Serving English Language Learners

walls, right? And so what we've really started   to learn and see is that we really need to get  a cohesive plan in place to figure out what those   resources are and make it really streamlined and  easy and less of a bulky process for students to   find the support that they need. Right, right. What  about you Taylor at the graduate student level?  What have you been noticing? Yeah, thank you.  

We have been finding that the data just really   isn't there for graduate students and so I think  that that is fairly common among graduate and   professional programs that often times that  as students have progressed and are now in a   graduate program there's this assumption that if  they did it once they know how to do grad school.  Yeah. And that is just untrue, especially  for our English language learners or English  

as second language students. Oftentimes, it's not  just a second language it might be a third and   a fourth language so what we were doing was just  kind getting pretty curious and doing some digging   on what what is actually in play currently some of  the questions that we asked ourselves too during   these interactions with students interactions with  our fellow colleagues was do students feel safe to   share when they are multilingual learners? When is 

the appropriate time to ask that question? Are we   reaching out to the right students at the right  time? So kind of riffing a little bit on what   Julie had mentioned in terms of data collection, we  realized that while undergraduate student data has   been collected at the application level and during  a first year first survey type of all-encompassing   undergraduate data collection, the data for  graduate students hasn't been collected  

in that way. A lot of it is, to Julie's point, if  folks are reaching out they're having concerns   they're having issues. The Faculty are feeling  unprepared or perhaps under-resourced or so the   the similar level of support that perhaps they  may have received an undergrad prior to coming   to our institution that might also be a disconnect.  So through student engagement,   student data, we know that as an transformational  institution we're maybe not living up to our  

goals. We might be dropping the ball a little  bit in the last 10 years or or longer. There   was that element that when you do think about HSI  and you read on HSI that serving - this word   comes up - and you know you're making me think about  that. Is that serving-ness there? And maybe   not quite, not yet. If we use growth mindset terms 

not yet. So Maria, you're in a newer role   within our college as an academic coach working  really closely with student success but you're kind of, your thing too in work working  with students, what have you noticed to kind of   contribute to what Julie and Taylor have also been  noticing with our undergrad and grad students with  

English language learner students? Yeah, I think the  first thing that I've noticed is in this new role   you know formerly a full-time faculty role and the  first thing that struck me when I switched into   this academic coaching role which is much more  comprised of one-on-one student interactions   and really deep relationship building with  students and with small groups of students was how   many of our students are multilingual and honestly 

it shocked me. I think that was something that I   totally missed. It was not on my radar in the classroom 

at all, which makes sense. I think we see   growing trends of more multilingual students in  our institution but it also makes me wonder how   much was I missing when I was in the classroom  because a multilingual learner you know and that   experience is individual and complex but they  can present in the classroom as a student   who maybe is ill-prepared if they don't...if they're  not ready to answer questions as quickly as their  

peers. They can present as a student  who's just not getting it which certainly is not   always the case, but that was the first thing that  struck me. The second thing that struck me kind of   as I'm building these individual relationships  it's just how diverse the experience is   for multilingual learners. It's not a one-size 

fits-all. I have plenty of students who feel   that it affects their academic performance  or their academic experience but they're   not necessarily struggling in their coursework or  they haven't identified that being a multilingual   learner is a struggle. And then I have students  who certainly are identifying like, yes, I know   that this is impacting my academic performance so 

definitely not a one-size fits-all. I think big   picture the thing that I think about is  we do want to be a transformational institution.   We're thinking a lot about inclusive course design  and inclusive, transparent course design   and these are conversations that we've been  having for years and once I started identifying   that I'm seeing many more learners who are  multilingual, who are English language learners   like where do they show up in that process is 

kind of the big question in my head. I could spend   a whole podcast just on transparent design. For  those of you listening that aren't sure what   that actually is, transparent design is a framework developed by Mary-Ann Winkelmes, Suzanne Tapp, and Allison Boye. But transparent design is about giving  students the purpose of what you're having them   do, what knowledge are they going to gain from that  activity, and then specific tasks that they need  

to work through. And a task could be - be frustrated,  struggle with this, and then the criteria in which   they're going to be assessed. It really  levels the playing field for all students when   they don't have to spend so much time and effort  trying to figure out - what is it that my professor   wants from me? So there's a little side note on  transparent design. But I think that funnels nicely   into this conversation though and so that's kind  of the what behind what we've been noticing  

