The Development, Implementation, and Evaluation of a Summer School for English Language Learners.

The purposes of this paper are to explain the development processes of an intensive summer program for English language learners and to discuss course improvement strategies based on the evaluation outcomes. This 60-hr partnership program between local schools and a university was developed to improve the language proficiency of increasing numbers of international students in the southeastern United States. Following a conventional instructional design model, the authors conducted needs assessments with parents and teachers and developed and implemented a one-month intensive English program emphasizing the improvement of reading and writing skills and test preparation. Formative and summative evaluations were conducted to identify areas of improvement and to examine the effectiveness of the program. This paper reports the evaluation results and discusses three areas that need to be considered to develop a quality summer English program: (a) the incorporation of standardized tests, (b) the creation of comfortable learning environments, and (c) the development of curriculum content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]