In my last entry, I wrote about the importance of words, particularly the labels we use to identify students. Although "emergent bilingual" is not a perfect term, it is assets-based and thus a major improvement over the deficit-based terms previously used.
In this entry, I am going to share the various terms I currently use to identify students in relation to language learning. This is a constantly evolving list, as I am always looking for better terms.
I am eager to hear what terms others have adopted and how you use them. Please comment and share.
* For a discussion of the fluid nature of the emergent bilingual (English learner) subgroup, see pages 8-9 of Janie Tankard Carnock’s report Seeing Clearly: Five Lenses to Bring English Learner Data into Focus.
** For a discussion of problems with the LTEL label, see pages 24-27 of Yael Glick and Aída Walqui’s “Affordances in the Development of Student Voice and Agency: The Case of Bureaucratically Labeled Long-term English Learners,” Chapter 1 of Reconceptualizing the Role of Critical Dialogue in the American Classroom: Promoting Equity through Dialogic Education (2021), edited by Amanda Kibler, Guadalupe Valdés and Aída Walqui.