at our institution. So let's get into maybe some of  the "so what." Why does this matter? So Julie, what do   you thinking about and why this all matters, why  do we need to be spending time on multilingual   learners or English language learners? I think  that's really the question at the root  

of this, right. think that that involves  such a cultural shift of the mindset that we tend   to have in higher ed, which is students are  accepted to our higher ed institution, they need   to be coming with the equipment and the knowledge  and the the tools to be successful rather than the   mindset of - what can we do to be supplying those  things for our students? How can we build   structures into place so that students are not  floundering and trying to figure this out on their  

own? So when we talk about being an emerging  HSI that's a wonderful, wonderful goal. I love that   we are pursuing the HSI status at our institution,  but I think the tougher part outside of recruiting   those students and having those students come  to our institution is really supporting   those students. Giving the opportunity  without the resources in place for them to really  

succeed, it's not it's not quite fair. So we need to just kind of raise that bar for ourselves   I think and really walk the walk by having those  kind of robust support services in place for our   students. Going back to that idea  of like a cultural shift, I think that it's important to keep reminding ourselves that  multilingual students are coming to our campus   with so much knowledge, so many strengths. Not  only for our institution here as students but as  

future nurses. So what can we really be doing  to kind of change to a strength-based mindset in   terms of these students and not only meet  them where they are and support them, but figure   out ways to really uplift them and change that  culture around so that we're saying oh my gosh   we are so lucky to have you here. What do you need?  Right. Right. Right. Celebrating that. Absolutely. Yes.  

I've had students that walk away from their  first anatomy and physiology class feeling a huge   weight of impostor syndrome because as many  listeners might be aware that class is going   to be very vocabulary heavy so that's one  small example of how can we set students up   before that first A&P class so that they do not  leave feeling like they don't belong.   

That's really a great point - that cultural shift in  mindset really stood out to me because in nursing   education a lot of times there's that saying,  you know, think like a nurse. You're just going   to learn to think like a nurse and it's like, well,  wait a minute, when are we actually teaching them   what that actually means? What does that look like 

and how do we work through that? And I think it's   taking that intentional step back to think through  how do we actually do this and then if you think   about it from your perspective with the language  English language learners, that cultural shift and   mindset I think follows the same exact thing.   Taylor, what about you? what are you thinking about   more of your graduate side of the house of the "so 

what" in all of this? Yeah I think that there's a   lot to be said you know to to sort of jump off  of what you're sharing that our students are   bringing with them this lived wisdom, this cultural  knowledge, these perspectives just like our, you   know, we are a PWI - a predominantly  white institution. All folks are coming with   their understandings, their lived experiences. We 

should see that as abundance. We should see   that as something that's really to be fostered and  to flourish and when we sort of eliminate   the humanity of things like, you're saying Amber,  we lose the richness that nursing can be    and how we're able to educate nurses  and send them into the world to serve people, all   people. So a lot of the research that we've  been doing, we started with a lit review. At the   same time, we were doing kind of outreach 

to colleagues. So in combination of reaching out   to my grad school colleagues, my fellow  student success colleagues that work with graduate   students, we realized that a lot of information was  sort of owned in house or collected in a silo and   so that's number one a huge area of the "so what"  is how do we foster and create and sustain student   success resources if we're all doing it in kind 

of micro doing student success? So how do   we prepare and provide student success strategies  and resources at a larger institutional level if   that information never really gets there or isn't  really available so that's kind of number one. The   second piece is through the lit review.  We're seeing a lot of literature recommend or   or suggested that we put that full force of  accommodations behind accommodations of all kinds.

