Teachers who work with English as a Second Language learners will find ESL/ESOL/ELL/EFL reading/writing skill-building children's books, stories, activities, ideas, strategies to help PreK-3, 4-8, and 9-12 students learn to read.
Content Areas: The Arts
Language Test
by National School Boards Association, Naomi Dillon
Dillon, N. (2005). Language Test. American School Board Journal, 192(8). National School Boards Association.
Topics Covered:
Access, Equity, and Adequacy;
NCLB and AYP;
Tags:
Bilingual Instruction;
Bilingualism / Biliteracy;
Comprehension;
Content Areas: Math;
Content Areas: Science;
Content Areas: Social Studies;
Content Areas: The Arts;
Curriculum;
Instructional Programs;
Intervention;
Language of Instruction;
Language Proficiency;
Target Population: Elementary, Middle, High School
Research Questions the Report Poses: The report uses the example of Coachella school district's legal battle to examine if state assessments fair to English language learners.
Summary: The report examines the challenges associated with preparing a population that is 70 percent ELL to meet the demands of state and federal laws. Under California law, all ELL students must take state tests in English after only one year of instruction — a requirement that perpetually leaves districts like Coachella "in need of improvement." The report uses the Coachella district's case as a lens to examine the challenges we face in preparing ELL students to perform highly as well as the advantages and disadvantages of different types of assessment and accounting formulae to determine performance.
Findings:
n/a
Policy Recommendations:
- The lawsuit asks the state to develop primary language tests for students who have recently arrived or enrolled in bilingual classrooms—an NCLB supported provision.
- The suit also calls for a new standardized test that is more linguistically friendly and appropriate.
To order a hard copy of the report, contact:
n/a
National Literacy Panel's Executive Summary
Developing Literacy in Second-Language Learners: Report of the National Literacy Panel on Language-Minority Children and Youth.
by National Literacy Panel, Diane August, Timothy Shanahan
August, D. and Shanahan, T. (2006). Developing Literacy in Second-Language Learners: Report of the National Literacy Panel on Language-Minority Children and Youth. Center for Applied Linguistics, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates: Mahwah, NJ.
Tags:
Bilingual Instruction;
Bilingualism / Biliteracy;
Comprehension;
Content Areas: Math;
Content Areas: Science;
Content Areas: Social Studies;
Content Areas: The Arts;
Curriculum;
Differentiated Instruction;
Fluency;
Instructional Programs;
Intervention;
Language of Instruction;
Language Proficiency;
Phonics;
Phonological Awareness;
Placement;
Vocabulary;
Writing;
Target Population: Preschool, Elementary, Middle, High School
Research Questions the Report Poses: How do ELL students acquire literacy in a second language?
Summary: The National Literacy Panel on Language Minority Children and Youth systematically and rigorously examined the research on acquiring literacy in a second language. The full report was never published but the executive summary is useful for its vision and purposeful intent.
Findings:
- Instructional approaches that focus on phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and text comprehension-have clear benefits for ELLs. Like their native English speaking peers, ELLs benefit from these strategies as well as writing instruction.
- For students to become literate in English several instructional qualities need to be met including: content coverage, intensity and thorough instruction,
- ELL specific instruction, monitoring learning, and teacher preparation.
- Oral proficiency and literacy in the first language can be used to facilitate literacy development in English.
- Researchers have documented few sociocultural impacts on literacy achievement or development. However, researchers have found that home language experiences can have a positive impact on literacy achievement.
