Education & Assessment of English Language Learners - Assignment Example

English Learning and Assessment Bowman’s article gives quite an analysis of the of education in America. What can be done so as to eliminate the stereotype that children from poor backgrounds are incompetent in school is to remove the use of behaviour characteristic of the white middleclass children as the valid representation of competence. If one is to assess the English of their students, they should stop using the language of white middle class children as the gauge of proper English. If a child is a poor African American from a different cultural setting than that of white middleclass, it would be unfair to judge them using a standard that is adopted from a different culture.

If children from poor families are having difficulty in learning the school curricula, it is because maybe it is not tailored to incorporate their culture. They have lifestyles, resources, or belief systems that different from those found in the curricula. Because it has been pointed out in the article that the type of English a pupil uses is largely dependent on what is done in their community, the best way to make pupils learn more is to tailor the language so that it fits the culture of the student.

The references, allusions and stories should be derived from the culture of the pupil. However, this poses the challenge of what the children would like to aspire to; let’s face it, the children are in school so that they can be able to improve their lives and join the middleclass; if their literature ,material is to be modified so as to fit their cultures, it is likely to discourage them. Employers are also not looking for people who speak “Black” English or a different dialect that is not standard; they want Standard English.

This problem is rather difficult to address because people already believe the stereotypes. In my opinion, poor people just need to conform and teach their children better English; it is the easier option than changing the curriculum to something the children are working hard to get out of. Works CitedBowman, Barbara T. "Cultural Diversity and Academic Achievement." Learning Point Associates Home.NCREL, 1994.Web. 12 May 2014.