English phonological awareness in bilinguals: a cross‐linguistic study of Tamil,Malay and Chinese English‐language learners

To test the lexical restructuring hypothesis among bilingual English‐language learners, English phonological awareness (PA), English vocabulary and ethnic language vocabulary (Mandarin Chinese, Malay or Tamil) were assessed among 284 kindergarteners (168 Chinese, 71 Malays and 45 Tamils) in Singapore. A multi‐level regression analysis showed that English vocabulary, in interaction with mother's education, statistically significantly predicted Singaporean children's PA; ethnic language vocabulary did not. Thus, the present study supports the lexical restructuring hypothesis that growth in vocabulary changes how lexical items are stored, leading to the development of PA. Home language practices, as represented by mother's education, may also enhance children's PA after a threshold of English vocabulary is reached. In addition, specific ethnic language (Chinese, Malay or Tamil) was a statistically significant predictor of PA, suggesting that orthographic depth as well as syllabic complexity of a bilingual's other language may influence their development of English PA.     

An inquiry into the efficiency of WhatsApp for self‐ and peer‐assessments of oral language proficiency

Social networking applications such as WhatsApp have been extensively used for language research; however, they have rarely been applied for language assessment purposes. To explore the efficiency of WhatsApp for assessment purposes, 30 Iranian English learners doing self‐ and peer‐assessments on WhatsApp are studied. The changes and the reasons for the changes in their attitudes towards the two assessment types are also investigated. In a multi‐phase study, the participants were trained on the new concepts of mobile‐assisted self‐ and peer‐assessments. They were also involved in the concurrent tasks of self‐ and peer‐assessments as well as think‐aloud protocols and filled out four attitude questionnaires before and after their involvement in the two assessment types. Finally, they were interviewed for the reasons of change(s) in their attitudes. The t‐test and think‐aloud results show that though the participants assigned different grades to themselves and their peers, this is not a procedural difference. The questionnaire results show that the participants generally adopted negative attitudes towards mobile‐assisted assessments after being involved in them. They also gave various reasons for the change(s) in their attitudes. The results can substantially contribute to the ongoing debates on the use of alternative assessments through mobile device applications.     

Preparing teachers to create a mainstream science classroom conducive to the needs of English‐language learners: A feminist action research project

A feminist action research team, which consisted of a science educator, an English‐language learner (ELL) educator, a first‐year science teacher, and a graduate assistant, set a goal to work together to explore the process a beginning teacher goes through to establish a classroom conducive to the needs of middle‐level ELL learners. The guiding questions of the study were answered by gathering a wealth of data over the course of 5 months and taken from the classroom, planning sessions, and researchers and students. These data were collected by observations, semistructured interviews, and written document reviews. The progressive analysis ultimately revealed that: (a) successful strategies a beginning teacher must utilize for teaching middle‐level ELL children in a mainstream classroom involve complex structural considerations that are not part of the teacher's preparation; (b) learning increases for all children, but there are differences in learning achievement between ELL and non‐ELL children; and (c) student and peer feedback proved to be an effective means of enhancing the growth of a beginning teacher seeking to increase her skills in teaching ELL learners. The experiences and findings from this project have implications for teacher preparation programs committed to preparing educators to teach science to all children. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 42: 1013–1031, 2005     

Cross‐language relationship between Spanish and English oral reading fluency among Spanish‐speaking English language learners in bilingual education classrooms

This study examined whether oral reading fluency in a child's first language (Spanish) as assessed by Curriculum‐Based Measurement (CBM) was related to oral reading fluency in a second language (English) and whether Spanish oral reading fluency probes administered in the fall were predictive of English oral reading fluency outcomes for spring of the same academic year. A total of 68 bilingual education students across grades 1 through 5 were assessed in Spanish and English during the fall, winter, and spring. Results showed that reading in Spanish and English across grades and time periods correlated moderately high with the exception of fourth grade. In addition, Spanish oral reading fluency at the beginning of the year significantly predicted English reading outcomes at the end of the year. These findings suggest that CBM can be a valuable tool for evaluating the relationship between oral reading fluency in both the first and second language. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 44: 795–806, 2007.     

Flexibility in young second‐language learners: examining the language specificity of orthographic processing

This study examines whether orthographic processing transfers across languages to reading when the writing systems under acquisition are sufficiently related. We conducted a study with 76 7‐year‐old English‐first‐language children in French immersion. Measures of English and French orthographic processing (orthographic choice tasks) and standardised measures of English and French word reading (Woodcock and FIAT) were taken, in addition to verbal and nonverbal ability, and phonological and morphological awareness. Analyses reveal significant contributions of orthographic processing to reading both within and across the two languages, despite the inclusion of control variables. Findings of the transfer of orthographic processing skills to reading across languages suggest that orthographic processing may not be as language specific as previously hypothesised. We discuss the several similarities between English and French, such as a shared alphabet and cognates, that may drive transfer across languages in the context of current theories of second‐language reading development.     

