Helping ELLs Meet Standards in English Language Arts and Science: An Intervention Focused on Academic Vocabulary. Issue 4 (3rd July 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: August, Diane; Artzi, Lauren; Barr, Christopher
• Is Part Of: Reading and writing quarterly. Volume 32:Issue 4(2016)
• Page Start: 373
• Page End: 396
• Publication Date: 2016-07-03
• Subjects: Reading disability -- Periodicals; Language arts -- Remedial teaching -- Periodicals; Learning disabilities -- Periodicals; 371.91405
• DOI: 10.1080/10573569.2015.1039738
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1057-3569

Abstract

Abstract : The Common Core State Standards and the Next Generation Science Standards require students to understand and produce academic language that appears in informational text. Vocabulary is a critical domain of academic language, but English language learners (ELLs) come to the English Language Arts classroom with more limited English vocabulary than their English-proficient peers. This study compared 2 methods of vocabulary instruction: extended vocabulary instruction and embedded vocabulary instruction. Teachers implemented both approaches in the context of interactive shared reading, in which teachers and students read and discussed informational text. A total of 30 teachers in 18 schools and 509 third- and fourth-grade Spanish-speaking ELLs in a large, high-poverty district in the southwestern United States participated. Findings indicate that although extended instruction was the more effective approach, embedded instruction also helped ELLs acquire general academic and domain-specific vocabulary—an important finding, given that embedded instruction requires considerably less instructional time.