Redesigning English-Medium rlassro011ls: Using Research to Enhance English Learner Achievement
Whereas the interventions described in this chapter certainly do not represent
r ' ~
Chapter 3
Enhancing the Core Components
From the perspective that public schools tend to be traditional and
homogenizing institutions, it is not surprising that, to a large extent,
they continue to be designed to address disproportionately the needs of
mainstream American students - those pupils who come from primarily
English-speaking, Europeanized, and middle-class backgrounds. Within this
sociopolitical framework, committed administrators and teachers seek to
identify educational interventions that will significantly boost the scholastic
performance of English learners and other minority students.
In this chapter, we look at some approaches that-based on the available
research evidence- seem to provide English learners with an opportunity
to reduce the academic gap that has traditionally separated them from their
mainstream English-speaking counterparts. Those interventions appear to
boost the academic, social, and cross-cultural competence of all students
while having a more pronounced positive effect on English learners. The
research suggests that these interventions may produce powerful interaction
effects where, for the minority students, the total and cumulative outcomes
are more significant than the effects on students from the general population.
Unfortunately, the recent history of schooling in the United States is replete
with examples of special programs that tend to isolate and segregate minority
students (Rumberger, Gandara, and Merino, 2006). In the case of English
learners, this sometimes results in second-track, dead-end programs where
the prospective beneficiaries fall even further behind scholastically. Often
these programs are stigmatized as compensatory, the academic content is less
rigorous, resources may be limited and short term, and the curriculum may
be poorly aligned with prevailing standards. Those outcomes are in contrast
to those of enrichment programs in which minority students tend to be
underrepresented (Donovan and Cross, 2002).
an exhaustive list, the authors have purposefully selected approaches that
require the participation of both minority and majority populations in order
achieve optimal benefits and equity. Since the results of these interventions
depend on the establishment of a symbiotic relationship between the two
groups of students, schools will intuitively support the proportional inclusion
of both minority and majority students and their families as a way to ensure
that the selected approaches benefit the entire community.
Cooperative learning
Cooperative learning can be a powerful complement to English-learner
programs. First of all, educators need effective and efficient ways to group
English learners for instructed ELD, sheltered content, primary language, and
mainstream English settings yet avoid isolation and segregation of minority
students. For some time, research has indicated that simply placing students
in the same educational setting and even grouping students into multicultural
or multilingual clusters does not automatically produce authentic cross-
cultural interaction (Calder6n, Hertz-Lazarowitz, and Slavin, 1998;
McGroarty, 2005). In fact, there is evidence that suggests that the overall
quantity of interactions between students may not be as important as the
quality of such interactions (Kagan, 2007).
A number of researchers such as Calder6n, Hertz-Lazarowitz, and Slavin
(1998) have suggested that cooperative learning is a way to organize
instruction for English learners so that:
1. Students can be provided with appropriate amounts of instructed
ELD, sheltered content, primary language, and mainstream English
instruction while still ensuring adequate integration of language-
minority students with native speakers of English.
2. Submersion environments can be reduced, avoided, or eliminated
altogether.
3. Academic instruction and other school activities may not only
be integrated but also can provide participants with high-quality
opportunities for academic, cross-cultural, and pro-social interactions
and development.
 Redesigning English-Medium Classrooms:
4. Instruction includes structured interactions that increase the
opportunities for development of each student's receptive and
expressive social and academic language.
Cooperative learning can be defined as a broad range of instructional
methods in which academic learning environments are purposefully
structured to promote specific types of social and learning interactions among
students. The enormous body of research on cooperative learning (Akcan
et al. 2008) has shown the approach, when appropriately implemented, to
be effective in promoting the superior development of a host of variables,
including academic achievement, critical thinking, interethnic relations,
appreciation for school, and self-esteem. More specifically, students seem to
acquire:
• Positive interdependence: the sense that it takes the support and
participation of all or most of the members of a group to ensure
success
• Individual accountability: the responsibility of an individual to
contribute to the goals of the group
• Collaborative aptitudes: the ability to work successfully with others
even if the others are of different races, ethnicities, language groups,
and genders
• Attention to inclusiveness: the development of support by the group
to ensure that all members of the group have an opportunity to
participate to roughly an equal degree
• Team-building skills: development of strategies to promote a feeling
of respect, trust, cooperation, and understanding within and between
groups
• Participation abilities: understanding that groups are most effective
when group members analyze how well the group is working
together, how it might function more effectively in the future, and
when the members communicate with each other to explain, debate,
encourage, and question.
Using Research to Enhance English Learner Achievement
• Cooperative tendencies: adoption of cooperative methods as a
valuable tool in education and work life and be able to identify
situations where cooperative approaches are likely to be superior to
\
competitive or individualistic ones.
In addition to the benefits listed here, other researchers have identified
specific advantages when cooperative learning is used with English-learner
populations. For example, Holt (1993); Calder6n (1990); Calder6n, Hertz-
Lazarowitz, and Slavin (1998); McGroarty (2005); and Akcan and others
(2008) report on improved subject-matter, language, and literacy gains as
a result of instruction and other activities delivered through cooperative
learning.
Global learning Networks
Familiarity with technology and the use of computers has become an
indispensable learning tool. As more and more students are provided with
opportunities to use computers as powerful communication and discovery
tools, educators must ensure that English learners are not relegated to rote,
low-level instruction. With the advent of the Internet, there are now more
effective and exciting ways of using computers to accelerate the achievement
of English learners. For example, global learning network projects can
provide highly motivating and academic challenging learning contexts that
are particularly effective for English learners (Cummins, Brown, and Sayers,
2007).
An example of cross-language and cross-cultural
global network would be a sister class relationship Participation in global
established between two fifth-grade classrooms, learning networks is a
one in California and the other in a Spanish- modest but important
speaking country of Latin America. In this long- way to assist English
distance partnership, the students might work
learners close the
cooperatively on various projects such as the
academic gap that
development of a multi-chapter report or novel.
The class in the U.S.A. is responsible for the
separates them from
mainstream students.
original writing of several chapters in English and
for translating the chapters developed in Spanish
by the Latin American students into English.
Interaction between the students in the two classes is generally guided by
cooperative learning strategies (see previous section). Teachers can take
 Redesigning English-Medium Classrooms: Using Research to Enhance English Learner Achievement

