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Research Proposal
Laura DeFalco
12/7/10
Abstract
This research proposal is designed to explain what exactly I
tend on researching and how I plan to make that happen. My driving question is
how can I help with the transition of integrating students with disabilities
into the foreign language classroom without holding the rest of the students
behind? This is the question that started forming my idea of this research
project. This paper goes over my
research context, research questions, research methods, validity, preliminary
results, and implications of my action research project.
Introduction
My
overall goal of this action research project is to find ways to help foreign language
teachers in the classroom that is now being integrated. I want to discover
activities and ways of teaching that will include all students learning a
foreign language whether they are advanced or have any form of a learning
disability. I want to be able to help with the transition for teachers from a
foreign language classroom which before had few students with minor learning
disabilities to a new kind of classroom which will include students of all
levels and abilities.
The reason I am so
interested in the foreign language classroom is because I plan on becoming a
German teacher in the future. My passion for foreign languages started in
eighth grade when I had to decide which foreign language to take. My middle
school and high school offered three different foreign languages. So my choices
were Spanish, French, or German. My mother and one of my older sisters had
previously taken Spanish. My father and other older sister had taken French.
Then my older brother, who I am extremely close to, took German. So this made
my decision easy. I would take German so that my brother and I could
communicate without anyone else in the family knowing what was going on.
Once
I started taking the class, I discovered how fun the new language really was,
so I would sign up for every extra curricular activity that involved German. As
high school went on I hosted three German exchange students and joined the
German club. I also was inducted into the German National Honor Society and
became secretary of the group. So when the opportunity came up to travel to Germany
for a month during the summer, I was one of the first students to sign up. This
trip was the deciding factor that encouraged me to pursue German in college. I
love the language and the culture of Germany and I want to share my
passion of the language with junior and senior high school students.
My experiences
with German in high school and college have led me to my research topic in many
ways. My research topic is how to
integrate a foreign language classroom while not letting students fall behind
or hold students back. I wanted to focus on the foreign language classroom
because I believe it is important and because I know with new laws and
regulations the jobs of foreign language teachers are becoming more difficult.
It is now mandated that all students, even students who were language exempt
before, must take a foreign language. Many foreign language teachers are
unprepared when it comes to teaching students with disabilities,
often times there are no teacher’s aides or
teaching assistants in the foreign language classrooms.
I
would like to research this topic to help teachers improve the integration
process and as a future teacher I would like to learn how to keep all students
on the same level of learning that they need to be on. I believe that during
this research process I will be looking at and evaluating information from a
teacher’s perspective. As of right now I do not have a classroom of my own but
I have been offered the Mexico
high school German classes to observe and research. I graduated from that
school and the German teachers there are more than willing to work on this
research project with me. In the end I hope to share my results with them, so
that they can improve instruction in their language classes.
Research Context
Some questions I
had going into this review were, how will these articles help my research or in
what ways will they prove to be unhelpful? Also, can case studies actually give
information that can be taken and put into the classroom or are they mainly on
a case to case base? There are also many other questions that were formed and
written about in my critical review.
While reading and
learning about students with disabilities in the foreign language classroom,
many thoughts raced through my head. Why
did I not learn more about learning disabilities in my undergraduate degree
program? Why is New York State
just now having all students enter the foreign language classroom? I understand
that foreign language is an important part of a student’s education otherwise I
would not be planning on teaching a foreign language. I also believe that college education
programs should better prepare their future teachers with the knowledge needed
for this situation.
The
problem that I was researching is that foreign languages teachers are not
prepared to teach students with learning disabilities. Through the readings I found that there are
ways to overcome this issue and to be effective teachers even while teaching
students with learning disabilities. In
the articles I found there are many facts pointing to my idea that this problem
can be changed. I also found some
articles that were not as helpful as I had hoped, such as a couple of case
studies that were geared more toward specific situations.
