Teachers working in middle and high school Dual Immersion (DI) programs (Spanish-English) face unique sets of challenges: linguistic equity between the two languages of instruction, attrition due to high linguistic and academic expectations, and preparing DI students for standardized tests in English. In this article, we reflect on our current…

Background or Context: Dual language education aims to foster the development of bilingualism, biliteracy, sociocultural competence, and academic skills in all school subjects. Early correlational research suggests that participation in dual language education is associated with higher achievement. Recent studies leveraged more comprehensive sets…

Reading is regarded as one of the basic learning processes that provides multiple skills and abilities for daily life. The study reported on here arose from evidence of reading comprehension difficulties of middle school students in Colombia, and from reflection on the didactic strategies used for the promotion and teaching of reading. The purpose…

The Latino English Language Learner population continues to rise each year in our schools, currently accounting for over 10% of all K-12 students in the United States (Cheung, 2019). Even with this growth in population, Latinos continue to lag behind other races in academic attainment and advancement in postsecondary success (NCES, 2019). This…

Achievement in the academic settings has long lasting positive outcomes. In this study, hope, self-efficacy, and engagement are linked to academic success. The aims of this study were to test a model which predicts academic success in the Dominican Republic while testing for the mediator role of engagement. The sample was composed of 614…

Employing a mixed-methods research design, this study examines how a newly designed dual language program in an urban school advances language proficiencies among Spanish-English bilingual 6th graders in relation to content area achievement as measured on NYS standardized tests in English Language Arts and Math. It further investigates how…

Considerable research on the two-way Spanish immersion model of education highlights benefits such as biliteracy, high academic achievement in both languages of instruction, and sociocultural competence for students of various linguistic and sociocultural backgrounds. The desire to gain these 21st century skills has caused a proliferation of dual…

Learning a second language (L2) benefits students personally, academically, and career-wise (American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2016; Auburn University, 2017; Cutshall, 2017). According to the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), the average U.S. student studies an L2 for two years (2017a). To become proficient at an…

The study of motivation in Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) contexts has hitherto one-sidedly been concerned with motivation to learn the foreign language, without regard for CLIL's eponymous focus on the inextricable connection between language and content. To fill this gap, this article focusses on CLIL learners' motivation not…

One of the affordances of the Every Student Succeeds Act (Every Student Succeeds Act. Pub. L. No. 114-95. 161 Stat. 1177(ESSA), 2015) was that it mandated U.S. districts and schools to take a closer look at the academic performance of English learner students with disabilities (ELSWDs), who constitute 14.3% of all English learners (ELs; National…

We advance a tripartite framework of language use to encompass language skills, the practice of language skills, and the subjective experiences associated with language use among Mexican-origin adolescents who function as language brokers by translating and interpreting for their English-limited parents. Using data collected over 2 waves from a…

This study examines the use of gamification as an innovative assessment approach to foreign language learning with 12-14-year-old students. A mixed methodology has been applied. Quantitative data have been collected from formative non-gamified and gamified assessments. Qualitative data was collected from a student questionnaire. The results were…

This report summarizes Austin Independent School District (AISD) English learner students' (ELs) Texas English Language Proficiency Assessment System (TELPAS) performance on the 2019 Spring test administration. Student performance is summarized by domain and composite ratings, years in U.S. schools, and yearly progress.

New Mexico is one of 48 states that offer a biliteracy seal to high school graduates to recognize their proficiency in a non -English language. The Regional Educational Laboratory Southwest English Learners Research Partnership collaborated with a large urban district in New Mexico to study the characteristics and college readiness of students who…

This study snapshot highlights key findings from a study that examined who earns biliteracy seals in a large urban district in New Mexico and how they impact college outcomes. New Mexico is one of 48 states that offer a biliteracy seal to high school graduates to recognize their proficiency in a non-English language. The Regional Educational…