Question: Does the Structured English I program at Fillmore Middle School have a positive impact on the reading comprehension of 6th grade English Language Learners - Research Paper Example

Download file to see previous pages Language teaching to students with limited proficiency is a challenging task that invites the ESL (English as a second language) teachers to devise such strategies as may ensure the effective absorption of target language. LEP’s (Limited English Proficiency) are those students who are not born in an English speaking country like the US. They mostly migrate with their parents for the better prospects of livelihood or any other socio-political reason. Their survival in the new location depends on the learning of the new language and they face a lot of difficulties to master the language other than their mother tongue. In order to cater for the educational needs of such students, different states of the United States have devised different programs to equip LEP students with English language. The language education of such students usually takes place under two different approaches, namely, English only approach and bilingual teaching approach.
SEI is the program in which “academic content subjects are taught in English using a specialized materials adapted to the student’s developing proficiency in the language” (Ferguson, 2006, p. 46). It is expected that the teachers engaged in the program have a sufficient knowledge of the learners’ native tongue. The program generally engages the students with English language for a period of a year or two in order to prepare them for mainstream instruction of English.
Baker (1998) relates that both bilingual and SEI approaches acknowledge that LEP (Limited English Proficient) learner has to face an extra burden during his academic life. He has not only to cover other components of curricula but also to acquire proficiency in English. For these both the approaches have different solutions. Bilingual approach suggests that non-language subjects can be taught in a language other than English while SEI approach “argues that content and English can be taught together by teaching content through learner – ...Download file to see next pagesRead More