If you teach English language learners (ELLs), it is important to learn more about their educational backgrounds. This information can help you build on their existing skills and background knowledge, identify areas you may need to focus on, and make connections to their prior experiences.
The educational backgrounds of ELLs can vary widely, including among students from the same country or who speak the same language. This is one reason it's essential to have collaborative systems in place that can evaluate each student's individual strengths and needs. Here are some helpful things to know.
School Attendance
How consistently has the student attended school?
Some of your students may have attended school regularly, while others may have had limited or interrupted schooling. Some questions to ask include the following:
- Did the student have consistent, grade-level schooling?
- If not, did the student have some schooling, even if it was interrupted?
For example, many students in the Salina community in Dearborn, MI come from the war-torn country of Yemen. Over time, the teachers say, students have arrived with less and less schooling due to the protracted conflicts in the country; other students at the school had some schooling in Yemen but none in the countries they stayed in before arriving in the U.S. This example is an important reminder that even students within a single community and coming from the same country may have very different experiences from each other.
Where has the student attended school?
Keep in mind that the places where ELLs have attended school may also vary widely:
- Some may have attended school in their home country or another country.
- Some may have attended school in a refugee camp or a place they were staying temporarily.
- Many ELLs were born in the U.S. and have only attended U.S. schools.
Why might students not have attended school?
The reasons students might have limited formal education can vary from student to student, and there may be an underlying trauma, hardship, or source of instability. Students and families may not wish to discuss the reasons the student has not been in school, but it is helpful to look for clues that might give you more insights into the student's situation.
Possible situations include the following. Students may have been:
- Living in a refugee camp
- Working to support their family
- Helping with chores or child care in the home
- Unable to pay for school
- Facing challenges in schooling due to migration, health issues, special needs, gender roles, or other circumstances
Students' Educational Experiences
What skills and background knowledge does the student have?
The amount of schooling a student has had will impact several things, including a student's:
- Literacy skills (both reading and writing)
- Math skills
- Content-area knowledge
- Technology skills
- Familiarity with daily school routines and expectations
It is important to remember that all students, regardless of their formal schooling, bring valuable life experiences and background knowledge to the classroom that they may not yet be able to express in English. Finding ways to tap into this knowledge can help support their learning. For example, students who have worked in a family business may have some "real world" math skills.
In addition, many students are familiar with at least some kinds of technology (like cell phones), even if they haven't used instructional technology before. And some students' tech skills may be quite advanced!
What is the student's language and literacy background?
It's important to know which languages your students speak. This can inform your instruction through the use of resources in students' home languages, as well as the connections between those languages and English.
In addition, it is essential to find out what kinds of literacy background your students have and what skills they have in their home languages. This will provide valuable information that can inform their future literacy instruction. For example:
- Students who have learned to read in their home language can build on their existing literacy skills.
- Students who have not yet learned to read will need some specialized support in learning to read in a new language.
Keep in mind that even if students have limited schooling, they may have some kinds of literacy experiences at home with their families. In addition, a student's spoken, or oral, language experiences (songs, rhymes, poems, and stories) are also an important resource to build upon. For more tips on this topic, see Getting to Know Your ELLs' Literacy and Language Background.
Note: Having concrete data about students' language and literacy background can also help guide your decisions if students need additional support.
What is the student's experience with English?
Students' English language skills vary widely. For example:
- Many ELLs were born in the U.S. and may have strong conversational skills in English, but limited literacy skills or academic language.
- Some students from other countries will have studied English and have some background.
- Some ELLs may not speak any English at all.
Each district in the U.S. is required to identify ELLs in a timely manner to ensure students received the services they need. As with language, it is important not to make assumptions about students' English language skills based on their name or other identifying characteristic. (The story of an Asian American student who is mistakenly assigned to an English as a Second Language class is told in the graphic novel Don’t Cause Trouble.)
In addition, it is helpful to know:
- What type of instruction your student has had in English, if any
- What types of instructional models your students have attended (particularly for students who have attended schools in the U.S.)
- Your students' English Language Proficiency (ELP) levels in reading, speaking, listening, and writing
Keep in mind that students ELP levels may vary across different skill areas. If you aren't sure how to find this information, ask your ELL colleagues or administrators how to proceed. In addition, students may have switched between different program models during their schooling, leaving them with gaps in their language and literacy skills.
Additional Considerations
Are your students part of any special populations?
As you get to know more about special populations of ELLs, you will learn about some of the key characteristics related to their educational backgrounds. For example, students from migrant farmworker families often experience high levels of mobility in moving between schools and interrupted education; however, they often have a sophisticated understanding of agricultural science, crops, harvest, seasons, and geography. Refugee students may have experienced trauma, but may also demonstrate high levels of resilience and resourcefulness.
Do students have any special needs?
ELLs may have special education needs that include physical or learning disabilties. If ELLs have special needs, they are legally entitled to both ELL and special education services. Neither takes precedence over the other.
It is also important to keep in mind that ELLs are sometimes over-identified for special education services. In this situation, students are referred to special education services, which is why careful, collaborative Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) procedures are so important when identifying special needs. It is important to know:
- Whether students have any identified special needs
- If families have other concerns about their health or development
Does the student have any "true peers"?
As you start to establish some benchmarks to evaluate students' progress, it is helpful to identify whether the student has any true peers. These are students who speak the same language and have a similar amount of schooling. For example, even for students who might seem to have a lot in common, two students from the same country may have had vastly different schooling experiences. Finding students who have similar educational backgrounds can help provide a helpful reference point.
What are your students' goals?
Asking students what their short- and long-term goals are can provide some valuable information that you can tie into instruction; it can also enhance guidance counseling, support, or mentoring. And if students haven't thought about those goals yet, it's a good time to start! Even younger students can think about their goals.
- Invite students to share their goals, whether privately in a journal or survey, or in a broader discussion.
- Take their goals seriously and keep in mind that they may be aware of their parents' goals as well.
- Look for ways to support and encourage those goals throughout the year.
Gathering Information
There are many ways to learn more about a student's educational background. These include:
Talking with Families
You may be able to learn more about a student's experiences through conversations with families. Families may also have provided some information as part of registration or intake interviews. It's important not to overwhelm families with too many direct questions at first, but you can introduce your questions by explaining that this information will help you plan instruction for students. We also recommend that you take a look at our sections on special populations of ELLs, including refugees, students with interrupted formal education (SIFEs), and unaccompanied minors. Be sensitive to families' comfort level with questions about their child's experiences. They may be hesitant to share information about their prior situation. If so, don't press the issue. In addition, let families know that this information will be used to help support their child's learning. You can learn more about your students' background by asking families questions such as:
- How many years of schooling has your child completed?
- Has your child learned to read in [insert the family’s first language here]?
- Has the child had access to books in [insert the family’s first language here]?
Talking with Students
You may also be able to learn more from students themselves. Again, be mindful of how comfortable students are in talking about prior experiences. Older students will likely be able to share some information about whether they attended school and for how long, as well as their favorite subjects and activities.
School Records
Some families may have access to school records from other schools. If so, these are a valuable source of information. Find out from the school registrar how to get these records translated if needed.
Formal and Informal Assessments
You can also gather helpful data about students' skill levels from formal and informal assessments. If you have access to a literacy assessment tool in a student's home language, that is a great starting place. But even if you don't have such a tool, you can ask a student to read a short paragraph written in their language. This will give you a basic idea of whether they have had prior literacy instruction. Students who are identified as ELLs will also take formal assessments in English that will provide information about their English levels.
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