Long-Term English Language Learner Project (Phase I)

The purpose of this research project is to explore the characteristics and educational needs of Long-Term English Language Learners (LTELLs), students who continue to be designated English Language Learnrs after 6 years or more in the United States. While there are significant numbers of LTELLs in the New York City public schools, comprising approximately one-third of all high school English Language Learners (ELLs), very little research has been conducted about these students. Though often orally proficient in English, Long-Term ELLs are characterized by low levels of academic literacy in both English and their home language, and typically score below grade level on assessments. Traditional English as a second language and bilingual education programs at the secondary level were designed to meet the needs of newly arrived ELLs who are literate in their home language, but such programs often fail to meet the needs of Long-Term ELLs. To gain a clearer understanding of this population and learn how high schools can best meet the needs of these students, a descriptive qualitative study was conducted in three New York City high schools serving LTELLs.

For this research, the following data was collected and analyzed:

  • Interviews with 29 Long-Term ELL students;
  • Interviews with 9 educators including 5 administrators and 4 teachers
  • Assessment data in English and Spanish.

Long-term English Language Learner Project (Phase II)

After completing our pilot study, we concluded that LTELLs would benefit from high school programs in which academic literacy skills are taught explicitly in both English and the students' native languages, and where native language arts classes focused on native language literacy development are offered to LTELLs. Furthermore, we recommended that explicit literacy instruction become part of all content-area subjects, such as Math, Science, and Social Studies, in addition to ESL and native language arts classes, and that a school's approach to literacy instruction must be uniform and coordinated across all subject areas. Thus the program (or intervention) we created in partnership with the participating schools sought to support the development of students' academic language and literacy skills in English and Spanish through a three-pronged approach, implementing the following course structure for ninth
and tenth grade students:


1. Spanish Native Language Arts courses, to help students develop a strong foundation in academic Spanish language and literacy.
2. English as a second language courses, in which long-term English learners are taught separately from new arrivals so that instruction can focus on academic literacy in English rather than on the development of basic language proficiency.
3. Content-area courses—such as math, science, and social studies—that focus simultaneously on content, language and content-specific literacy learning.


The figure below outlines the program design we implemented, and also includes the future stages of program implementation if the programs continue.

 

Pilot Program

In order to support the development and implementation of the program outlined above, from March-June 2008 we met regularly with teachers and administrators.  We also did a lot of the planning during Summer 2008, and schedule professional development for teachers on language and literacy instruction.  In particular, the planning phase of this project focused on designing the ESL and Spanish Native Language Arts courses for LTELLs, and on identifying strategies for teaching literacy to LTELLs in all the content areas.  The program was implemented during the 2008-2009 academic year, beginning in September.  Although the RISLUS team contributd to decision-making, the ultimate decisions about and implementation of the program came from the educators at each site.

For this research, the following data was collected and analyzed:

  • Classroom observations in each of the following subjects at both schools: ELA, ESL, Native/Spanish Language Arts, Math, Social Studies and Science;
  • Interviews with teachers participating in the pilot program after classroom observations and at the end of the year.
  • Interviews with Long-Term ELL students participating in the study along with a follow-up student focus group at each of the schools;
  • Assessment data in English and Spanish