The Effects of Social Groups and Attendance in Multilevel Classroom

Indira Marie Bakshi

Diane Marie Daudt

Nature of Adult ESL Classroom

Learners in Adult Immigrant ESL tend to come and go. Some factors contributing to this are:

Work obligationsFamily obligationsLow level of elementary and secondary education

in home country

Some Obstacles to Attendance

Transportation to class Fear of failure Lack of childcare Travel back & forth to home country Migrant employment Unaccustomed to the school context-some may

or may not have been in a classroom for over 30 years or more.

And the list goes on….

Research, teacher observations and common sense confirm the fact that students who attend class more often and persist show more gain in skill (i.e. learn English faster)

Indalia Vasquez attended 93% of classes Winter and Spring Terms 2007, gained a performance level and made significant improvement in writing.

What are the factors that contribute to student persistence?

“Five conditions stand out as supportive of retention, namely expectation, advice, support, involvement, and learning.”

Vincent Tinto, Syracuse University

“Students are more likely to persist and graduate in settings that provide academic, social, and personal support”

Vincent Tinto, Syracuse University

In our classroom, we observed that there were external social factors that could be affecting

student attendance.

Action Research Proposal

Applied for ORTESOL Grant

Applies toward University of Phoenix online MAEDCI Master’s Program

The Setting

Lane Community College Outreach classroom in Springfield, Oregon, housed at a local middle school.

Classes met from 6:30-8:40 p.m. on Monday and Wednesday evenings.

Multi-level (SPL 0-8)

ESL Program at Lane

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

1 2 3 4 5 6

ESL Enrollment by Region of Origin Winter Term 2007

Latin

America

Asia

Europe

Africa Oceania

341

64

204 2

City of Springfield Statistics

General Population of Springfield, OR: 55,641 (2005 estimate)

Ethnic Population of Springfield, OR Caucasian (86.7%) Hispanic (6.9%) Native American (3.2%) Other race (3.1%) Black (0.7%)

Springfield Multilevel Outreach W07 Statistics

Classroom Population

Predominately Spanish-Speakers Chinese-Speakers (3) Vietnamese Speaker (1)

What Exactly Did We Do?

1) Looked at attendance of all students for all three terms

2) Based on teacher observation and student reporting in class, we identified students as belonging to 3 types of social groups

Three Types of Social Groups

1) Family

The Banales Family. Laura had and an average attendance of 94% Fall, Winter and Spring Terms 2007. Ana had an average of 79% Fall and Winter Terms. Joel had an average of 77% all three terms. Father Jose not shown also attended Fall term.

Three Types of Social Groups

2) Work

Veronica Lara, Sofia Candelas and Maria Guadelupe Gonzalez all work at Western Shelter a Sewing factory located in Eugene, Oregon. All three had average attendance over all three terms of 70% or more and bring homework to each other when they are absent.

Three Types of Social Groups

3) Other (language, friendship, etc.)

Indalia Vasquez and Imelda Naranjo (shown on the right) became friends in class and supported each other both in and outside of the classroom.

Definition of Group Membership

Who was included in the data?

Had external factor such as family, work or language

Attended class at least five times

Then what did we do?

Compared attendance of students identified as not members of a group with those of students identified as being group members.

Observation

Average attendance for group members was greater than average attendance of non-group members.

Group Membership by Term

Average Percent Attendance

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Fall 06 Winter 07 Spring 07

For Fall 06 - Spring 07 School Year

Attendance by %

Group Member Not Member

Membership by Group

Group Names

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Family Work Other

Number in Group

Conclusion

Based on our observations and the data that we collected confirms our initial

observation that external social factors were positively affecting student

attendance.

Brainstorming

What are some advantages to group membership?

Juan and Nayeli Montalvo came to class together and left their 2 year old in the childcare. Their older children helped out in the childcare, helped the ESL teacher set up and did homework during class time.

Brainstorming--Advantages to Group Membership

Get to have success togetherGet family time and learning time together

(not a trade off)Use each other as resource; “automatic

peer tutoring”Safe (emotionally)Increases comfort level

Feedback (cont’d)

Sense of obligationSocial pressureBenefits of social activityTake ownership of classAdds real English context to learning

experienceNarrowing/facilitating language generation

gap

Feedback (cont’d)

Teens can observe and respect difficulty of language learning

Forces students to go beyond their “circle” to others

Scaffolding--younger students help othersQuestion--Is there a connection between

“drop out” and a disparity in language skills within a family or social group?

Brainstorm: Best practices

What are some strategies and techniques that teachers can employ in their

classrooms to encourage formation of these groups and encourage social

bonds?

Brainstorming Suggestions

Encouraging exchange of phone numbers or e-mail

Form a book clubForm out of class core groupCollaborative learning in the classroom

Brainstorming Suggestions (cont’d)

Look for ways to connect-- Mingling activities Ask a more outgoing student to sit with them Give students some way to find a skill they

have and utilize to benefit classroom Call students if they miss 2 classes Learning style -- needs assessment

What to do next?

Research.

In our class.

In your classes.

What to do Next? (Feedback)

Research--Tracking academic performance of group

1) How does being a member of a group affect academic gain?

2) Do the same study with day program students

3) Break class into artificial groups and give points, have competitions, etc.

4) Free formed groups vs. forced groups.

Thank you