Term
Spring 5-10-2016
Capstone
Thesis
Degree Name
MAESL
Primary Advisor/Dissertation Chair
Bonnie Swierzbin
Secondary Advisor/Reader One
Jill Watson
Peer-Reviewer/Reader Two
Jennifer Fossenbell
Abstract
The research question addressed in this project was for Students with Limited or Interrupted Formal Education (SLIFE), how can a series of integrated graphic organizers, implemented in an environment informed by the Mutually Adaptive Learning Paradigm (MALP), improve students' use of result and exemplification discourse connectors in developing written arguments? The motivating factor for this capstone was the researcher’s observations of the struggles SLIFE encounter in moving from sentence-level to discourse-level writing proficiency. The action research integrated qualities of MALP, based on the work of DeCapua and Marshall, with an interrelated series of graphic organizers, influenced by Gibbons, in an attempt to help SLIFE improve their use of result and exemplification discourse connectors in argument essays. The study found that the combination helped middle school SLIFE students organize their thoughts, align their reasons and examples, and increase their use of the target language.
Research Methodology
Action Research
Keywords
ESL/ ELLs
Recommended Citation
Fossenbell, Brady John, "Visual Support in Discourse Writing for Students With Limited or Interrupted Formal Education" (2016). School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations. 4118.
https://digitalcommons.hamline.edu/hse_all/4118