Date Thesis Awarded

5-2010

Access Type

Honors Thesis -- Access Restricted On-Campus Only

Degree Name

Bachelors of Arts (BA)

Department

Linguistics

Advisor

Jonathan Arries

Committee Members

Ann Reed

Anne H. Charity Hudley

Kelly Whalon

Abstract

This paper outlines observations of teacher practice in English as a second language (ESL) reading instruction from a case study conducted in a public elementary school. The instructional context of two second grade English language learners (ELLs) was constructed using data gathered in observations of teacher practice and interviews with the second grade classroom teacher, ESL tutor, Reading Recovery teacher, and school and district administrators. Field notes from the Reading Recovery classroom, where thorough and challenging literacy instruction was observed, served as a key component to this study. The data gathered was also used to glean an understanding of the complete learning environment that surrounds ELLs in this school. This school provides a strong and encouraging learning environment in which there is a large amount of potential for ELLs to excel. However, this paper discusses the negative impact of gaps in school and district ESL program management on instruction for ELLs. Additionally, this report finds that a lack of coordination between teachers has resulted in instruction that does not provide ELLs with a balanced and cohesive literacy program. Finally, study concludes with recommendations for both the school and district on how they may successfully increase the instructional supports that they provide for ELL students and their teachers.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

Comments

Thesis is part of Honors ETD pilot project, 2008-2013. Migrated from Dspace in 2016.

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