This applied dissertation was designed to provide insight into teachers' perceptions of their ability to work effectively with limited English proficient (LEP) students. Data from the writer's district, as well as state and national data, show a persistent achievement gap between the academic performance of LEP students and non-LEP students on various indicators. LEP students are dependent upon their classroom and subject-area teachers for their academic growth. However, these teachers are generally unprepared to meet the academic needs of LEP students. Established instruments were used to survey the 895 teachers in the research district to determine how teachers across a large school district in New Jersey felt about their ability to teach LEP students effectively. This study also sought to determine whether there were pockets of greater self-efficacy by establishing whether there is a relationship between reported teacher self-efficacy and independent variables such as demographic category or area of specialization and to discover which initiatives or training teachers report as contributing to greater self-efficacy in working successfully with LEP students.

Strategies for Improving Instruction for English Language Learners and Culturally Diverse Student Populations. Turanza D. Jackson, 2014: Applied Dissertation, Nova Southeastern University, Abraham S. Fischler School of Education. ERIC Descriptors: English (Second Language), Multicultural Education, Cultural Awareness, English Language Learners This applied dissertation was designed to determine effective strategies that promote academic success for high school students of diverse cultural populations, particularly students learning English. Many ineffective strategies used by teachers in English-language classrooms also lack the culturally accepting element. Students from various sociocultural and linguistically diverse backgrounds are experiencing limited academic engagement because of educators’ deficiency in cultural perspectives. The problem addressed was the need to improve educational opportunities and academic engagement for English language learner (ELL) students and the diverse needs of students from various cultural backgrounds. A qualitative research design was conducted by examining the instructional methods and leadership practices of participating faculty and staff at a high school servicing ELL students and culturally diverse student populations. This research design focused on understanding strategies for improved performance of ELL students and diverse student populations in the teaching and learning environment with particular interest on how faculty were engaged in using specific strategies. Through the collection of interview, documentation, and observational data, detailed conceptual theory was developed. A constant comparative analysis of the data revealed 5 themes that support existing theories in the literature: student engagement, classroom strategies, environmental conditions, teacher–student relationships, and challenges that impede performance. This study resulted in 3 main conclusions. First, a strong relationship exists between students’ increased classroom engagement and improved student performance. Next, student engagement is influenced by 4 main practices selected by teachers: grouping, relevant topics, collaboration, and differentiation. Finally, 3 factors that greatly affect student performance are relationship dynamics, cultural perceptions, and external challenges.

Reclassification is a process that changes the language proficiency status of an English learner (EL) to that of a fluent English proficient (FEP) student. School districts in California are allowed to set their own reclassification criteria, based on guidelines from the State Board of Education. Various reclassification policies may present problems, such as inappropriate placement and provision of services which would widen the academic deficit of English learners and place them at greater risk for long-term academic problems. The purposes of this study were to analyze the reclassification criteria among districts in the Northern San Joaquin Valley and Foothill area of California, to learn how districts arrive at their current criteria, and to know what modifications and recommendations district leaders who are in charge of English learner services would suggest regarding reclassification. Policies from 23 K-12 school districts in the studied area were collected and analyzed. Interviews with 12 district leaders who are in charge of English learner programs and services were conducted to find out how districts developed their criteria and their suggestions for modifications and recommendations regarding reclassification. Data collected from school districts' policies revealed a diverse set of practices in the establishment of the reclassification criteria although the majority of the school districts studied met the SBE guidelines to reclassify EL students. There is a range of selected cut points for English language proficiency and the California Standardized Tests. There is also a wide variety of measures and their specific requisites that are being used as part of the teachers' evaluation of students' curriculum mastery requirements. Parental opinion and consultation were presented in 22 out of 23 policies collected. Furthermore, an array of miscellaneous requirements was found in the majority of districts' criteria. The differences in districts' reclassification criteria prompted concerns regarding reclassified students' proficiency levels and performance. Recommendations include a more uniform and specific set of reclassification guidelines statewide, an explicit operational definition of English proficiency, and frequent review of EL students' progress to prevent and identify Long Term English Learners, LTELs, so that appropriate intervention can be provided to enable their success.

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This study analyzes the effects of a Tier 2, small group intervention developed by the Exemplary Center for Reading Instruction (ECRI) that employs direct instruction strategies (including scripted sequenced lessons, teacher modeling, and repeated practice). The reading achievement of 15 English language learners (ELLs) in the ECRI intervention was compared to the reading achievement of 12 ELLs in a computer-based reading intervention. The reading achievement of 27 ELLs was also compared to the reading achievement of 48 non-ELLs in the interventions. Repeated measures ANOVAs and independent t-tests analyzed the results of the Kaufman Test of Educational Achievement-II Brief, pre- and post-tests. ELLs in grades 1-3 improved from pre- to post-test in the ECRI condition. In grades 1-3, both ELLs and non-ELLs in the ECRI condition significantly improved. ELLs in both conditions significantly improved in grades 4-6. In grades 4-6, there was a significant difference between ELLs and non-ELLs in the ECRI condition at pre-test but the difference was no longer significant at post-test. Implications and limitations of the findings are explored.

