Preparing Secondary Teacher Candidates to Identify and Tea

223 Pages·2015·1.71 MB·English

The Development of Language
Knowledge in a Teacher Education
Program: Preparing Secondary Teacher
Candidates to Identify and Teach
Academic English in their Content Area
Lessons
Author: Stephanie Patrice Garrone-Shufran
Persistent link: http://hdl.handle.net/2345/bc-ir:104547
This work is posted on eScholarship@BC,
Boston College University Libraries.
Boston College Electronic Thesis or Dissertation, 2015
Copyright is held by the author, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise noted.
Boston College
Lynch School of Education
Department of Teacher Education, Special Education, and
Curriculum and Instruction

THE DEVELOPMENT OF LANGUAGE KNOWLEDGE IN A
TEACHER EDUCATION PROGRAM:
PREPARING SECONDARY TEACHER CANDIDATES TO IDENTIFY AND TEACH
ACADEMIC ENGLISH IN THEIR CONTENT AREA LESSONS

Dissertation by
STEPHANIE GARRONE-SHUFRAN

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy

August 2015
Copyright © 2015
by
Stephanie P. Garrone-Shufran

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ABSTRACT

THE DEVELOPMENT OF LANGUAGE KNOWLEDGE IN A
TEACHER EDUCATION PROGRAM:
PREPARING SECONDARY TEACHER CANDIDATES TO IDENTIFY AND TEACH
ACADEMIC ENGLISH IN THEIR CONTENT AREA LESSONS

Stephanie Garrone-Shufran
Dissertation Advisor: Maria Estela Brisk

This mixed methods research study examined the impact of an intervention
designed to prepare mainstream secondary teacher candidates to identify and teach
features of Academic English. The intervention was intended to develop Disciplinary
Linguistic Knowledge (Turkan, deOliveira, Phelps, and Lee, 2014) through engagement
in several tasks for preparing linguistically responsive teachers (Lucas and Villegas,
2013). Pre-tests, post-tests, and artifacts created by teacher candidates in their fieldwork
placements, as well as observations of a small group of teacher candidates teaching in
their placement classrooms and interviews with these participants, were collected in order
to analyze the effect that the intervention had on the teacher candidates’ identification of
features of AE and their planning and implementation of instruction in these features.
While the teacher candidates accurately identified features of AE on the post-tests and in
the artifacts, only a small number of participants planned or implemented instruction in
features of AE in their lessons. The experiences of the participants in the small group
illustrated that teacher candidates need, in addition to the ability to identify features of
Academic English, knowledge about how to teach these features, a commitment to
teaching language in their lessons, and the support of supervisors and cooperating
teachers who possess the same knowledge and commitment. The findings suggest that
teacher education programs should engage both teacher candidates and the individuals
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who guide the planning and teaching of lessons in their pre-practicum experiences in
developing the essential knowledge of and commitment to teaching Academic English in
mainstream content area classrooms.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT iii

LIST OF TABLES viii

LIST OF FIGURES ix

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS x

CHAPTER 1− THE GROWING DEMAND FOR TEACHERS WHO ARE
PREPARED TO TEACH ACADEMIC ENGLISH TO STUDENTS OF THE
“NEW MAINSTREAM” 1

Purpose of the Study and Research Questions 12
Significance of the Study 15
Definition of Terms 17

CHAPTER 2− DEVELOPING THE DISCIPLINARY LINGUISTIC
KNOWLEDGE OF MAINSTREAM TEACHERS: A FRAMEWORK AND A
REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE 20

Developing Disciplinary Linguistic Knowledge in a Teacher Preparation
Program 20
Developing the Ability to Identify Linguistic Features 21
Developing the Ability to Model These Features 25
A Visual Model of the Development of Disciplinary Linguistic
Knowledge in a Teacher Education Program 28
Review of the Literature 29
Preparing All Teachers to Teach Academic English 30
Engagement in the Tasks 31
Cultivating Awareness of Language and Analyzing the Language
of the Classroom and the Discipline 33
Become Familiar with Practices and Tools to Support Learning 34
Using the SIOP Model to Integrate the Teaching of
Academic English into Lessons 38
Apply Practices and Tools with Support and Mentoring 43

CHAPTER 3−METHODS 48

The Context: The Teacher Education Program at Edmond University 48
The Mixed Methods Research Design 50
Participants 52
Recruitment 52
Sample Populations 53
Placement Contexts 55
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The Intervention: Learning to Identify and Teach Features of
Academic English 56
Data Sources and Analysis 59
Phase 1: Data Collection 60
Phase 1: Data Analysis 61
Phase 2: Data Collection 68
Phase 2: Data Analysis 70
Validity and Reliability of the Research 73
Researcher Positionality 76

