Center for Research and Educational Achievement and Teaching of English Language Learners (CREATE)
Principal Investigators
- Sylvia Linan-Thompson, Ph.D.
- Sharon Vaughn, Ph.D.
Other Investigators
- David Francis (project director) and Coleen Carlson, University of Houston.
- Catherine Snow, Harvard University.
- Elfrieda Hiebert, University of California - Berkeley.
- Diane August and Debbie Short, Center for Applied Linguistics.
- Jana Echevarria, California State University at Long Beach.
Funding Agency
U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences
Description of the Project
Researchers from the Vaughn Gross Center and five other institutions are addressing the critical need to provide effective instruction for English language learners in content area classes in seventh grade.
Specifically, the study will examine the efficacy of a social studies intervention based on specific instructional and learning strategies, supplemental materials (e.g., video), and mixed grouping arrangements.
The goals of the study are to:
- Integrate vocabulary and English as a second language into interventions to enhance comprehension strategy instruction.
- Determine the added value of strategies for English as a second language instruction and of vocabulary enhancement in the Teacher Directed Strategy Instruction intervention.
- Examine the efficacy of two interventions that vary in the method of delivery.
- Identify and describe the response to the interventions by students with differing levels of English proficiency.
The next four years of this multisite study will include a development and pilot phase and randomized controlled trials to examine the efficacy and feasibility of the instruction.
Four main components of the intervention have been refined and described:
- The use of video and purposeful discussion to build concepts.
- The use of writing to build comprehension and vocabulary.
- Summarizing by using questioning to build comprehension.
- Structured paired grouping arrangements.
Population/Participants
Seventh-grade English language learners
Sites
Texas and Maryland schools
Timeline
5-year project, began fall of 2005
Results/Findings/Publications
Research is ongoing.