![[PDF]](/pb-assets/Icons/adobe-pdf-icon-1498649896243.png){kind=icon}
Abstract
This mixed-methods study explored joining use of increasing-complex text with sound instructional practices on English Learners’ (ELs) academic language and conceptual knowledge. Findings showed one-week postintervention, ELs achieved significant academic vocabulary gains such that there were no differences between ELs and general education (GE) students. Moreover, six weeks postintervention, ELs’ academic language and conceptual knowledge closely approximated that of their GE peers. Findings suggest that carefully scaffolded use of increasingly-complex text holds promise in advancing ELs’ conceptual knowledge and academic language. Given the widespread use of simplified text as ELs’ primary reading curriculum—a practice that unintentionally delimits language and knowledge learning opportunities, and in turn, contributes to persistent achievement gaps—efforts aimed at identifying practices that build academic language and conceptual knowledge and in turn, enable access to complex text are of particular importance. If replicated in larger studies, teachers will have a clear alternative to such practices.
Keywords expository text, academic vocabulary, disciplinary literacy, SEI
References
Section:
|
August, D., Carlo, M., Dressler, C., Snow, C. (2005). The critical role of vocabulary development for English language learners. Learning Disabilities Research & Practice, 20, 50–57. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Baker, S., Lesaux, N., Jayanthi, M., Dimino, J., Proctor, C. P., Morris, J.…Newman-Gonchar, R. (2014). Teaching academic content and literacy to English learners in Elementary and middle school (NCEE 2014-4012). Washington, DC: National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance (NCEE), Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved from NCEE website http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/publications_reviews.aspx Google Scholar | |
|
Barber, J., Catz, K. N., Arya, D. (2006). Improving science content acquisition through a combined science/literacy approach: A quasi-experimental study. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Francisco, CA. Google Scholar | |
|
Beck, I. L., McKeown, M. G. (2006). Improving comprehension with questioning the Author: A fresh and expanded view of a powerful approach. New York, NY: Scholastic. Google Scholar | |
|
Biemiller, A., Boote, C. (2006). An effective method for building meaning vocabulary in primary grades. Journal of Educational Psychology, 98, 44. Google Scholar | Crossref | ISI | |
|
Bowen, G. A. (2008). Naturalistic inquiry and the saturation concept: A research note. Qualitative Research, 8, 137–152. Google Scholar | SAGE Journals | ISI | |
|
Bransford, J., Brown, A. L., Cocking, R. R., Donovan, M. S., Pelegrino, J. W. (2000). How people learn: Brain, mind, experience, and school. Washington, DC: National Academies Press. Google Scholar | |
|
Cervetti, G. N., Bravo, M. A., Duong, T., Hernandez, S., Tilson, J. (2008). A research-based approach to instruction for English language learners in science. Report prepared for the Noyce Foundation. Retrieved from http://www.scienceandliteracy.org/research/researchandresources Google Scholar | |
|
Darling-Hammond, L. (2010). The flat world and education. New York, NY: Teachers College Press. Google Scholar | |
|
Dunn, L. M., Dunn, L. M. (2007). Examiner's manual for the PPVT-IV: Peabody picture vocabulary test (4th ed.). San Antonio, TX: Pearson Education. Google Scholar | |
|
Fillmore, L. W., Fillmore, C. J. (2012). Understanding language: What does text complexity mean for English learners and language minority students? Retrieved from http://ELL.stanford.edu/publication/what-does-text-complexity-mean-english-learners-and-language-minority-students Google Scholar | |
|
Graesser, A. C., McNamara, D. S., Kulikowich, J. M. (2011). Coh-metrix providing multilevel analyses of text characteristics. Educational Researcher, 40, 223–234. Google Scholar | SAGE Journals | ISI | |
|
Graesser, A. C., McNamara, D. S., Louwerse, M. M. (2003). What do readers need to learn in order to process coherence relations in narrative and expository text. In Sweet, A. P., Snow, C. E. (Eds.), Rethinking reading comprehension (pp. 82–98). New York, NY: Guilford Publications. Google Scholar | |
|
Hakuta, K., Butler, Y. G., Witt, D. (2000). How long does it take English learners to attain proficiency? (Policy Report 2000 -1.). Santa Barbara: University of California Linguistic Minority Research Institute. Retrieved from http://web.stanford.edu/∼hakuta/Publications/%282000%29%20-%20HOW%20LONG%20DOES%20IT%20TAKE%20ENGLISH%20LEARNERS%20TO%20ATTAIN%20PR.pdf Google Scholar | |
|
