Children who speak little or no English don鈥檛 automatically get a chance to improve their language skills just because their teachers put them in pairs or small groups with native speakers of English, according to a review of research on instruction for English-language learners.
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That is one of several research findings examined in the book Educating English Language Learners: A Synthesis of Research Evidence, which was published in January by Cambridge University Press.
In one study, for example, a classroom of English-language learners and native speakers of English cut short their interactions to get their assignment done quickly. 鈥淛ust write that down. Who cares? Let鈥檚 finish up,鈥� one student is quoted as saying.
Assignments have to be carefully structured if the teacher intends to give English-language learners meaningful opportunities to use English with native speakers, one author of a study concludes.
The review was conducted by four researchers who are prominent in the field of education of English-larners, including Donna Christian, the president of the Washington-based Center for Applied Linguistics and the author of the book鈥檚 introduction.
The reviewers also point out gaps in research. By far, most studies focus on English-language learners with Hispanic backgrounds, for instance. The reviewers call for studies on other language-minority groups, such as students of Vietnamese, Hmong, Cantonese, and Korean backgrounds.
But the reviewers imply that some findings can be applied to the classroom.
Studies show that English-language learners do better in school if they don鈥檛 just attend regular classes, but participate in programs designed to help them learn English. Almost all evaluations of K-12 students show that students who have been educated in bilingual classrooms, particularly in long-term programs that aim for a high level of bilingualism, do as well as or better on standardized tests than students in comparison groups of English-learners in English-only programs or native speakers of English in mainstream classes.
One study showed that English-learners who are in a hodgepodge of programs perform poorly in school.
