Activity I An activity on the critical path of a project was sche.docx
URCAD Presentation 4.17.15
1. Social-Emotional Skills of Young Latino
English Learners: The Influence of the
Classroom Context
CLAIRE HEMPEL
LANGUAGE, LITERACY, AND CULTURE DEPT.
UMBC
APRIL 22, 2015
2. Introduction
Latino children’s social-emotional development and academic achievement are
interrelated
(Galindo & Fuller, 2009; McClelland et al., 2007; Li-Grining et al., 2010; Fantuzzo et al., 2007)
Teacher perceptions of their roles and perceptions toward children shape the
degree to which relationships in the classroom are supportive
(Hamre & Pianta, 2006)
The predominance of EL students in class is increasing and social emotional
development is important for children’s academic and economic well being
(Galindo & Fuller, 2010)
3. Research Aims
To better understand:
1) Young, Latino children’s social-emotional skills across language groups
(English Learner vs. English-Speaker)
2) The role of socioeconomic status in the social-emotional development of
young, Latino children across language groups (English Learner vs. English-
Speaker)
3) The influence of the classroom context on social-emotional development of
young, Latino children
4. Methods: Mixed-Methods
Quantitative: ANOVAs and multi-level modeling
Data: Early Childhood Longitudinal Study 2010-2011
Dependent Variables:
1) approaches to learning
2) self-control
3) attentional focus
4) inhibitory control
Qualitative: In-depth, semi-structured interviews of four ESOL
teachers
Teacher characteristics
6. Findings: Classroom context
Significant factors in quantitative analysis after controlling
for the family and classroom context:
SES
Latino EL*SES
Teacher years of experience
Teacher self-efficacy
Classroom composition (10% or less Latinos)
7. Findings: Classroom Context
Classroom composition and sense of belonging/connectedness
“I’ve seen it (buddy system) make a big difference in just…their
[Latino ELs] level of comfort at school and just being able to feel that,
that they’re part of the community, they’re not an outsider”
Language outside of instruction
“it’s part of why I develop a really close bond with the kids, they just,
I think it makes them feel that I acknowledge their language and
appreciate it. . . It definitely helps to create a bond”
8. Conclusions
SES mediates the relationship between language status and social-emotional
skills
The classroom context, particularly teacher self-efficacy, teacher experience,
and classroom composition mediates the relationship between SES and social-
emotional skills
The use of language in the classroom outside of instruction and its effects on
SED may be an important factor to look into for future research
-chose to focus on young, Latino students b/c the population of the Latino English Learners in schools is increasing
know from past research:
-Latino children’s social-emotional development and academic achievement are related
-Teachers perceptions of themselves and towards students is important for creating supportive relationships
Quantitative:
-used STATA
-nationally representative sample; about 15,000 Kindergarteners total
Dependent variables:
-all teacher’s perceptions of different social-emotional skills
Approaches to learning-task persistence, attentiveness, eagerness to learn, independence, flexibility, and organization
Qualitative:
-coded for themes
Teacher characteristics:
All worked with young, Latino English Learners (EL’s)
Experience ranging from 5-12 years
2 Spanish-speaking
3 females, 1 male
Socio-Economic Status
After controlling for SES, meaning if SES were equal between Latino EL’s and Latino English speakers
Latino EL’s were rated higher by teachers for all social-emotional development skills after controlling for SES
-explain controlling for family and classroom context
-found these factors to be statistically significant for Latino students’ social-emotional skills mentioned before
-approaches to learning, self-control, attentional focus, inhibitory control
-talk about direction of association
SES +
Latino EL * SES – (for lower levels of SES, Latino EL’s are having an advantage over Latino English speakers)
Teacher years of experience +
Teacher self-efficacy+
Classroom composition -
Classroom composition:
Classroom composition and sense of belonging/connectedness:
Buddy system done at two schools
-”newcomers” paired with another Spanish-speaking student with similar background
-initially really helps EL’s become acclimated to new culture
New dimension--Collective action
-two teachers emphasized seeing this among the Latino students because of the large composition of them in the classroom
“they want to be collective and very helpful”
Teacher with all Latinos mentioned a high comfort level among students, but thought that it inhibited learning and SED
Consistent with quantitative results
Teacher’s language:
2 Spanish speakers:
-neither used instructionally
-used with newcomers to increase comfort, and to communicate basic instructions
“obviously it helps them to feel comfortable and understand basic directions and so forth, to put that in Spanish…just so they can have that basic understanding”
-sense of a strong bond created with the kids because of the shared language
2 Non Spanish speakers:
-one did not mention; the other bonded with her kids by having them relate their language to her and teach her about it
3) Quantitative results showed that after controlling for family and classroom characteristics, language used for instruction did not significantly affect the SED of Latino EL’s.
4) However, the language teacher’s are talking about above was not used for instruction, it was used for directions or develop a bond with the teacher outside of the lessons.
Exploring Latino children’s classroom environment is important for creating interventions to improve social-emotional skills, which we know are important for improving academic achievement
-other things besides SES decrease the association
-look up mediation
