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academic English proficiency: see academic language proficiency.
academic language proficiency: ability in language skills needed for mastering academic material; pertains to both written and oral language.
action research: research conducted by classroom teachers, often concurrent with their teaching.
activity setting: context in which teaching occurs (home, softball field, classroom, etc.).
AERA, American Educational Research Association: professional organization with primary goal of advancing educational research and its practical application. More than 22,000 members including educators; administrators; and directors of research, testing or evaluation in federal, state and local agencies.
AVID, Advancement via Individual Determination: a high school education reform method. AVID’s goals are motivating and preparing underachieving students to attend college. Students take college-prep curriculum and are provided with a system of social supports that give them explicit instruction in the "hidden curriculum" of school, as well as explicating connections between high school and college.
bilingual education: broad term denoting programs for students
with limited or no proficiency in the language of instruction (English
in the U.S.). Programs generally use students’ home language for
academic and language arts instruction while students are acquiring proficiency
in English for academic purposes. In some programs, home language use
is limited to 2 or 3 years and ultimately discontinued; in other programs,
home language is used for extended periods with the goal of promoting
proficiency in both languages.
bilingual proficiency: ability to use 2 or more languages in oral
and/or written form; proficiency can vary from beginning to advanced levels
and can be at the same level in both languages or at different levels
in each language.
bilingualism: see bilingual proficiency.
biliteracy: literate in two languages (see also literacy, bilingual proficiency).
CBO, community-based organization: organizations committed to helping members of an identifiable group obtain health, education, and other basic human services.
CLD: culturally and linguistically diverse.
cognition: knowing, awareness, perception.
comprehensive school reform designs: programs intended to improve an entire school or all schools within a district; these programs are generally created outside of the school or district.
contextualize: to put a word or activity, particularly a new one, into a familiar context.
DBE, developmental bilingual education: enrichment form of bilingual education. Students receive academic and language arts instruction in both English and their home language. Program goal is promoting advanced levels of bilingual proficiency, including literacy and high level standards in academic achievement.
dual language immersion: see TWI, two-way immersion.
early-exit bilingual education: see TBE, transitional bilingual education.
ELL, English language learner: student whose first language is not English and who either lacks proficiency in English or has beginning level proficiency in English.
ESEA, Elementary and Secondary Education Act: federal act originally enacted in 1965 and most recently reauthorized in 1994 as the Improving America's Schools Act (IASA). Focuses on encouraging comprehensive, systemic school reform; upgrading instructional and professional development to align with high standards; strengthening accountability; and promoting the coordination of resources to improve education for all children.
first language: a student's first language, generally the language spoken at home.
foreign/second language immersion: bilingual programs designed primarily for students speaking the majority language (for example, English). Teachers use a foreign/second language as medium of academic instruction and social interaction with students at least 50% of the time during elementary and/or high school grades. Students’ home language is also used for academic instruction for significant periods of time. Program goals are advanced levels of proficiency in both languages and high standards in academic achievement.
funds of knowledge: the intellectual and social knowledge existing in families and communities.
heritage languages: non-English languages spoken in the U.S. associated with students of immigrant backgrounds or from indigenous cultural groups who traditionally have spoken another language (e.g. native American or Hispanic).
home language: see primary language.
IASA, Improving America's Schools Act: see ESEA, Elementary and Secondary Education Act.
immersion education: see foreign/second language immersion.
immersion programs for language majority students: see foreign/second language immersion.
in-service: refers to teachers who are currently teaching. Often used in the context of professional development: in-service teacher training.
instructional activity: an organizational unit for teaching (whole group lecture, small group dialogue, independent group work, etc.).
joint productive activity: teachers and students working together and producing a common, shared product.
L1: see first language.
L2: see second language.
language majority students: students whose first language is that of the majority population.
language minority students, LMS: students in the U.S. whose first language is not English and who have no or limited proficiency in English.
late-exit bilingual education: see DBE, developmental bilingual education.
LD, learning disabled: the condition of experiencing learning difficulties. Generally described as a discrepancy between an individual's intelligence and academic achievement.
