Garcia: What's in a name?
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Emergent Bilinguals and TESOL: What's in a Name?
OFELIA GARCIA
City University of New York New York, New York, United States
One of today’s most misunderstood issues in education throughout the world, and particularly in the United States, is how to educate students who speak languages other than English. In the United States, these students are most often referred to as English language learners (ELLs) by educators or as Limited English proficient students (LEPs) by legislators and the federal government. I argue here that emergent bilinguals might be a more appropriate term for these children.
TESOL Degree: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages
ENL/ESL/ESOL: Program model
LEP, ELL, EB = student acquiring the language
Labeling students as either LEPs or ELLs omits an idea that is critical to the discussion of equity in the teaching of these children. When officials and educators ignore the bilingualism that these students can—and must—develop through schooling in the United States, they perpetuate inequities in the education of these children. Putting bilingualism at the center in speaking of these students is important for (a) the children themselves; (b) teachers and teaching; (c) educational policy makers; (d) parents and communities; (e) the field of language education and TESOL; and (f) societies at large. This article argues for the use of the term emergent bilinguals in referring to these students.
Ignoring assets like language in the terminology implies a deficit perspective – these students are lacking in some way. This is in contrast to terminology like “emergent bilingual” which acknowledges, even celebrating, difference.
I agree, in order to make sure that we include all of our students and their cultures and engage them, we need to make sure that we include their culture and language in our lessons.
Is it possible to include every single students’ culture in every single lesson? While I agree that you need to include culture in every lesson to be able to connect with your students in a more meaningful and inclusive way, but is it possible to do it with every single student, especially in a culturally diverse classroom like the ones we have in the D.O.E.
Calling these children emergent bilinguals makes reference to a positive characteristic—not one of being limited or being learners, as LEPs and ELLs suggest. The term emergent bilinguals refers to the children’s potential in developing their bilingualism; it does not suggest a limitation or a problem in comparison to those who speak English. As such, bilingualism is recognized as a potential resource, both cognitively and socially, consistent with research on this topic (see, e.g., Bialystok, 2001; Garda, 2009, chapter 5). Thus, emergent bilinguals are seen as having an advantage over those who speak English only and for whom becoming bilingual will be more difficult.
Dual language classrooms allows students to grow academically using their native language as well as learning and growing within the english language. It embraces both languages and it preserving and ever growing amongst the two.
I agree, I reminds students that their language is still as important, and important to preserve.
Instead the title should embrace that the student is actually emerging into a different culture and language.
I agree with referring to the students as Emergent Billinguals. It portrays them in a different light, instead of being seen as low because of the English language. Being bilingual is an asset to society and is extremely needed in all environments. As educators we need to further develop the students’ bilingual abilities instead of oppressing their native languages in order to assimilate them to the English one.
I totally agree with this statement because being able to speak two languages is awesome in american because you are able to communicate with others and also teacher others
Since american and the United States is very diverse population, it is an advantage to speak and write in two languages. Students that are learning english shouldn’t be called a LEP students or English language learner. The term emergent bilinguals is an excellent term because it helps the students feel confident in learning a new language where they are comfortable enough and understand. I wish I was able to speak a language other than english because in American bilingual people are offered better jobs and can go anywhere to connect with others.
I really like the term emergent bilingual instead of LEP. To me LEP translates to the person does not speak the acceptable language and they are “limited” in some ways compared to EP students. I think this is a dangerous term.
Many people look down on these students because they do not speak English or very little, however all students should have a fair and equal shot at learning. We were all beginners at one point and I think we need to remember that.
I feel that a lot of students are not aware of the advantages that Bilingualism brings to a student. It could be due to how these students are seen in a fluent speaking classroom. Making sure that they are comfortable in the classroom is important.
I agree. The term emergent bilingual is more positive and less limiting. I have several adult friends who would have celebrated and advanced their native language if there wasn’t such a pressure around the English language in America and how it translates to success.
I agree with this comment, having students called emergent bilinguals is celebrating their native language rather than putting a preference to just knowing English.
I like that you say celebrating, because it makes it a more positive and progressive term.
I was a emergent Bilingual student, and I did struggle learning a new language when I was younger. Glad that it has a positive context and name.
Emergent bilingual takes out the suggestion of a deficit for not being able to speak a language, putting more value on them knowing a language and trying to acquire another
Yes, I feel that the students are viewed as if they have a problem and then are placed with an IEP at times for not knowing English.