CHAPTER 4− WHAT TEACHER CANDIDATES LEARNED ABOUT
IDENTIFYING AND PLANNING TO TEACH FEATURES OF ACADEMIC
ENGLISH 79

What Teacher Candidates Learned about Identifying Features of
Academic English 79
Word Level Features 81
Sentence Level Features 83
Discourse Level Features 85
Improvement in Identifications of Specific Features of Academic
English from Pre-Test to Post-Test 86
Challenges Teacher Candidates Faced in Identifying Features of
Academic English 90
Naming Features That Were Not Specific 90
Differentiating between Features of Academic English and
Other Aspects of Lessons 91
What Teacher Candidates Incorporated into Their Lesson Plans 92
Lesson Plans with Full Incorporation 93
Lesson Plans with Partial Incorporation 95
Comparing Incorporation across Groups of Teacher Candidates 95

CHAPTER 5− FROM IDENTIFYING AND PLANNING TO TEACHING:
HOW TEACHER CANDIDATES INCORPORATED FEATURES OF AE INTO
THEIR CONTENT AREA LESSONS 100

No Incorporation in Lesson Plan with No Teaching of Features 101
“But because the students weren’t ELL students, I didn’t really
think about trying to also enforce this language objective upon
them.” (Jill) 101
No Incorporation in Lesson Plan with Teaching of Features 106
“[T]he actual instruction of that, I think, was not my best effort.”
(Hunter) 106
Partial Incorporation in Lesson Plan with No Teaching of Features 112
“They’re all geniuses and there’s no point in my being present to
teach the lessons.” (Becca) 112
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“Nine out of ten classes we've seen, they read and they answer
questions and there's a quick wrap up at the end.” (Rose) 116
“Had I been making the worksheet myself, these instructions
would have been included right in there.” (Lucas) 122
Full Incorporation into Lesson Plan with Teaching of Features 126
“I think that’s how I want to implement my experience into the
classroom.” (Liana) 126
“But I guess it’s just on me to focus more explicitly on it and
incorporate it.” (Felix) 134
“I think sometimes it’s beneficial for all students, but especially
students that are ELL or special needs, to see how it’s modeled.”
(Carly) 139
Influential Elements of Teacher Candidates’ Experiences 144
Course on Teaching Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students 145
Support from Mentor in Teaching Academic English 148

CHAPTER 6− BREAKING THE CYCLE: PREPARING ALL TEACHERS TO
TEACH ACADEMIC ENGLISH 153

The Essential Elements for Developing Disciplinary Linguistic
Knowledge in Pre-Practicum Placements 153
Knowledge of Features of Academic English 156
Knowledge of Methods for Teaching Academic English 158
Commitment to Teaching Academic English 159
Support of Mentor with Same Knowledge and Commitment 163
Implications for Practice 168
Implications for Research 175
Limitations of the Study 179
Conclusion 180

REFERENCES 183

APPENDICES

A. Description of Training Session 193
B. Pre-Test and Post-Test 203
C. Lesson Planning Worksheet 206
D. Sample Artifacts with Completed Sections from Scoring Guide and
Recording Sheet 208
E. Interview Protocol 211

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 3.1. Demographic Information for the TCs in the Smaller Sample 54

Table 3.2. Quantitative Data Sources Collected from the Larger Sample of TCs 60

Table 4.1. Specific Word Level Features of Each Type Identified 83

Table 4.2. Specific Sentence Level Features of Each Type Identified 85

Table 4.3. Specific Discourse Level Features of Each Type Identified 86

Table 4.4. Descriptive Statistics for Scores in Features of AE Section 87

Table 4.5. Descriptive Statistics for Scores of TCs by Level of Fieldwork
Experience 88

Table 4.6. Descriptive Statistics for Scores of TCs by Course Completion 89

Table 4.7. Descriptive Statistics for Scores of TCs by Content Area 89

Table 4.8. Lesson Plans by Level of Fieldwork Experience and Extent of
Incorporation 96

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 2.1. Tasks for developing the ability to identify linguistic features 25
Figure 2.2. Tasks for developing the ability to model linguistic features 28
Figure 2.3. A visual model for the development of DLK in teacher education
programs 29

Figure 3.1 Visual representation of the triangulation research design 52
Figure 3.2. Visual model of the process for categorizing identifications 63
Figure 3.3. Scoring guides for the pre-test and post-test 64
Figure 3.4. The recording sheet 66
Figure 4.1. Identifications made by TCs in each category 80
Figure 4.2. Percentage of specific features TCs named at each level 81
Figure 4.3. Lesson plans by extent of incorporation 93
Figure 4.4. Lesson plans by course completion and extent of incorporation 97
Figure 4.5. Lesson plans by content area and extent of incorporation 98
Figure 5.1. The completed graphic organizer modeled during Liana’s lesson 130
Figure 5.2 Influential elements of TCs’ experiences 145
Figure 6.1. A visual model for the development of DLK in teacher education
programs 154

Figure 6.2. Essential elements for developing DLK during pre-practicum
experiences 155

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