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Problems for LearnersIn the united states, there are many english Language Learners attending public schools. These students speak a plethora of languages, including chinese, spanish, Serbian, vietnamese, french and Bengali. They pose unique challenges to educators who must work hard to ensure that their students not only learn necessary english language skills, but also have access to the core curriculum and the academic language. Similarly, learning can be very difficult for english learners in public schools. If they cannot understand english, how can they understand the material? If they cannot understand the material, how can they succeed in school and their future? These are some of the questions that I encountered as a substitute teacher, and because of the wide range of struggles depending on a certain ethnicity, I will focus on African-American students and their difficulties with standard english grammar. While African-American students are not considered english learners, they still face a unique problem, and that problem is the difference between Standard english and Ebonics. African-American students come to school often speaking Ebonics, because it is what they speak with their families in their communities. Additionally, parents often do not provide their children with educational toys and books that potentially aid the developments of their minds, thus causing a lack of preparedness in school. Through personal experience, I?ve observed that it is hard for Ebonics speakers to learn Standard english. The incorrect grammar is so heavily embedded in their everyday speech that it is hard to correct what they think is ?correct english?. For example, my former paraprofessional?s verb usage is as follows: ?I was, you was, she was, we was, they was.? The students are then going to imitate this incorrect model of proper grammar. The incorrect grammar is also very prevalent in the media, through rap songs and movies. Consequently, African-American students continue to struggle in school and on the standardized tests required by school districts. The various tests that measure African-American students? competency should be examined for cultural, linguistic, psychological, or political bias. The goal of many school districts is to locate appropriate teaching materials for Ebonics speakers, but few actions have been taken to actually meet this goal. To exhibit fairness, Ebonics-speaking students should be tested in both Standard english and Ebonics. Looking forward to the future, parents of African-American students need to be aware of the need to provide their children with tools of development so they are prepared in school. Simply equipping their children with educational books from an early start can have an impact. It is also necessary to fix the problems on the test biases to prevent further inaccurate measurements of African-American students? abilities. Furthermore, it is hard to ignore the question if should we treat Ebonics speakers like english Language Learners. This is something that must be further addressed. Hoover, M. R. (1998). Ebonics speakers and cultural, linguistic, and political test bias. In T. Perry & L. Delpit (Eds.), The real Ebonics debate: Power, language, and the education of African-American children (pp. 126-133). Boston: Beacon Press.
