Term
Fall 2021
Capstone
Capstone Project
Degree Name
MA-TESOL
Facilitator(s)
Laura Halldin
Content Expert
Patsy Egan
Abstract
The reasons adult learners enter into language programs are as varied as the countries, cultures, and backgrounds that the learners themselves come from. This project was designed with a very unique population of learners in mind: Latinx transnational professional baseball players who also come from lower or interrupted education backgrounds. Due to the simultaneous value of peer interaction in language classrooms but the lack of research related to both transnationational athletes learning English as well as Literacy Education and Second Language Learning for Adults (LESLLA) populations, the current project explores the following research question: How can explicit strategy instruction aimed at increasing the effectiveness of peer interaction be implemented into curriculum for LESLLA populations, specifically Latinx transnational athletes learning English in an English for Specific Purposes (ESP) program? The curriculum is grounded in Wiggins and McTighe’s (2011) Understanding by Design (UbD) framework as well as Marshall’s (1998) Mutually Adaptive Learning Paradigm (MALP) in order to encourage the transfer of the communication strategies taught to authentic communicative situations outside of the classroom by providing sufficient scaffolding, familiarity, and relevancy in each lesson. Via a five-stage explicit instruction period over 10 weeks and 20 lessons, communication strategies from three categories—Asking for Clarification, Asking for Help, and Checking Comprehension—are introduced, modeled, practiced, and reflected on by students during six subunits, each designed around a specific communicative situation in professional baseball. The final curriculum is to be implemented in a Major League Baseball team’s language program and aims to increase the effectiveness of peer interactive activities in the classroom while also encouraging the transfer of this strategic competence via authentic performative assessments and activities.
Project Type
Curriculum
Keywords
Adult Education, Curriculum, ESL/ ELLs, Multicultural Education
Recommended Citation
Beltre, Kaitlin, "Teamwork in the Classroom: Peer Interaction in Latinx Transnational Athletes" (2021). School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects. 761.
https://digitalcommons.hamline.edu/hse_cp/761
dc_type
text
dc_publisher
DigitalCommons@Hamline
dc_format
application/pdf
dc_source
School of Education Student Capstone Projects