Lost opportunities to learn: The effects of education policy on primary language instruction for English learners

This study examines the implications that state educational policies, such as high-stakes testing in English and Proposition 227, have on teaching and learning in primary language instruction for English learners in California. Utilizing cultural-historical activity theory of learning and development, this qualitative case study uncovers the impact these reforms have on primary language instruction, bilingual teachers and their students through the use of participant observations, teacher and administrator interviews, and discourse analysis of classroom interaction. The study demonstrates that the pressure to test well on the SAT-9 assessment compelled bilingual teachers to organize their primary language instruction to skill and drill teaching in Spanish. The findings illustrate the students’ lost opportunities to learn and participate in more robust, student-centered literacy practices in their native language, facilitating the analysis of the efficacy of school reform and its mediation of everyday practices in schools and classrooms.