Abstract:

For both English learners and all students placed at risk by traditional teaching, they must become actively involved in the learning process rather than be passive recipients of knowledge. A pedagogical approach encouraging this sort of active learning is the Instructional Conversation pedagogy (IC; Tharp & Gallimore, 1991). A randomized controlled trial is being undertaken that is investigating the efficacy of this pedagogy. The objectives center on the extent to which the implementation of a the IC pedagogy produces significant changes in student and teacher participation structures based on video evidence of authentic teaching and learning.

Theoretical Framework:
The IC is founded on socio-cultural theory (Cole, 1996; Vygotsky, 1978) that suggests higher level psychological functions and concepts are co constructed and mediated by tools such as language, activities and other means. The IC occurs in small groups of 3 to 7, lasts around 20 minutes, and follows a clear instructional goal. All students are encouraged and taught how to become active participants of the academic conversation.

Data from Teachers:
While the IC pedagogy can benefit all students, this project focuses largely on the outcomes for English Language Learner (ELL) students. Therefore, schools in Georgia with large ELL populations were recruited for the study. Volunteer third and fifth grade teachers were randomly assigned to control and treatment groups. Teachers in the treatment condition were first trained in the IC pedagogy during a five-day summer workshop. During this workshop each teacher also established a relationship with an instructional coach whom they worked with closely over the course of the academic year. Teachers in the control group provide a basis for comparison. We report how teachers actually performed using video samples and coach observations in relation to student outcomes in standardized tests.

Video Analyses:
Baseline and final videos were collected for each of the 44 teachers in the study. These videos contain small group lessons in both the control classroom and ICs in the treatment classrooms.
Each video is rated by assistants trained by the project to assess the amounts of student and teacher talk, the quality of the talk evidenced by the students and the quality of the questions asked by the teachers.

The session summarizes the process of assessing the extent to which the intervention with teachers in te experimental group has been implemented with fidelity using a new video-based methodology and assessment model.
A year after the professional development and practice, these teachers' pedagogy with English learners is contrasted. It will also report the extent to which students benefit from the IC teaching method for teachers enacting this responsive teaching method.

Keywords:

Video assessment, Teacher quality, achievement gap, English learners.