COMPARISON OF READING AND LANGUAGE ACHIEVEMENT IN STRUCTURED AND CONVENTIONAL ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE PROGRAMS IN DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE DEPENDENTS SCHOOLS

The purpose of this study was to compare the reading and language achievement of two samples of students with limited English proficiency in grades two through five enrolled in the English as a Second Language (ESL) Program in the Department of Defense Dependents Schools; one sample in a program structured in terms of the Administrative Guidelines for the English as a Second Language Program in the Department of Defense Dependents Schools and the other along conventional lines (where the "administrative guidelines" had not been implemented). The following hypothesis was tested in the study: The academic achievement in English and/or language, as measured by the Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills of students in grades two through twelve enrolled in structured and conventional ESL programs in the Department of Defense Dependents Schools (DoDDS) overseas does not differ significantly. Operationally this hypothesis was tested as eight separate hypotheses, each dealing with one dimension of English and/or language: word attack, vocabulary, reading comprehension, total reading achievement, spelling, language mechanics, language expression, and total language achievement. Results obtained on the Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills by 308 students in grades two through five in the DoDDS Germany region were used by the researcher in evaluating the academic achievement of students in the structured and conventional ESL program on the eight English language dimensions tested. The Statistical Analysis System was used for hypothesis testing; appropriate comparisons of the significance of differences between pairs of means were accomplished through the use of multiple t -tests. Six of the eight null hypotheses tested were rejected in favor of the alternate hypotheses which stated that there would be significant differences between the two groups. The students in the structured ESL program had significantly higher mean scores (.05 level) on six of the eight dimensions tested. These results lead the researcher to conclude that the difference in the mean scores indicating greater achievement by students in the structured ESL program did not occur by chance and can be attributed, in part, to the use of the "administrative guidelines" in structuring the ESL program.