Running head: Inclusive Teaching with English Language Learners 1

Inclusive Teaching with English Language Learners

ECI 579: Organization and Behavior Management of Inclusive Classrooms

Britney L. Pardue

NC State University

Fall 2019

APA Title Page

 Inclusive Teaching with English Language Learners

As an ESL teacher, I strongly believe in equitable education for all – regardless of social
status, economic background, linguistic heritage, cultural background, ability and/or disability.
This document attempts to highlight some of the unique considerations general,
English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL), and special educators should raise when supporting
students who receive both ESL and special education services. First, I present a brief history of
inclusive education within the United States. I then reflect on my own personal teaching
philosophy and consider the influence of this course. In the discussion, I examine the intersection
of ESL and special education. I describe potential challenges and areas of synergy teachers may
encounter when responding to the needs of students who reside within the intersection of ESL
and special education.

Historical Context

With the advent of compulsory public education in the late 1800s, federal policy failed to
address how schools should support students with disabilities. Instead, most schools proceeded
with ambiguity – students with mild disabilities often continued to attend general education
classrooms while students with more pronounced special needs were segregated into separate
classrooms. By the 1950s, researchers began questioning the practice of separating students with
disabilities and parent advocacy groups like United Cerebral Palsy (UCP), ARC (originally the
National Association for Retarded Children), and the National Association for Down Syndrome
(NADS) began raising public awareness of needs of children with disabilities. Research, parent
advocacy groups, and social rights activists, began to demand a more inclusive education system.
Brown v. Board of Education (1954) prohibited the arbitrary discrimination and separation of
any group of people in the public school system. While originally applied to African American
children discriminated against by the school system, this ruling was later used to argue for
inclusive education more broadly, assuring the rights of students with disabilities and ELLs. The
broad-reaching Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, amended in 2008, clarified the
civil rights of individuals with disabilities in both the public and private sector. Additional court
cases like Pennsylvania Association for Retarded Children v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
(1972), Obert v. Board of Education of Clementon School District (1993), Doe v. Withers
(1993), and Endrew F. v. Douglas Country School District (2017) further advanced the rights of
students with disabilities and held the school system more accountable for inclusive education
and educational progress (Friend and Bursuck, 2018). Similarly, legislation like ​Lau v. Nichols
(1974)​ and ​Casteñada v. Pickard (1981)​ mandated schools also have a responsibility to provide
language learning support that is both appropriate and effective (Wright, 2015, p. 84-85).

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), one of the most powerful pieces
of legislation, specifically addresses the rights of students with disabilities in the public
education system. IDEA, originally passed in 1975, describes different categories of disabilities,
how to identify students, various types of services/aids, and the rights of parents who disagree
with the services offered to their children. IDEA centers on six core principles: 1) free and
appropriate education, 2) least restricted environment, 3) individualized education, 4)
nondiscriminatory evaluation, 5) due process, and 6) zero reject. Additionally, Section 504 of the
Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1973 protects students whose disabilities are not defined in
IDEA. Due to the inclusive nature of modern special education, special education teaching
strategies and student support are not solely a concern of specialists and special education
teachers. Inclusive teaching also concerns general education teachers, ESL teachers, school
counselors, administrators, and beyond.

Reflection

I gained the vast majority of my professional teaching experience in the adult ESL
classroom within the US, though I have also taught in adult and elementary EFL classrooms in
international contexts. When I first enrolled in this course, I questioned how my past teaching
experience would translate to an inclusive K-12 setting. On one hand, as an adult ESL teacher I
frequently use a wide-variety of instructional methods (visual, spoken, written, etc.), I regularly
present different representations of the same information (charts, examples, pictures, etc.), and I
differentiate learning experiences and expectations for students based on skill level and abilities.
These teaching strategies seem highly applicable to an inclusive K-12 setting. On the other hand,
the K-12 classroom greatly differs from the adult ESL classroom – adult classes are grouped by
level, not age, and from my experience I would surmise fewer students in the adult classroom
have pronounced disabilities and correspondingly the adult classroom requires less involved
classroom management strategies.