advantage of the global networking environment to design lessons and multicultural education programs. Simply Simply expanding
other activities to focus on language development, computer literacy, social expanding social studies to include diverse songs, social studies to
integration, and critical inquiry (Cummins, Brown and Sayers, 2007). foods, and holidays often misses the mark and may include diverse songs,
be counterproductive. Such token treatments often foods, and holidays
In this example, the specific educational advantages for English learners' trivialize the cultures of ethnic minority students
often misses the
participating in a global networking project become apparent. The students (Hollins 1996; Lopez et al. 2007).
mark and may be
are provided opportunities to:
As an alternative, other scholars (Bhattacharya, counterproductive.
• Practice English communication, reading, and writing skills. Quiroga, and Olsen, 2007) have suggested
seven cultural competencies that collectively constitute a framework for
• Observe the differences inherent in working with students from a multicultural education. They refer to their program as Bridging Multiple
distinct cultural group. Worlds and it consists of the following objectives:

• Practice Spanish communication and literacy skills with native • Positive cultural identity
speakers who are in a scholastic context where full native speaker
proficiency is being developed. • Understanding of one's community

• Become familiar with the social skills necessary to work with
individuals and groups in bicultural and international contexts.
• Learn to use computers to perform complex tasks.
The English learners from a Hispanic background often become group
leaders as their bilingual and bicultural expertise is sought and appreciated
by the larger group of students, from both the North and South American
schools, as a resource for facilitating communication and accomplishing the
primary purposes of the project.
Participation in global learning networks is a modest but important way
to assist English learners close the academic gap that separates them
from mainstream students. Various scholars (Brown and Cuellar, 1995;
DeVillar and Faltis, 1991; and Means and Olson, 1995) have identified this
intervention as a promising practice.
• Cross-cultural skills
Bilingual skills
Knowledge of history and social justice issues
Social and political leadership skills
Critical thinking skills
Each of these competencies is supported by instructional activities that can
be addressed separately or as part of instruction in social studies, language
classes, or after school programs. As an example, in the case of the first
competency listed above, positive cultural identity, one California high
school offers a series of lessons covering the topics illustrated in Table 8.

