6 year old Bilinguals Multitask Better Than Monolinguals
The psychological, cultural, educational, and economic advantages of bilingualism are well-known. A recent study, published in Child Development, was conducted by Raluca Barac and Ellen Bialystok at York University in Toronto, Canada and adds to the advantages. In their NIH-funded study of 104 six year olds, the bilingual children were...
Score Yourself! Are You Teaching Conversational Vocabulary According to Research?
A couple of weeks ago, many of you visited our Academic Vocabulary Quiz page to find out how you were doing in teaching academic vocabulary according to rigorous research. Today, you can take a new quiz to see if you are teaching conversational vocabulary (common, everyday words and phrases that...
Is Earlier Better? Generally, But...
I was reading some work by Fred Genesee, a long-time expert in language learning wherein he was discussing some commonly accepted myths about language learning. He addressed the myth, 'Earlier is better" and this is what he says: "WE NOW KNOW THAT: o yes, overall, earlier is generally better BUT...
How can I keep track of student concept and language attainment all day long? Ongoing Assessment and Feedback to Guide Learning
As you are teaching, what tools do you use to determine if students are following you and understand the concepts you teach? We may check for understanding informally by scanning the room for students who seem to be engaged: eyes looking at us, following directions, quiet attentiveness etc., but how...
Are teachers and administrators prepared to teach and supported in their teaching of English learners?
Recently, a series of regional meetings entitled the National Conversations on English Learner Education was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education. The purpose of the meetings was to discuss issues and challenges to educating English language learners in our country. A summary document was created based on these discussions....
Strong Evidence Exists for Partner Learning. Are you taking advantage?: Take the Quiz
The U.S. government's Institute of Education Sciences says there is strong evidence that peer-assisted learning (i.e. student pairs working together) is an effective tool for teaching literacy to English Language Learners. Are you or the teachers your supervise taking advantage of this research-based practice for language learning? Take the quiz...
What's Comprehensible Input?
Like any educational field, language education has its many acronyms and jargon. One we hear a lot and as it turn out, is very important, is "comprehensible input". When I teach linguistics to teachers, I always joke about the very nerdy language of the field. As if we were talking...
Score Yourself! Are You Teaching Vocabulary According to Research?
Take the quiz: Are you or the teachers you supervise using research-based strategies to teach vocabulary to English Learners? Give 3 points if your answer is "always"; 2 points if your answer is "sometimes"; and 1 point if your answer is "rarely". Add up your total. Key: 30-36 points...
ELL Population in the United States by County 1999-2010
How many English Learners are there in my state? My county? How have English Learner populations changed in the last 10 years in the United States? Look no further than the National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition & Language Instruction Educational Programs (NCELA) who have published county-by-county maps of the...
Emotions in Language Learning: How do they matter?
Does it matter how you are feeling when you are trying to learn another language? If you are nervous, can you learn just as well as when you are relaxed? Does the teacher's response to your feelings make a difference? I think most of us would guess that yes, emotions...