Kristen

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Home : 2007 : March : 15

Kristen
By lillian

LEP is a federal definition under NCLB, and the child has to meet certain qualifications for that category. ESL is a term used by states (I don't think it's federal) to discuss the instruction the child is receiving in primary
and secondary schools. On a college level, ESOL is much more commonly used, and I prefer it because it stands for English for Speakers of Other Languages, which means the person may speak two, three, four, or more languages. It doesn't signify what number of languages, like ESL does, where the "S" stands for second. For students from Africa, Asia, and Eastern European countries,

English is often a third or fourth language, not a second. ELL also covers these students, for it doesn't say how many languages. Still, I use ESL most often because that's the acronym people know.