Through this course, I have learned strategies and tools which allow me to expand upon
my previous experience and to improve my effectiveness as an educator, fostering my own
professional development in alignment with my personal teaching philosophy. My personal
teaching philosophy is emergent, dynamic, and reflective. I currently focus on four aspects in my
teaching – ethical education, competent instruction, cultural responsiveness, and impact beyond
the classroom. Through this coursework, I gained broader professional knowledge of how to
respond to the needs of all students, ensuring equitable education for all. I now have greater
knowledge of effective pedagogy, accommodations, modifications, scaffolding, and various
techniques to meet the needs of all students, improving my own efficacy and competency. I
broadened my awareness of how to build a welcoming, inclusive, culturally responsive
classroom community that welcomes all differences. I also am better prepared to engage in my
community as a reflective partner, researcher, leader, and advocate for my students. I strive to
continue to improve my abilities to meet all students’ academic, cognitive, social, emotional, and
cultural needs.

Discussion

In this section, I examine the intersection of ESL and special education. I first highlight
specific challenges teachers and students may when working within this intersection. I then
describe potential areas of synergy, overlapping goals and strategies, within the crossroads of
ESL and special education.

ELL and Special Ed: Challenges

The unique social, cultural, and learning challenges students receiving both special
education and ESL services face require special attention. Educators and specialists should take
care to appropriately identify and respond to the social needs ELLs who also receive special
education services. Educators, administrators, and policy-makers can also consider ways to
promote professional development, training, and collaboration surrounding ELLs and special
education.

Linguistic and Cultural Differences. ​English Language Learners (ELLs), along with native
speakers of non-standard varieties of English, are often overrepresented in special education in
the US (Harris et al, 2009; Prezas and Jo, 2017; Johnson 1971, Friend and Bursuck, 2018). For
example, African American students are 2.22 times more likely to be identified as intellectually
disabled and 2.08 times more likely to be identified as having emotional or behavioral
disabilities (Friend and Bursuck, 2018, p. 15). This is in part caused because educators may
struggle to disentangle language and cultural differences (dialect, discursive styles, etc.) with
indications of language disorders. A language difference refers to a variation in speech,
pronunciation, grammar, or discourse style that is shared by a particular region or culture while a
language disorder refers to a reduced ability to process and/or produce language (Friend and
Bursuck, 2018). When we misdiagnose students with language differences as having language
disorders, we are not only disrupting their academic development, we are disrupting their social
and cultural development. We are telling our students that they, as a person, are not correct.
Collaboration is key. Assessments should be available in the student’s home language, and
special, general, and ESL educators should work alongside parents and community members to
ensure culturally and linguistically diverse students who ​do​ have disabilities are properly
identified.

Social Challenges.​ Students who receive both ESL and special education services can feel
particularly isolated. Students receiving sheltered instruction for both ESL and special education
will spend less time in the general education classroom, resulting in less time to make friends
and socialize in the general education classroom. Additionally, speech and/or language
impairments along with cultural and linguistic differences can interfere with communication.
These characteristics may draw unwanted social attention and cause the speakers or listeners
social discomfort. Language differences and disorders can both affect a student’s social
experience during class discussions and presentations, small group and partner work, reading
comprehension, and other routine classroom tasks (Friend and Bursuck, 2018). Social inclusion
in the general education classroom can be especially challenging for students receiving both ESL
and special education services.

