This document evaluates the effectiveness of English Language Learner (ELL) programs for immigrant students in the American education system. It discusses the challenges that immigration and language barriers pose for ELL students, such as difficulties participating academically and socially due to an inability to communicate. Experts cite issues like a lack of bilingual education programs, untrained teachers, and disconnect between families and schools. The document also provides recommendations on how to improve ELL programs, like encouraging inclusion, providing more teacher training, and recognizing students' unique experiences.

1. Immigration, Language Barriers
& The American Education
System
Evaluating the effectiveness of ELL programs for
immigrant students and non-native English
speakers
Taylor Sprague, December 2016

2. The idea of the “American Dream” is in part
responsible for a large flow of people from around
the world into the country seeking better lives and
better education for their children. The American
education system promises opportunity to its’
students.

3. While for some students, the education system opens
doors to college or job opportunities, immigration has
created a challenge that school faculties often lack the
resources to overcome. The barriers between culture,
language, experience, preparation, and more pose a
challenge in giving all students the equal opportunity to
achieve the “American Dream.”

4. What is an ELL Student?
ELL = English Language Learner
ELL students are students learning English as a
second language. Their primary language is one
other than English. Many ELL students are
immigrants, or children of immigrant parents. Their
language learning often occurs during a regular
school day.

5. This presentation is a compilation of information from
ELL experts Pauline S. Ivey and Hussain Ahmed Liton,
an interview with Muhlenberg College’s Professor for
ELL Teacher Training, Dr. Mark Emerick, and my
personal experience as a fieldwork teacher in urban and
suburban elementary schools.

6. By first recognizing the complications, areas for
improvement, and experiences that surround ELL
programs, we can begin to search for ways to
improve the system for educating non-native
English speakers.
Goals for this Presentation

7. Common Difficulties ELL Students
Face
Dr. Emerick:
● Not being proficient in English
● Issues of identity and discrimination
Pauline S. Ivey:
● Curriculum deliverance in a foreign language
● Cultural differences
● Family/school disconnect
(Ivey 2011)
Personal Observation:
● Inability to participate
● Feelings of confusion
● Lack of resources

8. How Language Barriers Inhibit Students Socially
Dr. Emerick:
● Non-native speakers are less integrated into
peer groups
● People tend to associate only with familiar
people
Hussain Ahmed Liton:
● Cultural barriers affect students’ learning
process (Liton 2016)

9. How Language Barriers Inhibit Students
Socially (cont.)
Personal Experience:
● Students are not always included by their
peers due to an inability to communicate
●Discrimination due to race and ability

10. How Language Barriers Inhibit Students
Academically
Dr. Emerick:
● Academic content is generally only provided in
English
● Bilingual education is rare in the US
● Students do not have access to materials or
instruction in a language that they understand
● Shortage of teachers
Hussain Ahmed Liton:
● By virtue of their personal efforts, some students
achieve a considerably good level of fluency in
spoken English. However they miserably lag behind
in the other active skill that is writing (Liton 2016)

11. How Language Barriers Inhibit Students
Academically (cont.)
Personal Experience:
● ELL students are generally only pulled for a
period or so a day to actually learn English. They
spend much of the day in an English classroom, not
understanding much of what is being said

12. How Language Barriers Keep Parents from
Being Involved in their Child's Schooling
Dr. Emerick:
● Language barriers are not the only barrier for ELL
parents
● Most ELLs come from families who earn significantly
less money than equally educated English speaking
families. That puts an economic burden on the family
Pauline S. Ivey:
● Families desired to be a part of their child’s education,
but felt a certain level of disconnect from the school
system (Ivey 2011)

13. How Language Barriers Keep Parents from Being
Involved in their Child’s Schooling (cont.)
Personal Experience:
● Parents pick up extra shifts to overcome the
issues Dr. Emerick cites above, and therefore
lack time to dedicate to their child’s schooling
● Due to lack of job stability, families relocate
so frequently that parents do not know what
grade their child is in, resulting in improper
grade placement

14. Areas In Which ELL Programs Need Improvement
Dr. Emerick:
● [These programs] have the unrealistic goal of making
all of the students the same as native English speakers
Hussain Ahmed Liton:
● The difference between the past and present style of
teaching, technique of exams, and workload, more focus
on English language activity (Liton 2016)

15. Areas in which ELL Programs Need
Improvement (cont.)
Personal Experience:
● Informing students about language
differences and encouraging inclusion
● Teacher education; more future educators
should receive information and courses on
educating ELL students
● Understanding individual experiences and
needs

16. How Can We Overcome These Issues?
Dr. Emerick:
● Stop viewing ELLs as a deficit and a problem
● Provide interpreters, group students with intention and place ELLs
with teachers who either (a) can speak at least one other language, or
(b) who are trained and empathetic to ELL’s needs
● Provide training and support for teaching ELLs
● Allow ELLs to create organizations like an international students
group or identity groups that appeal to their ethnic background and
provide a community that allows them to maintain their heritage
culture and language

17. How Can We Overcome These Issues? (cont.)
Pauline S. Ivey:
●As we look to increase language fluency, reading scores and
overall academic success, it will be important to look beyond
the teaching structure of the past (Ivey 2011)
Personal Experience:
● Advocate for better ELL teacher training
● Model and encourage inclusion amongst students
● Recognize and understand that immigrants have unique
experiences and face different levels of difficulty. Not all
immigrant students are the same.
● Promote language learning for native English speakers in
order to create inclusion and communication amongst native
and non-native speakers

18. Work Cited
Emerick, Mark. Interview conducted November 2016.
Ivey, P. S. (2011). Overcoming Language and Cultural
Barriers in School: Helping Hispanic Students
Acquire Success in Elementary School.
Liton, H. A. (2016). Harnessing the Barriers That Impact on
Students' English Language Learning (ELL).
International Journal Of Instruction, 9(2), 91-106.