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An Open Study of English Language Learning at Open High School

Edward M. O'Connell

University of Southern California

EDU 501

22 November 2012

Dr. Carlos Cortez

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Introduction

Open High School does not offer an English as a Second Language program as the sole student

who has participated in a Virginia English as a Second Language program placed out of it while still in

middle school. Open High School offers a student population of 176 students 54% of which are

African-American, 41% Caucasian, and the remaining 5% are Hispanic, Asian or Pacific Islander.

Despite the diversity of Open High School's student population, there are no students who are active in

an English as a Second Language(ESL) and consequently there are no English as a Second Language

courses or support for students at Open High School (all students take Spanish as their second

language).

Despite the lack of ESL courses or students at Open High School, the school has one student

who has participated in an ESL program. The focus of this case study, Kahnal Samdei, is a native of

Nepal and has been living in the United States for about four years. Although Kahnal is not a native of

the United States, he has been learning the English language since he was in Kindergarten. Most of the

observation for the case study was done in Kahnal's United States History class.

While working on the case study, there were severe limitations. For starters, Kahnal was the

only student in the school who had participated in an ESL program. Another limitation is that there

were no English-as-a-Second-Language programs or support at Open High School so my ability to

observe one of those classes was non existent. A third limitation is that since Kahnal had already tested

out of his ESL classes, no accommodations were being made for him. Finally, there was resistance

from both the ESL student and his family. His parents declined an interview and during the interview

with Kahnal, it often took several tries to get a direct answer from the subject.

Although Open High School does not offer support to English Language Learners, it is really

not necessary as Kahnal has been learning English as a second language . This paper suggests that in

order for English Language Learning to be truly effective, it has to start as early as possible so that as

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students move through Piaget's Four Stages they are able to take full advantage of their ability to learn

a language.

Literature Review

Acquiring a Second Language For School

Virginia Collier's article states that there are four major processes that influence a student's

ability to acquire a second language: sociocultural, linguistic, academic, and cognitive. Collier presents

language academic, and cognitive development as a triangle with sociocultural influences in the

middle. Although each of the four is broken down, the article's most important influence on this case

study is that first language acquisition starts at a young age and lasts throughout one's lifetime and that

second language development takes several years, depending on how well versed a student is in their

native language. The authors quoting of Berko Gleason (1993) which states that, “ Children from ages

6 to 12 continue to acquire subtle phonological distinctions, vocabulary, semantics, syntax, formal

discourse patterns, and complex aspects of pragmatics in the oral system of their first language (Collier,

1995, p. 4).” The text is useful as it serves as a key backbone to my thesis.

How Long Does It Take English Learners to Attain Proficiency?

Kenji Hahta, Yuko Goto Butler, and Daria Witt's article postulates that it takes only a few years

for an English language learner to develop a knowledge of English based upon oral proficiency and

academic knowledge. They also take the time to discuss how proficiency in the two variations in

English are measured and how the gap between the two is measured. The differences between the two

is further explained via a wide variety of charts that are attached into the appendix.

This article was helpful as it discussed approximately how long it takes for students to develop

English language skills on both the academic and non-academic levels. The most useful elements in

this information is that it provides an approximation of how long it takes young students to learn the

language. Since the ELL student began learning at a young age and developed a basic understanding of

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both his native language and his secondary language before moving to an fully imersive academic

environment.

Piaget's Egocentrism and Language Learning: Language Egocentrism and Language

Differentiation

This article attempted to break down Piaget's four stages of cognitive development and how

they relate to the development of language, with an emphasis on the role that Language Egocentrism

and Differentiation play. Language Egocentrism directly effects “Learning and acquisition, in which a

child would use a private speech, imitation, and modeling to learn a language( Tucker as cited in Heo,

Han, Koch, & Aydin, p. 736, 2011). Language Differentation is described as “Language ego, reasoning,

and interaction, which students acquire in a cognitive development and maturity.” (Heo, Han, Koch, &

Aydin, p. 736, 2011). Perhaps the most useful section of this paper was the section that discusses how a

language learner's personality effects their ability to learn a second language. Cook (as cited in HO),

argues that the introvert/extrovert personality of a student effects whether a English as a Second

Language Student uses Language Egocentrism or Language Differentiation to learn a second language.