So not only for testing anxiety, not only for  other types of mobility restrictions and   providing that resource to students who 

are English language learners. I think this ties   really closely to what Julia is saying that we  need to embrace the students that are here and   we need to feel really, really the gratitude that  they chose us not the opposite way where we're   asking them just kind of jam yourself into  this T, this mold that we have I think   higher ed in general has been perpetuating for 

many, many years. For example, when students come   to us like I mentioned with a previous degree we  don't know what kind of support that they've been   provided at other institutions. It might have  been really robust. It might have been really   poor, you know poorly done, so when English  language learners receive referrals to   disability support services or to other type of  offices that offer accommodations it can  

feel insufficient. And what's the message that  we're sending to our English language learners   in rather than identifying accommodations  exclusively through something like a disability   services or support services the opportunity  to sort of approach accommodations in a truly   holistic way? And that's what really ties to  then the other piece of why is   this important. We are a Jesuit institution. We  committed to caring for the whole person through  

our commitment to cura personalis. This must  include celebrating lived wisdom, differences, and  

approaching those differences as an asset. So not  only encouraging and providing accommodations but   understanding that we should foster that pride in  multilingualism that in order to reach that goal   we really need to examine the referral process,  how things are communicated, and that perception of   what are accommodations for, who are accommodations  for because for a very long time, there's there's   been a stigma and is that necessary and is 

that direction that we want to be moving?    Right. The point you made about you know we're forcing students into our mold   and we're doing that not only in higher ed  because I do agree with you, but also in the   nursing profession. Taylor, at one point you  shared with me the word like professional or  professionalism is rooted in white supremacy. 

We have to think about what is that and   when we think about the nursing profession how  are we helping to support students to be their   authentic selves out in practice to be the best  nurses they can? And Maria I think you know do   you want to share a little bit about kind of your  "so what" of getting students out like what are you   thinking about getting them out into practice?   I mean, I think you said it really well but I   was a practicing nurse and nurse practitioner 

working in the hospital. As always with   pre-professional education for and professional  education for nursing students, like there is that   other stakeholder and I'm thinking about that  when I'm seeing patients because this this is   not just...and of course it is do the right  thing by our students and as educators that   is front of mind, right, and I'm thinking about a  student that Taylor and I shared who multilingual   learner and just brilliant and was referred out 

to to Disability Services for accommodations and   she you know wisely drew issue with that and  and said in no uncertain terms, I wonder   if we could perhaps do a little better here. But  I think she was really a catalyst for us to    start thinking about doing the right thing. As a  team we had a lot of conversations around that.  

So yes, 100% there is that level and then also what  about this other stakeholder which is our patients   and their families and the communities that we  serve and their health outcomes because we know   while the research around how do we best support  multilingual learners, English language learners   is somewhat limited and certainly limited when 

it comes to nursing education. The research   is not limited when it comes to the difference  it makes for patients families communities in   terms of having clinicians who look like you and  yes who speak the language so yeah that's   definitely always back of mind and sometimes  front of mind if I'm if I'm out there seeing   patients. This is...there's layers to this  and it really does matter. Yeah Yeah. Absolutely.   

It's a very complex thing to think about but  I often tell faculty and ask you know what's   our ethical obligation to our students and our  ethical obligation to our patients and our   ethical obligation I think as Student Success  you know people within our our college is is   what we've been talking about today is how do we  do this better? How are we better about this and   more holistic? And so as I said in the introduction 

we don't have answers. We've been doing a lot of   thinking and a lot of different things here and  there and definitely want to hear from you all  what you've been doing, what's been working. You  know, I think about appreciative inquiry. Let's   focus on what's working because we can be really  good at what's not, but. Julie, do you want to  

maybe start with what do we do now? Right. So I'll  talk a little bit about what we're thinking as   next steps but as Amber said yes, yes please the  suggestions, the what are you all doing is going   to be so so helpful for us at our institution as 

well. So Taylor mentioned already we've done a lit   review that's been really helpful to just kind of  lay the groundwork for what knowledge what's been   noticed and published on so next steps  for us include creating a survey for students   that we might send out to our own population of 

students. Taylor mentioned earlier that some of the   data that is out there is a little bit siloed  and on the undergraduate side kind of self-   indicating that you are a multilanguage learner  upon application has a lot of implications around   trust in a university or an institution  as well as kind of how is this going to be   perceived as I'm applying to this institution.

We're hoping that with our students and in a way   that's presented from the student services student  success team that that might be a really trusted   engagement and a good way for students to feel  comfortable sharing with us if we are sending  

them kind of our own survey. We'll kind of bolster  that trust and engagement by visiting   classrooms to talk about what we're trying to do  with this information and that will be a really   good opportunity too to be in front of students  and really kind of change that, start to change   that mindset to more of a strength-based and celebrating our multilingual learners.  

