Language, Literacy, Content, and (Pop) Culture: Challenges for ESL Students in Mainstream Courses

This paper examines issues confronting ESL students in mainstream content areas at the secondary school level. Relevant research on the integration of language, content, literacy, and culture in courses is reviewed, followed by a discussion of findings from an ethnographic study conducted at a Canadian school with a high concentration of Asian-background ESL students. The focus is the discourse contexts for mainstreamed ESL students in two Grade 10 social studies classes. Requirements for ESL students' successful participation in such courses included, but went beyond, existing prescriptions and practices for students' integration and academic success. Recorded observations over a two-year period revealed that to succeed in class, students needed to participate in a variety of types of classroom discussion and reading and writing activities; they also needed a current knowledge of popular North American culture, mass media, and newsworthy events; an ability to express a range of critical perspectives on social issues and to enter quick-paced interactions; and a great deal of confidence. Examples of these features of social studies discourse, implications for ESL students and content teachers, and some instructional remedies are presented and discussed.