Cross-Cultural Competency
The skills and insights acquired though the development of cultural
competency can promote improved self-esteem, social behaviors, inter-ethnic
relations, language development, and academic performance. To obtain these
competencies however, researchers point out that the cross-cultural activities
may need to differ from those commonly conducted as part of traditional
 Redesigning English-Medium Classrooms: '" . j. Using Research to Enhance English Learner Achievement

Table 8 • The capacity for cultural self-assessment

Sample Topics Covered: Bridging Multiple Worlds
• A consciousness of the dynamics inherent when cultures interact
Sample Topics Covered: Bridging Multiple Worlds
• The internalization of cultural knowledge
Understanding and examining the role of culture in our lives
• The ability to adapt to diversity between and within cultures (Farr et
Looking at the role and importance of language in our own lives al. 2005).

Understanding dynamics of language and culture and how these are

Supplementary Opportunities
related to the treatment of minorities in the U.S.

In the introduction and various chapters of Improving Education for

Learning about the struggles for minority rights
English Learners: Research-Based Approaches (CDE, 2010), such as
Unit One: Lindholm-Leary and Genesee (2010), research evidence was' presented
Reflecting on how individuals perceive and shape their identities
Identity suggesting that English learners, as a group, take from two to five years
to achieve advanced proficiency in oral English. In an earlier section of
Examining stereotypes this publication, the authors presented data that
indicate that on average English learners in ... many Engiish
Reflecting on the power of the media in shaping stereotypes and our
California are enrolled in U.S. schools for six
identities learners need more
years or more before reaching reclassification
instructional time to
Deconstructing and examining the concept of race levels of English (California Department of
Education 2007a). In looking at individual English
acquire age- and grade-
Exploring and defining nationality and citizenship learners, there is evidence that some well-situated appropriate levels of
students accomplish this feat in as little as two academic English ...
years while many others may take a decade or
Source: Bhattacharya, Quiroga, and Olsen 2007,13. more (Parrish et al. 2006). When we interpret these data in the context
of what is known about the varied background characteristics of English
learners (see Tables 6 and 7), we can surmise that many English learners
There are many other approaches to developing cultural competency. need more instructional time to acquire age- and grade-appropriate levels of
Bridging Multiple Worlds is a book designed for middle and secondary academic English than the amount of time that is normally allocated in the
schools. Anti-Bias Curriculum: Tools for Empowering Young Children regular school program.
(Derman-Sparks, 1989) is targeted to a preschool audience, and the works
of Sonia Nieto such as Affirming Diversity: The Sociopolitical Context To respond to this predicament, schools need to identify ways of generating
of Multicultural Education (2000) and The Light in Their Eyes: Creating additional time to address the learning needs of English learners. In fact,
Multicultural Learning Communities (1999) tend to focus on activities for additional instructional time can be "created" for English learners through a
elementary school students. The common thread among these interventions is variety of approaches such as:
that they refocus existing social studies curricula and traditional multicultural
programs in an effort to develop among participants: Strategic scheduling to optimize the regular school program

• An appreciation of diversity Intensification and acceleration of existing instruction whenever

