Making Content Comprehensible for English Language Learners: The SIOP Model

Like no other text on the market, Making Content Comprehensible/ presents an empirically validated model of sheltered instruction. This text provides the Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP) model, which provides school administrators, teachers, teacher candidates, university faculty and field experience supervisors with a tool for observing and quantifying a teacher's implementation of quality sheltered instruction. Making Content Comprehensible presents a coherent, specific, field-tested model of sheltered instruction that specifies the features of a high quality sheltered lesson that teaches content material to English learners. Each of the 30 items from the SIOP model are illustrated through vignettes. Three different lessons for each item are rated and discussed, allowing the book to be applied to a variety of content areas and grade levels.

New to This Edition

• A new, additional chapter addresses the issue of English learners who are struggling readers and/or students with disabilities by including detailed information about learning disabilities and delayed development in reading (Ch. 10).
• Revised vignettes present teaching scenarios where three teachers teaching the same grade level and content attempt to include the focal SIOP indicators, with varying degrees of success.
• Complete lesson descriptors allow readers to score the three teaching scenarios and help readers develop a degree of inter-rater reliability.
• New pedagogy! Each chapter contains:
  • A graphic organizer that provides an overview of the chapter.
  • “Background Sections” that include descriptions of the 8 sections and 30 indicators of the SIOP to help readers plan and prepare effective sheltered lessons.
  • “Background Discussion Questions” appropriate for portfolio development in pre-service and graduate classes, for professional development workshops, or for reflection.
• The new, larger trim size facilitates using in the classroom the SIOP long and short versions and the lesson plan forms and rating the vignettes.
• Includes both the full SIOP and an abbreviated version for the reader's use.
• Two different SIOP lesson plan formats that can be used for planning and preparation, depending on your needs.
• An Appendix contains the results of studies that demonstrate that English learners whose teachers used the SIOP model outperformed similar students whose teachers did not implement the model.

“Making Content Comprehensible is very practical and right on target for strategies in the field of ELLs.”
Professor Gerald McCain, Southern Oregon University

“What clearly distinguishes Making Content Comprehensible from others in the field is that it provides an easy-to-use, powerful, field-tested protocol for effective lesson planning, delivery and assessment.”
Professor Karen L. Newman, Indiana University

“The strength of Making Content Comprehensible is the clear picture it provides of instruction and the teaching scenarios. The discussion of the teaching techniques and evaluation of each of the three teachers provides invaluable examples for the student.”
Professor Judith B. O'Loughlin, New Jersey City University

Author Bios:

Dr. Jana Echevarria is Chair of the Department of Educational Psychology, Administration and Counseling at California State University, Long Beach. Formerly she was a professor of Special Education. Her professional experience includes elementary and secondary teaching in special education, ESL and bilingual programs. She has lived in Taiwan and Mexico where she taught ESL and second language acquisition courses at the university level, as well as in Spain where she conducted research on instructional programs for immigrant students. After receiving a Masters Degree in Bilingual Special Education from California State University, Long Beach, she received her Ph.D. from UCLA and was one of the recipients of the National Association for Bilingual Education's Outstanding Dissertations Competition. Her research and publications focus on effective instruction for language minority students, particularly those with learning disabilities.

Mary Ellen Vogt is Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in Reading at California State University, Long Beach. Prior to her work at the university, she was a reading specialist a the school and district levels. Dr. Vogt is a past president of the California Reading Association, and served on the Board of Directors of the International Reading Association. She has authored chapters and articles in professional journals and texts, and has co-authored five books including: Portfolios in Teacher Education (1996; International Reading Association), Professional Portfolio Models (1998; Christopher-Gordon), Creativity and Innovation in Content Area Teaching (2000; Christopher-Gordon), and Making Content Comprehensible for English Language Learners: The SIOP Model (2000; Allyn & Bacon). Dr. Vogt is also an author of two K-8 reading series published by Houghton Mifflin: Invitations to Literacy and a Legacy of Literacy. She has been inducted into the California Reading Hall of Fame, and in 1999 she received the Distinguished Faculy Teaching Award from her university.

Deborah J. Short directs the Language Education and Academic Development division at the Center for Applied Linguistics in Washington, DC. She conducts school-based research on sheltered instruction and on effective programs for English language learners. She helped develop the national ESL standards. Her PhD specialization is bilingual/multicultural education.