I conducted my interview with Ms. Abshire. Ms. Abshire is an
English Language teacher for Elsik ninth grade.
Ms. Abshire has been working in the school district for over a decade. She
was able to share her experiences and views in regards to the education system
and policies. She teaches intermediate English language learners and she has
students at different levels. She explains how building on the English language
they know helps them develop further. The book states that language learning is
a conscious process that occurs at school (Wright, 2015, p. 51). She has her
students practice, constantly read, learn new vocabulary and use affirmative
assessments; to help the students continue to build a stronger foundation in
their English language learning. Even though Ms. Abshire is teaching her
students; her students learned knowledge is represented in their brain; which
is the acquisition-learning hypothesis (Wright, 2015, p.51). Ms. Abshire
students being on different levels of learning could be due to affective filter;
which controls how much comprehensible impute the learner takes in and retain
(Wright, 2015, p.52). This brings us to an important point which is English
language learners ability to retain information can be caused by several
things. How a student views his or herself as being a member of the group that
speaks that language, self-esteem and anxiety can be reasons why each student
has different levels of progress. This is called the affective filter
hypothesis (Wright, 2015, p. 52). With
these theories and hypothesis where is the education system headed now? I asked
Ms. Abshire where she sees English language learning in ten years. She brought
up key points which are; that changes in the education system moves slowly,
there aren’t a lot of people interested in teaching and those that are may be
intimidate with the idea of teaching English language learners. With education
policies being set by powerful institutions and governed by the dominant group
(Wright, 2015, p. 67) how can English language learners get policies and the attention
they need; when they are underrepresented in the groups who set these policies
and governs over them? I truly believe that one way to improve this area is by
widening the diversity of those who create these policies and govern over them.
Wright, W.E. (2015). Foundations for
Teaching English Language Learners: Research, Theory, Policy, and Practice.
Philadelphia, PA: Caslon, Publishing. Second Edition.
