English Language Learners
Projects
Researchers of the Reading Institute conduct the following projects. They are described in further detail in the Projects section of our Web site.
- Academic Vocabulary: The goal of this project is to create a teacher-friendly resource for Texas middle school teachers that identifies academic vocabulary for English language learners (ELLs) that is used in mathematics and English language arts.
- Collaborative Strategic Reading (CSR): This project is designed to test the efficacy of CSR, a fully developed intervention, with adolescent struggling readers.
- Center for Research on the Educational Achievement and Teaching of English Language Learners (CREATE): CREATE is a national research and development center working to address challenges in the education of ELLs in the middle grades (grades 4–8).
- Enhancing the Quality of Expository Text Instruction and Comprehension Through Content and Case-Situated Professional Development (Teacher Quality): This study addressed the critical need to better understand the “fourth-grade slump” by focusing on comprehension of content area text.
- Response to Intervention (RTI) Observation Study 2008: The purpose of this study, currently funded by the Texas Education Agency, is to observe and report on current practices in math, reading, and RTI of special education teachers who serve students with learning disabilities.
- Texas Adolescent Literacy Academies (TALA): TALA prepared middle school teachers to design appropriate instruction for all students, including those struggling with reading due to limited English proficiency, learning disabilities, dyslexia, or other risk factors.
- Texas Center for Learning Disabilities (TCLD): TCLD investigates the RTI of students with reading difficulties through four research projects.
Selected Publications
Numerous publications have arisen from Reading Institute research. Below, we list a few of the most recent publications. All MCPER publications can be found in our Library, as well as on the page of the project for which each manuscript was written.
Barth, A. E., Denton, C. A., Stoebing, K. K., Fletcher, J. M., Cirino, P. T., Francis, D. J., & Vaughn, S. (2010). A test of the cerebellar hypothesis of dyslexia in adequate and inadequate responders to reading intervention. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 16, 526–536.
Murray, C. S., Woodruff, A. L., & Vaughn, S. (2010). First-grade student retention within a 3-tier reading framework. Reading & Writing Quarterly, 26, 26–50.
Vaughn, S., Denton, C. A., & Fletcher, J. M. (2010). Why intensive interventions are necessary for students with severe reading difficulties. Psychology in the Schools, 47(5), 432–444.
Vaughn, S., Martinez, L. R., Linan-Thompson, S., Reutebuch, C. K., Carlson, C. D., & Francis, D. J. (2009). Enhancing social studies vocabulary and comprehension for seventh-grade English language learners: Findings from two experimental studies. Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, 2(4), 297–324.
Wexler, J., Vaughn, S., Edmonds, M., & Reutebuch, C. K. (2008). A synthesis of fluency interventions for secondary struggling readers. Reading and Writing, 21, 317–347.