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Language Learners (language + learner)
Kinds of Language Learners Selected AbstractsReconceptualizing Language, Language Learning, and the Adolescent Immigrant Language Learner in the Age of Postmodern GlobalizationLINGUISTICS & LANGUAGE COMPASS (ELECTRONIC), Issue 9 2010Peter I. De Costa The massive shift in migration patterns brought about by globalization has heavily impacted the language learning experience of adolescent immigrant learners. Given these changes wrought by globalization, this paper argues for a reconceptualization of language, language learning, and the adolescent immigrant language learner. In line with poststructural concerns that have framed recent SLA research on immigrant learners, particular emphasis is given to how a Bourdieusian framework offers constructs to better understand globalized linguistic flows. Such a framework, which views language as a form of capital, allows for a better understanding the consequences of globalization and the commodification of languages. Relatedly, to recognize the linguistic resources available to immigrant learners in the twenty-first century, the paper calls for a reconstitution of language along ideological, semiotic, and performative lines as well as a reframing of language learning through an ideology and identity lens. As a result of this linguistic reconceptualization, globalized adolescent immigrant language learners should be viewed as social actors who possess and are in the process of developing symbolic competence (cf. Kramsch and Whiteside 2007, 2008; Kramsch 2009). [source] Classification System for English Language Learners: Issues and RecommendationsEDUCATIONAL MEASUREMENT: ISSUES AND PRACTICE, Issue 3 2008Jamal Abedi High-stakes decisions for the instruction and assessment of English language learner (ELL) students are made based on the premise that ELL classification is a valid dichotomy that distinguishes between those who are proficient in the use of the English language and those who are not. However, recent research findings draw a vague picture of the term "ELL" and call for a more valid classification system for ELL students. Thus, the purpose of this paper is twofold: (1) to reveal issues concerning the validity of the current ELL classification system based on the results of several empirical studies, and (2) to initiate a discussion on ways to improve the validity of the ELL classification system by proposing a system that uses existing multiple criteria in a stepwise manner. While the suggested system has its own limitations and controversies, we hope this discussion stimulates thoughts and brings much needed attention to this very important national issue. [source] At-Risk Second Language Learners: Problems, Solutions, and ChallengesFOREIGN LANGUAGE ANNALS, Issue 1 2009Richard Sparks Guest Editor No abstract is available for this article. [source] Working Toward Shared Visions of Successful Language LearnersFOREIGN LANGUAGE ANNALS, Issue 1 2009Dolly Jesusita Young Guest Editor No abstract is available for this article. [source] Language Learning Strategy Use of Bilingual Foreign Language Learners in SingaporeLANGUAGE LEARNING, Issue 2 2000Glenn Wharton This study, using Oxford's 80-item Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL), examines the self-reported language learning strategy use of 678 university students learning Japanese and French as foreign languages in Singapore. The study differs from previous SILL studies in that the participants were bilingual from a multicultural setting, and the use of all 80 strategies was examined. Relationships between background variables and overall strategyuse were investigated using ANOVA. Results were significant for motivation, self-rated proficiency, and language studied, with motivation significantly interacting with language studied. The use of each strategy by proficiency and also by gender was investigated using chi-square. Results showed more learning strategy use among learners with higher proficiency and, unexpectedly, more strategies used significantly more often by men. [source] How Can We Improve the Accuracy of Screening Instruments?LEARNING DISABILITIES RESEARCH & PRACTICE, Issue 4 2009Evelyn S. Johnson Screening for early reading problems is a critical step in early intervention and prevention of later reading difficulties. Evaluative frameworks for determining the utility of a screening process are presented in the literature but have not been applied to many screening measures currently in use in numerous schools across the nation. In this study, the accuracy of several Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) subtests in predicting which students were at risk for reading failure in first grade was examined in a sample of 12,055 students in Florida. Findings indicate that the DIBELS Nonsense Word Fluency, Initial Sound Fluency, and Phoneme Segmentation Fluency measures show poor diagnostic utility in predicting end of Grade 1 reading performance. DIBELS Oral Reading Fluency in fall of Grade 1 had higher classification accuracy than other DIBELS measures, but when compared to the classification accuracy obtained by assuming that no student had a disability, suggests the need to reevaluate the use of classification accuracy as a way to evaluate screening measures without discussion of base rates. Additionally, when cut scores on the screening tools were set to capture 90 percent of all students at risk for reading problems, a high number of false positives were identified. Finally, different cut scores were needed for different subgroups, such as English Language Learners. Implications for research and practice are discussed. [source] Identifying English Language Learners with Learning Disabilities: Key Challenges and Possible ApproachesLEARNING DISABILITIES RESEARCH & PRACTICE, Issue 1 