ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT 1

Action Research Project

--

Presented to the Department of Educational Leadership

and Postsecondary Education

University of Northern Iowa

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In Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirements for the

Master of Arts in Education

--

by

Haylee Hanson

&

Shelby Nelson

Cap Cana Heritage School

Punta Cana, Dominican Republic

June 2018

--

Jimin Kahng
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Abstract

The purpose of this study is to offer student choice activities to Third Culture Kids at Cap Cana Heritage

School to support their development as confident readers. We took a focus group of six, second grade, English

Language Learners to determine the correlation between sight word activities that promote student choice and

improvements in reading fluency. Three major themes were identified, including students’ abilities to recognize

sight words with automaticity, to read sight words in context with fluency, and overall language usage and

development.

Introduction

Third Culture Kids (TCKs) are individuals who grow up among worlds; they are citizens of everywhere,

yet nowhere. Third culture kids may relate to different countries and cultures, including their passport country,

home country, host country, or anything that falls in between. Many TCKs are exposed to several languages

throughout their developmental years. They may acquire multiple languages due to necessity or even, simply,

proximity. While acquiring multiple languages is an incredible advantage of many TCKs, they can experience

varying levels of language fluency between the multiple languages within their localities (passport country,

home country, host country). Often these students appear to be fluent in multiple languages when observed on a

social level, but lack linguistic support in academic vocabulary in their native language. Since TCKs are

exposed to many different languages, we are interested in looking at ways elementary students can develop

reading fluency, in English, through student choice activities that promote automaticity and sight word

recognition.

Review of Literature (ROL)

In order for children to be able to speak and think in a language, children need to be able to think deeply

and understand grammatical concepts in at least one language in order to be able to transfer these thought

processes to additional languages (Lightbown & Spada, 2006, p. 26). This can lead to difficulty in the

vocabulary development in English, particularly for students with native languages that are phonetic. As

previously mentioned, this is a problem that many TCKs face because they grow up among worlds (Pollock &
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Van Reken, 2009, p.120).

Additionally, in the text Third Culture Kids: Growing Up Among Worlds, David Pollock and Ruth Van

Reken refer to the delusion of choice. The delusion of choice states that many TCKs face the reality of feeling

choiceless, due to their constantly changing lifestyles. Many TCKs believe that their choices may be cut short

due to an unexpected event. Ultimately, TCKs feel that with choice can come disappointment or failure and that

it will fall back on them. This results in TCKs being reluctant to make choices involving their learning

experience. Instead, they may act out by complaining about their environments. While second grade students

are not necessarily given choices such as running for student body president or trying out for a sports team, they

are given choice and voice in the classroom regarding how they learn. Furthermore, our text discusses the

downside to confidence in social skills. While TCKs may develop confidence in some areas, they also lack it in

others due to the fear of making a mistake (Pollock & Van Reken, 2009, p. 107).

The fear of making mistakes can tie both the delusion of choice for TCKs and the challenges they face

with developing linguistic skills together. Sight word recognition is the ability to read words that do not adhere

to conventional decoding strategies. Often times these words do not follow regular rules of spelling, so students

will not be able to apply the learned rules of English, easily use learned decoding strategies, or stretch the words

out phonetically. Instead, they must simply know the word with automaticity when they see it. Unless students

are able to recognize sight words with automaticity, there may be negative implications on the students’ ability

to successfully develop reading fluency. It is estimated that these words make up between 50-70% of the words

we encounter in text (Van Alst, 2016). This, in turn, can have serious consequences in order for students to

comprehend grade level content material.

Methods and Procedures

Purpose
For this research study, we focused on student choice in the classroom. Our driving questions was “Do

choice activities involving sight word recognition improve automaticity and reading fluency in elementary

English language learners?”

As many of our students at CCHS are TCKs, we wanted to offer them more choice in their learning to
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help them become successful, confident, and fluent readers with the English language. As our school follows

the Common Core State Standards, our second grade students are expected to develop foundational skills that

aid in their sight word recognition and fluency. The standards are as follows:

Common Core State Standards: Reading Foundational Skills: Grade 2

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.2.3 CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.2.4
Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support
decoding words. comprehension.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.2.3.E CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.2.4.A
Identify words with inconsistent but common spelling- Read grade-level text with purpose and understanding.
sound correspondences.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.2.4.B
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.2.3.F Read grade-level text orally with accuracy, appropriate
Recognize and read grade-appropriate irregularly spelled rate, and expression on successive readings.
words.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.2.4.C
Use context to confirm or self-correct word recognition
and understanding, rereading as necessary..

Our primary objective is to determine the correlation between sight word activities that promote student

choice and improvements in reading fluency.

● Students should be able to:

○ Associate the appearance of each sight word with its correct pronunciation (sight-to-sound

correspondence).

○ Read sight words in context.

○ Recognize sight words quickly and effortlessly; identify with automaticity.

We believe there will be a positive correlation between sight word activities that promote student choice

and improvements in reading fluency.

