Hatcher 1

Jessica Hatcher

Dr. Ruth Ferree

EDIS 5470

8 March 2018

Oral Language Analysis

Introduction

The student I have chosen to analyze is one of the four students that I work with in a sixth

grade life science class every other day. Most classwork and instruction is centered on

understanding science and unit-specific vocabulary. The assessments are primarily notes, poster

projects, Google slides presentations (that are submitted as documents, not presented to the

class), and summative tests at the end of each unit. The teacher also has the students explain

concepts or tools, such as cell theory or the parts of a microscope, over a video tool called

Seesaw. My work with these students primarily consists of helping them to comprehend the

vocabulary that they are being taught, both in the class setting and by pulling the students out to

the library to work on vocab sorts, where we use cards with vocabulary words written on them

and sort them into categories, or I help them to make their Google Slides projects. I also

generally spend at least 10 to 15 minutes reading with the students at the end of the period as

“free time.”
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Taair1, the student, is a sixth grade English Language Learner from Afghanistan. He is

one of two Afghan boys in the class. Taair has lived in Charlottesville for over a year. He has

been here long enough that he took the WIDA test last year. Taair loves sports cars and soccer

and most of the books he checks out from the library are on these topics. His flight to the US left

a huge impression on him. He frequently talks about the flight, the layover in Dubai, the toys the

flight attendant gave him, and how he wants to become a pilot. He also enjoys movies, to the

point of streaming them online and trying to watch them during class, and is good at math. It is

also interesting to note that while Taair told me he did not go to English school in Afghanistan he

did watch a lot of movies in English before coming to the states. Taair has told me that he speaks

four languages and does sometimes speak English at home, though it is not the primary language

he uses there.

Taair and WIDA

Taair is an extremely bright child, who seems to communicate himself easily. There have

been multiple occasions where Taair has communicated with me that indicate a fairly high level

of comprehension. When I think of him, I think of the day that I observed the students

completing their cell theory poster project (See Appendix 1). Taair was very enthusiastic about

the project. He took the lead over his partner, a native English speaker, making all of the creative

decisions about the poster while she did the actual writing. When they were finished the native

speaker began to help the other Afghan student while the teacher set Taair to work hanging the

posters. He took this responsibility very seriously, insisting that he hang each poster perfectly

and becoming indignant when I suggested that they did not have to be perfect. He ended up

1
All names are pseudonyms.
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enlisting the other Afghan student and ate into both their study and free time because he would

not stop until all of the posters were hung.

Another time that I observed Taair and saw his enthusiasm for learning was during a

review game in his social studies class (See Appendix 2). The review game involved the teacher

asking pairs of students one question at a time and the students conferring before giving an

answer. Taair spent most of the game practically bouncing in his seat with excitement. For every

question, regardless of whether or not it was his turn, he turned to his partner to whisper the

answer. When I was standing close by he also told me the answer, which was frequently correct.

He clearly understood the teacher’s questions and could both understand and use the academic

vocabulary to answer them.

These observations, and my knowledge of the student and relationship with him, led me

to overestimate his English ability. However, when I look more closely at the transcripts of my

recordings of the student and at the written work that he produces, they indicate a much lower

level of English readiness than I initially suspected. Looking at the recordings the first thing that

strikes me is that his responses are frequently either non-verbal or very short. In recording 1

(Appendix 4) Taair held up a card to ask what something meant rather than using his words. He

also points, rather than using his words, to indicate which pictures he is referring to in recording

3 (Appendix 6). When Taair’s responses are verbal they are typically very short and to the point.

He asks questions, such as “What is this” and “Can we start” in recording 1 or “Is that a cell” in

recording 2 (Appendix 4, 5). He also frequently skips words, particularly articles, such as when

he asked me “I have question” in recording 1 (Appendix 4).

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Looking at the WIDA performance definitions for listening and speaking Taair has

clearly exceed a level one. He does speak in mostly complete sentences. He also can accurately

use content-related, instructional, and social words and phrases accurately. However, I am unsure

whether or not he has fully moved on to using expressions, which is indicated by a level 2. And

although he does have a high level of academic vocabulary, using words about cells and

microscopes and related to the American History, his use of these is not entirely accurate. He

frequently mispronounces words and mispells or misuses them. The slides he made demonstrate

this (Appendix 7). In one slide he uses “nudes” for nucleus, a mistake that spell check would not

catch. He also confuses the definitions for chloroplasts and cytoplasm. He certainly has not

moved into a level 3, communicating in complex sentences. I would place him as moving into a

level in most areas.