So that's kind of a next step for us. I know  Taylor will talk a little bit more about like   university-wide collaboration but that is also  on our radar as well and then just what kind   of interventions might be really effective for our  students, which I know Maria will get into a little   bit too. Yeah. Maria, why don't you go next with what  are you thinking about potential interventions and then   we can wrap it up with Taylor putting the call 

out. Yeah. I've had to get some interventions in   place and resisting the urge to do so before we actually collect this assessment data like Julie   said we've got plans and the works for collecting  some survey data this this fall and winter and   we're really excited to see what that shows and  excited to see if there is disparity between   what's been collected in the past and the way  that it's been collected in the past and how   we're really hoping to present this in a 

in a supportive and safe fashion. But the things   on my mind in terms of intervention, you know, do  we want to think about implementing a validated   tool which exist. They don't exist specifically  for nursing that we've seen that we're thinking   about the validated tools that are out there do we  want to consider implementing that as part of our   student assessments, the student success team. 

Do we want to like Amber was saying use what   works so like what's working well in other  student success projects we've seen really   good success with targeting classes that are  particularly challenging that we know by the   numbers are like the riskiest classes for students when they're in them in terms of   whether they can progress through the program and 

continue to be successful. So I've got my eye on   those will we kind of affectionately refer to as like  high DFW, i.e. the classes where students have the   highest rates of getting Ds, Fs or needing to withdraw,  and how can we tailor some multilingual learner,   ELL interventions to those classes specifically 

knowing that they're high-risk areas. And I think   beyond that the thing that, one of the things that  makes me really excited is harnessing like peer   support faculty and peer support from other  English language learners and English language   learning faculty so that we are really lifting up  the community that already exists here that's just   kind of been maybe under-celebrated until this  point. Those are the a few of the things that   are front of mine for me right now. Thanks Maria 

and Taylor. Yeah, so just to kind of   talk a little bit about what has been successful. So for an example, reaching out to   my colleagues in the graduate school and in other  graduate programs at our institution, getting their   feedback. What do you know, how are you collecting  data, is this something that you're aware of being  

a need? And through that I was able to work  with our graduate school and our colleagues   and we have actually changed our application so  our graduate school application now rather than   asking the question upon application we ask in  an optional way is the, 'do you identify as an   English language learner or ESL student?' once they  are able to accept their offer of admission. That's   one of the questions that they can answer so we  try to remove some of that, you know, possible what  

are you going to use this for? Why do you want to  know? Is this something that you're going to help   help me and help celebrate or am I going to be  tokenized, right? And so that was something that   now regardless of if you know programs and other  graduate programs were aware of it they now have   this data. We are now starting to collect the data  of students who identify and choose to identify   with us as English language learners. That's a huge 

step forward. In addition to that we absolutely   need to collaborate. So this is me giving all of  you listeners the opportunity to let us know what   has been successful, what are things that you see  as aspirational or that you have always wanted to   do and think that could be really beneficial but  you also are looking for the data or the you know  

the literature or the verified tools. There are  so many ways that we can work together and the   opportunity to connect across our own campuses  but truly just across the profession. We see   such a deep desire to do better and to serve our  students better and are sort of you know feeling   the rub between helping individual students in  the moment and moving our institutions forward   with our goals in mind. So we want to hear  from folks - how are things going? Have you had  

successes? To Amber's point, the failures  are good to know but we really want to   focus on what has been positively received by  your students but also positively received by   the faculty and staff that support them. So we  want to collaborate, so let's do that. Yes. Thank   you so much to Maria, Julie, Taylor this has  been amazing and so thoughtful just a very   thoughtful and intentional discussion on English  language Learners. And so we put the call out to  

everybody my email is amber.young-bryce@marquette.edu. You can definitely email me   and I will funnel to the team and maybe in  the future if this garners a lot of likes and   attention and maybe we do something a little bit  more such as a webinar or something a little bit   bigger that we can really engage and interact  in real time with each other on this topic. So   thank you everybody for your time and attention  today. We look forward to hearing from you. Thanks.