Recent crede_ncrcdslleducational items

Instructional Conversations and their Classroom Applications

Tue, 29 Apr 2003 00:00:00 +0000

Generations of educators have advocated a type of teaching that does more than impart knowledge and teach skills. Knowledge and skills are undoubtedly important, but true education requires far more. It requires helping students use their knowledge and skills to understand, appreciate, and grapple with important ideas as they develop a depth of understanding for a wide range of issues and questions. Yet teaching aimed at these important goals is largely absent from U.S. classrooms.

"Instructional conversations" (ICs) might be one way to achieve the ambitious but elusive goals long held by many thoughtful educators. ICs are discussion-based lessons geared toward creating opportunities for students' conceptual and linguistic development. They focus on an idea or a students. The teacher encourages expression of students' own ideas, builds upon information students provide and experiences they have had, and guides students to increasingly sophisticated levels of understanding....

Language Mindority Education in the United States: Implications of the Ramirez Report

Tue, 29 Apr 2003 00:00:00 +0000

Controversy continues over the most reasonable conclusions to draw from the accumulated research evidence on the effectiveness of various program models for students who are not proficient in English. This paper examines a report prepared for the U.S. Department of Education on three program models for language minority children: structured English immersion strategy and early-exit and late-exit bilingual education.

The most conservative, uncontroversial conclusion drawn from the report is that there are no differences in results among the programs studied (Ramirez, Yuen, & Ramey, 1991). The author of this paper draws additional conclusions. An obvious implication is that the amount of time spent using a second language can no longer be considered the most important influence on learning it. A number of other factors can be critically important in minority language children's second language learning and school success. Teacher qualifications and parent involvement...

Teacher Research on Funds of Knowledge: Learning from Households

Tue, 29 Apr 2003 00:00:00 +0000

The conceptualization of working-class Latino students' households as being rich in funds of knowledge has engendered transformative consequences for teachers, parents, students, and researchers. The qualitative study of their own students' households by teachers has unfolded as a viable method for bridging the gap between school and community. Teachers enter the households of two to three of their students as ethnographers, that is, as learners of the everyday lived contexts of their students' lives. These are not home visits in the usual sense, as teachers do not attempt to teach the family or to visit for disciplinary reasons. The focus of the home visit is to gather details about the accumulated knowledge base that each household assembles in order to ensure its own subsistence. Teachers also participate in study groups that offer a forum for the collective analysis of the household findings. Based on their experiences in the households and the study groups, teachers form...

Two-Way Bilingual Education: Students Learning Through Two Languages

Tue, 29 Apr 2003 00:00:00 +0000

In a growing number of schools in the United States, students are learning through two languages in programs that aim to develop dual language proficiency along with academic achievement. These two-way bilingual programs integrate language minority and language majority students and provide content area instruction and language development in two languages.

A study of over 160 schools between 1991 and 1994 provides a picture of the current state of two-way bilingual education in the United States. Two-way programs typically share the goals of bilingual proficiency, academic achievement, and positive cross-cultural attitudes and behaviors, but they vary a good deal in the approaches and strategies they use to work toward those goals. A host of local factors affect such issues as student enrollment, program features and design, and instructional features.

Emerging results of studies of two-way bilingual programs point to their effectiveness in educating nonnative-English-speaking...

Learning Science and English: How School Reform Advances Scientific Learning for Limited English Proficient Middle School Students

Tue, 29 Apr 2003 00:00:00 +0000

This article presents findings from the School Reform and Student Diversity Study, a 4-year project to locate and analyze schools offering exemplary science and mathematics programs to middle school students with limited proficiency in English. In contrast to the vast majority of schools, the four schools described in this article give these students access to stimulating science and mathematics curricula by instructing them either in the students' primary language or in English using sheltered techniques. These schools have overcome the usual barriers to including students with limited English proficiency (LEP) in grade level science and mathematics courses, particularly the belief of many teachers and administrators that fluency in English is a prerequisite to learning other academic subjects.

How have these schools been able to offer innovative science and mathematics programs to students who are not yet proficient in English? First, these programs were manifestations...

Rating Instructional Conversations: A Guide

Tue, 29 Apr 2003 00:00:00 +0000

The current focus on more effective ways to foster literacy in school-age children, especially language minority students, has led to the development of alternative instructional approaches. One such approach is the instructional conversation (IC), based on early work in the Hawaiian Kamehameha Elementary Education Project (KEEP), on neo-Vygotskian theory, and on recent classroom-based research on reading comprehension.

