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The Effect Of The English Language Learner Pull Out Program On Primary Students' Language Achievement, Heidi T. Penke

Student Work

The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of the English Language Learner (ELL) pull out program on student achievement. Schools are facing the unprecedented challenge to educate a multicultural and multilingual student body with varied abilities and backgrounds of learning.

Improving Educational Outcomes Of English Language Learners In Schools And Programs In Boston Public Schools, Miren Uriarte, Faye Karp, Laurie Gagnon, Rosann Tung, Sarah Rustan, Jie Chen, Michael Berardino, Pamela Stazesky, Eileen De Los Reyes, Antonieta Bolomey

Gastón Institute Publications

Using 4 years of student-level demographic, enrollment and testing and school-level characteristics, this study analyzes the enrollment and outcomes of English Language Learners (ELLs) in Boston Public School between SY2006 and SY2009 and assess the relative impact of individual and school level factors in testing outcomes of ELLs. The study reports on the improvement in ELL dropout rates and testing outcomes during the period of observation. It reports also on the outcomes of ELLs at different levels of English proficiency and finds (1) higher dropout rates and lower testing performance among low English proficiency students; (2) a minimal proportion of …

Learning From Consistently High Performing And Improving Schools For English Language Learners In Boston Public Schools, Rosann Tung, Virginia Diez, Laurie Gagnon, Miren Uriarte, Pamela Stazesky, Eileen De Los Reyes, Antonieta Bolomey

Gastón Institute Publications

Against a backdrop of increasing BPS ELL enrollment, district ELL leadership transitions, state and federal policies affecting ELL education, and with the knowledge that many teachers and administrators within the Boston Public Schools are expert practitioners with ELL students, we addressed the following research questions:

• In which BPS schools were ELL students performing at a consistently high level or showing steady improvement during SY2006-SY2009?
• What were some of the practices that these schools’ staffs credited with their success with ELL students during SY2006-SY2009?
• Which of the practices identified by school staff were shared among the selected schools?

Through case study …

Being The Change We Want To See: Esl And Special Needs Teachers Author Their Past And Their Future, Susan Adams, Jamie Buffington-Adams

Susan Adams

Presentation at the National Council of Teachers of English Annual Convention post-convention workshop, Chicago, IL, November 19, 2011.

Designing And Implementing Two-Way, Dual Language Programs: Issues To Consider, April Haulman, Regina Lopez

Administrative Issues Journal

With growing pressure on school administrators to close the achievement gap for English language learners, two-way immersion programs are being considered in increasing numbers across the nation. In this program design, language minority children are placed in classrooms with native English speakers and both groups of children learn and achieve in both languages. In well-designed programs the outcomes show that the program produces academic achievement across the curriculum that is equal or better than students educated in monolingual classrooms on standardized tests in English. Plus they also enjoy the benefits of becoming balanced bilinguals. This report reviews the literature on …

The Effects Of Teaching The Academic Language Of Language Arts To Secondary Long-Term English Learners, Mary Soto

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

While the majority of English language learners are found in elementary schools, an alarming number of these students are entering secondary schools. These secondary students are long-term English learners, students who have been in U.S. schools for seven years or longer. Long-term English learners struggle with academic success, and educators need to find ways to support them. In this qualitative study, the effects of teaching academic vocabulary and concepts to 10th grade Hispanic long-term English learners in a language arts class at a large, South Texas high school were explored. The researcher observed students as they were involved in five …

Action Research As A Self-Improvement Tool In Efl, Mustafa Turkyilmaz

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal

In this paper, action research method will be examined from the students’ perspectives. Action research projects help the students to gain self-control of their learning experiences. Although action research projects are more common on higher academic levels such as graduate studies, researches show that such projects are easily adaptable in prep schools or any foreign language learning environment. Ensuring the autonomy of the students to control and manage a project, an action research project is a reliable method for EFL teachers. It also gives students a chance to individualize their learning experiences.

