Project Activities
The researchers collected data from kindergarten through grade 3 (K–3) students in DL programs to explore whether the amount of instruction they receive in English and Spanish predicts fall to spring gains in academic skills in English and Spanish. The researchers collected data from students and teachers from four different schools in the fall and the spring. Student data included language proficiency skills in English and Spanish, academic outcomes in English and Spanish, and academic self-concept. Teacher data included questionnaires about student learning problems, approaches to learning, study skills, and student-teacher relationships. The researchers observed classrooms to measure student engagement and the amount of language (Spanish or English) used during instruction. In addition to predicting spring outcomes, the researchers also explored whether any observed associations vary by student proficiency in each language, and whether they are mediated by student engagement, academic self-concept, approaches to learning, and student-teacher relationships.
Structured Abstract
Setting
The study took place in four elementary schools in three North Carolina districts. Two districts are suburban, and the other is more rural.
Sample
The sample included teachers from 35 DL classrooms and 203 randomly sampled students from those classrooms. Most classrooms were taught by two teachers—one who teaches in English, and one in Spanish—and both had to participate to be included. The student populations in participating schools included sizeable numbers of students identified as English Learners (28 to 63 percent), Latino (32 to 65 percent), and low-income (38 to 90 percent). All K-3 students (ELs and non-ELs, approximately 700 students in all) enrolled in the 35 classrooms were invited to participate in the study. The researchers randomly selected 3 volunteer students from each classroom each year. This led to 197 students in year 1, 72 in year 2, and 24 in year 4. No data collection activities took place in year 3 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The researchers stratified random selection by student’s home language (English, Spanish, or bilingual).
The primary malleable factor in this study was language of instruction. The researchers focused on the amount of time that each language was used in two different types of DL models. In the 50/50 model, students received half of their instruction in English and half in Spanish, maintaining this division as they progressed through the grades. In the 90/10 model, students began kindergarten receiving 90 percent of their instruction in Spanish, and this percentage decreased incrementally in the subsequent grades until they reached a 50/50 distribution. For both models, the research team explored relationships among language of instruction and a number of other malleable factors, including student engagement, academic self-concept, approaches to learning, student-teacher relationships, language proficiency, and academic outcomes such as achievement, retention, and report card grades.
Research design and methods
The researchers collected data from four schools from three school districts: two schools during year 1; three schools during year 2 (including one returning school); and 1 school during year 4 (a returning school). They recruited teachers during teacher preservice meetings prior to the beginning of the school year, and they recruited students and families during the first 4 weeks of the school year. The researchers assessed students in Spanish and English in the fall and the spring on measures of language proficiency skills, academic outcomes, and academic self-concept. They observed students' classroom engagement twice during the winter. Teachers completed questionnaires about students' learning problems (at fall and spring) and also approaches to learning, study skills, and student-teacher relationships (during winter). Observers and teachers rated the amount of Spanish and English instruction in the fall and spring. The researchers also worked with school partners to organize the transmittal of administrative data on retention, report card grades, and background variables at the end of each school year.
Control condition
Given the exploratory nature of this grant, there was no control condition. Because the language of instruction was modeled using a dosage framework, the implicit comparison for the central analyses was to conditions where students received less—or no—instruction in their home language.
Key measures
The research team used instruments including the LAS-Links, the Woodcock-Johnson IV, the Language Use Inventory, the Behavior Assessment Scale for Children, the Learning Behaviors Scale, the Student-Teacher Relationship Scale, the Behavioral Observation of Students in Schools (BOSS), and the Pictorial Scale of Perceived Competence and Social Acceptance for Young Children. They also administered parent and teacher surveys.
Data analytic strategy
The researchers conducted descriptive analyses of participating students, families, teachers, and classrooms. They used mixed models to examine the association between language of instruction and within-year change in academic outcomes and whether this association was moderated by student and classroom language proficiency in English and Spanish. The team also then added mediators to the analytic models to explore the relations among language of instruction, mediators, academic outcomes, and language proficiency.
Key outcomes
- When examining parents’ and teachers’ perceptions of student learning in Spanish-English dual language education programs during the COVID-19 pandemic, the researchers found that both parents and teachers reported that students’ language skills in English and Spanish improved; however, parents reported that students’ English skills improved more than their Spanish skills did (Franco-Jenkins, X., et. al, 2023).
- Teachers’ adherence to the language of instruction in dual language education programs was high across the school year overall, and the amount of instructional talk and behavior management talk was also high but varied depending on the DLE model (50/50 vs 90/10) and whether instructions were provided in Spanish vs English (LaForett, D.R., et. al, 2024).
People and institutions involved
IES program contact(s)
Project contributors
Products and publications
Publications:
ERIC Citations: Find available citations in ERIC for this award here
Select Publications:
Franco-Jenkins, X., LaForett, D. R., Winsler, A., & Ordoñez Rojas, D. (2023). Two-way immersion classrooms during the COVID-19 pandemic: Parent and teacher perceptions of student learning. Education Sciences, 13, 946. DOI: 10.3390/educsci13090946
Franco-Jenkins, X., Winsler, A., & LaForett, D. R. (2023, April 4). Bilingüe, Educación y Éxito: Learning from Dual Language Education Programs. Inside IES Research.
LaForett, D.R., Franco-Jenkins, X., Winsler, A., Eron, M.T., Mumma, K., & V. H. Nguyen, M.V.H. (2024). Adherence to language of instruction in Spanish-English dual language early elementary classrooms. NABE Journal of Research and Practice. DOI: 10.1080/26390043.2023.2280612
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