Year: 2002
Type: article
Abstract: Currently, no national, state, or local strategy exists for comprehensively and adequately addressing the academic needs of children who are learning English.These children are commonly referred to as Limited English Proficient (LEP) students, English Learners (ELs), or English Language Learners (ELLs). 2 ELLs face very serious barriers to obtaining quality education.Their right to equal opportunities to participate and learn has been recognized by federal law.While research findings have not yet indicated how best to address the achievement problems ELLs face, it is obvious that some type of support must be provided for them to overcome those barriers.Some of these 4.4 million students 3 receive assistance through well-implemented, successful bilingual education programs; however, many are given inadequate language support.In 1996-1997, over 300,000 of these students were not provided a special language support program. 4 The recently enacted No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 states that one of the purposes of federal assistance for LEPs is to help them attain English proficiency and develop high levels of academic attainment; however, more and more policymakers are moving to set arbitrary time limits for language support.5 California and Arizona already have passed voter initiatives, commonly known as Unz Initiatives, that limit language assistance to one-year English immersion programs, with sharply limited exceptions.Currently, there are efforts to pass similar voter initiatives in Colorado and Massachusetts.There is limited body of evidence and data regarding bilingual education and the most effective strategies for educating ELLs.However, education research is clear: one year of English instruction generally is not enough time to prepare children learning English to succeed in general education classes taught only in English.Acquisition of "playground" English is not the same as acquisition of academic English.Research is also clear that there is no single program or method of teaching that is guaranteed to be most effective in assisting ELLs.Indeed, small ELL populations or particular language minority groups may have very different needs from other ELL populations in a given school district.At a minimum, society should preserve the rights of state and local educators and parents to select from a variety of sound language support programs that are likely to work given the setting, demographics, and resources of a community.Results on the implementation of California's one-year English immersion programs show that these programs are not the success claimed by Unz Initiative proponents, and some 1
Author: Jacinta Ma
Language: English
Subfield: Linguistics and Language
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1574283255