Esl Program Models And Court Cases: An Overview For Administrators, Chris Jochum

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal

The demographic of our country’s public school students is very diverse and continues to change. By 2020, African American, Hispanic, Asian American and Native American groups will account for more than 40 percent of the U.S. population and this percentage is expected to increase to 50 percent by the year 2040 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2003). Currently, 46 percent of all schools in the United States have English Language Learners (ELL) or English as Second Language (ESL) students (National Center for Educational Statistics). Furthermore, Hispanics now make up the largest minority group in the United States and it’s estimated that by …

Kazakhstan English-Major Students: Motivation To Learn English And Academic Achievement, Aizat Nurshatayeva

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal

The marked increase in the amount of research on foreign language learning motivation in the last 30 years is due to the widespread recognition of the vital importance of motivation to language learning achievement (Chambers 1999; Dörnyei 2001; Ushioda 2006). The complexity of motivation as such adds to the variety and range of research most of which is heavily influenced by the socio-educational model of second language acquisition formulated by Gardner (1985). His distinction between integrative orientation (when a learner wishes to communicate with people from the target culture) and instrumental orientation (when a learner wishes to learn the language …

Executive Function Development And Early Mathematics: Examination Of Dual Language Learners, Hattie A. Harvey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the convergent validity between a third-party rating scale of executive function (EF) and a task-performance measurement of EF; examined the effects of age, gender, and dual language experience on preschool children‘s EF skills (inhibition, working memory (WM), and shifting) and on early mathematical skills; and investigated the contributions of inhibition, WM, and shifting to early mathematical skills. Ninety-two children attending Head Start were assessed. Correlation analyses revealed a number of relationships between the EF rating scale and the EF taskperformance measure. A multivariate analysis of variance revealed a main effect of age on all EF measures and …

Teachers And English Language Learners Experiencing The Secondary Mainstream Classroom: A Case Study, Amanda M. Ruiz

Middle-Secondary Education and Instructional Technology Dissertations

The number of linguistically and culturally diverse students entering public schools is increasing (Echeverria, Short & Powers, 2006; Williams, 2001) and mainstream teachers are responsible for making content comprehensible for these students (Clegg, 1996; Georgia Department of Education, 2008); however, test scores and graduation rates indicate that English language learners (ELLs), across the nation, are consistently underperforming on content based assessments and failing to complete high school (Carrasquillo & Rodriguez, 2006; Cruz & Thornton, 2009) . Using a constructivist lens and the concept of the instructional dynamic (Ball & Forzani, 2007), this dissertation presents the experiences of the mainstream teacher …

A Formative Experiment To Increase English Language Learners' Awareness And Use Of Metacognitive Strategies Through Reciprocal Teaching: Pushing Toward An End To Silence In The Classroom, Jane Casey

All Dissertations

During the course of 13 weeks, a reciprocal teaching (Palincsar & Brown, 1984) intervention was introduced into two fifth grade inclusive, social studies classrooms to increase English language learners' (ELLs) awareness and use of metacognitive strategies. A formative experiment (Reinking & Bradley, 2008) was selected as the methodology, and both qualitative and quantitative data were collected to determine student-participants' progress toward the goal. Results of the data analysis guided the study, and the intervention was adapted to ensure students' moved steadily toward attainment of the established, pedagogical goal. The researcher and teacher-participants worked in a collaborative fashion to make adaptations …

The Effect Of An English Language Learner Program On Student Achievement Outcomes In Language, Reading, And Math, Jennifer L. Reid

Student Work

The purpose of the study was to determine the reading, math, and language proficiency outcomes of 4th-grade through 7th-grade students with limited English proficiency following nearly two years or more of instruction in the English Language Learner Program (ELL) and concurrent general education studies.

