Abstract

Due in part to the challenges associated with learning a new language, English language learners (ELLs) typically begin school with lower achievement than their non-ELL peers, and those achievement gaps often close slowly if at all. A separate body of research shows that achievement is associated with social-emotional learning constructs like self-efficacy, yet this relationship has rarely been examined for ELLs. In this study, multivariate models that jointly estimate growth in achievement and self-efficacy during middle school are used to see how underlying developmental processes relate for ELLs. Results indicate that self-efficacy tends to decline for all students despite growth in math and reading, and that achievement and self-efficacy are much lower for ELLs. Further, there is evidence that slower growth in math and reading for ELLs is associated with their low self-efficacy at the beginning of middle school (self-efficacy mediates the association between ELL status and achievement growth). Implications for closing achievement gaps between ELLs and non-ELLs are discussed.

摘要

部分由于与学习新语言有关的挑战，英语学习者（ELL）入学时的学习成绩通常比非ELL学习者要差，而且这些学习成绩之间的差距通常会逐渐缩小。另一项研究表明，成就与诸如自我效能感之类的社会情感学习结构有关，但是这种关系很少被ELL考查过。在这项研究中，使用多变量模型共同估算初中阶段成就和自我效能的增长，以了解潜在的发育过程与ELL的关系。结果表明，尽管数学和阅读能力有所提高，但所有学生的自我效能都有下降的趋势，而ELL的成就和自我效能要低得多。进一步，有证据表明，在初中阶段，ELL的数学和阅读能力增长缓慢与他们的自我效能低下有关（自我效能介导了ELL状态与成就成长之间的关联）。讨论了缩小ELL与非ELL之间成就差距的含意。