What Is ESL And Efls

ELLs is a special group of learners who come to the English speaking country due to various reasons. Usually, these students have insufficient English proficiency so that they are disabled from enrolling in the mainstream classrooms and are placed in special programs such as ESL. To make it specific, ELLs in the context where English is the mainstream language of the society are called ESLs; however, ELLs who are learning English in a foreign context where English is not the dominant or mainstream language in that society are called EFLs. To make it simple, in the following subsections, both ESLs and EFLs will be addressed as ELLs.
Payan and Nettles (2008) report that “population of ELL students in the U.S. is growing in size, variety and …show more content…
It is also equally significant to prepare teachers with international visions and skills that are able to teach students from diverse social, cultural and linguistic background. Teacher educators should acquire the knowledge in teacher education field; they should also have the updated classroom practice experiences and know the current trend, issues and nuances in classrooms. Additionally, they are expected to have creative strategies of teaching and are familiar and comfortable with integrating new technologies into urban classroom teaching environment. Since “citizens and workers need greater knowledge and skills to survive and succeed” (Darling-Hammond & Bransford, 2005, p. 2), standards to prepare teachers have been elevated accordingly. Also, students’ diversity and different knowledge background also require that prospective teachers “go beyond ‘covering the curriculum’ to actually enable learning for students who learn in very different ways” (p. 2). In order to facilitate students’ learning to the utmost, teachers should be provided with the gist of education philosophy, be trained with broad understanding of teaching and learning as well as sophisticated teaching practice, and be taught with broadmindedness that teaching is a life-long journey so that teachers themselves should learn throughout their lifetime. This perspective …show more content…
Also, “lifelong learning often involves the kinds of changes that require giving up old routines and transforming prior beliefs and practices” (Darling-Hammond & Bransford, 2005, p. 365,). On the one hand, teachers should be prepared to meet higher expectations from parents, school districts, and even the nation; on the other hand, they are confronting practical problems in their everyday practice which they usually have limited sources to consult to or have these problems solved properly. This is especially true for teachers of ELLs. Teachers of ELLs are usually working with students who have various levels of language and literacy proficiency and who have diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds. They all have individual needs which may difficult to be satisfied in a short period of