Investigating the characteristics and efficacy of the Learning in Two Languages Program: A Research and development initiative

Professor Alison Bailey, Ph.D.

Graduate School of Education & Information Studies

abailey@gseis.ucla.edu

Participants: Intermediate classrooms

Keywords: Dual Language Education, Linguistic Development

Teachers in the Learning in Two Languages (LTL) Program at the UCLA Lab School in conjunction with UCLA researchers have conducted a fully comprehensive research and development initiative on the LTL program to describe, evaluate and improve the program over the past 4 years. The project to critically examine the linguistic, academic, cognitive, social and cultural factors that the program hopes to foster in students. Teacher and student classroom interactions were regularly observed, and students’ language and academic skills, as well as their social and cognitive perspectives were regularly measured using assessments, observations and interviews. Other stakeholders in the program were formatively surveyed for their perspectives on the LTL program (including program teachers, other Lab School teachers and staff, parents of program children and parents with children       throughout the school).