Helping Our ELL Students Succeed:

Finding the Right SettingAmy Tatasciore

Education 702.22:Seminar in Applied Theory and Research I

Spring 2010

Table of Contents Statement of Problem:

Slide 3 Review of Related Literature:

Slides 4- 10 Statement of Hypothesis:

Slide 11 Methods

Slides 12 & 13 References

Slides 14- 16 Appendices

Slides 17-21

Statement of Problem

With the number of ELL students in our schools on the rise, educators struggle to find the right

setting for our students to succeed. While Bilingual education can be a great option, it is

not the only successful setting for ELL students. ESL settings can yield academic achievement.

Related Literature- Pros Structured English Immersion: Breakthrough in

Teaching Limited- English- Proficient Students (Baker, 1998)

The Effects of Integrated Language- Based Instruction in Elementary ESL Learning (Kim, 2008)

Accelerating Early Academic Oral English Development in Transitional Bilingual and Structured English Immersion Programs (Irby,Lara-Acecio, Kwok, Mathes, &Tong, 2008)

Related Literature- Pros Explaining English Language Proficiency Among

Adolescent Immigrant Students (Cahill, Suárez- Orozco, & Páez, 2008)

Order of Difficulty of Standard English Grammatical Features among Cultural Minority Groups in the United States (Day, Gallimore,Tharp,Chan, & Connor,1978)

Supporting Children’s Participation in Second- Language Stories in an Irish- Language Preschool (Mhic-Mhathúna, 2008)

Related Literature- Cons Effects of Bilingual and English as a Second Language

Adaptations of Success for All on the Reading Achievement of Students Acquiring English (Slavin & Madden, 2000)

ELL Programs: Not “One Size Fits All” (Hoinsfeld, 2009)

Variations in Reading Achievement among Spanish Speaking Children in Different Language Programs: Explanations and Confounds (Reese, Goldberg, & Saunders, 2006)

Fostering Biliteracy in A Monolingual Milieu: Reflections on Two Counter- Hegemonic English Immersion Classes (Manyak, 2006)

Related Literature- Neutral Two-way and monolingual English immersion in preschool

education: An experimental comparison (Barnett, Yarosz, Thomas, Jung, & Blanco, 2007)

Bilingual Education and English-Only: A Language-Planning Framework (Hornberger, 1990)

Rate of Acquiring and Processing L2 Color Words in Relation to L1 Phonological Awareness (Hu, 2008)

Teaching English Language Learners in the Content Areas (Janzen, 2008)

Related Literature- Neutral Bilingualism: Acquisition of Linguistic and Non

Linguistic Skills in Bilinguals (Kohnert, Windsor & Danaby- Ebert, 2008)

Phonological Sensitivity and Memory in Children with a Foreign Language Learning Difficulty (Palladino, & Ferrari, 2008)

Verbal Ability and School Achievement of Bilingual and Monolingual Children of Different Ages (Tsushima, & Hogan,1975)

Related Literature- Classroom Practices

ESL Placement and Schools: Effects on Immigrant Achievement (Callahan, Wilkinson, Muller, & Frisco, 2009)

Beyond Language: The Many Dimensions of an ESL Program (Ernst, 1994)

Acquiring Academic English in One Year: An Unlikely Proposition for English Language Learners (Guerrero, 2004)

Measuring the Outcomes of LEP Programs: Test Scores, Exit Rates, and Other Mythological Data (Gandara, & Merino,1993)

Related Literature- Classroom Practices

Books Access, Shared Reading, and Audio Models: The Effects of Supporting the Literacy Learning of Linguistically Diverse Students in School and at Home (Koskinen, Blum, Bisson, Phillips, Creamer, & Baker, 2000)

Inviting Conversation: Meaningful Talk About Texts for English Language Learners (Purdy, 2008)

High Stakes Testing: Issues, Implications, and Remedies for English Language Learners (Solórzano, 2008)

Collaborative Teaching to Increase ELL Student Learning: A Three- Year Urban Elementary Case Study (York-Barr, Ghere, & Sommerness, 2007)

Statement of Hypothesis

HR1- Implementing ESL strategies and techniques with 15 first grade ELL students with English only instruction will yield greater reading levels than a Bilingual class with 15 students of the same native language background at PS X in Brooklyn New York.

Method

Participants ESL Class

One Teacher 15 ELL Students

Bilingual Class One Teacher 15 ELL Students

Method

Instrument (s) DRA Reading Assessment Running Records NYSESLAT Reading Scores End of the year Reading Levels

References Baker, K. ( 1998). Structured English Immersion: Breakthrough in Teaching Limited- English-

Proficient Students. Phi Delta Kappan, Vol. 80 (3), 199-204. Barnett, W.S. Yarosz,D. Thomas, J. Jung, K. Blanco,D. (2007). Two-way and monolingual English

immersion in preschool education: An experimental comparison. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 22 (3), 277-293.

Callahan, R. Wilkinson, L. Muller, C. and Frisco, M. (2009). ESL Placement and Schools: Effects on Immigrant Achievement. Educational Gandara, P., Merino, B. (1993). Measuring the Outcomes of LEP Programs: Test Scores, Exit Rates, and Other Mythological Data.

