English: The Language of Success?

            As my title for this week’s blog suggests, some people are believing that when it comes to using online educational programs, knowing English is what really makes you successful.  This is certainly a discouraging statement and one that must be addressed by educators and those who make such programs available to help our ELL population of students. 

            The article I found for this week, written by Jen Curtis (2017), details how many ELLs in schools use online programs that boast their translation skills, but that may not be enough to help them achieve.  As not all translation services are created equal, a vast amount of work and manpower must occur in order to make sure what is translated makes sense and is presented in the right context (Curtis, 2017).  Directions are also important in online programs, which are actually often not translated at all.  The fundamental linguistic differences between Spanish and English, for example, is where human translators are usually need to ensure translation is properly done.  But when that translation is done properly, it can actually raise the difficulty of a text by making it multisyllabic (Curtis, 2017).  Curtis (2017) gives the example of how Diary of a Wimpy kid is written at a fourth grade level, but when translated into Spanish suddenly becomes a sixth grade level book. 

            Though Achieve3000 tries to match content at the appropriate Lexile level to each ELL, some online products are ditching translation services altogether.  IXL and i-Ready are two of those such companies that recommend matching an ELLs current English reading level to the material rather than translating it (Curtis, 2017).  Their reasoning for this is due to the fact that many ELLs are coming to school with difficulties in literacy in English and their native languages so therefore they cannot rely on reading skills in another language that they may not have.  I-Ready and IXL rely more on strategic scaffolding then to help student progress in English literacy. 

            I was especially interested in this because I saw i-Ready and IXL mentioned, both of which we use at my school.  Though i-Ready Reading and Math were new to us last year, we really thought the program was valuable to our struggling students who needed those extra scaffolds in their learning.  I had my ELL working in there every day actually to improve her skills and she really seemed to like it as it worked on her level.  As for translation services, I would actually like to see a combination of that and the scaffolding at the appropriate Lexile levels.  In my school environment, translation in a program would often help Spanish speaking parents help explain to their students what is necessary to complete, while the scaffolding in the appropriate English levels would help students understand the language more proficiently.  But this always brings me back to one thing, which is making lower level stories interesting and enjoyable for older students.  I always say that if there is one area I think someone could make a lot of money in is making low level readers interesting for an older population.  Kindergarten and first grade passages about dirt bikes, video games, and other “older” themes rather than cute bunnies and other children’s characters. 

References

Curtis, J. (2017, June 29). When ELA Tools Can't Adapt to Students' Native Language - EdSurge News. Retrieved from https://www.edsurge.com/news/2017-06-29-when-adaptive-tools-can-t-adapt-to-students-native-language