Content Reading and ESL Students

Abstract

Many districts in the United States and Canada have majority ESL populations. ESL students in secondary schools are enrolled in content classes such as Social Studies where the ability to read and comprehend English is vital. Reading is such a vital skill that many states in the United States require secondary teachers to take courses in reading methodology. Farrell and Cirrincione (1984), for instance, found that 63% of state agencies required all content teachers to have a course in reading methods while 10% required only teachers of English/language arts to have such a course. Only 14 states did not require a reading methods course for content teachers. It has also been observed that content teachers' attitudes toward teaching reading has improved considerably over the last decade or so (Stieglitz, 1983). However, as Ratekin, Simpson, Alvermann, and Dishner (1985) note " ... changing teachers' knowledge and attitudes about content reading strategies does not guarantee they will use those strategies in the classroom" (p. 432). An analysis of observations ofeight classes-math, science, social studies, English/language arts-at grades 8 and 11, led the authors to conclude that content teachers use one textbook with their class rather than a variety, information in the textbooks is the same as that of lectures, and the use of adjunct aids is extremely low. Content area teachers do not incorporate content reading methods into their daily lessons. An important area to be addressed concerns ESL students. Do content teachers modify their instruction relative to the needs of students whose first language is not English? This study was conducted in order to discover more about the nature of ESL reading instruction in content area classrooms. Procedure. A questionnaire was designed containing 26 items. This paper reports on the responses of secondary content-area teachers who were asked to: 1) "Describe carefully how you instruct ESL students in your classroom," and 2) "How could ESL students be better prepared to meet the requirements of your content classes?" Subjects. Five hundred subjects were randomly selected by computer from the membership roles ofthe British Columbia Teachers' Federation (BCTF) and the British Columbia Association of Teachers of English as an Additional Language (TEAL). Each of the approximately 30,000 teachers in the province is required by legislative .mandate to belong to BCTF while the TEAL membership consists of individuals who are interested in ESL matters. Questionnaires were mailed to the 500