Dispelling Misconceptions About English Language Learners: Research-Based Ways to Improve Instruction by Barbara Gottschalk (ASCD, 2019)
Early in this book, Barbara Gottschalk, a veteran language-acquisition specialist, recalls a time when a 1st grade student proudly told her he could speak Chaldean. No sooner had she expressed admiration than the boy remarked: "That's why I can't read."
For Gottschalk, this student's notion that being bilingual was somehow an academic impairment is an example of how adults' misconceptions about English language learners can seep into school cultures and create barriers to effective teaching and learning. With the population of ELLs in U.S. schools expanding, that's an increasingly problematic scenario.
Gottschalk's book is addressed mainly to general education teachers—teachers without formal training in working with ELLs who want to do better by this growing cohort of students. Each chapter begins by highlighting a common misapprehension that even well-meaning teachers may hold about ELLs—for example, that their speaking a different language at home is detrimental, that they need teachers who speak their language, or that most aren't ready for content courses. Gottschalk delves into research that dispels each myth and offers practical advice for changing course (example: Watch out for "word vomit" in the classroom).
One theme is that educators often misjudge ELLs' capabilities. They may underestimate the intelligence of newcomers or overestimate the academic proficiency of longer-term ELLs who speak English with relative fluency. A key corrective, Gottschalk suggests, is to focus on engagement with academic content—through thematic units; scaffolded, deliberately paced instruction; and opportunities for practice across the four domains of language: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. "For ELLs," Gottschalk writes, "depth is always better than breadth."
