The relationship of English language learners to teaching practices in English medium classrooms
Abstract
Using thirty teaching practices identified as effective by research, the increased or decreased use of these specific teaching behaviors in English medium classrooms with increasing numbers of ELL students was examined. The population for the study consisted of Kindergarten through fifth grade teachers in four schools that have experienced substantial growth in the number of ELL students in the last three years. A survey was used to collect demographic data on the survey respondents and also responses on whether these teachers had changed their use of the thirty specified behaviors with responses recorded on a Likert-type scale. The behaviors were grouped into five categories: communication with students, information to students, interactions with/among students, structure, and teaching strategies. An analysis of the collected responses (M = 3.84, SD = .473), t(63) = 14.02, p = .00 (two-tailed) indicated that teachers have changed their use of specific teaching behaviors to a statistically significant degree, with one exception among those behaviors surveyed: the use of dialogue journals (p = .373). Teacher responses did not differ at a statistically significant level based on years of teaching experience, hours of professional development devoted to teaching ELL students, highest level of education attained by the respondent, or ethnicity of the respondent. The overall mean response did differ to a statistically significant degree based on the number of ELL students in the teachers' classrooms.
Subject Area
Curricula|Teaching|Bilingual education|Multicultural education|Language arts
Recommended Citation
Deborah Myers Boyd,
"The relationship of English language learners to teaching practices in English medium classrooms"
(2004).
ETD Collection for Tennessee State University.
Paper AAI3127544.
https://digitalscholarship.tnstate.edu/dissertations/AAI3127544