School Settings

Cap Cana Heritage School (CCHS) is a private, for-profit international school in the Dominican

Republic. Our classes are all based off of the Common Core State Standards and are taught in English. We have

classes from Nido (1 year olds) up to grade 12. Nido-4th grade has anywhere from 30-40 students, while 5th

grade and up only has about 20 students to a class. The majority of our students at CCHS are Dominican and

almost all of our students are English Language Learners. Although most our students are Dominican, we do

represent about 30 other nationalities in our school. Our focus group of students comes from a second grade
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class of 20 students, where 100% of the students are English Language Learners. As ESOL support is not

available until third grade, none of our second grade students receive any additional, in school, English support,

aside from our core content areas and SPED referrals.

Description of Participants

The following action research data was collected with a focus group of six second grade students, all of

which are English Language Learners (who speak their native language and English as a second language).

Additionally, all of these students stay for enrichment every Monday (a tutoring extracurricular) and receive

SPED support. As the focus group, these students were given the Sight Word Choice Board as intervention

support to help promote sight word recognition and reading fluency, as well as increase student choice activities

and their overall confidence as English speakers.

Data Collection

Using baseline data from Dolch Sight Word Assessments, with a focus group of six, second grade

English Language Learners, students will improve their sight word recognition to support accuracy and fluency

in reading. Formal student data using the Dolch Sight Word Assessments has been tracked via bar graphs to

show the progress between the pre-assessment administered in January and the post-assessment administered in

June. Additionally, a formal check-in was administered in April, using the same assessment. Throughout the

data cycle, each student received there own bag of sight word cards from the Picture Me Reading program, with

some students working on the same lists. Informal check-ins were conducted based on the student’s individual

Picture Me Reading card bags and anecdotal records were also kept. During the weekly cycle, students used

their Sight Word Choice Board to help develop sight word recognition promoted by games, based on Picture

Me Reading, and choice. Each student received their own bag of sight word cards, from the Picture Me Reading

program, with some students working on the same lists. The selected sight word cards were based off of the pre-

assessment. Additionally, formal Fountas and Pinnell Running Records were conducted to track reading

accuracy and fluency in context. Measures of Academic Progress (MAP testing) was completed in the fall and

spring. These tests focused on Language Usage and showed student progress throughout the year. With MAP,
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there is a learning continuum that breaks down individual areas for growth, including sight word recognition

(MAP Growth, n.d.).

Data Analysis

Tracking and Assessing Dolch Sight Words

All 220 Dolch Sight Words are divided into 9 lists. These lists were adopted by CCHS grades 1-2

Professional Learning Community (PLC) and are based from The Teacher Reading Academy, with the

assessment created by Julie Van Alst from Make, Take, Teach. They are ordered by frequency of occurrences in

texts. Our lower elementary consensus is that students move on to the next list once they are able to recognize at

least 80% of the words on a given list (20/25). If students are below 80%, the list is stopped and intervention is

given within that list. Students were first pre-assessed in January (when our data cycle began) and a formal, mid

cycle check-in was conducted in April. The post-assessment was conducted in June. Lists 1-8 have 25 total

words, while list 9 only has 20 total words. As the lists advance, the frequency of word occurrences within texts

decreases.

How Many Sight Words Should Students Know?

Schools differ greatly in the number of sight words expected at each grade level. Below is a guideline

used by CCHS. These targets were developed by a committee of reading specialists and teacher consultants and

are targeted towards native English speakers (Van Alst, 2016).

Kindergarten: Winter: 12+, Spring: 25+

First Grade: Fall: 25+, Winter: 100+, Spring: 175+

Second Grade: Fall: 175+, Winter: All 220, Spring: All 220

The data collection shows the growth of the focus students’ ability to read at least 80% of the words on a

list. Once a student reached below 80%, the assessment was stopped for interventions to be planned. This focus

group of students received the Sight Word Choice Board based on the Picture Me Reading program to help

them gain sight word fluency. Students progress was monitored from January to June, with formal assessments

being conducted in January, April, and June.

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Tracking Fountas and Pinnell Running Records

All elementary students at CCHS are formally tested with Fountas and Pinnell running records three

times per year (beginning, middle, and end). Our data cycle began during the mid year assessments in January

and ended with the end of year assessments in June. The score is calculated based on the total amount of

running words and the students’ overall errors. The following formula is used to determine the accuracy score:

(Total words read - Total errors) / Total words read x 100 = Accuracy

A benchmark guide is used to determine a students independent, instructional, and frustrational levels based on

their accuracy and comprehension scores (Fountas, I.C., & Pinnell, G.S., 2010).

Understanding MAP Data

Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) is given to all K-5 students at CCHS. Elementary students do

not begin taking the Language Usage MAP test until second grade. The Language MAP test has a focus on sight

word recognition. Sight word recognition falls under the category of Language: Understand, Edit for

Mechanics. Since students begin this MAP test in second grade, and is where our focus group of students fall,

we are able to see their overall Language growth from the fall of 2017 to the spring of 2018. The Measures of

Academic Progress allows teachers to view student scores and progress in a variety of ways. Our focus of

viewing progress is on the overall growth between fall and spring, as well as the learning continuum. The

learning continuum with specified areas is shown and identifies where students fall on the continuum. Their

scores depict where they are at with content specific areas, including sight word recognition. The scores reflect

skills that students are ready to reinforce, develop, or introduce (MAP Growth, n.d.).

