Introduction
Education is view as one of the critical factors that ensure that people can get the essential skills, abilities, and technical knowledge allowing them to contribute to the growth of the economy (Nel & Müller, 2010). However, it must be noted that the overall levels of performance for limited English proficient (LEP) students tend to vary when compare to the learning capacities for fluent English speaker (FES) population. The main factor to note is that the difference in the learning abilities arises from the fact that the students are raised within differentiated cultural environments. The difference in culture creates a significant difference in the way students perceive education, which serves as a clear indication of the actual difference regarding achievements as part of the education structure. The focus of this report is to compare and contrast the cultural factors that influence performance for LEP students and those that impact the FES population.
Comparing and Contrasting Cultural Factors Influence Student Performance
When evaluating the real differentiation in culture while focusing on LEP students and FES populations, it is clear that indeed several key cultural factors may be viewed as creating an avenue for overall differentiation about these two population groups. The evaluation of these factors is essential, as it seeks to ensure that educators can handle students efficiently. Additionally, understanding these factors will play a critical role towards ensuring that educators can create productive environments for their students regardless of whether they are limited English proficient or fluent in their use of the English language. The following is an analysis of some of the possible factors that may create notable differences and similarities in the learning expectations of the students.
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The attitude of the Students
When evaluating the belief held by the students, one of the key factors that are evident is that LEP students tend to have a rather positive attitude towards the learning process when compared to their FES counterparts. The differentiation in attitude comes as a result of the fact that the LEP students tend to find themselves in a rather effective position allowing them to learn more concerning the use of English as part of their academic process (Babayiğit, 2015). However, this is not the case for the FES populations considering that they consider themselves as having the expected levels of understanding of the English language. The outcome is that the attitudes among these students tend to differ significantly, which creates a significant differentiation regarding academic performance.
The differentiation regarding student attitudes creates a significant challenge for educators in trying to create a streamlined approached to the learning process. A comparison of the students' performance levels suggests that LEP students are in a better position allowing them to advance their overall capacities regarding ability to learn effectively. For educators, this means that they would be expected to focus on ensuring that the FES population understands the importance of having to change their attitude towards the learning process with the aim being towards improving their academic performance levels. Educators are expected to provide the FES population with valid information on the importance of having to ensure that their attitudes remain as key effective drivers that define their overall performance projections.
Role of Parents
Another critical factor that contributes to the significant similarity regarding performance focusing on LEP students and FES population is the role of parents, which is one of the important cultural factors that influence performance. The role of parents tends to remain the same for all students considering that parents tend to hold the view that their position for the students would serve as a critical factor that defines overall progression (Valencia & Suzuki, 2010). Most of the parents associated with LEP students tend to act as a critical source of encouragement with the focus being towards ensuring that these students can improve on their use of the English language. Most of these parents hold the view that their ability to define an overall projection in terms of the performance of their child may act as a critical determinant of progress among the students.
That is similar when dealing with the FES population considering that although the students may consider themselves as being fluent in their use of the English language, it becomes essential for them to consider the overall impacts that this may have on their performance outcomes. Parents play a critical role in encouraging these students to establish a clear framework through which to advance their capacities to match expected performance outcomes. Additionally, this also means that parents ought to consider themselves as role models for their children with the sole intention being towards enhancing the overall possibility for them to improve their performance. From that view, it becomes essential to consider the overall possibilities that the role of the parents is expected to shift significantly in future with the sole focus being towards matching overall progression in terms of performance outcomes.
Professionalism
The aspect of professionalism may also be viewed from a cultural perspective considering that it can be refined with the general understanding that the students may show significant differences in terms of the overall levels of professionalism that they show. Guglielmi (2008) takes note of the fact that most of the LEP students tend to understand the importance of ensuring that they build on their professionalism. That serves as one of the key factors that increase the possibility of them being able to achieve the fluent level within the shortest time possible. However, FES populations tend to lack professionalism in their approach to academics considering that they tend to view themselves as being at a higher level of understanding when compared to some of the other students.
The ultimate outcome of the existing differentiation in terms of professionalism is that LEP is at a much higher position of achieving their set out performance goals when compared to their FES counterparts. Additionally, this also means that LEP students tend to develop an approachable attitude that allows them to learn from their immediate environment. In the case of the FES populations, most of the students lack overall approachability, which means that it may be hard or challenging for educators to find ways through which to engage with these students. Consequently, this means that the FES populations tend to experience a significant downturn in their academic performance considering that they tend to ignore what is expected of them as part of the learning process.
Cultural Environment
The cultural environment in which students are brought up serves as one of the critical factors that are likely to determine their performance considering that this environment seeks to create a significant platform through which to determine how students react with regard to the learning process. In most cases, LEP students coming from a supportive cultural environment tend to have a higher ability to achieve overall progress in their academic performance when compared to an FES population that is from a non-supportive environment (Politzer & Ramirez, 2013). The critical expectation in this is that it seeks to build on the overall understanding that students are much more likely to be influenced by their cultural perspective with the intention being towards defining their academic performance. Additionally, the cultural environment seeks to create several critical expectations for the students, which acts as a critical impact of their abilities to build on their academic performance.
Conclusion
In summary, Education is view as one of the critical factors that ensure that people are able to get the essential skills, abilities, and technical knowledge. When evaluating the existing differentiation in culture while focusing on LEP students and FES populations, it is clear that indeed several key cultural factors may be viewed as creating an avenue for overall differentiation with regard to these two population groups. The differentiation in attitude comes as a result of the fact that the LEP students tend to find themselves in a somewhat effective position allowing them to learn more with regard to the use of English as part of their academic process. The role of parents tends to remain the same for all students considering that parents tend to hold the view that their position for the students would serve as a critical factor that defines overall progression.
References
Babayiğit, S. (2015). The relations between word reading, oral language, and reading comprehension in children who speak English as a first (L1) and second language (L2): A multigroup structural analysis. Reading and Writing , 28 (4), 527-544.
Guglielmi, R. S. (2008). Native language proficiency, English literacy, academic achievement, and occupational attainment in limited-English-proficient students: A latent growth modeling perspective. Journal of Educational Psychology , 100 (2), 322.
Nel, N., & Müller, H. (2010). The impact of teachers’ limited English proficiency on English second language learners in South African schools. South African Journal of Education , 30 (4).
Politzer, R. L., & Ramirez, A. G. (2013). An error analysis of spoken English of Mexican ‐ American pupils in a bilingual school and a monolingual school 1. Language Learning , 23 (1), 39-61.
Valencia, R. R., & Suzuki, L. A. (2010). Intelligence testing and minority students: Foundations, performance factors, and assessment issues (Vol. 3). Sage Publications.
