1 / 37

“ALPESOL”

“ALPESOL”. An Accelerated Learning Program for Academic ESOL Students Rachele Lawton, ESOL Faculty Bob Miller, English Faculty The Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC) Maryland TESOL Fall Conference October 1, 2011. The Concept.

janet
Download Presentation

“ALPESOL”

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. “ALPESOL” An Accelerated Learning Program for Academic ESOL Students Rachele Lawton, ESOL Faculty Bob Miller, English Faculty The Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC) Maryland TESOL Fall Conference October 1, 2011

  2. The Concept • Implement a structure that accelerates students who need the highest level of academic ESOL. ESOL 052, academic writing, is combined with First Year composition (ENGL 101). • This structure enables ESOL students to take ESOL 052, a required pre-requisite, concurrently with a ENGL 101: College Composition, a 3-credit course. Students earn credits while still completing non-credit ESOL pre-requisites.

  3. Academic ESOL at CCBC • Students • 850 students in the Academic ESOL Program (credit) • Heterogeneous group of students (F-1 international students, World English speaking students, Generation 1.5 Students, Adult Immigrant Students) • The great majority of students in our program have academic goals • Program • Intensive, academic program that prepares students for college-level work • 4-level sequence of courses with 11 required courses total • Most students place into the highest level of ESOL (05)

  4. Academic ESOL Curriculum

  5. Academic ESOL & English ENGL 102 ENGL 101 ENGL 102 ESOL 052 ENGL 101 ESOL 052

  6. Background • Community colleges are implementing interventions to accelerate students through non-credit pre-requisite sequences. This may include ESOL students and developmental students. • In an effort to increase retention, student success and ultimately completion, the Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC) has launched accelerated learning programs (ALPs) in various disciplines. • After observing success with English and Math ALPs, ESOL decided to pilot its own version of an ALP.

  7. took no more English courses 1003 20% didn’t pass dev Eng 111 22% took no more English courses 0 0% passed dev Eng 2819 57% took ENG 101 2543 51% took dev Eng 2 506 100% did not pass dev Eng 2127 43% passed dev Eng 395 78% took ENG 101 506 100% took dev Eng 4946 100% passed ENG 101 1799 36% passed ENG 101 366 72% didn’t pass ENG 101 744 15% didn’t pass ENG 101 140 28% results for students who took traditional developmental writing (ENGL 052) in fall 07, fall 08, fall 09, and fall 10 as of September 2011 results for students who took ALP in fall 07, fall 08, fall 09, and fall 10 as of September 2011

  8. 15% 30% 45% 60% Longitudinal Studies: Credits Earned after One Year and After Two Years traditional dev writing ALP after two years after one year 24% 24% 24% 24% 24% 20% 0% 1% 12% 11% 30 or more credits 15-29 credits 30 or more credits 15-29 credits A L P The Accelerated Learning Project

  9. 15% 30% 60% 45% Longitudinal Studies: Credits Earned after One Year and After Two Years traditional dev writing ALP after two years after one year 33% 28% 17% 17% 0 credits 0 credits A L P The Accelerated Learning Project

  10. 2.5% 7.5% 10% 5% Longitudinal Studies: Awards Earned by Sep 2011 traditional dev writing ALP cohort from fall 07 and fall 08 5.1% 5 students 2.7% 59 students awards A L P The Accelerated Learning Project

  11. It was a Pilot of a pilot of a pilot of… Peter AdamsStacie MillerRachele LawtonRobert MillerAs of Fall 2011, ALPESOL is in its 4th semester

  12. The Structure of ALPESOL As with CCBC’s traditional Accelerated Learning Program, 12 students in the first year composition class (ENGL 101) are combined with 8 students from the ESOL 052 class. The 12 ENGL 101 students are not international / ESOL students. The 8 ESOL students meet with the same instructor in a second class (ESOL 052) immediately after the ENGL 101 course.

  13. How is ALPESOL Structured?: A Visual In the traditional ESOL 052 to ENGL 101 two-semester sequence, there are 18-20 students per class and two different instructors. ESOL 052 Semester 1 English 101 Semester 2 A L

  14. How is the ALPESOL structured?: A Visual In the one semester concurrent / accelerated ESOL 052/ENGL 101 (ALPESOL), eight students take both classes together with the same instructor. English 101 Semester 1 ESOL 052/ALPESOL Semester 1 A L P

  15. Rationale • Students who are close to being ready for credit classes have the opportunity to move more quickly into credit classes. • The opportunity to earn college credit while enrolled in non-credit ESOL classes is motivating for students. • This program may positively impact student success, retention and ultimately completion.

  16. How ESOL 052 Works in ALPESOL • Functions as a companion course to ENGL 101. • Emphasizes questions and challenges related to English 101, as well as areas that will specifically help students with English 101 and other credit courses, including process writing, academic essay structure, grammar, sentence structure and critical thinking. • Integrates and addresses non-cognitive factors, such as time management and personal issues, as students work together as a community. The small class helps to facilitate this.

