Summer Credit Recovery Impact on Newcomer English Learners

2019 ◽  
Vol 57 (4) ◽  
pp. 1757-1790
Author(s):  
Angela Johnson
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
English Learners ◽  
English Language ◽  
English Proficiency ◽  
Credit Recovery ◽  
Urban District ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Level Data ◽  
Science Classes ◽  
Recovery Program

Prior research shows that English learners (ELs) lag behind their peers in academic achievement and education attainment. The persisting gap is partly attributed to ELs’ limited exposure to academic content. This article investigates the efficacy of a summer credit recovery program aimed at expanding high school newcomer ELs’ access to academic subjects. Leveraging student-level data from a large urban district in California, I use a difference-in-differences-in-differences approach to estimate the program’s impact on high school course taking, English proficiency, and graduation. Credit recovery increased the number of math, English Language Arts, science, and social science classes taken by newcomer EL students. Effects on 4- and 5-year graduation rates are imprecisely estimated. I also find suggestive evidence for positive effects on English proficiency.

scholarly journals Writing Instruction That Makes a Difference to English Learners

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (24) ◽  
pp. 77-96
Author(s):  
Juan J. Araujo ◽  
Carol D. Wickstrom
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Language Arts ◽  
Writing Instruction ◽  
English Learners ◽  
English Language Arts ◽  
English Language ◽  
Linguistic Knowledge ◽  
High School English ◽  
Language Arts Teachers ◽  
Arts Teachers

This paper presents the actions of two high school English language arts teachers as they engage in writing instruction with adolescent English learners. Using a naturalistic, qualitative methodology we investigate the actions two high school English language arts teachers engage in to meet the needs of their students. Findings suggest that embracing the students’ resources, building on linguistic knowledge, taking time to choose the right books and activities, being explicit about writer’s workshop and accepting its frenetic pace because it meets the students’ needs, and using the act of writing as a thinking activity, were the actions that made a difference to promote student success.

scholarly journals Learning English in Catalonia

2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 56-74
Author(s):  
Irati Diert-Boté ◽  
Xavier Martin-Rubió
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
University Students ◽  
Focus Groups ◽  
Education System ◽  
English Learners ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Education ◽  
English Learning ◽  
English Language Education ◽  
Small Stories

Abstract The aim of this study is to unveil English learners’ beliefs and emotions regarding the English language education received in Catalan schools. For that purpose, data from 5 focus groups with 31 university students have been analysed through a combination of MCA and small stories analysis. The findings reveal that the participants are dissatisfied with the English language education provided, and they believe that the teachers and/or the system are to blame for their (low) level of English. In the main story analysed, boredom, demotivation, irritation and frustration are emotions attached to English learning in high school, which are also present in most of our subjects’ small stories; it is the repetition (iterativity) of small stories, beliefs and emotions across participants that leads us to the detection of a discourse of victimhood, by which students identify themselves as the victims of their English teachers and/or the education system.

scholarly journals Spanish-speaking English learners’ English language and literacy skills: The predictive role of conceptually scored vocabulary

2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jin Kyoung Hwang ◽  
Jeannette Mancilla-Martinez ◽  
Janna Brown McClain ◽  
Min Hyun Oh ◽  
Israel Flores
Keyword(s):  
Reading Comprehension ◽  
English Learners ◽  
English Language ◽  
English Proficiency ◽  
Academic English ◽  
Language And Literacy ◽  
Expressive Vocabulary ◽  
English Reading ◽  
English Reading Comprehension ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractVocabulary represents a key barrier to language and literacy development for many English learners. This study examined the relationship between Spanish-speaking English learners’ conceptually scored Spanish–English vocabulary, academic English proficiency, and English reading comprehension. Second- and fourth-grade English learners (N = 62) completed standardized conceptually scored vocabulary measures in the fall and state-administered standardized measures of academic English proficiency and English reading comprehension in the spring. Conceptually scored vocabulary measures are designed to tap knowledge of the number of known concepts, regardless of the specific language (Spanish or English) used to label the concept. Regression analyses revealed that academic English proficiency and English reading comprehension were not predicted by the conceptually scored measure of receptive vocabulary. However, both academic English proficiency and English reading comprehension were predicted by the conceptually scored measure of expressive vocabulary. In addition, the relationship between conceptually scored expressive vocabulary and English reading comprehension remained after controlling for academic English proficiency. Results underscore the utility of measures that incorporate English learners’ first and second language skills in understanding the vocabulary knowledge English learners bring to English language and literacy learning tasks.