This conclusion is also supported by the WIDA Can-Do descriptors for listening and

speaking. In the recount category, Taair is gradually learning identify the main ideas of class

conversations and academic content. Though he is not there yet. Take the our conversation in

recording 2 for example (Appendix 5). We were discussing what the title of Taair’s Google

Slides presentation should be and he wanted to call it “Cell Walls” before I prompted him

otherwise. Yet in subsequent conversation he was able to tell me that the unit was on cells and in

his final presentation he titled it “Cells” without prompting (Appendix 7). As with the WIDA

performance definitions, I believe that Taair is moving into a level 2.

This conclusion is somewhat supported by Taair’s grades. According to his grades and

his behavior in class, Taair is a very diligent student. The lowest grade that he has received was a

70 an oral performance task where he was asked to identify the parts of a microscope. I am not
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sure how much of this grade can be attributed to lack of oral proficiency and lack of content

knowledge. I was tutoring him before this assessment was given and I am not sure how

accurately he understood the content. The different parts can be easily confused. It is interesting

to note that he received an 80 on the practicum where he actually used the microscope, although

that grade was primarily based on his written work.

Looking at Taair’s WIDA scores from last year they support these conclusions. Last year

Taair recieved a 1.7 in listening and a 1.6 in speaking. Given that those grades are from a year

ago it does make sense that Taair has grown.

Strategy Use, Attitude, and Control

Page 119 of Law and Eckles’s ​Assessment and ESL​ references two specific strategies:

seeking help from a friend and mumble speaking. I have not observed Taair using either of these

strategies. Taair is very independent. Although there is another Afghan student in the class Taair

never seeks help from him and in fact often provides help. I think that Taair does use a strategy

adjacent to mumble-speak. Although when his pronunciation is correct he has varing responses.

When his social studies teacher corrected his pronunciation he made the correction and moved

on (Appendix 2). However, when I correct him he gave me an exasperated “Whatever”

(Appendix 3). I do not know if he is using these mumbled responses as a way to access the

“correct” answer or not, but I will watch out for that in future classes. What I have observed him

doing is repeating words or phrases until he gets them right. This is seen in recording 1 where he

was tripped up on a number and repeated variations of it until he arrived at the correct words
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(Appendix 4). Moreover, Taair frequently self-corrects, which does indicate that he is using

strategies, although he may not be aware of them.

I did explicitly ask Taair what strategies he uses when he speaks in recording 3

(Appendix 6). Taair was bewildered by the question. Admittedly I asked him the context of my

language learning, so that he hopefully wouldn’t catch on to the fact that I’m observing him

closely. Therefore the questions themselves may have been very confusing to him. However,

when asked point blank he said he doesn’t use strategies. When I asked him why that was he said

he is smarter than other students and learns quickly. I am more inclined to think that he has

picked up English quickly in part to his exposure and love of English language movies

(Appendix 3).

As a whole, Taair’s attitude towards learning, particularly learning English, is

exceedingly positive most of the student. Once again, I think of him bouncing in his seat in

social studies, eager to display his knowledge (Appendix 2). He strikes me as a student who

enjoys school. When we work in the library, he diligently works and works hard until the task is

complete. I have never personally had an issue with him goofing off during work time. I have

never caught him playing games instead of working. Although he had managed to watch 28

minutes of a movie at school on the day of observation 3/recording 3 (Appendix 3 and 6). He is

also highly motivated by free time, but he uses that freetime to explore topics that he is

interested. He is always eager to go to the library so that he can check out new books on sports

cars, soccer players, and airplanes. He has also told me that he spends his time at home reading

these books, which is part of why he needs to go to the library so frequently to get new books.
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Taair has definitely required enough control over the language to have basic interpersonal

communication skills. The best and clearest example of this is when I came into the room last

class he not only held his hand out for our customary fist bump (I always greet and say goodbye

to my students with a fist bump) but also told me that he was going to get a chair for me to sit in,

and then did so (Appendix 3). He communicates well with other students. During recording 2 he

asked another student what classes he was going to take next year and during recording 3 he was

able to tell me how long one of his classmates had been in the states (Appendix 5 and 6). While

his academic vocabulary is not always perfect, he can communicate his understanding of the

ideas, as seen by both his grades and his slides (Appendix 8 and 7). Therefore Taair has shown

himself to have a sufficient control of the language.

