English Learners (ELs)

ELs make up half of all culturally and linguistically diverse prekindergarten–grade 12 students (Goldenberg, Reese, & Rezaei, 2011). According to data from the Texas Education Agency, participation of ELs in Texas public school language programs is growing (2016). During the past decade, the number of ELs in Texas has risen from 570,000 students in 2001 to more than one million students in 2017.

Because of the increase in the number of ELs in Texas public school programs, early childhood education plays an increasingly vital role in supporting EL development of literacy and academic skills in both the primary language and in English (TAC, Title 19, Chapter 89). An EL’s personal experiences and contextual factors influence the cognitive, linguistic, and social tasks required for learning a new language and culture. Each local educational agency (LEA) is required to have an identification and language assessment process for ELs. Once an LEA identifies a student as an EL, in accordance with state and federal laws and regulations, the LEA must ensure the student receives instruction that is designed specifically for learning English as well as the required content.

In addition to linguistic and cultural diversity among ELs, the EL population is also socioeconomically diverse. Some families of ELs may have high levels of schooling and income, while others live at or below poverty and have little formal schooling. Research has indicated that disadvantaged ELs have more academic challenges in language and readiness skills than their peers from higher socioeconomic backgrounds. Therefore, they will benefit from research-based teaching practices and culturally responsive instruction (Cartledge & Kourea, 2008; as cited in Navarrete & Watson, 2013). 

Culture, Cognition, and Language Experiences

Young ELs must have a developmentally appropriate setting that is language-rich in supporting and developing academic and social competence. Creating an effective school setting through positive cultural experiences, engaging cognitive activities, and language-rich environments promotes and can increase opportunities for achieving English proficiency. A young EL’s current strengths and skills should serve as the starting point for new experiences and instruction (TEA, 2015).

Culture
Shared beliefs, values, and patterns of behavior, including language, that identify a group can be defined as culture, which is interwoven in the development of language. It is important to define the basic aspects of culture in the classroom. For young ELs, school can be the main source of adjustment to both language and culture. In school, young ELs begin to integrate aspects of the new culture, while retaining, or modifying, traditions from home. Having a strong sense of their own cultural history and traditions helps young ELs build a positive cultural identity for themselves.

Cognition
Cognitive development is the aspect of growth and development involving perception, attention, thinking, memory, problem solving, creativity, and language. It is influenced by other areas of human growth and development such as neurological, physical/motor, emotional, social, moral, literacy, and language.

Beginning in infancy, cognitive abilities change and are influenced by

• increasingly more complex interactions between an individual and the environment;
• acquisition of knowledge through literate behaviors; and
• greater language facility.

The stimulation of language can serve as the means for continued cognitive development from early childhood to adulthood. Sensory exploration is an educational strategy for experiencing and learning about the classroom and the world. Through sensory exploration, young ELs begin building language and problem-solving in the school environment, which can increase their ability to communicate and make connections between their experiences and academic content.

Language
Language is a primary tool for learning about the world as well as for social participation, intellectual exploration, personal expression, and communication.

Early childhood classrooms are filled with varying examples of language use that collectively transform the environment, culturally and linguistically. For educators of young ELs, it is important to listen for individual responses as students socially connect and communicate through engaging activities. Young ELs expand their language through the early childhood developmental domains of cognition, social and emotional, kinesthetic language as well as instruction at the student’s language proficiency level.

Teachers must develop language-rich environments that promote both academic and social language development. It is necessary for young ELs to have effective instruction in language development that connects existing strengths and skills and that also provides students with various opportunities to engage in listening, speaking, reading, and writing activities.