Writing and Language Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2014
Abstract
According to U.S. Department of Education statistics, 9.8% of students enrolled in American elementary and secondary public schools are officially classified as English Language Learners (ELL) (U.S. Department of Education, 2012). In border states and states with high numbers of immigrant populations, such as Texas, Florida, New York, California, New Mexico, and Arizona, the ELL percentage is much higher. In Texas, for example, 17% of public school students are classified as ELL (Texas Education Agency, 2012). According to U.S. Department of Education statistics, 0% of college students in public higher education institutions are English Language Learners. In truth, this is a non-statistic because the Department of Education does not track ELLs into post-secondary settings. The tacit implication is that once students matriculate into Institutions of Higher Education (IHE), the ELL distinction and characteristics no longer apply. However, those of us who work at border site IHEs know that the linguistic backgrounds and English proficiency of many Hispanic students would place them firmly in the ELL category if such categorization existed at the post-secondary level.
Recommended Citation
Méndez-Newman, Beatrice (2014) "The Discourse of First-Year Writers at Border Sites: Discerning the Transcultural, Bilinguistic Strategies of English Language Learners in College," Journal of Rhetoric, Professional Communication, and Globalization: Vol. 6 : No. 1, Article 1. Available at: https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/rpcg/vol6/iss1/1
Publication Title
Journal of Rhetoric, Professional Communication, and Globalization