Keep it short Note-taking for learners of English as a first and second language

One of the most important and central components of any course on study skills is undoubtedly note-taking. The teaching of note-taking is closely linked to the teaching of listening, reading and writing. Materials for listening comprehension and practice in efficient reading may be used to teach note-taking while note-taking, itself, can be used as a basis for practice in written work. In addition, the teaching of note-taking involves the teaching of such grammatical features as linking, reference, substitution and omission, and thus will include considerable work on connectives, nouns, pronouns, determiners and auxiliaries. A course in note-taking, therefore, is synonymous to a large extent with a comprehensive course in English.     

Students' perceptions of Wiki-based collaborative writing for learners of English as a foreign language

This study proposes a Wiki-based collaborative writing approach to the writing process for EFL (English as a foreign language) learners. A five-stage computer-mediated collaborative writing project including collaborative planning, partitioned drafting, peer-revising, peer-editing, and individual publishing was blended with on-campus English composition course. Fifty-one L2 learners at a university in central Taiwan participated in this project. Procedural scaffolding and collective scaffolding were provided to promote students' self-regulation and thus to foster the development of students' writing skills. A cross-referencing questionnaire survey was adopted to investigate students' perceptions of Wiki-based collaborative writing and students' perceptions of their work in each stage of collaborative writing. As the results indicated, a high percentage of students' satisfaction showed positive perceptions of this Wiki-based collaborative writing environment, and the instructional design of implementing a Wiki-based collaborative writing project with a five-stage writing process does assist EFL learners to accomplish a collaborative writing task on the internet with less limitation of time. This article also points to new possibilities for future research.     

Language proficiency and early literacy skills of Cantonese-speaking English language learners in the U.S. and Canada

This study describes the language proficiency and early literacy skills of Cantonese-speaking English language learners (ELLs) in kindergarten. A total of 113 Cantonese-speaking kindergarteners in Canada and the United States, composed of three subsamples from three different locations participated in this study. Results showed that on average, the Cantonese-speaking ELLs in this study performed below average on vocabulary measures when compared with monolingual norms, but at or above average on English letter-word identification and phonological awareness (PA) tasks. Cluster analysis was used to identify two new groups of children based on their language proficiency in each language: English dominant and Cantonese dominant. There were no differences on PA in English and Cantonese between the cluster groups. However, the English dominant group performed significantly higher on English vocabulary and English decoding than the Cantonese dominant group. At the same time, the Cantonese dominant group performed significantly higher on Cantonese vocabulary and Cantonese word reading than the English dominant group. Finally, multiple regression analysis revealed that there was cross-language facilitation of PA on Chinese character recognition. Educational implications and directions for future research are discussed.     

Questions as a tool for bridging science and everyday language games

Research has shown how students can shift between different ways of communicating about natural phenomena. The point of departure in this text is that school science comprises science ways to communicate as well as everyday ways to communicate. In school science activities transitions, from for example everyday ways to explain to science ways to explain, occur and the purpose of this paper is to show what role questions play in these transitions. Data consists of video observations of a group of 24 students, 15 years of age, doing their ordinary school science work without my interference in their planning. Relevant conversations including questions were transcribed. The analysis was made by examining the establishment of relations between utterances in the transcribed conversations. Relations that bridge science and everyday language games are described in the results. Questions that were formulated in an everyday language game illustrate the difficulties of making transitions to a science language game. Without teacher guidance, students’ questions are potential promoters for making the topic drift and to develop into something totally different from the topic as planned by the teacher. However, questions promote transitions to an everyday language game. These can be used by teachers for example to adjust an everyday explanation and guide students in making science knowledge useful in daily life.

Bilingual PA and its influence on biliteracy for Korean English as a foreign language learners

This study examines the relationship between phonological awareness (PA) in the two languages of Korean English as a foreign language learning children in relation to L1 characteristics and school experiences, and its predictive role in word decoding skills in each language. Seventy-two 5?C6-year-old Korean children who had attended English-medium preschools and kindergartens for at least 18?months were tested on a range of PA and emergent literacy skill measures in both Korean (L1) and English (L2). The findings indicate that the phonological representations of the participants reflect more of the L1, rather than school language, characteristics. In addition, L1 PA, syllable and phoneme awareness in particular, was predictive of L2 decoding abilities after accounting for L2 PA and emergent literacy skills. The results are discussed in terms of language-specific L1 phonological and orthographic characteristics, as well as their L2-learning contexts.     

Portfolios as a tool for AfL and student motivation: are they related?