The Teacher's Role in Effective Computer–Assisted Instruction Intervention

2011 ◽  
Vol 104 (7) ◽  
pp. 532-536
Author(s):  
David R. Snow
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Public Schools ◽  
Credit Recovery ◽  
Computer Assisted Instruction ◽  
Computer Assisted ◽  
Effective Teacher ◽  
Assisted Instruction ◽  
Recovery Program ◽  
Credit Recovery Program

In January 2006 the Billings (Montana) Public Schools adopted a computer–assisted instruction (CAI) intervention aimed at helping students recover credits that they had attempted but had not attained. I volunteered to teach the algebra component in my high school. Through the following seven semesters, I came to better understand the role of an effective teacher in a credit–recovery program that relies so heavily on CAI. This article is an effort to describe this effectiveness and the nature of success and failure in CAI interventions.

scholarly journals Predicting Time to Reclassification for English Learners: A Joint Modeling Approach

2018 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 78-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tyler H. Matta ◽  
James Soland
Keyword(s):  
Random Effects ◽  
English Learners ◽  
English Language ◽  
English Proficiency ◽  
Joint Modeling ◽  
Shared Random Effects ◽  
Prior Literature ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Discrete Time Hazard Model

The development of academic English proficiency and the time it takes to reclassify to fluent English proficient status are key issues in English learner (EL) policy. This article develops a shared random effects model (SREM) to estimate English proficiency development and time to reclassification simultaneously, treating student-specific random effects as latent covariates in the time to reclassification model. Using data from a large Arizona school district, the SREM resulted in predictions of time to reclassification that were 93% accurate compared to 85% accuracy from a conventional discrete-time hazard model used in prior literature. The findings suggest that information about English-language development is critical for accurately predicting the grade an EL will reclassify.

When Is a Student an English Learner? An Ethnographic Account of When Students and Educators Invoke the Institutional Identity “English Language Learner”

2009 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-54
Author(s):  
Leena Her
Keyword(s):  
Language Proficiency ◽  
English Learners ◽  
Limited English Proficiency ◽  
English Language ◽  
English Proficiency ◽  
Academic Failure ◽  
The United States ◽  
Language Learner ◽  
Ability Group ◽  
Popular Imagination

This article complicates the articulation of the achievement gap between native English speakers and English learners (ELs) as a problem rooted in English language proficiency. I challenge the institutional and popular imagination that 5.1 million ELs in the United States are “limited in English proficiency” and whose performance in school can be attributed to limited English proficiency. This argument is drawn from eighteen months of ethnographic fieldwork in a northern California High School where students identified as ELs were not a homogeneous-ability group with similar language needs. Yet there were occasions when educators echoed the concerns of education reformers and policy analysts by glossing the diversity of their EL population. In “explain failure events” the limited English proficiency of ELs was invoked to explain the academic failure of students and the school’s status as an underperforming school. I argue that the continued invocation and gloss of the diversity of ELs participates in the perpetuation of an ideology that ELs are a homogenous student population with similar educational needs. At best, the explanations offered by educators are partial descriptions of the situation of academic failure. I offer alternative explanations of academic failure by exploring the policy and cultural-ideological context of schooling.

