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Effect of Bilingual vs Monolingual Methods of Explicit English Vocabulary Instruction on 4th Grade Spanish-speaking English Learners (EL)

This four-year study will conduct an experiment to examine whether bilingual methods of explicit vocabulary instruction are more effective than monolingual methods in promoting learning of general purpose academic English (Tier 2) words among 4th grade Spanish-speaking English learners. Researchers will look at differences in rate of learning, retention of learning, and transfer to untaught words across the two methods. They will also examine the extent to which the effects of the bilingual and monolingual methods are moderated by executive function skills and Spanish and English proficiency.

Purpose: 

Pilot methods and materials that will be used in a series of studies to examine whether bilingual methods of explicit vocabulary instruction are more effective than monolingual methods in promoting learning of general-purpose academic English (Tier 2) words among 4th grade Spanish-speaking English learners. 

Sample: 

8 fourth grade students who are Spanish-speaking English Language Learners enrolled in Hillsborough County Public Schools.  We seek to enroll English learners with an EL classification below that of “High LYB”.

Intervention Condition: 

Participants will receive monolingual and bilingual methods of explicit academic vocabulary instruction in preparation for an English read aloud small-group lesson delivered by trained research assistants. Instruction will take place 2 times a week for 30 minutes during 6 weeks.

Research Design and Methods: 

We will use a within-subjects design to test differences in learning of words that are taught using monolingual vs bilingual methods.

Key Measures:

Participants will be tested pre- and post-intervention on a measure of definitional knowledge of instructed words.