According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the percentage of English-language learners (ELLs) in US schools is consistently increasing. Although much of the growth has been focused in urban areas, the increase in ELLs has spread across the entire nation.

Since newcomers and even experienced professionals in the teaching business often feel unsuitable enough to cater ELLs, it is important for us to cater their needs in a unique manner and break the misconceptions associated with them.

Let’s discuss some of the common, yet critical myths surrounding English-learning students that not only affect their performance in the class, but also the entire institution’s environment.

ELLs are quite homogenous

Sadly, many people think that English-language learners belong to Hispanic, poor or uneducated families. In reality, the case is quite different. English-language learners come from diverse cultures, races, academic backgrounds, and various demographics. US alone constitutes a large number if ELLs from Asia, Middle East, European, and African populations.

Additionally, it is very easy to find different cultures, dialects, and races in any particular ethnic group. In other words, ELLs also come from educated families and immigrate to various countries for professionals reasons.

All ELLs are immigrants

As per the data provided by US Department of Education’s Office of English Language Acquisition, in 2012 around 57% of English-language learners were born in the US. While those born outside the borders of US had their immigration accounts as separate as they are.

Therefore, it is critical to not make any comment on their immigration status before knowing the entire story. Inquiring about their status is not only illegal, but there is no relevance in the purpose too.

Parents of ELLs aren’t familiar with English

Just because a student has opted to learn English at college or university level doesn’t mean that his family doesn’t know how to speak English. Often, families care about keeping their cultural prestige and national language at home and encourage their children to learn about their native language first.

In other cases, one of the parents might be an American and other an immigrant. Given the values of your family and preference were given to the language spoken at home, it is not uncommon to see students pursuing English at a professional level, not before high school or college.

The point is, often families are familiar with the use and impact of English in academics and want their children to learn, but not before the right time.

ELLs are eloquent in their native language

There are many children who decide to replace their native language with English, especially those with an international adoptee status. Due to the fact that they rarely have anyone at home to communicate with in their native language, they’ll gradually forget everything over their years.

Apparently, many of such students still find it difficult to understand and grasp English. Although not unfamiliar to the level of requiring a pro translator, but students do need scaffolding and distinction.

English proficiency is a strong indicator of wisdom and intellect

Seemingly, one of the biggest misconceptions prevailing the global industry that being badly versed in English means the student is not academically gifted or worthy, and vice versa.

An English-language learner can have learning differences, however, it is not possible to locate them until we rule out the language problem.Although it is challenging to differentiate between a language deficiency and learning disability, it is important for the teachers to provide intelligible input and instructions that build on the learners’ experiences and elevate their understanding.

In addition to that, assessments aren’t applicable if the student is unable to comprehend the questions. Coming back to the myth, if a student is not well-acquainted with the grammar and sentence structuring of English, it doesn’t mean that his learning style and pace is affected.

Social English usage and proficiency translates into academic English performance

Another important thing for people to understand is that conversational English as we use in our personal and social communications is naturally acquired through interactions. But academic English takes around a decade or more to master.

You might be a very good speaker in the class for conducting presentations, debates, mass speaking, etc., but writing a complex academic Assignment Help according to the defined rules of punctuations, grammar, sentence structuring and other language essentials is a completely different thing.

Hence, if an ELL does fairly well in speaking terms, the institution’s management and teachers shouldn’t expect him/her to score straight ‘As’ in all the courses of English major too.

Using native language in college hinders the acquisition of English

From brainstorming the next assignment topic to communicating the course content, allowing students to process every academic minutiae in their native language helps them more in acquiring proficiency in English and better understanding of the overall course.

In short, learners aren’t required to leave off their native language to master English. In fact, it effectively enhances the students’ comprehension and their identity as a unique student.

Although ELLs must acquire a strong command in English, but bilingual materials can assist the learner in understanding the course content with little ease.

Author Bio

Elizabeth is a school teacher with 20 years’ experience, Ph.D. writer at a creative agency and also writing an article Do My Assignment and Cheap Assignment Writing Services has become my hobby.  Most of my articles are related to Learning Student and ideas.