English Language Learning

This paper attempts to examine the various aspects of the discussion method of teaching at university and its role in enhancing students’ linguistic and academic skills as well as its shortcomings. In Oman, research on English language teaching at universities and colleges show that a considerable number of students who move from secondary schools and join higher education institutions would confront difficulties in using the English language to meet their personal, social, academic, and career needs efficiently and appropriately.

Districts across the country are facing severe shortages of teachers—especially in certain
subjects (math, science, special education, career and technical education and bilingual
education) and in specific schools (urban, rural, high-poverty, high-minority and low-
achieving).

The primary purpose of this study was to examine the effect of peer feedback on the quality of student writing and the amount and kind of revision behavior. Peer feedback seemed to help students write initially superior rough drafts but was not consistently linked to improvement of content between rough and final drafts. Successful surface structure editing occurred with or without peer feedback.

In this article, multiple-baseline across participants designs were used to evaluate the impact of a precision teaching (PT) program, within a Tier 2 Response to Intervention framework, targeting fluency in foundational reading skills with at risk kindergarten readers. From the outcomes of the multilevel model, PT can be considered as a promising Tier 2 intervention to increase reading fluency with individuals who are at risk of reading failure.

This book provide detailed information on how to systematically and explicitly teach essential reading skills. The procedures describe in this text have been shown to benefit all student, especially powerful with the most vulnerable learners, children who are at risk because of poverty, disability, or limited knowledge of English. 

The oral reading of 65 first-graders experiencing difficulties in beginning reading was observed during primary reading instructional time. Findings indicate most instruction for struggling readers was not aligned with recent research on preventing reading difficulties, and even struggling readers receiving reading instruction aligned with best practices are making minimal progress. 

The Proficiency Illusion reveals that the tests that states use to measure academic progress under the No Child Left Behind Act are creating a false impression of success, especially in reading and especially in the early grades.

This study compared the effects of two oral reading feedback strategies in improving the reading comprehension of eight school-age children with low reading ability. Participants were assigned to one of two intervention groups matched on age, grade, gender, and general reading performance.

Reading comprehension is a critical skill for school success. Struggling readers can benefit from computer-assisted instruction that utilizes components of effective instruction (e.g., frequent practice, immediate feedback). The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of Headsprout Comprehension, a computer-assisted reading program, on the reading comprehension of six elementary students with high-incidence disabilities (i.e., learning disabilities, emotional disturbance, and other health impairment–attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (OHI-ADHD).

Cover, copy, compare (CCC) has been used with success to improve spelling skills. This study adds to existing research by completing an analysis of the rewriting component of the intervention. The impact of varying the number of times a subject copied a word following an error was examined with four elementary age students.

The effects of prompting and modeling feedback strategies were compared on the sight word reading performance of 2nd and 4th/5th grade students labeled learning disabled using a multielement design. All eight participants read more modeled than prompted words during training and at one month follow-up.

This meta-analysis examines how shared book reading impacts the English language and literacy skills of young children. The study finds a significant positive effect of using shared reading on English learner academic outcomes.

The first portion of this article describes the development and validation of a classroom observation measure. The goal of the measure was to assess the quality of reading instruction provided to first-grade English learners.

Four second-grade boys, 2 rated by their classroom teacher as below average and 2 as above average in basic language skills, participated in a 16-week spelling investigation. 

This paper provides students with an opportunity to improve their reading comprehension and text-based discussion skills. The activity, which can be used with intermediate and advanced learners, is ideal for English language learners in content classes and is particularly useful for building foundational knowledge of a new topic.

Where, when, and how we teach reading says more about us than it does the students. Explicitly teaching and leveraging the science allows us to overcome our blind spots, assumptions, and biases which impact every aspect of instruction. In doing so, we save us from ourselves and avoid a permanent underclass filling our correctional institutions as prisoners of the ‘reading wars.’

This study examines the implementation of Leveled Literacy Intervention (LLI) for struggling readers that had been proven to work in early grades. The findings highlight the importance of considering context and implementation, in addition to evidence of effectiveness, when choosing an intervention program. Not only do schools need to adopt programs supported by evidence, but equally educators need to implement them consistently and effectively if students are to truly benefit from an intervention.

