Education of English Learners



Education of English Learners

Overview of the topic

The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), reauthorized in 2001 as the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), has focused increased attention on appropriate programs of study and assessments for English learners enrolled in public schools in the United States. NCLB specifically requires that English learners' English language proficiency be assessed and that they participate in a standards-based, English language-assessment system upon enrollment in school. Giving uniformity to what it means for English learners to “attain” language proficiency, Therefore, all the issues and aspects related to exploring & solving pressing Issues in the Education of English learners will be discussed in detail.

First Problem: Difficulty in implementing English Language in Schools

For the more than five million English learners enrolled in Pre-Kindergarten through twelfth grade (PK-12) public schools across the nation, the federal expectation is that English learners will be able to succeed in educational settings (i.e. classrooms) within three years as proficient speakers, readers, and writers of the English language. an English learner is defined as an individual whose native or first language (L1) is other than English and who comes from an environment where a language other than English is dominant, causing the individual significant difficulty in acquiring proficiency in the second language (L2) difficulty which may deny the individual the opportunity to succeed academically and to participate fully in society. Additional criteria outlined in Title III describe an English learner as an individual aged three to twenty-one who was not born in the United States; is a Native American of Alaska or a native resident of the outlying areas; or is migratory. Other terms, such as limited English proficient (LEP) students and English language learner (ELL), are used interchangeably in research findings and state and federal legislation and policies; however, increasingly, English learner (EL) is used in lieu of the aforementioned terms (Ary, Jacobs & Razavieh, 2002).

Second Problem: Struggling to adopt English Language in Schools

Although the definition of language proficiency varies among theorists, practitioners and researchers in the field of language study, its definition, or description, has evolved over the years into, arguably, a continuum of English language development and acquisition relative to achieved attainment, or mastery, of the targeted L2. English learners' acquisition of the L2 requires a systemic progression through stages of language development - transitioning from little to no knowledge of the L2 to proficiency in the L2 comparable to that of a native, English speaker. As outlined in Mississippi's Guidelines for English Language Learners (2011) and the state-adopted language proficiency assessment, there are six stages of English language development and acquisition in order of progression: (a) entering; (b) beginning; (c) developing; (d) expanding; (e) bridging; and (f) reaching (Antunez, 2003).

Third Problem: Hardship faced by English Learners in USA

Communities across the United States are more diverse than communities were more than a decade ago. The number of English learners enrolled in PK-12 public schools across the nation has grown a staggering fifty-one percent since ...