as the language and format may not be familiar. Some districts use Classroom Dojo, and while it is an excellent tool, it may be confusing for families. Many MLL families are most familiar with WhatsApp. WhatsApp is one tool that has been used to teach English remotely to adults because the programs understood the groups’ familiarity with the app. Some families have recently immigrated to the United States from countries with little access to technology and the resources to use it; however, many are familiar with texting apps such as WhatsApp as it is the app most widely used to communicate with their families overseas. Teachers can create a WhatsApp group for parents to share school and class events, community resources, opportunities to volunteer in community events as well as share local free tutoring services. Lutheran Services serves immigrant families in northeast Florida and provides free in-home tutoring for MLLs. Volunteers go to the families’ houses and provide homework help, reading tutoring, or simply read to the children in English. Schools can contact the district ESOL department who may have a list of services that teachers can then share with their MLLs’ families. 4.Read-alouds and recorded lessons. Teachers can record read-aloud or content instructions using audio-visual videos with captions for students who may have missed the classes due to sickness or internet connectivity issues. Pre- or live-recording classes for those who missed the class or need to review the lessons can increase student comprehension and academic development. 5.Support MLLs’ Emotional and social wellbeing. As we are going through uncertainties of the pandemic, the mental health issues including depression and anxiety among students have increased 30% during the pandemic (Panchal et al., 2021) due to “the unique combination of the public health crisis, social isolation, and economic recession” (Golberstein et al., 2020, p. 819). According to Golberstein et al. (2020) students from lower-income families are most likely to receive mental health services through school-based resources. As teachers are the ones who often identify students who are in need of mental health services, it is vital for them to check on their students’ emotional health and well-being. Teachers can check in by maintaining morning meetings, greeting their students, and conducting temperature checks by asking students how they are feeling and asking them to give a thumbs up, sideways thumb, or thumbs down (Gosner, 2020). Teachers can also give students assignments to check in on their peers and report back (Gosner, 2020). These interactions can help students to feel supported and cared for by their peers and teachers. School 6.Provide opportunities for teachers to collaborate. Collaboration between ESOL specialists and content area teachers is critical to developing rigorous standard-based lessons in virtual settings that include academic language development for English learners. Collaboration between grade levels teachers is also helpful in finding and sharing the resources for the instruction. 7.Recruit family and community members. Active families and community members who are proficient in English can serve as liaisons to families who are new to the county, school, or United States. They may be willing to translate non-confidential documents to relate important information to families or create a voice memo in different languages for those who may not be literate in their native languages. In this way, families are connected to those in the community who they can reach out to when needed; thereby increasing their ability to learn to advocate for themselves and their children. Liaisons and active parents (Umanski, 2020) 8.Provide linguistically accessible information. As schools are the first contact MLLs and their families have, schools need to be ready to provide any necessary resources and information that MLLs and parents may need in the most widely spoken languages other than English. Schools need to have close contact with the district to access and secure the resources that MLLs and their families need. District 9.Technology literacy sessions. Districts should design and provide technology literacy sessions for MLLs and families that their district uses (teams, google classroom, schoology, microsoft teams, homeroom, and etc.). When the district provides digital learning platforms for the MLLs and their families, technology literacy tends to be taken for granted that MLLs and families are able to use them. However, most digital platforms are built in English and if not guided appropriately and kindly, MLLs and their families may not be able to have access to them. Periodic technology literacy sessions will help MLLs and their families to better navigate in the changed virtual platforms. If the technology literacy session can be provided in the most widely spoken languages in the district, it will be more powerful and impactful. This support can and should be used beyond the pandemic. 10.Activate existing resources. Most districts and schools have a cadre of resources that can be leveraged to support MLLs and their families. Activating existing resources such as liaisons, community members, active parents, and interpreters to reach out and communicate with families (Umansky, 2020) can positively affect communication with parents who may be hesitant to reach out or do not know where to turn for information. Districts need to actively reach out to the MLL community to support them in getting connected to and provide an access point to the appropriate resources that MLLs and their families need. Umansky (2020) further suggests that districts translate major communications to families through platforms that are accessible to them. 11.Encourage teachers to participate in district-provided ESOL instruction focused professional development. Most districts provide professional development focused on the integration of ESOL-specific strategies into instruction and assessment for content area teachers, instructional leaders, paraprofessionals, and ESOL specialists, and teachers in sheltered English instruction classrooms. These professional development opportunities are often based on the current research and the best practices for ESOL education. This is the place where teachers can also share what works well and their school, classroom, and student needs. Conclusion Although the 2021-2022 school year has fully opened up and is underway, new COVID-19 variants are preventing schools from going back to a "normal" educational practice routine. The millions of U.S. school-aged children will continue to experience learning loss and upheavals, which can potentially be lessened with the proper supports. For MLLs and their immigrant families, a combination of circumstances, including poverty, economy, health, and life, may prolong the struggles they have faced in the wake of the pandemic. Some families have been unable to support remote learning or supervise online learning due to technological literacy, language challenges, and accessibility to timely communication in their home languages. Support and care are critically needed for MLLs and their families. It is important to mention that we must never give up or lower learning expectations due to the pandemic. Every level of education, classrooms, schools, and districts, must work collaboratively to continue to provide support for MLLs and their families. References Brown, S. (2020, July 1). The COVID-19 crisis continues to have uneven economic impact by race and ethnicity. Urban Institute. https://www.urban.org/urban-wire/covid-19-crisis- continues-have-uneven-economic-impact-race-and- ethnicity Capps, R., Batalova, J., & Gelatt, J. (2020, June). COVID-19 and unemployment: Assessing the early fallout for immigrants and other U.S. workers. Migration Policy Institute. https://www.migrationpolicy.org/research/ covid-19-unemployment-immigrants-other-us-workers Center for Disease and Control and Prevention. (2021). Impact of racism on our nation’s health. https://www.cdc.gov/healthequity/racism- disparities/impact-of-racism.html Cherewka, A. (2020).The digital divide hits US immigrant households disproportionately during the COVID-19 pandemic. Migration Policy Institute. https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/digital- divide-hits-us-immigrant-householdsduring-covid-19 Dixon, L. Q., Zhao, J., Shin, J. Y., Wu, S., Su, J. H., Burgess-Brigham, R., & Snow, C. (2012). What we know about second language acquisition: A synthesis from four perspectives. Review of Educational Research, 82(1), 5-60. doi:10.3102/0034654311433587 Golberstein, E., Wen, H., & Miller B. F. (2020). Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and mental health for children and adolescents. JAMA Pediatrics, 174(9), 819–820. doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2020.1456 Gosner, S. (2020, March 25).Seven ways to maintain relationships during your school closure. Edutopia. https://www.edutopia.org/article/7-ways-maintain- relationships-during-your-school-closure Kochhar, R. (2020, June 9). Hispanic women, immigrants, young adults, those with less education hit hardest by COVID-19 job losses. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/ 06/09/hispanic-women-immigrants-young-adults-t hose-with-less-education-hit-hardest-by-covid-19-j ob-losses/ Moser, K. M., Wei, T., & Brenner, D. (2021). Remote teaching during COVID-19: Implications from a national survey of language educators. System, 97, 1-15. Sugarman, J., & Lazarín, M. (2020).Educating English learners during the COVID-19 pandemic: Policy ideas for states and school districts. Migration Policy Institute. https://www.migrationpolicy.org/sites/default/files/ publications/mpi-english-learners-covid-19-final.pdf Umansky, I. (2020, June 9).COVID-19’s impact on English learner students: Possible policy responses[Commentary]. Policy Analysis for California Education. https://edpolicyinca.org/newsroom/covid-19s-i mpact-english-learner-students Uro, G.,Lai, D., Alsace, T., & Corcoran, A. (2020). Supporting English learners in the Covid 19 crisis. Council of the Great City Schools https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED607280.pdf Williamson, B., Eynon, R., & Potter, J. (2020). Pandemic politics, pedagogies and practices: digital technologies and distance education during the coronavirus emergency. Learning, Media and Technology, 45(2), 107-114. doi.org/10.1080/17439884.2020.1761641 Wood, N., Boone-Thornton, M., & Rivera-Singletary, G. (2021). Teaching in a pandemic era: Special considerations. Interdisciplinary Insights: The Journal of Saint Leo University's College of Education and Social Services, 3(1), 84-105. https://www.interdisciplinaryinsights.org/article/ 18945-teaching-in-a-pandemic-era-special- consideration
SSTESOL Journal Volume 14 Issue 1, Spring, 2021 p.46 p.2
SSTESOL Journal Volume 14 Issue 2, Fall 2021 p.48
SSTESOL Journal Volume 14 Issue 2, Fall 2021 p.49
SSTESOL Journal Volume 14 Issue 2, Fall 2021 p.51
SSTESOL Journal Volume 14 Issue 2, Fall 2021 p.50
From The Field High Growth Scores in a Combined K-1 Online Class: How was it done? Lynda Franco Pasco County Schools ABSTRACT The COVID-19 pandemic brought with it both challenges and opportunities for the education field. Among the thousands of classes being taught entirely online during the 2020-2021 school year was a combination group of highly diverse kindergarteners and first graders from a rural Title I school in central Florida. In August 2020, when the school year began, 25% of the students in the aforementioned school were not able to identify 24 of the 26 letters of the alphabet, and they could not match any letters to their sounds. The results of beginning-of-the-year assessments showed that all of the first graders in the group were reading below grade level. Nevertheless, end-of-the year assessments (NWEA Maps Growth) showed that 83% of students had made high or very high growth in both reading and math during their time in the online-only classes. In this article, the teacher of that group shares how the class was organized and carried out and provides 8 tips and recommendations for successfully teaching young learners online.
