ABSTRACT
This Chapter investigates the monolingualized education system and how this system pushes EL students to feel inadequate as they attempt to become literate in two or more different languages. The author outlines policymakers’ historical passage of Official English and English Only bills, which revolve around xenophobic discourse, to then show the ways these legislations cause students’ literacy to suffer through, for example, more testing that results in a lack of growth in students’ academic discourse. By exposing English Only movements and shifts toward English Only education, the author argues that specific mandates impact literacy teaching and learning and highlights methods to reach students despite xenophobic education policies.
