View Content #7329
| Contentid | 7329 |
|---|---|
| Content Type | 1 |
| Title | Online Article: Effects of Instructional Hours and Intensity of Instruction on NRS Level Gain in Listening and Speaking |
| Body | From http://www.cal.org/resources/digest/levelgain.html Effects of Instructional Hours and Intensity of Instruction on NRS Level Gain in Listening and Speaking Sarah Young, Center for Applied Linguistics Abstract This digest reports on a descriptive study examining two questions related to adult English language learners’ educational level gains in the National Reporting System for Adult Education (NRS), as measured by the standardized oral proficiency assessment BEST Plus: (1) What is the relationship between instructional hours and educational level gain on BEST Plus? and (2) What is the relationship between intensity of instruction and educational level gain on BEST Plus? To provide guidance to users on the number of instructional hours needed for students to show a level gain on BEST Plus, the Center for Applied Linguistics collected pretest and posttest data on more than 6,500 students from two states. The largest number of students pretested with BEST Plus tested into the NRS Beginning ESL Literacy level (49%). The fewest were placed in the NRS Advanced ESL level (7%). Statistical analyses were conducted to see how examinee performance at each level varied according to number of instructional hours and intensity of instruction. Instructional hours were defined as the number of hours that students actually attended class, ranging from fewer than 60 hours to more than 140 hours. Intensity of instruction was defined as how often students attended class over a given period of time, ranging from low intensity (e.g., 100 hours of instruction over 250 days) to high intensity (e.g., 100 hours of instruction over 75 days). Results showed that across NRS educational functioning levels, the greater the number of instructional hours, the higher the percentage of students who made level gain. There was also a general trend toward greater NRS level gain for students with high levels of instructional intensity than for those with low intensity. Intensity of instruction had the greatest impact on students at the Beginning ESL Literacy, Low Intermediate, and Advanced ESL levels. Additional research is needed to better understand differences in level gain and the learner and programmatic factors, including number of instructional hours and intensity of instruction, that may influence oral language proficiency as measured by NRS level gain. Read this digest at http://www.cal.org/resources/digest/levelgain.html or download it in PDF format from http://www.cal.org/resources/digest/digest_pdfs/levelgain.pdf . |
| Source | CAL |
| Inputdate | 2008-02-02 11:10:06 |
| Lastmodifieddate | 2008-02-02 11:10:06 |
| Expdate | Not set |
| Publishdate | 2008-02-04 00:00:00 |
| Displaydate | Not set |
| Active | 1 |
| Emailed | 1 |
| Isarchived | 1 |