Next Steps

Taair is a great student who seems eager to learn. What I have learned from this analysis

mostly leads me to believe that he needs more opportunities to practice. During tutorials I intend

to try and ask him to verbally explain concepts more frequently. I will also work to make sure I

am not filling in the blanks for him, as I feel that I may have been doing based on the recordings,

but am allowing him to actually practice with more complex ideas and grammatical structures. I

believe that with more practice, Taair is on the right track to continue his steady and confident

growth.
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Appendix 1: Observation Notes 1

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Appendix 2: Observation Notes 2

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Appendix 3: Observation Notes 3

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Appendix 4: Recording 1
This recording is almost an hour long while I was working with three students on science
vocabulary sorts in the library. I have transcribed excerpts of it below.

T: What is that for (pointing to my phone at the center of the table)

JH: This is… so I have to record
T: Record what?
JH: Record me and how I talk to you guys
T: No no no
M: NOOOOO (another student)
JH: Cause I’m learning how to be a teacher
T: Okay
JH: You guys remember how when we went to the STEM lab… what’s the teacher in the STEM
lab’s name
T: Mr. C
JH: Yeah Mr. C. You remember how when we were in there he was recording himself?
T: Yeah
JH: So it’s the same deal

….

T: Can we start
JH: Yeah of course we can start
JH: Saliva, it’s in your mouth (Responding to a card that was being held up to me to explain)
JH: Come on let’s get sorting
T: Which page
JH: So this one I don’t think is going to be on a page. It’s what is in a cell and what isn’t a cell.
So you gotta use your brain. You can look at the page about cells, that might help
T: Here

….

T: Can we find a book

JH: We’re going to do another sort. Let me find it… here we go
T to N: (Something in Farsi, prolonged, while I help another student)

….
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T: I have question
JH: I have answer
T: So, hey! (To another student who was still talking) If it is 16, 60, 1665, so why they wearing
shirt like shirt like people wearing in two thousand seventeen. Like (pointing to photo of
scientist).
JH: Well he’s not from 1665. Which scientist is that?
T points
JH: He’s from 1885.
T: so who is that. Is that him? (Pointing to different cards in the sort?)
JH: Who’s the plant guy?
T: Is that him?
JH: I’m not going to just tell you. You have to figure it out. You get it completely sorted and
then I’ll tell you.
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Appendix 5: Recording 2
This recording was taken from a tutorial where Taair and the other students were making a
Google Slides presentations of his flashcards.

(Trying to decide on a title for his slides presentation)

JH: So we’ve got words like unicellular and golgi apparatus and cell wall
T: cell wall (starts to type cell wall on his slides)
JH: and nucleus
JH: Well I think I’m getting that it’s just about cells, not just cell walls but cells
T: So (writes cells on his presentation)
T: is that a cell (looking at pictures on Google images for the background)
JH: Umm, kinda. That’s a cell (pointing to another picture)
T: M what do you choose for next year at (middle school) (referencing an earlier conversation
that I had with him).
M: Yeah
T: look (at presentation)
JH: Cool
T: is that a cell
JH: kinda, yeah
T: not kinda, yeah.
T (something)
JH: what?
T: he was playing games (referencing another student’s frequent misbehavior)
M: What! (indignant)
JH: Boys leave each other alone please.
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Appendix 6: Recording 3
This recording was taken during another group review session in the library. The students were
continuing to make slides based on their flashcards.

