Reading Materials and Strategies for ELLs

1. Reading Materials and Strategies for ELLs Applied Linguistics Winter Conference March 1, 2014 Daryl Gordon, Wenxiu Ma, Alyssa Pinto, Yang Yang Adelphi University

2. Process of Action Research • Defining Action Research • Discussing the Process and Steps • Framing a Research Question • Scaffolding the Literature Review • Methods of Data Collection • Data Analysis Presentation • Framing Implications of Study

4. Agenda • Wenxiu Ma, Culturally relevant reading materials and strategies • Alyssa Pinto, Selection of high interest reading materials • Yang Yang, Impact of reading aloud on ELL pronunciation and comprehension. • Q & A

5. The Impact of Intercultural literature on ELLs’ Reading Comprehension and Reading Engagement Wenxiu Ma, Adelphi University

6. *Research Question What is the impact of intercultural reading materials on the first grade ELLs’ reading comprehension and reading engagement?

7. Rationale Students’ reading ability is one of the nation’s foremost concerns. However, the majority of the research existing in the field of ESL or Bilingual education suggested that culture gap significantly interfere ELLs’ reading performance. As a student teacher who worked with 32 Chinese speaking students in a first grade dual bilingual class, I found my students were hungry for readings that support their bilingual and bicultural identify. I want to explore how I can increase these students’ reading performance by bridging the culture gap.

8. *Setting 1. Research Placement First grade dual Chinese-English Bilingual class 2. Research Participants 6 students ( two intervention readers, two on-level readers, two advanced students) in my intercultural group, their parents and the classroom teacher.

9. *Data 1. Data Collection Categories • Running records • Anecdotal records • Reading logs • Teacher interviews • Parents questionnaires

10. 2. Running Record Running record 1 --mainstream texts Running record 2 –intercultural texts

11. Comprehension Conversation

12. Writing about Reading

13. 4. Reading Log .

14. 5. Teacher Interviews “ I can image how my students would be excited about reading the Chinese fairy tales which they heard from their grand parents previously.” ( First interview, September 3rd , 2013) “ I have never seen of these kids such engage in reading and I have never heard of them talking so much about the books they read.” ( Second interview, October 7th , 2013) “ I have had a lot joy watching the kids in your intercultural group deeply engrossed in reading those Chinese stories. ( Third interview, November 8th , 2013)

15. 6. Parent Questionnaires

16. Some of the comments made by parents to support their observation are as follows: “My child is interested in those books about Chinese culture, and she often asked me to tell her more information about the stories.” “I saw my daughter wrote a lovely reading reflection every day, that makes me proud of her.” “He likes to read more than play computer in the afternoon like before. Thanks.”

17. *Findings Utilizing intercultural reading materials lead to improve students’ reading comprehension. 1. Utilizing intercultural reading materials lead to improved students’ reading engagement. 2. Intercultural reading materials do not benefit all students equally. 3.

18. Implication and Recommendations *Raise the Awareness *Intercultural Literature Collection *A Variety of Resources *Professional Trainings *Attend Conferences

19. Reading Materials in an ESL Classroom and the English Language Learner Research by: Alyssa Pinto MATESOL Adelphi University

20. Research Question • How does the reading material in an English as a Second Language (ESL) classroom impact the English Language Learners (ELLs) learning process? • What genres are of interest and conducive to learning for the ELL? • What activities can help motivate an ELL before, during and after reading?

21. Setting and Participants • 6th Grade Intermediate Level ESL/ELA class • 16 ESL students (11 boys, 5 girls) • 15 of the students are of Hispanic decent • 1 student is of Turkish decent • Sheltered ELA Instruction • 84% of students in the district are receiving free or reduced lunches

22. Motivation for Research • “According to Klingner and Boardman, there is a growing number of ELLs in our country (specifically, they focused on Hispanic ELLs) and the number of them who underachieve in English Literature is an unfortunate amount (2012). In today’s world, it is extremely important for any student to be able to read proficiently so that they may be able to comprehend passages that can be on standardized tests or even tests in their classrooms that are necessary to pass in order to graduate.” -Klinger and Boardman, 2012-

23. Data Collection • Class questionnaire to find out how much the students enjoy/do not enjoy reading, what genres they prefer and if they read at home or just in school. • Sample Question: How much would you say you like reading?

24. Data Collection Continued Student interviews with four students (two boys and two girls). These interviews were conducted one to one and allowed the student to choose from six different books of different genres.

25. Main Findings • Vocabulary Acquisition and reading comprehension skills are essential for an ELL to fully understand reading material in the classroom (Quirk, Beem 2012). • Literature circles, text to talk, guided reading and cooperative groups are all beneficial to support reading done in the classroom (Carrison, Slavit 2005). • Parental Involvement and outside support is correlated to the achievement level of the ELL. • Selecting genres of interest for an ELL to read is more beneficial for them to learn English than books/passages of genres that are not of interest.

26. Implications for the ESL Field • The more Common Core Standards play a role in the classroom, the less there is an option for use of different genres. • Connecting students to the local library or bringing in story tellers is one way to increase outside support in parents are unable to help at home. • Using strategies after reading such as class projects, cooperative group projects and reflection summaries may enhance their understanding of the text.

27. Reading Aloud Strategies Yang Yang Adelphi University Email: yangyang@mail.adelphi.edu

28. Research Question • What Reading Aloud activities and materials are the most effective in helping ELLs develop the skills of pronunciation and reading comprehension?

29. Rationale • Self-learning experience as an ELL in China • Common be used in different grades of school

30. How to Learn English: Read Aloud in China • Read aloud after the tape or teacher • Retell or Recite the text • Watch American dramas

31. Setting of Data Collection • ESL pull-out classroom in a vocational high school in New York city • Population: Hispanic students • Numbers: 5 to 10 students • English Proficiency level: Beginners & Intermediate, or S(L)IFE students

32. FINDING 1 : How to Do Reading Aloud in Secondary Classroom? Literature Review “To engage students, teachers can exaggerate the dialogue and use gestures and different voices for different characters. “The more interactive and fun it is, the more comprehensible the book or text will be for ELL students.” — Wayne Wright, 2010 • Classroom Observation : • The teacher often stops to ask questions • Utilize different tones • Imitate people’s voice • Pause • Body language • Slow down her speed Teacher Students

33. FINDING 1 : How to Do Reading Aloud in Secondary Classroom? Literature Review “By reading aloud longer stretches of text, prosodic features can be focused on, with the aim of raising awareness of these and practicing them, “so that the words flow in as natural-sounding a manner as possible.” — Sally Gibson, 2008 Students Themselves • Classroom Observation : • Take in turn • Error corrections: • Self-correction • Peer-correction • Point out every single word by fingers (beginners and S(L)IFE students)

34. Finding 2: How to Select RA Materials? Interest • “Teenagers at this critical age, they miss the pleasure of getting lost in a story or discovering new information in books. ” — Research • If the teacher is tutoring an English-language learner, it is essential to learn about the student's culture. — Baumann & Duffy (1997) Background

35. Poem: Paul Revere’s Ride By Henry Longfellow Internet resources: “ A Just and Lasting Peace” – President Barack Obama, 2009 “Kids Need Structure” – TED Talk Speech, 2012

36. Implications • Consider students’ background and initial learning methods e.g. give more scaffolding to students in China + High: Reading & Writing －Low: Speaking & Listening • Choose simple RA materials or paraphrase “Secondary-aged students’ higher-order thinking skills sometimes out-develop their reading skills”. －Ivey and Fisher , 2006

37. Questions? • Methodology of action research • Defining the research question • Implications of action research projects for teacher candidates and ELLs.