Students Learning English Had a Difficult Time During the Pandemic

 

A research center has found that students learning English as a second language, or ESL, struggled during the coronavirus health crisis.

Last month, the WIDA consortium, a research group based at the University of Wisconsin, released a study on ESL students. It found English proficiency¹ and growth in English studies decreased during the 2020-2021 school year. WIDA provides standardized² tests to English learners in 36 states. State and federal law requires ESL students to be tested from kindergarten through 12th grade. The WIDA test is used to find out if a student should remain in ESL classrooms or join the general student population.

Scores in many areas of English proficiency — reading, speaking, listening and writing — decreased during the last school year. The biggest decreases were in speaking. Students in the elementary and middle school grades showed the biggest decreases, while high school students improved in areas like listening and reading.

Educators and school officials say that online classes made it more difficult for ESL students to use English when it was not spoken at home. Students did not have a full day of schooling³ in English online, said Dessynie Edwards. She is the assistant superintendent⁴ of Austin Independent School District in Texas. But she expects student performance to improve this year now that classes are returning to normal.

There were some limits to the WIDA data however. WIDA required its tests to be taken in-person, even in districts where classes were online. That may have been the reason why 30 percent fewer students took the WIDA test in 2021 than in 2019 and 2020.

Because of the pandemic, students were also tested at irregular times. Instead of being tested every 12 months, students took the test between 9 and 15 months apart. And students who took the test one year, might not have taken the test again.

The total number of students in the study was also low, said Leslie Villegas. She is with the New America Foundation, a public policy research group in Washington, D.C. Students from Texas, California and New York do not take the WIDA test and are not included in the data. However, those three states have the highest numbers of ESL students.

Villegas said the study provides some useful information but that educators should be "careful" about forming opinions from it. The information is "definitely not representative of all (English learners) in the country," Villegas said. "I think we need to keep that in mind." Students may not have been in a good academic position before the pandemic either, she said.

Finding good quality information on English learners' educational progress has been difficult throughout the pandemic, Villegas said.

For example, Edwards said there is a "gap" in data about ESL learners' performance and participation⁵ rates in Austin. While Texas has a statewide test to measure performance, the test was not required for all students last year.

"I would not use (2021) test data to say, ‘Oh, this is where we're going as a nation,' other than to see if it aligns⁷ with something that we have some evidence of locally," Kristina Robertson told the publication Education Week. Robertson is the head of ESL programs at Roseville Area Schools in Minnesota.

Villegas said states should look at their own test scores and information to find out where to place their resources to best serve their students.

"The onus⁸ is not on students," she said. "The onus is on the system to figure out where the need is and target resources and attention and support to those areas."

Words in This Story

proficient⁹ — adj. good at doing something; skillful

standardized — adj. done in a regular way to ensure that all examples are the same

district — n. an area established by a government for official government business (such as public schools)

academic — adj. relating to schools or universities

gap — n.a difference between two sets or groups

participation –n. to be involved in doing something with others

align⁶ — n. to cause something to agree or support something else

onus — n.. a responsibility for something

figure out — v. (phrasal) to understand or find something by thinking

1 proficiency   

n.精通，熟练，精练

参考例句：

• He plied his trade and gained proficiency in it.他勤习手艺，技术渐渐达到了十分娴熟的地步。
• How do you think of your proficiency in written and spoken English?你认为你的书面英语和口语熟练程度如何？

2 standardized   

adj.标准化的

参考例句：

• We use standardized tests to measure scholastic achievement. 我们用标准化考试来衡量学生的学业成绩。
• The parts of an automobile are standardized. 汽车零件是标准化了的。

3 schooling   

n.教育；正规学校教育

参考例句：

• A child's access to schooling varies greatly from area to area.孩子获得学校教育的机会因地区不同而大相径庭。
• Backward children need a special kind of schooling.天赋差的孩子需要特殊的教育。

4 superintendent   

n.监督人，主管，总监；(英国)警务长

参考例句：

• He was soon promoted to the post of superintendent of Foreign Trade.他很快就被擢升为对外贸易总监。
• He decided to call the superintendent of the building.他决定给楼房管理员打电话。

5 participation   

n.参与，参加，分享

参考例句：

• Some of the magic tricks called for audience participation.有些魔术要求有观众的参与。
• The scheme aims to encourage increased participation in sporting activities.这个方案旨在鼓励大众更多地参与体育活动。

6 align   

vt.使成一线，结盟，调节；vi.成一线，结盟

参考例句：

• Align the ruler and the middle of the paper.使尺子与纸张的中部成一条直线。
• There are signs that the prime minister is aligning himself with the liberals.有迹象表明首相正在与自由党人结盟。

7 aligns   

使成一线( align的第三人称单数 )； 排整齐； 校准； 公开支持（某人、集体或观点）

参考例句：

• HASP SRM fully aligns with the software product lifecycle. HASPSRM完全遵循软件产品的生命周期。
• Significant employee aligns the interests of our employees and our shareholders. 员工大量持股可以使员工与股东的利益协调一致。

8 onus   

n.负担；责任

参考例句：

• The onus is on government departments to show cause why information cannot bedisclosed.政府部门有责任说明不能把信息公开的理由。
• The onus of proof lies with you.你有责任提供证据。

9 proficient   

adj.熟练的，精通的；n.能手，专家

参考例句：

• She is proficient at swimming.她精通游泳。
• I think I'm quite proficient in both written and spoken English.我认为我在英语读写方面相当熟练。