A student with limited English proficiency is defined as one whose primary language is not English and whose score on an English reading or language arts test is significantly below the average score for students of the same age. The optimal setting for learning a second language is one that allows for extensive dialogue between teacher and learner.
Humans are remarkably good at language learning.
There seem to be only two ways to skew an LEP child s opportunity to learn English. The first is to use too much of the non-English language in the classroom, and this seems to be the problem in many bilingual education programs. The second is to fail to realize that LEP students face a more demanding task in school than do native English-speaking students. LEP students have to learn everything in the curriculum and then learn English on top of it. The quantity and quality of exposure to the first and second languages.