Research Plan

Research Plan - The Importance of Bilingual Education

Brenda G. Becerril
University of St. Thomas

Educational Research Design and Data Analysis- COUN 6327

Patrick Huff, Ph.D.
November 25, 2015

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The Importance of Bilingual Education

Being able to speak, read, write, and understand two or more languages is an asset that
every human being should be proud of. Having the option to be in a bilingual classroom in a
public school is a privilege that all parents that speak Spanish (Vietnamese bilingual education is
offered in Aldine ISD) should take advantage to ensure that native language is not lost and to
have biliterate children. According to research, bilingualism brings positive cognitive effects
such as task-shifting, verbal memory, and word learning in students that are being taught in a
bilingual classroom (Kaushanskaya et. al., 2014). A bilingual person thinks in one language then
has to translate depending on what language they have to speak, read, or write. This is one of the
reasons why task-shifting comes easy for them. Many times a bilingual student needs to
memorize many words to be able to understand language 2 or simply to remember the correct
spelling of a word. This makes it easier to have a great memory and to learn new words. Many
times a bilingual person uses cognates (words that are the same or similar in English and another
language) to be able to make a relationship with a known word in their native language and
English.
On the other hand, research has proven that some of the bilingual students that are
starting to read in English may have a difficult time with reading comprehension. According to
Trapman et. al. (2012), grammar and vocabulary is an impediment for many bilingual students
limiting the comprehension of the text they are reading in English. A student that is learning a
second language will always struggle with vocabulary because they are not hearing academic
vocabulary in English at home and they cannot make the connection. It is even harder when the
parent of the student that is learning academics in another language do not speak the language
that the student is being taught at school, they are not able to support their children with their

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assignments. This will limit the students learning considerably, and there is a great possibility
that the parents are only reading to them in their native language. All of the above are important
factors that will impede reading comprehension for English language learners when reading texts
in English.
The human brain configuration is different from a bilingual person than a monolingual
person. One of the main reasons why the brain of a bilingual person is different is because it
recruits mental resources in a way that a monolingual person will never be able to do (Kroll &
Bialystok, 2013). This occurs with every bilingual person because the brain is trying to find the
correct word to produce a complete sentence, sometimes it grabs a word from one language and
sometimes it grabs words from both languages. Many teachers get frustrated, but they shouldnt.
Teachers need to understand (especially in younger students) that children do not always have
the vocabulary necessary to have a conversation or to be able to convey a message. The brain
then tries to grab the vocabulary from both languages to produce a complete sentence, sometimes
if the sentence has both languages and that is totally okay. What the teacher or parents needs to
do is to let the child know that they understood what they said and then model the sentence
correctly (all in the same language), this way the child is able to acquire the vocabulary that
he/she needs a complete thought in one language. Bottom line the child is translanguaging to
convey the desired message.
Unfortunately, bilingual education is provided in elementary schools only (PK-5th) and
students that are in secondary education are overlooked. It is empirical that students in
secondary education get the necessary attention, focusing on newcomers and students that have
not been able to acquire basic English. Students that are overlooked and do not have any kind of
linguistic support have a greater chance of being retained and/or be dropouts. They also become

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invisible because they are misperceived as monolithic in both scholarships as well as school
settings (Menken et al., 2012). Students acquire their social English first; consequently, teachers
believe that they do not need any kind of linguistic accommodation or assistance in their
academic English. This is one of the main reasons why many of our students fall through the
cracks, they are not getting enough support to achieve their academic language. If teachers
would take TELPAS (Texas English Language Proficiency Assessment System) seriously and
they take the time to understand and use the Proficiency Level Descriptors (provided by Texas
Education Agency), students will be able to make adequate gains in academic English each
school year. Another important component is the ELPS (English Language Proficiency
Standards). The standards ensure that teachers include reading, writing, speaking, and listening
in every lesson cycle. ELPS are to TEPAS like TEKS are to STAAR, but teachers still dont see
the importance of having the standards in their planning. Standards will provide enough
practice in all four domains (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) which will increase the
students academic language and their success.
Research Question and Hypothesis
Working in a bilingual campus will facilitate my research about the importance of
bilingual education in the United States. After reading the peer-reviewed journals and my
experience, I truly believe that bilingual students will succeed and will become better readers and
writers if the program is done with fidelity. I also understand that home life is a major factor that
impedes success in our students. Unfortunately, the majority of our parents are not well educated
or never had the opportunity to go to school in their native countries plus they have to work long
hours to support their family. Many of the parents have to have two jobs to provide basic needs
to their children; consequently, they do not have the time to sit and support their children with

