Cohen, D., Tracy, R., & Cohen, J. (2017). On the effectiveness of pop-up English language glossary accommodations for EL students in large-scale assessments . Applied Measurement in Education , 30 (4), 259–272. https://doi.org/10.1080/08957347.2017.1353986

pop-up English glossary with audio

3rd and 7th grade students who are English learners taking a statewide assessment for mathematics and ELA

There were mixed on the effectiveness of Pop-up English glossaries with audio as an accommodation for English learners. Pop-up glossaries did not improve and indeed slightly inhibited 3rd grade EL students’ performance in both ELA and math. In 7th grade the presence of glossaries inhibited the performance of EL students in math but improved performance in ELA. No significant effects were found for students who are not EL’s. The authors hypothesis that “cognitive load” may play a factor in the findings.