Bridging the Gap:Ensuring ESL Student Success in

the English SequenceAnna-Lisa Helmy and Rachel Cohen

CITY COLLEGE OF SAN FRANCISCO

How did the conversation start?

English Department’s perceived “insufficient written and oral language skills” of some ESL students in their courses

Decreased enrollment in the credit ESL sequence after English acceleration

ESL and English faculty’s desire to determine the most successful ways to support ESL students through the ESL and English sequences

What data did we consider?

Data from the Office of Research and Planning: ESL students in English perform better when they complete the ESL sequence.Some ESL students are choosing the English over the ESL placement test.

Developmental English instructors survey: ESL students need more vocabulary, better grammar and sentence structure skills, and a greater ability to engage in classroom discussions.

SFUSD counselors often counsel their ESL graduates to take the English placement test rather than ESL.

CCSF counselors sometimes advise students to take the “shorter” path.

How important are highest level ESL courses?

ENGL

0 1,000 2,000 3,000 4,000

ESL - notESL - ESL150_160

Number of Students

How are we increasing ESL student success in English courses?

Informing SFUSD and CCSF counselors of ESL placement test value

Ensuring ease of transfer from English to ESL if needed

Encouraging English diagnostic testing the first week of class

Ensuring alignment of ESL and developmental English courses

Allowing ESL students in English courses to use the ESL Lab (CLAD)

Advising with English faculty at English placement test

Creating articulation agreements with SFUSD

Expanding CLAD services

Adding more sections of ESL grammar courses, as well as late-start classes and a referral system

And more!

Using IBEST model for some English courses (ESL-English)

May offer training in grammar and syntax instruction for English faculty

Redesigning the ESL sequence so that the length is more comparable to the (redesigned) English sequence

Other positive effects of our LFM* partnership?

Increased communication between the two departments

Breaking down walls of mistrust

More understanding of how ESL students proceed through ESL-English sequence

Mid-level ESL and English faculty workgroup and norming sessions

A changing dialogue that places focus on students first and identifies them collectively as “ours”

*LFM – Leading From the Middle Academy--- The RP Group (The Research and Planning Group for California Community Colleges) regroup.org