Arizona: English Only

This week the Wall Street Journal revealed that the Arizona State Department of Education will be cracking down on teachers who do not speak English flawlessly. These teachers, who were recruited in the not so distant past by the same Department, will now be forced out of classrooms with English Language Learners.  The State is announcing these changes in the name of English-only movement, noting that these children will not learn English as well under the supervision of these bilingual teachers.

The role of language in American classrooms has become a particularly contentious and complicated issue. Especially in school districts, like many in Arizona, where there are large populations of ELL learners and where students come to school with many different levels of English and other language fluency.


Language policy in school has become an emotional rather than a logical debate.  Data is largely missing from media forums and  public dialogue on policy regarding language in schools. 


A recent study in Urban Review provides a first step to understanding these reforms. This article concentrates on the perspectives of teachers. Specifically they review in-depth interviews with teachers of ELL learners in Massachusetts. These teachers were interviewed several years after the passage of Question 2. Question 2 was an English-only initiative that sought to significantly shrink bilingual programming and move all programming toward an English-only model. Under this legislation all ELL students (even those with no English language skills) must spend 30 days in Sheltered English Immersion (SEI) classes before being up for reassignment to a temporary bilingual program.  Teachers perspectives on the effect of this policy in their own classrooms and within their schools were as follows:
Cons

1. Children who recently migrated and had no English fluency had adverse emotional reactions to being in English-only classes where they could not participate in nor understand instruction.
2. The 30 day rule wasted valuable instruction time and increased the gap between ELLs and native English speakers.  This period was often referred to as a "parking lot for these kids".
3. Teachers felt that school climate was effected with teachers policing teachers over using English-only. Teachers complained that for their newest students they sometimes needed to explain something in their native language and keep going but under the watch of colleagues felt like they could not, and had to move on with the student still not understanding.
4. They saw children quickly losing fluency in their native language. Teachers worried about their lack of fluency in now not one, but two languages. Would they be able to talk to parents. 

Pros

1. SEI classes provided a better options for children who were fairly advanced in English but still required English instruction.  Teachers felt that these children had been previously underserved by bilingual classes that had to cater to children with lower levels of English fluency.
2. The SEI program segregated the children into same-native language groups. Teachers felt this helpful in communicating with children and building on shared experience.