Policy, 23 (2), 355-384. Carhill, A. Suárez- Orozco, M. Páez, M. (2008). Explaining English Language Proficiency Among

Adolescent Immigrant Students. American Educational Research Journal, 45 (4), 1155-1179.

Day, R. Gallimore, R. Tharp, R. Chan, K. Connor, M. (1978). Order of Difficulty of Standard English Grammatical Features among Cultural Minority Groups in the United States. American Anthropological Association, 9 (3), 181-195.

Ernst,G. (1994). Beyond Language: The Many Dimensions of an ESL Program. Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 25 (3), 317-335.

Gandara, P., Merino, B. (1993). Measuring the Outcomes of LEP Programs: Test Scores, Exit Rates, and Other Mythological Data. Education Evaluation and Policy Analysis, Vol. 15 (3),

320-338. Guerrero, M. (2004). Acquiring Academic English in One Year: An Unlikely Proposition for English

Language Learners. Urban Education, 39 (2), 172-199. Hoingsfeld, A. (2009). ELL Programs: Not “One Size Fits All”. Kappa Delta Pi Record, Vol. 45 (4),

166-171.

References Hornberger, N. (1990). Bilingual Education and English-Only: A Language-Planning Framework.

American Academy of Political and Social Science, 508, 12-26. Hu, C-F. (2008). Rate of Acquiring and Processing L2 Color Words in Relation to L1 Phonological

Awareness. The Modern Language Journal, 92 (i), 39-52. Irby, B. Lara-Acecio, R. Kwok, O. Mathes, P. Tong, F. (2008). Accelerating Early Academic Oral

English Development in Transitional Bilingual and Structured English Immersion Programs. American Educational Research Journal, Vol. 45 (4), 1011-1044.

Janzen, J. (2008). Teaching English Language Learners in the Content Areas. Review of Educational Research, Vol. 78 (4), 1010-1038.

Kim, Y. (2008). The Effects of Integrated Language- Based Instruction in Elementary ESL Learning. The Modern Language Journal. 92 (3), 431-451.

Kohnert, K. Windsor, J. Danaby- Ebert, K. (2008). Bilingualism: Acquisition of Linguistic and Non Linguistic Skills in Bilinguals. Brain and Language, 109 (2), 101-111.

Koskinen, P. Blum, I. Bisson, S. Phillips, S. Creamer, T. Baker, T. (2000). Books Access, Shared Reading, and Audio Models: The Effects of Supporting the Literacy Learning of

Linguistically Diverse Students in School and at Home. Journal of Educational Psychology, 92 (1), 23-36.

Manyak, P. (2006). Fostering Biliteracy in A Monolingual Milieu: Reflections on Two Counter- Hegemonic English Immersion Classes. Journals of Early Childhood Literacy, 6 (3),

241- 266.

References Mhic-Mhathúna, M. (2008) Supporting Children’s Participation in Second- Language Stories in an

Irish- Language Preschool. Early Years, 28 (3), 299-309. Palladino, P. Ferrari, M. (2008). Phonological Sensitivity and Memory in Children with a Foreign

Language Learning Difficulty. Psychology Press, 16 (6), 604-625. Purdy,J. (2008). Inviting Conversation: Meaningful Talk About Texts for English Language

Learners. Literacy, 42 (1), 44-51. Reese, L. Goldenberg, C. Saunders, W. (2006). Variations in Reading Achievement among

Spanish Speaking Children in Different Language Programs: Explanations and Confounds. The Elementary School Journal, Vol.106 (4), 364- 385.

Slavin, R. Madden, N. ( 2000). Effects of Bilingual and English as a Second Language Adaptations of Success for All on the Reading Achievement of Students Acquiring English. Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk, 4 (4), 393-416.

Solórzano, R. (2008). High Stakes Testing: Issues, Implications, and Remedies for English Language Learners. American Educational Research Association, 78 (2), 260- 284.

Tsushima, W. Hogan, T. (1975). Verbal Ability and School Achievement of Bilingual and Monolingual Children of Different Ages. The Journal of Educational Research, 68 (9), 349- 353.

York- Barr, J. Ghere, G. Sommerness,J. (2007). Collaborative Teaching to Increase ELL Student Learning: A Three- Year Urban Elementary Case Study. Journal of Education for

Students Placed at Risk, 12 (3), 301-335.

Appendix A Sample Letter of Consent

Dear Parents,

My name is Amy Tatasciore and I am a first grade ESL teacher at PS X in Brooklyn New York. I am currently attending Brooklyn College and am conducting a research project about ELL students and reading levels. I am requesting your permission to use your student’s data in my research project. I would use information gathered from NYSESLAT scores, DRA scores, running records, and end of the year reading levels. All participants names and identity will be confidential, only their data will be used. Thank you for your support and participation.

Sincerely,

Ms. Amy Tatasciore

I give my student reading levels, test scores, and other academic information to be used

in this research project.

X_______________________________

Appendix BESL and Bilingual NYSESLAT Raw Scores

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

Student Number

Raw

Sco

re

ESL K

Bilingual K

ESL 1

Bilingual 1

Not actual results- Sample Graph

Appendix C

DRA READING ASSESSMENT

Appendix D Running Record

Appendix EGuided Reading Levels