Research Questions
The current study investigated how primary grade and intermediate grade ESL students developed their writing skills in both English and their native language within a social context. The study focused on the characteristics of writing development of two distinct grade levels. Three key Research questions were raised to reach the above goal:
a) How did kindergarten ESL students develop writing in their native language and in English? To be specific, the study aimed to discover the characteristics of the writing development of primary ESL students and the challenges they faced as they learned to write in two languages within social contexts. I wanted to discover how students perceived themselves as writers in different languages and how such identities shaped their writing development.
b) How did third grade ESL students develop their writing skills in both their native language and English? The study also investigated the characteristics of writing development among third grade ESL students and the challenges they encountered in learning to write in two languages within social settings. Like the first question, students’ identities in two cultural and linguistic worlds were examined.
c) What were the similarities and differences between the two groups? The similarities and differences in the writing development of two grades were compared and discussed. Ultimately I aim to understand how similarities and differences between the groups may inform writing instruction. To be specific, I discovered how ELLs’ writing development in social contexts might guide elementary teachers’ perceptions of ELL writing, as well as how the
similarities and differences could inform the writing instruction of elementary teachers and other teachers with ELLs in their class.
Methods
Qualitative case study method was used in order to answer the questions above. Qualitative studies aim to understand the complex interrelations within the context that exists (Stake, 1995). Qualitative research has “endless possibilities” to learn about people and the complex relationships (Corbin & Strauss, 2007). The review of writing development of ELLs in Chapter Two showed that writing development involves social factors. It is anticipated that such complex social relationships within the classroom and outside school will simultaneously play important roles in different grade levels and may have different effects on children's writing development. Qualitative methodology provides us with a useful tool to investigate those relations and helps to explain why those relations matter and take effect. Stake (1995) also points out that qualitative case study may look at a wide range of contexts: “temporal and spatial, historical, political, economic, cultural, social, and personal” (p. 43). Since the current study aims to discover the characteristics in the writing development of children from two grade levels, the collective case study method was used. Collective study was the study of a group of cases; each case was instrumental to learning about the features of the context and its participants, while a set of cases offered opportunities for cross-case analysis.
Merriam (1992) also claims the importance of using qualitative case study in educational research. According to Merriam (1992), qualitative studies involve data fieldwork that are obtained by physically approaching people, sites or institutions. More importantly, qualitative research uses an “inductive research strategy”, which means that researchers derive theories from observations and understandings gained in the research site. Such a characteristic helped
the current research to derive the commonalities and differences from various resources, in which observations and interviews were used to understand the features of children’s writing development.
Moreover, discourse analysis methods were used in the current study. Discourse analysis stresses the social dimensions in participants’ conversations, including both verbal and nonverbal features. Discourse analysis provides us with access to an existing methodology that may
provide insights into literacy development. A study of writing is a study of language. According to Gee (2005), language not only serves as a communicative tool, but also functions as
supporting social activities and identities, as well as the “human affiliation within cultures, social groups and institutions” (p.1). By using discourse analysis, researchers are able to document the social activities and identities or voices of certain cultural groups and further examine the overall picture of the social group. In addition, Gee also points out the intertextuality of language use. He regards both speaking and writing as discourses, which indicates that spoken and written languages are intertwined. For children who are learning to write in two languages at the same time, it becomes a question for both researchers and educators whether there are connections between the two languages.
Rationale for Site Selection and Site Introduction
I chose this school as the site of research for two reasons: the multicultural program of the school and my personal experiencing serving there.
First, the multi-lingual program provided in the school was a good match for the study. The school provided multi-cultural and multi-lingual programs that were different from any other schools in the district. In the school year 2007, the school was enrolled with a majority of African American students and around 40% students with limited English proficiency. Besides
its regular language art classes, ESL classes are provided for students who have difficulty in communicative and academic English. ESL classes were offered from kindergarten to fifth grade and taught by qualified and licensed ESL teachers.
Class time allocation varied among different grades. In general, students in primary grades attended ESL classes in the morning and regular language arts classes in the afternoon, while intermediate grade students joined their regular classes in the morning and attended ESL in the afternoon for two hours. Students in ESL classes were pulled out from their language arts class everyday and joined other ESL students of the same grade.
The enrollment of ESL students varied every year; however, since the school is located within a university town children of international students usually select this school for
attendance. 4th and 5th grades ESL students usually were put in the same group. With a new ESL teacher coming last year, 4th and 5th grade ESL students were divided into two groups.
Kindergarten ESL students were divided into two groups as well due to the increasing number of students.