My
research as I have said before came up with many good points to help integrate
the foreign language classroom. One of the most compelling articles was about
how foreign language classrooms have been integrated for years in Europe. This become a good focus for my research, mainly
because if Europe has been integrating the foreign language classroom for years
than they should have some good strategies for teachers in the United States
to implement in their classrooms. McColl (2005) did some of her own research
and found that the European Union supports every student learning a foreign
language. “… all young people in the European Union, whatever their disability,
whether educated in mainstream or segregated schools/streams, have equal rights
to foreign language education.” (McColl, 2005, p.103). This article helped me
to realize that a lot of my research should come from schools outside of the U.S. who have
more experience in inclusion in the foreign language classroom.
This article went
in to great detail about who should be taught a foreign language and why. One of the most compelling quotes on why a
student should learn a foreign language came from Terry Davis, (2005) Secretary
General of the Council of Europe.
Language learning is a powerful tool for
building tolerant, peaceful and inclusive multicultural societies. The experience of learning a new language
helps to develop openness to other cultures and acceptance of different ways of
life and beliefs. It raises awareness of
linguistic and cultural diversity and promotes tolerance of people with a
different lifestyle. (McColl, 2005, p. 104)
I believe that this article helps to justify
why students should learn a foreign language more than giving helpful
strategies in the classroom. It is still
a great resource for my research and helps give insight to how European
countries are handling inclusion in the foreign language classroom.
My research also
lead me to an article that broke down and defined learning disabilities, it
also explained why students have difficulty in learning a foreign language. The
reasons for difficulty in learning a foreign language are “phonology,
morphology, and syntax” (Leons, Herbert, Gobbo, 2009, p.43). Leons et. al. went
into further detail by stating, “Weakness in phonology affects a student’s
ability to process the sounds of the language. Weakness in morphology results in students
having poor appreciation of word roots, tenses and inflections. Weakness in syntax means that students lack an
understanding of grammar and how word order affects meaning” (Leons et al. ,
2009, p. 43). This article helped to
direct my research more towards what strategies would be helpful for students
with learning disabilities in the foreign language classroom. If it is found that
students have difficulty in certain areas of foreign language such as
phonology, morphology and syntax than that is where I should do more research.
That brought me to
another article which discussed teaching strategies and teaching styles. Banks
(2008) easily broke down which intelligences are used and how they are shown in
the classroom. For example, “activities
that strengthen the bodily-kinesthetic intelligence are: manipulatives;
flashcards; dance; acting out an event (TPR); field trips; scavenger hunts;
dialogues; and movement games like board races; vocabulary fly swatters; and
Simon says” (Banks, 2008, p. 39). Banks
(2008) gave me ideas of how I should conduct my action research, I should take
the different ideas from the multiple intelligences and in cooperate them into
lessons then see how well the students are catching onto the concepts.
Overall my
previous research taught me that there are ways to help students in the foreign
language classroom and that by breaking down and giving students many different
activities teachers should be able to teach every student no matter their
ability. These articles fit perfectly into my research because they gave many ideas
and suggestions that will relate to inclusion in the foreign language
classroom. The three articles that were mentioned previously are relevant to my
research because they relate to my topic of inclusion in the foreign language
classroom and they informed me of some strategies and ideas that I never had
any idea of before I started my research.
Research Questions
When
starting my research in the beginning of Fall 2010, my main question was how
can I help with the transition of integrating students with disabilities into
the foreign language classroom without holding the rest of the students behind?
This question was what I based my critical review on and I came up with some
good ideas of how to use different activities in the classroom to help with
integration. Even with my first question being mostly answered by researching
different articles I still have more questions and would like to learn more
information to further help with inclusion in the foreign language classroom. One
new major question I plan to focus on is what specific strategies such as
lessons, games, and activities help to integrate the foreign language
classroom. The reason I feel that this question should lead my action research
is because I am looking for a way to help students in the foreign language
classroom and this question when answered will help not only students but
teachers as well. This new question relates to my prior research because it
goes into further detail about exactly how to help students with learning
disabilities in the foreign language classroom. I feel that this question was
not answered in my previous research because even though I got some ideas of
how to use different activities in the foreign language classroom I did not
learn specifically which activities will help students with disabilities. I
believe that my research into specific activities will help teachers in the
foreign language classroom and I plan to go forward with this topic and learn
as much as possible.
