Participants
Participants involved in providing educational services for ELLs were electronically invited to participate in the study. Phone interviews were conducted with 5 school-based employees. To be included in the study participants had to meet the following criteria: (a) employed by a school that offers services to children who are learning English as a second language, (b) worked in a school setting for a minimum of 5 years, (c) provided education services or made educational placement decisions for students who were identified as English Language Learners for a minimum of 5 years, and (d) be a proficient English speaker. Relevant personnel included English as a second language (ESL) teachers, ESL supervisors, and ESL program directions.
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Also referred to as a standardized open interview (Patton, 1990, 2014; Durdella, 2018), the open-set of interview questions were used to analyze and compare responses across participants. Durdella (2018) suggests the standardized open interview protocol include the following: (a) consent; (c) interview; and (d) post-interview. The current study followed the above-mentioned format during the interview process to encourage participants to disclose unrestricted responses and highlight features of their perspectives (Stake, 1995) . This study allowed the inclusion of a wider range of participants, with greater anonymity, and less intimidation to allow the participant to speak freely and at length about their opinions and experiences (Burke & Miller, 2001; Chapple, 1999). This method of data collecting has been utilized for multiple disciplines, such as education, health care, psychology, and speech-language pathology (Coon, Pena, & Illich, 1997; Gibson, 1994; Smith, 2005; Spurgeon, Clarke, & Sackley, 2015). This study utilized a phone interview approach to allow the investigators to examine multiple perspectives across participants including participants geographically distant populations with variable schedules (Block & Erskine, …show more content…
Codes can be characterized by words or short phrases that represent or capture particular elements of the data collected (Saldana, 2013). The use of coding supports the identification of common and uncommon perspectives reported by the participants (Theron, 2015). Charmaz (2006) emphasizes the benefits of implementing a coding system, which allows a researcher to examine the meaning of the data collected while creating links between similarities and differences in responses. These links are developed as repeated codes appear, which may be an indicator for themes or patterns that transpire during the coding process (Theron, 2015). In qualitative research, to gather the underlying meaning of that data, recurring codes generate in the development of categories or concepts to form interpretations of commonalities (Saldana 2013). In the current study, the coding process was divided into two steps: (1) initial coding of interview transcripts, and (2) a response analysis for all coded interview excerpts. To create code names and definitions, the first author read through two interview transcripts and then designated a word or a phrase that represented the idea that the participant discussed during a particular response. Then the authors reviewed the words and phrases to generate code names and operational definitions for each code. Code names and their definitions were
Much research was completed for the making of this article. It was found that ELL’s need time to develop oral English proficiency, teachers need to use ongoing authentic formative assessments throughout the year due to
There are a lot of students being placed whose primary language is not English. Students walk into a mainstream classroom not being able to speak English. Students in this situation are call English Language Learners(ELLs). These students are not receiving appropriate language support to succeed in their language development which is causing them to not have the ability to acquire language.
Flynn, K. & Hill, J. (2005). English language learners: A growing population. Mid-Research For Education And Learning, 1-11.
Thematic analysis is espoused to be the foundational approach to qualitative analysis and methods (Saunders et al., 2016 as stated in Braun and Clarke, 2006: 78) and it is a useful method used to identify and analyse the order and patterns of qualitative data (Attride-Stirling, 2001). Qualitative research method depicts the correlation that exists between data and events, creating the pictorial representation of what one thinks a given data says (Saunders et al., 2016). They also opined that, qualitative data analysis is cogent, interactive and iterative. Also, Joana and Jill (2011) and Saunders et al (2016) postulate that, qualitative research brings meanings from words and images as opposed to numbers. However, despite its robustness and rigour of its application, it is skewed more to the interpretivist ideologies since researchers draw conclusion from participants and the hypothesis being forecasted (Joana and Jill, 2011; Saunders et al., 2016).
2.) We began our study by interviewing a classmate, then interviewing another PLHS student for homework and recording our data. We then proceeded to fill out a Google form, which aided us in planting the anonymous data in a data table and combining it. Following that, we sorted and graphed the data by gender and ethnicity to see how different groups responded to each inquiry. Upon doing th...
Every year, the number of immigrants in the U.S. has grown “significantly.” Chen predicts that by the year of 2020, public schools will have at least 50 percent of students that are non-English speakers (¶5). This shows that it is important that public schools have a successful ESL program. The purpose of ESL programs is “to enhance” ESL students learning, to help students’ “emotional well-being”, and to accelerate students’ ability to learn the new language. According to Chen, some district schools have failed to support ESL students’ learning. For example, Chen stated that “...[some] school districts [have been] accused of not meeting t...