LEP, limited English proficient: term often used in state and federal regulations to refer to English language learners.
literacy: ability to read, write, and comprehend.
longitudinal: a research study which follows a group of subjects over an extended period of time, often several years.
mainstream: students not identified as being at risk of education failure
native language: see primary language.
newcomers: recent immigrant students with limited English proficiency and often a level of prior education that does not match their chronological age.
nongraded schools: elementary schools which do not organize students in traditional K-6 classes.
OERI, Office of Educational Research and Improvement: a unit within the U.S. Dept. of Ed. OERI provides national leadership for educational research and statistics.
ORC, Organization of Research Centers: collective term for federally funded, national education research centers (including CREDE). These centers are funded through the Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI) within the US Dept. of Ed.
paraeducators: School employees whose responsibilities are instructional or who deliver other services to students. Paraeducators work under the supervision of teachers or other professional personnel who have theultimate responsibility for educational programs.
paraprofessionals: see paraeducators.
pedagogy: teaching; assisting students through interaction and activity in the ongoing academic and social events of the classroom.
phonics: the phonological structure of oral language and its representation in written language.
portfolio assessment: assessment based on a collection of student work in a subject.
practicum: teacher preparation involving supervised, practical application of previously studied theory.
pre-service: refers to students being educated to teach; teachers in training. Often used in the context of professional development: pre-service teacher training.
primary language: the first language learned, generally the language spoken at home.
qualitative research: a way to study people or systems by interacting with and observing the subjects regularly.
quantitative research: a systematic attempt to define, measure, and report on the relationships between various elements.
resiliency: increased probability of school and life success despite adversities caused by early characteristics, conditions, and experiences.
rubric: a scoring guide for evaluating the quality of work or products to answer the question: What does mastery, and varying degrees of mastery, look like? Has three essential features: evaluative criteria, quality definitions, and a scoring strategy, which may be either holistic or analytic.
scaffolding: a teaching strategy in which instruction begins at a level encouraging students’ success and provides the right amount of support to move students to a higher level of understanding.
second language: the second language a student has learned or is in the process of learning after a first language has already been learned.
secondary language: see second language.
SES, socioeconomic status: a measure of an individual’s place within a social group based on various factors, including income and education.
sheltered instruction: teaching approach promoting development of a second language while simultaneously facilitating mastery of academic content taught through that second language. Can be used with a first language if students lack proficiency in the language for academic purposes.
"sink-or-swim": see submersion education.
sociocultural theory: a belief that higher-order functions, such as learning, grow out of social interaction.
standards: 1) criteria set as a model or an example to strive to achieve; 2) curriculum standards are subject-matter benchmarks to measure student academic achievement.
submersion education: inclusion of English language learners in all-English programs that do not incorporate systematic, sustained strategies for accommodating students’ particular instructional needs.
teacher aides: see paraeducators.
TBE, transitional bilingual education: Bilingual programs providing academic instruction in English language learners’ primary language while they learn English for academic purposes. Use of primary language discontinued after 2 or 3 years, when students receive all academic instruction through English. Differs from developmental bilingual education in that it aims to transition students into all-English instruction; does not seek to develop the primary language.
theoretical framework: a basic conceptual structure organized around a theory.
tracking: educational practice of placing students in a series of classes or a curricula targeted at a specified achievement or ability level. Examples are: vocational/technical, college preparation.
TWI, two-way immersion: bilingual programs for language majority and language minority students in the same classes. Provides language arts and academic instruction through medium of each group’s home language for at least 50% of the elementary grades and up to 90% during the primary grades. English is used for academic instruction for both groups of students for at least 50% of the time by the end of elementary school. Goals are bilingual proficiency and high academic achievement and cross-cultural understanding.
two-way bilingual education: see TWI, two-way immersion.
untracking: the educational practice of placing both low-achieving and high-achieving students in the same rigorous academic program.
whole language: a philosophy of language instruction emphasizing integration of all language skills (reading, writing, speaking, and listening); reading for meaning; and contextualized language learning and use. Some whole language instructors avoid reading and writing instruction that is based on phonics; some whole language teachers may give phonics lessons to individual students as needed.
zone of proximal development (ZPD): the zone between what the learner can do alone and what he/she can do with assistance (Vygotsky, 1978).
