A Quasi-Experimental Study of the use of Structured-Pairing and Technology to Help English Language Learners Achieve at the Same Level As Their English-Speaking Peers
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2021-05-13
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Masters of Education
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Abstract
Teachers are facing a major issue within the modern day school; how to successfully help English Language Learners (ELL) adapt to anew culture,acquire or improve English proficiency, and assimilate into the American educational system. This study focusedon the strategy of incorporating technology to help ELL students learn with partners to help them understand the difficult vocabulary and concepts of a high school American Government class. The null hypothesis was retained as the mean difference in the gain scores for the ELL students in the treatment and comparison groups also did not differ significantly (t= 1.414, p<.293), although both groups’ mean scores did increase (by 4.5 points for the treatment group and 3.5 points for the comparison group).Participants also completed a survey which asked them to rate and describe the helpfulness of learning strategies intended to help them. Their responses suggested that the ELL students felt technology was more effective than the structured pairs at helping them and that using more technology might be beneficial for future research with larger and varied samples (for example, of different ages or with different language backgrounds) who are enrolled in varied courses might further clarify what methods are most effective for helping ELL students succeed in American schools and curricula.