In the United States today one out of ten public school students are learning to speak English as a second language. These students are labeled within their schools as English Language Learners (ELL). ELL students have been the fastest growing population within schools (Ostayan, 2016). Educating the growing population of nearly five million of these students today in English and all other subjects has become one of the biggest challenges within the U.S public school systems (Roeket, 2008). Unfortunately many of these students are not succeeding in their educational environments and they are falling between the cracks. The public school systems in the United States are not adequately providing the resources and proper time periods for second language acquisition to occur for English language learners, leading them to low levels of academic achievement and success.

Former Assistant Secretary of Education, Chester E. Finn Jr.  when talking about the increasing problems facing ELL students said “We’re losing talented kids from immigrant families who don’t know their way around the American system”(Roeket, 2008). It is not that the kids are incapable it’s the system that is causing them to fail. Another important thing to note is that many of these children are U.S citizens who were born in the United States. Of the ELL students in grades pre-k -5th grade, 85% of those students were born in the United States. In grades 6-12th 62% of them were born in the United States (English, 20017). The United States is known as the “melting pot” due to its heterogeneous population and history and therefore has no official language. These students should not be experiencing such difficulting in acquiring a quality education due to the fact that English is not their first language. But in reality they are.

ELL students severely lag behind when it comes to academic achievement. Only 63% of ELL students graduate high school, compared to the 82% of students whose first language is English. Out of those 63% who graduate, only 1.4% take any sort of college exams and go on to continue their education at a higher level (English, 2007). This not only is limiting for them as students but also can result in limiting incomes, housing, and resources for themselves in the future. It becomes a vicious cycle when these students who do not receive a proper education grow up and have children of their own, who are then placed in schools that are not properly equipped to educate them. Although there are a multitude of different languages, the majority of  ELL students speak Spanish as their first language. Two thirds of ELL students come from low-income families, which is determined by free and reduced lunch within the schools (Concentration, 2017). The way that education is being conducted, the poor and non-white students suffer because they have little to no access to quality instruction that is tailored to their needs This is a form of institutional racism.

The funding for programs to help these student largely comes from the local level. The funding form the federal government only represents about 11% (Sanchez, 2017). A problem that is seen in schools is that the schools do not want kids to be in ELL programs because these programs cost money, so the screening tools that they use usually very low cost and simple, often times just taking the form of a take-home survey. This form of screening negatively affects all ELL students in the fact that many of them are not getting the help that they need and gifted students are not being recognized. The National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) research showed that the most gifted ELL students are not on anybody’s radar (Sanchez, 2017). The Department’s Office of Civil Rights has singled out over 120 different school districts who did not have a single student on their ELL program; they found over five hundred thousand students were not receiving any special instruction to learn English (Sanchez, 2017).

For the students who are enrolled in ELL programs, the resources and the time that they spend in the program is not enough and often times they are rushed through the program. When a student is acquiring a second language is not easy and it takes a lot of time. Second language acquisition researchers have documented to be a very complex process that occurs over a long period of time (Fountas, 2006). A study conducted by Ostayan identified two categories of early literacy skills necessary for success in school. The incorporation and mastering of oral language skills, including storytelling, semantics, and conceptual knowledge as well as phonological awareness, which includes skills in understanding of the alphabetic principle, and the ability to hear and manipulate sounds (Ostayan, 2016). First language acquisition begins at birth and continues through at least the age of twelve with a continuous need for new vocabulary and a continuous acquisition (Fountas, 2006). Second language acquisition is a different story. Second language learning needs to acquire the skills past conversation and lifestyle. They need to acquire language in the context of schooling. In order to do this they need to be proficient in all language domains including structure and semantics of phonetics, phonology, inflectional morphology, syntax, vocabulary, discourse, pragmatics and paralinguistics. With that, they must be competent in all language skills such as listening, reading, writing, speaking and metalinguistic knowledge of the language. Once a student has all of that, it is then that they can properly apply it to subject matters such as math, science, social studies, and language arts (Fountas, 2006). This is obviously a large feat to accomplish, and yet many school expect students to be properly proficient within one years time. It has been found that in districts that are considered the most successful in teaching English to ELL students, oral proficiency takes 3 to 5 years to develop, and academic English proficiency can take 4 to 7 years (Sanchez, 2017).

