How to Integrate Content and Language Learning Effectively for English Language Learners

Abstract

This paper describes the challenges and successes of developing and scaling up a research-based instructional intervention known as the SIOP (Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol) Model. The SIOP Model is an approach used widely in the United States for teaching subjects like mathematics and science to students learning through English, a new language. Teachers integrate techniques that make the concepts accessible with techniques that develop the students’ skills in the academic language of the specific subjects. This article describes a program of research that developed the SIOP Model in one study and then tested its efficacy and refined its professional development design in subsequent studies in a number of different contexts over 15 years. Results revealed that students with teachers who were trained in the SIOP Model and implemented it with fidelity performed better on assessments of academic language than students with teachers who were not trained in the model.