Since the late 1990s, educational models that integrate language and content objectives have received much acclaim. The paper presents results of a large-scale systematic review on the effectiveness of such models in classrooms at primary and secondary school level.
In light of continued globalization and increased immigration the late 1990s brought a growing interest for educational models that integrate language learning objectives with content learning objectives to promote academic success in immigrant children. However, although such models are implemented all over the world, little systematic research is available on their effectiveness.
To address this gap, the effectiveness of language and content integration in classrooms at primary and secondary school level is being assessed in an ongoing systematic review (2018-2022).
Following an a priori protocol, six major international databases are being searched for experimental, quasi-experimental and observational studies published since 1990. The search is complemented by grey literature and handsearches. Inclusion criteria are: i) participants are aged 5 to 20, ii) the intervention involves content education through language learning, iii) a comparison with regular classes (control groups) is carried out, iv) content and/or language learning outcomes are reported, and v) inferential statistical analysis is used to determine effectiveness.Studies which then meet required standards for internal and external validity are then included in the narrative synthesis.
The search identified 3009 documents, of which 47 were preliminarily included for the validity assessment. At the AILA 2021, results are presented for the first time and the effectiveness of content and language learning approaches is summarized for immigrant students of different ages, backgrounds and learning outcomes.
The paper concludes with a discussion on possibilities and challenges for evidence-based educational policy and practice with respect to long-term outcomes of newly immigrated children through integrated language learning models.
