Variables of ESL Programs

In terms of demographics, some districts will have a large number of Limited English-Proficient (LEP) students representing a fairly stable population from a single language or cultural group (McKeon, 1987). Other districts will have students from a number of different language groups, and others may experience a sudden influx of students from one particular cultural group, e.g. Hispanics, Vietnamese etc. Still others will have few LEP students from many different groups and spread over many grade levels. The characteristics of these students, such as the number of students in each language group per grade will determine the types of ESL programs the district offers.

The characteristics of individual students will also vary greatly, with some students entering US schools with a strong academic background in their native language, whereas others may not be as strong academically, even in their native language (McKeon, 1987). This makes designing an ESL program even more comp

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grouped according to their native language, and the teachers are bilingual. There is an ongoing debate about bilingual education, proponents believing the ELL have a right to this type of education and that making use of their native language eases their transition into an English-only program (Bilingual, 2005). Opponents claim that the programs hinder the students' ability to learn curriculum by pandering to them in their native language. A study which compared program effectiveness between immersion strategies, early-exit and late-exit strategies measured the student's scores on tests in English and mathematics administered in English (Cazden, 1992). In comparing immersion and early-exit programs in K-3 in four schools, there was no difference in scores whichever school the students attended and there was no difference in third grade achievement between students in immersion programs and those in early-exit programs (Cazden, 1992). Comparing these two sets of results with late-exit programs, there was still no difference between the three groups. Beyond the fourth grade, late-exit students appeared to do better on tests but the data is hard to analyze because it is not complete for all students or all schools and th
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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