2005Richard K. Wagner The need for effective approaches for identifying English language learners with learning disabilities is great and growing. Meeting this need is complicated by recent developments in the field of learning disabilities that are unrelated to the English language learning status, and by limitations in existing knowledge specific to the identification of English language learners with learning disabilities. We review recent developments in the field of learning disabilities concerning the need for earlier identification, the need for a more appropriate conceptualization of learning disability, and the need for more effective assessments and treatments. We discuss challenges to assessment and identification of English language learners with learning disabilities, provide examples of two approaches to meeting these challenges, and describe some remaining challenges. [source] Subject-Matter Content: How Does It Assist the Interactional and Linguistic Needs of Classroom Language Learners?MODERN LANGUAGE JOURNAL, Issue 1 2002Teresa Pica This study focused on the role of subject-matter content in second language (L2) learning. It sought to identify ways in which teachers modified classroom interaction about subject-matter content in order to assist the input, feedback, and production needs of L2 learners, and to promote their attention to developmentally difficult relationships of L2 form and meaning that they had not fully acquired. Data were collected from 6 preacademic English L2 classes whose content consisted of thematic units on film and literature. Each class was composed of 10,15 high intermediate English L2 students and their teachers. Analysis of the data focused on teacher-led discussions, because these were the predominant mode of interaction in each of the classes, and on form-meaning relationships encoded in noun and verb forms for purposes such as reference, retelling, argument, and speculation regarding film and literary content. Results of the study revealed numerous contexts in which the discussion interaction might have been modified for the kinds of input, feedback, or production that could draw students' attention to developmentally difficult form-meaning relationships. However, there were relatively few instances in which this actually occurred. Instead, the teachers and students tended to exchange multiutterance texts, the comprehensibility of which provided little basis for modified interaction and attention to form and meaning. [source] Does input influence uptake?DEVELOPMENTAL SCIENCE, Issue 6 2008Links between maternal talk, processing speed, vocabulary size in Spanish-learning children It is well established that variation in caregivers' speech is associated with language outcomes, yet little is known about the learning principles that mediate these effects. This longitudinal study (n = 27) explores whether Spanish-learning children's early experiences with language predict efficiency in real-time comprehension and vocabulary learning. Measures of mothers' speech at 18 months were examined in relation to children's speech processing efficiency and reported vocabulary at 18 and 24 months. Children of mothers who provided more input at 18 months knew more words and were faster in word recognition at 24 months. Moreover, multiple regression analyses indicated that the influences of caregiver speech on speed of word recognition and vocabulary were largely overlapping. This study provides the first evidence that input shapes children's lexical processing efficiency and that vocabulary growth and increasing facility in spoken word comprehension work together to support the uptake of the information that rich input affords the young language learner. [source] Twenty-two-month-olds discriminate fluent from disfluent adult-directed speechDEVELOPMENTAL SCIENCE, Issue 5 2007Melanie Soderstrom Deviation of real speech from grammatical ideals due to disfluency and other speech errors presents potentially serious problems for the language learner. While infants may initially benefit from attending primarily or solely to infant-directed speech, which contains few grammatical errors, older infants may listen more to adult-directed speech. In a first experiment, Post-verbal infants preferred fluent speech to disfluent speech, while Pre-verbal infants showed no preference. In a second experiment, Post-verbal infants discriminated disfluent and fluent speech even when lexical information was removed, showing that they make use of prosodic properties of the speech stream to detect disfluency. Because disfluencies are highly correlated with grammatical errors, this sensitivity provides infants with a means of filtering ungrammaticality from their input. [source] Classification System for English Language Learners: Issues and RecommendationsEDUCATIONAL MEASUREMENT: ISSUES AND PRACTICE, Issue 3 2008Jamal Abedi High-stakes decisions for the instruction and assessment of English language learner (ELL) students are made based on the premise that ELL classification is a valid dichotomy that distinguishes between those who are proficient in the use of the English language and those who are not. However, recent research findings draw a vague picture of the term "ELL" and call for a more valid classification system for ELL students. Thus, the purpose of this paper is twofold: (1) to reveal issues concerning the validity of the current ELL classification system based on the results of several empirical studies, and (2) to initiate a discussion on ways to improve the validity of the ELL classification system by proposing a system that uses existing multiple criteria in a stepwise manner. While the suggested system has its own limitations and controversies, we hope this discussion stimulates thoughts and brings much needed attention to this very important national issue. [source] Reconceptualizing