Research Methods
Action
research offers various methods for the researcher. In this case I plan to use
a couple different methods such as questionnaires, interviews, and
observations. As I have stated before I do not have a classroom of my own so I
hope to use the Mexico German classroom for my research. I have decided that I
will be conducting an action research study because it gives me a chance to
research my theories before then I can collect data on these theories and later
I can analysis and take action with my results. Seeing as I do not have a
classroom of my own I cannot have an experimental study because I cannot dictate
to another teacher what they should be doing in their classroom. I believe that
action research will be the best method for me in my situation. I also have
already gone through many of the steps for an action research study such as,
selecting my focus, clarifying theories, and identifying research questions. I
now have to collect data and later I plan to analyze it. Then I will have to do
the reporting and taking action on what I have found during my research.
I
hope to use the Mexico German classroom as my source of information in this
research project. I also hope to use teachers of other foreign languages in the
Mexico Central School District.
I hope that by observing the German classroom I will obtain valuable
information needed in my research. Also I plan to interview a few foreign
language teachers in the Mexico
schools this will also help me with obtaining strategies that will help with
inclusion in the foreign language classroom. By talking with the teachers I
hope to learn what activities and lessons they use to help integrate students
with learning disabilities into their foreign language classroom.
As
stated above I plan to include the German classroom from the Mexico schools, I
chose this group mainly because I have close ties with the teacher and it will
not be a problem for me to observe her classroom. I also chose this sampling
because the German teacher has previously stated that there are students with
various learning disabilities in the class so this will give me a chance to see
what activities she uses to keep students all on the same level. Also I will be
able to interview her and other foreign language teachers in that district.
To
collect my data I have already stated that I will use questionnaires,
interviews, and observations. I believe that these methods will best suit my
research because they will give my various answers to what I am seeking. With
observations I will be able to see exactly how a teacher conducts her lesson so
that all students are involved whether they are learned disabled or not. Then I
can interview the teacher and receive explanations on why she chose the
activities and lessons. Also I can gain a deeper insight into how the teacher
feels she is reaching each student during her lessons. I plan to use the questionnaires
for the students and other foreign language teachers. First of all I would like
to ask the students if they feel that they understand the material from the
lessons. I also would like to know which activities they learn from best and
why they feel that they learn best from those activities. As for questionnaires
for the other foreign language teachers I hope to ask questions about what
strategies they use to help keep all students on the same track in the foreign
language classroom. Also I would like to know how they are assessing each
student. If they hold all students to the same standards or are they modifying
the curriculum for those students with learning disabilities? I believe that
these three types of data collection will greatly help my research project.
Data
analysis will be a task that deserves a lot of attention, I plan to take all
the information I have collected and place it into an excel spreadsheet. I hope
that by categorizing the information I have found will help me come up with conclusions
and new strategies for teaching students with learning disabilities in a
foreign language classroom. I believe that I will take the questionnaires from
the students and see which activities and lessons they learned from the best
and then relate that to how often the teachers use those activities and
strategies. Maybe by implementing more activities that the students see as
useful into lessons will in the long run help the entire class. If students
with learning disabilities learn with specific activities then the teacher
should in some way implement that activity into each lesson. I will then look at the questionnaires from
the other foreign language teachers along with my observations and my interview
with the German teacher and find what strategies they feel helped students out
the best in the foreign language classroom. One all of the data is collected
and sorted I can then come to conclusions on how to improve the integration
process in the foreign language classroom.
One
ethical issue I can foresee in this research project is that students will feel
that they are being called out for having a learning disability. I plan to
steer away from this by having the questionnaires be anonymous and having the
students type their answers so that their handwriting will not be
recognized. Also since I am not a
teacher I have no access to the student’s files so therefore I cannot look up
to see which students have IEPs or 504 plans. This should also make the
students feel safe that their identities and classified information is being
kept secret. I also do not plan on using any names in my research for the
students. So far this is the only ethical issue in my research project. To help
with any other ethical issues that might arise I plan to seek permission from
the school administration, classroom teacher, and parents of the students with
letters of consent.