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homework or simply read a book at night. Even though many of our children have this
disadvantage and many other constraints, the majority of our students are successful in school.
The majority of our bilingual students that are currently in our dual language one way program
are on level in reading in Spanish and their English level is very comparable (2nd grade-4th grade
since K-1 do language arts only in English). My hypothesis is that students that have been in our
dual language one way program since PK in Tomball ISD, will be reading on level by the end of
third grade and their English level will be slightly below their Spanish level (one to two levels
below).
Method
Participants
The proposed research will be conducted with all current third grade students that are
enrolled in our dual language one way at Wildwood Elementary (Tomball ISD). Even though
Wildwood is a brand new school in our district, students were in the program at previous school
(Canyon Pointe Elementary). Research will be conducted every nine weeks by homeroom
teacher and I. Third grade bilingual language arts teacher at Wildwood Elementary has agreed to
participate in this research. Administrators have been informed about the research as well.

Measures
I will do running records in all students in both languages to make sure they are making
adequate progress during the nine weeks. If they are not making adequate progress, we will be
discussing them during our data conferencing meeting with teachers and administrators. This
will move them to Tier II, to provide extra intervention in a small group setting. The homeroom
teacher and I will be administering Rigby (from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), this will indicate

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the independent reading level of our bilingual students in Spanish. To obtain their reading level
in English, we will be administering Fountas and Pinnell Benchmark Assessment, 2nd Edition.
With both of these tools, we will be able to obtain their independent level and this will be
performed every nine weeks to improve reliability.
Design and Procedure
During this study, I will be using qualitative and quantitative research to obtain desired
information. I will be using qualitative data during my running records. I will be annotating
students reading patterns and habits. I will be able to measure their accuracy, fluency, and
comprehension. I will also be able to analyze if their errors affected their reading
comprehension. Another factor I will be able to see is if students are self-correcting when they
make an error when reading. This is an important reading behavior to make sure students are
able to understand the text they are reading. On the other hand, I will be using quantitative data
when performing the Rigby/Fountas and Pinnell benchmark testing every nine weeks. This
benchmark will provide a reading level, either a number or a letter (they correlate) which we will
be able to keep track of their growth.
Data Analysis
All data collected will be organized in google sheets, this will ensure that the bilingual
teacher and I can see all the changes made in the document with no need to be emailing each
other. I will add students name, ID, number of years that they been in the program, reading
levels every nine weeks, and students reading behaviors. I will be graphing students reading
levels in four categories: on level, below level, above level and their growth in both languages.
This document will be kept confidential, only third grade teacher, administration, and myself will
be able to view it. This data will be very helpful when teacher has parent conferences (talk to

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parents about reading levels and their growth), if retention is necessary, or if student may need
specialized services. In other words, this research will provide important data but the most
important for me will be to know if students at the end of third grade are truly biliterate.

References
Conger, D. (2010). Does bilingual education interfere with English-language acquisition?

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Social Science Quarterly, 91, 1103-1122.

Kroll, F., & Bialystok, E. (2013). Understanding the consequences of bilingualism
for language processing and cognition. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 5, 497-514.
doi.org/10.1080/2044591L2013.799170.
Menken, K., Kleyn, T., Chae, N. (2012). Spotlight on long-term English language learners:
characteristics and prior schooling experiences of an invisible population. International
Mulitilingual Research Journal, 6:121-142. doi: 10.1080.19313152.2012.665822
Trapman, M., Gelderen, A., Steensel, R., Schooten, E., Hulstijn, J. (2014). Linguistic
knowledge, fluency and meta-cognitive knowledge as components of reading
comprehension in adolescent low achievers: differences between monolinguals and
bilinguals. Journal of Research in Reading. 37, S3-S21. doi: 10.1111/j.14679817.2012.01539.x