First-Grade Bilingual Teachers' Pedagogical Differences During ESL Block in a Randomized Control Trial Study

• In Event: 34.078 - Roundtable Session 13
  In Roundtable Session: 34.078-17 - Approaches for Teaching and Assessing Bilingual Students

Abstract

Using a low-inference observational instrument, we explored the direct impact of an ongoing, intensive, and structured virtual professional development (VPD) accompanying English-as-second-language (ESL) instructional intervention on bilingual teachers’ time allocation in six Texas school districts. The observations were collected three times during ESL block from 116 first grade teachers in 61 schools in 2015-2016 school year. Pedagogical differences in time allocation among teachers in treatment and control classrooms were identified based on first round of observation. Our study reflected improved instructional practices within treatment classrooms, implying that quality of pedagogy is at least as important, or, to some extent, even more important, than the language of instruction.

Authors

• Fuhui Tong, Texas A&M University - College Station

• Beverly J. Irby, Texas A&M University - College Station

• Rafael Lara-Alecio, Texas A&M University

• Cindy Lynn Guerrero, Texas A&M University

• Shifang Tang, Texas A&M University - College Station

• Tamara Lopez, Texas A&M University - College Station