Bilingual Language Education Policy And The English As A Foreign Language

​The United States is a nation filled with a multitude of different cultures which come alongside with a variety of languages. These languages are what help society to communicate with one another and to expand their horizon of thinking. As the United States progresses so does the culture. The culture of the United States is no longer what it once was. A nation of a predominately Caucasian race, who only speaks one language, is now a thing of the past. The National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition (English Language Learners) states that from the 1997-1998 school year to the 2008-2009 school year, the number of English Language Learners in public schools increased from 3.5 million to 5.3 million which comes to be a 51 percent increase. They also reported that the overall student population grew to a 7.2 percent increase during this time. A huge generation of a multicultural society is rapidly growing and it is our responsibility as a nation to educate this new generation to its fullest potential. We as a nation can wither choose to ignore the reality of this new generation by forcing one language on students classified as English Language Learners, or we can choose to cultivate the knowledge of language so that this new generation may prosper in more ways than one. We do not want to become a society that promotes, as R.A. Berman summarizes in his statement from his article The Real

There are so many diverse student groups in the United States. Two that are really of interest to me are English language learners (ELL), and students in foster care. Though they have many similarities, they are also vastly different.

Asylees are foreigners that have been admitted to the United States and are unable or unwilling to return to their home country due to persecution or fear of persecution. They need protection from persecution based on their race, religion, membership in a social group, political opinion, or national origin. They are capable of applying when they are in the United States or at a point of entry.

"America's strength is not our diversity; it is our ability to unite around common principles even when we come from different backgrounds, we can still unite with those bilingual people that have the same dream. The American Dream..." That is what Raj answered when I asked his opinion in regards of bilingualism and how diverse the United States is becoming. Bilingualism is the use of two alternative languages that are interchanged depending on the situation the speaker wants to convey or communicate (Myers-Scotton, C. (2006). Multiple voices: An introduction to bilingualism. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub.) In this Bilingual Profile I will share my interviewee's background, explain the reasons of his language of choice, and explain

America’s educational system is home to an increasing number of English language learners. Some research indicates that by the year 2030, over 40% of elementary and secondary students served by schools in the United States will come from homes where a language other than English is spoken (Thomas & Collier, 2001). In an effort to accommodate these students, the United States has adopted policies at both the federal and state levels. Generally, the direction taken to meet the needs of English language learners has depended on the climate of the nation. During times of peace and prosperity, policies reflect the nation’s tolerance of other languages and cultures. However, during times of war or conflict, policies have reflected

The Acts have vastly improved bilingual education over the years. The current programs available to culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students are numerous and are found throughout the U.S. The fact that educating CLD students has historically been a hot button issue so much that it is part of the political arena. Bilingual education has become a controversial issue tied up with immigration policies, government funding, and political parties. Therefore, there have been great changes made overtime to how the program is administered, and what types of certifications the educators require. The State of Texas has issued a Texas Education Code that includes laws and codes passed by the state legislature. These include adaptations for special learning populations of English language learners. The state mandated these policies found in the Texas Administrative Code, Chapter 89 was enacted to ensure that every student in the state of Texas that is classified as culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) will be a part of programs that provide native and second language instruction. Policies and laws such as these were not available to protect culturally and linguistically diverse student populations in the past. Krashen states, the “sink or swim” technique was not a successful teaching practice with immigrants and American Indians; this caused low academic achievement and increased dropout rates.” The more recent policies are based on studies that while students learn the

ELL (English Language Learner) are individuals whose first language is not English and who are presently learning English. The term ELL can envelop an extensive variety of proficiencies in English from truly negligible abilities to very familiar. In schools and locale ELL may be utilized to mean the same as constrained English capable (LEP), however in fact it doesn't mean the same thing. It's critical to comprehend what a content or speaker considers ELL to mean.

The author is a professor of ESL and Vietnamese. This book has fourteen lessons, seven appendices, and two glossaries. They are built on a foundation of interaction, communication, and culture. This book not only provide an understanding of the language, but it also help students develop their language skills in Vietnamese. Students can learn to recognize, practice, and write the routine popular sentences. The appendices introduce the main historical events, traditional culture, politics, and geographical characteristics of Vietnam. The author is grateful for sharing her

3). In each of these orientations, bilingual education is considered as the outline or the umbrella that the three orientations come under. Richard Ruiz (1988), elaborate these orientations and explains the limitations and strengths of the views “language as a problem” and “language as a right”. Although he mentions that the orientation of “language as a resources” has its limitations too, Ruiz argues that developing such orientation and supporting it will result in more realistic attitudes towards languages and language minorities (Ruiz, 1988, p.

