Many Puerto Rican children currently enrolled in English as a second language (ESL) classes speak Puerto Rican English (PRE). Their speech is characterized by nonstandard features, including some from Black English. Because of actual or historical interference from Spanish, they do qualify for ESL enrollment, yet their language problems are different from those of second language learners. They are fluent in PRE but need practice in oral control of Standard English (SE). They usually lack integrative motivation for acquiring SE. The small body of literature of PRE is reviewed in this paper. Differences between second dialect and second language teaching and learning are discussed. Societal barriers to SE acquisition and conditions which create and perpetuate interlanguages are argued to be factors in the maintenance of PRE. Classroom teachers' negative evaluation and ignorance of students' nonstandard speech contribute to ineffective teaching. Responses to a questionnaire support the hypothesis that licensed ESL teachers are less likely than classroom teachers to make negative judgments and more capable of accurate linguistic description. Their descriptions, which are itemized, provide evidence of the systematic nature of PRE. (Author)