Shared Goals for English Language Learners

Much is being learned about the language needs of English Language Learners (ELLs), if not about the specific ways of meeting the needs. Mired in the contentions of bilingualism and English immersion, much of the shared focus on the needs of ELLs is lost. Three general goals for ELLs seem to have a general consensus:

1. Become proficient and literate in the English language.
2. Develop skills and knowledge in other academic areas.
3. Maintain cultural and linguistic heritage.

While there seems to be general agreement on these three goals for ELL programs, there is certainly much disagreement on the relative importance of the goals and the resulting methods of achieving the goals.

Types of ELL Programs

Traditionally, there are two dominate program types, that appear to be philosophically opposed, immersion and bilingual programs. There are many forms and combinations of ELL program types found in schools, but these two types dominate and generally share methods with other, less common, programs.

Immersion Programs. Encouraged by state adoption of English-only legislation in several states, including California, Arizona, and Massachusetts, there is revived interest in immersion programs. Instruction is provided to ELLs mainly in English, using English-language texts. There are a variety of methods for implementing immersion programs:

• At the most basic level, immersion programs include ELLs in mainstream classrooms using English texts and instruction. Teachers provide help in teaching English to the ELLs within the context of a regular classroom.
• Bilingual aids are employed in many immersion programs to help ELLs transition to English. Aids provide small group and individual assistance to ELLs who are having difficulty developing English proficiency.
• English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) pull-out classes are also paired with English only classes, providing students more intense English instruction to accelerate their transition to English only classes.
• Structured immersion programs provide a gradual phase-in of English instruction. Beginning with instruction in both ELLs' first language and English, these program attempt to quickly transition students to English only instruction.

Clearly, immersion programs focus early instructional attention on developing English-language proficiency, and place less attention, if any, on maintaining cultural and linguistic heritage of ELLs. The development of skills and knowledge in other content areas is encouraged in the English only environment. However, a great deal of support is required for ELLs to avoid compounding problems of English language development with other academic development.

Bilingual Programs. These programs strive to teach both the first language and English to ELLs, building literacy in two languages. All of these programs rely on the development of literacy in a first language to leverage and support development of literacy in English. There are a number of ways bilingual programs are implemented.

• Transitional programs focus on providing instruction in the ELLs first language, building literacy and achievement in other content areas while teaching English. These programs focus on transitioning instruction to English as the ELLs gain functional literacy in English.
• Early-transition to English, typically teach ELLs in their first language in kindergarten and first-grade and transition students to English in second and third grades.
  
• Late transition programs extend instruction in the ELLs' first language through elementary school and transition to English in late elementary and early middle school.
• Paired bilingual programs alternate instruction between ELLs' first language and English throughout the school day. The programs increase the amount of time in English instruction as the ELLs gain proficiency in English. The first language instruction is maintained to support literacy in ELLs' first language.
• Dual-language programs build literacy in two languages for ELL and English-only students. Mixed enrollment classes are taught in the first language of the ELLs and in English, providing both groups of students access to dual language literacy.

Neurological Science and Bilingual Education. A decade of neurological science related to bilingual development provides insight into the windows of opportunity for developing first and second language fluency. Neurologically, the critical period for learning a first language is from about eight months, when children begin to interact with oral language, to about six years of age (Stapp, 1997). There is a critical growth cycle between three and four years of age when language, including speaking and reading, is more formalized.

Second language fluency is correlated with development between five and six years of age (Stapp, 1997). Second language fluency is seldom achieved after the onset of puberty (8-13 years of age for girls and 9-14 years of age for boys). Frost (2003), in his review Linguistic Processes of Bilingual Cognition, asserts that research shows that language fluency is dependent upon developing language "schemas" (language patterns). "[C]ertain neural substrates in the brain become resistant to change during and after puberty (Frost, 2003)." These substrates are associated with the development of language schemas, among other cognitive functions. During and after puberty, language development become much more difficult and language fluency is seldom accomplished. Rather, students develop memory of specific words and patterns and do not generalize these into schema. Fluency is associated with schema and is inhibited by attention to memory of specific words and patterns. Thus, the critical period for first-language development occurs in early childhood and second language development prior to puberty.

StudyDog Reading Program

Overview. The StudyDog Reading Program (StudyDog) provides an effective and proven English reading supplement for ELLs. Five features of StudyDog make it a unique supplemental program for teaching the beginning English reading skills to ELLs.