I see this often, students with IEP for “speech impairment” but they’re just bilingual.
This is so true. In my classroom there is a student he has an iep just because he was a bilingual learner and he is a very bright students who is in self contained where he should be in a general ed setting.
It is important to remind EB students that having access to learn and develop both languages will give them an advantage over other students who speak just one language. Bilingualism and its advantages is not something that EB’s students think about, at least in my classroom, they often felt as if they were inferior and some did not want to participate in other language than Spanish. I believe that encouraging them to participate in both languages, depending on who the receptor is, would give them the confidence to keep practicing their second language.
The other reason for referring to these children as emergent bilinguals is that it does away with the false categorization of children as either
limited English proficient (LEP) or English proficient (EP).
Emphasizing the students’ emergent bilingualism places students on a bilingual continuum of more or less accessibility to languaging bilingually.
Categorizing children as LEPs or EPs is a dubious construction that misleads educators and that robs emergent bilinguals of languaging and educational possibilities.
The term LEP makes it seem as these students are somehow unable to master the language they’re learning, while the case may be that they have just started to learn this language or have not been given the proper supports to learn the language efficiently. However, the name “emergent bilinguals” may not be the solution to this name crisis.
Yes, having students grouped together like that makes them feel less than the English speaking students. It may also make the English speaking students feel superior to the LEP students when that is not the case. Just because the do not know English or very little does not make them inferior just that they need to take more time in learning.
Understanding how the present categories of LEP and EP are created in the United States may shed light on why the term emergent bilingual might better serve its children. At present, and for the federal government, LEPs are those students who have been identified in the U.S. Census as speaking English less than very well. Aside from the known limitations of census self-report data and, in the case of children, family report data, this categorization has other problems. The monoglossic and monolingual ideology that permeates the United States takes the most extreme definition—considering as LEPs all those who speak English less than very well. But if we adopt a more heteroglossic approach, allowing for bilingual practices that do not have English monolingualism as the sole standard, emergent bilinguals would be considered only those who do not speak English at all, potentializing their ability to move on the bilingual continuum and to join those whose home language practices include minority home languages as well as English. The potential of bilingualism would then be maximized.
And it’s also interesting to read that it is legislators who have given the name LEPS to these students. As speculation, have they even worked with students learning a new language?
Shedding the terms ELLs and LEPs would also accommodate the more heteroglossic language practices of emergent bilinguals and bilinguals in general. Teachers would then be able to hold higher expectations of these children and not simply remediate their limitations and their English learning.
One of the worst things I believe an educator can do is fall under the impression that they must help the child acquire bilingualism or acquire standard English, and focus education on this ability instead of providing a more rigorous education to support the development of the two languages.
In recognizing the children’s emergent bilingualism, educators would be building from the students’ strengths—their home language and cultural practices. They could then use the children’s home language and bilingual practices rather than suppressing them or ignoring them. In this way, educators would be able to develop pedagogical practices that are more consistent with research that supports the use of the children’s home language practices (see, e.g., Ramirez et al., 1992; Thomas Sc Collier, 2002).
either theres is lack of support for teachers in this area or i havent done enough research to find the proper supports as a dual language educator. I feel like if we are in teacher in a time where schools and schools in urban areas are flooded with students who speak more than one language and you would think teachers who are just starting out especially would be given way more support in this area. It is a a true disadvantage because to get students to be able to understand they need the proper access and how that’s to b e done is something i feel isn’t explicitly supported.
I think it is important to keep the idea that the student are continually learning there home language as well as english. The term emergent bilingual is a great term to use because not only is english a new language but L1 to the learner is also being learned equally on a day to day.
By introducing the new terminology of EB for the use of a teacher, it introduces further development into lesson planning that involves gaining knowledge about their language so everyone in the classroom can be considered as an EB too.
I feel it is a great thing to know more than one language, and it is a teaching “moment” for those in the whole class. If students are able to be celebrated for having know another language they will be more socially accepted.
I agree with you, I believe bilingualism is a great advantage for any person especially in this world of globalisation where two languages will lead to more communication and possibly more opportunity. I really like that the article mentions bilingual students should be held to a higher standard.
