I propose to examine the extent to which current standards and trends in teaching composition to high school students support language acquisition for mainstreamed intermediate English learners. I will explore several questions using both primary and secondary sources. Do current educational aims for teaching high school writing allow for instruction conducive to second language acquisition? To what extent do standardized assessment rubrics reflect student progress in writing? What are some “best practices” for teaching composition to English Learners? What approaches and strategies do mainstream teachers utilize to help English learners meet state standards for writing?
Primary Sources:
I plan to use interviews with colleagues, my observations of English learners in mainstream classrooms, my personal experience as a writing teacher of English learners, student interviews and writing samples and ethnographic studies.
Secondary Sources:
I plan to use current high school texts Holt’s Literature and Language Arts and Hampton Brown’s Edge, California State Standards for writing, the English Language Arts Framework and the the Map of Standards for English Learners; also, the work of scholars such as, but not limited to, Jago, Atwell, Freeman-Freeman, Richard-Amato, Graves, Elbow, Cummins, and Krashen.
Kathy, I think you need to flesh this out. First of all, why is this a concern? what suggests that we need to answer these questions? Does other research show that these students might not be getting what they need?
What are the state standards, and how will you know if current writing instruction helps students meet them?
A really important topic and I’m looking forward to hearing more about it.
Kathy,
I love that you’re going to interview your colleagues and observe English learners as primary sources. It’s always wonderful to hear real voices of those really experiencing what we are theorizing about.
How broadly are you thinking you’ll be able to generalize? Are you thinking of your school district? Or are you trying to get a broader picture of how teachers elsewhere in California are teaching their students or adapting the standards?
I’m VERY interested in what you find out. This is an important issue and one that seems to me to get swept under the rug of NCLB rhetoric.
I hope you enjoy your research, too.
Lisa
Thanks for your encouragement Lisa. I may involve a few teachers I know from other districts in the valley, but mostly due to time restraints, I’ll stick to my own district and within the Secondary English realm. As Kim suggested, I’m still trying to flesh out exactly what I plan to accomplish. Kathy