ABSTRACT
The fastest growing segment of the school age population is students with limited English proficiency, otherwise known as English language learners (ELLs). ELL refers to students whose first language is not English, who are at various levels of proficiency in their English language learning and who require instructional support in order to fully access the academic curriculum to succeed in their schooling (Rivera, Collum, Schafer, & Sia, 2006). Districts all around the U.S. are faced with this demographic explosion of ELLs, and while most of these districts are in states that have traditionally had ELLs in their school communities, such as California and Texas, other states experiencing rapid and large increases in their ELL population include South Carolina (526%), North Carolina (471%), Tennessee (448%) and Indiana (438%) (Lazarin, 2006). In the span of 10 years, the state of Arkansas has experienced a 1200% increase in their ELL population (Hobson, 2010). The nation’s public school system has never been in such distress on the achievement and graduation rates of ELLs. While this is a paramount challenge for schools, it is a dual challenge for ELLs to increase their proficiency in English while learning cognitively challenging content and skills in English in order to be promoted and ultimately graduate. Schools are overwhelmed by nonEnglish-speaking students who require academic language proficiency in order to perform well on state assessments. The heated discussion revolves around whether ELLs learn English more effectively through bilingual education or English immersion courses.