The present report outlines preliminary efforts to operationalize more fully the concept of the IC and describes an observational tool, the IC Rating Scale, to examine classroom-based reading comprehension lessons. Preliminary data on the reliability and validity of the IC scale are presented, followed by sample transcripts of instructional conversations from actual reading comprehension lessons. Cautions and unresolved questions to be considered in using the scale are discussed, and suggestions are mace for further investigation.

Readers who are...

Myths and Misconceptions About Second Language Learning: What Every Teacher Needs to Ulearn

Tue, 29 Apr 2003 00:00:00 +0000

By discussing commonly held myths and misconceptions, this paper attempts to clarify a number of important issues in the area of second language learning. These include the ease and rapidity with which children learn a second language, the optimal age at which to begin second language instruction, the importance of the extent of exposure to the second language, the relationship between oral communication skills and academic language skills, and cultural and individual differences in language learning styles.

Each myth presented in this paper is followed by a discussion of related research on second language learning and its implications for classroom teachers. It is important for the teachers of language minority students to understand that second language learning by school-aged children is a longer, harder, more complex process than most of them have been led to believe.

Links Between Home and School Among Low-Income Mexican-American and European-American Families

Tue, 29 Apr 2003 00:00:00 +0000

The goal of this report is to show how low-income Mexican-American and European-American children's and adolescents' everyday learning activities in the home and parents' aspirations for their children's future are key elements in home-school linkages. After reviewing two models of home-school linkages, we apply the ecocultural approach to analyzing third-,fifth-, and seventh-grade students' participation in chore and homework activities and their parents' aspirations for their personal/moral, educational, and vocational future. Drawing on interviews with these students' parents, we illustrate personnel (parents, siblings, relatives, friends) available to guide children's and adolescents' mastery of homework and chores, parents' direct and indirect instructional scripts, and how parents' future goals and aspirations might shape their present goals and guidance. In reporting our findings, we pay special attention to 1) similarities and differences between the ecology of learning,...

Integrating Language and Culture in Middle School American History Classes

Tue, 29 Apr 2003 00:00:00 +0000

This report describes preliminary findings from a study examining school American history classes with English language learners. The study has investigated the construction of social studies knowledge in these and the development and implementation of lessons that address the and educational backgrounds of the learners while integrating language content, and culture objectives. After briefly describing some features studies language, revealed through analyses of classroom discourse books, this report focuses on the implementation of several lessons project-developed unit, "Protest and the American Revolution." Attention is paid to teacher accommodations, student oral and written participation, infusion of multicultural issue and perspectives.

Instructional Conversations in Special Education Settings: Issues and Accommodations

Tue, 29 Apr 2003 00:00:00 +0000

Traditional approaches to special education instruction tend to be individualized and focus on skill building. In contrast, an interactive instructional approach, instructional conversations (Tharp & Gallimore, 1988), seems to capitalize on what the child brings to the learning situation rather than focusing solely on remediation of deficit areas. While an instructional conversational approach does not replace teaching that emphasizes the acquisition of skills and knowledge, it does appear to provide additional learning opportunities within a meaningful context. However, accommodations particular to students with learning disabilities may be necessary when implementing such an approach in a special education setting.

Creating a Community of Scholarship with Instructional Conversations in a Transitional Bilingual Classroom

Tue, 29 Apr 2003 00:00:00 +0000

This report explores the ways in which instructional conversations between a teacher and her students contributed to building an academic community in a transitional bilingual fourth-grade classroom. Through an analysis of reading lesson transcripts, classroom events, and student essays and journal assignments, this report shows how classroom experiences fostered the development of students' understanding of the concepts of sacrifice and responsibility. This report describes how, at both the individual and classroom community level, instructional conversations deepened student understandings of the texts they read in class by encouraging students to make connections between particular textual concepts and their own experiences. In addition to tracking student gains in understanding, this report shows how the conversations helped build a classroom community that incorporated the cultural beliefs and concerns of the students.

