Term

Summer 2022

Capstone

Thesis

Degree Name

MA-TESOL

Primary Advisor/Dissertation Chair

Julia Reimer

Secondary Advisor/Reader One

Kimberly Canion

Abstract

This small-scale study of an elementary classroom was designed to better understand the research question How do mainstream elementary teachers use questions in their instruction of ELLs? The goal of this study was to explore how one elementary teacher used questions in the classroom, how her class responded to the questions, and how she supported her learners along the way. A detailed literature review explored research that has already been conducted related to teacher questions and ELLs, and it included information about the following topics: second language acquisition, classroom questions in both the ESL/EFL classroom and the mainstream classroom, and scaffolding and support for students. Qualitative data was collected by observing a teacher and collecting information about the questions she asked and how students responded. The data from classroom observations was supplemented with information from a teacher survey. The data revealed that in this classroom the teacher asked a variety of types of questions and asked students to respond in a variety of ways. Overall, the English language learners in the classroom were responding to questions at a similar rate to their non-ELL peers, and the ELLs were answering both open-ended and closed-ended questions. Additionally, the teacher provided several different scaffolds to support students. Ultimately, these results were used to make suggestions for other educators. Personal learning, implications, limitations, and future research related to this study were also discussed.

Research Methodology

Observation

Keywords

ESL/ ELLs, Classroom Questions, English Learners in the Mainstream

dc_type

text

dc_publisher

DigitalCommons@Hamline

dc_format

application/pdf

dc_source

School of Education Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

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