Scaffolding The Academic Success of Adolescent English Language Learners

Too often, the needs of English language learners are met with simplified curriculum and lowered expectations. What would happen if instead classrooms were organized to honor the promise of these students by increasing rather than decreasing the intellectual challenge of instruction, by increasing the support such challenge requires, and by increasing students' active engagement with their own learning? This book is the result of a decade-long effort in school districts such as New York City, Austin, and San Diego to implement challenging instruction that is designed for classrooms that include English learners and that raises the bar and increases engagement for all learners. Classroom vignettes, transcripts of student interactions, and detailed examples of intellectually engaging middle school and high school lessons provide a concrete picture of the instructional approach developed by co-author Aída Walqui, founder and director of WestEd’s Quality Teaching for English Learners (QTEL) initiative. Underlying the QTEL approach and giving it coherence and power are three strands of instructional theory — cognitive psychology, sociolinguistics, and sociocultural learning theory. Co-author Leo van Lier, internationally recognized author, linguist, and sociocultural theorist, lays out through clear and frequently wry examples just what these theories have to offer the classroom teacher, in particular the teacher of English learners.

Ada Walqui, a native of Peru, earned an MA in sociolinguistics from Georgetown University as a Fulbright scholar, and a PhD from Stanford University. At WestEd, she directs the Teacher Professional Development Program and the Quality Teaching for English Learners (QTEL) project and consults nationally and internationally. Leo van Lier, originally from The Netherlands, earned a PhD in linguistics from Lancaster University, United Kingdom. A widely published author, he is Professor of Educational Linguistics at the Monterey Institute of International Studies and editor of Modern Language Journal and the Springer book series Educational Linguistics.