Validity
To
make sure my research is valid and that I do not go into it with any biases, I
plan to perform my observations over a couple days so that the students can get
used to my presence in the classroom. I also will not allow the teacher to
point out which students have a learning disability so that I can observe the
whole class and not just focus on those who have learning disabilities. I also
will be making the questionnaires anonymous so that the students can answer
honestly. There will be no right or wrong answers just honest ones.
Preliminary Results
I
feel that my methods for this research project are very plausible and that I
will have no issues obtaining my results. I hope that with these results I will
find new ways to help students in the foreign language classroom. I believe
that my results will also help with the difficulties teachers are having in the
foreign language classroom with teaching students with disabilities and keeping
the rest of the class on the right pace. I believe that my data collection
strategies will be extremely helpful because they are looking at more than just
the teacher’s perspective of the classroom. Asking the students their opinions
on such matters will help give me more feedback and information that I can use
in my results to come up with a sound strategy for helping teachers that are
integrating the foreign language classroom. I have not been able to perform any
pilot studies so this is my first try at figuring out how to help the foreign
language classrooms. I do however believe that if I need help finding
successful strategies I can look into research from educators in Europe. In my critical review I did find some information
about research like mine, being done so maybe it can help me out. Plus all of
the knowledge that I already know about this topic has come from other studies
and articles I have recently researched. So going into the next phase of the
research process I have some knowledge but hope to gain a great deal more about
integrating the foreign language classroom.
Implications
Once
again the main purpose of my research is to help teachers integrate the foreign
language classroom. I want to find ways that will help students with
disabilities learn a foreign language. The reason this research is so important
is because New York
State has now mandated
that all students must take a foreign language no matter their disabilities.
This has come as a challenge for foreign language teachers because they are not
prepared to teach students with learning disabilities. Foreign languages are
hard enough to learn without having a disability so if I can find ways to help
those students that would be great. In my opinion, school districts should
really care about this research seeing that they are requiring teachers of
foreign languages to teach students with disabilities. Also foreign language
teachers should be interested in this research because it will benefit them in
the long run. Along with foreign language teachers, parents and students should
be interested in this research. Parents want to know that their child is
getting the best possible education and with this research teachers of foreign
languages will be able to help every child even those with special needs. Over
all there are many people who should care about my research and I believe it
will become very helpful for the foreign language classroom.
References:
Banks, T. (2008, May 1). Foreign language learning difficulties and teaching strategies. Online Submission. http://web. ebscohost. com. ezproxy. oswego. edu:2048/ehost/detail?vid=13&hid=106&sid=03862eb3-f6c9-47e5-b16b-cb851203015c%40sessionmgr104&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#db=eric&AN=ED501062
References:
Banks, T. (2008, May 1). Foreign language learning difficulties and teaching strategies. Online Submission. http://web. ebscohost. com. ezproxy. oswego. edu:2048/ehost/detail?vid=13&hid=106&sid=03862eb3-f6c9-47e5-b16b-cb851203015c%40sessionmgr104&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#db=eric&AN=ED501062
Leons, E. , Herbert, C. , & Gobbo, K. (2009). Students with learning disabilities and AD/HD
in the foreign language classroom: supporting students and instructors. Foreign Language Annals, 42(1),
42-54. http://www.
blackwell-synergy. com. ezproxy. oswego. edu:2048/doi/abs/10. 1111/j. 1944-9720.
2009. 01007. x.
McColl, H. (2005). Foreign language learning and inclusion: who?
why? what? -- and how?. Support for
Learning, 20(3), 103-108. http://dx. doi. org/10.
1111/j. 0268-2141. 2005. 00372. x.
