RAQAMLI TEXNOLOGIYALARNING YANGI O‘ZBEKISTON RIVOJIGA TA’SIRI Xalqaro ilmiy-amaliy konferensiyasi Over the last decade, STEM employment grew at a much faster pace than non-STEM jobs;
24% versus 4%
7
. Moreover, STEM employment is predicted to continue to grow much faster than
other occupations for the foreseen future. Individuals in STEM fields enjoy 29% higher wages and
50% higher rate in obtaining a college degree compared to their counterparts in non-STEM fields
8
.
Taylor claimed that during the next three decades 90% of the U.S. labor force growth will come from
new immigrants and their children and predicted that ELL students will constitute a significant
portion of the work force. Hence, STEM education becomes a critical component in preparing ELL
students with the skill level needed to make them prosper in a job market that is fueled by
advancements in science and technology.
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Having read related literature it has been found that college- and career-ready standards
present both opportunities and challenges for ELs, necessitating that educators at multiple levels of
the education system develop new areas of expertise. Historically, within the classroom, STEM
content learning has been considered the province of STEM content educators, while language
learning has been considered the province of language educators. Current understanding of the co-
development of language and content necessitates that educators of STEM content are familiar with
the nature of language, language learning, and exemplary STEM instruction that includes attention
to language. To achieve this objective, educators of STEM content must learn to interrogate their
preconceived notions and tacit assumptions about language, starting with the most fundamental,
though rarely discussed, question, “What is language?” In the same way, language educators will
need to become familiar with the nature of STEM content areas.
Research on Language Among English Learners as ELs increased in numbers and became a
focus of attention in K
–
12 classrooms, the first response was to prepare ESL teachers who would
teach English to ELs in
separate classrooms and then send them to “content” classrooms once they
had developed sufficient proficiency. An early response of the field of TESOL (Teachers of English
to Speakers of Other Languages) to the challenge of ELs keeping up with grade-level learning in K
–
12 contexts was the emergence of “content
-
based language teaching”. This approach recognized
that children best learn language if it is taught in meaningful contexts of use, and that for children
in school, the meaningful contexts are the subject areas. This idea was further supported by the
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Howard, N. R., & Ifenthaler, D. (2018). Integrating STEM opportunities for young learners, Tech Know Learn, 23, 195-
197.
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Langdon, D., McKittrick, G., Beede, D., Beethika, K., & Doms, M. (2011). STEM: Good jobs now and for the future. U.S.
Department of Commerce; Economics and Statistics Administration. Retrieved from
http://www.esa.doc.gov/sites/default/files/reports/documents/stemfinaljuly14.pdf
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Taylor, P. (2014). The next America: boomers, millennials, and the looming generational showdown (1st ed.). New York:
Public Affairs.