Challenges E.L.L Students Face in and outside of School
Outside of School:
Although students spend most of their day in the classroom, school does not exist in a vacuum and the external environment have an impact. Before the needs of ELL learners can be met, external challenges and/or stressors must be acknowledged and understood. For instance, if the child has recently emigrated, there are the stressors that are associated with moving such as missing friends from back home or getting used to a new environment. Additionally, regardless of birth place, discrimination against parents or other family members can have an impact on children. Stress can also occur if the student’s family is undocumented which can lead to fears about deportation and/or family separation [6] The experiences outside of school need to be considered if the experiences within school want to be effectively addressed.
Within School:
Discrimination happens on both a systematic and on a personal level. Systematically an erasure of the cultures that E.L.L students belong to can send a clear message that they do not belong there. Microaggressions such as mispronouncing of a student’s name by teachers and/or peers are common. Actions like these even if they are unintentional have an impact. Students may be bullied by their peers or treated condescendingly by teachers [6]. Discrimination of any kind has tremendous emotional impacts but discrimination that takes place at school can also impact academic success. If students are perceived and treated less intelligent than they are they are more likely to believe it. Systematically, discrimination and bias is maintained by the implementation of programs that position ELL learners as a problem create environments where students begin to believe that they are a burden. This can have emotional impacts such as shame in one's linguistic and/or cultural identity. The physical location of E.L.L classrooms is another area that matters. If E.L.L classrooms are in an isolated part of the school, students may likely feel isolated emotionally and socially. The social and emotional needs of E.L.L students are not being met in a variety of ways from personal interactions between students and peers to the broader institutional systems that problematize and marginalize them.
Although students spend most of their day in the classroom, school does not exist in a vacuum and the external environment have an impact. Before the needs of ELL learners can be met, external challenges and/or stressors must be acknowledged and understood. For instance, if the child has recently emigrated, there are the stressors that are associated with moving such as missing friends from back home or getting used to a new environment. Additionally, regardless of birth place, discrimination against parents or other family members can have an impact on children. Stress can also occur if the student’s family is undocumented which can lead to fears about deportation and/or family separation [6] The experiences outside of school need to be considered if the experiences within school want to be effectively addressed.
Within School:
Discrimination happens on both a systematic and on a personal level. Systematically an erasure of the cultures that E.L.L students belong to can send a clear message that they do not belong there. Microaggressions such as mispronouncing of a student’s name by teachers and/or peers are common. Actions like these even if they are unintentional have an impact. Students may be bullied by their peers or treated condescendingly by teachers [6]. Discrimination of any kind has tremendous emotional impacts but discrimination that takes place at school can also impact academic success. If students are perceived and treated less intelligent than they are they are more likely to believe it. Systematically, discrimination and bias is maintained by the implementation of programs that position ELL learners as a problem create environments where students begin to believe that they are a burden. This can have emotional impacts such as shame in one's linguistic and/or cultural identity. The physical location of E.L.L classrooms is another area that matters. If E.L.L classrooms are in an isolated part of the school, students may likely feel isolated emotionally and socially. The social and emotional needs of E.L.L students are not being met in a variety of ways from personal interactions between students and peers to the broader institutional systems that problematize and marginalize them.