Implementing Educational Language Policy in Arizona ─ Legal, Historical and Current Practices in Sei

Arias (education, Arizona State University) and Faltis (education, University of California-Davis) unite contributors in English, education, teaching English as a second language, and applied linguistics to study the implementation of state-prescribed structured English immersion (SEI) and English-only polices in Arizona public schools, in force in the state since 2000, and their impact on language minority students in Arizona. The book begins with a review of language policies and teacher preparation, pointing to research that SEI is not effective in teaching students new languages. Part 2 outlines the impact of SEI in Arizona classrooms, drawing on interviews to give insight on teachers' attitudes to students, teaching preferences, and educational values. The book concludes by analyzing the Arizona Department of Education's mandated SEI professional development for teachers. There is no subject index. Annotation c2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

M. Beatriz Arias is an Associate Professor of English Education in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Arizona State University. She has edited several books and published scholarly articles on Latino students and educational policy, and has focused her research on equity issues for English Learners and Latino students and teachers. She has served as a Court Appointed Monitor for a Federal Court Judge in San Jose California; and in Chicago, Denver and Los Angeles school desegregation cases, she has participated as a Court Appointed expert.

Christian Faltis is the Dolly and David Fiddyment Chair in Teacher Education and Professor of Language, Literacy and Culture in the School of Education at University of California, Davis. He has authored numerous books and scholarly writing on bilingual education and Latino students. His most recent book is Education, immigrant students, refugee students, and English learners (2010, with Guadalupe Valdes). He is Editor of Teacher Education Quarterly, and Editor of Review of Research in Education, Vol. 37.