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The number of English language learners continues to grow in United States' schools and their achievement level continues to lag behind their peers. This developmental study investigated the design and development of a multimedia environment that embedded cognitive strategy instruction to assist ELL students' academic content learning. High school ELL students face the hardship of preparing for various state mandated graduation requirements while learning the English language and learning strategies are believed to help ELL students improve their learning. The multimedia tutorial embedded rehearsal, elaboration, and compensation learning strategies to help the ELL students understand and recall information about state mandated computer competencies. Formative evaluation was used to gather data from five intermediate Hispanic ELL high school students in grades 9 through 11. Lessons learned from embedding rehearsal, elaboration, and compensation learning strategies in multimedia instruction and recommendations for future development are discussed. / Ph. D.

This study investigates the effects of self-regulated strategy development (Harris, Graham, & Mason, 2009) for cognitive strategy instruction in persuasive writing (POW+TREE) using a synchronous online learning environment for special education students. Participants are four adolescent students with learning disabilities (LD) with low achievement in writing. One undergraduate research assistant delivered instruction using a synchronous online platform (e.g., Adobe Connect) in conjunction with collaborative writing software (e.g., Google Docs word processing). A multiple probe across participants design was used to demonstrate a functional relationship between instruction and number of essay elements (EE). Number of correct minus incorrect word sequences (CIWS) was used as a secondary dependent measure. A nonexperimental pre-post design was used to compare the mean performance of holistic writing quality scores and standard scores from the TOWL-3. All four participants gained EE and CIWS from baseline to treatment and demonstrated standard score changes from pre to post-test on the TOWL-3. Implications for writing instruction for students with LD using online learning environments are discussed.