SSTESOL Journal Volume 14 Issue 2, Fall 2021 p.52
SSTESOL Journal Volume 14 Issue 2, Fall 2021 p.53
The COVID-19 pandemic brought with it both challenges and opportunities for the education field. Among the thousands of classes being taught entirely online during the 2020-2021 school year was a combination group of kindergarteners and first graders from a rural Title I school in central Florida. As their quarantine periods began and ended, students who were required to quarantine from their in-person classes at the school joined and left the core online group throughout the year. A static group of 12 students, however, was enrolled in the online-only classroom for the entire year and attended routinely with one teacher assigned to them. They did join in-school groups via Zoom for music, art, and PE. Among that group were 6 kindergarteners and 6 first graders.The group of 12 included high numbers of students living in poverty; bilingual children; and students identified as in need of special education services: 92% qualified for free and reduced-priced lunch; 58% spoke a language other than English at home; 16% were identified as English language learners (ELL); and 25% received some sort of special education services for 60 minutes per week, with 2/3 of those students identified as being on the autism spectrum. A large number of parents, as the primary contact for these children, needed to be communicated with only in Spanish (42%). In August 2020, when the school year began, 25% of the students in the core group were not able to identify 24 of the 26 letters of the alphabet, and they could not match any letters to their sounds. The results of beginning-of-the-year assessments showed that all 6 of the first graders were reading below grade level. Nevertheless, end-of-the year assessments (NWEA Maps Growth) showed that 10 of the 12 core students had made high or very high growth in both reading and math during their time in the online-only classes. How did that happen? The group met using Zoom – a free and easily used meeting platform. The following is a summary of procedures and the resulting recommendations of the teacher for how to motivate young learners and increase achievement in an online-only format, based on how instruction was organized for the group discussed above: Establish and Reinforce Class Rules Rules for online etiquette were established from the start of the school year, were reinforced regularly, and reviewed often. The class rules were as follows: Be ready to learn when class is scheduled to begin. This meant being on time and with materials at hand. Eat before or after you meet in a group. This meant eating during the day should be done during scheduled breaks or during individual work time. Use a quiet work space. This meant that background noise and activity should not be noticeable to the rest of the group. Use no other devices or websites during class time. Be respectful. Only adults post in the chat. Take responsibility for your independent work. The teacher was enthusiastic and fervent about having students stick to the rules, explaining regularly that these rules allowed all students to participate in the group and understand instruction more easily. Keep a Routine and Stay on Time The initial class schedule was shared with families before school sessions began. As students were assessed during the first week of class meetings to place them into reading groups based on proficiency needs, the schedule became regular and static. Changes to the schedule as it evolved over the first two weeks of class were communicated with parents by text on a daily basis. By the third week, the schedule had settled and remained for the rest of the school year. The schedule below reflects the basic schedule, with the varying meeting times for music, art, and PE happening within the first block of time. *See table opposite; areas shaded represent teacher-led instruction It was important that the teacher set the example, starting and ending instructional sessions on time as they were set on the schedule. Since the students were very young, one of the skills that needed to be taught, practiced, and reinforced over the first few weeks of class – because it was essential for the students to be able to adhere to the schedule – was how to tell time in analog and digital format. This became a critical skill for students to apply on a daily basis. The students also became very familiar with an online timer that the teacher shared on screen to keep students aware of when blocks began and ended. The timer rang to signal the end of breaks and lunch. Keep the Groups Small. Attendance numbers in the online class sessions would swell and subside throughout the school year due to students adding in when they had to quarantine themselves from in-person schooling, and then return to in-school classes when their assigned quarantine period was completed. The total number of students in the class never fell below 12. As the schedule above indicates, math classes in the afternoon were split by grades, thus halving the number of students in each teacher-led math group. That kept numbers smaller for those meetings. In addition, 5 groups were created for small-group reading instruction, where foundation skills were taught, reinforced, and practiced. These groups by nature were leveled, but no group was comprised of more than 4 students. The morning ELA sessions were the ones where the whole number of students met together for longer periods of time. During this time, social studies and science content was most often used as the target texts, although a significant amount of time was also devoted to literature and its associated standards. Because the class was a combined group of first graders and kindergarteners, differentiation of instruction was also a necessary requirement of each lesson. This requirement also helped in keeping working groups small, since different smaller groups of students would be assigned different tasks using the target texts, based on their grade and level of English language proficiency. The ELA session ebbed and flowed between whole-group then small-group then back to whole-group tasks. Create Easy Ways to Share Access to Materials. It quickly became evident that several students were working alone online with no adult in the home to guide them. In some cases, older siblings were in the home, but they, too, were participating in online lessons and weren’t easily available to help the younger children. Other students had an adult in the home, but that adult didn’t speak English and/or had no computer literacy skills. In the end, 58% of the students – 5 and 6 year olds – were on their own to work with their teacher and navigate the technology in English required to fully participate in Zoom classes. All families who signed up for online-only classes had access to a district-provided platform of resources, where an email account had been created for them. Nevertheless, due to the high number of adults in the families who lacked computer literacy, the platform was complicated and cumbersome for them to access on a daily basis. The adults in these households just weren’t accustomed to checking email regularly, since only two of the parents of this group had their own email accounts.That meant that counting on email to share materials wouldn’t work. Zoom has a chat feature that allows users to attach documents. This was helpful on some occasions to share documents and texts with students, but since 11 of the 12 students in the group were using a computer borrowed from the school, the computer came equipped with a feature that deleted anything downloaded at the end of the day. This meant, for example, that by sharing the reading texts that students used on a daily basis (4 books X 5 groups = 20 texts) using the Zoom chat, all those documents had to be re-attached to the chat on a daily basis. The teacher found a solution at Padlet.com. For free, she created a password-protected class Padlet that could easily be modified daily, keeping up with materials assigned. She pasted the one Padlet url address into the Zoom chat each morning, and all students had to do was click on it to go right to it. Each reading group had their individual, clearly labeled column of materials (reading books, sight words, sentences). They just needed to click on the link to be taken directly to those class materials. The teacher also created columns that allowed students to access on-line texts that were read aloud to give students more opportunities to hear more spoken language following a text (literature and informative). Students were motivated to complete their individual tasks so they could spend time on the (teacher approved) on-line texts. In addition, columns for parents included communications from the school and a posting of each day’s schedule. The class Padlet was an essential tool for this class. Communicate with Parents Often. As discussed above, few adults in the households participating in this online class used email or had skills using a computer. Even though the district-provided resources gave families an email address and account, it was complicated to access – and then most of the families didn’t know how to use email anyway. What the adults did have access to and were used to using was texting. This became the bedrock for communicating with parents. The teacher created a free Google Voice account, which gave her a phone number that parents could call or text, and the teacher received those communications on her computer, including voice mail (The teacher also appreciated being able to text parents using all 10 fingers on her computer keyboard rather than her thumbs on a small phone, and she didn’t have to share her private phone number with parents). Parents received texts from the teacher on a regular basis – which was often daily – keeping them informed about what the students were doing in class and what was coming up. Rather than attach large documents to a text to parents, the teacher would alert parents when an important document had been added for them on the Padlet. It cannot be stressed enough how essential the Padlet was as a means of communication in the class, not only for the children’s learning materials, but also for sharing information with parents as well. Use a Document Camera. Some regular zoom users fall into the trap of becoming a ‘talking head’. Zoom does allow screen sharing, but when teaching kindergarteners especially, the teacher absolutely needed students to be able to watch her hand to write – modeling correct letter formation is critical for students at this age. They needed to see how to write strings of