WWC reviews of Interventions for English Learners

Not all education research is equal—the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) identifies high-quality studies and meaningful findings to inform educator decisions and improve student outcomes. This week, the WWC highlights three new study reviews of interventions designed for English learners, adding to the evidence from more than 10,000 citations about what works in education. The studies examined the effects of three interventions: A package of instructional practices designed to support adolescent English learners in learning academic content, developing their vocabulary, and improving their reading comprehension A Spanish language tutoring intervention with structured reading and phonics activities aimed at helping grade 1 English learners experiencing difficulties learning to read improve their literacy skills in both Spanish and English A Spanish language computer game intended to help young English learners develop letter sound knowledge, decoding skills, and word-level fluency Study One: The Meadows Center’s Promoting Adolescent Comprehension of Text (PACT) instructional practices with modifications for English learners Instructional practices that embed English language instruction within content area instruction have the potential to help English learners develop literacy skills and academic content knowledge. Vaughn and colleagues (2017) evaluated a version of the PACT instructional strategies with modifications for English learners. PACT is implemented during content area instruction and typically includes vocabulary lessons, practice in reading texts critically to obtain content knowledge, comprehension checks, and problem-solving activities in which students apply content they just learned. The modified version of PACT for English learners includes enhanced vocabulary instruction focuses on terms that are commonly used in academic settings and additional structured academic discussion and writing tasks. Study design: Vaughn and colleagues (2017) randomly assigned eighth-grade history classes from seven schools in three school districts to either receive instruction using the modified PACT practices (49 classes) or to be in the comparison group that continued using the typical instruction (45 classes). The WWC’s review focused on the 359 English learners in the 94 classes, though the classes included both English learners and non-English learners. Study findings: English learners in the classes that offered the modified PACT practices showed higher social studies achievement—as measured by an assessment of social studies knowledge previously developed by some of the authors of the study—compared with students in the comparison classes. The intervention had no discernible effects on a standardized measure of reading comprehension. WWC study rating: This study meets WWC standards with reservations. Access the full study review here, in the WWC’s review of individual studies database. Effectiveness tier: The study meets Department of Education standards for Moderate Evidence (Tier 2) because the study has favorable, statistically significant findings, meets WWC standards, and satisfies other criteria. See the video titled Using the WWC to Identify ESSA Evidence Ratings to learn more about these criteria. Study Two: Reading Recovery Council of North America’s Descubriendo La Lectura Spanish-speaking English learners may benefit from Spanish literacy instruction as it allows them to maintain their home language and cultural identity and leverage their Spanish literacy skills to support their English literacy development. Borman and colleagues (2019) examined the impact of Descubriendo La Lectura, a one-on-one Spanish language tutoring program that aims to support first grade English learners’ literacy skills. The intervention is intended to be used with students who are experiencing difficulties learning to read and write. Descubriendo La Lectura is implemented in Spanish by trained teachers and includes structured reading and phonics activities. Study design: Borman and colleagues (2019) randomly assigned students in 22 schools to either receive Descubriendo La Lectura immediately (78 students) or to receive typical classroom instruction and receive Descubriendo La Lectura later in the school year after the study was complete (74 students). All students were Spanish-speaking English learners and experienced difficulties with reading. Almost all students were Hispanic (99 percent). Study findings: Students who were offered Descubriendo La Lectura had higher Spanish literacy, reading fluency, and alphabetics (letter identification, sounds in words, print concepts) scores based on the Instrumento de Observación and higher literacy scores based on the Logramos compared with students who had not received the tutoring. However, the intervention had no discernible effects on English language outcomes based on composite or subtest scores of the Iowa Test of Basic Skills. WWC study rating: This study meets WWC standards without reservations. Access the full study review here, in the WWC’s review of individual studies database. Effectiveness tier: The study meets Department of Education standards for Promising Evidence (Tier 3) because the study has favorable, statistically significant findings and meets WWC standards. See the video titled Using the WWC to Identify ESSA Evidence Ratings to learn more about these criteria. Study Three: GraphoGame® in Spanish When students are successful in reading words automatically and fluently in one language, they may also be able to transfer these skills to another language. Baker and colleagues (2017) evaluated GraphoGame® in Spanish, a computer game that teaches students letter sound knowledge, decoding, and word-level fluency in Spanish. As part of the game, students listen to spoken sounds and then click the letters or sets of letters that correspond to these sounds. When students respond incorrectly, the game provides additional practice. Study design: Baker and colleagues (2017) randomly assigned first-grade classes in three schools to use GraphoGame (three classrooms with 47 students total) or to continue with typical classroom instruction (two classrooms with 33 students total). All students in the study were Hispanic English learners. Study findings: The WWC found no discernible effects of the intervention on reading fluency or alphabetics (word fluency) outcomes in English. The study authors reported that students who played the game showed small improvements on Spanish alphabetics (letter-sound correspondence) and reading fluency outcomes. However, the WWC did not confirm these findings to be statistically significant. WWC study rating: This study meets WWC standards without reservations. Access the full study review here, in the WWC’s review of individual studies database. Effectiveness tier: The study does not qualify for an effectiveness tier because it does not report favorable, statistically significant findings.