REL Southwest Ask A REL Response
English Learners:
Newcomer Program Outcomes for Students with Lower English Proficiency
June 2018
Question:
Do English learners who may have lower English proficiency have better outcomes when they participate in newcomer programs rather than participate only in English language mainstream programs?
Response:
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Thank you for the question you submitted to our REL Reference Desk. We have prepared the following memo with research references to help answer your question. For each reference, we provide an abstract, excerpt, or summary written by the study’s author or publisher. Following an established Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) Southwest research protocol, we conducted a search for research reports as well as descriptive study articles on evidence-based newcomer programs and mainstream ELL student performance outcomes.1
We have not evaluated the quality of references and the resources provided in this response. We offer them only for your reference. Also, we searched the references in the response from the most commonly used resources of research, but they are not comprehensive and other relevant references and resources may exist. References provided are listed in alphabetical order, not necessarily in order of relevance. We do not include sources that are not freely available to the requestor.
- help students acquire beginning English skills
- provide some instruction in core content areas
- guide students’ acculturation to the school system in the United States
- develop or strengthen students’ native language literacy skills (Short & Boyson 2017: 3)
Research References
Moughamian, A. C., Rivera, M. O., & Francis, D. J. (2009). Instructional models and strategies for teaching English language learners. Portsmouth, NH: Center on Instruction. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED566267
Slavin, R. E., Madden, N., Calderón, M., Chamberlain, A., & Hennessy, M. (2011). Reading and language outcomes of a multiyear randomized evaluation of transitional bilingual education. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 33(1), 47–58. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ918010
Tong, F., Lara-Alecio, R., Irby, B., Mathes, P., & Kwok, O. M. (2008). Accelerating early academic oral English development in transitional bilingual and structured English immersion programs. American Educational Research Journal, 45(4), 1011–1044. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Fuhui_Tong/publication/249134809_Hispanic_English_Learners%27_Responses_to_Longitudinal_English_Instructional_Intervention_and_the_Effect_of_Gender_A_Multilevel_Analysis/links/57e02bac08ae3f2d793ea517/Hispanic-English-Learners-Responses-to-Longitudinal-English-Instructional-Intervention-and-the-Effect-of-Gender-A-Multilevel-Analysis.pdf
Umansky, I. M., & Reardon, S. F. (2014). Reclassification patterns among Latino English learner students in bilingual, dual immersion, and English immersion classrooms. American Educational Research Journal, 51(5), 879–912. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED566368
Valentino, R. A., & Reardon, S. F. (2015). Effectiveness of four instructional programs designed to serve English learners: Variation by ethnicity and initial English proficiency. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 37(4), 612–637. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED566267
Additional Organizations to Consult
Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL) — http://www.cal.org/resource-center/publications/helping-newcomer-students
REL Southwest archived webinar: “Helping Newcomers Succeed Through Effective Programs and Practices” — https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs/projects/english_learners.asp
- Newcomer program models and features, curriculum and instructional practices, strategies for developing academic literacy and numeracy skills, and resource selection
- Case study research on family and community connections in newcomer programs—Evidence-based practices that districts are implementing to support newcomers”
Methods
Keywords and Search Strings
The following keywords and search strings were used to search the reference databases and other sources:
- Newcomers + English learners
- Newcomer programs
- Newcomer’s performance
- English language learners + newcomers
- Newcomer program success
- Mainstream ELLs
- Mainstream English Language Learner Programs
- General ELLs
- General English Language Learner Programs
- English immersion
- Academic outcomes + Dual Language
- Academic outcomes+ transitional ELD
- Socio-emotional + dual language
- Socio-emotional + transitional ELD
Databases and Resources
We searched ERIC for relevant, peer-reviewed research references. ERIC is a free online library of more than 1.6 million citations of education research sponsored by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES). Additionally, we searched Google Scholar and PsychInfo.
Reference Search and Selection Criteria
When we were searching and reviewing resources, we considered the following criteria:
- Date of the publication: References and resources published from 2003 to present, were include in the search and review.
- Search priorities of reference sources: Search priority is given to study reports, briefs, and other documents that are published and/or reviewed by IES and other federal or federally funded organizations, academic databases, including ERIC, EBSCO databases, JSTOR database, PsychInfo, PsychArticle, and Google Scholar.
- Methodology: The following methodological priorities/considerations were given in the review and selection of the references: (a) study types—randomized control trials, quasi-experiments, surveys, descriptive data analyses, literature reviews, policy briefs, and so forth, generally in this order; (b) target population, samples (representativeness of the target population, sample size, volunteered or randomly selected, and so forth), study duration, and so forth; and (c) limitations, generalizability of the findings and conclusions, and so forth.