Due to difficulties in accessing this week's video, I am reviewing an article on sheltered instruction that I found on EBSCO. This article Teacher Learning and ELL Reading Achievement in Sheltered Instruction Classrooms: Linking Professional Development to Student Development examined the effectiveness of Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP) on student achievement.
The SIOP model is built upon the sociocultural theory of Lev Vygotsky, who emphasized the role of culture in learning. The SIOP model has eight components: preparation, which include preparing both content and language learning objectives, building background knowledge, comprehensible input, strategies, interaction, practice/application, lesson delivery, and review/assessment.
This study began by training 21 teachers in the implementation of these eight components. The training was fairly extensive. It occured over 18 months and totalled 50 hours. The researchers wanted to ensure that the classrooms they were examining were in fact thorougly implementing the SIOP model. In fact, of the 21 teachers who went through this training, only 7 were included in the final study because only these 7 were seen by the researchers an fully implementing the SIOP model. By including only these 7 teachers, the researchers were doing everything they could to ensure they were actually testing the success of the SIOP program.
The research experiment compared the students of the 7 teachers who were selected to participate in the final study against a random set of students in other classrooms across the district. The findings seem to me to be less than overwhelmingly persuasive. The first variable used to test the achievement of the two sets of students was the PAS Reading test. McIntyre states, "Importantly, however, results indicated no statisically significant differences in PAS Reading test scores" (2010, p. 344). Its seems because the first variable (the PAS Reading test) showed no significant difference, the researchers then implemented a second test. It seems that they used the same PAS Reading test, but this time they considered student's pre-test scores (before the SIOP instruction) and post-test scores (after the SIOP instruction). This time the researchers did find a significance difference between the treatment group and non-treatment group. As I am not an expert in conducting research experiments, I am not sure why they did not consider pre-test and post-test scores from the outset, but I assume they--the experts--had their reasons. But even the significant difference caused by the second test did not result in great optimism of the researchers. In the section labeled "Discussion and Conclusions" McIntyre states, "This study illustrates that the SIOP model at least does not appear detrimental to reading achievement and may even support it, i f it is fully implemented as intended by the model authurs" (2010, p. 346).
This research project took volunteers, who presumably were encouraged by the model under consideration, provided ongoing professional development in how to implement the model for 18 months; they the researchers selected on 1/3 of the participants--those who they deemed most successful at implementing the model into their classrooms--for the final study. And then they get mixed results. The first method of analysis showed no significant difference between students exposed to the instruction and those who were not. And while the second method of analysis did show a significant difference, the researchers themselves conclude the model "at least does not appear to be detrimental to reading achievement..." Indeed, the model does not appear to be detrimental; and many of the practices seem like common sense teaching strategies that should work not only for ELL students but for all students. But before I can determine that research demands this approach, I will need to examine more research. It seems as though this particular study does not definitively establish the SIOP model as the best method of instruction for ELL students.
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