(Capps et al. 2005; Kindler 2002; Karathanos 2009)  The population of English Language Learner (ELL) students in the United States has steadily and markedly increased over the past decade with projections indicating this trend will continue.  Public schools are now educating more culturally and linguistically diverse students.

(Ochoa et al 2005; Kindler 2000; Eschevarria et al 2006)  Students who show limited or no English language skills are referred to as English Language Learners  The top five language groups of ELL students are Spanish, Vietnamese, Hmong, Haitian Creole, and Korean (NCELA 2000)  Seventy percent of the ELL population is comprised of Spanish speakers, whereas the remaining top four languages each constitute 2% or less (NCELA 2000a)  Limited English Proficient (LEP) students

(Green 1998; Ramirez et al 1991; Willig 1985; Thomas and Collier 1997, 2002) Research indicates that valuing and capitalizing on the native languages and cultures of ELL students is integral to their success in school. Researchers emphasized that implementing programs that utilize the student’s native language:  Provide greater access to content-area knowledge  Facilitate academic and cognitive growth  Support the development of both native language and English language proficiency.

 Although ELL students are typically enrolled in some type of language programs in their schools (English Immersion, ESL Bilingual, Transitional Bilingual, Maintenance Bilingual, Dual Language Bilingual Program), majority of their time at school is spent in mainstream classrooms with native English speaking peers and teachers (Berube 2000).  Therefore mainstream teachers have an essential role to play in the education of ELL students (Karathanos 2009).

 Teacher attitude and self efficacy directly influence instructional behavior, which in turn, promotes students’ outcomes and success. (Demesquita et al. 2001)  Teachers with more positive attitudes toward ELL students are more supportive of native language instruction, and are more likely to believe that native language learning promotes success in school. (Karabenick & Noda, 2004)  Teachers who believe in common myths and fallacies related to the education of ELL students often fail to meet their academic, and social needs. (Valdes 2001;  Youngs and Youngs 2001)

 To explore teachers’ perspectives concerning the theory and practice of incorporating ELL students’ native languages into instruction.

 Means and standard deviations for both theory and practice scores revealed that those teachers who do not speak another language tended to have higher scores (which indicates less support of native language use in instruction) than those teachers who speak another language.

Correlations between theory and practice scores, gender, years of teaching and speaking another language. Years of teaching and speaking another language are factors that are significantly correlated to the theory and practice scores, but not gender.