  17. Credits and Instructor Load English 101 3 credit hours 20 students (8 from ESOL 052 Instructor paid for 3 load hours; full class ESOL 052 6 credit hours 8 Students Instructor paid 5 load hours instead of 6; smaller class size* *Instructors are paid the full 6 hours during their first semester teaching ALPESOL.

  18. Eligibility for ALPESOL Originally, it was thought that World English Speaking and Generation 1.5 Students would most likely have the best opportunity to succeed in ALPESOL because of their backgrounds with English and writing in a U.S. educational environment. Therefore, enrollment was to be limited to coordinator referrals. However, it didn’t work out the way it was intended due in part to logistical and communication challenges.

  19. Communication Challenges New programs bring logistical and communication challenges. For example, ALPESOL involves coordination between: English ESOL Advising Records & Registration

  20. Actual Enrollment ALPESOL has been comprised of a mix of students each semester: Enrollment consisted of students with a variety of language backgrounds. Some students who had previously failed ESOL 052 enrolled in ALPESOL. We realized it would be challenging to restrict enrollment.

  21. The Result? • We opened ALPESOL to all students eligible for enrollment in ESOL 052 during its second semester (fall 2010). • The theory is that we won’t know if all students can succeed unless we give them the opportunity to try.

  22. So far… • 8 students are currently enrolled in a fall 2011 section of ALPESOL. • A total of 24 students have completed ALPESOL on CCBC’s Essex campus: • Spring 2010 8 students • Fall 2010 8 students • Spring 2011 8 students

  23. Evaluating ALPESOL Research Conducted by CCBC Planning, Research & Evaluation Findings • ALPESOL students consistently passed ENGL 101 at a 63% rate or higher across all three semesters; success was defined as a grade of A-C (the requirement for enrolling in ENGL 102). • Of the students enrolling in ENGL 102, all of them succeeded; however, not all students had enrolled. • Not all students were enrolled in ESOL 054 while they were enrolled in ALPESOL but of those who did, most successfully completed the course. • The next semester retention rates are higher than the typical CCBC retention rate.

  24. (spring 2010, fall 2010, spring 2011):Passed English 101: 16Failed English 101: 7Passed ESOL 052: 13Failed ESOL 052: 10 Pass Rate Totals for Three Semesters

  25. Success Rates in ESOL 052 & ENGL 101 *students were tracked to Spring 2011 to determine their enrollment and success in English 102

  26. Retention Rates & Mean GPA All ALPESOL Students

  27. Success Rates in ENGL 101: A Comparison

  28. Course-related Challenges Grammar Organization

  29. Another Challenge: Discrepancies in Pass Rates between the Two Courses Some students passed ENGL 101 but failed ESOL 052. Why did it happen? -Some students cared more about ENGL 101 What do we do about those students? -In-class writing Current discussion: -Whether to address this with a policy

  30. An overview of ESOL 052 within the context of ALPESOL • ESOL 052 consists of: • Grammar • Essay Development (organization, thesis statements, introductions, etc.) • We worked on: • Essays for ENGL 101 • 4 separate essays (all involving research and citation) • Short writings • Grammar exercises • Quizzes • In-class writing

  31. Paper Topics • How has moving to a new country and going to school affected and changed you as a person? • Discuss the modern history of your home country. • Should there by limits to freedom of speech in the classroom? • Many students say that it is difficult being an ESOL student in college. What do you believe are some of the main difficulties in being an ESOL student? Are there any advantages? In addition, do ESOL students contribute to the life of the college in any specific ways? If so, how? If not, why not?

  32. Challenges with Offering ALPESOL Coordination between two departments (ENGL & ESOL) -Course outline & Syllabus -Rubrics -Books Finding Instructors with appropriate experience Scheduling Challenges

  33. Student Responses • Before the semester begins: • World English/Gen 1.5 students – I can go straight to ENGL 101. Why do I need to take ESOL? (these students are often resistant to placement in ESOL, expecting to go directly into credit courses) • Other ESOL Students – Are you sure I can do this? • After the semester ends: • World English/ Gen 1.5 students – I couldn’t have done it without this course. • Other ESOL Students– I don’t think I’d have passed one course without the other.

  34. Student Comments • “I am still in touch with four of the other students from last semester. This is not the same in my other classes.” • “ALPESOL helped me with 102 and my other classes as well.” • In my 102 class I was often a “grammar resource” to other students, and I did very well. I am very grateful” for what the ALPESOL class had given me.”

  35. Future Directions Study ALPESOL more longitudinally Study ALPESOL students and a control group—examine success and retention of students in ALPESOL compared to students in standalone sections of ESOL 052 Scale up ALPESOL (increase the number of sections and expand to other campuses)

  36. Questions?

  37. Contact Information • Rachele Lawton, Chair, Reading and Language Department, CCBC; rlawton@ccbcmd.edu • Bob Miller, Assistant Professor of English, CCBC; rmiller2@ccbcmd.edu

More Related