Effective Strategies for English Language Development
Graduation Date
Spring 2003
Document Type
Master's Thesis
Document Form
Degree Name
Master of Science
Program Name
Education
Program Director
Madalienne F. Peters, EdD
Abstract
The number of English language learners in California is increasing on a daily basis, and specific, focused strategies for the instruction of academic English are desperately needed. The literature shows that many such strategies exist, but I seek to discover strategies that will allow a focus on science and social science while teaching English explicitly. I have compiled and explained two strategies that can be used by other teachers at my school, and by other schools that have a similar English language development (ELD) program. I have reviewed a sample of available literature, identified the specific needs of English language learners, found two effective strategies, applied them to my classroom, and rated them according to a rubric I designed to assess their effectiveness. The results are descriptions of the two ELD strategies that can be applied to teaching almost any set of vocabulary and/or language forms, as well as a yearlong plan for the implementation of one of these two strategies.