Why ESL Students Are Not Making Enough Progress
Many, many ESL students are not making enough progress in their English here in the United States, especially in Los Angeles. There are many immigrant families here. The government and the state have spent so much money trying to improve their English skills. We’ve been running so many ESL classes for so many years, but many students still cannot speak and cannot write. Normally three years should be enough time to learn a language in a country where the language is spoken. What happened to students’ learning and what happened to our teaching?
One reason, I believe, is that students have not received enough input. According to research, an average ESL student learn 2,500 new words a year. When I tell this to my students on the first day of the class, they are all surprised. They think that will be too many words, and they can’t remember that many new words. Actually it only means 7-8 new words a day. If they are learning English every day, they are learning that many new words. Then the next question is how to remember new words. Again according to research, the new word must be seen 7-9 times in different context in their reading before the students can remember the word and know how to use the word. Here we can imagine how much reading students need to do. Are they doing that much reading? If not, they are not receiving enough input. Doing exercises takes them a lot of time. Some exercise may not be worth it if it is taking students too much time. The same amount of time to be spent on reading might be more effective in improving their English.
I definitely agree that students don’t have enough comprehensible input. I also think in general that many teachers are fooled by conversational fluency and they think that the students know a lot more English than they really know. Once learners get to the intermediate level, it seems that many teachers begin to stop teaching ESL services so intensively.
Comment by Melanie — May 2, 2011 @ 19:19
When students are learning anything – if it is enjoyable – it is easier to learn and retain. ESL students will increase their vocabulary by learning to read for pleasure. If they find the books interesting, they will want to read more.
Comment by Corinne Floyd — May 13, 2011 @ 16:30
Robin, I’m very surprized when I read students still fail in improving tehir English skill though they are taught for 3 years!
I used to taech English at a state university in Turkiye. The university provides students one-year ESL program. And at the end of the year, most of the time, students are not as good as they are expected in using the language. I always thought after spending one year they should be perfect! After reading your comments, I can understand it. In a country where English is not a native language may not be enough.
I really wonder your experince (where you teach- students etc.) looking forward to hearing from you more and finding solutions.
Comment by Anonymous — June 17, 2011 @ 16:57
One of the problems is a motivational problem. The students are not motivated to come to class many for good reasons like having a family and their jobs, but the biggest problem is not understanding the subject. They are not learning enough English even after several years because they choose not to attend class or have higher concerns. By motivating them like the article says to provide incentives, it can improve the amount of English and words that they learn.
Comment by Lenard — December 6, 2011 @ 18:40