Modifying Between the Lions for ELL Children

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Educational research shows that English language learning (ELL) students have lagged significantly behind their English-speaking peers in reading. This is especially true for children from Hispanic backgrounds, a particularly troubling fact given that the number of Hispanic immigrants has grown markedly over the part two decades. To help address this issue, Sirius Thinking, Ltd., the conceiver and co-producer of the award-winning children's literacy education television series Between the Lions (BTL) is proposing a two-phased research project to determine the feasibility of modifying BTL programs to make them more comprehensible for an audience of Spanish-speaking children learning English as a second language. Developed with literacy experts from across the country, Between the Lions combines innovative puppetry, animation, live action, and music in the service of a scientifically-based literacy curriculum that emphasizes both the pleasures and the value of reading, as well as the skills needed to learn how to read. As part of its Phase I research plan, Sirius proposes to modify one existing episode of Between the Lions using proven techniques that research has shown to be useful in fostering greater comprehension of theme, characters, and story lines among young English language learners whose first language is Spanish. It will test the efficacy of these modifications with Spanish-speaking ELLs in kindergarten and first grade. During Phase I, Sirius will further explore the potential power of these modifications to increase comprehension of content and apeal of the show by conducting a series of interviews with focus groups of educators and parents of ELLs. In Phase II of its study, Sirius proposes to test, with a similar population of ELL students, the efficacy of a series of eight complete episodes of BTL, modified in ways suggested by the results of our Phase I research. Through an experimental research design using three viewing conditions (one group viewing modified versions of BTL, one viewing unmodified versions of BTL, and the third viewing an unrelated children's television show), Phase II research will assess the difference in development of the children's emergent literacy skills in English over an eight-week viewing period, with testing occurring at the beginning, the middle, and the end. These data will be used to inform the design of a new television series based on and using much of the material in the current BTL series but appropriately modified for Spanish-speaking ELL students.