The most important and catalytic issue of learning for my focus group of learners this year.

 My Focus Group Selection

Selecting my target group in Room 10 has undergone some refinement over recent weeks in Term 1. Initially, I planned to focus on students from two different reading groups. However, following recent assessments, a few students transitioned to the Level 3 curriculum. Consequently, I've decided to focus on eight students from the Level 1 and Level 2 curriculum levels.

2023/2024 PAT and e-asTTle Data

To arrive at this decision, I analysed data from 2023, examining end-of-year running record age and level, as well as end-of-year PAT and e-asTTle data to assess their current academic standing. With the completion of the 2024 PAT testing, I've conducted a comprehensive review of the data across my team and class. 

Priority students Baseline Data 2024

Observations

Observations conducted during reading lessons have provided significant insights. Students frequently lose interest when engaging with journal readings and encounter challenges with inference questions, resulting in unfinished tasks. Moreover, certain students demonstrate reluctance to read aloud or contribute ideas, displaying shyness. Furthermore, it's been observed that during assessments, reluctance to read the entire text leads to guesswork when answering questions.

                                                          Student Survey

Recognising these challenges, I've conducted a student survey to gain further insights into their learning preferences and attitudes. Combining these data sources and discussions with senior leaders and colleagues, I've identified this group of students as my target learners for the year, aiming to address their specific needs and enhance their reading comprehension skills.

Doing more investigation on Language Acquisition Factors!

 Language Acquisition Factors

In the paragraphs below I am going to discuss three-second language acquisition factors that have an effect on XXX’s learning. Although there are many factors that affect L2 acquisition, I will mainly focus on motivation, attitude, personality and self-esteem.

Motivation

“The most important factor in second language acquisition success is motivation” (Lightbown & Spada, 1999, p. 163). Over the two years, I have observed that XXX is a highly motivated child. He tries his best to participate in all the activities and be in the limelight! According to XXX's mother, she motivates her son to study hard and always reminds him that they have come to New Zealand because she wants to give him a better education and a good lifestyle. This can only happen if XXX works hard in his studies and gets a white-collar job. The way XXX is motivated is more relevant to “Extrinsic” motivation. This type of motivation drives a person to be competitive in life and expects rewards such as money, praise or positive feedback (Khasinah, 2014). However, Brown (1994, as cited in Khasinah, 2014) states that  “researchers claim that intrinsic motivation leads to greater success in learning a foreign language, especially in a long run” (p.259). Overall, it is quite evident that XXX is motivated to acquire L2 but in long term, his extrinsic motivation behaviour might clash with his intrinsic motivation behaviour.

Attitude

XXX’s positive attitude to his target language reflects that he is a keen learner and knows very well the importance of L2. XXX’s parents attend parent-teacher conferences and participate in all school-related activities which might help XXX to progress in his learning areas. For instance, in the past years, our school participated in the Pasifika Early Literacy Project (PELP) whereby Pasifika children were given dual language books to take home and read with their whanau. To help XXX and other children in their L2 we made a large cloth bag known as a story sack that contained favourite children's books with supporting materials to stimulate language activities and make reading a memorable and enjoyable experience for everyone.  Hence, (Gardner, 1985, as cited in Khalid, 2016) states that L2 learners with positive attitudes toward the target language will learn L2 more effectively than those who lack positive attitudes. 

Personality and Self-Esteem

Over the two years, I have observed that XXX is a quiet boy who likes to stay in his own space working quietly. However, this year I have seen some changes he is more talkative during class discussions participates in extra co-curricular activities and takes an active interest in the whole school Jump Jam. To achieve something in life, a person needs some degree of self-esteem and self-confidence  (Khasinah, 2014).  For instance, our school’s focus for this year is “Mastery”. Thus, the principal asked some of the children about one thing they are going to master this term. XXX replied that he is going to master “backstrokes” during swimming class. I felt it was very impressive for him to give that type of answer. Being surrounded by supportive parents and a teacher creating the right atmosphere for learning, XXX will be motivated to master L2  (Khasinah, 2014). 

