Study habits key to assignment completion among ELLs

Even newly arrived immigrant students can overcome language barriers and consistently complete school assignments, researchers find. The key to success, says a new study in the American Journal of Education, is having developed study skills while in their native country. Researchers examined the assignment completion rate of almost 275 English language learners, 60 percent of whom the teachers characterized as not academically strong. When study habits, skill level and degree of English proficiency were simultaneously tested, researchers found that study habits and skill level were the strongest predictors of whether these students would complete homework assignments.

The English language learners (ELLs) who were most likely to consistently complete assignments were those who had attended school in their native country and were able to adapt their study habits to fit the new school environment. These students tended to be punctual, attentive and nondisruptive in class.

For recent immigrants, having time in class to practice assignments or begin homework helped facilitate the transition to the new school. Girls and children from two-parent families were also more likely to successfully complete assignments.

Researchers Hee Jin Bang of the University of California at Berkley and Carola Suarez-Orozco and Erin O’Connor, both of New York University, say that immigrant students have difficulty with assignments because they are unfamiliar with the types of assignments that U.S. teachers give as well as the expectations of such teachers.

Efforts to do homework may also be impeded by challenges associated with poverty, lack of a quiet study environment or additional responsibilities such as child care, chores or paid jobs. The immigrant students may also lack support from family members because of language difficulties or limited education.

On average, the students participating in the study had been in the United States almost two years and ranged in age from 9 years old to 14 years old. All attended school in either Boston or San Francisco and came from Central America, China, the Dominican Republic, Haiti o.....