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Background: Currently, the majority of learners within the South African education system speak English as an additional language. Many of these children are therefore learning the language of instruction through the language of instruction. Of particular concern for speech-language therapists (SLTs) are those children who have language impairment. In addition, it is important for SLTs to be able to distinguish between the learners who have language impairment, and those who are merely in the process of acquiring English. Additionally, the identification of language impairment among learners who speak English as an additional language is difficult as there are no overt manifestations of language learning difficulties, and, unfortunately, these learners are easily over-looked during the pre-school and school-age years. Furthermore, specifically within the South African context, there are limited tools available that can be used to screen for, and/or diagnose language impairment among EAL learners. Purpose: The main aim of this study was to explore the use of sentence repetition as a screening tool for the identification of language impairment in learners who speak English as an additional language. Method: The research design of this study was non-experimental, quantitative, descriptive and cross-sectional in nature, with comparative and correlational components. One hundred and seven grade 2 EAL learners from a mainstream school in Gauteng participated in the study. The learners were evaluated on two sentence repetition tests; the Redmond (2005) Sentence Repetition Test and the Recalling Sentences subtest from the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals-4 (CELF-4) (Semel, Wiig & Secord, 2003). The learners were also evaluated on the Gray Oral Reading Test-4 (GORT-4) (Wiederholt & Bryant, 2001). The results obtained from these measures were correlated in order to determine the internal validity of the two sentence repetition measures, as well as to investigate the extent to which sentence repetition can be used to predict academic literacy. Learners who were identified as being at-risk for language impairment, namely those who fell 1 standard deviation (SD) below the peer group mean on the Redmond (2005) Sentence Repetition test were further evaluated using the Diagnostic Evaluation of Language Variation-Criterion Referenced edition (DELV-CR) (Seymour, Roeper & de Villiers, 2003), to diagnose language impairment, avoid misdiagnosis, and describe the manifestations of language impairment in the second language. Results and Implications: The results of the Redmond (2005) Sentence Repetition test proved to be a valid measure to identify learners who were at-risk for language impairment, provided that the peer group mean was used as a standard of comparison. Twelve of the 107 (11.2%) learners from the study were identified as being at-risk for language impairment. However, after analysis of the results and using a peer group mean from Jordaan’s (2011) study, only 9/12 (7.5%) of the participants were diagnosed with language impairment. This finding highlights the fact that EAL learners are often over-identified as having language impairment and further assessment is necessary to minimise the risk of misdiagnosis of language impairment. The findings from the DELV-CR (Seymour, Roeper & de Villiers, v 2003), in terms of the manifestations of language impairment in the second language, were consistent with the EAL language impaired learners from Jordaan’s (2011) study, as well as the literature. This finding indicates that sentence repetition is a valid screening tool for the identification of language impairment in EAL learners. Furthermore, 11 of the 12 of the at-risk learners scored below the peer group mean on the reading comprehension measure. Thus, it is evident that, in addition to not being able to use language effectively for academic purposes, most children with language impairment are further disadvantaged by poor reading comprehension skills. An implication for future research would be to explore whether the development of a sentence repetition measure in an African language (e.g. Zulu) would yield similar results as the current study. In this way, EAL learners could be identified in their home language. A secondary finding of the current study was that the grade 2 educators were not able to identify learners who required additional language support within the classroom. This finding has implications for the role of SLTs in mainstream education and the need to support educators in their ability to identify learners with SLI and whose academic language development is not on par with that of their peers.

Syftet med detta arbete var att ta reda på vilket stöd det finns för språkminoritetselever, dvs elever i USA som inte har engelskan som modersmål, i de amerikanske klassrummen. Jag intervjuade fem amerikanska lärare i Atlanta. Jag ville ta reda på hur medvetna dessa lärare är om de speciella behov språkminoritetselever har. De fem intervjuade lärarna kände till grundläggande ideer om att undervisa språkminoritetselever i sina klassrum men ingen av dem hade läst om det under sin utbildning. Undersökningen indikerar att andra språk än engelska inte har så stor betydelse i skolor i Atlanta och att lärare inte får tillräckligt med undervisning om språkminoritetselever. Något som är överraskande eftersom det är förutspått att år 2020 kommer tjugofem procent av de amerikanska eleverna ha ett annat modersmål än engelska. / In order to find out what support there is for ELL students, students with a first language other than English in mainstream classrooms in the US, I have interviewed five teachers in Atlanta. I was interested in seeing how much these teachers know of the special needs these students have. The five teachers interviewed knew basic idea of how to instruct ELL students in their mainstream classroom but no one had been taught anything about second language acquisition or theories about the needs of ELL students in their education. This study also indicates that other languages than English are not of importance in the schools in Atlanta and teachers are not taught how to deal with ELL students. This is surprising since predictions say that in 2020 twenty five percent of students in the US will speak a first language others than English.