Language, Language Learning, and the Adolescent Immigrant Language Learner in the Age of Postmodern GlobalizationLINGUISTICS & LANGUAGE COMPASS (ELECTRONIC), Issue 9 2010Peter I. De Costa The massive shift in migration patterns brought about by globalization has heavily impacted the language learning experience of adolescent immigrant learners. Given these changes wrought by globalization, this paper argues for a reconceptualization of language, language learning, and the adolescent immigrant language learner. In line with poststructural concerns that have framed recent SLA research on immigrant learners, particular emphasis is given to how a Bourdieusian framework offers constructs to better understand globalized linguistic flows. Such a framework, which views language as a form of capital, allows for a better understanding the consequences of globalization and the commodification of languages. Relatedly, to recognize the linguistic resources available to immigrant learners in the twenty-first century, the paper calls for a reconstitution of language along ideological, semiotic, and performative lines as well as a reframing of language learning through an ideology and identity lens. As a result of this linguistic reconceptualization, globalized adolescent immigrant language learners should be viewed as social actors who possess and are in the process of developing symbolic competence (cf. Kramsch and Whiteside 2007, 2008; Kramsch 2009). [source] Strategy Use by Nonnative English-Speaking Students in an MBA Program: Not Business as Usual!MODERN LANGUAGE JOURNAL, Issue 3 2004Susan Parks Despite the long-standing interest in strategy use and language learning, little attention has been given to how social context may constrain or facilitate this use or the development of new strategies. Drawing on data from a longitudinal qualitative study, we discuss this issue in relation to the experiences of Chinese students from the People's Republic of China, who, following study in English for Academic Purposes courses, registered in a Masters in Business Administration program in a Canadian university. Specifically, we focus on how the contact with the native-English-speaking Canadian students mediated the Chinese students' strategy use in 3 domains: reading, class lectures, and team work. In contrast to the rather simplistic notion evoked in certain portrayals of the good language learner, strategy use as reported herein emerges as a complex, socially situated phenomenon, bound up with issues related to personal identity (Leki, 2001; Norton, 1997, 2000; Spack, 1997). [source] Factors Affecting How Second Language Spanish Students Derive Meaning from ContextMODERN LANGUAGE JOURNAL, Issue 2 2003Diana Frantzen Although first language (L1) and second language (L2) research has indicated that the meanings of unknown words can be derived from the contexts in which they occur, research has also found limitations to the value of context. Using data gathered in a classroom experiment on L2 vocabulary acquisition (Frantzen, 1998), the present study sought to determine some of the reasons why the context in which a word appears does not always lead a language learner to an accurate interpretation of its meaning. It expands the existing research by using a natural, intact, unmanipulated text as the context (an aspect underrepresented in current L2 word inferencing literature). Analysis of the students' answers, their self,reported guessing strategies, the contexts in which the words appeared, and the text's glossing revealed that the "blame" for the incorrect answers may be placed on: (a) the context itself, (b) the students' behavior, and in a minor way (c) the story's glossing. Numerous patterns are presented and discussed in light of other L1 and L2 research and new patterns are reported. [source] Derivational Morphological Analysis as a Strategy for Vocabulary Acquisition in SpanishMODERN LANGUAGE JOURNAL, Issue 2 2003Regina Morin Although first language (L1) and second language (L2) research has indicated that the meanings of unknown words can be derived from the contexts in which they occur, research has also found limitations to the value of context. Using data gathered in a classroom experiment on L2 vocabulary acquisition (Frantzen, 1998), the present study sought to determine some of the reasons why the context in which a word appears does not always lead a language learner to an accurate interpretation of its meaning. It expands the existing research by using a natural, intact, unmanipulated text as the context (an aspect underrepresented in current L2 word inferencing literature). Analysis of the students' answers, their self,reported guessing strategies, the contexts in which the words appeared, and the text's glossing revealed that the "blame" for the incorrect answers may be placed on: (a) the context itself, (b) the students' behavior, and in a minor way (c) the story's glossing. Numerous patterns are presented and discussed in light of other L1 and L2 research and new patterns are reported. [source] Statistical models of syntax learning and useCOGNITIVE SCIENCE - A MULTIDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL, Issue 3 2002Mark Johnson Abstract This paper shows how to define probability distributions over linguistically realistic syntactic structures in a way that permits us to define language learning and language comprehension as statistical problems. We demonstrate our approach using lexical-functional grammar (LFG), but our approach generalizes to virtually any linguistic theory. Our probabilistic models are maximum entropy models. In this paper we concentrate on statistical inference procedures for learning the parameters that define these probability distributions. We point out some of the practical problems that make straightforward ways of estimating these distributions infeasible, and