What characterizes equitable and effective assessment and instructional practices for EL students in the secondary STEM classroom?
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2022
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Swarthmore College. Dept. of Educational Studies
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en
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Full copyright to this work is retained by the student author. It may only be used for non-commercial, research, and educational purposes. All other uses are restricted.
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Abstract
English learners (ELs) need to be equipped with tools that can help them find success in their
secondary school STEM classes, as well as for the world beyond high school. There is a delicate balance
between making sure the curriculum provides all the necessary tools for later success, and also allowing
students to use their linguistic and cultural diversity to enable their learning process. Thus, teachers must
consider both effectiveness and equity in the design of their instruction and assessment. This literature
review compiles the findings and research of educators seeking to provide better resources for content
teachers with ELs in their classes. Effective instructional practices like visual aids, pre-teaching
vocabulary and sentence frames can be used to help support EL students in meeting both language and
content standards. Equitable classroom practices such as normalizing translation and translanguaging,
incorporating culturally sustaining pedagogy, and encouraging inquiry-based student discussions all serve
ELs’ need for positive identity formation in STEM. Both how and when these practices are implemented
are also considered. Suggested adaptations will vary across each specific unit, discipline and grade level,
so it requires collaboration among language and content educators to figure out which strategies make the
most sense in which contexts. Most importantly, these instructional modifications are framed as
assets-based rather than deficit-based approaches. There is pedagogical value for all students, whether
they are learning English for the first time, speak other languages at home, use different dialects of
English, or are monolingual English speakers.