In order to meet writing objectives specified in the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), many teachers need to make significant changes in how writing is taught. While CCSS identified what students need to master, it did not provide guidance on how teachers are to meet these writing benchmarks.

This review examines the treatment integrity data of literacy interventions for students with emotional and/or behavioral disorders (EBD). Findings indicate that studies focusing on literacy interventions for students with EBD included clear operational definitions and data on treatment integrity to a higher degree than have been found in other disciplines.

This report and podcast examines the scientific basis for how to teach reading to children. This investigation reveals how children learn to read, emphasizing the five critical components of reading instruction. 

This paper will explain Round Tables, a practical, engaging alternative to the traditional classroom presentation. Round Tables are small groups of students, with each student given a specific speaking role to perform.

We examined 24 studies to determine the effects on word recognition and reading comprehension of correcting errors during oral reading. Corrective feedback improved students' word reading accuracy on words in lists, and accuracy in reading words in passages. Some correction procedures had greater benefits than others.

In 2017, the percentages of eighth-grade students who performed at or above the Proficient level were higher for several student groups in comparison to 2015. For example, the percentages of Black and Hispanic eighth-grade students who performed at or above the Proficient level on the reading assessment were higher in 2017 compared to 2015. The percentages of students who performed at or above Proficient were also higher for male and female students, students attending public schools, as well as for eighth-graders attending schools in suburban locations. Compared to 2015, there were no significant changes in the percentages of students performing at or above the Basic level for any reported student group.

In this review, we explore the extent to which researchers evaluating the efficacy of Tier 2 elementary reading interventions within the framework of Response to Intervention reported on fidelity of implementation and alignment of instruction between tiers. However, researchers frequently neglect to report on fidelity of intervention in Tier 1, potentially limiting claims that can be made about the efficacy of subsequent Tier 2 intervention.

This special issue addresses a general question that is at the heart of much research in applied linguistics and second language acquisition (SLA): What makes a second or foreign language (L2) user, or a native speaker for that matter, a more or less proficient language user?

This study examined whether a personalized, adaptive blended learning approach can support reading development in ELs and non-ELs. 

The purpose of this study was to examine the special education referral and decision making process for English language learners, with a focus on Child Study Team meetings and placement conferences/multidisciplinary team meetings. We wished to learn how school personnel determined if ELLs who were struggling had disabilities, to what extent those involved in the process understood second language acquisition, and whether language issues were considered when determining special education eligibility.

Introduced in the early 1970s, repeated reading has a history of helping students build oral reading fluency spanning almost 40 years. Participants in original repeated reading studies had to meet specific reading rates (i.e., fluency criteria) before considering a passage complete.

To measure retention of oral reading fluency, three students attending a learning support classroom used a repeating reading strategy with two passages. Each student read one passage to a high performance standard and the other passage to a lower performance standard. Results show it took the students more practice to reach the higher performance standard in regards to both calendar days and practice trials.

what does it mean to take a scientific approach to instructional productivity? This chapter hopes to contribute to that discussion by examining the role scientific assessment can play in enhancing educational productivity.

Headsprout Reading Basics is a highly effective, balanced, and phonics-based reading program that teaches the skills and strategies necessary to sound out as well as read words. Phonemic awareness instruction is integrated throughout many of the Headsprout Reading Basics' teaching routines.

Sitting in our schools right now is one of the most powerful levers we have for deepening equity: teacher teams focused on developing collective expertise in high-leverage, equity promoting practices. One conversation at a time, teams like the one in the vignette above, a composite of teams we have observed over time, chip away at low expectations, racism, and cultural biases that have marginalized special education students, English language learners, students of color, and others who have not traditionally been served well by schools.

This study evaluated the effects of a fluency-based reading program with 15 second and third grade students and 15 matched controls. Gains in oral reading fluency on untrained CBM probes were evaluated using a matched-pairs group-comparison design, whereas immediate and two-day retention gains in oral reading fluency on trained passages were evaluated using an adapted changing criterion design.

The effects of a cloze procedure developed from transfer feature theory of processing in reading on immediate and delayed recall of good and poor readers were studied

The nation’s English-learner population has surged: 3 Things to know

This report present the panel’s conclusions, an indication of the readiness for application in the classroom of the results of this research, and, if appropriate, a strategy for rapidly disseminating this information to facilitate effective reading instruction in the schools.

