Future Directions in Research

1. Future Directions in Research Linguistic Differences and Learning Disabilities Nonie K. Lesaux

2. Learners with reading difficulties Language minority learners Learners from low-income backgrounds

3. Themes • Complex, multi-dimensional processes • Considerable individual variation in literacy and language development in general population • Myriad factors, individual and contextual, influence development of language & literacy skills • Pervasive tensions • Static vs. Dynamic • Asset vs. Liability • One overarching goal

4. Current State of Affairs • Clear understanding of where things are going wrong • Lack of valid model for identification • Subjectivity and bias in the referral process • Over reliance on self-report, teacher, parent reports of language proficiency • Lack of accountability • Lack of specificity • Assessment • Accommodations • Variability at all levels

5. The Challenges of Variability • Language and Literacy outcomes of ELLs • Program design and actual implementation • Teaching capacity • District investment in ELL instruction, services • Materials and resources • Most variability in student achievement is associated with classroom-level effects, not school or program-level effects. • Variability as positive or negative

6. Current Body of Research • Lack of converging lines of evidence of the developmental trajectories of literacy • Implications for expectations, developing instructional methods • No consensus about circumstances under which learning best happens • contextual and demographic information missing • Paradox of research findings and achievement

7. Where do we go from here? Building consensus • Converging lines of evidence • Cross-sectional, longitudinal, intervention • Multiple methods, flexible methods • Particular methodologies more or less appropriate depending on research questions • Replication & data sharing (e.g., Schneider, 2004) • Contexts • Sample • Measures (create, revise) • New & current theories, hypotheses • Interdisciplinary lenses

8. Pressing Issues • Moving beyond investigating broad constructs • ELL • Oral language proficiency • Program types • Instructional context • Disaggregating large datasets, district data • Longitudinal research • Variables that have differential effects on outcomes at different times • Effects of interventions, methods • Working with districts

9. Pressing Issues • Contextual and individual variables • e.g., Studies that include child, home, classroom, system characteristics • Better understand general ELL population • Full spectrum • Complete picture • Normative profiles • Linking assessment, referral process with instructional context • Designs beyond group comparisons • Research-practice iteration

10. Future Directions: Study Domains • Vocabulary instruction methods • Embedded? Explicit? • Reading comprehension, writing • Strategies • Individual, text, activity (RAND, 2002) • Relationship between L1 and L2 • Motivation, engagement • Assessing language • Learners “stuck” at intermediate • Relationship between word reading and comprehension

11. Future Directions: Participants • Learners succeeding in the system • Older learners • Middle and high school learners • Overrepresentation, curriculum demands • Subtypes, variability within struggling learners • Within-group variability in literacy skills • Different developmental stages

12. Future Directions: Instruction • Opportunities to learn • Prereferral strategies • Universal design, multi-tiered approaches • Response to Intervention • Capitalizing on L1 in L2 settings • e.g., cognates • Teacher training, professional development models -viability of peer models

13. Working with School District Data • ELL classification is temporary • Need for permanent designation in tracking systems • Identifying variables that have an impact on academic success

14. Research-Practice Iteration • Researchers questions driven by the needs and questions of school district • Cycle of iteration between researchers and practitioners • Practice and subsequent research to be modified and influenced by findings • Unanswered and new questions • Dissemination

15. The Development of Reading • 5 year longitudinal study • North Vancouver, BC • October, 1997 (Kindergarten) • 30 schools • 197 ESL and 1040 L1 speakers • Varying SES • Firm Foundations Early Literacy Curriculum

16. Measures of Reading

17. Reading Comprehension

18. Socioeconomic Status and Word Reading D’Angiulli, Siegel, & Maggi, 2004

19. Early Childhood Study (ECS) Sample • 344 young children from Spanish-speaking homes • Boston, Lawrence, and Framingham, MA • Montgomery County, MD • majority born in the US to parents from 22 countries and the US territory of Puerto Rico. • 77% of the families in the sample reported an annual income of less than $30,000 and 21% reported an annual income of less than $10,000 • Language and Literacy measures

20. Pre-K Fall PictureVocabulary (2) (4) Means: Spanish 65.13 English 68.47 (1) (3) n=46

21. Research-Practice Iteration • Research questions directly relevant to schools • Two-way communication to inform design • Dissemination of findings • Professional development workshops • Development of subsequent research questions based on current findings, unanswered questions • Similar designs and measures to better understand universal, local issues • Instructional context described or assessed • Promote uniformity in classification and tracking systems of ELLs

22. Linda Siegel Rose Vukovic Patton Tabors Catherine Snow Tami Katzir Orly Lipka Amy Crosson Jeannette Mancilla-Martinez Natural Sciences & Engineering Research Council of Canada Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council of Canada Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research National Institute for Child Health & Development Acknowledgments