Pilot Project Focuses on English-Language Learners

With start-up funding from the Verizon Foundation, Penn GSE Professors Betsy Rymes and Stanton Wortham are piloting the Penn Language and Literacy Project (PLLP).

Launching an applied research program that capitalizes on GSE’s strength in TESOL, biliteracy, applied linguistics and linguistic anthropology, the PLLP team hopes to help improve teaching and learning for English Language Learners (ELLs) in the Norristown district’s middle schools.

The initial phase of the project will include interviews with middle school personnel and teachers who work directly with ELLs to get a sense of their needs. Researchers will also record four students, both in and out of school, over the course of several weeks. With the interviews, these recordings will inform the construction of a database that will help researchers understand the distinct “communicative repertoires” ELLs use—and to what effect.

Working side by side with school personnel and community members, the Penn Language and Literacy Project will draw on this research to develop a “Spanish for Language Teachers” professional development curriculum. Says Rymes, “By using language data gathered in Norristown schools and the community, we would ensure that Norristown teachers spend their time learning the kinds of Spanish that will be relevant to their students’ needs.”

In addition, the PLLP researchers will help facilitate teacher-parent conferences. As a component of the project, Wortham and Rymes will develop a system in which Spanish- speaking Penn students provide translation services for parent-teacher night.