Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

English Language Teaching in North American Schools

  • Reference work entry
  • First Online:
Second Handbook of English Language Teaching

Part of the book series: Springer International Handbooks of Education ((SIHE))

Abstract

The chapter focuses on the intersection of research and (K-12) educational policies in English language teaching (ELT) in Mexico, the United States, and Canada. Initially, current provision for ELT in public schools in these three contexts is summarized. Then six thematic lenses are identified through which current ELT provision and experience in these three contexts can be viewed. These thematic lenses are (1) nature, trajectories, and outcomes of ELT; (2) the emergence of content-based approaches to ELT; (3) ELT within bilingual programs; (4) multilingual and translanguaging approaches to ELT; (5) decolonization and identity negotiation in ELT; and (6) literacy engagement as fuel for English academic language development. The final section integrates these themes and the research evidence underlying them with broader policy directions for evidence-based ELT in North American schools.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 449.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 649.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Battiste M (2013) Decolonizing education: nourishing the learning spirit. Purich Publishing, Saskatoon

    Google Scholar 

  • Boykin AW, Noguera P (2011) Creating the opportunity to learn: moving from research to practice to close the achievement gap. ASCD, Alexandria

    Google Scholar 

  • California State Department of Education (1981) Schooling and language minority students: a theoretical framework. National Dissemination and Assessment Center, Los Angeles. https://doi.org/10.13140/2.1.1334.9449

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Callahan R, Wilkinson L, Muller C (2010) Academic achievement and course taking among language minority youth in U.S. schools: effects of ESL placement. Educ Eval Policy Anal 32(1):84–117. https://doi.org/10.3102/0162373709359805

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chamot A, O’Malley J (1986) A cognitive academic language learning approach: an ESL content-based curriculum. National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education, Washington, DC

    Google Scholar 

  • Chow P, Cummins J (2003) Valuing multilingual and multicultural approaches to learning. In: Schecter SR, Cummins J (eds) Multilingual education in practice: using diversity as a resource. Heinemann, Portsmouth, pp 32–61

    Google Scholar 

  • Christensen G, Segeritz M (2008) An international perspective on student achievement. In: Stiftung B (ed) Immigrant students can succeed: lessons from around the globe. Verlag Bertelsmann Stiftung, Gütersloh, pp 11–33

    Google Scholar 

  • Collier VP (1987) Age and rate of acquisition of second language for academic purposes. TESOL Q 21:617–641

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Collier VP, Thomas WP (2007) Predicting second language academic success in English using the prism model. In: Cummins J, Davison C (eds) International handbook of English language teaching. Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, New York, pp 333–348

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Cummins J (1981a) The role of primary language development in promoting educational success for language minority students. In: California State Department of Education (ed) Schooling and language minority students: a theoretical framework. Evaluation, Dissemination and Assessment Center, California State University, Los Angeles, pp 3–49

    Google Scholar 

  • Cummins J (1981b) Age on arrival and immigrant second language learning in Canada: a reassessment. Appl Linguis 2:132–149

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cummins J (2007) Rethinking monolingual instructional strategies in multilingual classrooms. Can J Appl Linguis 10:221–240

    Google Scholar 

  • Cummins J (2017) Teaching for transfer in multilingual educational contexts. In: García O, Lin A (eds) Bilingual education: encyclopedia of language and education, 3rd edn. Springer Science + Business Media LLC, New York, pp 103–115

    Google Scholar 

  • Cummins J, Early M (2011) Identity texts: the collaborative creation of power in multilingual schools. Trentham Books, Stoke-on-Trent

    Google Scholar 

  • Cummins J, Early M (2015) Big ideas for expanding minds: teaching English language learners across the curriculum. Rubicon Press/Pearson Canada, Toronto

    Google Scholar 

  • Cummins J, Hu S, Markus P, Montero MK (2015) Identity texts and academic achievement: connecting the dots in multilingual school contexts. TESOL Q 49(3):555–581

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Darling-Hammond L (2010) The flat world and education: how America’s commitment to equity will determine our future. Teachers College Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Davies P (2007) La enseñanza del inglés en las escuelas públicas secundarias y primarias en México [The teaching of English in primary and secondary public schools in Mexico]. Mextesol J 31:13–21

    Google Scholar 

  • DeFazio AJ (1997) Language awareness at the international high school. In: Van Lier L, Corson D (eds) Knowledge about language. Encyclopedia of language and education. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, pp 99–107

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Derwing TM, DeCorby E, Ichikawa J, Jamieson K (1999) Some factors that affect the success of ESL high school students. Can Mod Lang Rev 55:532–547

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Duke N (2000) For the rich it’s richer: print experiences and environments offered to children in very low and very high-socioeconomic status first-grade classrooms. Am Educ Res J 37:441–478

