Gifted ELLs A Resource for Teachers and Educators

English Language Learners can’t possibly be gifted… right?

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As an elementary ESOL teacher, this topic has been on my radar. I have had students come to my school from countries like Palestine, Nicaragua, and Mexico with little to no experience with the English language. After recognizing the difficult task ahead of me, I quickly go to work with them on basic conversational language and necessary

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and useful vocabulary to aid their transition. We survive the school year together. Fast-forward to the following year and you may see these same students performing at or above grade level. Granted, they are still receiving ESOL services,

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• Identification Issues

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Making Progress? A History of

ELLs in Gifted Education

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Teaching Strategies and Resources

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Jenna Gable - Special Populations Project June 2015

• How can we improve identification processes?

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Giftedness is not a trait inherent to native English speakers; however, there is a lack of tools that can detect giftedness in minority language students. In fact, many children of other languages have special talents and gifts that are valued within their own cultures; unfortunately, these students are often not recognized as gifted and talented.

Most procedures for identifying gifted and talented students have been developed for use with middle class children who are native English speakers. They rely on either oral or written language skills, so these potentially gifted ELLs are unable to fully express themselves in English. Such procedures have led to an underrepresentation of minority language students in gifted and

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talented programs, which in turn prevents our schools from developing the strengths and abilities of this special population (Cohen, 1990).

Identification Issues – Fair isn’t always equal!

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• Collect background data and work samples for each student

• Observe the child’s language and social behaviors

• Examine cultural and linguistic behaviors of the child and determine if they can be obscuring the child’s potential giftedness

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• Consider ALL nominations

• Examine standardized test scores in light of the demographic data

• Draw a profile of the student to determine placement

• Employ more well-rounded assessment techniques (like nonverbal tests) in addition to the typical standardized tests

• Consider testing in the child’s native language

Aliquam

How can we improve processes of identification?

We must veer away from trying to “fix” English Learners’

language deficit before looking at their characteristics of

potential giftedness. If we simply limit them to one label while excluding other factors, they are being underserved and it’s unlikely that they will reach their true potential (Stein, Hetzel,

& Beck, 2011).

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Teaching Strategies and Resources What can you do to help these students?

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Teachers play very crucial roles in the success of gifted ELLs. Table 1 (above) provides helpful strategies that teachers can and should implement in their classrooms when working with gifted ELLs. These may seem general to all ELLs but they are especially helpful when considering how to challenge those who are also gifted.

Teachers play an important role in the identification of gifted ELLs, so it is important to be familiar with the characteristics of gifted learners. If you see that they have talents in any areas, recommend them for gifted testing and give some background information that will help the gifted teacher determine whether or not this child can be successful in the program.

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It’s important for teachers of gifted ELLs to engage in culturally responsive teaching (respecting cultural diversity, learning about students’ backgrounds, understanding how students learn and promoting student learning, and being capable of advancing equity in school) and linguistically responsive teaching (respect for and positive attitudes toward linguistic diversity, ability to identify the language demands of classroom discourse and tasks, and application of key principles of second-language learning in the classroom). High-potential ELLs have the ability to learn a second language at a faster pace but need teachers who will challenge them and provide structured opportunities to develop academic language proficiency (Pereira & de Oliveira, 2015).

Strategy Examples Build language rich environments Provide ample opportunities to listen, speak,

read, and write in English as well as opportunities to develop advanced language proficiency

Modify, don’t simplify, instruction Modify how you present the information, not what you present; present challenging content; ask questions; model the expected performance on a task

Provide opportunities for ELLs to communicate with other students

Offer activities that allow interaction with fluent peers, provide roles models of language, plan heterogeneous groups

Create opportunities for ELLs to understand and process the material

Teacher-directed instruction and individual, pair, and group work

Use multimodal strategies Use oral and written language, visual and auditory materials, direct experiences (field trips), and nonverbal communication (body movement)

Establish language and content objectives Consider what you expect ELLs to learn about language and content

Make connections to students’ language and culture

Use examples that are relevant to their culture

Table 1: Strategies used by linguistically responsive teachers of gifted ELLs

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References: 1. Bermudez, A. B. & Marquez, J. A. (1998). Insights into gifted and talented English Language Learners.

Intercultural Development Research Association. Retrieved from http://www.idra.org/IDRA_Newsletter/June__July_1998_Gifted_and_Talented_Students_Celebrating_25_Years_1973__1998/Insights_into_Gifted_and_Talented_English_Language_Learners

2. Cohen, Linda M. (1990). Meeting the needs of gifted and talented minority language students. ERIC EC

by Hoagies' Gifted Education Page. Retrieved from http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/eric/e480.html 3. Ford, D. Y. (2014). Multicultural issues: gifted education discrimination in McFadden v. Board of

Education for Illinois School District U-46. Gifted Child Today, 37(3), 188-193. 4. Pereira, N., & de Oliveira, L. C. (2015). Meeting the linguistic needs of high-potential English Language

Learners: what Teachers Need to Know. Teaching Exceptional Children, 47(4), 208-215. 5. Stein, J. C., Hetzel, J., & Beck, R. (2011). Twice exceptional? The plight of the gifted English Learner. Delta

Kappa Gamma Bulletin, 78(2), 36.

but they are now more proficient than some of their peers who were born in America. I continue to support their language needs in the classrooms and I soon see them receiving high honors at our spring awards ceremony. How can this be? These are the ELLs I believe to be gifted. Yes, they are twice exceptional. They may very well have qualified for gifted services in their home country, and the only thing holding them back from qualifying in the U.S. is a language barrier and unfair tests. These students deserve the same chance to qualify for gifted education that all other English-speaking students get. The fact of the matter is that ELL school populations are growing yearly and the number of ELLs in gifted programs is not increasing. We, as educators, need to close the gap and give ELLs the fighting chance they deserve in gifted education.

…continued from page 1 Making Progress? A Brief History

of ELLs in Gifted Education

Highly gifted children can be identified in all society groups

(Marland Report, 1972).

Outstanding talents are present in children from all cultural groups

(U.S. Dept of Education, 1993).

Many states have experienced more

than 200% growth in ELL numbers from

1997-2008 (NCELA, 2010).

Yoon & Gentry (2009) found that Hispanic students

were underrepresented in 43 out of 50 states’ gifted programs.

In 2013, McFadden v. BOE found that a gifted program intentionally discriminated against Hispanic students in

their gifted program offerings and in their initial placement

processes (Ford, 2014).