The article further holds that language is developed out of egocentrisim and the ability to learn a

second language is usually set in place by the time one enters concrete operations.

Methodology

Observation of the ESL student was performed for 3 hours a week over the period of about two

months. As the student no longer participates in an English as a Second Language Program, most of the

academic observations were during the student's United States History Class, taught by Charlie

Immelman. Observing the History class was not as helpful as one would think. Mr. Immelman uses a

wide variety of methods to instruct his students. Most of his classes are taught via power point or prezi

presentations. These presentations are supplemented with videos made by BrainPOP as well as clips

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from television shows (John Adams) and films (The Patriot and 1776). Charlie occasionally has the

students read directly from their textbook and work in their Virginia Standards of Learning work books.

To supplement observations, the principal, the history teacher, and Kahnal (Kahnal's family

declined an interview) all sat for an interview. As Open High School's sole student who has participated

in an English as a Second Language program, most of the interview with the principal Paul Mulder,

revolved around how Open High School would adapt to having an active participant in an English as a

Second Language program or having a student who did not place out of an ESL program. My

conversations with Charlie involved Kahnal's performance in class. Due to Virginia law and reluctance

from Kahnal's family, Kahnal's academic records were not available. As the last step in the process,

Kahnal was interviewed. The interview with Kahnal was split into three sections: life before moving to

the United States (including language learning), his time in an English as a Second Language Program,

and his current academic standing.

Findings

Kahanal is a frequent contributor to his History class and frequently asked the teacher questions

in order to improve his own understanding of the material, but according to his History teacher Charlie

Immelman, Kahnal still has room for improvement. In an interview with Charlie Immelman, Charlie

noted that Kahanal's, “Speaking skills are far above average. Class discussions are a time with Kahnal

demonstrates these skills... His reading skills are up to par, his writing, including handwriting, needs

some improvement. However his skills in writing are still only slightly below average”(Charlie

Immelman, personal communication, November 2012). Although Virginia law prevents access to

Kahnal's grades and test scores, Charlie Immelman reports that Kahnal is an “above average History

student” (Charlie Immelman, personal communication, November 2012) and Kahnal is enrolled in AP

classes.

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During his interview, Kahnal revealed that he began learning English while in Kindergaarten in

his native Nepal. When asked to describe the English language classes, Kahnal described his English

classes as primarily focused on conversational English. When Kahnal came to the United States, he was

placed in an English as a Second Language class and describes the class as “very boring” and they went

over a lot of the same material that he learned in Nepal (Kahnal Samhdi personal communication,

November 2012). Kahnal noted, “I didn't feel like I needed to be in that class because the things I was

taught I already knew.” (Kahnal Samhdi personal communication November 2012). Kahnal also

confided in the same interview that thanks in part to his previous instruction in English, he does most

of his thinking in English, although he still speaks in his native language outside of school. As Open

High School only has one student who has participated in an English as as Second Language program,

no support is available to the students. Although there is no active support for Kahnal, should he or

future students need support Open High School would coordinate their efforts with the centeral

educational office.

Analysis

Although Kahnal has only been in the United States for four years, it is clear that he has been

successful here as evidenced by his participation in Advanced Placement Courses and based upon

comments made by his teachers. Although his success can be attributed to any number of things, it

would appear that the student's command of English has played a pivotal role in his success. Unlike

many ESL students, Kahnal began learning the English language at the same time he learned his own

native language, effectively giving him a head start on learning the English language. Krisha noted in

his interview that he took and passed an assessment of his understanding of English when he was in his

native Nepal. This time frame fits in with the theories of Kenji Hakuta, Yuko Goto Butler, and Daria

Witt who suggest that, “Oral proficiency takes 3 to 5 years to develop, and academic English

proficiency can take 4 to 7 years” (Hakuta, Butler & Witt, 2000, p. 2). Perhaps then, it is not a stretch

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that as Kahnal was in kindergarten when he began learning English, and first tested at a proficient level

when he was in fifth grade.

