(Re)Conceptualizing and (Re)Evaluating Policies for English Language Learners: The Case of Arizona

(Re)Conceptualizing and (Re)Evaluating Policies for English Language Learners:  

The Case of Arizona

Journal: Language Policy, Volume 11 No. 1: February 2012

Language Policy, Volume 11, No. 1, February 2012

8 articles in this issue

Excerpt from introduction:

In this thematic issue, we use the case of Arizona to examine the intended and unintended consequences of implementing restrictive language policies. Two of the studies included in this issue ... were prepared to provide evidence about the impact of several aspects of Arizona’s educational policies affecting ELLs that were being tested in federal court in 2010. The other studies in this thematic issue provide new empirical evidence that help us to better understand the effects of monolingual policies that, supposedly, aim at accelerating the language acquisition of ELLs. As such, the volume is timely and makes an important contribution to the field of education and language policy. The strength of this volume rests on the interdisciplinary and critical perspectives used to examine crucial components of existing language policies: (1) identification of ELLs, (2) assessment of English proficiency, (3) evaluation of the impact of language policies on academic achievement, and the (4) relationship between training policies and pedagogical practices of teachers of ELLs. In addition, this special issue includes a study that examines the implications of language restrictionism in Arizona for Native American students. We rely on legal, educational, economic, sociological, and psychological frameworks to examine these issues, and to interpret the results of the findings of studies. In addition, most of these papers rely on unique quantitative data and rigorous state of the art methodologies to make important claims. Finally, this volume offers recommendations for improving the design and implementation of language policies.