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Why is bilingualism a vital topic in the education of children in the United States?

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Describe the population of emergent bilinguals in the United States. What do all students have in common?

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Identify some of the contradictions in counting, classifying, and reclassifying emergent bilinguals. What are some of the inconsistencies in the data?

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-EBL numbers are increasing overall, but so is the number of fluent bilingual students
-There are discrepancies regarding how they are identified and reclassified among state and local educational authorities
-Most are poor, Brown, or Black
-Most live in urban areas and attend under resourced schools that are segregated
-Three-fourths were born in the US
-Although approximately half are in elementary schools, the greatest increase in the number of emergent bilinguals is in high school-age students, although many of them do not graduate
-There is a lack of early childhood programs for them, and few are enrolled in school prior to kindergarten
-Most are of Latina origin, despite the great linguistic diversity that characterizes the population

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-As an SLP I imagine I will be working with many bilingual learners for an array of reasons. Understanding the stigma in the educational system surrounding being a bilingual learner is crucial in treating these patients.

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What is the best term for these bilingual students? Emergent bilinguals? Multilingual learners?

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What is the best term for these bilingual students? Emergent bilinguals? Multilingual learners?

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-(As English proficient)

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Find out who the emergent bilinguals are in your school district. How many are there? What are their characteristics, and what languages do they speak? How have they been counted? What method is used to identify, classify, and reclassify them?

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-"Working with these students as emergent bilinguals means holding higher expectations of them rather than simply remediating their limitations and focusing on their English learning."
- “Telling students that they are learners or speakers of English as a Second Language robs them of the opportunity to appropriate ‘English’ features as part of their very own linguistic repertoire.”
- “Identifying students as bilingual/monolingual learners does not focus on the needs of these students to learn English. Instead, it celebrates these students for their bilingual/multilingual capacities.”

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How are emergent bilinguals designated? 

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How are emergent bilinguals designated? 

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-EL classification is fluid, they move out of being classified according to their progress
-Test cut-off for fluency does not mirror actual academic performance
-Emergent bilinguals must be identified 30 days after the beginning of the school year (home language survey)
-Parents don't always acknowledge their bilingual practices because of stigma
-When identified by survey they are then referred for a language learning assessment (schools classify students through a combination of information from home surveys and formal assessment screenings)

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-bureau relies on self-report and asks whether the student speaks English (not read or write)
-census under counts undocumented population
-states are more likely to count because they get their information straight from schools

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-Number of emergent bilinguals growing much more rapidly than English-speaking students
-total student enrollment stays flat, while EBL grows
-1 out of every 4 U.S. students speaks another language at home
-Focus on minority bilinguals because they need the most support from the educational system

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-There's a gap that begins with descriptive data that shapes the way these students are defined
-States use different measures to identify emergent bilinguals