Some key factors in successful learning!

 

As teachers, we must always remember that the classroom provides a comfortable learning environment. Some key factors in successful learning are feeling confident, carrying a positive attitude and having high self-esteem. As such after designing these activities for my class considering their language learning needs,  I feel that our learners must always be given an effective integrated approach in the classroom and it is essential to provide a rich language environment. The four activities that I designed based on the four skills basically demonstrate a good language model and involve a lot of opportunities for interactive skills. As teachers, if we do integrate these types of activities or games during Reading and Writing sessions then definitely our ELL’s would benefit as there will be lots of opportunities to talk to their partners, ask questions, respond, participate, write, learn, create and share. Another thing I have discovered is that learners do not show any kind of stress when working in pairs and small groups. I have also noticed that those same learners in normal classes stay very quiet and reserved but whenever I have introduced one of these activities the children seem to be very enthusiastic. ‘Barrier Games’ and ‘Say it’ I have designed it for the first time and most probably I will use these activities after my guided reading session. Or probably in the last block whereby they can have some good fun times interacting with their pairs and at the same time enhancing their language learning ability. According to the English Language Learning Progressions, my learners are making some good progress in all four skills. Furthermore, I have also noticed that some children in my class are reluctant to ask for clarification. As a qualified TESOL teacher, I will always practice collaborative learning in my classroom that allows children to interact and listen to each other's ideas freely and will definitely create a lot of opportunities to integrate these four skills in my class so that L1 learners feel more confident.

Design four activities with a focus on a specific language feature that will help them meet those needs.

I have a Year 5 & 6 class where the majority of the learners are from non-English speaking backgrounds.

I identified what my student’s current language needs are and then designed four activities with a focus

on a specific language feature that will help them meet those needs.

After my observations and findings, it can be said that the current learning situation of my learners is

that most of them have Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills. The learners have difficulty

following a series of instructions and have a short concentration span. Some of my learners also find

difficulty while interacting in pairs (student to student and student to teacher), interactions in small-group

contexts and as well as interactions in whole-class contexts. I have also noticed that some of my

students pause and hesitate while speaking and have pronunciation problems that show features oftheir first language. To add on, some of my learners find it difficult to use their prior knowledge to

make predictions and their comprehension requires more inference. Furthermore, other errors include

failure to understand the meaning of the text and lack of cohesion while connecting ideas.

(Ministry of Education, 2008, p. 6).

Four different activities

Task 1: Barrier Game - Describe and Draw

The overall aim of the activity is to integrate listening with speaking, reading and writing.

The comprehensive Learning Intention is to encourage children to respond actively when they do not

understand something.

Task 2: Say it

The overall aim of the activity is to emphasise the importance of an ‘interactive classroom’.

Comprehensive Learning Intention is to speak fluently, with occasional pauses and hesitation.

(Ministry of Education, 2008, p. 11)

Task 3: Cloze activity

The overall aim of the activity is to understand the meaning of the text.

Comprehensive Learning Intention to help the readers to recognise and interpret the main ideas of

the text.

Task 4: DictoGloss

The overall aim of the activity is to integrate the four skills of listening, reading, speaking and writing

to meet different language demands.

Comprehensive Learning Intention is to identify and record keywords in the text.

Buddy Reading in Room 3!

I have started my Buddy Reading in mid Term Two. When I introduced this program in my class, my students showed lot of interest and were keen to read with their buddies.
I strongly feel that Buddy Reading program has a great positive impact on my students reading.

My professional inquiry is based on Buddy Reading Program in Room 3.

Through peer to peer Buddy Reading Program in Room 3, can students well below national standard expectation make accelerated progress? Paired reading is a research-based fluency strategy used with readers who lack fluency. In this strategy, students read aloud to each other. When using partners, more fluent readers can be paired with less fluent readers, or children who read at the same level can be paired to reread a story they have already read.