Giving Compass' Take:

• Evidence suggests that teaching ELL students English all the time is ineffective, and yet the method continues in many schools. 

• What are more effective ways to teach ELL students? How can evidence be used to formulate a new strategy? 

• Learn how to support duel-language learners in superdiverse classrooms. 

Nearly one-quarter of American children speak a non-English language at home. As their numbers have increased over time, many American schools — and even entire states — have responded with English-only instructional models. These English as a Second Language programs take a variety of forms, but the basic premise is straightforward: The best and fastest way to learn English is to spend as much time as possible with English and as little time as possible with other languages.

Trouble is, young children’s language acquisition doesn’t actually appear to work quite that way. In study after study, English-only programs don’t generally perform any better than various bilingual education models. The simple “all English, all the time” approach doesn’t seem to work as well as it seems. Why? Well, it appears that, as a 2013 research summary put it, “a learner’s language and literacy in their first language can strengthen their language development in a second language.”

A new study from the American Institutes for Research provides more evidence for this nuanced, less intuitive account of linguistic development. Researchers Brenda Arellano, Feng Liu, Ginger Stoker, and Rachel Slama examined the linguistic and academic trajectories of Spanish-speaking English language learners in New Mexico. They found that students who started kindergarten with strong Spanish skills reached English proficiency faster than students who started with weaker Spanish skills. The stronger Spanish speakers also performed better in math and reading than peers with weaker Spanish skills.

Read the full article on 'English all the time by Conor P. Williams at The 74.