Donna Christian

English Language Learners in U.S. Schools: An Overview of Research Findings

This article reviews findings from scientific research that has been conducted in the United States since 1980 on the educational outcomes of English language learners (ELLs). The studies selected for review here are a subset of a more comprehensive body of research conducted during this period that is reported in Genesee, Lindholm-Leary, Saunders, and Christian (in press). Major findings on the oral language, literacy, and academic achievement of ELLs are discussed in 3 separate sections of this article, in addition to a discussion of the gaps and shortcomings in current research in each domain. Recommendations for future research are also presented, including the need for sustained theory-driven research that examines the longitudinal development of and influences of instruction on the oral language, literacy, and academic skills of diverse groups of ELLs across the K-12 span.

Dual-Language Education for English Language Learners

0 Dual-language education (DLE) provides instruction aimed at developing bilingual abilities. Contexts and languages vary widely, from Spanish/English programs in the United States, to a Hungarian/Slovak school in the Slovak Republic, to a Maori/English program in New Zealand (Christian & Genesee, 2001). These schools share a common goal: development of the Li of the students along with high levels of proficiency and literacy in an L2. An increasingly popular form of DLE is two-way immersion, in which students from two different language backgrounds are integrated for all or most of the instructional day. All students receive content instruction and literacy instruction in both languages, with the goals of developing bilingualism, strong academic abilities, and positive cross-cultural attitudes (Christian, 1996; LindholmLeary, 2001). There has been a surge in the popularity of these programs in the past 10 years, and they are currently receiving a great deal of attention. The incidence of two-way immersion remains highest in the United States, but programs are being implemented around the worldfor example, a Macedonian/Albanian program reported by Tankersley (2001). Gaps remain in the research base needed for guiding program design and implementation, however (Freeman, 1998; Tarone & Swain, 1995; Vald6s, 1997). For all dual-language approaches, questions arise related to schoolbased language instruction and the need to master content through, and literacy in, an L2 (August & Hakuta, 1997; Christian & Genesee, 2001). The acquisition of literacy competence as well as subject matter learning is a critical factor in academic success, and these processes need to be better understood when L2 learning is occurring at the same time (Crandall, 1992). Other important questions involve how to ensure language learning to high proficiency levels when the focus is primarily on content. Some critical research questions include

Dual Language Education: Current Research Perspectives

Classrooms around the world bring together students who come from different language backgrounds. In many cases, all of the students are expected to learn through a national or other high-status la...

Innovative Second Language Education in North America

In second language education in North America, there has been a movement away from teaching language in isolation toward integrating language and content instruction (Mohan, 1986; Enright & McCloskey, 1989). This umbrella term encompasses instructional and programmatic approaches where students are learning a second language as they learn content through that language. Thus, integrated language and content (ILC) may be found within the context of bilingual as well as monolingual programs, and it may be applied with a primary goal of teaching either language or content. When content is used as a vehicle for language learning and instruction (i.e., language development is the primary goal), a term often used is content-based language learning. In programs where instruction is entirely through a second language, the term immersion is typically used. This review will consider the innovation of ILC in second language education, with primary emphasis on its realization at elementary and secondary levels of education.