Teachers’ Perspectives on a Professional Development Intervention to Improve Science Instruction Among English Language Learners

Our 5-year professional development intervention is designed to promote elementary teachers’ knowledge, beliefs, and practices in teaching science, along with English language and mathematics for English Language Learning (ELL) students in urban schools. In this study, we used an end-of-year questionnaire as a primary data source to seek teachers’ perspectives on our intervention during the first year of implementation. Teachers believed that the intervention, including curriculum materials and teacher workshops, effectively promoted students’ science learning, along with English language development and mathematics learning. Teachers highlighted strengths and areas needing improvement in the intervention. Teachers’ perspectives have been incorporated into our on-going intervention efforts and offer insights into features of effective professional development initiatives in improving science achievement for all students.

The Specificity Principle in Young Dual Language Learners’ English Development

This study employs the Specificity Principle to examine the relative impacts of external (input quantity at home and at school, number of books and reading frequency at home, teachers’ degree and experience, language usage, socioeconomic status) and internal factors (children’s working memory, nonverbal intelligence, learning-related social-skills, chronological age, gender) on children’s English-language development in phonological awareness (PA), receptive vocabulary (RV), and word reading (WR). Altogether, 736 four- to five-year-old Singaporean Mandarin-English speaking kindergarteners were assessed twice longitudinally. Their English-language PA, RV, and WR development was predicted using the eight external factors and five internal factors with Bayesian least absolute shrinkage and selection operators. Internal factors explained more variance than external factors in all three language domains. External factors had their largest impact on RV.     

Curriculum Discourse and Foreign Language Teachers’Professional Development

The significance and status of the teachers’professional development make the education system and the society pay more and more attentions.The article elaborates the internal contact of curriculum discourse and teachers’professional development from a few respects such as the rationality of curriculum discourse,the long-term nature of the teachers’professional development and many factors affecting the teachers’professional development.The article also analyzes the external and internal factors influencing Tibet foreign language teachers’professional development,and puts forward the corresponding countermeasures in the light of these problems.     

Preschool Teachers and Children’s Emergent Writing: Supporting Diverse Learners

Early literacy skill development is critical during the preschool years. Under that umbrella is emergent writing, a small but important component of overall literacy development. This article presents two writing strategies: (1) writers’ workshop and (2) dictation within the context of storybook reading that preschool teachers can utilize to target emergent writing development. Modifications for diverse learners are also included throughout.     

Promoting Linguistically Diverse Students’ Short-Term and Long-Term Understanding of Chemical Phenomena Using Visualizations

Ensuring that all students, including English language learners (ELLs) who speak English as a second language, succeed in science is more challenging with a shift towards learning through language-intensive science practices suggested by the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). Interactive visualization technologies have the potential to support science learning for all students, including ELLs, by providing explicit representations of unobservable scientific systems. However, whether and how such technologies can be beneficial for these underserved students has not been sufficiently investigated. In this study, we examine the short-term and long-term effects of interactive visualizations in improving linguistically diverse eighth-grade students’ understanding of properties of matter and chemical reactions during inquiry instruction. The results show that after interacting with the visualizations, both ELLs and non-ELLs showed significant improvement in their understanding of the target concepts at the molecular level on both the immediate test and the delayed test (3 months after the study). In particular, aligned with the goals of the NGSS, all students, including ELLs, were able to demonstrate their understanding of how energy and matter are involved in chemistry through developing molecular models, critiquing models, and constructing scientific explanations. This study shows the potential benefits of using interactive visualizations during inquiry instruction as a resource to help all students, including ELLs who are traditionally underserved in mainstream classrooms, develop a more coherent understanding of abstract concepts of molecular processes during chemical phenomena.     

Independent Contributions of Mothers’ and Fathers’ Language and Literacy Practices: Associations With Children’s Kindergarten Skills Across Linguistically Diverse Households

Research Findings: Home language and literacy inputs have been consistently linked with enhanced language and literacy skills among children. Most studies have focused on maternal inputs among monolingual populations. Though the proportion of American children growing up in primarily non-English-speaking homes is growing and the role of fathers in early development is increasingly emphasized, less is known about these associations in primarily non-English-speaking households or how mothers and fathers independently contribute to children’s skills. Using a subsample of data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study–Birth Cohort (N = 5,450), this study assessed the frequency of maternal and paternal inputs during early childhood and their prospective connections with children’s English language and literacy skills at age 5 across White, Mexican, and Chinese children from linguistically diverse households. Analyses revealed significant differences in inputs by ethnic/language group membership and significant associations between both maternal and paternal inputs and children’s skills. These associations did not differ across ethnic/language group membership. Practice or Policy: These results point to the importance of promoting rich home language and literacy environments across diverse households regardless of the language in which they take place or the parent from which they derive.     