Qualitative research is an approach that attempts to situate an activity that locates the observer in the world by providing the study to occur in their natural setting and by attempting to make sense of, or interpret information (Denzin and Lincoln, 2005). A characteristic of qualitative research is to use a variety of empirical materials such as personal experience, interviews, and questionnaires. It is imperative to understand the task at hand and how to fully carry out the study when using a qualitative research approach in order to find out the information needed. One view of qualitative research is it involves examining individual’s experiences and documenting those experiences in detail (Jones, 2011). By documenting these observations the researcher is ensuring validity in his or her data and giving the correct creditability to those who participated in the study.
Despite the high number of ELL students, it is difficult to know, because of lack of data to see what type of educational programs they participate in. According to Prospects, a 1995 national survey, reading and math were taught in programs using bilingual education in less than half of first and third grade classrooms serving limited English proficient students. Offered more frequently were programs where instruction was offered only in English, or where instructional aides, not teachers, were the vehicles for native language instruction.
In the United States, there has been an increase in in the number of children from Spanish speaking backgrounds. The English Language Learners, commonly known as ELL’s, are being placed in Special Education without being properly tested for a learning disability. However there are a large number of ELL’s with learning disabilities in elementary grades that truly have a learning disability and are over looked. Many school districts have problems placing ELL’s. As a result these students end up in special education whether they have a learning disability or language impairment. Teachers are also indecisive when dealing with ELL’s. Most teachers recommend that ELL’s be placed in special education from day one. It is not because the child has a learning disability, it’s because most teachers are not properly trained to interact with ELL’s. Teachers also find it difficult, due to lack of training, having ELL’s with learning disabilities in their classrooms. More teachers would find their selves comfortable if they had training in dealing with ELL’s and ELL’s with learning disabilities. This paper discusses the issues and the concerns teachers have in dealing with ELLs and ELLs with disabilities, the challenges of identifying individuals with learning disabilities, and what type of assessments classify English Language Learners as having a learning disability.
One of the first challenges that ELL instructors must come to terms with is the identification and assessment of their students’ learning capabilities in their classroom. Traditional identification instruments designed for English speakers may not be valid with English language learners. Identification of English language learners with special needs should include consideration of several factors, such as family history, developmental and health history, first language and literacy development, previous schooling, and the learners' current academic ability, just to name a few. Learning in any language is affected by learning disabilities, but second language learners with special needs present additional educational challenges. According to the British Columbia Ministry of Education, Skills, and Training (Fowler & Hooper, 1998), instructors of English language learners with special needs should consider the cultural, developmental, and first language background of the learner. They should also do the following: (1.) Provide a highly structured learning environment; (2.) Focus on contextual learning;
The population of the United States increased with school age children speaking English as their second language. Strong community leaders and school districts are needed to ensure English language learners attend effective programs that teach them English and push them to graduate successfully (Buysse, Castro, and Peisner-Feinberg, 2010). School districts across America use their own approach to accommodate the learning of English language learners by having a single or combination of programs (Li and Edwards, 2010). Dual language programs allow children to collaborate in developmental levels such as cognitive with tasks in English and Spanish (Pascopella, 2011). English language learners and English proficient students learn from each other.
The purpose of this assignment is to explain the impact of English language learners in the classroom. As a foreign student, English language learner in the United States faces multiple challenges for achieving academic success. To successfully complete a task, they need to master both English as a language and how it is used in core content classes especially when they are an adult. When trying to assist in instructing English language learners, they usually have many concepts and language abilities that they need to master, as do the teachers that are trying to teach them. With the incorporation of the concepts and approaches to identify and assess the issues and concerns that we have learned in our classroom instruction, such as lesson preparation,
When reading the article, “Principles of instructed second Language” by Professor Rod Ellis (2008), he gives us a brief overview of eight principles that we can use to help ELL students. L2 (second language learners), must be able to adapt to the language of America. As educators we must find the correct road map to assist these students. SLA researchers are not so sure that we can help these students to achieve this goal. Professor Ellis does believe with some guidance that educators can have “provisional specification”.
Ever since I can remember I have always had an interest in people who are not from the United States. It was always their language that gave me an excitement about their lives back home and their now life in the United States. Once I became a Junior in college my advisor told me I should consider an ESOL Endorsement, However at the time I knew nothing about it or what it meant. After furthering my research and learning more about the endorsement and classes, I knew it was something I would be interested in while furthering my teaching career in my future. I was excited for a new journey while learning about English Language Learners (ELL). I’ve always wanted to be a teacher and now knowing that I can become an ESOL (English Speakers of Other Languages) teacher is like a dream come true. While doing classroom observations with English Language Leaners I
Surveys are an effective and popular method for research because of the efficiency, versatility and generalizability. Generalizability is the ability to sample and draw research conclusions for large populations (Bachman & Schutt, 2012). In order to effectively maximize outcomes in survey research, surveys must be structured to avoid unclear or confusing questions. Demographic related questions should be avoided if not pertinent to the research study (Bachman & Schutt, 2012). Generally, the motivation of the researcher is clearly identified in a survey, and the respondent has the option of declining involvement in the survey. There are fewer ethical dilemmas with survey research than other types of research methods.