English Instruction Impact on At Risk Israeli High Schoolers

1. Annual National Summer Conference 2015 English Instruction Among Israeli High Schoolers At Risk: An Integrative or Marginalizing Force? Raviv Schwartz July 8, 2015 Jerusalem

2. Youth At Risk: According to Israel's Central Bureau for Statistics, some 20% of the population hasn’t completed high school and an additional 17% went through high school without receiving a diploma. A significant proportion of those not completing high school or completing without a diploma may be considered youth at risk.

3. Youth At Risk: • Engage in risky behavior • Characterized by low educational achievements • Experience emotional and/or social problems • Sometimes are in danger of physical harm • From others or self-inflicted • Live in threatening, non-supportive family environments

4. Correlation Between Socio-economic Status and Educational Achievement • Among high socio-economic communities, 77% percent of Jewish students received a complete matriculation diploma. • By contrast, among the lowest socio-economic communities, only 35% of students received a complete matriculation diploma. • This is mirrored in the rates of university-eligible matriculation, with a gap of 70% to 27%.

5. Questions Addressed: Do youth at risk relate to English any differently than they do to other core curricular subjects? Does English instruction in Israeli high schools, as presently constituted, serve to reinforce the already marginalized status of youth at risk?

6. Underlying (Implicit and Explicit) Assumptions Research has consistently demonstrated that those who possess an advanced knowledge of the English language have a much better chance of enjoying higher paying jobs and greater social mobility Israeli youth also recognize the importance of English for social and professional mobility, not to mention for successfully navigating travel overseas Exposure to English language content on TV, movies, internet, etc. has resulted in English being even more central to the lives of young people (including in Israel) in the 21st century.

7. Current Reality in Israel The acquisition of matriculation units in English is a prerequisite for pursuing higher education in Israel A 3-point matriculation is NOT sufficient The overwhelming emphasis of the matriculation exam regimen in Israel is on reading comprehension. The contents of this regimen often reflects a substantive orientation towards research (e.g. studies, surveys, and technological & scientific research ).

8. Uneasy Intersection between At-Risk Youth and English Instruction I must qualify that these are admittedly based on my own observations. The recognition of English as a vehicle for social/professional upward mobility among youth at risk is by no means a foregone conclusion. While these youth possess smart phones, use Facebook and watch American movies, this in no way guarantees a greater familiarity with or mastery of English.

9. Metaphors of Marginalization When asked to define the following: passport…. Most thought it was a “kind of photo” When asked to define the following: special…. Most thought it was a “kind of taxi”

10. Uneasy Intersection between At-Risk Youth and English Instruction The disproportionately high emphasis on reading comprehension (with its concomitant subliminal orientation towards higher education) inadvertently results in English being perceived as elitist, aloof and removed from the everyday lives of these youth. Even those with a decent command of conversational English are deemed unworthy of matriculation points if their reading comprehension is weak. Hence, English for many of these youth is ultimately rendered inaccessible, esoteric and viewed as a burden rather than as an opportunity.

11. Preliminary Conclusion: From my own limited experience teaching English to Israeli high schoolers at risk, English instruction, as currently structured in Israel’s school system, is much more a force for marginalization than for integration. The system then, in its ethos for teaching English, seems more intent on preserving the veneer of “universal access to higher education” than recognizing the distinctive needs/predicament of youth at risk and adjusting the curricular requirements accordingly.

12. Questions/Recommendations Proposed: What can be done to make English study more accessible and more enjoyable to high school students at risk and more relevant to their lives? At the system/policy level: Reordering of the current curricular emphasis on reading comprehension Greater emphasis on conversational English At the school/classroom level: Harnessing popular music, film social media artifacts for English instruction Expansion of the various schemes of mifgashim to schools catering to youth at risk