Integrating Language and Content: Lessons from Immersion

Fri, 25 Apr 2003 00:00:00 +0000

Among the most interesting and effective innovations in second language education during the last three decades have been the immersion programs developed in Canada. The first immersion programs were developed to provide Canada's majority-group English-speaking students with opportunities to learn Canada's other official language. Since that time, immersion programs have been adopted in many different areas of North America, and alternative forms of immersion have been devised.

This report presents a selective review of research findings from the extensive evaluations that have been undertaken to evaluate the effectiveness of immersion programs in Canada and the United States. It focuses on selected aspects of second language learning and discusses implications of immersion research findings for the design and development of second language programs in other school settings for other kinds of learners: for example, for students learning through other forms of content-based...

Making Change Happen in a Language Minority School: A Search for Coherence

Fri, 25 Apr 2003 00:00:00 +0000

This paper reports on a project aimed at improving academic achievement at a predominantly Latino elementary school in the metropolitan Los Angeles area. Project activities were guided by a school change model that helped provide a coherent, sustained focus over a period of several years. The model suggests four elements that can be used to produce changes in teaching and learning: goals that are set and shared; indicators that measure success; assistance by capable others; and leadership that supports and pressures. Administration and faculty at the school, aided by UCLA researchers, made substantial improvements in teacher expectations, teaching, school climate, and student achievement.

The Education of Linguistically and Culturally Diverse Students: Effective Instructional Practices

Fri, 25 Apr 2003 00:00:00 +0000

Linguistically and culturally diverse students find themselves in a vulnerable situation on entering U.S. schools. They can achieve academic success, however, when provided with appropriate instruction tailored to meet their specific needs. Recent research has documented effective instructional practices used with students from homes and communities where English is not the primary language of communication. These descriptive studies identified specific schools and classrooms whose language minority students were particularly successful academically. Studies included examination of preschool, elementary, and high school classrooms, and concentrated largely on Latino students. A number of common attributes were identified in the instructional organization of the classrooms studied:

- functional communication between teacher and students and among fellow students was emphasized; - the instruction of basic skills and academic content was consistently organized around thematic...

Fostering Second Language Development in Young Children: Principles and Practices

Fri, 25 Apr 2003 00:00:00 +0000

More than one fifth of American school-age children come from families in which languages other than English are spoken (McDonnell & Hill, 1993). Many children from such families are limited in their English proficiency. During the last decade, the number of school children with limited proficiency in English grew two and a half times faster than regular school enrollment (August & Hakuta, 1993). Given these changes in classroom demographics, it is imperative that all teachers have knowledge about second language development and instructional strategies for developing language proficiency.

This report sets down some guidelines for teaching these children. It summarizes principles and practices that can be derived from current thinking and research in the field of second language acquisition and culturally sensitive instruction.

Learning English: How School Reform Fosters Language Acquisition and Development for Limited English Proficient Elementary School Students

Fri, 25 Apr 2003 00:00:00 +0000

Many schools across the nation are facing the challenge of educating students from diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds who have limited English proficiency. This paper examines four exemplary elementary schools that have successfully implemented language development programs for limited English proficient (LEP) students as part of a schoolwide restructuring effort. These exemplary schools--in California, Texas, and Illinois-- were selected on the basis of a national nomination process. All have nontraditional school organizations, a well-developed language acquisition program for LEP students, and high-quality language arts curricula. The analysis presented here synthesizes data about the four schools gathered from telephone interviews and on-site interviews with teachers, principals, and district staff. Research staff also conducted focus groups with students and parents and observed instruction in selected classrooms.

Although each school takes an individual...

Effective Instructional Conversation in Native American Classrooms

Fri, 25 Apr 2003 00:00:00 +0000

Instructional conversation (IC) is a dialog between teacher and learner in which prior knowledge and experiences are woven together with new material to build higher understanding. IC contrasts with the "recitation script" of traditional western schooling, which is highly routinized and dominated by the teacher. IC varies in form in different cultures, as do other discourse forms. Analysis of the research on the formal and informal learning of American Indians lends insight into possible ways in which instructional conversations in classrooms with these children can be modified to promote learning. Effective instructional conversations for Native Americans are influenced by four basic psychocultural factors identified by Tharp (1989): a) sociolinguistics; b) motivation; c) cognition; and d) social organization. These factors are implicated in activity settings that are more likely to produce effective ICs in Native American classrooms. "Ideal" activity settings--those most...