Relations Among the Home Language and Literacy Environment and Children’s Language Abilities: A Study of Head Start Dual Language Learners and Their Mothers

Research Findings: This study explored the relations between Spanish–English dual language learner (DLL) children’s home language and literacy experiences and their expressive vocabulary and oral comprehension abilities in Spanish and in English. Data from Spanish–English mothers of 93 preschool-age Head Start children who resided in central Pennsylvania were analyzed. Children completed the Picture Vocabulary and Oral Comprehension subtests of the Batería III Woodcock–Muñoz and the Woodcock–Johnson III Tests of Achievement. Results revealed that the language spoken by mothers and children and the frequency of mother–child reading at home influenced children’s Spanish language abilities. In addition, the frequency with which children told a story was positively related to children’s performance on English oral language measures. Practice or Policy: The findings suggest that language and literacy experiences at home have a differential impact on DLLs’ language abilities in their 2 languages. Specific components of the home environment that benefit and support DLL children’s language abilities are discussed.     

Associations Among Professional Development,Teachers’ Use of Naturalistic Language Strategies,and Preschoolers’ Functional Communication

Research Findings: Naturalistic instruction is the intentional use of strategies embedded within typical activities of the environment to create learning opportunities for children. We used multilevel modeling to analyze data from this single-case design study that focused on improving teachers’ use of naturalistic language strategies and children’s communication through professional development with bug-in-ear coaching. Our results showed that professional development was positively associated with children’s communication during and after professional development. During generalization sessions in different types of activities, teachers’ use of the naturalistic language strategies was positively associated with children’s functional communication. We also found that children were more likely to communicate during child-led activities. Practice or Policy: Associations among professional development, teachers’ use of evidence-based strategies, and children’s outcomes have yet to be fully understood. Administrators and professional development providers should support teachers’ use of naturalistic language strategies to create equitable exposure to language-learning opportunities for all children. Moreover, professional development efforts should support teachers’ intentional use of child-led activities to embed language-learning opportunities based on children’s interests. Finally, to strengthen children’s generalization of skills across routines, professional development providers should identify methods to support teachers’ generalized use of strategies within the typical activities of the setting.     

Technology’s Non-Neutrality: Past Lessons Can Help Guide Today’s Classrooms

The benefits of classroom computers and associated technologies seem to be an accepted truism with those who question the benefits often dismissed as intractable Luddites. Educational technology has become big business both commercially and academically for today’s increasingly high-tech classrooms. Clearly, computers mark changes—permanent changes—in the way everyone lives, learns, works, and interacts globally. Ellul, Norman, and Postman, among others, have focused on the application of a technology and not on the “box” itself. All three have warned that although educators’ focus should be on the application, it is the characteristic of technology itself that shapes the future. History is replete with lessons and voices that support these warnings and provide a foundation for reasoned discussions of any technology’s Faustian bargains and its often unanticipated uses and consequences. The topic and open debate could not be more crucial or timeless, for how young minds, mental habits, and values are shaped in classrooms around the world affects everyone.     

Language in Science Classrooms: An Analysis of Physics Teachers’ Use of and Beliefs About Language

The world over, secondary school science is viewed mainly as a practical subject. This may be one reason why effectiveness of teaching approaches in science education has often been judged on the kinds of practical activity with which teachers and students engage. In addition to practical work, language??often written (as in science texts) or oral (as in the form of teacher and student talk)??is unavoidable in effective teaching and learning of science. Generally however, the role of (instructional) language in quality of learning of school science has remained out of focus in science education research. This has been in spite of findings in empirical research on difficulties science students encounter with words of the instructional language used in science. The findings have suggested that use of (instructional) language in science texts and classrooms can be a major influence on the level of students?? understandings and retention of science concepts. This article reports and discusses findings in an investigation of physics teachers?? approaches to use of and their beliefs about classroom instructional language. Direct classroom observations of, interviews with, as well as content analyses of the participant teachers?? verbatim classroom talk, were used as the methods of data collection. Evidence is presented of participant physics teachers?? lack of explicit awareness of the difficulty, nature, and functional value of different categories of words in the instructional language. In conclusion, the implications of this lack of explicit awareness on the general education (initial and in-service) of school physics teachers are considered.     