text modeled, how to hold the pencil, how to draw and complete a Venn Diagram, and how to fold a piece of paper so it would create the shape the teacher was showing. In short, a document camera became a critical tool for the class. Document cameras from the school were not available for the teacher, so she found a low-cost solution in the OkioCam (https://www.okiolabs.com/okiocam/). For less than $100, this adjustable little camera on a maneuverable arm allowed the teacher to give live demonstrations or show her finger following text or pointing to items in an illustration. She could easily get close up to print or real items. She could get close up to her hand to show how to grasp a writing implement. These small details added tremendously to the comprehensibility of lessons – as well as keeping the interest of the students. The teacher also shared on screen online books, parts of online videos, pre-created PowerPoints, and other documents. Nevertheless, it cannot be stressed enough how important having the document camera was to making lessons more interesting, motivating, and meaningful. Allow for Socializing. Many of the families who chose online schooling for their children were also choosing to isolate themselves in their homes during the pandemic. This meant that the children did not get to see other children in person, outside of their own family members. It became obvious that these youngsters were lonely and bored in their houses. They loved the interaction that a live teacher brought to instruction and sincerely enjoyed being divided up into the breakrooms that Zoom allows. Their instructional time in breakrooms with other students was limited, and it also didn’t always give them an opportunity to choose whom they wanted to talk with. Using breakrooms during instruction just wasn’t enough to meet the socialization needs the students were exhibiting. To mitigate their desire and need to spend time socializing with their friends, when the school day was over (3:10) the Zoom session was left on for students to spend time together until 5:30. The teacher kept her sound on to monitor, but she turned her camera off. Pairs and small groups who requested to be together in a breakout room were sent there by the teacher, but most days, the students just liked to be together in a group. They showed each other their houses and yards. The chickens and other animals out back of some of the houses became frequent Zoom participants. They showed each other their toys. They went outside together and showed one another how they could ride a bike or do tricks on the trampoline. They also played online video games together, with the help of a couple of parents who got them all signed up for the same free games they could participate in as a group. Solid friendships were forged during this after-school social time. Remember to Celebrate, Create, and Support Your Community of Learners. As with in-person classes, students perform best when they feel connected and part of a community. As discussed above, the after-school time students spent in unstructured activities went a long way to fostering students’ personal connections, but many in-class activities did as well. Birthdays were never missed. Pictures of student work were texted to the teacher, especially writing. Examples of student work could then be shared and improvements celebrated. Students learned to congratulate each other on their accomplishments and share in each other’s growth achievements. A series of games using the document camera became favorites (Connect Four, used for sight words and calculation fluency was a favored choice) and students practiced celebrating others’ success and being gracious winners. They learned to be more patient classmates as others worked though the language and content to express their ideas. They read to each other in breakout rooms and helped their partner with tricky words using supportive language. They became a truly virtual community. Conclusion A number of additional activities, strategies, and techniques were employed during the teaching of this class – simply too many to mention. One basic principle of instruction was followed, however: Increase Comprehensibility of Language and Content. The use of the document camera went a long way to helping meet this goal, as did allowing students to talk to each other in breakout rooms about what they were learning so they could help each other understand. The familiar but necessary use of known routines and schedules also helped students know, keep track of, and understand what was going on and what was expected of them. Two students had extenuating family issues that prevented them from attending classes regularly (severe illness and family trauma) and experiencing high levels of success. The others in the group, 83% of them, made high growth gains in both math and language arts, showing students can succeed at high levels in online learning. additional practice and more opportunities to interact with curricula material. What e-resources promote continuous learning opportunities for ELLs? The following websites and other web 2.0 tools can be suggested to students and their families. Alternatively, teachers can incorporate them into the curriculum to assist learners in their understanding of content and for their development of language proficiency. Subscription-based For young learners. PebbleGo contains content specifically designed for K-3 students. With this website, ELLs get access to a variety of content in English and Spanish (e.g., science, animals, biographies, social studies). Most articles include read-alouds with text highlighting for readers to follow along, as well as other media such as videos, timelines, or interactive activities (e.g., listening exercises). Subscription options offer districts with unlimited, simultaneous access to students, both at school and at home. Scholastic Learn at Home offers a variety of educational activities (e.g., picture book read-alouds, videos, interactive games, slideshows, etc.) for students aged 4-10. Content is self-paced and tailored by grade level (PreK-K, 1-2, and 3-5). Users can subscribe for a monthly fee, which can be cancelled at any time. For all ages. BrainPop ELL is a website which includes animated movies and other interactive features (e.g., flashcards, games, quizzes, etc.) that provide ELLs with listening, reading, speaking, and writing skills practice for beginner, intermediate, and more advanced levels of proficiency. The website offers different subscription options for school districts, individual teachers, and for families. In a similar manner, ESL Library offers lessons for academic and everyday English, a flashcard library with commonly used vocabulary and grammar, as well as various interactive exercises that can be assigned to students for additional practice. The website’s reporting feature allows teachers to view the completion status of assigned activities, the time students spent on tasks, and the results obtained by students in each activity. Teachers can also leave personalized feedback to students. There are different subscription options, with each teacher account enabling access to 100 students. Free-of-Charge For young learners. Epic contains a digital library for children ages 12 and under, offering more than 35,000 books/audiobooks, and learning videos that can be personalized to each student, according to their preferences and reading levels. Students can take quizzes to check their understanding and earn badges and rewards. Moreover, Epic content can be accessed either online or offline. For all ages. Khan Academy includes a library of lessons and practice exercises for math, English grammar, reading and language arts, science, history, computing, test preparation (e.g., SAT), as well as life skills (e.g., social and emotional learning, personal finance, growth mindset, etc.). Newsela is a reading platform that affords differentiated instruction via the assignment of reading content to students in lexile levels that reflect their reading proficiency. Newsela content is accessible both digitally and in print, which expands access to students without technology. One of the best features of this website is that it gets updated every day with 10 new texts, which keeps the content relevant and up-to-date. Newsela also contains case studies, white papers, webinars, and a blog that includes tips for instruction and describes new features added to the website. ReadWorks offers reading comprehension passages for K-12 students in a variety of lexile levels. Reading topics include STEM, poetry, social studies, literary fiction, arts, and holidays & events. The website allows students to access both digital and printed content, which facilitates access to all students. When accessing material online, students can listen along to audio versions, as well as highlight, annotate, and answer questions about the assigned texts. ReadWorks also gives teachers the option to track students’ progress and provide individual feedback. The website also includes guides for teachers and parents to best utilize the available resources. ReadWriteThink offers educators and families a variety of free lesson/unit plans, activities, games, and resources for professional development in printable or digital formats. The website includes content in arts, careers, community, science, math, social studies, among many others, which can be selected by grade level (K-12). Juxtaposed and complementary to the above tools is Rewordify. This tool enables a user to simplify any imported text based on lexile level. Rewordify offers the user to create and/or complete activities based on the imported text as well as a grammar function that allows users to deconstruct the text based on its grammatical parts. Affiliation Affiliation centers on the social dimension of learning. On the one hand, it is underpinned by the acknowledged importance of interaction between individuals and the role it plays in the facilitation of language acquisition (Gass, 1997; Swain, 2000). On the other hand, it weighs the importance of social-emotional (SE) growth as a metric in considerations about the health of social engagement between individuals (CASEL, 2020). If a language learner is emotionally closed to the people in his/her linguistic environment, then any benefits derived from dialogic engagement, collaboration, cooperation and/or mediation are minimal at best. What technologies can foster the social-emotional well-being of ELLs and how can technologies be used to minimize social distancing and increase emotional support? Since 1994, CASEL[2] has worked to establish high-quality