The authors evaluated the effects of P-SELL, a science curricular and professional development intervention for fifth-grade students with a focus on English language learners (ELLs). Using a randomized controlled trial design with 33 treatment and 33 control schools across three school districts in one state, we found significant and meaningfully sized intervention effects on a researcher-developed science assessment and the state science assessment. Subgroup analyses revealed that the P-SELL intervention had a positive and significant effect for each language proficiency group (ELLs, recently reclassified ELLs, former ELLs, and non-ELLs) on the researcherdeveloped assessment. The intervention also had a positive effect for former ELLs and non-ELLs on the state science assessment, but for ELLs and recently reclassified ELLs, the effect was not statistically significant.

As part of a three‐year curricular and professional development intervention focused on English language learners (ELLs), this study examined the intervention's effect on teachers' science knowledge and instructional practices after one year of implementation. The P‐SELL (Promoting Science Among English Language Learners) intervention comprised curriculum materials for students and teachers and teacher professional development workshops during the summer and throughout the school year. Using a cluster randomized controlled trial design, the study involved 103 fifth grade teachers from 33 treatment schools and 116 fifth grade teachers from 33 control schools across three school districts in one state. The teachers completed a researcher‐developed science test and a questionnaire about their instructional practices at the beginning and end of the year. Results indicated a positive effect of the P‐SELL intervention on teachers' science knowledge and all four measures of instructional practices: teaching for understanding, teaching for inquiry, language development strategies, and home language use. This positive effect could be attributed to consistent implementation of the key features of the intervention (i.e., standards‐based, inquiry‐oriented, and language‐focused) for all students and ELLs in particular through educative curriculum materials and professional development. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 53: 579–597, 2016

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This entry provides an overview of key theoretical and empirical contributions related to two socioculturally grounded constructs—sociolinguistic competence (SC) and interactional competence (IC). Though the two constructs emerged out of research traditions with somewhat different aims, both SC and IC represent a common concern with foregrounding the mediating role of context in learners' ability to use the target language successfully across varying conditions of real‐time talk‐in‐interaction. This entry concludes with a discussion of promising pedagogical applications of SC and IC principles, including explicit teaching of sociolinguistics and conversation analysis and the design of structured opportunities to interact with speakers of the target language.