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NAELPA Statement on "EL" in the Acronym
with current federal legislation using the term English Learners (ELs) to identify the population of students we work with, the NAELPA Board will continue with this usage of the term. However, NAELPA will take an active role in advocating for the wider use of assets-based nomenclature and helping to make it more standardized in our field and beyond.
We use “students” whenever possible (to avoid limiting a student’s identity to a service they receive), “multilingual learners” (when referring to students who are bilingual and multilingual, regardless of whether or not they receive EL services), and “multilingual/multicultural communities” (when referring to the communities and families of multilingual learners).
We recognize that we have an opportunity to stop overusing the term “EL." Instead, we will make opportunities to be more specific and honor the identities of all students. EL coordinators advocate and work for current and exited EL students, families, and communities, so “this population” implies a monoculture that doesn’t exist. We can talk about “students who receive EL services” as needed but use other terms that illustrate their diversity whenever possible.
NAELPA is actively researching and contributing to this nomenclature discussion and will move to adopt agreed upon terminology as appropriate. NAELPA’s commitment to using assets-based terminology will be demonstrated in its infusion of and transition to such terminology in future publications and events.
It is important to NAELPA to use asset-based terminology when referring to our work and the population of students we serve. We acknowledge that the current name of this organization, The National Association of English Learner Program Administrators (NAELPA), uses English Learner (EL), which is considered deficit based. In alignment