1. StudyDog is focused on the critical reading skills students need to become successful readers in English.
2. StudyDog accelerates students' learning by explicitly teaching each reading skill.
3. The lessons provide guided practice for students to achieve mastery of each reading skill.
4. StudyDog encourages students to gain fluency in English and develop strong comprehension skills.
5. The lessons are highly engaging and provide strong encouragement to learn to read.

The StudyDog Reading Program (StudyDog) can fit within both immersion and bilingual programs. It is clearly focused on teaching all children the basic skills needed to become successful English readers.

StudyDog is designed and validated to teach basic English reading skills, including phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency and comprehension. These skill concepts are expanded in the StudyDog curriculum by content standards that were derived from an aggregation of state content standards for kindergarten and first-grade. The StudyDog reading standards are consistent with the Big Ideas in Beginning Reading (Institute for the Development of Educational Achievement, 2002-2004, http://reading.uoregon.edu/), the findings of the National Reading Panel (NIH Pub. No. 00-4754), and Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children (Snow, Burns, and Griffin, Eds. 1998). These references were used in reviewing the final set of reading standards that underlie the content validity of the StudyDog lessons.

StudyDog assessments are used to plan each child's reading program. For ELLs, StudyDog can assess their English oral-language skills necessary for understanding the StudyDog lessons. StudyDog teaches in English, providing models of fluency and to develop understanding of the concepts of print through narrated comprehension tasks. ELLs need basic English oral proficiency in order to respond to the instruction in English and the StudyDog ELL assessment can assess that level of oral proficiency.

The second StudyDog assessment, given to all children, assesses the reading skills included in the StudyDog lessons. The results of the assessment are used to tailor the reading program among the StudyDog lessons for each child in order to meet the unique reading skill needs of each child. StudyDog is designed to provide instruction to fit the reading skill needs of each child.

The StudyDog lessons explicitly teach each of the reading skills included in the StudyDog content standards. Guided practice is provided following instruction to build children's mastery of the skills being taught. The StudyDog reading specialist monitors children's reading progress within each lessons and can guide and adjust instruction to adjust the lessons, instruction, and guided practice as needed.

Each reading skill included in the StudyDog content standards is explicitly taught and children are given guided practice to build mastery of each skill. Children's lesson performance is monitored to adjust instruction and allow extra help as needed.

Application of StudyDog with Kindergarten ELL Students

For the past two years, the Dry Hallow Elementary School in Oregon has used the StudyDog Reading Program to supplement its ELL reading program. The teachers use an ESL pullout program to help ELLs learn English language skills, including oral, reading and writing skills. StudyDog is used to supplement instruction in English reading skills, once students have a functional level of English oral skills.

ELLs in kindergarten through second grade and a few third-grade ELLs were given the StudyDog lessons twice to three times each week. Teachers judged when students had sufficient English oral language skills before starting each student in the StudyDog lessons. By March 2005, thirty-nine ELLs had completed their course of StudyDog lessons and are the subjects of this analysis.

Each subject completed the StudyDog pre-test of the kindergarten and first-grade reading skills taught by StudyDog. The StudyDog post-test was administered to the students after completing the StudyDog lessons in approximately five months.

Gain scores (the difference between the post-test and the pre-test scores) were calculated for both the kindergarten skills and the first-grade skills included in the tests (Table 1).



The differences between the scores from the pre-test and post-test for kindergarten skills and first-grade skills were compared using paired-samples T-tests. The results (Table 1) show highly significant gains in the ELLs performance. These results are consistent with the gains shown by students in our other validation studies with treatment and control samples.

Summary

StudyDog provides an exceptional supplemental program for teaching basic reading skills to young English Language Learners. StudyDog can be used to teach ELLs English reading skills within bilingual and immersion programs. StudyDog requires functional English reading skills and builds on the development of English language skills in any program serving ELLs. The lessons are easily coordinated with classroom and ELS instruction and provide teachers with updated reports of each student's progress.

StudyDog is convenient to implement in any ELL program. The lessons last about 15 minutes each and can be completed in about three to four months, working on two lessons each week. At the end of that time, ELLs will have accomplished the basic reading skills for one grade level. And, they will have had fun doing it. We have found that students are highly engaged in the lessons, the ongoing story line, the interesting characters and fun learning activities. These qualities and the sound StudyDog curriculum encourage ELLs to engage in the StudyDog lessons and learn the skills they need to become successful English readers.