Focusing on the emergent bilingualism of these children, instead of on their limitations and their English learning status, would also help policymakers base educational decisions for these children on their strengths. Thus, instead of providing the remedial education with which these children are often confronted, educational policymakers would be providing them with more rigorous curriculum and more challenging instructional material. Insisting that these children are emergent bilinguals in a bilingual continuum would also call for the development of bilingual education programs and bilingual pedagogy for all children, not just for those to whom this article refers as emergent bilinguals.
It reminds me of anti-racist teaching. For example centering Black voices and texts in the classroom is not only important for Black students. It’s important for all students in educating them to be compassionate and engaged people and critical thinkers.
Without an ELL or LEP category, it would also be easier for educational policymakers to demand that assessment be valid for all bilinguals. A more flexible norm could then be adopted that would include all children along a bilingual continuum, instead of insisting on a rigid monolingual standard.
More significantly, however, is the fact that if the category LEP is abandoned, there will be no need to exit children out of that category in the 1 to 3 years that the federal government mandates. Instead, emergent bilingual children would slide along the bilingual continuum as their language practices develop complexity and eventually encompass the academic standard language practices of school. Educational policymakers could thus be more patient, understanding that, as research has clearly shown, it takes children 5 to 7 years to develop decontextualized academic skills in one or the other language (Cummins, 1981, 2000; Hakuta, Goto Butler, & Witt, 2000).
It takes 1-3 years to develop social English, but 4-7 years to acquire the academic language necessary to succeed in school, esp. in terms of testing.
I think that isolating all EB students to the same academic classes is not beneficial, as they keep creating social bond with their peers that use the same language instead of helping them socialize with English speakers and having them be more fluent in English, that at least would help in those 5-7 years to create a wider vocabulary and understanding.
Calling these students by a name that does not focus on their limitations would mean that the parental language practices in the home would be the source of the educational expertise. Instead of assigning blame to parents and community for language practices that exclude English, using the proper terminology would encourage the school to see the parents and community as the experts in the child’s language and cultural practices that are the basis of all learning. As such, the parents and community would participate in the education of their children from a position of strength, and not from a position of limitations.
By introducing the students parents and community into the process of learning, it would help the student realize and understand the importance of their first language while giving them support they need while going through the process of learning another language. Not only would this help benefit their progress while learning a new language, but it would also be beneficial to their mental outlook on the situation.
I think involving the parents and communities into an emergent bilingual student’s education would help the student to learn the concept and idea on an even deeper level, and is a brilliant way to involve the parents into their child’s education as well.
I think referring to a parent and a community as a expert in the child’s language is an interesting idea and certainly helpful not only to the teachers understanding of the students culture but also in making the student feel more comfortable in a classroom.
As a teacher of many bilingual students, having parents participate in their child’s education is crucial. Many of the times they have been told what their child’s shortcomings are, which is not only negative to the child but to the parent’s perspective of the educational system.
I have had the opportunity to translate to a lot of my students’s parents and is great to see the reaction they have when they have someone speaking and explaining everything to them in Spanish. I have seen that must of them want them to learn both languages, English in school and Spanish at home, but there are other parents that think that speak Spanish is not a good idea and force them to keep learning just English.
FOR THE LANGUAGE EDUCATION PROFESSION AND TESOL
The language education profession is divided in ways that do not support the holistic education of children. Focusing on the children’s emergent bilingualism would integrate the four separate aspects of language education—the teaching of English to speakers of other languages (TESOL), bilingual education (BE), the teaching of the heritage language when available (HL), and the teaching of another foreign language (FL). Teaching would then be centered on the student, and not on the profession.
By focusing on the children’s emergent bilingualism and making bilingualism the norm, the field of language education would be able to move to the center of all educational endeavors for all children. The language education profession must include not just those who speak other languages at home, but also those who speak English and who are becoming bilingual. For TESOL, this change would result in a much more inclusive stance that would recognize the bilingualism of the students served by the profession as an important resource in teaching and learning English.
I like the idea of integrating Emergent Bilingual (for those who speak other languages at home) with the practice of learning a foreign language as an English speaker. This puts the emergent bilingual at an advantage and gives them the confidence to learn English in seeing their peers also learning a language foreign to them.
Bilingual practices are more important in the 21st century than ever. It is clear that the ability to translate, to develop flexible language practices, to language bilingually or translanguage (Garcia, 2009) will be very important resources for all in the future.
