Department of Teaching, Learning and Teacher Education
Date of this Version
March 2008
Abstract
Guiding Questions
• What are the goals of schooling in general and for ELLS in particular?
• What roles do language and culture play in teaching, in learning, and in the assessment of learning?
• How do we measure the successfulness of schooling for ELLs?
• What factors besides the quality of classroom instruction impact the education of ELLs? How?
• In addition to research-based, age-appropriate literacy instruction, what more do ELLS need in order to develop good literacy skills?
• What is the importance of parental and community involvement in the education of ELLs?
While measurable academic gains in reading and mathematics are certainly central to the notion of successful schooling, we must not conceptualize success too narrowly. The famous educator John Dewey (1916) considered education a tool that would enable the citizen to "integrate culture and vocation effectively and usefully." Dewey cautioned that assessing the success of such an education is not simple or one-dimensional.
Comments
Published in Inclusive Pedagogy for English Language Learners: A Handbook of Research-Informed Practices, edited by Lorrie Stoops Verplaetse and Naomi Migliacci. New York & London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2008. Copyright © 2008 Taylor & Francis Group. Used by permission.