Author(s): Anna Denn

Presentation: oral

Now, more than ever, there is great diversity among learners. Numbers are staggering in local schools for English as New Language (ENL) students who do not receive the support they need to sufficiently understand grade-level concepts and ideas. In an effort to meet the demand to support ENL students, the Guided Language Acquisition Design (GLAD) has come to the forefront as a possible strategy to meet the changing demographics and learning needs of a diverse society. This qualitative case study was designed to examine how GLAD promotes value, validates, and celebrates diversity and supports literacy acquisition for ENL students in mainstream classrooms. Additionally, I examined where GLAD philosophically fit into my own instructional practice as a teacher. Data were collected from student, teacher, and administrator interviews and researcher observation of GLAD classrooms. Participants were selected because of their teaching or learning experiences in GLAD settings. The data collected provided multiple perspectives which sought to answer to following research questions: In what ways does the incorporation of GLAD promote value, validate, and celebrate diversity for ENL students in a mainstream classroom? In what ways does GLAD promote literacy acquisition for ENL students in a mainstream classroom?

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