<p> With a growing population of English Language Learners in our schools, their specialized classroom needs must be addressed. California state testing shows that English Language Learners (ELL) consistently perform below proficiency as compared to other students who are not English Language Learners. Many times, in response to pressure placed by the state testing requirements, administrators and educators focus on English Language development strategies at the cost of other content areas such as science. The Science and English Learning Development Blended Program is a professional development project that combines English Language Development (ELD) strategies within science lesson plans to address the language needs of English Language Learners through science content. The Blended Program was in place for four years in an urban school district in southern California. During its initial year of implementation, a research study focused on the types of changes teachers made to their science lesson plans as a result of their professional development: all of the changes made had to do with English Language Development and not Science. Implications of this study suggest that at the start of the program changes to support science content were not made because the teachers did not have the science knowledge to be comfortable enough to make changes to address the science portion of the lesson. The data analyzed for this study was collected during the Blended Program's third and fourth year of implementation. The findings show changes which reflect the following themes: science concept acquisition, oral language development, and scaffolding instruction. These themes reflect changes . that address both English Language Development and science. The individuals involved with the Blended Program have now had training for ELD and Science content for three or four years. Results suggest that the training not only equipped the teachers with English Language Development strategies but has also improved teachers science content knowledge and as a result teachers are better equipped to address the science in the lesson.</p>
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PROQUEST/oai:pqdtoai.proquest.com:1527543 |
| Date | 23 April 2014 |
| Creators | De La Riva, Yanette |
| Publisher | California State University, Long Beach |
| Source Sets | ProQuest.com |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | thesis |
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