LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Helping the Limited English Proficient Learner Learn the Second Language Effectively through Strategy Instruction

M. Savitri, Ph.D. Candidate

Abstract

The paper discusses the characteristic features of Limited English Proficient students and offers suggestions on how such students can be helped in the language classroom, assisted by the research efforts from Applied Linguistics.

English in India

In the pre-independence period, resistance towards British rule was reflected on the use of language also. People who used English words and mixed English phrases and sentences in their speech in Indian languages were termed as people with no patriotic feeling. After independence, when English was accepted as an international language, there has been an ever-increasing demand for learning English as a tool for communication at all levels. The educated and the sophisticated class recognize the important role of English in different spheres of activity and patronize the language with great force. Thereby the language has now established its supremacy over the native languages. This development exert pressure on the language teaching people to deliver need-based courses to all learners to suit their appropriate demands, which lead to reform and restructure the entire language teaching system.

Limited English Proficiency - A Definition

As defined in Title VII of America's Schools Act of 1994 (Public Law 103-382), a student is Limited English Proficient if he or she "has sufficient difficulty speaking, reading, writing, or understanding the English language and whose difficulties may deny such individual the opportunity to learn successfully in classrooms where the language of instruction is English".

Limited English Proficient Student

Limited English Proficiency (LEP) refers to a range of linguistic ability that extends from having no knowledge of English to having some English language skills, but not adequate enough to participate in an all English academic setting. Besides the term Limited English Proficiency, there are other terms that are used to refer to students with limited English skills. Some of these are slow learners, false beginners, and the English language learner (ELL).

A Limited English Proficiency student is one who comes from a non-English background and whose difficulties in the language impairs his/her ability to perform in the other subjects also in all English medium schools. Students are termed Limited English Proficient only when they join colleges and universities where the medium of instruction is English. That is why the disparity between a LEP student and the others is seen prominently only in the tertiary level.

No Basis of Lack of Intelligence

A Limited English Proficiency student is not one with stunted intelligence. In many cases these students have records of academic success. Their only limitation is that they cannot demonstrate their knowledge in English. This limitation in a student means that he or she requires extra help in the form of suitable materials and methods to help them become fluent in English.

A Limited English Proficient student may be a doctorate or a school dropout. The only common feature they share is their limited proficiency in English. This makes it difficult to make any generalizations about limited English proficiency students.

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