Content Areas: Social Studies

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?

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.

• Link to Full Report

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: Comprehension; Content Areas: Science; Content Areas: Social Studies; Curriculum; Differentiated Instruction; Vocabulary;

Target Population: All

Research Questions the Report Poses: How can teachers integrate language and content in mainstream subject-matter classes to facilitate English language acquisition?

Findings:
Our mainstream subject-matter classes are becoming increasingly linguistically and culturally diverse. It is imperative that subject-matter teachers sensitize their instruction to English language learners' backgrounds and needs and teach subject-matter knowledge through language.

Policy Recommendations:

• Subject-matter teachers should systematically teach discipline-specific language. They should also pay attention to the functional use of language in classroom discussions.
• Teachers should use writing as a tool to promote language development by aligning writing assignments with language-development needs.
• Teachers also need to be aware of students' English proficiency levels and cultural and education backgrounds so they can tailor their instruction to specific language needs.

• Read the Full Report

Dong, Y.R. (2005). Educating language learners: getting at the content. Educational Leadership, 62(4), Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/dec04/vol62/num04/Getting-at-the-Content.aspx

Tags: Content Areas: Social Studies; Instructional Programs; Language of Instruction; Vocabulary;

Target Population: Elementary, Middle School

Research Questions the Report Poses: What are effective social studies instruction to promote knowledge acquisition and vocabulary learning of English?

Findings:
The unique learning needs of adolescent English language learners demand that effective second language instruction be embedded in content area classes. This, in turn, requires building secondary educators’ knowledge base and capacity to deliver instruction that supports literacy and content learning. Research findings from CREATE thus far indicate that it is possible to improve the quality of social studies instruction to better meet the needs of English language learners and to improve their performance without delaying learning for English-speaking monolingual students, who are often in the same content area courses. Considering the number of readers in upper elementary and middle school classrooms who struggle with academic language and grade-level textbooks, these recommended social studies practices can and should be incorporated into content area teaching. Providing instructional supports that target both content and English language learning objectives in English-only settings makes effective strategy instruction accessible to all students. Class-wide interventions may serve to supplement the skills of many, while possibly preventing the difficulties that arise for some older second language learners and others prone to struggling with content area text and academic and content-specific vocabulary.

• Read the Full Report

Reutebuch, C.K. (2010, December). Effective Social Studies Instruction to Promote Knowledge Acquisition and Vocabulary Learning of English. CREATE. Retrieved January 14, 2011 from: http://www.cal.org/create/resources/pubs/effective-social-studies-instruction.html

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 whether state assessments are appropriate accountability measures for English language learners.

Findings:
N/A

Policy Recommendations:
N/A

• Purchase Report

Dillon, N. (2005). Language Test. American School Board Journal, 192(8). National School Boards Association.

Tags: Comprehension; Content Areas: Social Studies;

Target Population: Middle, High School

Research Questions the Report Poses: What are the challenges and successes in developing an effective instructional environment for teaching secondary–level social studies curriculum to a sheltered population of ELLs?

Findings:

• Indeed, social studies instruction for English-language learner (ELL) students presents a second, uniquely embedded challenge —not only are the ELL students learning a new language and culture while in the classroom, they must learn a different interpretation of historical events, develop a different conception of government, and learn a different philosophy of citizenship.
• The ELL population encounters a number of critical barriers which may impede their citizenship education: lack of prior exposure to elementary school social studies curriculum, a rudimentary understanding of the cultural context, and more importantly, their lack of English literacy skills which are vital for comprehending social studies material, acculturation, and socialization in the dominant culture.
• Best practices for ESL students can also benefit all students in the mainstream classroom, including those who may have lower reading abilities, learning disabilities, attention-deficit disorders, or other challenges which may affect their comprehension and/or production capabilities in the classroom.

Policy Recommendations:
The authors' recommendations fall into the following categories:

• The Development of Socially Supportive Classroom Environment
• The Explicit Teaching of Academic Skills under the Cognitive Academic Language Learning Approach (CALLA)
• Approaches for Reducing Cognitive Load and Increasing the Accessibility of Complex Content Knowledge

• Read the Full Report

Szpara, M.Y., Ahmad I. (2006). Making Social Studies Meaningful for ELL Students: Content and Pedagogy in Mainstream Secondary School Classrooms. Essays in Education, 16. Retrieved from http://www.usca.edu/essays/vol162006/ahmad.pdf

Tags: Content Areas: Math; Content Areas: Science; Content Areas: Social Studies; Differentiated Instruction; Intervention; Motivation; Placement; Reading; Struggling Readers; Transfer of Literacy Skills; Vocabulary; Writing;

Target Population: Middle, High School

Research Questions the Report Poses: What instructional practices dovetail in both the ELL adolescent literacy literature and non-ELL adolescent literacy literature?

Findings:
Eight instructional approaches are supported in both literatures (what's good for ELL adolescents and adolescent native English speakers):

1. teacher modeling, strategy instruction, and using multiple forms of assessment;
2. emphasis on reading and writing;
3. emphasis on speaking and listening/viewing;
4. emphasis on thinking;
5. creating a learner-centered classroom;
6. recognizing and analyzing content-area discourse features;
7. understanding text structures within the content areas; and
8. vocabulary development.

Policy Recommendations:
Any intervention aimed at ELLs should also benefit under–served learners generally.

• Link to Full Report

To order a hard copy of the report, contact:
The Education Alliance at Brown
222 Richmond Street, Suite 300
Providence, RI 02903-4226
Phone: 800.521.9550
Fax: 401.421.7650
E-mail: info@alliance.brown.edu

Meltzer, J. & Hamann, E. (2004). Meeting the literacy development needs of adolescent English language learners. Part two: Focus on classroom teaching and learning strategies. Northeast and Islands Regional Educational Laboratory .

Tags: Content Areas: Math; Content Areas: Science; Content Areas: Social Studies; Motivation; Placement; Reading; Struggling Readers; Transfer of Literacy Skills; Vocabulary; Writing;

Target Population: Middle, High School

Research Questions the Report Poses: Review of the literature concerning student motivation and engagement on literacy development of adolescents and research on the schooling of adolescent ELLs.

Findings:

• literacy development and effective instruction for ELL and non-ELL adolescents alike share many commonalities;
• isolated ELL students are further negatively impacted as a result of these findings; and
• content-area teachers may benefit from research and practices designed for ELL teachers

Policy Recommendations:

• Teachers should use current secondary school ELL literature to create a blueprint of classroom contexts in which ELLs will be motivated and engaged to read and write across the content areas, and where reading and writing will contribute to their broader academic achievement.
• Schools should train all secondary–school teachers to promote content–area literacy for ELLs.
• To promote ELLs' or other students' continued development and application of literacy skills for academic learning, educators should plan opportunities that
  1. provide the environmental resources to support the work (i.e., various text materials);
  2. are grounded by high expectations that students can achieve or surpass the state standards and
  3. engage students-that they involve choice, are authentic, promote self–efficacy, and support autonomy.

• Link to Full Report

To order a hard copy of the report, contact:
The Education Alliance at Brown
222 Richmond Street, Suite 300
Providence, RI 02903-4226
Phone: 800.521.9550
Fax: 401.421.7650
E-mail: info@alliance.brown.edu

Meltzer, J. & Hamann, E. (2004). Meeting the literacy development needs of adolescent English language learners. Part one: Focus on motivation and engagement. Northeast and Islands Regional Educational Laboratory.