social-emotional learning (SEL) in K-12 schools. Its work has led to the creation of the five core SEL competencies of self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making,providing a framework educators can utilize to inform how they engage with students at a social-emotional level. Research (Durlak et al., 2015) has illustrated that social-emotional health can be nurtured and competencies in social-emotional aspects can be fostered using a variety of approaches in K-12 settings. These include: • Incorporating SEL in free-standing lessons; • Embedding SEL within instructional practices; • Integrating SEL into subject-area courses; • Promoting SEL at an institutional level. In 2020, technology has been pivotal in allowing K-12 schools to respond instructionally to the necessities of “going remote” due to COVID-19. Here, we repurpose CASEL’s core competencies and encapsulate how technologies can equally continue to support educators as they nurture and grow the social-emotional skills of their ELLs while working in online, hybrid and e-learning environments. Free-Standing Lessons Educators can take advantage of many stand-alone online lessons, webinars and student-oriented trainings within Nearpod. This online student-engagement platform merges dynamic media and formative assessment in order to create opportunities for collaborative interactions between students. Additionally, teachers are able to assign professional crafted videos that anchor an array of activities and game-based learning tasks. In terms of CASEL’s five core competencies, Nearpod provides free-standing lessons for all K-12 students that help both students and teachers acquire understanding and skills in each of the five SEL areas. Figure 13 (yellow) lists some of the SEL specific lessons contained within the Nearpod library. Instructional Practices Over a lifetime of teaching, educators develop an array of teaching strategies and practices that are used to augment any number of learning needs. Specific to our five core SEL competencies are the following: Self-Awareness.The ability to accurately recognize one’s own emotions, thoughts, and values and how they influence behavior. Classroom practices may include helping students label their emotions, or having students use an emotional planner to identify and verbalize feelings and/or act on positive emotional strengths. Recommended tools include (i) Plutchik’sWheel of Emotion, for students to get a better understanding of deeper emotions; and (ii) Flippity,in which a range of instructional templates can easily embed Plutchik’s Wheel of Emotion to use with online learners (e.g.,random wheel spinner, flashcards, matching game, and manipulatives activities). Self-Management. The ability to successfully regulate one’s emotions, thoughts, and behaviors in different situations — effectively managing stress, controlling impulses, and motivating oneself. One easy technique that is often advocated consists of breathing exercises. In face-to-face settings, countless techniques can be utilized: lying down and breathing with a pebble on the chest, blowing into a paper fan, etc. For online students, a suggested website is https://www.calm.com/breathe, which is also available in Calm mobile applications for both Apple and Android devices. Have ELLs link to the site or mobile app at regular intervals during a lesson. Just as Figure 13: Highlighting Technologies that Foster SEL in Remote Learning Contexts one would have a brain break, so too can this site be used as an emotional regulator. Social-Awareness.The ability to take the perspective of and empathize with others, including those from diverse backgrounds and cultures. This is particularly important for ELLs. In brick-and-mortar classrooms, engaging in culturally-responsive, trauma-informed, and restorative justice strategies helps ELLs build skills in social awareness. For online students, GoNoodle is one of many webtools in English and Spanish that provides cooperative games for educators to assign to ELLs. Relationship Skills.For newly arrived ELLs who undergo stages of cultural adaptation, particularly culture shock, this competency is of special importance to foster. Even for ELLs raised in the USA, being new to an online learning environment also brings with it a period of adjustment. CASEL (2020) defines this skill as “The ability to establish and maintain healthy and rewarding relationships with diverse individuals and groups. The ability to communicate clearly, listen well, cooperate with others, resist inappropriate social pressure, negotiate conflict constructively, and seek and offer help when needed” (item 4 on CASEL’s SEL webpage). Several strategies for building relationship skills can be utilized with students, including storytelling, team-building activities, turn & talk activities, as well as learning circles/centers. Such strategies allow learners to think about, to practice healthy group interactions, and to negotiate cooperative dynamics. For online settings, three useful tools can mirror these same activities, described below: 1. WebQuests.These are online problem / project / inquiry-based activities that have a 5-step structure (introduction, task, process, evaluation, conclusion) supporting critical thinking through analyzing, creating, and evaluating. Although there are many design patterns to consider when creating a webquest, the most important is that the end-user (i.e., the ELL), is placed in a learning role that builds relationship skills. A number of sites offer teachers online templates to create their own webquests: Zunal, QuestGarden, Createwebquest, and Google Sites. 2. Google Slides. One technique to help students reflect on their choices and to negotiate circumstances and relationships is to use Google Slides to create interactive storybooks (i.e.,choose your own adventurestories, in which the reader controls the plot). This tool offers teachers a way to create an online interactive story that can be easily embedded into any classroom lesson (click here for an example). In order to make such a story, one needs to storyboard it out. The following are two examples of storyboard templates (#1 and #2). A number of educators have put the concept of interactive storybooks on Google Slides to good use. Sylvia Duckworth, a noted Google certified innovator and trainer as well as an Apple distinguished educator, shares many of her creations. Click here for a fillable interactive storybook. 3. TalkingPoints. It is important to take into consideration that low proficient ELLs do not always have the language skills to verbalize their emotions, especially as they traverse the ups and downs of living in and interacting with people in their adopted new homeland. In view of this, we suggest using TalkingPoints. This app provides a means for ELLs and their families to verbalize their emotions and feelings in their native language and be read in English by any recipient (i.e., a teacher, administrator, buddy, neighbor, school staff). As online learning can be an isolating and sometimes frustrating experience, offering ELLs the opportunity to express and explain how they feel using their own language is an important first step in growing skills in this area. Responsible Decision-Making. Handing over responsibility for learning helps students take ownership of their educational journeys while also fostering proactivity. Project-based Learning (PBL) provides opportunities for real-world, authentic experiences, which can empower learners and build their confidence. E-tools such as Flipgrid, Padlet, and Linoit furnish platforms for PBL, affording opportunities for students to share their projects as well as provide and receive feedback. Integrating SEL into Subject-Area Courses While there is a wide array of web 2.0 tools available as resources to educators, utilizing all of them can make it overwhelming for students and/or their families. With that in mind, consider meshing e-tools when creating the digital resources needed to fulfil the goals of instruction, or combining the different e-tools within a single platform. One platform that certainly respects the importance of SEL is Edmodo. In Edmodo, ELLs can share their work, and teachers can flip and/or gamify their instruction. Moreover, in its Discover section, Edmodo offers a range of best practice resources in SEL and ideas on how to integrate SEL into instruction to foster better positive online classroom climates. Edmodo also has a built-in Wellness Check Poll so that teachers can quickly gauge how their students are feeling. Equally, a Messenger function on Edmodo allows for private one-on-one synchronous communications. Lastly, within the platform’s communal blog feature, teachers can access ‘live’ SEL suggestions. A further two e-tools worth noting that can be meshed with Edmodo to help an ELL build relationships and develop good decision-making skills within an online classroom are Flippity and WriteReader. Flippity provides a range of activity templates to alternate student groupings and to make e-resources less static. On the other hand, WriteReader minimizes the isolating effects of writing activities by enabling students to share writing spaces. Institutional Initiatives At a school level, administrators need to be mindful of the types of supports extended to ELLs to underpin remote learning needs. Supports inculture (feeling safe and minimizing isolation), structure (transparent instructional processes and rules), communication (comprehensible information flow), proprietorship, (goal-setting and buy-in), collaboration (fostering interpersonal work and connectedness), celebration (building community and providing reinforcement), and feedback (being SMART[3]) can frame successful initiatives. As outlined above, Edmodo offers teachers and their ELLs a solid platform to promote SEL practices in the school while simultaneously enabling the above supports. Equally, as outlined above, Nearpod provides these same functions. Final Thoughts Technologies, as outlined, offer countless opportunities for educators to offer instructional and emotional support to students. However, these same technologies need to be used in measured and strategically intentional ways in order to maximize their benefits and minimize their challenges for ELLs. As bridge builders, teachers should be cognizant of the 6 As (i.e., availability, access, awareness, application, assistance, and affiliation) when deciding what strategies, instructional supports, and tools to utilize in their lessons in order to offer ELLs engaging and effective instruction in remote learning environments. [1] In this sense the aim is to be successful at transactional competence (the ability to get things done with the language), interactional competence (the ability to manage relationships and social interactions in the target language), and translingual competence (the ability to appropriately make use of a range of linguistic resources in a multilingual society). [2] Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning [3] SMART - Specific (simple, sensible, significant). Measurable (meaningful, motivating). Achievable (agreed, attainable). Relevant (reasonable, realistic and resourced, results-based). Time bound (time-based, time limited, time/cost limited, timely, time-sensitive). References Collaborative for Social-Emotional Learning (CASEL) (2020).https://casel.org/ Common Sense Media (2019).https://www.commonsensemedia.org/sites/ default/files/uploads/research/2019_8-18-infographic _final-release.pdf Dominguez, M. (2017). “Se hace puentes al andar”: Decolonial teacher education as a needed bridge to culturally sustaining and revitalizing pedagogies. In D. H. Paris & Samy Alim (eds.).Culturally sustaining pedagogies: Teaching and learning for justice in a changing world.New York, NY: Teachers College Press. Dorn, E., Hancock, B., Sarakatsannis, J., & Viruleg, E. (2020). COVID-19 and learning loss — disparitiesg row and students need help. McKinsey & Company. Durlak, J.A., Domitrovich, C., Weissberg, R.P., & Gullotta, T.P.