![]() ![]() As one student asked, “When do I stop being an English language learner and get to just be an English language user?” The term also works against efforts to acknowledge the competencies and linguistically sophisticated talents these students have as translators, bilingual speakers, and cross-cultural negotiators. Yet, as we have heard from many students through the years, the term English language learner can also be limiting. Its prominence and familiarity in the literature makes it an accessible way to talk about these students. Close to two decades later, the term English language learner remains prominent in educational policy and in many textbooks geared toward teachers and teacher educators. The change indicated a shift away from acknowledging students’ home languages or bilingual abilities. It became the Office of English Language Acquisition, Language Enhancement and Academic Achievement for Limited English Proficient Students, now identified simply as the Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA). In fact, in 2002 the US Department of Education renamed the Office of Bilingual Education and Minority Languages Affairs. The term English language learner was adopted with NCLB and brought into our schools and the larger public discourse. For example, up until the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001, most educational documents referred to these students as bilingual or ESL, both of which acknowledge that English is a second language and that a student has a first language as well. But often the shift in terms has a great deal to do with both policy and issues of identity for students. For many readers, the terms themselves and the ongoing shift to new terms can be alienating, the jargon dividing readers into insiders and outsiders. To address this confusion and tension, we begin each book in this strand with a glossary of common terms and acronyms that are part of current discussions about meeting the needs of these students in English language arts classrooms and beyond. Often the shifting among terms leads to confusion and contention for teachers, administrators, teacher educators, and policymakers. The concern over terminology is part of a long-standing discussion and trends in the labeling of these students, as well as of the fields that conduct research on teachers and students working across languages to teach and learn English. Even so, readers will notice some variation in terms used to describe students, classrooms, and teaching practices. All of us have thought long and hard about the ways in which we label and describe bilingual and ELL students and the programs that often provide these students with additional support. Shannon Pella, California State University, SacramentoĪs authors of the various books in the Teaching English Language Learners strand of the NCTE Principles in Practice (PIP) imprint, we have made a concerted effort to use consistent terminology in these volumes. ![]() Read more in that issue.īetsy Gilliland, University of Hawai‘i MānoaĬhristina Ortmeier-Hooper, University of New Hampshire Read the full Statement of Terminology and Glossary below.Ĭathy Fleischer’s note appeared in the September 2017 issue of The Council Chronicle as part of a focus on supporting English language learners. They explain why they (mostly) use the term English language learner in these books and then share a collaboratively-written glossary of commonly used terms, carefully explaining what these terms mean, where the terms come from, and why how we name matters. In a new strand of NCTE’s Principles in Practice Imprint, Teaching English Language Learners, the authors of the four books take the time to help those of us who feel a little confused. Why are these terms important? And why do they keep changing? What is ESL? Is that different from ELL? And what do we mean by Generation 1.5 or LEP? The medley of words and acronyms used to describe those students who speak and write in languages other than English can be confusing to ELA teachers-especially for teachers who are not immersed in current research and practice surrounding the topic. By Cathy Fleischer, Series Editor for NCTE’s Principles in Practice Imprint ![]()
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