The impact student mobility has on academic achievement has been researched in the United States since the early 20th century (Goebel, 1978). Mobility for students is a risk factor often compounded by poverty, ELL students are at a higher risk of lower achievement. Educators face challenges in tracking records, monitoring, remediating, gap closing, and assisting students in transition periods. The data collected in this quantitative study was analyzed to determine the impact mobility has on English language learners and their attainment of a second language. This quantitative study examined the relationship between non-mobile and highly mobile ELL students in 1st through twelfth grade from one small school district. An analysis was utilized to identify the difference between male and female, mobile and non-mobile ELL students. The frequency of mobility was evaluated to identify the impact mobility has on language attainment. The findings propose that no significant relationship exists between mobility and language attainment.

At the beginning of each term, a handful of students who are linguistically unable to function in an English-speaking classroom appear at the doors of intensive English language programs across the globe. The English Language Center (ELC) at Brigham Young University (BYU) is no exception. In the recent past, five to twelve students have arrived each semester inadequately prepared for the lowest level class available. When placed in that level (Level One), these so-called "Level Zero" students have had trouble progressing and have also delayed the progress of the entire class. Without intervention, these students can continue to lag behind and pull down the level of the class throughout their time at the ELC. Finding or creating a solution to this ongoing problem was the purpose of this project. The solution presented here is to develop and implement a new curriculum designed specifically for these students. This course of action presents its own challenges, such as ensuring cost-effectiveness, providing adequate staffing, and finding or creating appropriate course materials. Each of these challenges has been addressed. Cost effectiveness and adequate staffing are ensured by utilizing unpaid interns from the BYU undergraduate TESOL minor program as teachers, and paying only one experienced teacher who functions as a supervisor and a teacher as needed. Course materials, some only recently developed, were chosen for the All Skills Class, the Vocabulary Class, the Reading Class, and the Lab Class. These classes currently constitute the Foundations Prep Course. The need for this curriculum was reiterated during a needs analysis conducted Winter Semester of 2009 by the students of the BYU Linguistics 677 (Curriculum Development) class. The Foundations Prep curriculum was then developed by the author during the summer of 2009 and implemented by her the following semester at the ELC. It is again being utilized there Winter Semester 2010. Institutional and financial feasibility, progress of students, reactions of members of the Executive Council, of the Foundations Prep Teacher/Supervisor, and of the interns, have all been examined to aid in considering the efficacy of continuing this program into the future.

Vocabulary in a second language is an indispensable building block of all comprehension (Folse, 2006; Nation, 2006). Teachers in content area classes such as science, math, and social studies frequently teach content specific vocabulary, but are not aware of the obstacles that can occur when students do not know the basic words. Word lists such as the General Service List (GSL) were created to assist students and teachers (West, 1953). The GSL does not adequately take into account the high level of polysemy of many common English words, nor has it been updated by genre to reflect specific content domains encountered by secondary science students in today's high stakes classes such as chemistry. This study examines how many words of the first 1000 words of the GSL occurred in the secondary chemistry textbooks sampled, how often the first 1000 words of the GSL were polysemous, and specifically which multiple meanings occurred. A discussion of results includes word tables that list multiple meanings present, example phrases that illustrate the context surrounding the target words, suggestions for a GSL that is genre specific to secondary chemistry textbooks and that is ranked by meaning as well as type, and implications for both vocabulary materials and classroom instruction for ELLs in secondary chemistry classes. Findings are essential to second language (L2) researchers, materials developers, publishers, and teachers.

The explicit teaching of reading comprehension strategies has been proposed as a means to better prepare secondary school-aged students for today's information-dense, fast-paced, fast-changing global society, and to improve the academic performance of struggling adolescent readers. This proposition of a direct and positive impact of reading comprehension strategies on reading achievement for all students has not been investigated with English language learners (ELLs) who, by definition, do not possess the same level of English language skills as their native-English speaking peers. This mixed-method study investigated linguistic, cognitive, as well as affective factors that impact adolescent ELLs' performance on a standardized state reading achievement test. The quantitative portion examined the relative contributions of second language proficiency and reading comprehension strategies to a prediction model of reading achievement in 110 ninth and tenth grade ELLs. The qualitative portion of the study involved individual interviews and was aimed at deepening the understanding of ELLs' use of strategies during the standardized reading test, while also investigating affective factors that may impact their performance on this measure of academic achievement. Quantitative findings include two statistically significant prediction models of reading achievement with reading comprehension strategies and English language proficiency as predictor variables. However, only language proficiency made a significant unique contribution to the prediction variable. Qualitative findings suggest that the participants had relatively little metacognitive awareness of their comprehension during the standardized test, had overestimated their use of reading strategies as reported on a 30-item strategy survey instrument, had concentrated on sentence-level comprehension due to unknown vocabulary, and may have been hindered by testing anxiety in being able to wholly concentrate on the task. Recommendations made for the instruction of comprehension strategies consist of the raising of metacognitive awareness through the explicit modeling of the thought processes involved in reading comprehension, including determining the meaning of unknown words.