develop a "pseudo-likelihood" estimation procedure that overcomes some of these problems. This method raises interesting questions concerning the nature of the data available to a language learner and the modularity of language learning and processing. [source] The language-specific nature of grammatical development: evidence from bilingual language learnersDEVELOPMENTAL SCIENCE, Issue 2 2004Virginia A. Marchman The fact that early lexical and grammatical acquisition are strongly correlated has been cited as evidence against the view that the language faculty is composed of dissociable and autonomous modules (Bates & Goodman, 1997). However, previous studies have not yet eliminated the possibility that lexical,grammar associations may be attributable to language-general individual differences (e.g. children who are good at learning words are good at learning grammar). Parent report assessments of toddlers who are simultaneously learning English and Spanish (n = 113) allow an examination of the specificity of lexical,grammar relationships while holding child factors constant. Within-language vocabulary,grammar associations were stronger than cross-language relationships, even after controlling for age, proportion of language exposure, general language skill and reporter bias. Similar patterns were found based on naturalistic language samples (n = 22), ruling out a methodological artifact. These results are consistent with the view that grammar learning is specifically tied to lexical progress in a given language and provide further support for strong lexical,grammatical continuity early in acquisition. [source] Shifting ontological boundaries: how Japanese- and English-speaking children generalize names for animals and artifactsDEVELOPMENTAL SCIENCE, Issue 1 2003Hanako Yoshida Past research shows that young language learners know something about the different category organizations of animals, objects and substances. The three experiments reported here compare Japanese-speaking and English-speaking children's novel name generalizations for two kinds of objects: clear instances of artifacts and objects with ambiguous features suggestive of animates. This comparison was motivated by the very different nature of individuation in the two languages and by the boundary shift hypothesis that proposes that entities that straddle the individuation boundary of a language are assimilated toward the individuated side. The results of the three experiments support the hypothesis. An explanation in terms of mutually reinforcing correlations among language, perceptual properties and category structure is proposed. [source] Inclusive Achievement Testing for Linguistically and Culturally Diverse Test Takers: Essential Considerations for Test Developers and Decision MakersEDUCATIONAL MEASUREMENT: ISSUES AND PRACTICE, Issue 1 2009Shelley B. Fairbairn Substantial growth in the numbers of English language learners (ELLs) in the United States and Canada in recent years has significantly affected the educational systems of both countries. This article focuses on critical issues and concerns related to the assessment of ELLs in U.S. and Canadian schools and emphasizes assessment approaches for test developers and decision makers that will facilitate increased equity, meaningfulness, and accuracy in assessment and accountability efforts. It begins by examining the crucial issue of defining ELLs as a group. Next, it examines the impact of testing originating from the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) in the U.S. and government-mandated standards-driven testing in Canada by briefly describing each country's respective legislated testing requirements and outlining their consequences at several levels. Finally, the authors identify key points that test developers and decision makers in both contexts should consider in testing this ever-increasing group of students. [source] Do Proper Accommodation Assignments Make a Difference?EDUCATIONAL MEASUREMENT: ISSUES AND PRACTICE, Issue 3 2007Examining the Impact of Improved Decision Making on Scores for English Language Learners Does it matter if students are appropriately assigned to test accommodations? Using a randomized method, this study found that individual students assigned accommodations keyed to their particular needs were significantly more efficacious for English language learners (ELLs) and that little difference was reported between students receiving incomplete or not recommended accommodations and no accommodations whatsoever. A sample of third and fourth grade ELLs in South Carolina (N = 272) were randomly assigned to various types of test accommodations on a mathematics assessment. Results indicated that those students who received the appropriate test accommodations, as recommended by a version of a computerized accommodation taxonomy for ELLs (the selection taxonomy for English language learners accommodations; STELLA), had significantly higher test scores than ELLs who received no accommodations or those who received incomplete or not recommended accommodation packages. Additionally, students who were given no test accommodations scored no differently than those students that received accommodation packages that were incomplete or not recommended, given the students' particular needs and challenges. These findings are important in light of research and anecdotal reports that suggest a general lack of systematicity in the current system of assigning accommodations and a tendency to give all available accommodations regardless of individual child characteristics. The results also have important implications for how future accommodation research should be structured to determine the benefits of particular accommodations and accommodation packages. This study would suggest that control and treatment groups should be assembled based on specific student needs in