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Early M, Hooper H (2001) Implementation of the Vancouver school board initiatives. In: Mohan B, Leung C, Davison C (eds) Teaching, learning, identity. Pearson Education, London, pp 138–150

    Google Scholar 

  • Echevarria J, Vogt ME, Short D (2004) Making content comprehensible for English language learners: the SIOP model, second edition. Allyn & Bacon, Boston

    Google Scholar 

  • Enciso A (2013) En México, 56% de los niños menores de cinco años viven en la pobreza [In Mexico, 56% of children under five years of age live in poverty]. La Jornada. Retrieved from http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2013/04/ 04/sociedad/040nlsoc

  • Escamilla K, Hopewell S, Butvilofsky S, Sparrow W, Soltero-Gonzalez, Ruiz-Figueroa O, Escamilla M (2014) Biliteracy from the start: literacy squared in action. Caslon Publishing, Philadelphia

    Google Scholar 

  • García O (2009) Bilingual education in the 21st century. A global perspective. Basil Blackwell, Boston

    Google Scholar 

  • García O, Kleyn T (eds) (2016) Translanguaging with multilingual students. Routledge, New York/London

    Google Scholar 

  • González Amador E (2013) En México la brecha entre ricos y pobres es la más amplia de la OCDE [In Mexico the gap between rich and poor is the widest within the OCDE]. La Jornada. Retrieved from http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2013/05/15/economia/029n2eco

  • Gunderson L, D’Silva RA, Odo DM (2012) Immigrant students navigating Canadian schools: a longitudinal view. TESL Can J 29(6):142–146

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hamel RE (1994) Linguistic rights for Amerindian peoples in Latin American. In: Stubnabb-Kangas T, Phillipson R (eds) Linguistic human rights: overcoming linguistic discrimination. Mouton de Gruyter, New York, pp 289–304

    Google Scholar 

  • Kleyn T (2017) Centering transborder students: perspectives on identity, languaging, and schooling between the U.S. and Mexico. Multicult Perspect 19(2):76–84

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krashen SD (1981) Second language acquisition and second language learning. Pergamon Press, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Krashen SD (2004) The power of reading: insights from the research, 2nd edn. Heinemann, Portsmouth

    Google Scholar 

  • Lambert WE, Tucker GR (1972) Bilingual education of children: the St. Lambert experiment. Newbury House, Rowley

    Google Scholar 

  • Lethaby C (2003) Private English/Spanish bilingual education in Mexico: looking at our reality. Mextesol J 26(3):65–73

    Google Scholar 

  • Lewis G, Jones B, Baker C (2012) Translanguaging: origins and development from school to street and beyond. Educ Res Eval: Int J Theory Pract 18(7):37–41

    Google Scholar 

  • López Gopar ME, Sughrua W (2014) Social class in English language education in Oaxaca, Mexico. J Lang Identity Educ 13:104–110

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • López-Gopar ME (2016) Decolonizing primary English language teaching. Multilingual Matters, Bristol

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • MacSwan J (2017) A multilingual perspective on translanguaging. Am Educ Res J 54(1):167–201. https://doi.org/10.3102/0002831216683935

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Márquez Jiménez A (2017) A 15 años de PISA: Resultados y polémicas [15 years of PISA: Results and debates]. Perfiles Educativos XXXIX(156):1–15

    Google Scholar 

  • McAndrew M, Anisef P, Garnett B, Ledent J, Sweet R (2009) Educational pathways and academic performance of youth of immigrant origin: comparing Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver. Canadian Council on Learning, Ottawa. Retrieved from http://www.ccl-cca.ca/pdfs/OtherReports/CIC-CCL-Final12aout2009EN.pdf

    Google Scholar 

  • McCarty TL (2008) Bilingual education by and for American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians. In: Cummins J, Hornberger N (eds) Encyclopedia of language and education, vol 5, 2nd edn. Springer Science+Business Media LLC, New York, pp 239–252

    Google Scholar 

  • Mohan B (1986) Language and content. Addison-Wesley, Reading

    Google Scholar 

  • National Center for Education Statistics [NCES] (2018) English language learners in public schools. Cond Educ. Retrieved from http://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator_cgf.asp

  • Neuman SB, Celano D (2001) Access to print in low-income and middle-income communities: an ecological study of four neighborhoods. Read Res Q 36:8–26

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Norton B (2013) Identity and language learning: extending the conversation, 2nd edn. Multilingual Matters, Bristol

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • OECD (2004) Messages from PISA 2000. Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Paris

    Google Scholar 

  • OECD (2010a) Strong performers and successful reformers in education: lessons from PISA for the United States. Retrieved from http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/32/50/46623978.pdf

  • OECD (2010b) PISA 2009 results: learning to learn – student engagement, strategies and practices, vol III. OECD, Paris. Retrieved from http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/11/17/48852630.pdf

