An Investigation of Alternative Language Services (ALS) Received by English Language Learners (ELLs) Identified with a Disability

Abstract

The identification of and provision of ALS to ELLs identified with a disability was compared to that of their ELL peers without an identified disability. In addition, I conducted a review of the types of ALS provided. I approached this study from the perspective of the social construction of disability and utilized a quantitative, causal-comparative research design. I utilized the Statistical Analysis System (SAS) software for data analysis, along with Pearson's chi-square test of independence (χ2), and Fisher’s exact test with a significance level (p-value of ≤ 0.01) to test null hypothesis. In addition, the risk index and the composition index were also calculated to address factors of disproportionate representation. De-identified data were provided by a school district located in the southwest region of the United States after the 40 day count of the 2013-2014 school year. The data included 16,732 student records of school aged children in kindergarten through 12th grades. Analyses revealed that there was a significant difference in: the proportion of students identified with a Primary Home Language Other Than English (PHLOTE) and identified with a disability categorized as ELL from PHLOTE students without a disability identified as ELL, in the proportion of students identified with disabilities who received ALS compared to their peers without a disability who received ALS (most of the 36 students exempted from ALS were identified with a disability), in the proportion of ELLs who received ALS in grades K-5 compared to ELLs in grades 9-12, in the proportion of ELLs who received ALS who were identified with a Specific Learning Disability compared to ELLs who received ALS identified with any other primary disability, in the proportion of ELLs identified as SLD compared to their non-ELL peers also identified as SLD, and in the proportion of Asian students identified with a disability. Asian students were identified with a disability at a significantly lower rate compared to their non-Asian peers.

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