ERIC Number: ED435201
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1999-Oct
Pages: 4
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Promoting Successful Transition to the Mainstream: Effective Instructional Strategies for Bilingual Students. ERIC Digest.
ERIC Clearinghouse on Languages and Linguistics, Washington, DC.
This digest describes a research and development program being carried out in transitional bilingual education programs at five elementary schools in the Los Angeles area. Researchers have been collaborating with teachers and project advisors to develop, implement, and describe instructional strategies that improve the chances of students in these programs making a successful transition to mainstream English instruction. As part of the transition program, 12 specific language arts components that fall under three categories--literature studies, skill building, and other supporting components--have been identified for instruction. Across all phases of the program, in both Spanish and English language arts, students study literature. Discussions, writing projects, social studies content, and supplementary readings are all based on the literary selection being studied. The experience-text-relationship approach was adapted as the framework for the literature units. In this approach, the teacher helps students study the story in relation to their own experiences and to a central theme by means of ongoing discussions (instructional conversations), writing activities (literature logs and culminating writing projects), and reading. A study was conducted to establish the independent and combined effects of the use of literature logs and instructional conversations on transition and non-transition students' story comprehension and theme understanding. Results suggest that for English language learners, teachers should use both instructional conversations and literature logs, because the combined effect is stronger than the effect of using either component individually. For fluent English proficient students, both are not needed. Teachers could use one or the other, although instructional conversation would be the more efficient choice. (Contains 4 references.) (VWL)
Descriptors: Bilingual Education Programs, Dialog Journals, Elementary Secondary Education, English (Second Language), Instructional Effectiveness, Language Arts, Limited English Speaking, Literature, Mainstreaming, Program Descriptions, Reading Comprehension, Spanish, Spanish Speaking, Teaching Methods, Transitional Programs
ERIC/CLL, 4646 40th Street NW, Washington, DC 20016-1859. Tel: 202-362-0700; Web site: .
Publication Type: ERIC Publications; ERIC Digests in Full Text
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: Office of Educational Research and Improvement (ED), Washington, DC.
Authoring Institution: ERIC Clearinghouse on Languages and Linguistics, Washington, DC.
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A