T: About cells
JH: That’s a good title. About cells. I like that one
T: Did you know, no one knows, no one knows, you can watch a movie online. I found a site that
I can watch a movie on.
JH: Whoops, not right now hun. You don’t need to watch movies in school.
T: What? (or but?) I found the site
JH: But that’s not what we’re doing in school. It’s not what we spend school time on. It’s what
we spend home time on.
JH: Do you watch a lot of movies at home?
T: Huh?
JH: Yeah.
T: Pointing to photo of cells: so that?
JH: Yep, do you know what kind of cells those are?
T: Those (pointing to the correct answer)
JH: Um hum
T: I love that movie. It’s fun to watch
JH: It is fun to watch movies. I enjoy them a lot, but there’s a time and a place for things.
T: I love watching here.
JH: Yeah, but that’s not what we’re doing right here. You gotta work otherwise we gotta go
back.
T: I spend 28 minutes to watch
JH: Really? How did you manage that?
T: So for that click the title, click the word title
JH: yeah
….
T: Cells suck I hate cells
JH: What?
(Another student interjects)
JH: Cells are important
T: no they’re not. They’re just a piece of tiny things
JH: Right, and the tiniest things are sometimes the most important. No? Okay?
T: so which kind of picture should I put?
JH: So what is the card about? What do you think is the big idea?
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T: Oh. About the chromosomes (mispronounced severely)

JH: Chromosomes? Yeah!
….
T: So is that good?
When I don’t answer immediately because I’m working with another student
T: Is it!
JH: Yeah that’s great. That’s a chromosome.
….
JH: While we are waiting (I had sent another student to get a resource from the teacher). I have a
question for you guys. You guys don’t speak English at home do you?
T: Sometimes I do
JH: Sometimes you do
T: I don’t know
JH: Yeah. You don’t have to. When I’m at home with my parents I speak English because it’s
our first language.
T: My first language is Farsi
JH: M what’s your first language
T: First? Nepalese
JH: Do you speak that at home
M: indicates yes
JH: So I am trying to learn Spanish.
T: Hola!
JH: Hola!
M: Hola como estas!
JH: Muy bien!
M: Bien too.
JH: Ah, you would say muy bien, tambien. I think. I don’t know. See that’s the thing: I’m very
aware of how the words that I’m saying sound when I speak Spanish. And you guys are experts,
because you’ve learned to speak English. So when you were learning English, or even now, what
do you think about when you’re trying to talk out loud.
T shrugs
JH: you don’t know?
JH: What about when you don’t know a word? Because I think about that a lot when I’m trying
to speak Spanish.
T: I hate spanish
JH: You hate spanish, but what about in English, when you can’t think of a word, what do you
do?
T shrugs
JH: you don’t know
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T: No
JH: That’s fair
JH: How long have you… M you were here last year
T: seven years
JH: seven years
M: six and a half
JH: that’s a long time
JH: How about you Taair?
T: Me? My first year.
JH: You were here last year though, weren’t you?
T: yeah
T: Almost second year
M: In united states
JH: Is this your first year learning English?
T: Yeah
JH: You’re doing an awesome job, for it being your first year.
T: Thanks?
JH: (switching tactics) So if I wanted to learn Farsi, what would I have to do.
T: So there’s an app, you can search an app on your phone
JH: is that how you learned English
T: Persian. It’s called Farsi Dari Persian. Persian.
JH: Um hum
T: Irani speak English, I speak Irani too
T: I speak Uzbeki (I have no idea if I’m recording this right)
JH: You speak a lot of languages
T: and I speak Tazik (No idea if this one is right either)
…
(A student returned and I accidently stopped recording. T was showing me how to use Google
Translate)
JH: Wait why don’t you need to use Google translate?
T: Because I know speak English
JH: Yeah but what about when you were first learning?
T shrugs
JH: But I want to know the answer! How did you learn?
T: Do you want to learn?
JH: I tried to use an app to learn Spanish and it’s fine…
T: so this is how to say hi in Farsi (spells it out on Google translate)
…
T: Salam
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T: what else do you want to learn?

JH: I just an curious about what it was like when you first came here to learn English, because
I’ve never had to do that before. So I think that your experience is really valuable.
T: Before I came here they went to English School, but not me.
JH: You just learned it faster. You’re just smart like that?
T: Yeah exactly!
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Appendix 7: Examples of the Slides Taair wrote

These are a few excerpts from his Google Slides presentation.
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Appendix 8: Summary of Grades

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Appendix 9: Fifth Grade WIDA Scores