Running head: Action Research Project Action Research Project Ana Tavera Salt Lake Community College
For this project I decided to go to Kearns High School and work with two different English classes held by the same teacher. One of the classes was mostly composed by ESL students, while the other one had a variety of native English speakers. In order to do my research I worked with groups of 5 and 8 students. Each time I went to the high school, I helped them with a research project that was a huge part of their grade for this quarter. Problem Identification I ve been tutoring ESL students since I was in high school, but I have also tutored native English speakers. Many times I have noticed that ESL students pay closer attention to tutors/volunteers who helped them than the students who already know English. What I wanted to prove in this project is that with proper intervention ESL students could succeed in their classes and could have better grades than the English native speakers. So the question I worked with for the past four weeks was; who takes more advantage of extra help non-or-native English speakers? I do think is worth my time to see how beneficial tutors for ESL students and for those who already speak the language, at this point I wish I had more time to work with the students because I would see how much they improved, however I did get the chance to notice a big change in all of these teens. I believe that the main problem is that not all of the schools have ESL programs and I wonder how the schools expect students to achieve when they are not providing all the right programs for students to take advantage of, also I think schools should at least have tutors for the students. I found this project to be very beneficial for me and for the students, in my case I learned the level of comprehension that ESL students have, and also I learned a lot about their
weaknesses. I really believe that I helped the students understand a little more about the English language and, not only to the ESL ones but all of them, many native speakers had questions about how to write their thesis for their papers, or how to look for the right information online The question I chose and the topic I worked with are important to me because, I m part of the ESL students, when I first came to this country I had all kinds of people helping me during school, now I m very thankful for it because I learned the language very quick and by the time I was in high school I did not have the need for the ESL program anymore. Plan of Action To gather my data I spoke to the teacher I was working with (Cindy Parks) and she was willing to provide me with the rubric and assignment sheets I was going to work with. This way I had an idea of how to help the students, and how I was going to see; whether they were taking advantage of my tutoring or not. I don t think I focused my practice on any existing ones, I know that there are studies on ESL programs and students progress but that wasn t really what I was looking for. For the project I had to complete at least 15 hours, during this time I feel that I accomplished my goals and confirmed my hypothesis, but I wish that I had more time to see the student s full progress, which means I would have had to work with them for the rest of the year. Data Collection The first Tuesday I went into the classroom I had a group of 8 students, only 2 of them were native English speakers. We had to look for topics for their research papers and start writing their introductions, I did not have to translate any of the instructions to the ESL students,
but they did need more help, while the ESL students were struggling with their papers the native speakers were ahead, and finished most of the requirements. As I continued working with them (different days) I noticed that the native speakers lost interest on their projects, they either didn t like their topic anymore or they just didn t care to finish it, on the other hand the ESL students were about to type their final draft and had completed all of the papers, I admit that many of the students didn t do the right research, but they were still able to finish with the information they already knew. At the end of each session that I worked with them, I collected all of their assignments and that s how I was able to find out who was doing their work, I found it very interesting that some of the students I was working with did much better than what their teacher expected, their worksheets were completed and they had time to work on other stuff when they were done, also I noticed that these students who were native speakers helped ESL students with their work. To help me find an answer to my question I read some articles that based their interest on ESL programs and students. One of them was from Harvard and stated that intervention helped ESL students to be as good as or better readers than native speakers. I asked Mrs. Parks about her point of view and she agreed with me, saying that students whose first language wasn t English were more interested in their classes and wanted to obtain a good grade, not just a passing one, she also said that English speakers should have tutors outside the school so that they don t lose interest of things as fast. In the graphs below I will show the results of ESL students VS native English speakers that actually finished their work. In total I worked with 13 students from the two different classes. Like I said before, only five of them were ESL students, out of the eight native speakers
I worked with only half of them turned in their work.
Analysis of Data From the data I collected we can see that out of 13 students I worked with more than half turned in their work and are now passing the class with a descent grade, the other are now behind with a failing grade and I hope that they realize how much I tried to help them with their project and that the month we spend on this project was enough time. Although nine students turned in their work not all of them got full points. The results of my project have a huge impact on me, I now realize how important all of the programs are that schools provide and the ones that don t, I think that tutors are very helpful for the ones who want the help, not only the ones who need it. I definitely proved my hypothesis. I do think ESL students take more advantages of any educational program that is offered to them.
Plan for Future Action Since I want to teach ESL I think I would have peer tutors come in to my classroom and help the students, this way we all get the benefit from it. Also, if I end up teaching at a school where there isn t an ESL program I would certainly propose to have one. The only recommendation I have for students and teachers, is that when teachers are asked to work with a tutor or volunteers that they give them the chance to do so, I know from experience it will be very useful, and also teachers won t fall behind on their lessons for having to wait for those who aren t on task; my recommendation for students is that we should all take and don t feel offended if were asked to work with a tutor, it is the best help we can get. I feel very privileged for having the opportunity to work with these students.