Challenges Of Oral English In English As A Second Language (Esl) Learning In Nigeria, Olufunso Fasanmi

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal

Second language learning has continued to pose learning challenges to English as a Second Language Learner (ESL) learners in Nigeria. Many scholars have carried out various research works on the problems of language learning and have come out with various recommendations, but in spite of these efforts, the problems of learning to use a second language have persisted. As it is, many of the teachers of English are non – native speakers and secondly, the language is being learnt and used far away from its natural environment. Elugbe (2000) observes that non native speakers are not likely to have expertise …

Literary Creativity In Second Language English: A Speech Act Study Of Ola Rotimi’S Ovonrawmen Nogbaisi, M.J. Oloko

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal

Language remains the most formidable tool that writers use for literary creativity. It is the vehicle through which literature delights and instructs. The most important gift God gave human beings over and above other creatures he created is the power of language (Ezeigbo 2008). Language is indispensable to the creative artists, to literary critics, who must have a facility for words. Words are no doubt a powerful tool in the literary arsenal of the writer. In the hands of a writer, words can do a lot of things. Writers are creative people who create with words. It is no longer …

Latino/A English Language Learners: Closing Achievement/Opportunity Gaps To Increase College-Going Rates, Amy Cook, Rachelle Pérusse

Counseling and School Psychology Faculty Publication Series

By the 10th grade, 40% of adolescent Latinos/as drop out of school, with Latino/a English language learners (ELLs) dropping out at an even higher rate. A survey-based study conducted in the Northeast revealed many evidence-based interventions that school counselors implement on behalf of Latino/a ELLs to improve academic achievement. This session will provide you with the skills and knowledge to work with some of the most challenging cases involving Latino/a ELLs and how to close achievement/opportunity gaps. Discussion and sharing information about various school counselor practices will be encouraged.

Assess Without Distress, Susan Adams, Trish Mullaney

Susan Adams

Workshop presented at the 2011 Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages Conference, New Orleans, LA, March 16-19, 2011.

Creating Conditions For Transforming Practicing K-12 Mainstream Teachers Of English Language Learners, Susan R. Adams, Kathryn Brooks

Scholarship and Professional Work – Education

Critical incident reflection journal writing provides a rich source for identifying high impact components of Project Alianza, a graduate course for mainstream secondary teachers funded by a US Department of Education Title III Professional Development grant. In this narrative pilot study featuring one strand of existing data, the co-authors, who are also co-instructors and co-researchers, begin the first rounds of analysis to identify emerging key conditions and contributing factors featured within specialized graduate courses for encouraging dispositional change and professional efficacy toward English language learners (ELLs) in practicing K-12 mainstream educators. Using Mezirow’s adult transformational learning theory (1991), Kegan’s stage …

The Role Of Staff Development In School-Based Management, Hon Yau, Alison Cheng

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal

Today’s frontier is knowledge. Brain has taken precedence over brawn; our physical struggle for existence has been replaced by intellectual struggle, and knowledge of words has become the most valuable tool for this struggle. Words are the very cornerstone of any language. With a good vocabulary, which indicates scope of knowledge, we can grasp the thoughts of others and be able to communicate our own thoughts to them. As Stahl (1999) argued, discussion of words is discussion of knowledge of the world, and knowledge of the world is knowledge of who we are and where we stand in the world. …

Mainstream Teacher Attitudes Toward English Language Learners, Cristina Gonzalez Dekutoski

Wayne State University Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to collect and analyze data from practicing mainstream K-12 teachers currently enrolled in graduate courses at a large, urban, Midwest university regarding four categories of their attitudes toward English language learners: (a) inclusion of ELLs, (b) the second language acquisition process/language and language learning, (c) modification of coursework, and (d) ESL professional development. Though studies on teacher attitudes toward ELLs remain sparse, research on this topic is important for two reasons. First, as the rigor of grade level curriculum increases ( i.e. high school graduation requirements, state MEAP testing, NCLB) understanding complexities of ELLs …

Assessment Practices In English Language At The Nigerian Secondary School Level: A Psycholinguistic Issue, Oluwole Akinbode, Anthony Dairo

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal

The major purposes to which the results of assessment could be put were diagnosis, evaluation, guidance, grading prediction, and selection. In Nigeria, it is unfortunate that the results of many examinations have been used almost exclusively for grading and promotion exercises and inevitably there has been a neglect of diagnosis, guidance and evaluation although considerable informal use of assessment for these purposes are made by teachers in the classroom.

Being The Change We Want To See: Esl And Special Needs Teachers Author Their Past And Their Future, Susan Adams, Jamie Buffington-Adams

Susan Adams

Presentation at the 2011 Indiana Teachers of Writing Annual Conference.