Peer Effects on Children’s Expressive Vocabulary Development Using Conceptual Scoring in Linguistically Diverse Preschools

Research Findings: This study examined associations between the expressive vocabulary of classroom peers and children’s own vocabulary knowledge using conceptual scoring in a linguistically diverse sample of 4-year-olds who attended universal preschool programs in a metropolitan area. Higher peer conceptually scored expressive vocabulary was associated with higher conceptually scored expressive vocabulary for all children. The association was stronger for children who were dual language learners (DLLs), such that higher peer ability was associated with stronger growth in conceptually scored expressive vocabulary for DLLs across languages than for children fluent in English. Practice or Policy: This research suggests that policymakers may want to investigate the advantages of setting aside slots in targeted programs for children who have stronger conceptual vocabularies. Administrators should consider conceptual and verbal ability and classroom composition when assigning children to classes. This research also suggests that greater use of intentional pairs or small groups and strategies such as coaching peers in supporting one another’s conceptual vocabulary may be particularly important for DLLs.     

Who are the Science Teachers that Seek Professional Development in Research Experience for Teachers (RET’s)? Implications for Teacher Professional Development

To address the need to better prepare teachers to enact science education reforms, the National Science Foundation has supported a Research Experience for Teachers (RET’s) format for teacher professional development. In these experiences, teachers work closely with practicing scientists to engage in authentic scientific inquiry. Although there are many RET programs currently serving teachers, there is only a small body of research describing these programs and their outcomes. Just as science learning depends on both cognitive and affective factors of learners, the success of teacher professional development also depends on the cognitive and affective factors of the participants. Thus, the intent of this mixed method research is to better understand how the nature of professional development experiences shape the kinds of teachers that apply, and what this means for the design of such experiences. This study focused on describing the cognitive and affective characteristics of applicants for two different RET programs offered at the same institution. Findings suggest that the profiles of teachers who seek out these professional development programs vary based on the programs’ objectives. The findings also suggest that recognition of who is being served in professional development must be considered in the construction of those professional development experiences.     

On George Orwell ’ s Politics and the English Language

George Orwell is an important essayist in the 20th century and of great influence for his critical essays. Politics and the English Language is an essay with an aim to criticize the misused English at the historical setting when World War Ⅱ was about to break out. The following article is to explore the essay＇ s language style and its theme.     

ComPratica: A Virtual Community of Practice for Promoting Biology Teachers’ Professional Development in Brazil

Teachers’ professional development is a key factor in improving science education, but it shows limited impact when only a small number of teachers is reached, or when it focuses on only one aspect of teachers’ development, such as learning science content, and is disconnected from teachers’ practice. In order to increase the impact of our work on teachers’ professional development, we implemented in 2007 ComPratica, an online network intended to establish a virtual community of practice involving biology teachers and biological education researchers. We present here the results of the first 2 years of this project, obtained through an analysis of the number and distribution of actions performed by the participants in the community, the kinds of activities in which they are engaged, and the themes addressed in their messages. From these data, we conclude that ComPratica is effectively functioning as a community of practice and is leading to changes related to both teachers’ and researchers’ professional development, which seem capable of reducing the research–practice gap in science education.     

Formative Information Using Student Growth Percentiles for the Quantification of English Language Learners’ Progress in Language Acquisition

English language learners (ELLs) are the fastest growing subgroup in American schools. These students, by a provision in the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, are to be supported in their quest for language proficiency through the creation of systems that more effectively measure ELLs’ progress across years. In the past, ELLs’ progress has been based on students’ prior scores measuring the same construct. To disentangle effectiveness from achievement, the reporting has generally targeted mean-group activity. In contrast, student growth percentiles (SGPs) provide a comparison of students’ growth with others who have the same achievement score history. By examining the construct measured by an English language proficiency test as manifested in student scores in Speaking, Listening, Reading and Writing, this article outlines the use of SGPs in providing information on how much each student needs to grow, which will allow educators to more effectively apply differential formative instructional strategies.     

Professional Development?+?Coaching?=?Enhanced Teaching: Increasing Usage of Math Mediated Language in Preschool Classrooms

In an effort to determine the most efficacious manner to deliver professional development training to early childhood educators, this study investigated the effect of a 2-h workshop followed by side-by-side classroom coaching. Twelve early childhood educators with 4-year degrees teaching in a university child development center participated in the study. The twice weekly classroom observations were analyzed for the use of math mediated language. Results indicate a 56% increase of math mediated language following the professional development; however, the greatest increase (39% increase over professional development condition) occurred during the side-by-side coaching phase of the treatment. These results corroborate previous findings that implementation of teaching strategies presented in professional development trainings can be enhanced by coaching teachers on the use of the strategies.