While the same study states that acquiring academic proficiency in English takes much longer,

Kahnal's placing out of an English as a Second Language class, combined with his history teacher's

brief description of Kahnal as an, “Above average History student” (Charlie Immelman, personal

communication, November 2012) combined with the professor's response that Kahnal's reading skills

“are up to par, his writing, including handwriting, needs some improvement. However his skills in

writing are still only slightly below average” (Charlie Immelman, personal communication, November

2012). Despite Kahnal's academic language being a few levels behind his non-academic English, he is

still successful in the classroom.

Using Virginia Collier's conceptual model provides a similar explanation for Kahnal's success.

Collier's model places language, cognitive, and academic development as the corners of a language

learning triangle with social and cultural processes in the middle. Collier tells us that the social and

cultural development of English language learners is influenced by the environment surrounding the

learner, the language development relies on learning of the syntax of the second language, academic

development is influenced by increasing complexity of the language, and cognitive development

impacts how the development of cognitive thinking (or moving through Piaget’s four stages) and she

further argues further argues that all of these factors are intertwined and a shortcoming in one can

influence the others (Collier, 1995). Collier (1995) also argues that

Non-native speakers of English with no schooling in their first language take 7-10 years or more to reach age and grade-level norms of their native English speaking peers. Immigrant students who have had 2-3 years of first language schooling in their home country before they come to the U.S. take at least 5-7 years to reach typical native-speaker performance. (p. 5)

Since Kahnal had well over a decade to learn both his native language (Nepali) and English he was not

as bound by these limits and in fact was presumably able to learn both his native language and English

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simultaneously. As Kahnal was able to develop his primary language skills well before he was placed

into an immersion English environment he was able to avoid falling into any issues in terms of Piaget's

four stages of development. Kahnal also uses his first language at home with his parents so he is able

to maintain the proper cognitive level.

Kahnal also noted that his development of English while living in the United States was aided

by quickly making friends, who were able to help develop his knowledge English, and by watching

cartoons. When pressed for an explanation, Kahnal remarked that exposure to American pop culture,

cartoons especially, aided in his learning of the English Language. This directly

Piaget teaches us that humans move through four stages as they develop cognitive function:

sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operations and formal operations. Piaget's theories hold that

during the preoperational stage is generally when most children begin developing language, even if it

is only so extreme as drawing a picture and being able to identify what the picture is (Heo, Han, Koch,

& Aydin, 2011). As the children go through the stages, they alternate between language differentiation

and language egocentrism. Piaget also teaches us that as children reach the concrete operations phase

the language egocentrisim, which was so critical to the ability to learn and develop language has been

set in place (Heo, Han, Koch, & Aydin, 2011). As Kahnal was able to learn the fundamentals of the

English language before he entered the concrete operations age, he did not need to worry about

catching up to his peers in terms of his English Language Learning.

Conclusion

Although Kahnal has only been in the United States for a short time, he has not had any trouble

adjusting to a country where English is the native language. Although Kahnal spent one year in an

English-as-a-Second-Language class when he moved to the United States, the fact that he spent most

of his life learning English as a Second Language, starting at an early age meant that as he was

progressing through Piaget's four stages, he did not have any problems learning the language.

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So the question remains, where to go from here? As Kahnal has placed out of the English as

Second Language classes and is somewhat successful as a student, it is hard to devise

recommendations for his case. Kahnal does not need any academic support relating to his command of

English. To be frank, the best recommendation is to allow Kahnal to continue his education as it is

going.