The language resources of the United States have never been greater. Despite its insistence on being a monolingual state, the United States has perhaps the world’s most complex bilingual practices. The benefits of harnessing these linguistic resources are more evident than ever for society at large.
The names we use mean something. By looking at children through a monolingual and monoglossic lens and insisting on categorizing them as LEPs or ELLs, the U.S. educational system perpetuates educational inequities and squanders valuable linguistic resources.
I have argued in this article that in order to restore educational equity and harness bilingualism as a resource, we should start by referring to these children as emergent bilinguals. Placing bilingualism at the heart of TESOL will yield many benefits. There will not only be benefits to the children, but also to teachers, educational policymakers, parents, communities, and society at large. And there will be benefit to the language education profession, a profession that is in need of serious overhaul. For TESOL itself, adopting the use of the term emergent bilinguals to talk about the students it serves—instead of English language learners, limited English proficient, or English as an additional language students— would mean including the many languages that make up the TESOL profession and its students, acknowledging the important role that the students’ home languages have in English language acquisition, and presenting the acquisition of English not as a monolingual or monoglossic endeavor, but as one that is bilingual at its core. It would finally recognize that success in teaching English means becoming bilingual, and that the success of the TESOL profession depends, in large part, on the multilingualism of the world and the bilingualism of its students—and not on English monolingualism.
A lot of people might view the labeling of a child as only detrimental to the child but it can also be harmful to the students community, family and teacher. By changing the title to emergent bilingual can only help change everyone’s mindset around the learner.
Being bilingual has many benefits, not just socially but in health too. I also like the idea of believing that one day, every school would offer real opportunity to become bilingual and not just 3 hours a week of foreign language.
THE AUTHOR
Ofelia Garcia is a professor in the doctoral program in urban education at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. She has been a professor of international and transcultural studies at Columbia University’s Teachers College, Dean of the School of Education at the Brooklyn Campus of Long Island University, and professor of bilingual education at The City College of New York. She is a Fellow of the Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study (STLAS) in South Africa, and has been a Fulbright Scholar, and a Spencer Fellow of the U.S. National Academy of Education.
REFERENCES
Bialystok, E. (2001). Bilingualism in development: language, literacy and cognition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Cummins, J. (1981). Bilingualism and minority language children. Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Ontario Institute for Studies in Education.
Cummins, J. (2000). Language, power, & pedagogy: Bilingual children caught in the crossfire. Clevedon, England: Multilingual Matters.
Garcia, O. (2009). Bilingual education in the 21st century. A global perspective. London: Wiley/Basil Blackwell.
Garcia, O., Kleifgen, J. A., & Falchi, L. (2008). Equity in the education of emergent bilinguals: The case of English language learners (Equity Matters Research Review No. 1). New York: Teachers College. Retrieved December 12, 2008, from http://www.tc .columbia.edu/i/a/document/6468_Ofelia_ELL__________ Final.pdf.
Hakuta, K., Goto Butler, Y., 8c Witt, D. (2000). How long does it take English learners to attain proficiency! University of California, Linguistic Minority Research Institute. Policy Reports: Paper hakuta. Retrieved May 27, 2009, from http://repositories .cdlib.org/lmri/pr/hakuta
Makoni, S., 8c Pennycook, A. (2007) Disinventing and reconstituting languages. Clevedon, England: Multilingual Matters.
Ramirez, J. D. (1992). Executive summary: Longitudinal study of structured English immersion strategy, early-exit and late-exit transitional bilingual education programs for language-minority children. Bilingual Research Journal, 16, 1-62.
Thomas, W., & Collier, V. P. (2002). A national study of school effectiveness for language minority students’ long-term academic achievement final report: Project 1.1. Berkeley: University of California, Berkeley, Graduate School of Education. Retrieved December 12, 2008, from http://www.crede.ucsc.edu/research/llaa/Ll_final .html
General Document Comments 0
I really never though about the labeling of a student as an ELL as being negative or leading to inequities in education, but after reading this article I do have a different perspective. As, an Instructional Support teacher, I also have the same issues with calling a my Students Special Education students because I believe that this label is looked as having negative characteristics, and often leads to inequities for the students who have or need an IEP.
As educators, I think it is very important to build a classroom environment where students are able to freely and where they are not afraid to showcase their strengths, their culture and their home language.
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