(Eds.),Handbook of social and emotional learning (SEL): Research and practice. (pp. 3-19). New York: The Guilford Press. Florida Department of Education Recommendations to Reopen Florida’s Schools and the Cares Act Plan (2020). Retrieved from http://fldoe.org/core/fileparse.php/19861/urlt /FLDOEReopeningCARESAct.pdf 2020-21 Florida’s Optional Innovative Reopening Plan [Hillsborough County] (2020). Retrieved from http://fldoe.org/core/fileparse.php/7501/urlt/ Hillsborough-reopenPlan.pdf Garcia-Arena, P. & D’Souza St.(2020). Research Brief. Spotlight on English Learners. National Survey of Public Education’s Response to COVID-19. American Institutes for Research. https://www.air.org/sites/default/files/ COVID-Survey-Spotlight-on-English-Learners-FINAL- Oct-2020.pdf Gass, S. (1997).Input, interaction, and the second language learner. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Parris, H., Estrada, L., & Honigsfeld, A. (2016).ELL frontiers: Using technology to enhance instruction for English learners. Corwin Press. Song, K., Kim, S., & Zhao, Y. (2020). Manifesting multidimensional creativity in a technology‐mediated online TESOL practicum course.TESOL Journal,11(2), 1-17. St. George, D. (2020, December 4). Failing grades double and triple—some rising sixfold — amid pandemic learning.Washington Post. shorturl.at/qCEU5 Swain, M. (2000). The output hypothesis and beyond: Mediating acquisition through collaborative dialogue. In J. P. Lantolf (Ed.),Sociocultural theory and second language learning(pp. 97– 114). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. Tarbutton, T. (2018). Leveraging 21st Century Learning & Technology to Create Caring Diverse Classroom Cultures.Multicultural Education,25(2), 4-6. Tutwiler, S. J. W. (2017).Teachers as collaborative partners: Working with diverse families and communities. Routledge.
SSTESOL Journal Volume 14 Issue 2, Fall 2021 p.54
SSTESOL Journal Volume 14 Issue 2, Fall 2021 p.55
SSTESOL Journal Volume 14 Issue 2, Fall 2021 p.56
Introduction The Covid-19 pandemic disproportionately affects families in poverty (Durani, 2020). While families with ample financial resources find ways to adapt in working remotely and stockpiling food and supplies, families living in poverty face additional challenges. Parents may not have savings to cover unplanned costs, gaps in income, supplies to disinfect surfaces and purchase essentials for supporting their family at home. Additionally, while language-rich classroom environments ordinarily offer a buffer against the differential effects of poverty on children’s language and learning outcomes, those buffers may have been unavailable for some students during the Covid restrictions (Goldstein et al., 2020; Herold, 2020). As a result, students from low resource backgrounds may be at increased risk for further widening gaps in achievement. Background Nationally, more than half of students of immigrant families live in households below 200% of poverty and 1 in 4 are considered poor (Fontenot et al., 2018; Semega et al., 2017), with Spanish-English speaking bilingual students being more likely than their heritage English-speaking peers to have family incomes below or near poverty (Fry & Gonzales, 2008; Hernandez et al., 2008). There is an uneven ethnic and racial distribution of those families living at or below the poverty level, with 63% of Hispanic/Latino families; and 64% of African American families reporting poverty in comparison to 31% of Caucasian families (National Center for Children in Poverty, 2012). Nationally, 60% of English Learners’ families fall under the federal poverty line of 185% and live in a household with a disproportionate number of parents with a minimal education background (Grantmakers for Education, 2013). This is particularly concerning given the potential influence on students’ academic achievement and children’s responsiveness to educational interventions (e.g. Dietrichson et al., 2017). Poverty is a well-documented risk factor for diminished literacy and academic achievement (e.g., Kena et al., 2016). Studies have found that large numbers of disadvantaged ELs were unable to participate fully in online lessons, partially explained by the lack of access to digital devices or broadband (Goldstein et al., 2020; Herold, 2020). ELs are also more likely to be enrolled in low resource schools (Cosentino de Cohen et al., 2005; Morgan & Amerikaner, 2018). Additionally, many parents are also English Learners (Capps et al., 2005), resulting in more restricted opportunities for their families. Compounding effects of disruptions to education, lack of access to high quality programs, and lack of resources contribute to increasing numbers of disadvantaged children falling behind grade level in reading and other subjects, even more so than the gaps that existed before COVID-19 (Dooley et al., 2020; Gewertz, 2020). Data from the USDOE posits the dropout rate for ELs is much higher when compared to other populations (Deussen et al., 2013; Kena et al., 2015; U. S. Department of Education, 2015). English learners with minimal English fluency are three times more likely to drop out when compared to fluent English speakers (Bowman-Perrott, Herrera, & Murry, 2010) while ELs with no English fluency drop out five times that of their English-speaking peers (August & Shanahan, 2006). In 2017 there was an 8.2% Hispanic dropout rate of the 2.1 million total dropouts. Former ELs dropped out at a .7% higher rate than English speakers while current English learners had a 5.8% higher rate of dropping out compared to former English learners (Deussen, et al., 2013). Grade retention and failure to meet academic proficiency based on statewide testing was linked to ELs dropping out (Bowman-Perrott et al, 2010). Florida is one of the fastest growing English learner States and is identified as having the third largest English Learner population in the nation (Florida Department of Education, 2020). During 2019-20, 10.1% of the students were classified as English Learners. Spanish is the major language of the 300 different languages spoken. The consistent increase of immigrants in the state resulted in 34% of Florida students having at least one foreign born parent and 38% living in low income homes (Sugarman, & Geary, 2018). Purpose In light of the potential harmful effects of poverty and high proportion of students who are English Learners living in poverty, a review of the literature is provided to systematically examine and summarize the available literature on a) the potential impact of poverty on educational outcomes of English Learners, and b) potential ways to bolster English Learners’ resiliency against potential harmful effects of poverty. Impact of Poverty The impacts of poverty are potentially vast and detrimental to a multitude of developmental domains and outcomes in young and school age children. Among most widely recognized of impacts, children from low socioeconomic backgrounds are at risk for disproportionately low academic achievement (Dietrichson et al., 2017). Specifically, low achievement may be characterized by early developmental in multiple educational areas including vocabulary development and reading (APA 2012, Paul & Norbury, 2012). The impact of poverty on educational achievement may be influenced by co-variants of low SES including exposure to toxic stress, health disparities (Currie, 2009, US Dep. Health & Human Services, 2000), lack of access to quality child care (e.g. Esping et al. 2012), and low quantity and quality of language input at home (Hart & Risley, 2003) which includes parenting practices, cognitive stimulation, and family environments (Heckman, 2006). To explore these potential factors in more depth, we highlight potential disparities in exposure to toxic stress, health care, access to quality childcare, and access to rich language input at home. Toxic Stress. Living in poverty is associated with increased stress during daily routines and activities of family life which contribute to chronic absenteeism disproportionately affecting children in poverty (Allison & Attisha, 2019). For example, frequent moves, overcrowding, and battling eviction or foreclosure are associated with high levels of maternal and paternal stress and/or depression which can negatively impact family quality of life (Park et al., 2002). Fortunately, research suggests that social support can serve as a buffer in the relationship between toxic stress, socioeconomic status and academic performance (Malecki & Dmaray, 2006); however, it is important to recognize and provide toxic stress. Toxic stress can impact development from the early stages of infancy. Environmental factors such as hunger, malnutrition, housing, and familial stress (Bradley & Corwyn, 2002) may influence communication interactions and negatively impact opportunities for positive language input. Such factors can be a direct result of a less disposable income which in turn limits access to recourses and experiences which includes access to educational resources (Esping-Andersen et al., 2012). Additionally, an overabundance of chronic stressors including background noise, household chaos, and familial conflict can alter the physiologic response to stress (Coley et al., 2015). Due to chronic stressors, children of low-income