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Sources

Collier, Virginia P. (1995). Acquiring A Second Language For School. Retrieved from

http://www.usc.edu/dept/education/CMMR/CollierThomas_Acquiring_L2_for_School

Hakuta, K. Butler, Y. & Witt, D. (2000). How long does it take English Learners to attain proficiency?

The University of California Linguistic Minority Research Institute Policy Report 2000- 1. Retrieved

from

http://www.usc.edu/dept/education/CMMR/FullText/Hakuta_HOW_LONG_DOES_IT_TAKE.pdf

Heo, J., Han, S., Koch, C., & Aydin, H. (2011). Piaget's Egocentrism and Language Learning:

Language Egocentrism (LE) and Language Differentiation (LD). Journal of Language Teaching and

Research, 2(4), 733-739.

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Appendix

Sociocultural Information about Open High School

Total enrollment: 176

Ethnic breakdown of both teachers and students: 54% African-American, 41% White, 5% Hispanic,

Asain or Pacific Islander (Students), 33% African American, 67% White (Teachers)

Social economic strata (SES as determined by free lunch program):40% of students are eligible for free

or reduced price lunches.

Languages spoken: English

Language determinations (LEP, FEP, etc.): English-as-a-Second-Language

Enrollment by grades: 43 Ninth Graders, 47 Tenth Graders, 51 11th Graders, and 35 12th Graders

Average class size: 17

Fieldwork Journal 1

At Open High School, since all of the students speak English at a fluent level, there is no real

benchmark for what it means to be proficient in a language. All students are required to take four years

of Spanish regardless of their grades in the subject. Based upon Kahnal's popularity as a student, his

Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills (BICS) must be very good. Based upon his academic

success, his Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP) must be very good as well. Although

Kahnal has only been in the US for a few years, one would never assume that English is a second

language for him.

Fieldwork Journal 2

Since Kahnal has already reached a proficient level of English, it is difficult to see some of Krashen's

Theories of Language Learning. However, I do see signs of Aquisition-Learning. Aquisition-Learning

tells us that people learn a second language via exposure to the language (similar to how one learns

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their first language. Althoigh Kahnal learned English when he was growing up in his native Nepal, his

English language skills were solidified when he came to the United States due to continuious exposure

to the language. Despite all of my observations of Kahnal in his US History class, there are almost no

signs of any sort of support. Kahnal uses the same textbook and workbook as his peers and watches the

same videos as his classmates. Really the only evidence of AL theory is that Kahnal is learning about

the new vocabulary terms at the same rate as his classmates. Kahnal has never needed any support for

his ESL status. Watching him in class would make anyone surprised that he was once in an English as

a Second Language Class.

List of Interview Questions

(For the Teacher)

How does this student contribute to the classroom experience?

What personality traits/socio-cultural issues about this person have you

noticed?

What could this student do to take better advantage of his/her formal

instruction?

What do you think other student’s attitudes about this student are?

What percentage of English do you feel this student has a good command

of today?

What do you do as a teacher to help this student get as much as he/she

can out of the classroom experience?

What types of instruction in English are given to the student?

Has his/her first language “gotten in the way” of learning English? If so,

how?

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Have there been any difficulties with the student interacting with other

students due to his/her language or culture?

Have you spoken with the student’s parent(s) or guardians about the

student’s instruction in English?

Is grading the same for your English language learners as for others?

How would you evaluate the student’s speaking skills? Writing skills? Etc.

For the Student

What is your current age?

In what country were you born?

If other than the U.S, when did you move to the U.S.?

How old were you when you came to the U.S.?

Who did you come to the U.S. With?

What generation do you fall under?

Did you study English before coming to the U.S.?

What is your native language?

Do you speak only your native language at home?

How much English do your parents and siblings speak?

In what country were your parents born?

For what reasons did your family immigrate to the U.S.?