The ESL classes in the school promoted content-based instruction. Content-based ESL instruction referred to the instructional frame used, in which students not only learned English language arts, but also learned other subjects through English. For instance, the 4th-and-5th-grade ESL class learned science and social science during the fall and spring semesters, respectively. The topic of science ranged from animals to space, from electricity to simple machines; and social science covered a variety of topics, such as social justice, great explorations, etc.; 2nd-3rd graders learned about plants, ancient cultures, etc; and primary graders focused on sun and moon, numbers, etc.
informal survey conducted by the school showed that there were 23 foreign languages spoken other than English. The school offered native language classes that were facilitated with qualified native language teachers. Five native language classes were often available: Chinese, French, Korean, Russian and Vietnamese. Native language classes lasted from half an hour to forty-five minute per day depending on grade levels. Students from different grades were pulled out by native language teachers from their classes or after lunch, and gathered in the same room. Some grades were combined to take classes together, such as fourth and fifth grades, and second and third grades. While the teacher gave lessons to one grade, the other students remained in the same classroom and engaged in their own Chinese reading and writing activities.
The other reason for selecting this site was my personal experience of volunteering in one of the ESL classes in the school. From 2006 to 2009, I volunteered in the 4th/5th grade ESL class. I went to the class once every week, either Tuesday or Thursday to help the teacher with small group activities. Replacing a former Chinese speaking volunteer in the class, I had enjoyed every moment in that classroom. Upon entering the class from the first time, I began to love the class teacher and her students. Students’ English proficiency varied: some students came to the U.S. with no English at all. Those students usually had great difficulty understanding the instructional language in regular language arts classes. In the ESL classes, however, the teacher used slower speech, multi-modalities in instruction and set different expectations for students of various proficiency levels. With such extra help, students were able to feel more comfortable in studying in such an environment. Some students had learned some English in their native countries and came to the U.S. with their parents who spoke a little or fluent English. Whatever their entry levels were, almost all students were very diligent in learning. They engaged in their reading and writing activities with enthusiasm and questions. Most students were able to cope with the
communicative English skills in a few months, and basic academic English skills by the time they moved to middle school.
As I began to get acquainted with other ESL teachers in the school, I felt that writing played a very important role in ESL setting. Activities in ESL class included but were not limited to group reading and individual reading time, whole class writing and group writing, and writing conferences. Almost every class time that I visited, there was writing involved. During the few years of volunteering, students changed; however, writing was integral to the curriculum. Daily writing included short stories, journals, note taking, etc. Besides, students were engaged in major research projects as well. For example, the year before last, the fourth- and fifth- grade class presented “the great people in the world”, a project in which students researched the great people in human history and presented them in written form and performances to the entire school about their achievements. A year later, the teacher helped her students to organize an insect museum where students demonstrated their research on different kinds of insects. The museum lasted for two days, which attracted everyone in the school including parents. I helped the teacher and the students in preparing both museums and this experience deepened my understanding of how important writing was in ESL classes.
In addition to the class project, the school also held Young Authors Contest every year that attracted students from different grades to participate. Students were allowed to try different genres in the contest, but most participants chose narratives for the competition. A group of teachers were organized as an evaluation committee. In order to meet the deadline of submission, students worked with their classroom teachers or ESL teachers on their contest essays. During the time when I was volunteering, most ESL students participated in the contest each year, and a number of students had won the top prize.
The year before my dissertation research, I conducted a small-scale research on the writing conferences in the fourth grade ESL class. Both teacher and students were very cooperative and supportive for my study, especially the teacher who had always been eager to improve her instruction for ESL children. The study showed that there were four different forms of teacher-student interactions during the writing conferences. The variety of forms deepened my understanding of ESL classes in this school.
To sum up, I believed my familiarity with the school and the teachers in the focal school would help me to be engaged in the current research more quickly; at the same time, focal teachers’ concentration on writing would inform us more about children’s writing development.
Participants
Participants in this study included 7 students from two grade levels. Because of my own language background --I am a native Chinese speaker, I intended to choose those students whose first language was Chinese as well so as to deeply understand their writing development in Chinese.
The school that focal students attended served K-5 grade students from nearby communities. According to the school's report card in 2008, over half of the students were African American and one fourth were Asian students. The school’s unique feature included its multicultural programs. In addition to the regular language arts class, the school also offered English as a Second Language class and native language class in all grades. This feature attracted a large number of students with limited English proficiency. More than one third of the total enrollment consisted of ELLs in 2008.
The school held a unique schedule for ELLs. At the beginning of the school year, each ELL was given a proficiency test to determine if he or she needed to be placed in ESL classes.
