Research Spotlight

In many areas of the US, schools are struggling to find the best approach to teaching English language learners. As of 2005 there were about 5 million English-language learner (ELL) students in the US.

Spanish is by far the most common native language of ELLs, at 75 to 80 percent. Five different Asian languages, Russian and Arabic are in the top 10 but represent far fewer students. The number of native Spanish speakers arriving in schools is a strain for teachers who do not understand Spanish and have not been trained in teaching English as a foreign language (EFL).

Not surprisingly, academic performance for ELL students lags behind their native English speaking peers. On one 2007 national assessment, fourth-grade ELLs scored 36 points below native speakers in reading and 25 points below them in math. The gaps among eighth graders were even larger. Since the tests are in English, it is impossible to know whether the grades lagged behind due to poor understanding and skills, or because of their limited English proficiency.

La Lecon Dificile

What is the best approach for teaching these children? Should they be taught in English only, or should their education include some Spanish-language support or instruction? And if so, for how many years? The answers are not clear, and researchers are still investigating the many variables that make this such a complicated issue, such as age, literacy in the native language, similarity of English to the native language, parents’ English competence, and how these variables contribute to English language learning and overall academic success.

There is more controversy than consensus. A recent article in American Educator by Claude Goldenberg of Stanford University reviews the findings of two major reports completed in 2006, both of which seem to say that no one approach fits all. Both reports attempt to find the best, most documentable approach to improving ELLs’ success in school. The National Literacy Panel study cataloged local outcomes for children and youth ages 3-18 around the world and took three years. The Center for Research on Education, Diversity and Excellence (CREDE) report searched for empirical research reports on language minority students in the US from Pre-K to high school and took two years.

The key conclusions were few. The most surprising of them is that teaching literacy in the native language tends to enhance literacy and fluency in English. This happens because of the transferability of concepts. For example, understanding nouns in one’s own language, makes it easier to understand what nouns are in another. After 2-3 years of first- and second-language reading instruction, the average student can expect to score 12-15 points higher than the average student who receives only second language reading instruction. All five Spanish-English studies on which the NLP reported found positive effects of bilingual education on students’ reading achievement on various measures of reading in English.

Another key conclusion was less surprising – good instruction is good instruction. English language learners tend to do better, whether instruction is in English or the native language, when goals are clear, context is meaningful, content is rich and students are engaged. When learning to read, both native and non-native English speakers benefit from having ample opportunities for repetition and use of words, such as hearing stories read aloud and reading about things that were interesting to them.

A third key finding was that some of the comprehension strategy instruction that teachers employ to increase reading comprehension among native speakers were ineffective for ELLs. ELLs understood more from simplified text. Unfortunately, the “double whammy” for these students is that they are not only learning English – they are at the same time learning science, math and social studies in English. Teachers cannot, and should not, provided simplified text in every subject.

Some possible approaches:

• Reading about unfamiliar content in an unfamiliar language is doubly hard. Reading teachers can seek out text about topics familiar to their ELLs.
• Teachers can try building vocabulary in a variety of ways, such as showing pictures of objects as well as explaining what they are (in English).
• Classroom aides or volunteers and peers can provide support in the native language, perhaps using the “preview review” method – translation of key concepts before the lesson starts, followed by review of the new content with the ELL student.
• Teachers can assess knowledge and language separately to ascertain, for example, whether the child cannot recognize rhyming words, or whether she does not know any words in English to make the required rhyme.
• A longer school day may be required, since the ELL student is learning, in essence, one more subject than the native speakers.

Some schools have taken EFL teaching to the next level, making it truly bilingual for both ELLs and native English speakers. This takes language learning to another level, and not all districts have the resources to accomplish it. The opposite argument also applies – that having a large percentage of the population unprepared for skilled work is also very expensive.

Another wrinkle is that although the vast majority of ELLs in the schools are native Spanish speakers, there are hundreds of native languages among US residents, with different alphabets and writing systems. One advantage to the status quo is that Spanish is relatively similar to English.

You may wish to consult:

Barnett, WS, Yarosz, D, Thomas, J, Jung, K and Blanco, D (2007) “Two-way and Monolingual English Immersion in Preschool Education: An Experimental Comparison. Early Childhood Research Quarterly 22, 277-293.

Goldenberg, C (2008) “Teaching English Language Learners: What the Research Does – and Does Not—Say" American Educator, Summer 2008 (PDF)

The National Clearinghouse for Language Acquisition and Language Instruction Educational Programs, affiliated with the US Department of Education