The Role Of The Mainstream Classroom Teacher Vis-A-Vis PEP Students:

Mediator and Facilitator of Learning
Facilitate the Acquisition of English as a Second Language
Proficient Language User
Provide Feedback
Mediation between Cultures
Advocacy -Oriented Attitude
Regardless of the amount of time that a mainstream teacher spends with PEP students, he or she plays an important role in those students' educational development. Mainstream classroom teachers can have five major functions in the education of PEP students. Some of these functions emerge through daily contact with the students in the classroom and concern actual instruction. Others result from students' exposure to teachers in the larger school setting and may affect students' general linguistic, academic, social, and cultural development.
Mediator and Facilitator of Learning
The first role that a mainstream classroom teacher can play vis-a-vis PEP students is that of a mediator and facilitator of learning. This notion of mediation is discussed by Feuerstein; the teacher is seen as a mediating agent who interposes him or herself "between the child and external sources of stimulation, and 'mediates' the world to the child by framing, selecting, focusing, and feeding back environmental experiences in such a way as to produce in him appropriate learning sets and habits" (Feuerstein, 1982, p.71). By virtue of their limited proficiency in the language of instruction, PEP students cannot optimally benefit from content area classes (e.g., math and science,) taught entirely in English. PEP students do not have the language proficiency necessary to meet the linguistic demands of content area classes. They may lack the ability to reason in English, and they are likely to have difficulty learning new vocabulary in English related to new content area concepts. Since both of these cognitive processes are in continual demand in the content area classroom (Chamot and O'Malley, 1986), some type of mediation is necessary.
The most direct way of mediating content area instruction for PEP students would be through their native language, but that is not always a feasible option, especially for a monolingual English-speaking mainstream classroom teacher. Other, albeit less desirable, options are available through the medium of English: teachers can help the PEP students in their classrooms gain access to instruction by specifically preparing them for content area lessons prior to introducing new concepts and by modifying their own teaching slightly (see Hamayan and Perlman, 1990, for practical suggestions). They can also help create a support system for the PEP students by setting up a peer tutoring arrangement in which PEP students are tutored by an English proficient peer or by simply pairing them up with buddies in the classroom who guide them through content area lessons as they unfold.
Facilitate the Acquisition of English as a Second Language
The second role that a mainstream classroom teacher can play in the education of PEP students is that of a person who facilitates the acquisition of English as a second language, especially the cognitively-demanding academic type of language that is used in content area classes. Essentially, any interaction between an ESL learner and a native speaker of English is an opportunity for the student to learn in the second language. Whether in the classroom, the playground, or the school hallway, the teacher provides the student with valuable information about the new language as well as feedback regarding the student's own language. In the classroom, the teacher can foster the development of forms and language proficiency related to literacy, particularly in the content areas. This type of language proficiency has been referred to as Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (Cummins, 1980) and is essential in succeeding in an academic setting.
Classroom language has other beneficial effects: interactions between the teacher and the entire group of students have instructional value for the PEP students in that class. The students learn from listening to the teacher talk and to other students respond. Classroom interaction can have especially great value to PEP students if it is structured in such away that students know what to expect both in terms of the content area being taught and the language that accompanies it (Simich-Dudgeon, McCreedy, and Schleppegrell, 1989). It is also important for PEP students to learn the language that accompanies classroom routines so that they may become fully functioning participants in the classroom.
Proficient Language User
Outside the classroom, a third role emerges for the teacher, that of the proficient English language user. As a proficient speaker of English, the teacher can provide a valuable model for PEP students that they may not get from their peers. Teachers can also provide students with valuable feedback regarding their language that they are also not likely to get from their peers. As feedback that PEP students receive from their English proficient peers may be rather critical and harsh, the teacher's contributions are helpful and timely. Outside the classroom, interactions between mainstream teachers and PEP students usually focus on the message rather than the form of language, making the situation more conducive to the development of communicative skills used in informal interpersonal relations (referred to as the Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills by Cummins, 1980.)
