2. GUIDELINES
• Purpose
• Research Questions
• Participants
• Context
• Method
• Study Design
• Data Collection
• Data Analysis
• Ethical Considerations
• Feedback request questions
3. PURPOSE
• Why?
• Elementary school – first grade ELLs seem to have problems with diagraphs (sh, ch, th and
wh, etc) when reading.
• Ship = sip?
• Chime = cime?
• That = tat?
• Where’s the H?
• Happens for both Spanish and Haitian Creole students, most in first grade, lower WIDA levels or
students who have inadequate reading skills.
• Purpose of this research study is discover why and if I can be corrected smoothly.
• Help ELL students in the future if they are struggling, useful to teachers
4. RESEARCH QUESTIONS
• What is the phonology reasoning behind first-grade ELL students’ inability to
pronounce diagraphs, mainly sh, ch, th and wh when reading them?”
• “How can first-grade ELL students’ inability to pronounce diagraphs when reading
them: mainly sh, ch, th and wh, be corrected adequately?”
5. PARTICIPANTS
• First grade ELL students with varying WIDA levels (male and female) (purposeful
sampling)
• Technically have eight students so far but would like many more
• ELL Teachers (purposeful sampling)
• General Education Teachers (need at least 100 participating teachers for statistical
analysis) (random sampling)
6. CONTEXT (SETTING)
• First grade ELL classrooms from many areas
• Wicomico elementary schools to start
• Other school districts in Maryland, Delaware, and America as a whole.
• Question: How does environment/money/resources affect the ELL student’s reading
abilities when it comes to diagraphs? Does it have any influence at all?
• Is diagraphs a problem for Salisbury ELL students? Wicomico ELL students? ELL Students in
Maryland? or ELL students overall?
7. METHOD
• Study Design
• Data Collection
• observation,
• interviews
• questionnaires
• research study articles
• Data Analysis
8. METHOD: STUDY DESIGN
• Mixed methods research
• Qualitative (in person observation, interviews)
• Quantitative (questionnaires and focused on research materials of phonology and corpus
data.
• Mixture of corpus research (to supplement my findings) -
• good to look at all different areas for data: SES, space, technology, etc
• Critical research (to help the students correct any possible problems with pronouncing
diagraphs and improve their reputation at the school by being better students).
9. METHOD: DATA COLLECTION
• Data Collection
• Observation, - participant (working with students one on one with pre and post test)
• Example Questions
• “which words sound similar? Shape, whale, glide, shell, what, that” (can students recognize the diagraphs)
• “match the word to the picture” to see if they can at least recognize the word with the correct meaning
• Shell = picture of shell, not a person selling an item
• Interviews - with ELL teachers (close relationship with the students and understand the
variances of culture and native language on the English language,
• Example Questions:
• “Have you noticed any of your students having problems with pronouncing diagraphs?” (in case pronouncing
diagraphs has more to do with WIDA level then age),
• “Do you know of any languages that lack diagraphs?”
• “How have you tried to correct this mispronunciation of diagraphs in your students (if it exists)?”
10. METHOD: DATA COLLECTION
CONTINUED
• Questionnaires - to general education teachers with ELLs in their classroom (sees
students and can gauge them on a daily bases) – at least 100 answered questionnaires for
statistical analysis.
• Example Questions:
• “Have you noticed any of your students having problems with pronouncing diagraphs?”
• “How have you tried to correct this mispronunciation of diagraphs in your students (if it exists)?”
• Do all the students have problems with diagraphs or just the ELLs?
• Research study articles (Corpus research)-
• On student’s first language, WIDA level, age, or another aspect that may cause the students to
mispronounce diagraph
11. METHOD: DATA ANALYSIS
• Content/ Conversation analysis for observations and interviews
• Look for themes in the data and read it multiple times, interpreting it deeply.
• Also helps when triangulating the data with my questionnaires and research articles/ corpus research
(corpus analysis)
• Does it connect?
• Correlation
• Mispronunciation due to age, their L1, WIDA level or if there is no correlation
• Can it be corrected?
• Young age correlation = probably not, they just need to let their brains develop and learn it
• L1 interference or WIDA level correlation = possibly if the correct methods are implemented (teachers
focus more on the differences between languages and help students “rewire” their language connections)
12. ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS
• Working with children so require parents’ and schools’ written permission
• Will exclude names of students, teachers, schools, etc
• Will be noninvasive in questions for working with students, interviews and
questionnaires (no personal questions).
14. CONCLUSION
• Purpose – Why and can it be corrected smoothly
• Research Questions – Why does it happen and how to correct it
• Participants – First grade ELL students, ELL teachers, General Education Teachers
• Context – First grade ELL classrooms
• Method
• Study Design – Mixed Methods with critical research and corpus research
• Data Collection – observation, interviews, questionnaire, research articles/corpus
• Data Analysis – Content analysis, correlation
• Ethical Considerations – No names, written permission, noninvasive questions
• Feedback request questions – Suggestions for Ethical Considerations
