Date of Award

12-12-2019

Document Type

Honors Thesis

Department

Communication Sciences & Disorders

First Advisor

Darah Regal

Second Advisor

Jimmy Kijai

Abstract

GrapeSEED is a program currently administered in the Berrien Springs Public School System that is specifically designed to improve literacy (reading and writing), listening, and speaking skills for English as a Second Language (ESL) chi ldren. This study analyzed whether the GrapeSEED program would significantly improve participants' development when compared to their pre-tests. Empirical observational data was additionally collected at Mars Elementary during the 2018-2019 academic year. A statistical analysis indicated significant advancement in listening and literacy with increased improvement for younger participants in the GrapeSEED program.

Purpose

This study aimed to determine the improvement in participant's development in the areas of reading, writing, listening, and speaking when compared to their pre-tests using the GrapeSEED program.

Method

53 participants completed pre-test and post-test World Class Instructional Design and Assessment tool (WIDA) at the end of each academic year. Al l evaluations were conducted and/or supervised by Michele Tucker, GrapeSEED teacher at Mars Elementary School, and final scoring was independently completed by the state of Michigan.

Results

Primary language was not a statistically significant factor for improvement. The participants made statistically significant gains in the subtest areas of reading, literacy, and comprehension. The participants showed less improvement in the subtest areas of speaking, writing, and oral language. There was significant increased improvement among the Kindergarten/1st grade group when compared to the 1st/2nd grade group and slight increased improvement among the male participants when compared to the female participants in the area of speaking. However, overall, the female students made larger improvements than the male students.

Conclusion

The three strongest areas of improvement - reading, literacy, and comprehension may be considered receptive skills. The two lowest areas of improvement - speaking and oral language may be considered expressive skills. From a speech-language pathology perspective, typically developing children establish receptive language skills before expressive language skills. Improvement made by the K/1st grade group is hypothesized to be due to factors such as early intervention, group size, previous exposure to ESL, and consistency; however, further research is needed to determine possible correlations between the two groups.

Subject Area

Reading; Writing; Listening; Rhetoric; GrapeSEED; English language--Study and teaching--Foreign speakers;

DOI

https://dx.doi.org/10.32597/honors/226/

Download

Files over 3MB may be slow to open. For best results, right-click and select "save as..."

Share

COinS