One teacher of English language learners in the Maryland public high school systems described how she saw the schools pushing through ELL students in the shortest amount of time possible (Strauss, 2015). She described the testing in Maryland and how it negatively affected the 55,000 ELL students in the state. The ACCESS test, a test that ELL students are required to take was far too easy for ELL students and held them to an extremely low academic threshold of achievement (Strauss, 2015). This allowed them to pass and be moved into mainstream classes before they were properly equipped. She described the writing portion of the test in which she has seen students who are in high school who could not writing two grammatically correct sentences in english pass the test. The results of the test provide the single data point that determines whether students are eligible for further ELL services in the states. So when students pass they are immediately moved onto the path of a mainstream student. In order for proper language learning to occur students need more time and better teaching strategies that match where they are.

A study conducted by Murphy et. al researched teachers perceptions of the resources being provided to their ELL students (Murphy, 2015). The study showed that most teachers felt that the ELL students were not being properly supported in their education and that teachers did not have enough resources and support from their administrations, communities, and local government to effectively teach the students (Murphy, 2015).

This is not to say English Language Learners are not starting at square one. A child who speaks a language, even if it is the conversational language at home has gone through the acquisition phases that researchers have shown to be consistent for all languages in the world (Fountas, 2006). In this they have learned a system of rules (grammar) a vocabulary (lexicon), a sound system (phonology), and a system of meaning (semantics) (Fountas, 2006). This knowledge is mostly implicit or unconsciously learned and has been acquired through interaction with others. The more interaction and language opportunities a child has the more the children’s language learning  systems will develop (Fountas, 2006). With English Language Learners a strong background in their native language is beneficial, because it will fuel its own learning by expanding in scope and complexity the more it is used. In fact studies have shown that being bilingual has many different benefits in itself. It has been proven to improve intergroup relations, foster cultural identity, raise student self-esteem and academic achievement, and enhance citizen productivity (Salazar, 2010).

One important concept, when teaching English language learners is that they need to perceive their talking, reading, and writing as meaningful (Fountas, 2006). An important factor in their comprehension is attention and a new learner only has so much of it. Pushing them past their ability to learn in order to get them through the process quickly will not be effective. For example when looking at comprehension attention plays a key role. When there is effortless and automatic word recognition it frees one’s attention to fully understand the meaning of the text. Speed is recognizing the word and simultaneously accessing its meaning. This is an important part of the learning process. Unusually high complex syntax requires too much of one’s attention and will limit their comprehension (Fountas, 2006).

That is why it is so important to realize that it takes a substantial amount of time to develop oral English proficiency and then even longer amount of time to develop academic english proficiency. This should be taken far more into consideration when developing academic plans and supplying resources to ELL students. The current system within schools for ELL is not working. In order for it to become more effective schools need to give students more time in the programs to acknowledge how long second language acquisition takes. The population of ELL students is going to continue to grow in the United States and finding new ways to way to address this and educate these students should be a top priority.

References

Concentration of Public School Students Eligible For Free or Reduced-Priced Lunch. (2017).Retrieved December 9, 2017, from https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator_clb.asp

English Language Learners in Public Schools. (2007). Retrieved December 7, 2017, fromhttps://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator_cgf.asp

Fountas, G.S., & Pinnell, G.S. (2006). Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency: Thinking,Talking, and Writing about Reading, K-8.  Portsmouth,NH:Heinemann Publishing.

Murphy, A. F., & Haller, E. (2015). Teachers’ perceptions of the implementation of the literacy

Common Core State Standards for English language learners and students withdisabilities. Journal Of Research In Childhood Education, 29(4), 510-527. doi:10.1080/02568543.2015.1073200

Ostayan, J. R. (2016). Early literacy skills and English Language Learners: An analysis ofstudents in a Title I school. Reading Psychology, 37(8), 1097-1118. doi:10.1080/02702711.2016.1159634

Roeket, D. (2008). English Language Learners Face Unique Challenges (Policy brief) Retrieved from http://www.nea.org/assets/docs/HE/ELL_Policy_Brief_Fall_08_(2).pdf.

Salazar, M. L. (2010). Sociocultural and historical factors affecting school success: Heritage

Hispanics in Colorado’s San Luis valley schools. Dissertation Abstracts InternationalSection A, 70, 2988.

Sanchez, C. (2017, February 23). English Language Learners: How Your State Is Doing.

Retrieved December 13, 2017, from https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2017/02/23/512451228/5-million-english-language-learners-a-vast-pool-of-talent-at-risk

Strauss, V. (2015, May 29). Why Carlos can’t graduate: Setting up ESOL students to fail with a too-easy test. Retrieved December 13, 2017, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2015/05/29/why-carlos-cant-graduate-setting-up-esol-students-to-fail-with-a-too-easy-test/?utm_term=.81e3685ee35f