Stephanie Cordova
English 201
December 04, 2014
The Importance of Remaining Fluency in a Native Language
The quantity of students from all around the world immigrating into the United States has
increased substantially. The majority of those students speak a native language that is
foreign to many Americans. Several young minority students have come into the country
not knowing a single word of English which generates a growing challenge for public
education in America. Public schools have been forced to create bilingual programs for
English language learners to provide a way for them to acquire the English language.
Some programs often pressure students to do either really well or really poorly by
completely cutting off their native language and surrounding them only around English.
These programs often cause failure, stress and lower self-esteem for students. As English
language learners are progressing in English acquisition annually through bilingual
programs, they tend to lose their native language. It is essential for those students to
maintain their first language for many reasons. Students should maintain a close
relationship with their families, remain faithful to their culture and background, and
recognize the importance of bilingualism for their future careers. By doing so, public
school officials should offer a way to provide all English language learners the opportunity
to receive instruction in both their native language along with English as a second
language.
Due to the rapid increase of young immigrant and bilingual students migrating into the US,
it has produced a challenge in public education. For several years now public school
officials have been required to provide LEP (limited English proficiency) students a way to
acquire the English language through several programs. All public schools are obligated to
offer a program for bilinguals where they have the opportunity to learn the academic
language of English, a ruling that was enacted in 1974. In a case where hundreds of Asian
American students in Northern California protested because they were denied an equal
education due to their lack of English, the Supreme Court ruled to pass the Equal
Education Opportunity Act (Kerper, 2005). This demanded that all public schools must
provide an effective program, free of charge, for English language learners regardless of
funding. For the most part these programs have been proven to be highly effective
throughout the years since the time they’ve been constructed.
Over the years schools have generated several different types of programs for English
language learners that present different techniques of instruction. Today, the majority of
