Double Duty: Helping English Learners Access Content and

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Double Duty Helping English Learners Access
Content and Develop English Proficiency

• Jana Echevarria
• California State University, Long Beach
• Deborah Short
• Center for Applied Linguistics

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Instructional Practicein California

• In California, many ELs are struggling.
• Inconsistent practice in schools is due to lack
  of an instructional model.
• Despite large numbers of ELs, most
  teacher-preparation programs still do not provide
  candidates with sufficient instructional
  strategies for teaching ELs (Bailey Butler,
  2007 Crawford, 2003)

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Instructional Practicein California To Date

• SDAIE - CCTC defines it as a variety of
  strategies, techniques and materials designed to
  provide students at an intermediate or advanced
  level of English proficiency to access
  grade-level core curriculum in English
• Some SDAIE techniques have a research base
  showing effectiveness with ELs but SDAIE has not
  been operationally defined or tested.
• It is generally a collection of techniques not a
  consistent model of instruction.
• Replaced the term sheltered instruction in
  California

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Instructional Practicein California Research
Advances

• The SIOP Model is an empirically-tested,
  research-based model of sheltered
  instruction/SDAIE.
• Incorporates best practices for teaching academic
  English and provides teachers with a coherent
  approach for improving the achievement of their
  students.

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History of Instruction for English Learners
From Echevarria, J. Short, D. (2010).
Programs and practices for effective sheltered
content instruction. In Improving Education for
English Learners Research-Based Approaches.
Sacramento, CA CDE Press.
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Academic language involves more than key content
vocabulary.

• Academic language represents the entire range of
  language used in academic settings, including
  elementary and secondary schools.

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Language for Reading
Academic Vocabulary
English Grammar
Academic Language
Self-Talk Thinking Knowing
Prosody
Academic Oral Discourse
English Syntax
Language for Writing
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Teaching Academic Vocabulary
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Examples of Content Vocabulary Mathematics

• Addend
• Addition algorithm
• Associative property
• Basic number combination
• Common denominator
• Common factor
• Commutative property
• Decimal
• Decimal addition
• Decimal division
• Decimal multiplication

• Dividend
• Divisibility
• Division
• Equation
• Equivalent forms
• Equivalent fractions
• Equivalent representation
• Estimation
• Estimation of Fractions
• Even numbers
• Expanded notation

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Examples of Content Vocabulary English-Language
Arts

• Literature and Expository Text
• Character
• Setting
• Conflict
• Action
• Cause and effect
• Main idea
• Supporting details

• Writing
• Genre
• Imagery
• Sentence structure
• Thesis statement
• Conclusion
• Sentence fragment

• Grammar
• Action verbs
• Noun clauses
• Subjects
• Predicates
• Homonyms
• Antonyms
• Imperative

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Examples of Process/Function Words (Are any of
these discipline-specific?)

• Describe
• Explain
• Summarize
• How to ask a question
• How to state a conclusion
• Interpret
• Justify your opinion
• Identify multiple perspectives
• Uncover the authors message
• Persuade
• Line up
• Share with a partner...

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Examples of Words and Word Parts
that Teach English Structure

• English morphology base words, roots, prefixes,
  suffixes
• English tense past, present, future
• English syntax (word order asking questions in
  English placement of adjectives and adverbs
  articles, etc.)
• Think about how science teachers teach concepts
  with words that have affixes (photosynthesis).
• Think about how history teachers teach concepts
  using the past tense.

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• Social Studies Example
  American Revolution
  (Echevarria, Vogt, Short, 2008)
• Content Redcoats, Patriots, Taxation Without
  Representation, Colonists, Boston Tea Party,
  Continental Congress (etc.)
• Process/function discuss, share with a partner,
  argue, debate, describe, categorize, compare and
  contrast, persuade, identify, (etc.)
• Structure
• -tion revolution, taxation, solution, nation,
  transition
• -sion tension, passion, mission, vision
• -tation representation, plantation

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Make use of Cognates....but beware of occasional
false cognates!(Vogt Echevarria, 2008)

• For students who speak a Latin based language
  such as Spanish, cognates may help in teaching
  some words. For example, predict in English is
  predecir in Spanish justify in English is
  justificar in Spanish communication in English
  is communicacion in Spanish.

