Cultures and Lanuages in Education: Part 1

            In North Carolina, students whose native language is not English most commonly either speak Spanish or Arabic at home (Top Languages, 2015). Spanish is by far the most common at over 70% of the English Language Learner (ELL) population. Within each of these groups, Spanish speakers are most likely to be from Mexico (65%), Puerto Rico (8%), or Cuba (2%) (Matthews, 2009), while those who speak Arabic are most likely from Egypt, Sudan, or Lebanon. Because student from Mexico and students from Egypt are the largest group in each category, I am going to focus on students with those cultural backgrounds.

Spanish Speaking ELL Students from Mexico

The largest group of ELL students in North Carolina is native Spanish speakers from Mexico. Spanish, although a Romance language, shares many similarities with English. First and foremost, both languages use the Latin alphabet (World Scripts, 2015). That places Spanish native speakers at a huge advantage compared to those whose native language uses a completely different alphabet. Additionally, 30-40% of all English words have a Spanish cognate, or related word. This helps with quick vocabulary acquisition and word recognition (Capitalizing, n.d.). One of the biggest differences between the languages is pronunciation. Many of the letter and letter combinations are pronounced differently (Mount-Cors, n.d.). This causes difficulties with both speaking and spelling, which can negatively affect both school performance and peer relationships.

            As far as immigration status is concerned, many Spanish-speaking students from Mexico were born in the United States. For those who were born in the U.S., they are U.S. citizens, no matter the immigration status of their parents. In addition to those who were born in the United States, some students’ families moved to the United States to find work. Most of these jobs are relatively low paying, so it is important to keep in mind the socioeconomic status on these students. Of course, this is not the case of all students whose native language is Spanish. It is always important to get to know students as individuals rather than making assumptions based on group norms.

            Culturally, Mexico and the United States differ in a few key aspects. Perhaps the most notable difference is when comes to their approach to individualism versus collectivism (Mexico, n.d.). In the United States, individual achievement is valued over group achievement. This manifests itself in a few ways. One, those from Mexico often have stronger family ties than those in the United States. This might make moving to a new country far from extended family members extremely difficult. Along the same lines, the high premium placed on individual achievement in U.S. schools might come as a shock to students. In addition to this cultural difference, the U.S. and Mexico also differ on their power distance, or their hierarchical approach to society. In Mexico, the hierarchy is more rigid than in the U.S. (Mexico, n.d.). This would manifest itself in the classroom in terms of the student-teacher relationship. The more laid back relationship between students and teachers would likely come as a culture shock.

Both of these cultural differences influence not only the students and their relationships with their peers, but also the parents’ expectations of the students. Parents may not stress high individual achievement. If parents do not see individual achievement as important, it is likely that it will be less important to students as well. Additionally, parents may expect students to be more formal with their teachers than is expected in the United States. This may make it difficult for students to form relationships with their teachers.

Arabic-Speaking ELL Students from Egypt

            The second largest group of ELL students, native Arabic-speaking students, is made up largely of those from Egypt. This is, in part, due to an influx of refugees from this region of the world in recent years (Zong & Batalova, 2015). Arabic is a Semitic language, making it very different in grammatical construction than English. One of the biggest differences is the lack of the present tense verb “to be.” This often results in ELL students saying things like “I good at math” (Differences, n.d.). Additionally, Arabic uses the Arabic alphabet, so English language learners whose native language is Arabic must learn an entirely new alphabet in order to learn English. This places native Arabic speakers behind the eight ball when starting out on their English language-learning journey, but it does not mean that they cannot succeed in the classroom. It does, however, mean that these students may struggle when trying to get to know their English peers because of the communication barriers and that they may struggle academically when first learning English.

            As stated above, many of the native Arabic speakers are in the United States as refugees. This is important to realize because students who are refugees are dealing with a lot outside of school. Not only are they new to the United States, but the situation that they left behind was unstable. It is important to remember that refugee students and their families did not come to the U.S. voluntarily but rather were forced to leave their home country by circumstances beyond their control (Robertson & Breiseth, n.d.). This makes them different than students who immigrated to the United States, and teachers should make sure to be sensitive to the situation.

            Culturally, Egypt and the United States differ a few ways. Like Mexico, Egypt tends to be a more collectivist culture (Egypt, n.d.). Students from Egypt may experience a lack of motivation to achieve individually or may not feel as good when praised for individual achievement as they do when the entire class is praised as a unit. Another area where Egypt and the United States differ is indulgence. Egypt is very low on indulgence, meaning that leisure time is not valued in this culture (Egypt, n.d.). Controlling ones impulses is seen as important, and giving in to them is seen as somewhat wrong. In the classroom, this could manifest itself in many ways. In an elementary school, the student may be confused by the idea of recess during the school day. At higher levels, this particular cultural difference could separate the student from his or her English-speaking peers by removing shared leisure activities from the equation.

Parents may also have different expectations of their students than English-speaking parents do. For one, if a student wanted to play sports, this may be seen as indulgent and may be discouraged. It is likely that the parents would take the student’s studies very seriously. Like parents of students from Mexico, Egyptian parents may also not value their child’s individual achievements as much as English-speaking parents may.

References:

Capitalizing on Similarities and Differences between Spanish and English. (n.d.).       Colorin Colorado. Retrieved from            http://www.colorincolorado.org/article/capitalizing-similarities-and-  differences-between-spanish-and-english

The differences between English and Arabic. (n.d.). Frankfurt International School.    Retrieved from http://esl.fis.edu/grammar/langdiff/arabic.htm

Egypt: In Comparison with the United States. (n.d.). The Hofstede Center. Retrieved    from http://geert-hofstede.com/egypt.html

Matthews, M. (Interviewee). (2009). Evolving Demographics: English Language        Learners in the Classroom [Interview transcript]. Retrieved from North     Carolina Association for the Gifted and Talented Web site:         www.ncagt.org/sites/default/files/files/ELLGifted.pdf

Mexico: In Comparison with the United States. (n.d.). The Hofstede Center. Retrieved  from http://geert-hofstede.com/mexico.html

Mount-Cors, M.F. The middle school challenge for English language learners of          Mexican origin. (n.d.). Learn NC. Retrieved from            http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/brdglangbarriers/4485

Robertson, K. & Breiseth, L. How to support refugee students in the ELL classroom.   (n.d.). Colorin Colorado. Retrieved from            http://www.colorincolorado.org/article/how-support-refugee-students-ell-   classroom

Top Languages Spoken by English Language Learners Nationally and by State.          (2015). Migration Policy Institute. Retrieved from            http://www.migrationpolicy.org/research/top-languages-spoken-english-     language-learners-nationally-and-state

World Scripts and Alphabets. (2015, July 6). World Standards. Retrieved from           http://www.worldstandards.eu/other/alphabets/

Zong, J. & Batalova, J. (2015, October 28). Refugees and asylees in the United States.            Migration Policy Institute. Retrieved from            http://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/refugees-and-asylees-united-states