<p> Songs and Chants to Develop Authentic Language for English Language Learner (ELL) Writers PRESENTED BY ANGELA GREEN, SPARTANBURG WRITERS PROJECT, JUNE 23, 2011 Facts about ELLs:</p><p>A decade ago, about 3.5 million school children in the United States were “English language learners.” Now it’s over 5 million—almost 11 percent of all kids in US public schools. In the last decade, 1999-2010, the largest ELL growth has been in South Carolina with 800% growth (“English Language Learners”2011).</p><p>English-language learners enrolled in public schools increased from 3.5 million to 5.3 million, or by 51 percent (“English Language Learners” 2011). </p><p>During the 2007-08 school year, only 11 states met their accountability goals for ELLs, according to an analysis of federal data by the Washington-based American Institutes for Research (Zehr 2010). </p><p>12 percent of students with limited English scored “at or above proficient” in mathematics in the 4th grade on the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress, compared with 42 percent of students not classified as English-language learners (Slavin, Madden & Calderon 2010).</p><p>The gap was considerably wider in 8th-grade math, where 5 percent of ELLs were proficient or above on the 2009 NAEP, compared with 35 percent of non-ELL students. The math assessment is available in Spanish as well as English (Slavin, Madden & Calderon 2010).</p><p>Only 3 percent of ELLs met that standard in 8th grade reading in 2009, compared with 34 percent of non- ELLs (“English Language Learners” 2011).</p><p>An estimated 30-million word gap exists between the average number of words heard by the children of parents of poverty and those whose parents are professionals by the time a child is three years old (Hart and Risley 2003).</p><p>The estimated number of academic vocabulary words high school students need is 50,000. ELL students learn approximately 3,000 per year. They already begin behind and seldom ever catch up which accounts for the huge achievement gap in testing scores. </p><p>References</p><p>English Language Learners.”2011. Education Week 15 June. web. retrieved 19 June 2011 </p><p><http://www.edweek.org/ew/issues/english-language-learners/>.</p><p>Hart, B., and T.R. Risley. 2003. “The Early Castrophe: The 30 Million Word Gap,” American</p><p>Educator, Spring.</p><p>Slavin, R.E., Madden, N., Calderon, M., Chamberlain, A., & Hennessy, M. 2010. Reading and Language Outcomes </p><p> of a Five-year Randomized Evaluation of Transitional Bilingual Education. Baltimore, MD: Johns </p><p>Hopkins University.</p><p>Zehr, M.A. 2010. “Few States Meet NCLB Goals for English-Learners,” Education Week, 12 May. </p>