ABSTRACT

The power of portfolios in enhancing student motivation is frequently emphasised. Portfolios are conceptualised as a tool to implement Assessment for Learning (AfL) in classroom practice. However, the relation between portfolios and AfL on the one hand, and student motivation on the other hand, is complex and subject to many assumptions. This study investigates whether portfolio use actually supports the integration of AfL in classroom practice and the relation with students’ motivation. Questionnaires were administered to a total of 419 grade 4 to 6 students from seven Dutch elementary schools. The results of structural equation modelling did not confirm a direct relation between portfolio use and students’ motivational orientation. The findings indicate that the relation between portfolios and motivational orientation is fully mediated by students’ perceptions of AfL. The findings indicate that the tool portfolio is not related to students’ motivation, however, AfL practices do affect motivation.     

Modeling the process of summary writing of Chinese learners of English as a foreign language

In language learning contexts, writing tasks that involve reading of source texts are often used to elicit more authentic integrative language use. Thus, interests in researching these read-to-write tasks in general and as assessment tasks keep growing. This study examined and modeled the process of summary writing as a read-to-write integrated task. Data of test-taking process were collected from 94 Chinese English as a foreign language (EFL) learners who completed two summarization tasks. Seven students first completed the tasks while thinking aloud their mental process. The researcher observed their test-taking process and conducted post-test interviews to learn more about how they completed the tasks. Participants’ verbal reports were coded into mental moves, which were then grouped according to their purposes. These formed the basis for identifying the processes and sub-stages participants followed while completing the tasks. Based on the analysis of the think-aloud, observation, and interview data, a questionnaire was developed containing items specifying the processes task takers went through. The questionnaire was completed by the remaining 87 participants to test the generalizability of the findings. A process model of summarization was constructed subsequently. The implications of the study are discussed with reference to construct validity of summarization tasks, EFL writing instruction and assessment.     

从百年语文教学目标的演变看语文课程工具性

语文教学目标由语文课程性质决定,同时,语文教学目标也反映出语文课程性质。新"课标"明确指出:"语文是最重要的工具",语文课程的工具性由来已久,从百年语文教学目标的演变中可略见一斑。     

Negotiation,embeddedness, and non-threatening learning environments as themes of science and language convergence for English language learners

In this review, we explore the notion of teaching science to English language learners (ELLs) as a balancing act between simultaneously focusing on language and content development, on the one hand, and between structuring instruction and focusing on student learning processes, on the other hand. This exploration is conducted through the lens of a theoretical framework embedded in the Science Writing Heuristic approach, an approach exemplifying immersive orientation to argument-based inquiry. Three learning processes (learning through the language of science, learning about the language of science and living the language of science) and three classroom structures (collective zone of proximal development, symmetric power and trust relationships and teacher as decision-maker) are explored in relation to learning theories and empirical findings from second language acquisition and science, multicultural and teacher education bodies of work. Three themes – negotiation, embeddedness and non-threatening learning environments – to inform ELL science education emerged from the review.     

The benefits of metacognitive reading strategy awareness instruction for young learners of English as a second language

This paper presents a small‐scale study examining the effects of metacognitive reading strategy instruction on English language learners' reading comprehension in a Hong Kong international school. Twenty‐five primary school (Grade 5) students who learn English as a second language participated in this study. Metacognitive instruction was incorporated into 10 process‐based reading lessons. Data were collected from notes learners took during reading, post‐reading reflection reports, teacher‐facilitated group discussions and two types of reading tests. Results revealed that the young learners could articulate several knowledge factors that influenced their reading. In addition, learners reported a better understanding of the nature and demands of reading, a deeper awareness of metacognitive knowledge in improving reading comprehension and increased confidence in handling reading exercises. The learners also showed enhanced reading performance compared to those in a control group without metacognitive intervention. This study highlights the potential of metacognitive instruction to enhance primary school English learners' reading literacy.     

STEM‐focused high schools as a strategy for enhancing readiness for postsecondary STEM programs

The logic underlying inclusive STEM high schools (ISHSs) posits that requiring all students to take advanced college preparatory STEM courses while providing student‐centered, reform‐oriented instruction, ample student supports, and real‐world STEM experiences and role models will prepare and inspire students admitted on the basis of STEM interest rather than prior achievement for postsecondary STEM. This study tests that logic model by comparing the high school experiences and achievement of students in ISHSs and comparison schools in North Carolina. After identifying ISHS and non‐STEM comparison high schools serving students who were similar in terms of socioeconomic status and academic achievement prior to high school entry, we employed propensity‐score weighting and HLM modeling to estimate the impact of attending an ISHS on a set of outcome measures obtained from student surveys and from the state's longitudinal student data system. Analyses of student survey data found that attending an ISHS raises the likelihood that a student will complete pre‐calculus or calculus and chemistry in high school, leads to increased involvement in STEM extracurricular and out‐of‐class activities, and enhances interest in science careers and aspirations to earn a master's or higher degree. Analyses of student outcome data from state administrative records revealed a positive impact of inclusive STEM high school attendance on grade point average (GPA) but not on ACT scores. © 2016 The Authors. Journal of Research in Science Teaching Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 53: 709–736, 2016