A Matter of Time: Variations in High School Course-Taking by Years-as-EL Subgroup

2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 461-482 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela Johnson
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Academic Achievement ◽  
English Learners ◽  
Test Scores ◽  
Eighth Grade ◽  
Level Data ◽  
Time Variations ◽  
Substantial Heterogeneity ◽  
Academic Content

English learners (ELs) lag behind their peers in academic achievement and attainment, partly due to limited exposure to academic content. Prior studies that examine high school course-taking find significant course access gaps between ELs and non-ELs but provide little information on the relation between course-taking and time spent as an EL. This study improves upon previous research by addressing this dimension of heterogeneity and reporting detailed by-subject analyses. I use student-level data (N = 41,343) from a unique district in California with a large number of Chinese and Spanish ELs. I find substantial heterogeneity in general and advanced course-taking based on time spent as an EL. But differences disappear once eighth grade test scores are taken into consideration.

The Impact of English Learner Reclassification on High School Reading and Academic Progress

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 46-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela Johnson
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Test Scores ◽  
English Language ◽  
Standardized Test ◽  
English Learner ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
High School English ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
The Impact

This study estimates the causal impact of 8th grade English learner (EL) reclassification on high school English language arts (ELA) standardized test scores, SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test) reading, and on-track to graduate status. I apply a regression discontinuity design to rich administrative data from a large district in California. The estimated effects of eighth grade reclassification on 9th, 10th, and 11th grade ELA test scores were statistically insignificant, and I can rule out negative effects less than −0.17 SDs and positive effects larger than 0.09 SDs. The negative effect on SAT reading was fairly large, with a confidence interval of −0.27 SDs to 0.05 SDs. Estimates for on-track status in 10th and 11th grades were positive but imprecise.

scholarly journals Vietnamese EFL High School Teachers’ Self-assessment of their English Language Proficiency in Relation to the Official Assessment Test Results

EFL Journal ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Van Hoang Le ◽  
Khoi Ngoc Mai
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
High School Teachers ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
English Language ◽  
English Proficiency ◽  
School Teachers ◽  
Online Questionnaire ◽  
Self Assessment ◽  
Service Training ◽  
Spoken Interaction

The current study explored how Vietnamese EFL high school teachers self-assessed their current English proficiency. It also compared teachers’ self-ratings with the results they obtained in the Project 2010 test, which was  used to assess English level of EFL teachers across Vietnam as part of the implementation of the National Foreign Language Project 2020. The data were drawn from 15-item online questionnaire with 94 teacher participants. The findings revealed that teachers perceived themselves as being more proficient in skills of writing and reading, compared to listening, spoken production (e.g., making presentations) and spoken interaction (e.g., making conversations). Most of them rated their current English proficiency level lower than the level they achieved in the Project 2020 test.  The findings offer information  about the language aspects that teachers were least proficient, which can be used to specify what support they actually desire from in-service training courses.  Also, as teachers are at the centre of the Project 2020, their perceptions of their own English proficiency provide insightful input to enhance the effectiveness of this educational reform.

scholarly journals An Evaluation of Communicative Language Teaching in Pakistan: A Study of Undergraduate English Learners of Pakistan

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 259-264
Author(s):  
Aila Noor ◽  
Amna Shahid ◽  
Shehzad Ahmed ◽  
Minaa Ahmad
Keyword(s):  
Private Sector ◽  
English Learners ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
Likert Scale ◽  
Communicative Language Teaching ◽  
Positive Effects

The research was focused on the use of a communicative method of teaching. Through the use of such an advanced approach, students are unable to be considered proficient speakers of the English language. Various factors were highlighted in this research that causes a hindrance in the success of communicative method teaching. It was also identified how this approach can have positive effects on the students that would help them become proficient speakers of the English language (Nazir, Abbas, & Naz, 2020). A 5-point Likert scale was used in the questionnaires that were filled by 100 students of only one private sector in Lahore. The results deducted the positive effects of this approach along with the reasons for its inability to produce proficient speakers and how it can be sorted out.

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