Similarities and dissimilarities in the teaching of English and French in a dual language instructional setting

This study investigates the relationships between the observed quality of classroom teaching assessingAtmosphere,Instruction,Management andStudent Engagement, (AIMS, Roehrig, A. D., and E. Christesen. 2010. 'Development and Use of a Tool for Evaluating Teacher Effectiveness in Grades K-12.' InInnovative Assessment for the 21st Century, edited by V. J. Shute, and B. J. Becker, 207-228. New York, NY: Springer), and growth in reading and listening comprehension across grade 4 in typical English-French dual language learners. For the majority, (67%), English was a first language (L1), for 16% French was an L1. N = 332 children in 36 classrooms were assessed on reading and listening comprehension measures and observed in the fall and winter semesters in English and French. Results showed that, overall, ratings of AIMS sub-scales did not differ markedly across English and French classrooms. Classroom teaching quality ratings were not, however, correlated across English and French classes. AIMS ratings in either language for Atmosphere were reliable and relatively stable between fall and winter, as was Management in English. AIMS ratings predicted growth in classroom-level variance in reading and listening for English and French both concurrently and longitudinally. These results suggest that there are broad, stable commonalities in effective teaching in English and French classrooms that can be validly and reliably observed. Practically, such observations of (majority) second language teaching quality can facilitate assessment of student needs and mentoring and development needs of teachers.