English as a Second Language (ESL)

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that the influx of immigrants to the United States during the 18th and 19th centuries made it necessary to adopt policies regarding bilingual education; by the end of the 19th century, many states had adopted bilingual laws or provided bilingual instruction without creating formal legalization. The author points out that California's Proposition 227 is a threat to bilingualism within school curricula; therefore, supporters of ESL are attempting to have limited English proficiency listed as a special education need. The paper describes and evaluates three types of ESL instruction, including the withdrawal program, in which students are withdrawn from the classroom for instruction; submersion, in which students are placed in an English-only classroom with no additional help; and structured immersion, in which students are in an English environment, but the teacher, proficient in their native language, helps the student whenever difficulty arises with English in the classroom.

Table of Contents
History of Bilingual Education in the United States
Legislation Regarding Bilingual Education
Proposition 227
Type of Bilingual Program in the Classroom
Other Types of Bilingual Programs
Evaluation of Bilingual Programs

From the Paper:

"According to this initiative, federal funds are provided to support English language learners (ELLs). The focus is thus entirely on teaching and learning English only. This is encouraged by "accountability" provisions, including the judgment of schools according to the number of ELLs reclassified as fluent English speakers. Furthermore, the failure to show progress in English learning will be punished. This appears to be a return to the earlier and paranoid legislation regarding language instruction during the World War I years. It also appears once again to be unconstitutional; schools are practically being forced to abandon all attention to native language instruction in favor of English-only instruction."

More papers on English as a Second Language (ESL):

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• Essay # 57141 : "Teaching English as a Second Language (ESL)"
• Essay # 23889 : "English as a Second Language (ESL)"

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