ABSTRACT
Along with the increasing number of newly arrived immigrants, major school districts across the country have been experiencing an increase in the number of diverse languages spoken in their schools. For example, according to the U.S. Bureau of the Census (1994), the following school systems reported having more than 100 languages spoken in their schools: New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Fairfax County, Virginia. The Chinese language (1.2 million speakers) ranked sixth among the top 10 languages spoken in these four school systems, after English (198.6 million), Spanish (17.3 million), French (1.7 million), German (1.5 million), and Italian (1.3 million). Proportionately in the most populous states, New York and California, Chinese-speaking students represent the largest group within the Asian American student population. In the 1990–1991 school year, Chinese-speaking limited English proficient (LEP) students were the second largest LEP group in New York and California (Chang, 1993). How-ever, diversity in language exists within Chinese-speaking LEP and second-language learners commensurate with the language diversity among the general Chinese American populations.
