Serving English language learners in public school settings: a national survey

In 1990, 1,145 public school speech-language pathologists (SLPs) across the United States were surveyed regarding service delivery to English language learner (ELL) students (C. A. Roseberry-McKibbin & G. E. Eicholtz, 1994). In 2001, the survey was replicated with a larger national sample (N = 1,736). The first purpose of the current study was to conduct an in-depth analysis of the 2001 survey results in terms of relationships between variables in respondents' backgrounds (e.g., region of the United States and coursework in service delivery to ELL students) and perceived problems in providing service delivery to ELL students. The second purpose of the current study was to compare answers from the 1990 and 2001 surveys in terms of similarities and differences.

Six thousand surveys were mailed out to a randomly and independently selected sample of public school SLPs across the United States. One thousand seven hundred thirty-six surveys were returned and analyzed.

Results indicated both similarities and differences between answers from the 1990 and 2001 surveys. Results from an in-depth analysis of the current survey found that respondents from the West had the most coursework in service delivery to ELL students. Respondents from the West and the Southwest regions of the United States perceived all service delivery problems with ELL students as occurring less frequently than did their counterparts from other regions. Respondents with more university coursework perceived "lack of appropriate less biased assessment instruments" as a more frequently occurring problem than did respondents with less university coursework.

Universities need to offer coursework regarding service delivery to ELL students. A particularly important area that courses should address is less biased assessment of ELL students. Other implications and directions for future research are discussed.