Capstone English Language Learners Portfolio

Abstract

This ELL Portfolio demonstrates my knowledge and understanding of the best practice to serve English language learners (ELLs) and illustrates how I could apply the knowledge and theories into my future teaching career. The Portfolio consists of three parts: Teaching Philosophy, Artifact Analysis, and Applications to Practice. Teaching Philosophy is the theoretical framework for Artifact Analysis and describes the professional position that guides me a teacher, which includes Teach Language for Communicative Purpose, Tailor Instruction to Students’ Needs, and Leverage Students’ Funds of Knowledge. In Artifact Analysis, four professional knowledge areas are explored in the sequence of Learner, The Learning Contexts, Curriculum, and Assessment from the perspective of six TESOL domains: Identity and Context, Learning, Instructing, Planning, Content, and Assessing. Under each TESOL domain, an artifact is used to analyze how it exemplifies, falls short of or complicates that TESOL domain and my philosophy of teaching. Applications to Practice reflects on what I have learned and where I want to go as a future teacher from four aspects: Who Am I as a Teacher, Takeaways from ELL Program, Areas for Improvement, and Challenges in Teaching My Future Students.