families may demonstrate increased cortisol levels and other stress markers which indicate a toxic environment unsustainable for learning, further illustrating the implications of toxic stress within poverty early on in development (Chen et al., 2010). Health Disparities. Decades of research findings demonstrate a relationship between SES and health (e.g., Chen et al., 2006; Chen & Miller, 2013; U.S. Dep. Health & Human Services, 2000; Williams et al., 2010). The disparities are present before birth, with children from low SES family backgrounds being more likely to be born prematurely, or to be born with low birth weight or fetal alcohol syndrome (US Dep. Health & Human Services, 2000). Beyond prenatal care differences, in early childhood health disparities are evidenced in health care in response to illness. Although children from low SES backgrounds may not necessarily get sick more often, the consequences of routine illnesses (e.g. ear infections, asthma) may be more severe due to poor access to health care. The frequency or consequences may be exacerbated by undernutrition and ability to purchase goods and services to ensure good health. Disparities in health care may be expected to impact academic achievement in the secondary influences on school attendance and energy for engagement and learning. More directly, nutrition and health in early development affects neurological networks that provide foundations for early and later learning. Quality Childcare. One potential influencing factor, access to quality child care, is evidenced in a study by Esping-Andersen et al. (2012). The authors examined child outcomes using large datasets including children in preschool and kindergarten (e.g. Early Childhood Longitudinal Study- Kindergarten, ECLS-K) and concluded that formal school or center-based care is associated with higher reading and math scores at school entry. Unfortunately, children in the United States from low income family backgrounds often attend systematically poorer quality programs. In contrast, outcomes of Danish programs demonstrated that when high quality universal childcare is offered by the public sector, it can succeed in playing an equalizing role.Much of the available literature on the potential word gap focuses on early childhood ages (Esping-Anderson et al., 2012; Heckmann, 2006). Quantity and Quality of Linguistic Input. There is a well-established link between rich oral language input, early literacy, and students’ academic outcomes (Lonigan, 2015; Snowling & Hulme, 2021). Simultaneously, research points to an increased risk for impoverished or lower quality and quantity of language input in low-income families, as children in poverty are considered to be at a disadvantage for language and literacy development (Paul & Norbury, 2012). A formative study by Hart & Risley identified that the total number of words that children from high and low socioeconomic status are exposed to by the age of three, differs by 30 million words (Hart & Risley, 1995). The disadvantages in experiential language for children from low-income backgrounds is particularly concerning given that “language nutrition” in a child’s environment significantly impacts theirlanguage and cognitive development (Zauche et al., 2016). Evidence suggests that later linguistic and academic development is significantly impacted by the total amount of language heard within the home (Hart & Risley, 1995). Recognizing that the first years of language development are crucial to children’s later academic performance (Weisleder & Fernald, 2013), language interactions should encourage both high-quality and high-quantity language input, as research suggests the quality of individual’s language also plays a significant role in learning vocabulary (Rowe, 2012). Resiliency Regardless of ethnic and racial distribution of poverty, children in poverty reportedly experience physical and psychological effects of poverty (e.g. hunger and malnutrition, housing problems, family stress, limited access to health care) and are generally considered to be at a disadvantage for language and literacy development (Paul & Norbury, 2012). However, not all children seem to show substantial impacts on the rate of language and literacy development.There are mixed findings in the literature regarding the inevitability and severity of such delays or gaps in word knowledge (e.g. Slates et al., 2012). Findings in the existing literature examining individual variability and malleable factors, suggest that low language and literacy is not an inevitable result of low SES. In one such study, the authors (Slates et al. 2012) randomly selected 790 students and examined archival data of performance from first grade to adulthood beginning in 1982 in Baltimore Public Schools. The study examined demographic characteristics of children who showed gains over the summer, between school years or factors that seemed to counteract the summer slide between school years. The authors identified factors that may have contributed to children’s resilience within families from low socioeconomic levels. In addition to family structure (living with two adults) and age of mother (at least 20 years old); the authors emphasized the potential benefits of social capital such parents’ ability to support children’s learning through psychological support and out-of-school learning opportunities.In light of these malleable factors, we highlight suggestions from the literature to bolster resiliency against the harmful effects of poverty. Bolstering Resiliency of Students The literature suggests the success of a community approach to building resilience in low-income populations. This requires collaboration between families, schools, and communities to actively engage in student’s lives to promote learning. A community approach includes caring and supportive adult relationships, opportunities for participation, and high expectations for student performance (Bryan, 2005). Factors which enhance student’s resiliency include supportive adults within their home, school, and community, as well as extracurricular involvement, enrichment programs, and challenging educational programs (Herbert, 1999). A study including 293 third and fifth grade students in Baltimore, Maryland found that teacher’s efforts to promote parent involvement led to a significant impact on student’s reading achievement during the academic year even when controlling for a variety of academic variables (Epstein & Dauber, 1991). Additionally, when parents demonstrate involvement in student’s learning, students demonstrate achievements in higher grades, rigorous classes, attendance, and college enrollment (Henderson & Mapp, 2002). It is important to have a collaborative approach between families, schools, and the community, as one of these areas alone are lacking in the necessary resources to address all obstacles to learning that children in poverty may face. The Comer School Development Program from Yale School Development Program has demonstrated success in building resilience to poverty and education through a holistic community approach. This program began over 50 years ago in the two lowest income and lowest achieving schools in New Haven, Connecticut. These two schools eventually competed against the city’s highest income schools and demonstrated strengths in attendance and student behavior and now over 1000 schools around the world have successfully implemented the SDP model (“Comer School Development Program,” 2019). This program found a lack of appreciation for the link between development and learning, and the lack of knowledge and skills to support large scale and classroom development. An emphasis is placed on development of three teams: School Management, Student and Staff support, and Parent Teams. Together these teams work together to establish a comprehensive school plan to build positive interpersonal relationships, promote teacher competency, foster positive student attitudes, increase pro-social behaviors, and improve student academic achievement (Joyner et al., 2004). Over the past three decades, research indicates high levels in student success in schools implementing a collaborative approach between parents, teachers, and the community. Optimize Access to Language in the Environment. Given that the quality of parent-child interactions is integral to language development, strategies that enhance caregiver language quality would be expected to improve child outcomes. According to Robert and Kaiser (2011), the quantity and quality of the interactions parents have with their children is associated with outcomes. In particular, parents’ responsiveness to their child’s communication and use of language learning strategies is highly associated with language development. Ultimately, optimizing the parents’ use of facilitative language strategies is expected to produce changes in the student’s language growth rate as well. Numerous studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of teaching parents to use language facilitation strategies with their children (e.g., Heidlage et al., 2019). Recommended strategies for general language “nutrition” include a) modeling language, b) increasing adults’ responsiveness to children’s communication, and c) expanding on children’s language use (Roberts & Kaiser, 2011). Additionally, more specified strategies have been widely encouraged such as: a) naming and descriptive talk, b) repeating and recasting c) wait time, d) encouragers and praise e) relating to familiar experiencing f) environmental arrangement to elicit communication and g) requests for clarification or open ended- requests to elaboration (Hepting & Goldstein, 1996). Simply stated, talking, interacting, and reading together provide essential language nutrition for learning and development (Zauche et al., 2016). Coach Family Members Regarding Enriched Input at Home. Coaching is widely recognized as an effective technique to facilitate adult learning (Knight, 2009). It has been implemented successfully in various settings to build caregivers’ capacity in using strategies and in facilitating child outcomes (Fox et al., 2011; Wilson et al., 2012; Kashinath et al., 2006). This approach typically involves sharing specific language strategies with parents and caregivers and providing input and feedback on optimizing linguistic interactions with their child(ren). The goal of such an intervention is typically to enable caregivers to better support the language development of children in their care by giving them the knowledge and evidence-based tools. Coaching families on integrating language facilitation techniques into daily routines and activities at home, not only bolsters the quantity and quality of language input (Kashinath et al., 2006) but also lends itself to more socially and culturally relevant outcomes since it’s embedded in activities and interactions that are important to families. Connect families to resources at the local, state, and national level. Parents, teachers, principals, and administrators can have an active role in leveraging existing resources and connecting families with agencies that provide support, such a housing services, crisis care, case management, adult education, and food pantry services, to mitigate the impacts of poverty. Educators may play an important role in assisting eligible families with enrollment in supplemental nutrition assistance programs. A brief list of agencies to share as resources with families is provided in Table 1. 