Current classroom practice typically fails to provide sufficient time for teaching English or sufficient opportunities for students to use oral language or to develop English writing skills. There also appears to be a tendency to over-emphasize conversational language use and to devote insufficient effort into building students' command of the abstract language required by many academic content areas. It is important to distinguish between the separate goals of language development and academic improvement. Our research indicates that increased language use in the classroom does not lead to increased academic improvement. In some studies, greater use of sophisticated language constructions in content-area classes was found to limit students' cognitive and academic growth.
Further research needs to help clarify the link between academic growth and language learning.
We found only nine valid experimental studies for all academic areas in grades K-8. Currently, there is a limited empirical research base to guide practice. Although many articles and reports claim to describe effective practice, few provide the type of data necessary for firm conclusions. Educators need to improve the way they merge content area instruction with English-language development instruction and provide both sufficient time for teaching English and sufficient opportunities for students to use oral language and writing. Key instructional practices for English-language development include introducing sets of no more than four to seven new vocabulary words per lesson, using visuals for reinforcement, using cooperative learning and peer tutoring, and making strategic use of the native language by allowing students to organize their thoughts in their native language before risking an English response.