A special subgroup of Limited English Speaking students is often referred to as students with limited formal schooling (LFS) or "preliterates" because they have not yet had the opportunity to learn to read. This digest explores important aspects of the LFS student population, defining LFS students and discussing their impact on schools, individualized language development plans, classroom instruction, and the assessment of the LFS student. The LFS student is usually older, aged 12 to 21, and in most cases the LFS student possesses less than 2 years of formal education. The impact of LFS students on a school can be significant because they require special services and teacher professional development. It is recommended that an individualized language development plan be prepared for LFS students to ensure that their special needs are met. The LFS student requires a warm and supportive classroom where the goal is not only to teach literacy skills in the native language, but also to teach meaningful communication in and functional use of the English language. Assessing the progress of such students requires the use of a variety of assessment tools. (Contains 16 references.) (SLD)