As the Population in the United States Is Becoming More Diverse, the Number of Students

Background

As the population in the United States is becoming more diverse, the number of students whose first language is not English is growing. For the 1993-94 school year, the National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition (NCELA) reported a national English language learner (ELL) student enrollment of 3,552,497. Ten years later, there were 4,999,481 school-aged ELLs in the U.S., reflecting approximately 10.3% of the student body (Ernst-Slavit & Slavit, 2007).

The limited English proficiency usually brings more difficulties for ELLs than for native English students when they enter the U.S. public education. This makes these students tend to fall behind their mainstream counterparts in science, reading and mathematics (NCES, 2003; U.S. Department of Education, 2001). Much research has paid attention to help ELLs improve their reading skills, however, the low level of mathematics achievement by ELLs has attracted relatively little attention (Robertson & Summerlin, 2005; Secada, 1996). Mathematics is one of the critical areas in which ELLs have language-associated learning difficulties, whereas teachers should ensure that ELL students achieve the same academic standards as native English speakers in the same grade level.

The challenges faced by ELLs in math classes are exacerbated by the fact that only about 15% of high school math teachers have specific training in working with students who are not proficiency in English (Coates, 2006; Combs, Evans, Fletcher, Parra, & Jimenez, 2005). Another critical problem affects teaching ELLs mathematics is that many educators believe, because mathematics is based on language of numbers and symbols (Janzen, 2008), that students do not need proficiency in English to perform mathematics well (Lee & Jung, 2004). However, studies have shown a strong correlation between children's English proficiency and mathematics performance (Ron, 1999; Schleppegrell, 2007).

According to the National Research Council (2001, 2002), the ultimate goal of mathematics instruction for all K-12 students is mathematics proficiency. Steered by an appreciation of the value of mathematics, mathematically proficient learners are confident practitioners who are able to sole problems, compute and carry out procedures, understand important ideas, and communicate and reason mathematically (Ernst-Slavit & Slavit, 2007).

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