Halvorsen, A.-L., Duke, N. K., Brugar, K. A., Block, M. K., Strachan, S. L., Berka, M. B., Brown, J. M. (2012). Narrowing the achievement gap in second-grade social studies and content area literacy: The promise of a project-based approach. Theory & Research in Social Education, 40, 198–229. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Hemphill, F. C., Vanneman, A., Rahman, T. (2011). Achievement gaps: How Hispanic and White students in public schools perform in mathematics and reading on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NCES 2011-459). Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved from http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/pdf/studies/2011459.pdf Google Scholar | |
|
Heisey, N., Kucan, L. (2010). Introducing science concepts to primary students through read-alouds: Interactions and multiple texts make the difference. Reading Teacher, 63, 666–676. Google Scholar | Crossref | ISI | |
|
Jeong, J., Gaffney, J. S., Choi, J. (2010). Availability and use of informational texts in second-, third-, and fourth-grade classrooms. Research in the Teaching of English, 44, 435–456. Google Scholar | ISI | |
|
Krashen, S. D. (1982). Principals and practice in second language acquisition. New York, NY: Pengamon. Google Scholar | |
|
Kuhn, M. R., Schwanenlugel, P. J., Morris, R. D., Morrow, L. M., Woo, D. G., Meisinger, E. B.…Stahl, S. A. (2006). Teaching children to become fluent and automatic readers. Journal of Literacy Research, 38, 357–387. Google Scholar | SAGE Journals | ISI | |
|
Maloch, B. (2008). Beyond exposure: The uses of informational texts in a second grade classroom. Research in the Teaching of English, 42, 315–362. Google Scholar | ISI | |
|
Mancilla-Martinez, J., Lesaux, N. K. (2010). Predictors of reading comprehension for struggling readers: The case of Spanish-speaking language minority learners. Journal of Educational Psychology, 102, 701. Google Scholar | Crossref | Medline | ISI | |
|
Mancilla-Martinez, J., Lesaux, N. K. (2011). The gap between Spanish speakers’ word reading and word knowledge: A longitudinal study. Child Development, 82, 1544–1560. Google Scholar | Crossref | Medline | ISI | |
|
Mesmer, H. A., Cunningham, J. W., Hiebert, E. H. (2012). Toward a theoretical model of text complexity for the early grades: Learning from the past, anticipating the future. Reading Research Quarterly, 47, 235–258. Google Scholar | Crossref | ISI | |
|
Milner, H. R. (2012). Beyond a test score explaining opportunity gaps in educational practice. Journal of Black Studies, 43, 693–718. Google Scholar | SAGE Journals | ISI | |
|
Nachazel, T., Yohn, C. (2012). The condition of education. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved from http://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator.asp Google Scholar | |
|
Nagy, W. E., Hiebert, E. H. (2011). Toward a theory of word selection. In Kamil, M. L., Pearson, P. D., Moje, E. B., Afflerbach, P. P. (Eds.), Handbook of reading research (Vol. 4, pp. 388–404). New York, NY: Routledge. Google Scholar | |
|
National Assessment of Educational Progress . (2011). The nation's report card: Results from the 2009 and 2011 NAEP reading assessments. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved from http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/pdf/main2011/2013452.pdf Google Scholar | |
|
National Governors Association Center for Best Practices, Council of Chief State School Officers . (2010). Common core state standards. Retrieved October 27, 2011, from http://www.corestandards.org/ Google Scholar | |
|
Neuman, S. B., Kaefer, T., Pinkham, A. (2014). Building background knowledge. The Reading Teacher, 68, 145–148. Google Scholar | Crossref | ISI | |
|
Pollard-Durodola, S. D., Gonzalez, J. E., Simmons, D. C., Kwok, O., Taylor, A. B., Davis, M. J., Simmons, L. (2011). The effects of an intensive shared book-reading intervention for preschool children at risk for vocabulary delay. Exceptional Children, 77, 161–183. Google Scholar | SAGE Journals | ISI | |
|
Schleppergrell, M. (2004). The language of schooling: A functional linguistics perspective. New York, NY: Routledge. Google Scholar | |
|
Schwendimann, B. A. (2014). Making sense of knowledge integration maps. In Ifenthaler, D., Hanewald, R. (Eds.) Digital knowledge maps in education: Technology-enhanced support for teachers and learners (pp. 17–40). New York, NY: Springer. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Snow, C. E., Ucceli, P. (2009). The challenge of academic language. In Olson, D. R., Torrance, N. (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of literacy (pp. 112–133). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
van Dijk, T. A., Kintsch, W. (1983). Strategies of discourse comprehension. New York: Academic Press. Google Scholar | |
|
Vosniadou, S. (2003). Exploring the relationships between conceptual change and intentional learning. In Sinatra, G. M., Pintrich, P. R. (Eds.), Intentional conceptual change (pp. 377–406). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Google Scholar | |
|
Williams, K. T. (2001). GRADE: Group reading assessment and diagnostic evaluation. Circle Pines, MN: American Guidance Service. Google Scholar | |
|
Yin, R. K. (2011). Application of case study research. New York, NY: Sage. Google Scholar |
