We all know that the world of education moves through trends, and right now there is a huge focus on trauma informed education and social emotional learning. This attention, in general, is focused on understanding the behaviors of students, and how to best support them as they move towards more consistent regulation as their baseline. Those who understand trauma informed education (TIE) best practices also know these concepts can be incorporated into the everyday classroom to support all students and potentially prevent issues from arising in the first place. I propose that much of that body of knowledge can also be applied to our ever-growing population of English language learners (ELL).
This past school year I have been teaching as an ELL specialist. Simultaneously I was working on my graduate certificate to teach ELL students. Through much of the research and course studies, I learned about specific methodologies and pedagogies for teaching to the unique needs of the ELL student. Stephen Krashen’s work, referred to as The Natural Approach, and his five hypotheses for language acquisition made a great deal of sense to me.
According to the Natural Approach, language is acquired, not learned, primarily through comprehensible input (understanding what is read or heard) rather than what we say. This is referred to as the Hypothesis of Comprehensible Input. But it is a different hypothesis that I want to focus on now, the Affective Filter Hypothesis.
The Affective Filter Hypothesis basically states that a child’s emotions can directly affect that child’s capability of learning a new language. What Krashen might refer to as a high affective filter, in TIE circles it might be called dysregulation. Conversely, a child who is well regulated (trauma informed terminology) would have a low affective filter (Krashen’s terminology).
Motivation, self-confidence, and anxiety levels are the three main variables that impact language acquisition according to Krashen’s Affective Filter Hypothesis. Children being uprooted from everything they know, moved to new country, and sent to school where they don’t know the language could be considered trauma inducing. Children coming from refugee camps are most certainly experiencing trauma to some degree. Even children arriving to class under the best of circumstances are going to experience moments of low self-confidence and anxiety, which, according to Krashen, will raise their affective filter making it more difficult for them to acquire the new language.
HOW DO WE LOWER THE AFFECTIVE FILTER?
Many of the articles I read for my graduate studies simply noted that it would be a good idea to create a warm, welcoming environment for ELL students. Valentina Gonzalez writes about ways to specifically address motivation, self-confidence, and anxiety. For motivation she argues that choice, voice, and relevance are great motivators in the classroom (2020). This might look like giving students more choice in topics, more time to process information so they can share their knowledge, and choosing topics that are relevant. Correctly pronouncing a student’s name and learning about where they are from helps to build self-confidence. Creating a safe classroom, where a student is not afraid to make mistakes or ask questions is also important.
As you can see, some of these things overlap with just good teaching practices or trauma informed practices. So how can knowledge of trauma informed practices take it even deeper? How can we use TIE best practices to lower the affective filter, or better yet, prevent it from raising in the first place?
REGULATE. RELATE. REASON
Dr. Bruce Perry is well known for his mantra, “Regulate. Relate. Reason”, but what does that mean in terms of working with ELL students? First, we must make sure our ELL students are well regulated. Only a well-regulatedstudent can build healthy relationships with peers and teachers. Once the student is regulated and has healthy relationships that are meaningful, supportive, and safe (relate) only then can that student move to reasoning. In this case, reasoning would mean accessing the higher executive functioning skills that are needed to learn, process language, and communicate clearly.
My Experience
What does regulate look like in my classroom? Creating that warm and welcoming environment talked about by Gonzalez is a good place to start. Every decision I make is driven by making things predictable, routine, and safe. If a child arrives late to class, I simply say, “I am glad you are here, come on in” (welcoming). If they are struggling or getting frustrated in the general education class, they know they can come to my room to work independently or get the help they need (safe). I allow them to work cooperatively in groups using their native language. I allow them to help each other, and they often do, when one student is more fluent in English than another (confidence building). If a student is in the silent period, I respect that and do not push them to speak aloud (respect). This lowers the anxiety many often feel as they try to grapple with content and language acquisition.
What does relate look like in my classroom? I strive to build healthy, meaningful, and safe relationships. I always smile and greet each student by name, I have materials in my classroom that reflect their culture (books in Spanish, books in Haitian Creole, books in English with characters who have newly arrived to the country). I make it a point to get to know them as a person, find out where they are from, ask about their families, and learn about special celebrations they may have. And, in return, I openly share details of my life with them. I teach them English, and they teach me some of their language. They particularly enjoy it when I make ‘mistakes’ (either intentionally or for real!), and I model that it is OK to make mistakes. In fact, I will lightly make fun of myself until we are all giggling about it. I make myself vulnerable, so they in turn, feel safe making themselves vulnerable enough to try new things and ask questions. I teach them to advocate for their needs, and if they share with me that something is too hard, or they just can’t do it today, I accept and respect that. Basically, I accept them for who they are, where they are, and then we go from there. We laugh and smile, a lot. They feel safe and respected at all times in my room.
What does reason look like in my classroom? I have used my TIE knowledge in the past to work with student behaviors (generally reactively). Now, when working with my ELL students it takes on a different meaning to me. For my ELL students Perry’s mantra ‘regulate, relate, reason’ isn’t about behavior, it is about being in the proper brain state for language acquisition to be successful (low affective filter). If I recognize that a student is struggling with an assignment, I KNOW based on my trauma training that before I start in with the cognitive teaching or direct language teaching, I must first address the brain state for that student.
When I know my students are in the right brain state to process those higher executive functioning skills necessary for language acquisition and learning, only then do I proceed. When I assign work, I will often explain to them that we are doing that work in that way because it is how their brain will best learn. Together, we tackle very rigorous content to challenge them and keep them learning and growing in the content areas as they acquire the English language.
The Silent Period for Newcomers
Finally, I would like to address compliance vs regulation. Compliance is a state of dysregulation that imitates a well behaved, quiet student, who is following the rules. But with compliance, the student’s brain state is not primed for learning. As educators what we are after is regulation, not compliance. Many ELL newcomer students will go through a silent period, during this time they are taking in sensory input and acquiring language. Even ELL students who have been here for some time may still be very quiet, or silent.
As a general education classroom teacher, it will be even more important for you to monitor your ELL students who are in the silent phase. You cannot assume that just because they are quiet that they are in the right brain state for learning and language acquisition. It is your ELL students who are quiet, or silent, who most need your efforts in helping them to regulate, then relate, then reason.
References
Gonzalez, V. (2020, September 22). What is the affective filter, and why is it important in the classroom? Retrieved June 9, 2023, from https://seidlitzblog.org/2020/09/22/what-is-the-affective-filter-and-why-is-it-important-in-the-classroom/.
Krashen, S. D. (1986). Principles and practice in second language acquisition. Oxford: Pergamon Press. http://www.sdkrashen.com/content/books/principles_and_practice.pdf