Limited Knowledge of Professionals.​ The unique social, cultural, and learning challenges of
students receiving both special education and ESL services necessitate extensive collaboration
among educators, specialists, and family members. Unfortunately, research demonstrates school
principals, educators, and specialists often have limited knowledge of theory, best practices, and
even school policies surrounding ELLs and special education (Prezas and Jo, 2017). To better
support students, educators and school systems should promote additional research, better data
collection, clarified policies, and more extensive professional development surrounding ELLs
and special education. Educators should examine their own assumptions surrounding race,
language, and culture and improve their knowledge of language acquisition theory. Families,
ESL teachers, specialists, classroom teachers, and district representatives should work in
collaborative teams to better address student needs from multiple perspectives, and disability
assessments should be offered in students’ home languages. (Harris et al, 2009; Prezas and Jo,
2017, Johnson 1971). When we embrace positive practices like these, we start to work towards
better educational and social outcomes for all students.

ELL and Special Ed: Synergies

Educators can also discover areas of synergy, overlapping principles and strategies,
within the intersection of ESL and special education. By fostering these areas of synergy,
educators can better respond to the needs of students receiving ​both​ ESL and special education
services.

Guiding Principles. ​Many of the same guiding principles – respect, inclusion, thoughtful
reflection, least restrictive environment – underpin both culturally responsive teaching and
inclusive classrooms. Teachers of both inclusive and culturally responsive classrooms foster a
welcoming environment, carefully design coursework to foster meaningful interaction, and
develop inclusive and cooperative learning content, activities, and methodologies (Friend and
Bursuck, 2018; Gay, 2002). By slightly adapting inclusive classroom practices aimed for
students with special needs and/or by modifying culturally responsive approaches, teachers can
develop a classroom community that is more welcoming and inclusive of all differences. Social
inclusion and interaction greatly supports the second language learning process. When students
use language in authentic, meaningful communication they negotiate meaning, elicit requests for
clarification, and fine-tune their accent. They build their communicative, discourse, and
sociolinguistic competences (Peregoy and Boyle, 2017). Furthermore, similar to how students
with disabilities fare best in the least restrictive environment (Friend and Bursuck, 2018),
research overwhelmingly concludes linguistically-inclusive classrooms are more effective than
other, more restrictive ESL program models, such as sheltered or protected ESL programs
(Collier and Thomas, 2004). While a fully bilingual classroom may not be feasible in all settings,
culturally responsive and inclusive classrooms, that serve students in the least restrictive
environment and that emphasize student strengths, foster a welcoming environment in which
both cultural and linguistically diverse students and students with special needs can thrive.

Teaching Strategies. ​Many special education teaching strategies can also facilitate learning for
ELLs. For example, methods like alternative and multi-modal communication, using a
wide-variety of instructional methods (visual, spoken, written, etc.), and presenting different
representations of the same information (charts, examples, pictures, etc.) serve ELLs, students
with special needs, and all learners. Differentiating learning experiences and expectations for
students based on skill levels and abilities along with thoughtful instructional scaffolding can
also support learning for all students (Friend and Bursuck, 2018; Peregoy and Boyle, 2017).

Classroom Management Strategies. ​Consistent, predictable classroom routines, policies, and

procedures can help both students who struggle with transitions and also students with limited
English proficiency levels. Students of all abilities also benefit from explicitly-taught
expectations surrounding classroom behavior. Students with disabilities may have difficulties
understanding interactional practices like listening, volume, turn-taking, etc. Similarly, ELLs
may have different culturally-informed practices regarding personal space, noise levels,
discourse patterns, and more. Thus, explicit instruction surrounding behavioral expectations can
also aid both ELLs and students with disabilities (The IRIS Center, 2019; Gay, 2002).
Establishing clear and consistent rules, procedures, and expectations from the outset can help all
students better adapt to classroom learning.

Conclusion

Educators serving students should take care to understand the unique obstacles students
receiving both ESL and special education services face. Alongside these challenges, educators
may uncover ways ESL and special education approaches and strategies overlap and complement
each other. General education teachers, specialists, special education teachers, ESL educators,
and administrators should collaborate to build their professional understanding of theory, best
practices, and school policies surrounding ELLs and special education. By doing so, educators
can ensure better social, academic, cultural, and personal outcomes for all students.
 References

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