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • OECD (2015) Helping immigrant students succeed at school – and beyond. OECD, Paris. Retrieved from https://www.oecd.org/education/Helping-immigrant-students-to-succeed-at-school-and-beyond.pdf

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Olivares Alonso E (2013) Sólo 19.3% de la población en el grupo de personas no pobres ni vulnerables [Only19.3% of the population in the group of people neither poor nor vulnerable]. La Jornada. Retrieved from http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2013/03/15/sociedad/045n2soc

  • Pennycook A (2016) Politics, power relations and ELT. In: Hall G (ed) The Routledge handbook of English language teaching. Routledge, London, pp 26–37

    Google Scholar 

  • Ramírez Romero JL, Sayer P, Pamplón Irigoyen EN (2014) English language teaching in public primary schools in Mexico: the practices and challenges of implementing a national language education program. Int J Qual Stud Educ 27(8):1020–1043

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ramírez-Romero JL, Sayer P (2016) The teaching of English in public primary schools in Mexico: more heat than light? Educ Policy Anal Arch 24(84):1–21

    Google Scholar 

  • Reyes Cruz MR, Murrieta Loyo G, Hernández Méndez E (2011) Políticas lingüísticas nacionales e internacionales sobre la enseñanza del ingles en escuelas primarias [National and international language policies on the teaching of English in elementary schools]. Rev Pueblos Front Digit 6(12):167–197

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sanchez C (2017) English language learners: how your state is doing. National Public Radio Education. Retrieved from https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2017/02/23/512451228/5-million-english-language-learners-a-vast-pool-of-talent-at-risk

  • Sayer P (2015) ‘More & earlier’: neoliberalism and primary English education in Mexican public schools. L2 J 7(3):40–56

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sayer P, López-Gopar M (2015) Language education in Mexico: access, equity, and ideology. In: Wright WE, Boun S, García O (eds) The handbook of bilingual and multilingual education. Wiley-Blackwell, Malden, pp 578–591

    Google Scholar 

  • Shin N (2017) The effects of the initial English language learner classification on students’ later academic outcomes. Educ Eval Policy Anal 40(2):175–195

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stanat P, Christensen G (2006) Where immigrant students succeed: a comparative review of performance and engagement in PISA 2003. Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, Paris

    Google Scholar 

  • Terborg R, García Landa L, Moore P (2007) Language planning in Mexico. In: Baldauf R Jr, Kaplan RB (eds) Language planning and policy in Latin America: vol. 1: Ecuador, Mexico and Paraguay. Multilingual Matters, Clevedon, pp 115–217

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Toohey K, Derwing TM (2008) Hidden losses: how demographics can encourage incorrect assumptions about ESL high school students’ success. Alberta J Educ Res 54(2):178–193

    Google Scholar 

  • Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (2015) Canada’s residential schools: the history, Part 1 Origins to 1939. The final report of the truth and reconciliation commission of Canada, vol 1. Retrieved from http://nctr.ca/assets/reports/Final%20Reports/Volume_1_History_Part_1_English_Web.pdf

  • Valentino RA, Reardon SF (2015) Effectiveness of four instructional programs designed to serve English learners: variation by ethnicity and initial English proficiency. Educ Eval Policy Anal 37(4):612–637. https://doi.org/10.3102/0162373715573310

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Volante L, Klinger D, Bilgili Ö, Siegel M (2017) Making sense of the performance (dis)advantage for immigrant students across Canada. Can J Educ/Rev Can l’éducation 40(3):229–361

    Google Scholar 

  • Walton F, O’Leary D (eds) (2015) SIVUMUT: towards the future together Inuit women educational leaders in Nunavut and Nunavik. Women’s Press, Toronto

    Google Scholar 

  • Watt DLE, Roessingh H (1994) Some you win, most you lose: tracking ESL student drop out in high school (1988–1993). Engl Q 26(3):5–7

    Google Scholar 

  • Watt DLE, Roessingh H (2001) The dynamics of ESL dropout: plus ça change …. Can Mod Lang Rev 58:203–222

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Williams C (1996) Secondary education: teaching in the bilingual situation. In: Williams C, Lewis G, Baker C (eds) The language policy: taking stock. CAI, Llangefni, pp 39–78

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning, University of Toronto, TR, Canada

    Jim Cummins

  2. Åbo Akademi University, Turku, Finland

    Jim Cummins

  3. Universidad Autónoma Benito Juárez de Oaxaca, Oaxaca, Mexico

    Mario E. López-Gopar & William M. Sughrua

Authors
  1. Jim Cummins
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Mario E. López-Gopar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. William M. Sughrua
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jim Cummins .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Xuesong Gao

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Cummins, J., López-Gopar, M.E., Sughrua, W.M. (2019). English Language Teaching in North American Schools. In: Gao, X. (eds) Second Handbook of English Language Teaching. Springer International Handbooks of Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-02899-2_1

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation