Due to rapidly increasing immigrant populations and pressure from the No Child Left Behind Act, the American education system must expand to include teacher training and educational services for the growing number of English language learners (ELLs). Accordingly, this study was an investigation of eight ELL high school students’ views about the effectiveness of current strategies used in instructional programs for ELLs at the secondary level. A constructivist paradigm framed the qualitative research design of this study, which used phenomenological methodology to capture the essence of being an ELL in an American high school. The study evaluated four current research-based instructional strategies (key words, tape recorded lessons, cooperative learning, and peer buddies) after implementation with 8 ELLs. The interview and survey data were analyzed using Hatch's typological analysis, Creswell's segmenting for properties, and Mills' coding to reveal areas of agreement between individuals and to present an understanding of the phenomenon of being an ELL in a secondary-level content area classroom. The participants ranked instructional strategies in order of their perceived effectiveness for learning: key words, cooperative learning, peer buddy, and tape recorded lessons. This study was significant because it gave ELLs a voice regarding the effectiveness of several research-based instructional strategies selected for use in English-only-speaking high school classrooms. This study encouraged the inclusion of ELL perceptions when developing educational services for the growing number of ELLs in American high schools. The implications of this action include the closing of achievement gaps for this burgeoning population.