History and Politics of ELL

Objectives

Students will be able to:

● Create a timeline about the history of ELL students.
● Connect vocabulary words learned in this lesson to history and
politics of ELL.
● Assess their understanding of the history and politics of ELL
through formative assessments.
What is ELL?
● ELL or English Language Learners are people who cannot effectively
communicate in English
● Sometimes will be used interchangeably with LEP, limited English proficiency

Goals of ELL programs include:

- Getting students to be efficient in English

- Effective communicate
- Integrate students into classroom and social settings
Timeline
1919: State restriction of foreign language education

Meyer vs. Nebraska: opposed the restriction

1925: FARRINGTON V TOKUSHIGE: took the 163 privately-owned foreign

language schools and put them under government control.

1947:STAINBACK V. MO HOCK KE KOK PO: protect children from the harm of

learning a foreign language.”

1964: Civil Rights Act of 1964: for students who do not understand English are
effectively foreclosed from any meaningful education
Timeline
1967: Billingual education act was an educational policy should work to equalize
academic outcomes

1974: LAU V NICHOLS: rights of students to receive a public education that

accommodates their language of origin.

1980: CASTANEDA V. PICKARD: The US court of appeals established a system

for which bilingual education programs in public schools must comply to be in
accordance with the Equal Educational Opportunities Act of 1974.

1982: STEPHEN KRASHEN: There is a distinction in ELL students between

learning and acquiring language.
Timeline
1983: A nation at risk report contributed to the ever-growing assertion that
American schools were failing, and it touched off a wave of local, state, and
federal reform efforts.

1986: Beyond language was an effort to integrate culturally responsive instruction,

this document addressed the sociocultural factors that can affect an ELL’s
experience.

2000: NORRIS AND ORTEGA: Explicit instruction involving explanations to

students of the specific rules they should know or be aware of for particular forms.
Pointing out the forms v simply exposing them to the language results in greater
success.
Timeline
2001: No Child Left Behind

2001: THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE ACQUISITION, LANGUAGE ENHANCEMENT,

AND ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT ACT.The NCLB version of the Bilingual
Education Act. Caps funding for bilingual education programs at half of what it
previously was and does not require that any bilingual education programs
undergo periodic evaluation, a measure required by the Castenada v. Pickard
court case.
Timeline
2005: FOSTER & OHTA stated that interactions between ELD and English-
proficient students must be carefully organized with attention paid to the tasks
students are engaging in, the training of English-proficient students, and the
proficiency of the learners themselves.

2006: SAUNDERS & OBRIEN: Drawing from several studies they concluded that
putting ELD students with English speakers takes careful planning if you wish to
see actual gains in English language proficiency for the ELD students.
Court Cases
Meyers v. Nebraska
- A U.S. Supreme Court case that held that a 1919 Nebraska law restricting foreign-language education violated the Due Process
clause of the Fourteenth Amendment
- In 1919, Nebraska passed the Siman Act, which made it illegal for any school, public or private, to provide any foreign language
instruction to students below the 8th grade.
- The state court ruled that the act could not prevent schools from providing German language instruction outside of the hours of
regular school study
- Meyers is an important case because it makes clear that the 14th Amendment provides protection for language minorities

Farrington v. Tokushige

- In 1927, Farrington v. Tokushige, the court offered further protections of after-school community language programs after
attempts by education authorities to put restrictions on Japanese and Chinese heritage language programs
- The Court stated that "owners, parents and children" are guaranteed rights by the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment
Court Cases continued:
United States v. Texas
- United States v. Texas (1971, 1981) includes mandates that affect all Texas schools. The court ordered the district to create a
plan and implement language programs that would help Mexican American students learn English and adjust to American
culture and also help Anglo students learn Spanish.

Lau v. Nichols
- The 1974 Supreme Court case Lau v. Nichols resulted in perhaps the most important court decision regarding the education of
language-minority students. This case was brought forward by Chinese American students in the San Francisco Unified School
District who were placed in mainstream classrooms despite their lack of proficiency in English, and left to "sink or swim." The
district had argued that it had done nothing wrong, and that the Chinese American students received treatment equal to that of
other students. Justice William Douglass, in writing the court's opinion, strongly disagreed. After the court's decision, the U.S.
Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights created the Lau Remedies. Title VII Bilingual Education Act regulations
applied only to funded programs, the Lau Remedies applied to all school districts and functioned as de facto compliance
standards.
No Child Left Behind Act of 2002
-The law is a reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Under the 2002 law, states are
required to test students in reading and math in grades 3–8 and once in high school.

-The NCLB law—which grew out of concern that the American education system was no longer internationally
competitive—significantly increased the federal role in holding schools responsible for the academic progress of all
students.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxRg__r9HLg

Why do you think this act may be relevant when it comes to ELL?

-
Advocating for English Learners
Public Attitudes
● Politicians are swayed by the opinion of the public.
● Public opinions usually disfavor the idea of giving English Language Learners some
kind of special help in overcoming language barriers.

Racism or Ignorance
● Symbolic Racism- resistance to special favors for minorities, anti-Hispanic
sentiment, nationalism (directed against immigrants), a general desire for lower
levels of government spending, and a resistance to foreign-language instruction
○ Researchers found symbolic racism to be a significant predictor or hostility
toward bilingual education.
 Opinion Survey Results
Would you require bilingual education be available in the public schools?

