Lesson Pacing for the English Language Learner (ELL) Students

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Institution Wise decision making is crucial for effective teaching. Students in the classroom have unique needs. This requires teachers to closely monitor them in order to become aware of those needs. As such, teachers should seek to develop instructional decisions in order to not only be aware but also meet these needs. Hofmeister & Lubke (1999) assert that it is the hallmark of effective teachers to develop instructional decisions founded on both the performance and needs of their students. Lesson pacing one such instructional decision that teachers could adopt.

Echeverria et al (2002) argue that lesson pacing can be determined by creating an illusion of speed to students. As such, teachers should ensure that lesson delivery appears to be ‘moving at the right speed’ to the students. This generally means that the lesson should appear to be unfolding more swiftly. One technique to create the illusion of speed is to employ various activities to accomplish a given lesson objective. Also, moving systematically, from one objective to another, helps in effecting lesson pacing the classroom.

Davison (2007) defines lesson pacing as the speed at which a learning activity or lesson is conducted. Lesson pacing in a classroom is thus of utmost essence. He argues that there are two reasons why lesson pacing should be considered. First, effective lesson pacing assists teachers hold the attention of the students. Secondly, paying attention helps students to learn. According to Davison (2007) students who do not pay attention cannot be learning.

Lesson pacing in the classroom is normally affected by many factors among them complexity of content and presence of ELL students. It is not uncommon to have a classroom with students from various backgrounds especially in the elementary schools. These students usually possess inadequate English skills. In such cases, lesson pacing is pivotal. The main difference in approaches to lesson pacing between a normal class and a class with ELL students is the speed of delivery of content. For English Language Leaner (ELL) students, the teacher should avoid rushing through the lesson content. Instead, he should break down lesson content and concepts into smaller, manageable chunks of information, and gradually introduce them.

Also, the teacher should seek to employ graphical organisers such as concept maps, flow charts and Venn diagrams to introduce new information. Echevarria et al. (2002) argue that pre-instructional activities and graphical organisers allow ELL students to draw a connection between the lesson content and their prior knowledge and experiences.

Where a class has both ELL and mainstream students, the pace of the delivery of content should be slow. However, the pace should not be slow to an extent that the lesson becomes boring (Davison, 2007). In case of complex information, the teacher should provide for slightly longer pauses in order to give ELL students time for processing the information.

Furthermore, where the content is difficult, the teacher should seek to breakdown the lesson content into small steps in order to increase comprehension for all students in the classroom. Brainstorming and discussion could also be introduced to review the content of the lesson.

REFERENCES

Davison, B. (2007). Lesson Pacing In the Classroom. Retrieved on November 6, 2011, from

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/243143/lesson_pacing_in_the_classroom.html? Page=2&cat=4.

Echevarria, E. J., Vogt, R. & Short L.M. (2002). Making Content Comprehensible for English

Language Learners. Bilingual and Compensatory Education Resource Team,

Dearborn.

Hofmeister, A., & Lubke, M. (1999). Research into practice: Implementing effective teaching

strategies (3rd ed.). Logan, Utah: Utah State University.