RESEARCH DIGEST: TESOL TOPICS IN OTHER JOURNALS This section presents brief synopses of empirical research and theoretical discussions in peer-reviewed journals The aim is to disseminate findings and perspectives in fields related to TESOL and to provide access to the diverse conversations among scholars in the field Edited by SARA MICHAEL-LUNA New York University ‘‘Far’’ Transfer of Learning Outcomes From an ESL Writing Course: Can the Gap be Bridged? Journal of Second Language Writing, 18, 69–84 Mark A James, 2009 One of the primary objectives of postsecondary ESL writing instruction is to provide students with the skills and knowledge, or learning outcomes, they need to successfully perform academic writing tasks at the university In this study, James addresses two main questions: (a) Will learning outcomes from an ESL writing course transfer to a writing task with characteristics that are very different from the kind of writing done in the ESL writing course but that are typical of the kind of writing required in other academic courses (i.e., involving text-responsible writing)? (b) Can learning transfer in this situation be promoted by asking students to look for similarities between the writing task and the ESL writing course? Thirty undergraduate students enrolled in a one-semester ESL academic writing class participated in the study, which took place at a large urban university in the United States Data were collected in various forms First, each student read a scientific article and wrote answers to questions relating to the text All participants engaged in an interview to provide information on their use of learning outcomes from the class and filled out a background questionnaire The participants’ texts from a previous assignment in the course (an essay about remembering people) were used to provide evidence of the use of learning outcomes The data were analyzed The findings indicate that some participants transferred varying reading and writing learning outcomes to both the writing task and remembering essay However, 57% of students did not purposely use the learning outcomes from the writing class while performing the task for this study Transfer of some learning outcomes was stimulated, whereas transfer was inhibited for others, and no statistical difference was found between participants who were asked to find similarities between the tasks TESOL QUARTERLY Vol 43, No 4, December 2009 Tesol Quarterly tesol205417.3d 31/12/09 19:22:38 The Charlesworth Group, Wakefield +44(0)1924 369598 - Rev 7.51n/W (Jan 20 2003) 751 and those who did not James suggests that because the writing task was very different from those writing tasks performed in class, the students may have been less inclined to apply learning outcomes to it James provides a deeper understanding of how transfer of learning outcomes in ESL writing instruction to other tasks may occur, and draws attention to the necessity for future research to investigate how transfer among writing tasks may be achieved most effectively ILKA HENITS New York University The effects of multimedia-enhanced instruction on the vocabulary of English-language learners and non–English language learners in pre-kindergarten through second grade Journal of Educational Psychology, 101, Rebecca Silverman & Sara Hines 2009 Silverman and Hines examine multimedia as a possibility for leveling the playing field between English language learners (ELL) and non– English language learners (non-ELLS) in vocabulary learning This study investigated ‘‘the effect of adding multimedia reinforcement in the form of video to traditional vocabulary instruction provided through reading storybooks aloud and, specifically, explored whether multimediaenhanced instruction is differentially effective for English-language learners and non-English-language learners’’ (p 305) In this study 85 students, ranging in age from 4K to 8K years, from a small semi-urban public school, were grouped by grade level and then randomly split into one of these two intervention conditions: (a) nonmultimedia and (b) multimedia Before and after the interventions took place, children underwent assessments pertaining to their (a) knowledge of the words targeted in the intervention, (b) general vocabulary knowledge, and (c) knowledge of science concepts taught in the intervention (p 309) Results from this study claim that for children who had ‘‘experienced the multimedia-enhanced vocabulary intervention, the gap between non– ELL and ELL children in knowledge of words targeted during the intervention was closed, and the gap in general vocabulary knowledge was narrowed’’ (p 311) For more insight into this topic, Silverman and Hines encourage future researchers to repeat this study (a) on a larger scale, and (b) with different groups of children such as those with language-based learning disabilities David Bedard Rye Country Day School New York University 752 TESOL QUARTERLY Tesol Quarterly tesol205417.3d 31/12/09 19:22:39 The Charlesworth Group, Wakefield +44(0)1924 369598 - Rev 7.51n/W (Jan 20 2003) Emergent biliteracy in young Mexican immigrant children Reading Research Quarterly, 43(4), 374–398 Iliana Reyes & Patricia Azuara 2008 Iliana Reyes suggests that environment is highly significant in a child’s biliterate development She takes an ecological view of how Mexican immigrant biliterate children learn language and asks the questions: (a) What knowledge of biliteracy young emergent bilingual children develop in the early years? and (b) How context and specific language environments influence the development of biliteracy in young Mexican origin Spanish-English bilingual children? Iliana Reyes observed twelve 4- and 5-year-old children who speak Spanish as their primary language and English as a secondary language She collected interview and reading assessment data to understand each child’s print awareness Additionally, she observed the children at home, at school, and in their larger community Case studies of three children were used to represent the diverse range of knowledge and experience Iliana Reyes found that (a) The children developed both knowledge and metalinguistic awareness of Spanish and English print (b) In each family, ‘‘certain kinds of literacy practices tend to take place consistently in a particular language’’ (p 392), but this pattern was family specific (c) Intergenerational learning took place as both adults and children coconstructed meaning during ‘‘interactive play and learning’’ (p 392) Iliana Reyes provides samples of dialogue, children’s writing, data results and analysis which illuminate her findings Iliana Reyes suggests that there is currently no accurate way to assess children’s biliteracy knowledge and suggests a more extensive ecological research be done with the purpose of understanding how biliteracy is developed and how to best evaluate a biliterate child’s progress This article would be interesting to researchers and teachers who are interested in investigating alternative assessment strategies for English language learners Julia Lang New York University Multilingual literacies in transnational digitally mediated contexts: An exploratory study of immigrant teens in the United States Language and Education, 23(2), 171–190 Wan Shun Eva Lam & Enid Rosario-Ramos 2009 Lam and Rosario-Ramos explore the literacy practices that are involved as young immigrants use the Internet to social network and RESEARCH DIGEST 753 Tesol Quarterly tesol205417.3d 31/12/09 19:22:39 The Charlesworth Group, Wakefield +44(0)1924 369598 - Rev 7.51n/W (Jan 20 2003) assimilate information about both their country of origin and the country they are presently living in Lam and Rosario-Ramos focus on the question, ‘‘What kinds of literacies teenage children of migrants develop to engage with our global conditions of mass electronic mediation and transnational movement of people?’’ (p 171) Participants were 262 foreign-born students from a high school in the Midwest who answered a survey questionnaire that included questions about their general use of the Internet and specific questions about national and international online socializing Focus groups and individual interviews were conducted with 35 students who enrolled in ESL programs or mainstream classes and from diverse nations Lam and Ramos found that their participants (a) used multiple languages to maintain ‘‘transnational relationships’’ online (p 176), (b) used online communities to learn and maintain language(s), and (c) used digital media to develop multiple perspectives on current events The participants developed ‘‘types of linguistic dispositions that are expressed in multilingual literacies and learning’’ (p 187), suggesting that digital media are a valuable tool in literacy and language learning and maintenance for immigrant adolescence This article would be very helpful for high-school teachers and researchers interested in understanding how digital media can be used to enhance and support language learning Rossana Rega New York University 754 TESOL QUARTERLY Tesol Quarterly tesol205417.3d 31/12/09 19:22:39 The Charlesworth Group, Wakefield +44(0)1924 369598 - Rev 7.51n/W (Jan 20 2003)