English Debate
Tamika DeWese
Amy Wilkinson
ESL-223N
21 April 2013
The English Only Debate The education of our children with disabilities, disadvantages, and non-proficient has always been a debate. The English-only movement means English is the mandatory language for daily life used in the United States. Which at times is taught to the minorities, children of all ages, people with different backgrounds used as a second language, and the teachers working with them. English language learners (ELLs) benefit from instruction in the key components of reading as it is defined by the National Reading Panel (NICHD, 2000) as phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and text comprehension. English is very common in the United States. Its helps keep the confusion down when there are nations of “diverse racial, ethnic, and religious group” visiting the United States. English is not just a language, but is a tool of social mobility and help improve their lives. Having an Amendment for English Language, “sends a message” to all immigrants encouraging them to all join and not remain apart. English is essential to immigrant’s success. The worst of all is, “the English-Only movement serves to justify racist and nativist biases under the cover of American patriotism” (Crawford, 1992, p. 2-3). Implementing a program for English Language Learner’s ensures students with limited English proficiency have an opportunity to education by providing services. These services help with speech, academic attainment, and state academic content all students are expected to meet each school year. Students who are not receiving any of these services will only hurt them. “We are mentally preparing them in elementary school to drop out,” says University of Texas at El Paso Professor of Education Elena Izquierdo. “We are teaching them English at the expense of their education and later blaming them for not knowing something that they were never taught. These are the programs that are
Amy Wilkinson
ESL-223N
21 April 2013
The English Only Debate The education of our children with disabilities, disadvantages, and non-proficient has always been a debate. The English-only movement means English is the mandatory language for daily life used in the United States. Which at times is taught to the minorities, children of all ages, people with different backgrounds used as a second language, and the teachers working with them. English language learners (ELLs) benefit from instruction in the key components of reading as it is defined by the National Reading Panel (NICHD, 2000) as phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and text comprehension. English is very common in the United States. Its helps keep the confusion down when there are nations of “diverse racial, ethnic, and religious group” visiting the United States. English is not just a language, but is a tool of social mobility and help improve their lives. Having an Amendment for English Language, “sends a message” to all immigrants encouraging them to all join and not remain apart. English is essential to immigrant’s success. The worst of all is, “the English-Only movement serves to justify racist and nativist biases under the cover of American patriotism” (Crawford, 1992, p. 2-3). Implementing a program for English Language Learner’s ensures students with limited English proficiency have an opportunity to education by providing services. These services help with speech, academic attainment, and state academic content all students are expected to meet each school year. Students who are not receiving any of these services will only hurt them. “We are mentally preparing them in elementary school to drop out,” says University of Texas at El Paso Professor of Education Elena Izquierdo. “We are teaching them English at the expense of their education and later blaming them for not knowing something that they were never taught. These are the programs that are
References: Alliance for Excellent Education. (2010). High school dropouts in America. Fact Sheet. Crawford, J. (1992). Language Loyalties: A source book on the Official English controversy. Dianda, M. (2008). Preventing future high school dropouts: An advocacy and action guide for NEA state and local affiliates National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). (2000). Report of the National Reading Panel