The Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA) has synthesized key data on English learners (ELs) into two-page PDF sheets, by topic, with graphics, plus key contacts. The topics for this report on languages spoken by English learners (ELs) are: (1) Twenty most common EL languages, as reported in states' top five lists: SY 2013-14; (2) States,…

The Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA) has synthesized key data on English learners (ELs) into two-page PDF sheets, by topic, with graphics, plus key contacts. The topics for this report on English learners include: (1) Top 20 EL languages, as reported in states' top five lists: SY 2011-12; (2) States, including DC, with 80 percent or…

Bilingual social workers need specialized training to provide effective mental health services to Spanish-speaking Latinos. Ideally, this training should use the language in which the social workers plan to practice. This article describes an innovative two-semester course offered "in Spanish" that prepared advanced undergraduate and…

The number of US residents who are deemed to be Limited English Proficient (LEP) has increased substantially in recent decades, consistent with the growth in the US foreign-born population. While many LEP individuals are still attracted to the historic immigrant-destination states of California, Texas, New York, New Jersey, Florida, and Illinois,…

Research Findings: This longitudinal study investigated the Spanish vocabulary development of dual-language-learning (DLL) children (N = 150) from Spanish-speaking, low-income, predominantly immigrant homes who were enrolled in a state-funded preschool program that provided instruction in Spanish. Children's Spanish vocabulary trajectories were…

In recent years, a boom in immigration and high birth rates among the foreign-born population has led to significant growth in the number of children in the United States who speak a language other than English at home. This demographic change presents a challenge to the public school system, where English proficiency is central to a child's…

The effects of birth order have been debated in many disciplines and have been shown to be important for a number of outcomes. However, studies examining the significance of birth order in language development and practices, particularly with regard to minority languages, are few. This article reports on two sets of data collected among Spanish…

Maria was a fifth grade student when the authors met her in a study of immigrant child-language brokers. Her family immigrated from a farming community in Mexico to a Chicago suburb where there were limited bilingual resources. Maria's mother did not speak fluent English, and Maria's teachers did not speak Spanish, so Maria often served as a…

Administrators in the Chicago public schools are seeking to strike the right balance between providing guidance and permitting flexibility as they put in place the nation's first state mandate for providing bilingual education to preschoolers. New rules approved by the Illinois state board of education in June flesh out a January 2009 change that…

This article considers immigrants' perspectives on language immersion education. Data are drawn from a longitudinal research project that examined one suburban school district's construction of a two-way immersion (TWI), bilingual education policy. Analyses focus on 18 months of participant observation with six Mexican immigrant families who had…