U.S. Advocacy Update: The Quarter in Review
The past few months have been quite tumultuous in Washington, DC. After a busy June and July, and a quiet August recess, the U.S. Congress and the Department of Education returned to activity in September only to literally grind to a halt in October due to a political stalemate, leading to a partial shutdown of the U.S. government. The government returned to operations on 17 October; now that the spectacle has ended, here’s a summary of some of the other developments in English language education policy over the past few months.
Comprehensive Immigration Reform
After much debate, the U.S. Senate passed the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act (S. 744) at the end of June. Approved on a vote of 68–32, the passage of this bill is a significant milestone in the history of immigration reform in the United States. If enacted into law, this bill would be the most comprehensive overhaul of U.S. immigration in more than 25 years.
The bill is divided into four sections, and deals with issues of border security, changes to the immigration system, interior enforcement, and other issues. Title II of the proposed law, Reforms to Immigrant Visa Programs and Immigrant Integration Provisions, deals with some of the main areas that would impact the TESOL field and English learners, specifically the creation of a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, the DREAM Act, and programs to support immigrant integration.
Although passage of the Senate bill is a significant step forward, action by the U.S. House of Representatives is needed in order to make comprehensive immigration reform a reality. At the time of this writing, the House has yet to act.
Read a detailed analysis of the Senate bill, available from the Immigration Policy Center.
Elementary and Secondary Education Act Reauthorization
June was also a busy month for reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Act (ESEA), as both the House and Senate took action on competing ESEA reauthorization bills. In the Senate, the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee passed its ESEA reauthorization bill, the Strengthening America’s Schools Act (S. 1094), while the House Education and the Workforce Committee passed its main reauthorization bill, the Student Success Act (H.R. 5). Both bills passed their respective committees on strictly partisan votes.
S. 1094 has the support of much of the civil rights community and builds on a commitment to ensuring that all students, of every socioeconomic status and ability, are well served by public schools. In contrast, H.R. 5 is focused on reducing the federal role in education by eliminating the accountability provisions in current law and merging funds that are targeted at serving specific populations of students. Many education groups, including TESOL International Association, have serious concerns with H.R. 5, and have stated their opposition to the bill. Despite this, H.R. 5 passed the House on a party vote in July.
TESOL’s comments on H.R. 5 are available online.
Transitions at the Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA)
As is typical with many federal agencies during the start of a second presidential term, the U.S. Department of Education has seen a number of transitions and new faces. Following the departure of OELA Director Dr. Rosalinda Barrera last October, the deputy director, Joanne Urrutia, announced her resignation in June. In September, the U.S. Department of Education announced the appointment of Dr. Libia (Libi) Gil as the next OELA Director.
In the meantime, the OELA issued several requests for information to gather comments and input on possible new initiatives and activities for the office in September. Hopefully, the recent activity and new leadership are indications that the OELA will ramp up its important work once again.
You can read more about Dr. Gil here.
TESOL’s comments in response to the Department of Education’s requests are available online.
TESOL Blogs
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Check out the latest TESOL Blogs:
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Utilizing Cell Phones With Students: Sending Reminders 101, by Tara Arntsen
 While I talk a lot on the TESOL Blog about using technology, I have yet to talk about how to use cell phones as part of your teaching, and that is something I want to start to address in this post.
Cell phones are a really useful tool for teachers because a lot of students use them every day, and studies done in countries like the United States have shown that students, especially teens, often interact more via texting than any other method. I was reminded of this most recently by Dr. Pascarella in a webinar titled Confronting the Challenges of NextGen Learning in the Age of Participatory Culture from the University of Southern California – Rossier. The webinar made me think about how teachers might integrate technology, especially cell phones, into their teaching. That question led me to Remind101. Read More. |
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Classroom Activity: Hiring the New ESL Instructor, by Alexandra Lowe
 Adult ESL students often have strong opinions about their current and former ESL teachers. Why not channel that into a challenging speaking, listening, reading, and writing activity? Here’s what we did in my advanced speaking and listening class earlier this month:
I began by asking the students to consider what qualities make for a great ESL teacher. What did they like best about some of their former teachers? What did they like least? Which activities made the greatest impression on them? I jotted down their comments on the board so that they could refer back to them later in the activity. Read More. |
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L2 Writers: Difficulties in Mainstream Composition Classrooms, by Elena Shvidko
 Several weeks ago, I addressed the topic of the placement of international students in first-year composition classes in the institutions of higher education. Several options were mentioned including mainstream classes, basic writing classes, and courses designed specifically for L2 writers (Silva, 1994). While the combination of these options is aimed at meeting the unique needs of international students, not all universities are able to provide them all due to financial and curricular restrictions. In many cases, being able to understand challenges that L2 writers may experience in mainstream composition courses becomes the responsibility of writing program administrators and instructors, so that perhaps other types of support can be offered to students.
In today’s entry, I would like to refer you to three studies that explored the difficulties of L2 writers in mainstream classrooms. Read More. |
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Yinghuei Chen on the ESP Conference for Greater China, by Kevin Knight
 Hello, ESPers worldwide!
At the IS Leaders’ Workshop at TESOL 2012, a photo was taken of the immediate past chair (Kevin Knight), the chair (Najma Janjua), and the chair-elect (Yinghuei Chen) of the ESP Interest Section of TESOL. Najma aptly referred to the photo as “The past, present, and future of ESP-IS.”
As leaders, we have the opportunity and the challenge to make real a vision in collaboration with others. Read More. |
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