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In the United States STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education is increasingly being promoted as a key component of preparing students for the reality of an increasingly technology infused society and workforce. As the population of students classified as English Language Learners (ELLs) continues to grow across the United States the need for STEM educators to be prepared to effectively educate these students is of increasing concern. The task of preparing this group of learners to succeed in a STEM-infused society is a joint effort between specialized linguistic courses in the K-12 education system as well as the STEM educators outside of these specialized courses. As such, focus on creating policy and preparation models for STEM teachers to acquire the necessary skills to effectively serve the ELL population needs to be rooted in targeted analysis of the connections between STEM educators and ELLs. This dissertation is comprised of two exploratory research studies that examine STEM teachers' preparedness to educate ELLs using secondary analysis of the 2007-2008 and 2011-2012 School and Staffing Survey Teacher Questionnaire (SASS TQ) datasets. The first study focuses on national and regional analysis of how STEM teachers' degrees, state-level certification areas, and professional development participation reflect potential indicators of preparedness to educate ELLs. Concurrently, this study examines ELL participation in STEM courses nationally and regionally through the percentage of STEM teachers who had ELLs in their overall service loads of students as well as the average number of ELLs in those service loads. Quantitative analysis showed drastic differences between regions as well as differences in ELL participation and teacher credentialing between the STEM disciplines. The second study utilizes both the 2007-2008 and 2011-2012 SASS TQ datasets to make comparisons in STEM educators credentialing and ELL participation in STEM courses over the four year time span between the datasets. National analysis of ELL participation in STEM courses showed that in all of the STEM disciplines the percentage of teachers who had ELLs in their total service loads of students increased. The growth of ELL participation differed across disciplines and across regions, however, nationally by 2012 over half of all STEM educators reported having ELLs in their service loads of students. Despite the growing participation of ELLs in STEM courses, the rates of STEM teachers' participation in ELL specific professional development activities largely stagnated over the four year span. The findings of these studies provide valuable information to frame discussions of STEM teachers'preparedness to meet the needs of a growing population of ELLs. / PHD / The growing number of students classified as English Language Learners (ELLs) in the public school system within the United States has increased educational researchers’ attention on this unique group of learners. Students classified as ELL have specific language needs that must be addressed in unison with their education in other disciplines. Within the disciplines of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Education there has been a lack of national analysis of how teachers are prepared to meet the needs of this growing population of students. This dissertation is comprised of two complimentary studies that use a national dataset to analyze potential indicators of STEM teachers’ preparedness to work with students classified as ELLs by examining their credentials related to educating ELLs. The first of the two studies use regional and national analysis to examine how the rates of STEM teacher credentialing related to ELLs differs among the STEM disciplines and across the United States. The second study used multiple datasets to analyze changes across a four year time span in the rates of ELL participation in STEM teachers’ courses as well as STEM teachers credentialing related to ELLs.

English fluency is a strong predictor of later academic success in the U.S. (Espinosa, 2007) In fact, a child who enters kindergarten with weak English language skills is most at risk for academic failure and dropping out of school; while a child with strong home language (L1) skills is more likely to attain fluency in English (Espinosa, 2007). A large portion of young English learners are acquiring their first and second languages at the same time. It is important to young dual language learners (DLL) that research reveals the best ways to provide effective instruction which helps maintain the home language and supports acquisition of English. This study examined the effects of an early reading intervention on preschool-age DLL children’s early literacy skills. Phonological awareness and alphabet knowledge have been identified as skills that can transfer from L1 to English (L2) to enhance the acquisition of the second language among young children (Dickinson, 2004; Durgunoglu, Nagy, & Hancin-Bhatt, 1993). There is evidence of the effectiveness of shared-reading interventions to increase children’s oral language skills across languages, race/ethnicity, and SES. The current study embedded instruction in phonological awareness and alphabet knowledge in a group of interactive reading strategies known as Dialogic Reading (DR). The intervention was delivered in the children’s home language, Spanish. Children’s growth in emergent literacy skills in Spanish and in English was monitored using a single subject with multiple baselines across subjects design. Visual analysis of single subject graphs indicated gains across all participants. In addition, paired-samples t-tests showed significant growth between pre- and post-tests in both English and Spanish of participating children. The findings have implications for research, policy, professional practice, and home literacy practices.

A large number of English language learners (ELLs) in secondary school are long-term ELLs who have attended public schools in the United States for at least seven years, having received English language support services, yet have not acquired English proficiency (Capps, Fix, Murray, Ost, Passel, & Herwantoro., 2005). Formal or informal programs and educational services to address the particular needs of long-term ELLs are scant to non-exist (Zehr, 2010). In spite of the growing presence of long-term ELLs in secondary schools, little research has been conducted about their academic challenges. Due to the scarcity of research, effective practices for long-term ELLs in secondary school are very limited (Ruix-de-Velasco & Fix, 2000). Research is needed to better understand risk factors associated with dropping out, retention, and the high incidence of disproportionate representation of long-term ELLs in special education programs. Equally absent from available literature are the voices of students themselves. This study aims to expand the existing database about long-term ELLs' academic challenges from the perspective of students themselves about their language and academic learning experiences. A qualitative, naturalistic inquiry (NI) approach was utilized to explore the perceptions of long-term ELLs about their learning experiences in the context of their school history, including program placements, special education referral, and academic outcomes. Thirteen long-term ELLs at a high school in metropolitan area of Texas were participated in this study. Data were generated from semi-structured, in-depth interviews and various documents, including students' cumulative folders, language proficiency assessment records, and the state assessment data, and analyzed using a grounded theory approach. The findings of the study indicate that participants experienced multiple layers of lack of opportunity to learn as they moved through the educational process. Participants perceived themselves as English-proficient, motivated learners who were successful in spite of challenges they had experienced, which they attributed mainly to their limited development of academic language proficiency in English. The study also revealed a gap between participants' postsecondary aspirations and the reality of their academic underachievement, which raises questions about the adequacy of general educational programs for this population and appropriate identifications of ELLs with disabilities. / text