Sheltered Instruction

This paper reports on a mixed methods systematic classroom observation study as part of a federally funded project to improve instruction for English language learners (ELLs) in Indiana Dual Language Bilingual Education (DLBE) classrooms. Participating DLBE teachers received professional development through online ELL licensure and DLBE certificate coursework along with on-site sociocultural instructional coaching. Participants include 15 teachers (7 treatment DLBE teachers; 8 comparison non-DLBE teachers). We observed and video recorded each teacher's English language arts (ELA) block four times over 18 months to examine changes over time and determine the impact of the coursework and coaching on their instructional practices. Using the Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP), we compare the scores of the two groups over time. We also provide analytic classroom vignettes for six of the eight SIOP components to illustrate how treatment teachers' instruction improved over time. The findings generally demonstrate that the treatment led to improvements in the overall quality of sheltered ELA instruction of the DLBE teachers, but also reveal areas in need of more attention within DLBE teacher professional development.

El lenguaje es un elemento que ha reinado y gobernado la forma como la gente se  comunica, por ejemplo: aprender, intercambiar ideas, adquirir conocimiento, etc.  La necesidad de entender inglés en el marco universitario es un requerimiento  cada vez más marcado para los estudiantes como resultado de la globalización. Este reto llevó al investigador a explorar otras alternativas metodológicas para que los futuros docentes en educación bilingüe verdaderamente tengan una integración entre lenguaje y contenido. 

Por lo tanto, el contenido en el cual los futuros docentes están expuestos es inglés, ellos también están siendo enseñados en una nueva lengua, y al mismo tiempo están en un proceso de adquirir una nueva lengua; el enfoque que integra el contenido y el lenguaje lleva al  método de Enseñanza Basada en el Contenido (CBI).

Esta investigación está enfocada en dos asignaturas del contenido, donde el inglés es el medio por el cual se enseñan las asignaturas a futuros docentes, de lengua materna española. El objetivo de este estudio es determinar si, CBI es  un método viable para la Licenciatura en Educación Bilingüe. Esta investigación dará un panorama histórico de cómo el programa se está enseñando y su relación entre lenguaje y contenido, así como el proceso de enseñanza aprendizaje. Los beneficios del uso de CBI en el programa de educación bilingüe,  al igual que  describir por qué éste debería ser implementado. De acuerdo con los resultados preliminares de los diferentes instrumentos utilizados, es más efectivo enseñar las asignaturas del contenido a través del modelo de CBI, lo cual además de dar a los estudiantes conocimiento técnico y puntual sobre el tema de la asignatura, a la vez permite que manejen el inglés y se sientan con mayor confianza para utilizarlo. Finalmente, algunas implicaciones de CBI, serán discutidas y sus aplicaciones futuras en la educación bilingüe.


PALABRAS CLAVES: Content Based Instruction, CBI, Enseñanza Basada en el Contenido, Integración de contenido, Sheltered Instruction, Modelo SIOP, Content and Language
Integrated Learning

Most universities in English-dominant countries have been competing to attract multilingual learners for some time, inspired by the dual need for brain power and income generation (Lee, Maldonado-Maldonado, & Rhodes, 2006). In the Canadian context, this has resulted in rising international student populations (Anderson, 2015) and the expansion of increasingly sophisticated academic language programs (Fox, Cheng, & Zumbo, 2014). Despite this, external research into the effectiveness and appropriateness of these programs from the perspectives of the students enrolled remains scarce (Keefe & Shi, 2017).

This multiple case study involves six multilingual learners enrolled in a newly-designed academic language program in a Canadian university. This first-year program provided content and academic language courses in two disciplinary areas (Arts and Sciences), which upon successful completion, qualified students for their second year in the university mainstream. In this study, I investigate how students responded to program design features and academic writing instruction. I incorporate multiple interviews with students, collection of their written assignments and feedback, observations of classrooms and other educational events, interviews with other program stakeholders, and collection of program documents.

Of the six student participants in this study, four were successful and two were less successful. For the four successful students, participation in the sheltered program was perceived as an overall beneficial experience that helped them make a positive transition to mainstream studies. However, responses to academic writing instruction and practice were highly variable and influenced by students’ backgrounds and their educational or disciplinary beliefs. For two less successful students, notions of agency, identity, and appropriation became influential in their transitions as they increasingly reported confusion, frustration, and conflict in meeting academic expectations. Results suggest there are several opportunities and challenges involved in the integration of sophisticated theoretical and pedagogical approaches, some of which may not be realized for some time after instruction has ceased. The study highlights an ongoing need to: 1) (re)consider the time needed and the degree of complexity involved in academic writing instruction and, 2) maximize alignment of pedagogical objectives with multilingual learners’ backgrounds as well as their perceived academic and disciplinary writing needs.

Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol is a instructional protocol intended to deliver quality English language instruction to second language learners in the K-12 environment. It is becoming prevalent in many schools around the U.S. However, there are concerns by teaching professionals, language instruction supervisors, and administrators that the protocol is not always being implemented in such a way that either the designers intended, or in a way that is optimally advantageous to learners.This article evaluates the place of SIOP in K-12 English as a Second Language instruction and, from a language acquisition perspective, reinforces critical implementation considerations.

Using findings from a four-year research and development effort, we propose an updated model of sheltered instruction for science classrooms that leverages the opportunities provided by the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) to better support multilingual learners in middle and high school science. Using data from teacher implementation logs and interviews, we examine how secondary grades science teachers’ participation in our professional learning framework and subsequent enactments of an initial set of project instructional practices led these teachers to articulate nuanced and strategic adaptations to the initial practices to better meet the needs of the multilingual learners in their classrooms. We found that teachers moved away from implementing sheltered instruction practices based on general principles or formal classifications, such as students’ ESOL level, instead taking a more nuanced approach to adopting, adapting and rejecting practices based on perceived needs, assets, and personal knowledge about individual multilingual students in the specific disciplinary context of science. Based on this analysis, we conceptualize and refine what we now see as a new and exploratory set of Next Generation Sheltered Instruction practices for integrating science and language to support multilingual learners in secondary science classrooms in the age of the NGSS.

Using video game elements to improve user experience and user engagement in non-game applications is called "gamification ". This method of enriching human-computer interaction has been applied successfully in education, health and general business processes. However, it has not been established in industrial production so far. After discussing the requirements specific for the production domain we present two workplaces augmented with gamification. Both implementations are based on a common framework for context-aware assistive systems but exemplify different approaches: the visualization of work performance is complex in System 1 and simple in System 2. Based on two studies in sheltered work environments with impaired workers, we analyze and compare the systems' effects on work and on workers. We show that gamification leads to a speed-accuracy-tradeoff if no quality-related feedback is provided. Another finding is that there is a highly significant raise in acceptance if a straightforward visualization approach for gamification is used.

Content-based instruction (CBI) has been widely adopted for decades. However, existing CBI models cannot always be effectively put into practice, especially for learners of lower English proficiency in English as a foreign language (EFL) context. This study examined an animation design course adopting CBI to promote reading abilities of English majors at a technology university in Taiwan. CBI usually adds challenges in cognitive and linguistic learning, especially for English majors in computer courses. Different from other CBI courses, this course dealt with multiple situations: multi-approaches (CBI and task-based instruction); multi-skills (Flash animation software skills- various animation effects; language skills-computer vocabulary and reading comprehension); multi-level learners (various English language proficiency levels
mostly low proficiency level; computer abilities; learning styles), and a large class taught by one instructor. Simply employing CBI cannot solve such complex problems. Therefore, instructional streaming video was applied as a learner-directed scaffold and a technological facilitator. A control group and an experimental group comprised 117 and 121 English majors taking this course for one semester respectively. Both groups were taught with English materials but the later were additionally provided with instructional streaming video (ISV). Qualitative and quantitative data were collected from classroom observations, interviews, exams, and semester-end questionnaires from both groups to examine whether ISV facilitated instructor teaching and student learning. Results show that the experimental group significantly performed better in reading comprehension, reading speed, acceptance, attention, and exams, as well as easing teaching difficulties. Drawn upon empirical results, a technology-assisted sheltered model was generated for EFL multi-purpose courses.

We draw upon the case of Seacrest High School to show that the extensive, physical separation of U.S.-born and immigrant students, as well as targeted supports for immigrant students absent similar attention to the rest of the student body, undermine the conditions necessary for a safe school. Seacrest community members expressed conflicting and conflicted perceptions concerning the extent to which immigrant students should receive differential treatment and the extent to which they should be physically isolated. These perceptions, which evoked concerns about fairness and educational efficacy, put the school’s legitimacy into question and threatened its ability to ensure safety. Despite misgivings, the structure was insulated in part by a web of racial stereotypes about Asian immigrant and African American students. We conclude that educational practices for English language learners should be evaluated by their effects on school culture and particularly on school safety.