Improving Reading Comprehension of Middle Grades English Language Learners by Combining Structure Strategy with Web-Based Adaptive Tutoring for EL Learners (SWELL)

Previous Grant Number: R305A120593

Co-Principal Investigators: Bonnie J. Meyer, Pui-Wa Lei (Pennsylvania State University); Ana I. Schwartz (University of Texas at El Paso)

In this intervention, students will participate in one of three instructional conditions based on their initial language and literacy skills in Spanish and English. Students who have strong language and literacy in Spanish can use these skills to scaffold reading in English, whereas students who are not literate in Spanish would not be expected to benefit from seeing passages in Spanish. Students with Spanish language and literacy skills will participate in the Spanish-scaffolding condition, where they will receive procedural instructions on how to use the structure strategy and practice passages previewed in Spanish followed by an English language version of the lesson. In the English preview condition, students will receive instruction in English for novel vocabulary with access to on-click assistance at the word and sentence level, including paraphrasing and easier versions of sentences. In the third condition, students will receive both the Spanish scaffolding supports and the English preview materials. Students will be assessed at the beginning of instruction to determine which condition they will receive, and then periodically reassessed during the intervention to guide future activities.

A web-based teacher guide will be developed to accompany each structure strategy. The intervention is expected to be used for sixty minutes each week during the time for English Language Arts instruction and also in after-school programs for students who would benefit from additional time using SWELL.

In Year 2, two cycles of development (with 15 ELLs in each of the three grades) will be utilized to create prototypes of lessons for the remaining four structures. A web-based teacher guide will also be created for each structure strategy and logistics for delivery of the pilot study will be finalized. In Year 3, the final version of all structures in all conditions will be field tested with 128 ELLs in each grade in SWELL classrooms and comprehension outcomes will be compared to ELLs in comparison classrooms.