| This is a multiple case study examining the personal and academic consequences of English-only instructional policy on English language learners in our schools and the causal relationship with the widening academic achievement divide between these students and dominant English-speaking students. The study examines (a) the forces that have affected demographic patterns and growth, which, in turn, have led to increased numbers of English language learners in our schools, and (b) the sociopolitical backlash that has led to educational practices that deny these American children, whose heritage language is not English, complete access to the core academic curriculum.;Qualitative methodologies are "powerful tools for enhancing our understanding of teaching and learning" and can provide descriptive research reports that incorporate expressive language and the "presence of voice in the text." I embraced the notion of telling real stories about the experience of the participants and used the genre of portraiture to present my data. This methodology is embedded in the life experience of participants and their individual context.;Each case in this study was developed as a portrait and narrated as data. The portraits consist of nine second-grade students, representing six countries and nine languages in an urban elementary school in Los Angeles, over a 6-month period. The results of English-only instructional policy on the language development and academic achievement of these participants facilitates understanding of the academic divide that has resulted from exclusionary, English-only instructional practices in our classrooms. |