This article provide a chart of lists the percentages of fourth-grade students performing at each of the reading achievement levels in 2017.

The number of English language learners (ELL) students in the US is increasing dramatically. Teachers were interviewed regarding their perceptions of their preparedness to teach English language learners in the mainstream classrooms. Findings revealed that teacher training programs have not prepared these individuals for the student population they face today regardless of the year in which they received their teaching licenses.

In 2017, the percentages of fourth-grade students who performed at or above Basic and at or above Proficient in reading were not significantly different for most student groups compared to 2015. In comparison to 2015, the percentages of students who performed at or above the Basic level were lower for students eligible and not eligible for the National School Lunch Program, and for students attending schools in the south region.

The authors examined the implementation of a blended learning program for literacy instruction across kindergarten through Grade 5 in a Title I urban elementary school, including a population of students (18%) who are English learners.

The first step in solving a problem is seeing it clearly. This article, part one of an ongoing series, defines the broad scope and depth of the literacy crisis in the United States, among both children and adults.

This third edition of Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching is an extensive revision of the popular and accessible text. Like previous editions, this book surveys the major approaches and methods in language teaching such as Grammar Translation, Audiolingualism, Communicative Language Teaching, and the Natural Approach. 

Reading is a crucial skill for students to develop, not only as they enter school but also as they continue throughout K-12 education. Computer-assisted instruction (CAI) is one means of providing supplemental support for students to build the foundational key areas of reading—so they can use reading to learn in later schooling years.

This study investigated the effectiveness and efficiency of a 4-second time delay instructional package and language of instruction with regard to the percentage correct of English sight words and incidental information by 4 Puerto Rican middle school students with mental retardation.

Recently, the term science of reading has been used in public debate to promote policies and instructional practices based on research on the basic cognitive mechanisms of reading, the neural processes involved in reading, computational models of learning to read, and the like. According to those views, such data provide convincing evidence that explicit decoding instruction (e.g., phonological awareness, phonics) should be beneficial to reading success.

In this strategy guide, you will learn how to organize students and classroom topics to encourage a high degree of classroom participation and assist students in developing a conceptual understanding of a topic through the use of the Think-Pair-Share technique.

The effects of two error-correction procedures on oral reading errors and a control condition were compared in an alternating treatments design with three students who were moderately mentally retarded. The two procedures evaluated were word supply and sentence repeat.

This study highlights the progress made over the past 30 years in delivering the evidence that education practitioners need to make informed decisions. His conclusions are based on three studies: Effective Programs for Struggling Readers: A Best-Evidence Synthesis; A Synthesis of Quantitative Research on Reading Programs for Secondary Students; and Effective Programs in Elementary Mathematics: A Best-Evidence Synthesis. The research found that the number of rigorous randomized or quasi-experimental studies in elementary reading for struggling readers, secondary reading, and elementary math rose significantly over the past 20 years. 

Two experiments were conducted in which two ways of dealing with reading mistakes by beginning readers were systematically examined. In one condition (whole word), the whole correct word sound was provided when a reading error was made or when the pupil did not read the word within a certain time limit. In another condition (segmented feedback, the correct word sound was produced phoneme-by-phoneme when a reading error or an omission occurred.

Recent media reports of teacher shortages across the country are confirmed by the analysis
of several national datasets reported in this brief. Shortages are particularly severe in
special education, mathematics, science, and bilingual/English learner education, and in
locations with lower wages and poorer working conditions.

A synthesis and meta-analysis of the extant research on the effects of reading interventions delivered using social studies content for students with learning disabilities in kindergarten through Grade 12 is provided.

For many decades, teacher educators were divided into two camps: those who favored whole language, characterized by the idea that reading is a natural process gained through exposure to authentic texts, and those who believed in systematic phonics instruction, which is the explicit teaching of sound-letter relationships.

In this quasi-experimental study, 608 fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-grade students explored 5 historical investigations. In the experimental condition, teachers used a cognitive apprenticeship model to teach students historical reading and writing strategies. Comparison teachers used the same materials to deliver a business-as-usual form of instruction.

Determining what elementary teacher candidates need to know to effectively teach reading will aid in how preparation programs prepare future teachers. To understand state legislation targeting early reading instruction, this study compared the tenets of structured literacy, the reading method used in dyslexia programs, to scientific reading instruction.