Provide Feedback
Teachers need to provide students with feedback about their language, but they need to do so indirectly and implicitly, avoiding the mere correction and replacement of the student's utterances. One useful method is to expand and extend what the student says. For example, if the student says: "I think so he no come to school today," the teacher might respond: "Oh, you think he didn't come to school today? Do you know why?" rather than focusing on the erroneous structures in the student's utterance. This gives the student the correct linguistic model and, as an important corollary, sends the message that the student's attempts at communication are accepted. (See Simich-Dudgeon, McCreedy, and Schleppegrell, 1989, for some useful guidelines for teachers in helping PEP students to communicate.)
The fourth role for the mainstream classroom teacher is that of a representative of the mainstream culture and a mediating agent in the socialization and acculturation of the student into the mainstream school community. In the case of students who come from a cultural background that is vastly different from that of the mainstream population, there is a need for developing and maintaining the social and cultural bridges between the students' home culture and that of the school (Ovando, 1989). Teachers can help PEP students who come from a cultural background that is different from that of the school by making the norms of the school culture as explicit as possible, but in a non-threatening way. Students need time to learn about a new culture and will need even more time to adopt its norms. Also the adoption of a new culture does not need to occur at the expense of the native culture. Students need to feel proud of their own heritage to be motivated to learn and to be proud of their new second culture (Simich-Dudgeon, McCreedy, and Schleppegrell, 1989).
Mediation between Cultures
The mediation between cultures, that of the mainstream population and that of the linguistically diverse student populations, must be multidirectional. That is, members of the mainstream can also benefit from learning about the various cultures that PEP students represent. Teachers can play an extremely valuable role in creating a truly multicultural environment in their school by giving a prominent place to PEP students' culture in everyday school life. This means going beyond the annual multicultural food festival, or the occasional lesson about pi:atas. Creating a truly multicultural school milieu implies viewing every aspect of the curriculum from the perspective of other cultures. By doing so, PEP students, who are typically perceived as being in need of remediation, gain significant status as valuable resources.
Advocacy -Oriented Attitude
A final and vital role for mainstream classroom teachers to play in the education of PEP students is that of an advocate. An advocacy-oriented attitude is essential in counteracting the potentially disabling process that many PEP students face in school (Damico and Hamayan, 1990). Some researchers argue that programs for linguistically diverse students have been less than successful because they generally have not significantly altered the relationship between educators and minority students and between schools and linguistically diverse communities (Cummins, 1986). Sociological analyses of schools (Ogbu, 1978; Paulston, 1980) suggest that students from "dominated" societal groups are either empowered or disabled as a direct result of how the school incorporates the students' language and culture; how the participation of the linguistically diverse community is encouraged; and how teachers and administrators become advocates for PEP students and begin to focus on their assets rather than their problems.
In the face of a disabling attitude which considers PEP students disadvantaged, with little esteem attached to their actual or potential bilingualism, students can experience a loss of control over their lives. This disabling attitude is exhibited in the label "limited English proficient" -- the official and legal name for students with a primary language other than English whose proficiency in English has not reached a high enough level to allow them to survive in a classroom where English is the medium of instruction. This label focuses on the negative aspect of not being proficient in English rather than stressing the positive aspect of adding one language on to another and becoming bilingual. When faced with this type of negativism, students lose confidence in their cultural and linguistic identity as well as in their ability to learn, and this lack of confidence may have devastating effects on their academic life (Ovando, 1989). Advocacy is not a political stance as much as it is an outlook of professionals who work in the best interest of their clients -- in this case, the students.
In addition to the five functions described in the preceding sections that pertain directly to PEP students, mainstream classroom teachers also play two indirect roles by collaborating and consulting with other teachers in the school.
For additional information, please click on the link below: Preparing Mainstream Classroom Teachers To Teach Potentially English Proficient Students