How Parental Involvement in Ell Students Play a Role in Their Success

How Parental Involvement in ELL Students Play a Role in Their Success

How Parental Involvement in ELL Students Play a Role in Their Success

With the influx of immigrants and non-English speaking children into the American school system, finding the most efficient and effective means of teaching these children has becomes a national issue. Many questions have been asked on what can be done to improve the ELL students learning experience which will allow them to integrate into the mainstream classroom with the necessary skills and knowledge to thrive. One key component to come out of many studies is the efficaciousness of parents who are actively engaged in their children’s schooling, but many questions still remain. How do you get parents who may not speak English to help their children learn, and what can be done to bring parents into the learning environment when their culture may have different viewpoints on schools and parental involvement in the school.

How Parents Can Assist their ELL Child

Parental involvement has been shown to be a strong predictor of how well ELL students perform in school. It has been one of the most studied aspect of children’s success in school.

Parents can have a very positive effect on their children’s acquisition of a second language. According to Robson (1981) former experience with schooling impacts how individuals succeed in a second language environs (Suzanne, 2010). Often, parental ambitions about how successful they want their children to be can be a significant predictor on how well they do. According to recent research by Jeynes (2011) it proposed that parent expectations and their communications to their children about the importance of school are more influential than the more obvious types of parental involvement such as assistance at school. A simple, but effective, means of getting parents involved in their children’s education comes from monitoring of homework assignments. If parents are not able to assist their children with homework due to time constraints caused by work schedules or other issues, enlisting the help of older siblings, family members, or even neighbors can be effectively used. Schools can also assist parents with helping with homework, or other needed assistance, by offering to the children, and by reaching out to, the parents to let them know of afterschool tutoring in the school or tutoring available in the local community (Vera, Israel, Coyle, Knight-Lynn, Moallem, & Godberger, 2012).

An important measure parents can make in assisting their children with their schooling (and this is especially important for ELL students with the increased burden of learning a new language while also having to learn the same curriculum as students in the mainstream classroom) is routine. This can be easily accomplished by even the busiest of parents. Routines can consist of doing homework at the same time and place every day, bedtime rituals, and restricting the children’s access to media (TV, games etc.) and other time-management techniques that can assist with helping children focus (Vera et al., 2012).

Of particular note, recent studies have shown that parents who read to their children frequently did not have a more profound effect on them learning a second language. Of more importance for ELL students is the parent’s educational level. This suggests that the parents who have a higher educational level, and are more literate in their native language or English, are much more likely to engage their children in literacy experiences than those who lack the necessary literacy skills (Vera et al., 2012).

Even if parents have a limited knowledge of English they can assist their children by monitoring their homework (even if they cannot monitor their progress due to their limitation of the language) and assist their children in removing obstacle from their learning environment (i.e. procrastination, distractions, etc.).

Common Issues Surrounding Parents of ELL Students

It is common for most teachers to have little or no understanding about who the parents actually are or what the realities of their education. Encouraging parents to support their children in acquiring a second language in a new country can often be difficult. The prior experiences of the parent in school, along with their expectations can get in the way of their support of their ELL child. Also, what their English proficiency can have a large impact on what the parent is able to bring to the table (Suzanne, 2010). Prior experiences in their education in the ELL students originating country can also have a profound effect on how well a child does in school, both positive and negative.