appropriate
 Redesigning English-Medium Classrooms:
• Extension of the school day and expansion of the annual calendar
We shall look briefly at each of these approaches for ways of addressing the
specific language and academic needs of English learners.
Strategic scheduling. The extent to which English learners are assigned
to instructed ELD, sheltered content, primary language, and mainstream
English instruction according to their language proficiency and academic
standing will, together with quality of instruction, influence how much those
students benefit from the instructional program. Because of the enormous
learning demands on English learners, it is important that schools make full
use of the regular school day.
""
Block scheduling in middle and high schools is becoming a ~ommon
practice. Two or three periods are combined into a single instructional
"block." The advantages of this approach include (1) reducing passing time
by 20 to 30 minutes daily, (2) providing flexibility in lesson planning and
delivery, (3) establishing a more congenial community of learners, and
(4) increasing the possibility of assigning teachers with the most expertise in
teaching English learners.
Additional features of effective scheduling include (1) integrating ELD
into the curriculum in ways that avoid conflicts with other core curricular
subjects and (2) improving the quality of lessons by reducing group size
and by strategically assigning teachers who have a proven track record of
effectiveness with second-language learners.
Intensification/Acceleration. Some English learners can be assisted through
the provision of specialized courses provided on an intensified or accelerated
basis. For example, newcomer programs often include intensive English
language instruction and cross-cultural orientation for recent arrivals. Those
types of programs seem to be especially appropriate for immigrant students
in grade five and beyond who enroll in U.S. schools with age- and grade-
appropriate (primary) language and academic skills (Short, 2002; Jaramillo et
al. 1999; Chang, 1990).
Another promising practice sometimes used with middle and high school
newcomers who have little or substandard literacy development in their
home language is to provide an intensive literacy development course in
the primary language. The idea is that such students will be able to develop
higher levels of native language literacy within a relative short period of time
Using Research to Enhance English Learner Achievement
(one or two semesters) and be able to use these literacy skills as a powerful
learning tool to assist with ELD and academic development in school, for
independent study purposes, and later as a resource to obtain and maintain
employment (Schifini, 1999).
Augmented instruction. Many schools that enroll significant numbers of
English learners expand the school day by providing specialized classes
before or after regular school hours or by lengthening the daily schedule for
all students. In departmentalized settings, the use of the "zero" or seventh
period as a vehicle for instructed ELD or other courses for English learners is
common (Olsen, Romero, and Gold, 2006).
One innovative approach used with English learners who are migrant
students is the Portable Assisted Study Sequence (PASS) program: PASS
offers fully accredited high school, distance-learning courses that can be
completed by a migrant student on a guided but independent study basis. By
completing PASS courses, a student makes up credit deficiencies, catches
up with peers, and is encouraged to continue and graduate. Each course
is shipped from a PASS center as a fully self-contained packet. Tests are
administered locally and scored by PASS staff. Grade reports and transcripts
are issued in coordination with the local school. Additional information
regarding PASS is available at the following Web site: http://www.
capassprogram.org/.
Although augmented instruction is a practical approach to provide additional
academic learning opportunities, it can also be a vehicle to address equity,
access, and diversity through after-school programs. The California
Tomorrow organization has produced various publications (such as Our
Roots, Our Future) that guide educators in the formation and implementation
of after-school programs. Those programs allow youths to participate in
activities associated with academic support and enrichment as well as arts,
music, culture, and recreation (Bhattacharya, Quiroga, and Olsen, 2007;
Scharf et al. 2003). The programs are also designed to affirm the cultural
and language background of English learners. While assisting students with
the academic and language challenges of school, out-of-school activities
also playa role in supporting self-esteem and encouraging youths to stay
connected to their school and family.
Educational agencies also corhmonly modify the school calendar to provide
targeted instruction to English learners during summer and inter-sessions.
Less frequently, schools offer weekend classes during the regular school year.
 Redesigning English-Medium Classrooms:
At the high school level, some school districts allow English learners the
opportunity, when needed, to take an additional year to earn their high school
diplomas. Other secondary schools arrange articulated learning opportunities
with adult education programs to facilitate high school completion.
Small secondary schools and small concentrations of English learners in
larger high schools present unique challenges for educators. Ideas on how
best to meet the needs of English learners in these types of contexts may
be found in Meeting the Needs of English Learners in Small Schools and
Learning Communities: A Resource Publication for Secondary School
Leaders (Olsen, Romero, and Gold, 2006). It is available at http://www.
californiatomorrow.org. , 2003; White, 1982).
Family-School-Community Partnerships
In their chapter, Lindholm-Leary and Genesee (2010) discuss the importance
of parent and community involvement in collaboration with the school.
The authors identify research indicating that involving parents and other
family members consistently leads to positive academic consequences for