The topic that I will be discussing is the debate over bilingual education in the United States school system. Equality in education is an opportunity that is open to everyone "regardless of race or class or economic status, are entitled to a fair chance and to the tools for developing their individual powers of mind and spirit to the utmost"(Cochran). As the creation of The Bilingual Education Act of 1974 proved to be useful in providing federal funds "to meet the language needs of non-English speaking families"(Cochran) giving the stability for these bilingual programs to continue. This argument can strengthened even more through the data gathered in the 1970's revealing that over 70 percent of these programs were established. Usually in the regions where districts had high population of non-English Speaking families usually programs "were created in the Southwest and Pacific Coast areas"(Cochran). A issue that also arises in bilingual education is the lack of minority teachers that are present to help school systems. Minority teachers "currently make up slightly more than 14 percent of the teaching profession"(Cochran) which has been researched to be due to the salary structure for teacher to seek a profession with an increased income. Diversity has become a valued in many universities for its benefits towards higher education. This occurs when "varieties of racial, economic, ethic, and social groups interact on the same campus"(Cochran). Similar to proposition 227 that recently was revoked two years ago in California which virtually outlawed bilingual education (Cengage).

Learning a second language necessarily involves comparison with the learners’ first language, but the latter is generally perceived as causing ‘interference’ in the learning of the target language. So, students are taught to imitate, practice drills, and create speaking habits without addressing the larger complexities of language learning. In the language classroom, learners do not only learn about a culture but they try to understand themselves in relation to that culture. This process entails the transformational engagement of the learner in the act of learning. Students bring with them their own conceptions, misconceptions, experiences, feelings and understanding to the classroom, and as they interact with another culture, their views will continue to change and shape their learning as well as their identity. The diverse cultural understandings and experiences of the students are highly influential and therefore need to be taken into account.

Now, let us tackle into what an experienced bilingual afterschool program coordinator and a nonprofit organization, the National Association for Bilingual Education, have to say regarding the filed of English Language Learning. To gain more insight from a professional standpoint, I have had the honor to interview the coordinator of an afterschool program for immigrant children and families, where I have been doing my service learning for the past two years. The program coordinator’s beliefs are unanimous with the four literature review findings that using paired reading, gesture, and providing bilingual education are effective teaching strategies for English Language Learners. Furthermore, it is crucial to recognize the strengths of ELLs and being aware of their needs too. Paired reading will help with ELL’s English fluency because it encourages children to sound out the words to each other. It will also help them to stay focused on the books and to cooperate or foster social interaction skills. Using gesture, or even role-play or drawings can help children understand the readings and vocabularies in a more interesting way. Lastly, bilingual education is crucial in ELL’s learning. It helps children make connections with their native language and English while they are reading or speaking, and making connections between their home culture and the U.S. culture is a great way to help the children enjoy learning a new language.

The researchers argue that it is more helpful for these students to continue to communicate in their home language while learning a second language. Everyone obtains the language of their surrounding environment and is comfortable with that form of communication. The success comes, it is said, when the second language is acquired. In effort to put this into action, the solution that researchers Cummins and Kenji Hakuta recommended was to use teachers who were bilingual

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the intimate and inseparable relation between culture and language and the implementation of instructional approaches and techniques for teaching second language

Bilingual education is an educational system in which students are taught in both their native and international language. It has been practiced in various forms in different countries of the world. There are still conflicts between people in case of bilingual education because some people prefer bilingual education whereas, some refuse it, depending upon their own thoughts and reasons and they are still arguing about it. Whatever the argument is, bilingual education should be prioritized, especially in the country like United States where thousands of immigrants from all over the world are welcomed every year, because being linguistic has observable practical benefit in an increasingly globalized world rather than being monolingual. Bilingual education also helps maintaining the fluency of the native language, improving the academic proficiency of the second language learned, hence it is the better system of education. The Bilingual programs have shown many benefits academically and socially to the students. Being significant there are numerous example of people succeeding with the bilingual program; Critics like Temes and Nyika has deliberated bilingual education being effective educational program in cognitive development process of childrens.