Research Proposal on "English Language Learners"

Research Proposal 5 pages (1558 words) Sources: 3 Style: APA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

ELLs

Elsa is an eager learner, described by her teachers as someone with great academic and social potential. She performs well in class and shows no behavioral problems. Elsa appears to enjoy reading, as the teacher describes Elsa reading by herself on cue. When Elsa reads aloud directly from the text, the specific strengths and weaknesses in her literacy development can be noted. Although it appears Elsa is struggling with reading comprehension, it is more likely that her comprehension is hindered by the complex verb structures and colloquialisms contained in the reading selections.

The Magic Tree House text is an age-appropriate reading selection. It is impossible to know for certain whether Elsa, a seven-year-old second grader, would struggle with the text if English were her native language. However, the main reason why Elsa is struggling with the Magic Tree House selection is likely to be that she needs more support as an ELL. She concentrates and performs well in class and has been described as a sociable student. Her literacy in Spanish has been proven, and Elsa also communicates fairly well with her English-speaking peers. Moreover, the subject matter of the story fits Elsa's interests in nature and exploration. Elsa should be responding well to The Magic Treehouse.

Lucas, Villegas & Freedson (2008) point out that "most students, but especially ELLs, experience school language as being more complex and cognitively demanding than conversational language." Elsa's story substantiates this point. Lucas et al. (2008) also note that students like Elsa may seem to be proficient in conversational but not academic English. Indeed, Elsa appears to interact well with her peers who are native English speakers as well as with her Spanish-language peers. When Elsa watches Dora and Diego on television, her comprehension is aided by visual imagery and an overall story context. She does not need to worry about formal grammar when she interacts with peers or watches television.

Elsa's story shows that relying on written texts to learn English adds an extra layer of complexity and "abstraction" to the language acquisition process (Lucas et al. 2008). Texts present Elsa with different challenges -- and different opportunities -- than her spoken language exercises. When Elsa reads The Magic Tree House, issues that are directly related to the written text emerge. Some of those issues are related directly to challenging grammatical structures and colloquialisms that are not used in her peer group conversations or on television.

It is important to note that students like Elsa who do not otherwise struggle in school and who demonstrate academic acumen may require longer than expected to master formal academic English. "It takes much longer than 2 or 3 years to develop academic language proficiency comparable to that of grade-level peers whose native language is English," (Lucas et al. 2008). Elsa's development in school including subjects like math and science should not be impacted by her relative mastery of English grammar.

In spite of its weaknesses, the Magic Tree House text may be an ideal text for Elsa and her classmates. The Magic Tree House introduces the ELLs to verb structures they need to familiarize themselves with as their level of English proficiency deepens. Lucas et al. (2008) point out that ELLs do need to be challenged. "To lead to new learning, the input should be not simply comprehensible but just slightly beyond the learners' current level of proficiency," (Lucas et al. 2008). The Magic Tree House is "slightly beyond" Elsa's comfort level. Elsa is challenged without being frustrated; however, the teacher is challenged to seek ways of supporting Elsa in her literacy journey.

ELLs also thrive in a social classroom like the one Ms. Smith has created. Elsa speaks to her classmates in both English and Spanish, which demonstrates the difference between conversational and academic English well. Similarly, Elsa watches English-language television shows at home. Her computer literacy also demands some English proficiency. Elsa's social interactions and exposure to conversational English are fostering Elsa's overall literacy development.

Furthermore, Ms. Smith seems to have created an ideal classroom environment for Elsa and other ELLs. As Lucas et al. (2008) point out, a "safe, welcoming classroom environment with minimal anxiety about performing in a second language is essential for ELLs to learn." Elsa's shyness in class may or may not be related to her level of English proficiency. More direct opportunities to develop her literacy may be necessary, as "ELLs may need time early on to build some confidence in speaking their second language and develop trust in their peers." Ideally Ms. Smith will encourage Elsa to speak more.

One of Elsa's strengths is the level of literacy witnessed in her home environment. Elsa's family keeps Spanish-language reading material at home. "ELL students with strong native language skills are more likely to achieve parity with native-English-speaking peers than are those with weak native language skills."

Elsa appears to not be using individual letters as cues, such as when she reader, "Jack opened her eyes." Her use of the pronoun "her" in place of "him" suggests that Elsa is reading for general content. The mistake can be turned into a positive opportunity to show how Elsa can transfer her grasp of general content towards the whole story. Elsa needs help figuring out the individual phonemes and letters in the words she encounters, getting back to the basic structure of the English language. When she encounters a word like "his," Elsa should be able to construct the word based on its individual letters and not simply from its first letter "h" or its context as a personal pronoun.

Similarly, Elsa substitutes the word "stormy" for "steamy" because she inferred the phrase "hot and stormy." The connection between heat and steam would be less apparent to a second grader than the heat associated with a summer storm. Just as Elsa looked at the word "his" and read "her," she also looked at the word "steamy" and read "stormy." Steamy and stormy begin and end with the same sets of letters and the same diphthongs. As with the personal pronouns "his" and "her," the adjectives "steamy" and "stormy" are readily confused when the reader infers them from the context of the story. This shows that Elsa understands the gist of what she reads, but requires more precise renditions of the words.

Her grasp of English grammar also needs improvement. Conjugating verbs is difficult, and Elsa is glossing over the arduous task by substituting whichever form seems most comfortable or familiar. For instance, she reads, "It look like we land" instead of "It looks like we landed." The complex participle phrase is difficult for an English language learner and may even be one of the reasons Elsa has trouble understanding where the tree house landed. Another instance in which Elsa did not understand the verb conjugation was when she read, "They had land" instead of "They had landed." The past participle form is extremely challenging for an ELL at Elsa's level and should be reserved for more advanced readers. If Elsa is to read for comprehension, she needs to progress more steadily with straightforward verb tenses. Once she masters those, she can move onto the complex verb phrasing.

When the teacher asked Elsa reading comprehension questions, Elsa appeared to have missed several key elements in the text. For example, Ms. Smith asked what the three layers of the rainforest were and Elsa only named the top one. The reason why Elsa only listed the "thick treetops" is because of that section's placement on the page. Elsa clearly needs more visual cues to aid her literacy development. Moreover, the question related to the layers of rainforest is a complex one, requiring abstract thought. If the text contained an image of the three layers, Elsa might have understood what the author was trying to… READ MORE

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