Responsive Teaching for English Learners That Helps All Students: The Academic Impacts of Instructional Conversation

• In Event: 56.036 - How Can Educators Help Improve All (English) Learners' Academic Success? Findings From Three Randomized Studies

Abstract

We present findings from an RCT study on the Instructional Conversation (IC) pedagogy that includes the integration of teaching standards for improving learning in general and particularly ELs’ academic achievement in reading and related content areas. The Instructional Conversation (IC) is a classroom pedagogy that prepares teachers to assist students’ higher level thinking in culturally responsive ways through frequent small-group discussions. This IES-funded Goal 3 evaluation study evaluated the impact of Instructional Conversation (IC) on the academic outcomes of English learners (ELs) and non-English learners (non-ELs). The IC is most consistent with the cognitive sciences literature (Bransford et al., 2006) and cultural historical theory (Vygotsky, 1978, 1986). The main stumbling block to the learning of content is not necessarily a content problem but possibly a consequence of inadequate teaching skills that in our IC model are mediated by responsive language activity, modeling and participatory learning opportunities. EL students often do not participate in higher-level conversations and activities that can help mediate and assist development in cognitive and affective areas. The linking of student engagement, affective aspects and challenging activities helps students understand academic concepts that advance internal thought and linguistic processes (O’Brien & Rogers, 2016).

This study employed a three-level randomized block design with students nested in classrooms nested within schools. The final sample consisted of 2,351 students in 121 third- and fifth-grade classrooms in Northeast Georgia. Our research questions were as follows:

(1) Does the IC pedagogy improve the academic outcomes of all students regardless of EL status?
(2) How Does IC teaching differentially impact academic outcomes of diverse students defined by their EL status?

To answer these two research questions, Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) was employed using the R package Linear Mixed-Effects Models using ‘Eigen’ and S4 (Bates, Mächler, Bolker, & Walker, 2015). Students in the treatment group (i.e., those receiving IC instruction) were expected to show significant improvement in achievement over those in the control group (i.e., those receiving business-as-usual instruction).

Student achievement was measured using Georgia’s standardized content area tests, designed to measure how well students acquire the knowledge and skills captured in the Georgia Performance Standards and Quality Core Curriculum. They measure student performance in Reading, Science, Social Studies, and Math.

Results indicated that the implementation of IC pedagogical practices resulted in significant increases in academic performance in Reading and Social Studies for the student group as a whole. When EL status was accounted for, EL students in the treatment group improved academic performance between 14 and 15% on all four academic measures when compared to the control group while non-EL students showed significant improvement only in Reading.

This study provides evidence of the positive influence that the implementation of IC has on the academic outcomes of all students, but particularly EL students, across subject areas. Results point to ways in which teacher training may be improved to attain educational equity for the growing population of EL students in U.S. classrooms, particularly in regions unfamiliar with EL students and evidenced-based policies and practices.

Authors

• Pedro R. Portes, University of Georgia

• Manuel S. Gonzalez Canche, University of Pennsylvania

• Rolf Straubhaar, Texas State University - San Marcos

• Melissa Whatley, University of Georgia - Athens