Yes- 68% No- 29% Unsure- 3%

Do you think government policy should promote bilingual education programs that teach English and
teach other substantive subjects in a child’s native language, or should policy mandate that
substantive subjects be taught in English?

Bilingual- 34% All-English- 64% Unsure- 2%

Which one of the following three approaches do you think is the best way for public schools to
deal with non-English-speaking students?

1. Require children to learn English in special classes at their parents’ expense before they
are enrolled in the public schools.
2. Provide public school instruction in all subjects in the students’ native languages while
they learn English.
3. Require students to learn English in public schools before they receive instruction in other
subjects.

Option #1- 25% Option #2- 27% Option #3- 46%

 Opinion Results Continued...
Should children of Hispanic background living in the United States be taught to read and write
Spanish before they are taught English, or should they be taught English as soon as possible?

Spanish- 17% English- 63% Same time- 17%

Which statement comes closest to your point of view about how to educate students who are not
fluent in English?

1. Students should be taught only in English because that is the best way for them to learn
English.
2. Students should be assisted in their native language for only a brief period of time, such
as a year or two.
3. Students should be taught in both their native language and English as long as their
educators and parents believe it is necessary.

Option #1- 32% Option #2- 39% Option #3- 25% Don’t Know- 4%

Should English be the only language used in school classrooms, or should immigrant children be
able to take some classes in their native language?

Bilingual- 33% English-only- 61% Don’t Know- 6%

School Reform
Ramirez Report: encouraging outcomes for bilingual education

● Brooklyn, New York, School District 19

● Enrolled students who were 99% Latino or African American
● Majority from welfare families
● Schools equipped with chains and grates to keep away unwanted visitors
● School District 19 rated highest in the national study
● Reached national norms in English and math by the 6th grade
● The public or influential media was never aware of this success story

Due to this study and many others, advocates are now trying to educate
themselves on current issues, monitoring press coverage, and reaching out to
the media to get the attention of the country’s population.
Advocating for Our Students
Two examples of the community advocating for ELL students:

California:

● Californians Together
● Opposed a state decision to deny funds for native-language literacy
programs in grades K-3
● $133 million in subsidies under the Reading First section of No Child Left
Behind were at stake
● The State board of Education had these funds reserved for all-English
programs
● Californians Together successfully sued the state board, persuaded
California legislature to strike down the policy, and received funds for
bilingual classrooms.
Continued...
New York City:

● Activists came together to oppose Mayor Bloomberg’s threat to terminate the ASPIRA
Consent Decree
○ ASPIRA Consent Decree
■ Puerto Rican advocacy group in NYC
■ 150,000 Hispanic students
■ Won a consent decree (court approved settlement), guaranteed bilingual
instruction for the city’s spanish-dominant children
● He wanted to institute English immersion programs for all LEP students
● Parents, teachers, and community members advocated so hard against his plan that the
mayor backed down.
● He committed $20 million in additional resources to :
○ Strengthen bilingual and ESL programs
○ Hire additional staff
○ Establish an academy to educate teachers for English learners
○ Create 14 two-way bilingual programs
■ New high school specializing in Asian studies
■ Teach Mandarin and English
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HU80AxmP-U
English Only Movement

● In 32 states, English was declared the official language of the

United States.

● Many Americans viewed bilingualism as a social problem.

● Many states wanted the English language in America preserved

● 1980’s goal: find the best and fastest way to teach ELL students

English to diminish language diversity

● Seen as a barrier for students to participate and assimilate into

American culture
Hayakawa & US English

● Immigration-restriction activists

● Formed an English only group called U.S. English.

● Rapidly gained support from media including the NY Times (“The Mother

Tongue Has A Movement”)

● Gained attention from celebrities like Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Hayakawa & US English

● Collected dues and gained so much popularity that it had an annual budget of
$7 million

● American English was being “threatened” by other languages

● Belief that in a nation full of immigrants language was the “social glue”

● Compared a division of language to the division of blacks and whites

● EPIC (English Plus Information Clearinghouse) formed as an opposition

group to English Only

English Only & Bilingual Education
● Bestseller books at the time included excerpts that stated “bilingualism shuts
doors. It nourishes self-ghettoization, and ghettoization nourishes racial
antagonism”
● Tanton and other members of the group said the statement was
“embarrassing”. He then formed a pro group.
● One of the main arguments against bilingual education was the means of
funding.
● Reinventing LEP Programs: Groups formed to evaluate federal policies for
LEP students, and researched the rewards of bilingual education.
● Bilingual education was seen as a form of atonement for the nations sins
against hispanics and other cultures.
● Bilingual education also was a way to “ease” America’s “guilt”
Learning styles
In this lesson we appealed to multiple learning styles. We appealed to visual
learners by providing students with a powerpoint presentation. We also provided
students with pictures, videos, and timelines. We appealed to auditory learners by
orally discussing the information from the powerpoint. We also appealed to
applied learners by relating our topic to real life situations, such as the court
cases. We also appealed to spatial learners, by allowing them to assemble a
timeline. We appealed to both social and independent learners by having students
work in groups and also providing opportunities like the 3-2-1 assessment to work
independently. We also appealed to pragmatic learners by explicitly giving
directions to aid students in completing each assessment.
Sources
https://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-
and-maps/english-language-amendment

https://www.usenglish.org/senator-si-hayakawa/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._English_(organization)
Crawford, James. Educating English Learners. Los Angeles: Bilingual Education Services.