Sarah's+Thoughts

Sarah's Thoughts The first thing that caught my eye about the reading was the amount of terms applied to the area of Second-Language Learners. As we all are familiar with, Second Language Learners have more titles than any other group of people I can think of. It is important however, as August points out, that we define these terms and uses them accurately and correctly. I appreciate all of the mentioned terms being defined due to the high volume of these terms and the varied use of these “labels” for students who are Second Language Learners. I also am glad to see that the research which was done in the area of language-minority students was extremely extensive, which was one of the goals of the researchers. Another thing that struck me while reading the text was the type of research that was collected. Not only was there an extensive amount of electronic data searches, and “hand” data searches, but there was public advice and input that was sought as well. I believe it is an important part of any study to go out and talk to people who are in the field and who are dealing with these issues first hand. Often times these people in the “real world” aren’t sugar-coating anything to make it look better than it really appears. People in the field often don’t get the chance to be heard; however a study such as this lends itself to real people sharing great research and experiences. It is important to note that in doing the research for this study, the panel not only wanted to do this research and have all of their questions answered, however they knew that not all of their questions were going to be answered so they would reflect about what further research would need to be done. This is very crucial for researchers to know that not all of their problems and questions will be answered, but there will undoubtedly be questions that still need further research at the end of the study. It is my perception that at times when people do research, they think that what they have “discovered” is the end all be all. However, any researcher should be able to take a step back and realize that there are always more questions to be answered and there will always be more research that can be done to enhance a study. In my experience with teaching second language learners, all of the special strategies and “tools” that we are taught to use with these students also are great for students who speak English as their first language. Strategies that work for Second Language learners just enhance the way that English-only students are taught. In Southern California I have not heard of a class which does not have any students who are second language learners. Therefore, when people say there isn’t time to teach using these strategies, I wonder how they think their English only students will be affected by the exposure to new strategies. My belief is that exposure to strategies for Second Language students is not going to set them back nor do any harm at all, it will help them in the long run.