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Retrieved from https://medicine.yale.edu/childstudy/ communitypartnerships/comer/ Cosentino de Cohen, C., Deterding, N., & Clewell, B. C. (2005). Who's Left Behind? Immigrant Children in High and Low LEP Schools. Urban Institute (NJ3). Currie, J. (2009).Healthy, wealthy, and wise: Socioeconomic status, poor health in childhood and human capital development. Journal of Economic Literature, 47,87-122. doi: 101257/jel.47.1.87 Dickinson, D. K., Darrow, C. L., Tinubu, T. A. (2008). Patterns of teacher-child conversations in Head Start classrooms: Implications for an empirically grounded approach to professional development. Early Education and Development, 19, 396-429. Dietrichson, Bog, Figes, & Klint Jorgensen, (2017). Academic interventions for elementary and middle school students with low socioeconomic status: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Sage Journals. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654316687036 Dooley, D. G., Bandealy, A., & Tschudy, M. M. (2020). 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The Elementary School Journal, 91, 289-305. https://doi.org/10.1086/461656 Esping-Andersen, G., Garfinkel, I., Han, W.-J., Magnuson, K., Wagner, S., & Walfogel, J. (2012).Child-care and school performance in Denmark and the United States. Children and Youth Services Review, 34, 576-589. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2011.10.010 Florida Department of Education, Bureau of Student Achievement through Language Acquisition. Retrieved from http://www.fldoe.org/academics/eng-language- learners/ Fontenot, K., Semega, J., & Kollar, M. (2018). Income and poverty in the United States: 2017.Washington DC: US Government Printing Office. Fox, A. M., Lee, J. S., Sorensen, L. C., & Martin, E. G. (2021). Sociodemographic characteristics and inequities associated with access to in-person and remote elementary schooling during the COVID-19 pandemic in New York state. JAMA Network Open, 4(7), e2117267. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.17267 Fox, L., Hemmeter, M. 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Retrieved from: http://www.sedl.org/connections/resources/ evidence.pdf Heppt, B., Haag, N., Bohme, K., & Stanat, P. (2014). The role of academic-language features for reading comprehension of language-minority students and students from low-SES families.Reading Research Quarterly, 50(1),61-82. https://doi.org/10.1002/rrq.83 Herbert, T.P. (1999). Culturally diverse high-achieving students in an urban school. Urban Education, 34, 428-457. Hernandez, D. J., Denton, N. A., & Macartney, S. E. (2008). Children in immigrant families: Looking to America's future. Society for Research in Child Development, 22(3). Herold, B. (2020, April 11). The disparities in remote learning under coronavirus. EducationWeek. https://www.edweek.org/technology/the-disparities- in-remote-learningundercoronavirus-in-charts/2020/04 Hoff, E. (2003). The specificity of environmental influence: Socioeconomic status affects early vocabulary development via maternal speech. 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S., Cabell, S. Q.,Kilday, C. R.,Knighton, K., & Huffman, G. (2010). Language and literacy curriculum supplement for preschoolers who are academically at-risk: A feasibility study. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 41, 161-178. https://doi.org/10.1044/0161-1461(2009/08-0058) Kaiser, A. P., Ostrosky, M. M., & Alpert, C. L. (1993). Training teachers to use environmental arrangement and milieu teaching with nonvocal preschool children. Journal of the Association for Persons with Severe Handicaps. https://doi.org/10.1177/154079699301800305 Kashinath, S., Woods, J., & Goldstein, H. (2006). Enhancing generalized teaching strategy use in daily routines by parents of children with autism. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research,49, 466-489. Kena, G., Hussar W., McFarland J., de Brey C., Musu-Gillette, L., Wang, X., Zhang, J.,Rathbun, A., Wilkinson-Flicker, S., Diliberti M., Barmer, A., Bullock Mann, F., andDunlop Velez, E. (2016). 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From The Field Bolstering Resiliency of Students who are English Learners against Harmful Effects of Poverty Carla Wood, Maria Pouncey and Catherine Timm Florida State University, Panhandle Area Education Consortium, Florida State University ABSTRACT Given the potential harmful effects of poverty and the high proportion of students who are English Learners living in poverty, this paper provides a review of the literature on a) the potential impact of poverty on educational outcomes of English Learners, and b) potential ways to bolster English Learners’ resiliency against potential harmful effects of poverty. The review describes disparities in exposure to toxic stress, health care, access to quality childcare, and the quality and quantity of rich language input at home. Lastly, the review highlights suggestions, resources, and supports found in the literature to bolster resiliency against the harmful effects of poverty including optimizing access to environmental language; coaching families on enriched language input; and connecting families to resources at the local, state, and national level.
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LINKS TO PRACTICE Using the SIOP Model to Engage Teachers of Multilingual Learners inFace-to-Face and Virtual Professional Learning Carla Huck School District of Lee County 1) Presentation Overview Whether teaching online, face-to-face, or through a combination of models, it is critical that teachers plan opportunities for students to interact socially and perform higher level cognitive tasks to develop language proficiency. Using the SIOP Model as a framework for professional learning, participants explore high yield strategies to build background, enrich vocabulary, and promote literacy and communication skills in face-to-face and virtual contexts. 2) Who is the primary beneficiary of the practical application of the presentation and what are the links to practice? What are the ‘take aways’ for teachers, and practical suggestions for instructors? This presentation is designed for educators and school leaders interested in developing sustainable and effective professional development for teachers of English Learners in mainstream classrooms. Classroom teachers would also benefit from this presentation, as the strategies and tools modeled can be replicated for student learning tasks with any grade level content. The practical examples in this presentation transition from professional learning contexts in person and those offered remotely. Numerous technology tools and real examples from teacher PD are provided to promote discussion and interaction, with scaffolding of tasks by proficiency levels. Presentation and handouts are on my padlet: https://padlet.com/cbhuck/sstesol
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LINKS TO PRACTICE Harnessing the Power of Music to Support English Language Learners Melissa Salek Mayport Coastal Sciences Elementary School 1) Presentation Overview The purpose of my presentation was to offer an overview of how music can support English Language Learners. I also provided hands-on ways to use music in both the elementary and secondary programs and discussed what types of music works best.In addition, I covered some lesson plan ideas that may help you incorporate music into your own classroom. 2) The primary beneficiary of the practical application of my presentation are elementary and secondary TESOL teachers or regular classroom teachers who want to better assist their ELLs. The purpose is to provide an overview of how music supports ELLs as well as provide examples of research-based applications for the music classroom. Music helps ELLs learn basic aspects of the English language, from grammar and vocabulary to speaking and comprehension skills, is highly motivational, and provides a unique way for them to understand the local culture. Ideas for supporting ELLs in the music classroom include using the rhythm of words, sound stories, and musical games. Educators may transform a list of vocabulary words to music by using the rhythm of the syllables to create a beat pattern or rap. Sound stories allow students to highlight certain words through related motions or sound effects, such as lifting their arm up when they read “hoist.” This in turn has the benefit of activating students’ prior knowledge about the words and helps them to remember their meanings. Musical games, echo songs, and call-and-response songs are highly repetitive and often learned by rote and through observation, making these songs excellent for English learners. For older students, Karaoke-style performances and lyric YouTube videos, song lists, and musical projects are appropriate. In addition to singing, rapping, and chanting songs, responding activities are engaging for students of all backgrounds.Music that is relevant and student-centered such as pop and rap work best; however, educators need to provide appropriate language support for the lyrics. Ideas on how to use the lyrics range from having the students fill in missing words, reordering the lyrics and having students put the verses in the correct order, to having the students write new verses. To identify the types of music that are most relevant for each particular class, implement a music preference survey at the beginning of each school.The survey also functions as a way for students to get to know each other as it gives them the opportunity to share their music selections in small and large group discussions. Regardless of the type of musical activity used to support your ELLs, music has the potential to be the source of motivation and encouragement they need to find success in school.