Appendices Timetable
Time
|
Activity
|
Comments
|
June 2011
|
Writing thesis
|
|
May 2011
|
Analysis
|
|
March – April 2011
|
Field work
|
I plan to conduct my research
during this time
|
January 2011
|
Ethical Human Subject Committee
(HSC)
|
|
December 2010
|
Presenting proposal
|
In the beginning of December, I
presented to my professor and peers my research proposal.
|
November 2010
|
Proposal
|
Over the month of November, I
wrote my research proposal.
|
October 2010
|
Critical review
|
I looked at multiple articles and
found some that were helpful to my research. I also answered some of my
initial questions and formed new ones.
|
September 2010
|
Selected topic
|
This month I chose what I wanted
to have my research be about.
|
Dear
Mexico Academy
and Central School District,
Hello, my
name is Laura DeFalco. I am currently a graduate student at SUNY Oswego in the
curriculum and instruction program. I have been asked to create an action
research project. My focus is on integrating the foreign language classroom.
Seeing as I do not have a classroom of my own, I would like permission to
observe the middle school German class with Frau Goble. I plan to obtain
permission from parents of the students in her classroom and all student names
will be anonymous. I have already
completed a critical review and a research proposal which I would gladly make
copies for you.
It would be
a great pleasure to use your school district as a base for my research. Please
let me know if this could be possible.
Sincerely,
Laura DeFalco
Dear Parent/ Guardian,
Hello, my name is Laura DeFalco. I am currently a graduate
student at SUNY Oswego in the curriculum and instruction program. I have been
asked to create an action research project. My focus is on integrating the
foreign language classroom. Seeing as I do not have a classroom of my own, I
would like permission to observe the middle school German class with Frau
Goble.
I would like to observe your students over the next couple
months to see how certain activities help students with special needs in the
foreign language classroom. I would like your permission to use your child’s
opinions/ work in my study.
I assure you that confidentiality will be maintained and
that your student’s name will not be used in any of my results or even asked on
any of my questionnaires.
If you would allow me permission to observe and give your
child questionnaires please fill out and return this form.
Sincerely,
Laura DeFalco
I give permission for
_____________________ to be observed and to answer questionnaires for the
action research project. I understand that my child’s name will not be used in
any way in the research project. I understand that Laura DeFalco will be
conducting the research and that I as a parent may ask to see her research
proposal at any time during this action research project.
_______________________ _____________
Parent/ Guardian Date
Questionnaire for students
1 In which ways do you feel that
you learn the best? (lecture, hands on, visual, auditory, etc.). And why?
2. How well are you doing in your
foreign language course? (90’s, 80’s, 70’s, below)
3. Do you feel that your teacher is willing to help you out whenever needed? And explain.
4. Do you have difficulty learning
in any of your classes? And why do you believe you have trouble learning? Is it
because of the material or how it is presented?
5. Do you plan to continue with taking a foreign language after this year?
Interview for German teacher
The questions for the interview
with the German teacher will be based on my observations.
For example one question might be.
I see that you chose to have the students learn a song that involved getting
out of their seats and moving around. How do you feel that activity helped your
students especially students who have difficulty learning?
Other questions will be formed
after my observation of the classroom and after I get to see her style of
teaching.
Questionnaire for other foreign
language teachers
- Do you feel that teaching students with disabilities is a challenge for you?
- How do you plan you lesson around accommodating students with disabilities needs?
- What various activities have you found to be helpful in your diverse classroom and why?
- Do you have any suggestions for other teacher in foreign languages that could help them when teaching students with disabilities?
Table of interviewees
Name
|
Content / Grade levels
|
Frau Goble
|
German / 8-10
|
Frau Rice
|
German / 9-12
|
Mrs. Harter
|
French / 9-12
|
Where observations will take
place
|
Times and dates
|
Mexico middle school German 8th
grade classroom
|
Early morning for about 80 min.
First week of March.
|
Mexico middle school German 8th
grade classroom
|
Early morning for about 80 min.
Second week of March.
|
Mexico middle school German 8th
grade classroom
|
Early morning for about 80 min.
Third week of March.
|
Mexico middle school German 8th
grade classroom
|
Early morning for about 80 min.
Fourth week of March.
|
