Term

Fall 2017

Capstone

Capstone Project

Degree Name

MAESL

Facilitator(s)

Laura Halldin

Abstract

There was at the time the project commenced, an unmistakable chasm not only between the two departments within the author’s school district, but also in literature in general, and the author’s goal was to create a living document where the two areas of expertise converged. The research question asked in this project was, how can communication between ESL (English as a second language) teachers and special education staff be improved to better serve dual eligible students? It documents one teacher’s creation of a website designed to assist ESL teachers who work with students who qualify for both ESL and special education services. Many of the linguistic characteristics seen in the first language development of a child with a disability, will also be seen in second or subsequent languages. The author breaks down language skills into the four domains of speaking, listening, reading and writing, describing various features that can occur as the result of a disability or disabilities. Influenced by studies in child development, communication disorders and second language acquisition, she combined the fields of ESL and special education to create a comprehensive website to better understand what the language of an English learner with a disability might look like with respect to capacities, idiosyncrasies and limitations. The most important conclusion of the project was, that far more research needs to be done surrounding dual eligible students, but that best practice is to consider where on the continuum of service a student falls in order to meet his or her unique needs.

Project Type

Website Creation

Keywords

ESL/ ELLs, Special Education

dc_type

text

dc_publisher

DigitalCommons@Hamline

dc_format

application/pdf

dc_source

School of Education Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

Included in

Education Commons

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