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Paper Summary

Play, Multimodality, and Bilingualism in Learning Connectives: Promising Findings

Mon, April 16, 10:35am to 12:05pm, Sheraton Wall Centre, Floor: Third Level, South Pavilion Ballroom A

Abstract

This study presents promising results for an innovative intervention designed to teach connectives to second-grade Spanish/English bilingual students with emerging English proficiency.
Theoretical Framework. Past research has highlighted the need of explicit vocabulary instruction for all children and, in particular, for children with low English proficiency from bilingual families with low economic and educational resources (August & Shanahan, 2008). Multiple vocabulary interventions have been designed as a response to this well-documented pedagogical need (Stahl & Nagy, 2006). Most efforts, however, have targeted content words, i.e., nouns, verbs. In contrast, non-content words, such as connectives, have been usually overlooked.
Connectives (e.g., because, however) are function words with minimal lexical meaning that mark inter-sentential relations. Within a text, connectives function as “glue words” that signal additive, temporal, or causal relations, and thus function as helpful guides for readers. Research indicates that knowledge of connectives is positively associated to reading comprehension in L1 and L2 for children and adults (Pretorious, 2006). Recent research has documented that knowledge of connectives is an area of particular vulnerability for Spanish-speaking 4th graders learning English in the U.S. (Crosson, Lesaux, & Martiniello, 2008).
The Connect intervention attempts to fill a gap in the menu of currently available vocabulary programs by exploring a multimodal approach to teach connectives to young learners. The intervention was guided by research-based principles of vocabulary instruction: explicit instruction, generativity, rich language environments (Stahl & Nagy, 2006). Using high-quality, culturally-relevant and age-appropriate children’s literature as the context for instruction, the activities were designed to have multiple means of expression and representation, and numerous opportunities for students’ language production in playful communicative activities in which teachers gradually release their instructional support.
Twelve connectives which are highly frequent in primary-school texts yet not known by English language learners (ELLs) were selected for instruction (Uccelli, Rosenthal, & Barr, 2011).
In the treatment group, teachers taught connectives explicitly by immersing students in a playful mixture of kinesthetic, visual, oral, and written activities during an eight-week period. Students in the control group were exposed to the same books and connectives than the treatment group but did not receive explicit instruction.

Method. Bilingual Spanish/English second graders from high-poverty schools in the Houston Independent School District participated in the study. 228 students participated in the intervention, while a comparable group of 196 comprised the control group. Students in both conditions had been classified as ELLs by the school district and came from low-income families.
Pre/Post Measures
1. Gates McGinitie Decoding subtest
2. Gates McGinite Word Knowledge subtest
3. Connective Assessment: researcher-designed test (previously pilot tested for validity and reliability).
Results. Repeated measures ANOVA with time (pre and post Connective Assessment) and instructional condition (treatment vs. control) were conducted to investigate the effect of the intervention. Results showed a significant time-by-condition interaction for knowledge of connectives (F(1,20)=5.86, p=.02). T-tests (t=2.21, p=.038) indicated that post-test gains were significantly greater for the treatment group. Effects of English decoding and vocabulary will also be investigated.

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