Are one or more of your parents proficient in English?

How old were you when you were first introduced to English?

Who introduced you to English? Where?

Can you remember your initial feelings when you learned you were

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coming to the U.S.?

How long have you lived in the U.S.? In an English speaking environment?

How much of each day do you spend speaking your primary (or native)

language?

Did you find the educational system here significantly different from the

system in your country of origin?

Did anyone assist you that first day?

When were you first tested on your English skills?

Describe how you were assessed and determined to be a second

language learner?

Do you feel you were placed in the correct program?

What was the formal name of the program you were placed in?

What kind of class were you initially placed in?

Was your first class a bilingual or monolingual?

Were you placed in classes like ELD, ESL, etc?

Have you been pulled out of “regular” classes for instruction in English?

How did this make you feel? Do you feel being pulled-out hindered your

mastery of other subjects? Did you feel you were falling further behind

your peers?

Are you involved in or were you ever a part of after school programs to

assist you in learning English?

Before you started ESL classes how did the other students make you feel

when you talked with them?

Were you forced to speak only English at school or during certain

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portions of the day? When? How did it make you feel?

What sort of difficulties did you have at first?

Did you have difficulties understanding directions or concepts for

assignments?

Did anything change when you started taking ESL classes in other

students’ attitudes toward you?

When were your ESL classes taken?

What was your experience like in ESL classes?

How did your ESL courses differ here in the U.S. compared to in your own

country?

What instructional strategies did teachers utilize in this program?

How was the instruction organized and executed?

What parts of English were the easiest for you to understand/figure out

when you started learning?

How do you learn a word in English in which there is no equivalent term

in your first language?

What kinds of help did the other students in your classes give you to help

understand?

What aspects of English were the most different from your primary

language? What aspects of English were the most difficult for you to

learn?

Did you feel confused during ESL classes?

Would you say you’re your ESL program focused more on conversational

or academic English?

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What kind of assignments did you have?

Did the second language learner program in which you were involved

help you with those difficulties?

Did you like to read in English? In your native language?

Did you speak English with your friends, or your native language?

As you learned English, did you feel that your primary language was

being phased out?

What kind of writing did you do at school?

When you write or think about something, do you think about your first

language first and then translate it into English?

How quickly were you labeled as a mainstream student?

Did you feel like you had reached a sufficient level of fluency in English to

perform well in a mainstream situation?

Do you feel you had a good second language instruction teacher?

How knowledgeable was she/he of second language learners in your

opinion?

Did your teachers have sufficient knowledge of your native language and

culture?

What makes a teacher a good second language instruction teacher?

Do you feel that instructors in this program had adequate ways of

assessing your progress in this program? Describe the types of

assessment that occurred.

How did your teacher and/or schools approach your culture?

Was it different from the other student’s culture or was it the majority

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culture?

If it was different, did your teacher attempt to understand or learn about

it, and use it in the class?

What social activities played a major role when you were learning English?

Did you have any problems playing with others when you first went to

school in the U.S.?

Once you were in the program, how long did it take for you to be

“mainstreamed? In other words, how long before you were no longer in a

second language learner program?

Did you feel as though you were in the program for the appropriate

amount of time? If not do you feel your were exited to soon or too late?

Do you or did you take any AP (Advanced Placement) or honors classes?

Why/why not? Which ones?

(Questions for the Principal)

How many ELL students does open High School Have?

What do you do as a principal to help the ell students get as much as he/she

can out of the classroom experience?

Is there additional assistance provided for the student outside of the

class?

What types of instruction in English are given to the students?

Have there been any difficulties with the student interacting with other

students due to his/her language or culture?

Have you spoken with the ELL student’s parent(s) or guardians about the

student’s instruction in English?

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Journal Entry #3

As Kahnal does not need any support in terms of English Language Learning, there is no support for

him in the classroom. The textbook that he uses is the same as the one used by other students.

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