Previous Reference Desk Digests

• Phonics Instruction — July 23, 2010
• Single-Sex Education — July 16, 2010
• Teacher Candidates' Field Experiences — July 9, 2010
• Kindergarten Entry Age — July 2, 2010
• Equitable Distribution of Teachers — June 25, 2010
• Drug Abuse Prevention Programs — June 18, 2010
• Data Use by Teachers— June 11, 2010
• School Start Time — June 4, 2010
• Balance Balls and Student Attention — May 28, 2010
• Student Mentoring — May 21, 2010
• Alternative Schools — May 14, 2010
• Low-Performing Schools — May 7, 2010
• Extended Learning Time — April 30, 2010
• 21st Century Skills — April 23, 2010
• Dropout Prevention Legislation — April 16, 2010
• High-School Grade Configuration — April 9, 2010
• Middle-Grades Configuration — April 2, 2010
• Music and Infant Development — March 26, 2010
• Homework and Student Achievement — March 19, 2010
• Foreign Language Technology — March 12, 2010
• Standardized Testing — March 5, 2010
• Charter Schools — February 26, 2010
• PD for Principals — February 19, 2010
• Formative Assessment — February 12, 2010
• Limited English Proficiency — February 5, 2010
• Teacher Evaluation Models— January 29, 2010

The Reference Desk, using available evidence and research, provides quick-turnaround responses to questions submitted by education stakeholders around the Northeast and Islands Region. Every Friday, REL-NEI highlights one or two questions submitted to its Reference Desk.

What Are Some Strategies to Improve Instruction for Students with Limited English Proficiency?

The Reference Desk has received a number of requests regarding the experiences of students with Limited English Proficiency (LEP) and English Language Learners (ELLs) in schools. A recent request originated from an interest in whether students in transitional bilingual programs performed better on academic assessments than did students in English as a Second Language (ESL) classrooms. Though the Reference Desk was not able to provide information to answer this specific question, researchers were able to find several research-based resources that discuss best practices for classrooms with LEP students.

Question

Do Hispanic LEP students in transitional bilingual programs or two-way programs achieve at a higher level than students in ESL programs on academic tests (e.g., literacy, math) administered in English or in Spanish?

Research Synopsis

According to Liu, et al. (1997), a Limited English Proficient (LEP) student is defined as “A student who is a linguistic minority and who, in English, performs at a level below his or her native English speaking peers. The student’s English ability makes it difficult for him or her to benefit from English-only instruction.” The What Works Clearinghouse (2007) identifies possible strategies, roadblocks, and solutions for teachers who teach students with limited English proficiency. The Practice Guide below suggests, “Some teachers may feel that the added time required by English learners may take instructional time away from other students. A benefit of peer-assisted instruction is that all students can participate.”

Publicly Available Resources

1. Effective Literacy and English Language Instruction for English Learners in the Elementary Grades: A Practice Guide. Gersten, R., Baker, S., Shanahan, T., Linan-Thompson, S., Collins, P., Scarcella, R.; 2007; Washington, DC: National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education; NCEE 2007–4011; 43 pages.
   

   From page 28: “Recommendation 5. Schedule regular peer-assisted learning opportunities: Ensure that teachers of English learners devote approximately 90 minutes a week to instructional activities in which pairs of students at different ability levels or different English language proficiencies work together on academic tasks in a structured fashion. These activities should practice and extend material already taught. Level of evidence: Strong. This recommendation is based on several high-quality experiments and quasi experiments with English learners. In addition, many peer-assisted studies also have been conducted with native-English-speaking students, and the results have consistently supported the positive impact of peer tutoring on student learning outcomes.”

2. Issues in Assessing English Language Learners: English Language Proficiency Measures and Accommodation Uses. Literature Review (Part 1 of 3). Wolf, M. K., Kao, J., Herman, J., Bachman, L. F., Bailey, A., Bachman, P. L., Farnsworth, T., & Chang, S. M.; 2008; Los Angeles, CA: National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing, Graduate School of Education & Information Studies, University of California, Los Angeles; CRESST Report 731; 67 pages.
   

   This literature review found that “extended time was found to increase the performance of both ELL and non-ELL students when used either alone or simultaneously with another accommodation,” though another study “found inconclusive results in their study of extra time and other accommodations.” From page 35: “The literature that is available, however, suggests that English glossaries are preferred over Spanish glossaries, and that English language dictionaries (and glossaries) were the only accommodation found to have a statistically significant and positive average effect size.” Also: “Six other accommodation strategies were investigated, including bilingual dictionaries and glossaries, but did not show a positive effect (Francis et al., 2006).”

3. A Review of the Literature on Students with Limited English Proficiency and Assessment. Liu, K., Thurlow M., Erickson, R., Spicuzza, R., & Heinze, K.; 1997; Minneapolis, MN: National Center on Educational Outcomes, University of Minnesota; Minnesota Report No. 11.
   

   From a the section Factors that Affect Test Results for LEP and Language Minority Students: “Another intrinsic factor that must be considered in the testing situation is a student’s second language proficiency. The idea of language proficiency is crucial to any discussion on large scale testing because any test written in English is really a test of English proficiency as well as a test of content knowledge (August et al., 1994; Lacelle-Peterson & Rivera, 1994; National Council on Measurement in Education, as cited in Lam, 1993; Navarette & Gustkee, 1996).”
   From Issues of Context and Bias in the Testing Situation: “Linguistic bias. (Navarette & Gustkee, 1996; Taylor & Lee, 1987; Wilde & Sockey, 1995). Test items that emphasize a certain style of English, rather than overall communicative ability, may be biased against students who are not familiar with that particular style of English. One example of this may be students who live in a community where a non-standard dialect of English is used but who need to use standard English on an assessment of academic content (Hoover, Politzer & Taylor, 1987; Taylor & Lee, 1987).”

The Reference Desk also found these organizations and resources to be helpful in learning more about language acquisition and language instruction:

1. National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition and Language Instruction Educational Programs

   The National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition (NCELA) collects, coordinates and conveys a broad range of research and resources in support of an inclusive approach to high-quality education for ELLs. To fulfill its mission, NCELA supports high-quality networking among state-level administrators of Title III programs.

2. Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition
   

   The Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition (CARLA) is one of the U.S. Department of Education’s Title VI National Language Resource Centers, whose role  is to improve the nation’s capacity to teach and learn foreign languages.

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