ABSTRACT

Over ten percent of students in the United States are currently classified as English Language Learners (ELLs). They are also the fastest-growing student demographic.  This necessitates the need for an examination of the systems put in place to support their academic trajectory. Most ELLs spend a portion of the instructional day in mainstream classrooms (in which most of the students speak English as their native language and where instruction occurs in English)  and a part of their day in the ELL classroom (in which most of the students speak a second language). ELLs must simultaneously navigate the ELL and mainstream classroom, while educators must be prepared to teach students who come from different linguistic, cultural, and educational backgrounds. In addition to teaching and learning, the majority of ELL students must take the ACCESS test to advance out of the ELL classroom permanently. However, this assessment presents many challenges—in both structural and overt ways. This begs the question: how are ELL students expected to achieve? Considering its adverse implications, who gets to learn? As you click the many tabs on my website, I will delve into the ACCESS test’s problematic nature and its implications. Further, I will discuss how people have mobilized around these issues and the ways in which they went about it. I will also offer some conceptual frameworks from scholars who will help put my case into perspective.

This video is made by a woman who goes by the name “The Language Lady” on Youtube. As an ELL teacher herself, she records vlogs detailing her day-to-day practices in the classroom as well as workshop videos on how to best teach ELLs.