order for direct comparisons to be made. [source] Cultures and Comparisons: Strategies for LearnersFOREIGN LANGUAGE ANNALS, Issue 3 2005Sandra J. Savignon Abstract: This article suggests a set of strategies for developing the sociocultural competence of language learners. These strategies extend the notion of coping strategies, or strategic competence (Savignon, 1972, 1983, 1997), to include the intercultural dimension articulated in current goals for U.S. world language education. Adopting the integrative, communicative perspective of language development reflected in the Standards for Foreign Language Learning in the 21st Century (National Standards, 1999), this article offers classroom strategies for teaching and learning with particular reference to the goal areas of "cultures" and "comparisons." This proposal is grounded in a theory of language inseparable from culture,one that views ability in both a first language (L1) and subsequent languages as the result of socialization and the language classroom as a site of exploration in the development of communicative competence. Suggestions for classroom implementation of strategy training are supported by classroom research (Savignon & Sysoyev, 2002). [source] Exploring the Uses and Usefulness of ACTFL Oral Proficiency Ratings and Standards in College Foreign Language DepartmentsFOREIGN LANGUAGE ANNALS, Issue 4 2003John M. Norris PhD In particular, college foreign language departments have increasingly adopted oral proficiency ratings as a way of establishing standards for language or graduation requirements. In the study reported here, the authors explored the intended uses of proficiency-based standards in foreign language departments and reviewed the research on which specific ACTFL-level standards are based. They then examined the results of more than 100 SOPIs administered across all levels of instruction within one German foreign language department. The findings suggest that recommended proficiency standards may underestimate the potential and actual achievements of German language learners and miss other valued learning outcomes. The implications of these findings for the valid use of oral proficiency ratings in collegiate settings are discussed. [source] On the Background and Motivation of Students in a Beginning Spanish ProgramFOREIGN LANGUAGE ANNALS, Issue 5 2002Article first published online: 9 SEP 2010, Paul B. Mandell ABSTRACT: A number of recent articles have examined the motivation, purpose of study, and demographics of first- and second-year language learners of French or Spanish (see, e.g., Ossipov, 2000; Rava, 2000; Voght, 2000; Wen, 1997) This study surveyed the make-up of a sample of first-and second-year university-level Spanish learners at a major postsecondary institution in a city with a substantial, growing population of monolingual and bilingual Spanish speakers. The results of the survey were used to address questions about learner preparation prior to entering a four-year university course of study, preferred and desired activities in the current curriculum, and motivations for the study of Spanish. Generalizations about the nature of the typical learner in this context and the implications of the appreciation of and desire for grammar-related and communicative activities , as expressed by the respondents , in the contemporary liberal arts curriculum are discussed. [source] Modifying First-Year Textbook Dialogues along a Hymesian Model of Meaning: A Theory of In-Depth Language Processing for the L2 ClassroomFOREIGN LANGUAGE ANNALS, Issue 2 2000Lana Rings Speakers' "scripts" (established patterns of discourse) and "world" knowlege (the often culture-specific understanding of verbal and nonverbal constructs) are important features of any meaningful exchange of discourse. This article contends that foreign language learners will produce a higher level of language if they are made aware of , and given the opportunity to manipulate , such extralinguistic variables with regard to the texts they study. Whenever possible, teaching materials (e.g., textbook dialogues, autotaped or videotaped texts) should include the context-based information necessary for higher-level language processing. The author also describes a "stop-gap" teaching strategy by which students imagine and describe the full import of "decontextualized" examples of the foreign language. Finally, a tentative model for research on context-based language learning is presented. [source] Greater leftward lateralization of the inferior frontal gyrus in second language learners with higher syntactic abilitiesHUMAN BRAIN MAPPING, Issue 11 2009Arihito Nauchi Abstract There is a great individual variability for acquiring syntactic knowledge in a second language (L2). Little is, however, known if there is any anatomical basis in the brain for individual differences in syntactic acquisition. Here we examined brain structures in 95 nonnative speakers of English, including 78 high-school students and 17 adult international students. We found a significant correlation between the performance of a syntactic task and leftward lateralization of a single region in the triangular part (F3t) of the inferior frontal gyrus, which has been proposed as the grammar center. Moreover, this correlation was independent of the performance of a spelling task, age, gender, and handedness. This striking result suggests that the neural basis for syntactic abilities in L2 is independent of that for lexical knowledge in L2, further indicating that the individual differences in syntactic acquisition are related to the lateralization of the grammar center. Hum Brain Mapp, 2009. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Private speech: a study of language for thought in the collaborative interaction of language learnersINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF APPLIED LINGUISTICS, Issue 1 2004Frederick J. DiCamilla This article analyzes the speech of English-speaking college students of Spanish working in pairs to produce compositions in Spanish. Although there was considerable variability in the frequency of private speech from one dyad to another, the main goal of the study was to analyze those instances of private speech that could be clearly identified by both linguistic and paralinguistic evidence. Eight such excerpts are analyzed and discussed here. The analysis reveals that private speech of the participants facilitated two fundamental cognitive operations: focusing of attention and the creation of psychological distance. That is, private speech enabled the participants to concentrate on the task at crucial moments and to distance themselves from the problems they encountered, thereby achieving a perspective that in turn helped them to gain control in the performance of the task. It is argued that private speech that occurs in a social context can be identified and analyzed, and ultimately distinguished from social speech. [source] Sex differences in L2 vocabulary learning strategiesINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF APPLIED LINGUISTICS, Issue 1 2003Rosa María Jiménez Catalán This article reports the results of a descriptive study on sex differences in the use of a second language. A questionnaire was administered to 581 Spanish-speaking students learning Basque and English as L2 (279 males and 302 females) in order to answer these questions: Do male and female second language learners differ in (1) the number and (2) the range of vocabulary strategies they use? The results show that they differ significantly in the number of strategies used. Regarding the range of vocabulary strategies, 8 out of the 10 most frequent strategies are shared by males and females. However, a close analysis of the data also reveals differences, such as females' greater use of formal rule strategies, input elicitation strategies, rehearsal strategies and planning strategies, and males' greater use of image vocabulary learning strategies. In addition, the females' total strategy usage percentages are higher than the males', which points to either different perceptions of vocabulary learning behaviors or different patterns of vocabulary strategy usage for males and females. [source] Development of a cross-platform ubiquitous language learning service via mobile phone and interactive television,JOURNAL OF COMPUTER ASSISTED LEARNING, Issue 4 2007S. Fallahkhair Abstract This paper describes the development processes for a cross-platform ubiquitous language learning service via interactive television (iTV) and mobile phone. Adapting a learner-centred design methodology, a number of requirements were gathered from multiple sources that were subsequently used in TAMALLE (television and mobile phone assisted language learning environment) development. A number of issues that arise in the context of cross-platform user interface design and architecture for ubiquitous language learning were tackled. Finally, we discuss a multi-method evaluation regime to gauge usability, perceived usefulness and desirability of TAMALLE system. The result broadly revealed an overall positive response from language learners. Although, there were some reported difficulties in reading text and on-screen display mainly on the iTV side of the interface, TAMALLE was perceived to be a usable, useful and desirable tool to support informal language learning and also for gaining new contextual and cultural knowledge. [source] Relationship between L1 and L2 word-level reading and phonological processing in adults learning English as a second languageJOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN READING, Issue 4 2007Gina L. Harrison Word-level reading and phonological processing measures were administered in English and Chinese to adult ESL students whose first language (L1) was Mandarin and whose second language (L2) was English. Instructors also identified students who may be at risk for L2 reading difficulties based on specific identification criteria. L2 phonological processing measures were related to L2 word-level reading and there was a cross-linguistic relationship between L1 and L2 phonological processing measures. Students considered at risk for L2 reading difficulties also differed significantly from those students not at risk on one L1 and several L2 phonological processing measures. Results are discussed in relation to contemporary theory on the assessment and identification of reading difficulties in English language learners. [source] Effects of fidelity of implementation on science achievement gains among english language learnersJOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN SCIENCE TEACHING, Issue 7 2009Okhee Lee Abstract This study examined the effect of fidelity of implementation (FOI) on the science achievement gains of third grade students broadly and students with limited literacy in English specifically. The study was conducted in the context of a professional development intervention with elementary school teachers to promote science achievement of ELL students in urban schools. As the criterion for measuring FOI, we focused on the quality of instructional delivery in teaching science to ELL students. We measured FOI using both teachers' self-reports and classroom observations during the first year of the intervention. Science achievement was measured by a pretest and posttest over the school year. The results indicate that none of the measures of FOI using teachers' self-reports or classroom observations had significant effects on science achievement gains. The results are discussed in terms of issues about conceptualization and measurement of FOI in educational interventions. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 46: 836,859, 2009 [source] | |||||||||||||||||||