Qualitative Inquiry and study Design

Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design

Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design

Data Analysis of Studying First Grade English Language Learners

Introduction

Recently the failure of schools to facilitate literacy development for growing numbers of children has led to national concern. Poor reading skills across all levels lead to lower overall academic achievement, and the first grade seems to be a critical developmental period for ensuring optimum literacy learning.

Multiple factors contribute to persistent low reading achievement outcomes, including a lack of qualified teachers, socioeconomic factors, and non-native proficiency in English. Students who experience early reading difficulty often continue to experience failure in later grades as well as later in life.

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of this paper is to report the effectiveness of focused early intervention for first-grade ELLs with reading difficulties and to identify the key com performance outcomes. The following descriptions represent two distinct efforts in schools along the Texas-Mexico border. The first (School A) utilizes university-based tutors and the second (School B) taps into classroom teacher expertise. Critical to this project was the design of effective implementation strategies for the intervention that would lead to improvements in achieveme ating sound pedagogical strategies for teaching struggling readers with special attention to the ELL student.

Theoretical Framework

Critical Features of Literacy Development

A careful review of the literature on successful intervention for struggling readers points to several important elements that are crucial for early literacy instruction. In the case of ELLs, additional factors to be considered include contextual factors, such as the school mily involvement, understanding and valuing of cultural diversity.

Emphasis on Essential Reading Skills

First, letter-sound relationships and word identification strategies should be taught explicitly. In early literacy the three key features are phonological awareness, alphabetic principle, and fluency with connected text. An important element of phonological ...