Sentence Frames Used as the Method of Instruction and the Achievement of English Learners and Non-English Learners in Fourth-Grade Math

摘要

Many math students, both EL and non-EL, struggle to reach the level of proficiency on California state tests which is required since the passage of NCLB in 2002 (California Department of Education, 2012). In California only 34% of students scored at the level of proficiency or above in 2011 (National Assessment for Educational Progress, 2012). The purpose of this quasi-experimental quantitative study was to determine the degree of achievement, similarities, and differences in learning fourth-grade math for ELs and non-ELs when sentence frames are used as the method of instruction and when sentence frames are not used as the method of instruction in a southern California school district. The instructional method of using sentence frames with all students, non-ELs and ELs, may assist all students to become successful and reach the level of proficiency in fourth-grade mathematics. A group of approximately 23 teachers with approximately 30 students each for a total of 700 fourth-grade math students, will teach two lessons, one lesson that primarily uses sentence frames as the method of instruction and one lesson that does not use sentence frames in the method of instruction. Pre and post tests for each lesson was taken and data was analyzed to identify patterns, similarities, differences, and diverging themes associated when the use of sentence frames are used as the method of instruction and when sentence frames are not used as the method of instruction with ELs and non-ELs.