children and that these findings are especially pertinent in language-minority
populations. The suggestion that home-school collaborations benefit English
learners is practically uncontested in the research literature (Delgado-Gaitan,
2004; Olsen, 2006a).
The Promise Initiative, a collaborative project across six Southern California
counties established to promote academic excellence, bases its program
improvements on a set of interrelated principles distilled from research
on effective approaches for English learners. One of these principles is
entitled "Powerful Family and Community Engagement" and consists of
the following activities: (a) leadership development for parents and active
recruitment into leadership groups at the school, (b) parent education
to support students graduating from high school and ready for college,
(c) professional development for teachers and administrators in cross-cultural
skills and competencies for building two-way communication with English-
learner families, (d) resources allocated to enable teaching/learning projects
in the community, and (e) orientation sessions for newcomer parents and
others (Olsen, 2006b).
Socioeconomic status (SES), as measured by family income, parent
education, and parent occupation has long been considered a powerful
predictor of school performance. However, it is striking to note that measures
Using Research to Enhance English Learner Achievement
of home atmosphere appear to correlate more It is striking to note
highly with academic achievement than any single that measures of home
or combined group of traditional indicators of SES
atmosphere appear
(Marzano, 2003; White, 1982). Many low-SES
to correlate more
parents, with encouragement and guidance from
highly with academic
the school, become quite competent at creating
a home atmosphere that fosters learning. Home achievement than any
activities that support or supplement learning single or combined
include reading to children, helping them with group of traditional
homework, taking children to the library, and indicators of SES
encouraging them to go to college (Marzano, (Marzano, 2003; White,
1982).
Extensive research documents the importance
of early home language and learning experiences on the educational
achievement of young children. Home experiences that positively and
powerfully impact student academic achievement in school include the
amount and quality of exposure to a range of language activities, the
availability of books and other literacy resources in the home, and the
frequency of parents' interactions with their children (Lopez, Barrueco,
and Miles, 2006; Hart and Risley, 1995; Raikes et al. 2006; Snow, 1993).
The time that family members spend conversing and reading to their
children in the home language or in English will improve children's overall
development, including their English academic skills (Lopez et al. 2007;
Reese, Garnier, and Gallimore, 2000).
In this section we examine several additional examples of home-school
activities that have been found to be particularly effective in supporting
academic achievement for English learners.
• CABE Project INSPIRE Parent Leadership Development Program:
Educational reform literature identifies six areas that classrooms, schools,
and districts need to change in order to provide all students with optimal
learning opportunities. Of those six areas, the area of farnily-school-
community collaboration has been the least understood and implemented.
CABE's Project INSPIRE has been designed to increase students'
level of academic achievement by providing three levels of parent
engagement. The quasi-experimental research study to date shows that
this program has resulted in increased achievement among the children
of participating parents that is statistically significant and consistent
across all grade levels. (Ramirez, 2010)
 Redesigning English-Medium Classrooms:
Project INSPIRE includes modules designed to accomplish the following
goals:
- Increasing parents' knowledge of high quality schooling
options for their children and the leadership skills they need to
take action to ensure their children have equitable educational
opportunities;
- Building the capacity of schools and districts serving
disadvantaged, diverse background students for maintaining
high quality parental engagement and leadership programs; and
, and/or in English. A variation on reading assistance is for family
- Increase the knowledge an« tbility of parent leaders to provide
parent leadership development to other parents so they can
effectively participate in local school, district, county, and state-
wide educational reform efforts.
• Virtual Pre-K: This program is a resource for use by teachers and
parents to support early childhood development. Virtual Pre-K is
designed to integrate with classroom themes and provide activities
that support home-school collaboration and connect classroom, home,
and community. It has been adopted by the Chicago Public Schools in
Illinois and by school districts in several other states. Evaluation reports
indicate high levels of parent and teacher satisfaction, increased family
interactions, and positive academic outcomes for students (Chicago
Public Schools, n.d.).
• Family literacy programs: Research indicates that parents of language-
minority children are eager and willing to assist their children to
succeed in school but often are uncertain of how to accomplish it
(Delgado-Gaitan, 1992; Epstein, 2005; Goldenberg and Gallimore,
1991). Family literacy, programs can forge closer ties between home
and school for the purpose of increasing both adult literacy and student
achievement. Family literacy as it is referred to in this case, focuses on
intergenerationalliteracy activities involving interaction among more
than one family member rather than the child or adult separately or
independently (Britto and Brooks-Gunn, 2001; Handel, 1999; Chang,
2001). Family literacy programs work best when schools work with
parents to find out what their own literacy goals for their children are and
take a less prescriptive and more two-way approach with parents (Caspe,
2003).