LINKS TO PRACTICE Inheritance Tracks: Using Student Playlists to Build Engagement and Confidence in SLP Chriistine Kassover and Aviva Katzenell Florida Atlantic University 1) Presentation Overview Encompassing vocabulary, grammar, suprasegmentals, and critical thinking skills in an intimate and supportive platform, Inheritance Tracks inspires students to review, practice, and assess Speaking/Listening/Pronunciation skills through meaningful songs and peer interaction within the classroom community. The opportunity to share personal music choices encourages authenticity and empowerment, which lowers affective barriers resulting in enthusiastic, natural, and purposeful language use. 2) The primary beneficiaries of Inheritance Tracks are both EAP/ESL instructors and students studying Speaking/Listening/Pronunciation.Desired learning outcomes can be adjusted to students of all CEFR levels-–beginner, intermediate, and advanced—and adapted for all ages groups based on targeted vocabulary and level of prior knowledge/life experience. 3) Inheritance Tracks provides students with the opportunity to share personal music choices and backstories, which in turn, breaks down affective barriers and helps boost students’ confidence in public speaking. Furthermore, students achieve a more natural tone through learning outcomes related to thought groups, rhythm, and stress patterns common to American English. Peer engagement is advanced through the practice of effective listening and note-taking skills during the presentation and critical thinking and listening skills with non-native speakers through post question and answer sessions that mimic out-of-classroom communication. Added take-aways include enhancement of cultural awareness and development of multi-media skills. Best Practices in the classroom include development of materials to meet SLOs through purposeful and authentic resources, affirmation of learners’ own cultural and linguistic backgrounds, and utilization of cross-cultural knowledge and communication to enable students’ achievement of English language acquisition. Instructors and students alike benefit from both formative and summative assessment in Inheritance Tracks. The program can also be used in Reading/Writing/Grammar courses; depending on level and desired outcomes, instructors can assign a reading about the power of music followed by a critical response essay summarizing the article and student’s own opinion on the topic and introduction of their songs. Inheritance Tracks is highly adaptable, a necessity in the age of COVID. It is deliverable over multi-media settings, including hybrid classes and online blogs to meet the dynamic needs of both in-person and online education.
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Thank You to All our Sponsors, Exhibitors and to YOU, our SSTESOL Members. SUCCESS!!! Our 2021 Hybrid Conference received outstanding reviews! 300+ Participants 2 Days of Presentations (100+ in total) F2F & Virtual Member Awards & more We hope you reconnected, recharged and renewed yourselves. Ready for 2022!
American College of Education Paulna Petit-Frere paulna.petit-frere@ace.edu Florida State University Hyejin An ha19b@my.fsu.edu Grand Canyon University Ashley Boothe Ashley.Boothe@gce.com PowerUpEdu and Alive Studios Debbie Gaillard debbie@powerupedu.com Saddleback Educational Tim McHugh tmchugh@sdlback.com Speak Agent, Inc. Dan LaFountain dan@speakagent.com Townsend Press Dolly Depagter george.henry@townsendpress.com U.S. Department of State English Language Program Terrell Hawkins elprograms@georgetown.edu Vista Higher Learning Katherine Jimenez kjimenez@vistahigherlearning.com Wiley Education Services Gloria Kotrady aseabrook@wiley.com Prizes Edwidge Bryant, Flagler College Eric Letourneaux, Valencia College Tony Erben, University of Tampa Arlene Costello, University of West Florida Carla Huck, School District of Lee County Raydel Hernandez, Miami-Dade TESOL Amany Habib, University of West Florida Firoza Rasul, School District of Palm Beach County Valencia College Continuing International Education Saddleback Educational
2022 BOARD OF DIRECTORS President Tony Erben, SSTESOL Journal Editor, SSTESOL Press Editor First Vice President Andrea Enikő Lypka, Conference Chair, Social Media Specialist Second Vice President Carla Huck, Program Chair and Webmaster Secretary Soraya Kubousek Treasurer Keya Mukherjee, Assistant Journal Editor Past President Arlene Costello, CVENT Support, TESOL International Liaison, Advocacy, Parliamentarian Members-at-Large Amany Habib, Professional Development and Research Scott Neyman Edwidge Bryant, Membership Growth and Development, Chair 2022 Firoza Rasul, Sponsors and Donors Committee Raydel Hernandez, Technology Support and Design Pamela Jo Wilson, Adult ESOL and Professional Development Eric Letourneaux, Exhibitor Liaison and Coordinator, Chair 2022 AD-HOC BOARD POSITIONS Receiving Secretary and Historian Cynthia Schuemann, Miami Dade College Awards Li-Lee Tunceren, Saint Petersburg College Webmaster Carla Huck, School District of Lee County STATE CHAPTERS Emerald Coast TESOL Amany Habib, ahabib@uwf.edu Bay Area Regional TESOL (BART) Li-Lee Tunceren, tunceren.lillien@spcollege.edu Central Florida TESOL Robyn Socha, rsocha@fullsail.com Northeast Florida TESOL Catherine Baucom, baucomc@duvalschools.org Southwest Florida TESOL Carla Huck, swfltesol@gmail.com Palm Beach TESOL Christy Aliaga, Christy.aliaga@palmbeachschools.org Broward TESOL Jennifer Killam, browardtesol@gmail.com Miami Dade TESOL Raydel Hernandez, rherna24@mdc.edu
THANKS TO OUR 2021 SSTESOL CONFERENCE SPONSORS
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ATTENTION
A CALL FOR LEADERSHIP AND MEMBER INVOLVEMENT We would love to hear from you!Please send an email to SSTESOL President indicating your interest in becoming involved in one of these committees. Contact sstesol@gmail.com SSTESOL Standing and Ad-Hoc Committees 2022 Awards and Recognition Programs Committee Li-Lee Tunceren, Chair; Members: Arlene Baez, Data Recognition Corporation; Jim Goldstone, Cambridge University Press; Jane Govoni, University of South Florida; Sherri Sacharow, Broward College; Taro Funches, Canton Public School District; and Renata Pavanelli, Broward College. Nominations and Elections Committee Arlene Costello, President, Co-Chair; Patricia Grant, former SSTESOL President, Co-Chair; Members: Firoza Rasul, Jennifer Killam, Maria Mercer and Jane Govoni Professional Learning Committee Amany Habib, Chair, Members: Pamela Jo Wilson, Palm Beach TESOL; Raydel Hernandez, Miami-Dade TESOL; and Zeynep Erdil-Moody, University of South Florida. Confference Planning Committee 2022 Arlene Costello, Chair; Members: Jennifer Killam, Broward College;Keya Mukherjee, SSTESOL Executive Board; Andrea Lypka, Board member; Li-Lee Tunceren, former president; Cynthia Schuemann, Historian; Jennifer Killam – President, Broward TESOL; and Shannon Solis, SSTESOL member and President, PBTESOL SSTESOL Journal & SSTESOL Press Editorial Board Tony Erben, Editor - University of Tampa; Keya Mukherjee, Assistant Editor - Saint Leo University; Cristiane Vicentini, Copy Editor - University of Miami. Editorial Review Board: Laura Ballard, Florida State University; Maria R. Coady, University of Florida; Ester de Jong, University of Florida; Katya Goussakova, Seminole State College; Jennifer Killam, Broward College; Michelle Kroskey, University of Central Florida; John I. Liontas, University of South Florida; Robyn Percy-Socha, Full Sail University; Cheryl A. Shamon, Saint Leo University; Caroline Webb, Broward College
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Submission Deadline for the Summer 2022 Issue of SSTESOL Journal is August 31st, 2022
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FALL 2021
SUNSHINE TESOL JOURNAL