Serving English Language Learners

This episode of NLN Nursing EDge Unscripted is hosted by Amber Young-Brice and features guests Taylor Pamperin, Maria Keegan, and Julie Radford.

Dedicated to excellence in nursing, the National League for Nursing is the leading organization for nurse faculty and leaders in nursing education. Find past episodes of the NLN Nursing EDge podcast online. Get instant updates by following the NLN on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. For more information, visit NLN.org.

Transcript

0:36

We are so grateful to have some time to do a podcast today on English language learners. I am  going to introduce who you see here. We have Julie Radford who is lead Student Success Advising and  Recruitment in our Student Success area at Marquette University and then we have Taylor  Rose Pamperin who is a Graduate Student Success and Programming Specialist and then we have  Maria Keegan who is a Nursing Academic Coaching and Program Support Specialist and then there's  me. I'm the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in the College of Nursing. Our goal today is  really to come together to start the conversation about English language learners. We all have them  and we've been noticing some trends and we want to share those trends with you all today and   hopefully at the end we'll share some contact information to start crowdsourcing or thinking  about this together because this affects all of us as we prepare future nurses or future advanced  practice nurses. So we don't have the answers, but we hope we can get to that point soon. We come  from a midsize private, nonprofit Jesuit university in the Midwest. We have about 8,000 undergraduate  students and I'm kind of buffering that and we have about 4,000 graduate students in our  university. A majority of our undergrads do come from public high schools from surrounding states.  We get a lot from the surrounding area but we do get the different coasts of students and with our  students majority white institution we do have 34% in our last year statistics for students of color.  Since 2016 we've been working towards the Hispanic Serving Institution, HSI, status and  when we made that commitment back in 2016, which sounds forever ago, we were at 9.7% of students  that identified Hispanic, Latina, Latino, Latinx, and currently we're at 15% so slowly making progress.  I know that everyone on the podcast today is going to talk a little bit about that here  and there and this matters to nursing because we all know that the United States the demographics  are constantly changing. We want to put out professionals that look like the populations  they're going to serve and that also includes language. This is definitely essential  to help grow the nursing profession to better care for those that we're going to experience no matter  where our students go out and practice and be the difference. So let's start off. Julie, can you  start us by talking about what you been noticing with our undergraduate students and then maybe we  can go to Taylor and and Maria? What we've been noticing, that sounds great. Thanks Amber. So  as a team of student support professionals we're really very much on the ground with students.   We're hearing what their experience are at the university. We are kind of go-to resources for  students that are here in the nursing program and so what we really started to notice and this is  more anecdotally than anything, we'll get into the data and how that is in some ways problematic in a  bit. But anecdotally speaking we're noticing more of an influx of multilingual learners. So we're  hearing from students as well as from faculty that there is more of a need for support for  our students whose language may not be English as a first language. What we've really  kind of learned is that we don't really have a cohesive plan to support our multilingual  learners at the college level especially and so our approach really has been on an individual  

basis: 4:44

what do we know about each student, what does each student share with us, what are hear, what are we hearing from faculty, and then kind of approaching it from that kind of individualistic  standpoint and kind of figuring out as a rather solo college or department on a larger campus.  Well, what are the resources outside of our 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.