For those who were assigned to ESL, students attended three different classes each day: regular language art class (all English class), ESL class and their native language class. For kindergarten students, after gathering in their language art class for a half an hour every morning, ELLs were pulled out by their ESL teacher and led to the ESL class that lasted from 8:30 to 10:30.
Afterward, students went back to their own language art class. After a short lunch, many students attended the native language class. For the Chinese-speaking kindergarten students in this study, their Chinese class was half an hour after lunch. At around 12:35, kindergarten students were sent back to their language arts class and stayed there until 2:50pm. Since there were a large number of kindergarten ELLs this year, they were divided into two kindergarten ESL classes that were taught by Mrs. Cane and Mrs. Macy respectively.
The third grade ESL was divided into two classes as well: one was taught by Mrs. Rose and the other, which consist both second and third grade students, was taught by Mrs. Long. Mrs. Rose's class was place in the morning from 8:30am to 11:30am. After lunch, students attended their native language classes from 12:45pm to 1:30pm. For Mrs. Long's third grade students, ESL class started from 9:00am and ended at 11:45am. The Chinese-speaking children in the class joined the Chinese class at the same time as the students from Mrs. Rose's class.
As indicated by the Director of Multilingual Program of the school district, ELLs' literacy development mainly occurred in the ESL classes they attended. Students in the ESL class had different literacy activities including reading, writing, speaking and listening. At the same time, ESL class provided a relaxing environment where students could feel comfortable to learn. Students came to the class with various literacy backgrounds. Some students just came to the US with no English at all. Therefore, ESL class was the only occasion where they could learn the language through several modalities, which helped them to gradually grasp the language. Other
students, although some had an English background from attending preschools or daycare centers in the US, were not as proficient as native English speakers in academic areas. They needed more opportunities to practice reading and writing in English.
For many ESL students, this school is one of the best places where they had access to multicultural and native language instruction. A large number of parents of ESL students were international staff members and graduate students at a university. Many students lived with their parents at the university’s Graduate Students and Family Housing where international graduate students and staff members established their own community. Many ESL students were good friends in and out of school. They often mentioned playing, going to church together and taking the trips that the community organized on weekends. There were also some students who did not live in the community, but attended this elementary school for its unique programs. Even though most parents of the ESL students were well-educated, students’ English proficiency levels varied due to their prior academic background in English, native language, and content knowledge.
With an understanding of the school context, consent forms were given to all the
Chinese-speaking children from kindergarten and 2nd -3rd grades before the formal observations began. Students' language proficiency, writing behaviors, their access to the two languages, etc were considered before I collected the forms. A week later, all the consent forms were
recollected. Seven students agreed to be part of the study, as consented by their parents, with the parents participating in the interviews as well. Among those 7 students, 4 came from
Table 1 Profile
Students Age Came to the US ESL teacher
Lingyun 6 2008 Mrs. Cane
Mia 5.5 Born in the US Mrs. Cane
Tina 6.5 2006 Mrs. Macy
Ned 5 2008 Mrs. Macy
Joy 8 1999 Mrs. Rose
Nora 8 2008 Mrs. Rose
Jay 9 2008 Mrs. Long
In addition to the participating students, five teachers also participated in the study. My rapport with an ESL teacher at this school enabled me to talk to other ESL teachers as well as the Chinese teacher. I had been visiting two kindergarten ESL classes in the past to fulfill my course requirement and thus had some opportunities to get acquainted with those teachers.
After talking to them about my research plan, all the aforementioned ESL teachers agreed to participate, as well as the Chinese teacher who all expressed their interest. The two
kindergarten ESL teachers were in their 40s. Both had been teaching ESL for a number of years. In addition, both teachers were Caucasian American and received Master's Degrees in Education and State’s credentials of teaching ESL. Mrs. Long was in her 50s. As a veteran teacher of ESL, she had been working in this school for many years and was about to retire after this year. Mrs. Rose, the one that I had been working with, was also a veteran teacher who had rich experience teaching ELLs. The Chinese teacher was also included in the study because of my purpose of
the past years. Speaking the same language also made our communication easy. Consent forms were distributed to these teachers before the formal observation began and were signed by them a few days later as a confirmation of their participation. The teachers indicated whether they would agree to let me audiotape their class activities as well as my interview with them. Moreover, I contacted the multicultural program director at the school for some information about the ESL program.
Data Collection
Data for the current study were obtained from five major sources: classroom observations, interviews with students, interviews with teachers, interviews with parents of focal students, and students’ writing samples.
Class observations. The data for the study were collected in a one-year period from
October 2008 to May 2009. Such a long term was based on my research questions so as to ensure the continuity of data collection. In order to discover the development of children’s writing, it