Using Research to Enhance English Learner Achievement
Literacy includes reading and writing skills, the ability to use these skills
in socially appropriate contexts, and increasingly, computer competence.
Although family literacy programs vary, they tend to share several
characteristics: address parents' personal goals, value families' home
languages, view families as a resource rather than a barrier, provide
families with access to information and resources that will promote
success for children, and encourage shared literacy experiences at home
(Caspe, 2003; Mulhern, Rodriguez-Brown, and Shanahan, 1994).
Family members may assist students in several ways with reading,
including reading to and listening to children read in the home language
members and children to work together as co-
authors. In many language-minority homes, In many language-
parents and other family members have much minority homes, parents
knowledge that often is transmitted orally. One and other family
way of utilizing this knowledge and helping members have milch
students with literacy at the same time is for
knowledge that often is
parents and children to participate jointly in
transmitted orally.
writing stories, articles, and books on topics of
mutual interest. They can work together on a
book about family history or an imaginary story using information they
obtain from their parents. The book might be one in which the children
are the protagonists. With the help of the teacher, one or several copies of
the book can be produced and then made part of the children's library at
school or in the home (Ada, 1993; Delgado-Gaitan, 1992).
• Communication regarding school work /assisting with homework:
Parents' interest in and communication with their children about
school and school work has been identified by many researchers as
an important factor in student learning (Marzano, 2003). Commonly
mentioned aspects of this communication include parents having
frequent and systematic discussions with their children regarding school
work, encouraging their children in their school work, and providing
study resources, including time and space, to help children with school
work (Marzano, 2003). Research specifically supports the notion
that organized homework, supported by parental involvement, has a
significant constructive effect on the performance of students learning
English as a second language (Villas-Boas, 1998).
 Redesigning English-Medium Classrooms:
• Family meals: Studies conclude that family meals, when families gather
at least several times a week, are predictive of how well students do
in school (National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, 2003).
Surveys on adolescents indicate repeatedly that the more often teens eat
dinner with their families, the less likely they are to smoke, drink, or
use illegal drugs (National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse,
2003; Gallup, Jones Syracuse, and Oliveri, 2003). The value of family
meals goes beyond building good nutritional habits in children. Family
meals can be an important opportunity to develop strong parent-child
....relationships and family connectedness (Council of Economic Advisors,
2000). Those occasions provide time for families to communicate with
each other about their experiences, feelings, hopes, and challenges.
Family meals also provide the opportunity for families to work together
to solve problems, to plan family activities, and to support individual
family members.
• Funds of Knowledge: The Funds of Knowledge project suggests a
qualitative approach for connecting homes and classrooms (Gonzalez,
Moll, and Amanti, 2005). In this research-based approach, household and
other community resources are used to organize classroom instruction.
The design relies on three related activities: (1) the ethnographic analysis
of household dynamics, (2) the examination of classroom practices, and
(3) the development of study groups with teachers. Funds of Knowledge
should not be confused with parental participation, although increased
parental involvement is often a consequence of this approach, or-with
multicultural education, though increased cultural awareness may well be
an outcome. The approach is based on the following premise: "People are
competent, they have knowledge, and their life experiences have given
them that knowledge." The Funds of Knowledge approach involves
harnessing the resources of home and community for classroom use
(Gonzalez, Moll, and Amanti, 2005).
d. "t
Using Research to Enhance English Learner Achievement
Chapter 4
In Conclusion - other Considerations
In California, schools are required by law to provide the parents and
guardians of English learners with two programmatic options: placem
their children in the default English-medium instructional program or
waiver process, enrollment in a bilingual alternative program. Dolson
Burnham-Massey's analysis of the research indicates that effective sc
that thoughtfully and carefully organize their English-learner prograrr
according to the suggestions presented in this volume are well situate,
to meet the daunting challenges of educating language-minority stude
through either option. .
Lindholm-Leary and Genesee (2010) present By drawing upon
the rationale and descriptions of effective dual:
available resear
language programs. In this publication, Dolson
evidence, educa
and Burnham-Massey have suggested a framework
for an English-medium program that includes a
when provided Vi
dynamic mix of instructed ELD, sheltered content, adequate resour
primary language, and mainstream English and support, she
instruction. These instructional approaches are be able to imple:
most effective when organized and delivered instructional pro
according to the diagnosed language proficiency, for most English
academic, psychosocial, and cross-cultural needs learners that pn
of the participating students. The core instructional high levels of En
approaches can and should be enhanced by other language develo
programmatic elements such as cooperative
and grade-level
learning, global computer networking, cultural
academic perf 01
competence, extended instructional time, and
home-school collaborations.