Fostering Academic Proficiency in ESL in Elementary Education

This portfolio was written for the Master of Second Language Teaching Program (MSLT). It consists of the author's personal teaching philosophy as it relates to teaching ESL (English as a Second Language). It includes papers that demonstrate the author's beliefs on teaching English as a Second Language especially academic language instruction. It includes the author's personal teaching philosophy as it relates to teaching ESL. This is followed by three artifacts: the value of children's literature in English as a second language instruction, navigating academic language, and asking clarifying questions. The portfolio also includes a research proposal, the impact of audio-book read along, as a home component on second language (L2) Literacy. It concludes with an annotated bibliography of works that have influenced the author's teaching philosophy."The Value of Children's Literature in English as a Second Language Instruction" demonstrates the author's belief that literature should have a place in the L2 classroom. It discusses the many benefits the use of literature can have includ ing bolstering students' background knowledge and building a rich vocabulary. "Navigating Academic Language" discusses the need for L2 learners to develop their academic Englishproficiency to promote their success in school. "The Importance of Clarification Requests in SLA (Second Language Acquisition)" stresses the importance of L2 learners gaining clarification on problem utterances they encounter in their academic classes to assist them in their academic as well as linguistic development.The final paper, "The Impact of Audio-Book Read Along as a Home Component on L2 Literacy" is a research proposal. The research would seek to understand the benefits of an audio-book program. This would help determine if the costs of setting up an audio-book library would be academically beneficial for this population of students.All portions of this portfolio support the author's belief that the academic success of L2 learners is closely linked to their language and cultural proficiency in L2. And as a result of this belief, L2 teaching should have a strong academic component. The portfolio concludes with an annotated bibliography, a collection of works that have influenced the author's teaching philosophy.