False Cognates disturb molestar embarrassed
avergonzado/a pregnant embarazada
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Why Do English Learners Have Difficulty with
Academic Language?

• Factors outside of the schools sphere of
  influence, such as poverty and transiency
• Classrooms that are devoid of the supports that
  assist students in learning new material in a new
  language
• In a study that observed 23 ethnically diverse
  classrooms, researchers found that in the core
  academic subject areas only 1.4 of instructional
  time was spent developing vocabulary knowledge
  (Scott, Jamison-Noel, and Asselin,
  2003).

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Why Do English Learners Have Difficulty with
Academic Language?

• Lack of opportunity to develop oral language
• Passive learning sitting quietly while
  listening to the teacher and other students
• Lack of meaningful and engaging lessons
• Limited access to the language and the subject
  matter
• Low expectations for EL Students
• Lack of opportunities to practice using language
  orally
• Lack of successful group work

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The SIOP Model (Echevarria, Vogt, Short,
2000 2004 2008 2010)

• Lesson Preparation language and content
  objectives
• Building Background vocabulary development,
  student connections
• Comprehensible Input ESL techniques
• Strategies metacognitive and cognitive
  strategies

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The SIOP Model (Echevarria, Vogt, Short,
2000 2004 2008 2010)

• Interaction oral language
• Practice Application practice all 4 language
  skills
• Lesson Delivery meet objectives
• Review Assessment review vocabulary and
  concepts

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The SIOP Model(Echevarria, Vogt, Short, 2000
2004 2008 2010)

• A way for teachers to consistently and
  systematically implement practices that will both
  make content comprehensible and develop English
  language skills.
• Eight components and 30 features provide a
  blueprint for effective lessons.
• Applicable for all subject areas, all grade
  levels and all English proficiency levels.
• Only research validated model of sheltered
  instruction for ELs at present

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CREDE Research (1996-2003) SIOP Research
Reference
Echevarria, J., Short, D., Powers, K. (2006).
School reform and standards-based education An
instructional model for English language
learners. Journal of Educational Research 99
(4), 195-210.
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Upcoming Publications

• Echevarria, J., Richards-Tutor, C., Chinn, V.,
  Ratleff, P. (In press). Did they get it? The role
  of fidelity in improving teaching for English
  Learners. Journal of Adolescent and Adult
  Literacy.
• Short, D., Echevarria, J., Richards-Tutor, C.
  (In press). Research on academic literacy
  development in sheltered instruction classrooms.
  Language Teaching Research.

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Partner Institutions
IES Funded Research Center 2005-2011

• University of Houston
• Center for Applied Linguistics
• California State University, Long Beach
• University of Texas, Austin
• Harvard University
• UC Berkeley

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Relationship Average Teacher Performance and
Student Outcomes
Average Student Gain (std dev)
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SIOP Model A Framework for Organizing Best
Practices
Explicit instruction
SDAIE techniques
Differentiated Instruction
Cooperative learning
Writers Workshop
Thinking Maps
Technology
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School-based Evaluation Research
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Building Capacity through Professional Learning

• Pearson Education Trained 50 Master Cohort
  Teachers and District Leaders (Spring 2006)
• August 2006
• Modeled components of SIOP to all staff in all
  elementary and middle schools.
• November 2006 Spring 2009
• Ongoing professional development provided to
  Master-Cohort
• Coaching using the SIOP protocol
• Intensive Component Training
• SIOP Component Review
• School-Based Coaching/Implementation
• Master cohort members provide job-embedded
  support to teachers at their school.

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MCAS RESULTSComposite Performance IndexLEP
Student Results in ELA
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MCAS RESULTSComposite Performance Index LEP
Student Results in Math
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• California Department of Education
• Language Policy and Leadership Office
• 800-995-4099
• Web site www.cde.ca.gov/re/pn/rc
• E-mail sales_at_cde.ca.gov

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In Conclusion

• The SIOP Model
• Makes lessons content meaningful by using a
  variety of techniques.
• Creates situations where students can actively
  practice using academic English.
• Provides teachers with concrete ways to organize
  information so that it is comprehensible for
  students.
• Focuses on vocabulary and oral language
  development.
• Advantage for CA
• In our research, teachers who were trained in
  SDAIE made the transition to SIOP quite easily
• They report better academic success with their
  students and more consistency in their
  instruction.