Results and Findings

Students Recognized a Larger Amount of Sight Words with Automaticity

In order for students to become successful readers, they must first learn their sight words. The ability to

read sight words, with automaticity, in isolation and within texts will help students become more fluent readers.

The Dolch Sight Word Assessment tracked the students’ ability to read at least 80% of the sight words across 9

lists (broken down by frequency of occurences within texts). Once a student reached below 80%, the assessment
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was stopped for interventions to be planned. The focus group of students received the Sight Word Choice Board

based on the Picture Me Reading program to help them gain sight word fluency and automaticity. The graphs

track the students’ progress between January, April, and June. After collecting individual sight word data, it was

determined that there was positive growth for each student regarding sight-to-sound correspondence, where

students were able to associate the appearance of each sight word with its correct pronunciation. This, in turn,

led to automaticity when sight words were viewed in isolation.

Students Showed Increased Results for Reading Fluency

After collecting individual Fountas and Pinnell Running Records in both January and June, it was

determined that there was an increase in student ability to read and recognize sight words in context. As

students read, the teacher used a running record to track errors while reading, which includes the ability to read

and recognize sight words with automaticity. All students, who are below grade level, showed growth in their

independent reading levels -- books they can successfully read without assistance. As students grow in levels,

they must continue to develop fluency skills as the books increase with the running word count. As students

become more fluent readers, it will help them develop the comprehension skills they need to ask and answer

questions regarding the text itself and making connections beyond the text.

Students Had More Success With Language Usage MAP Testing

Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) is given to all K-5 students at CCHS. The focus students’

growth from their fall Language MAP test and their spring language MAP test was tracked and showed that 4

out of the 6 focus students (66%) had increased Language scores, which focused on three main developmental

areas. When looking at the learning continuum from the fall Language MAP test, it was shown that 4 out 6

(66%) of the students fell into the 141-150 range (reinforcement stage), while 1 out 6 fell into the 151-160 range

(developing stage) and 161-170 range (introduction stage). In the spring, the learning continuum reflected that

each of the three ranges contained 2 out of the 6 focus students (33%).

Results
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The following slideshow depicts the progress students made in each assessment area (Dolch, F&P, and

MAP) from January to June, or in the case of MAP testing, October to May. Descriptions for each assessment

are also included.

Student Data Collection

Discussion

Conclusion

After learning more about TCKs and their language development, including their confidence and the

delusion of choice, we decided to focus on how TCKs acquire sight word recognition with automaticity, as

these words do not typically follow the basic rules of English. Since our focus group of students are TCKs, who

have English as a second language, we focused on the driving question “Do choice activities involving sight

word recognition improve automaticity and reading fluency in elementary English language learners?”

Our data was collected through three major forms of assessment, including Dolch Sight Word

Assessment, Fountas and Pinnell running records, and Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) testing. After

analyzing the data, three major themes were found which included that students recognized a larger amount of

sight words with automaticity, students showed increased results for reading fluency, and students had more

success with the Language Usage MAP test. These results indicate that the Sight Word Choice Board based off

of the Picture Me Reading program had some positive

In addition to the progress students made involving the Dolch Sight Word Assessment, F&P running

records, and MAP testing, students also commented about how the Picture Me Reading cards and choice

activities helped them remember more sight words. For some of the words, students would attempt to

pronounce them phonetically or confuse them with other words. For example:

Sight Word: Were - Students would say "wear"

Sight Word: Could - Students would say "cold”

Sight Word: Said - Students would say "sayed"

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Students continued to try to pronounce these words phonetically or mix them up with other words,

however did not understand why they were not correct. This is due to sight words not necessarily following the

basic rules of English or being very similar to other known words. Students worked extremely hard with

recognizing these words with automaticity, especially since these words fall between lists 1-3, which means

they have a higher occurrence of frequency in everyday text. During the final assessment, some of our focus

students mentioned remembering these words during their choice activities and usage of the Picture Me

Reading cards and made comments that they remembered the correct pronunciation of the sight word.

Ultimately, our action research project indicates that students who have more choice in their sight word

activities have more success when it comes to recognizing sight words with automaticity and improvement in

reading fluency. This suggests that choice activities can have a positive impact on English language learners

and can, in turn, help build their confidence with language development and comprehending grade level content

with less frustrations and fear of making mistakes.

Implications

Third Culture Kids

As we work at an international school that not only represents a large majority of Dominican students

pursuing an Americanized education, but also a large majority of Third Culture Kids coming from around 30

different nationalities, it is important that we recognize how to best meet these students’ needs regarding their

transitions to the school community and their education. The findings of this action research study regarding

TCKs suggests there are three main implications, involving language development, the delusion of choice, and

students’ fear of making mistakes. The first implication is that TCKs need to have a strong foundation in

grammatical concepts in their native language to properly transition those concepts to additional languages (as

cited in Van Reken, 2009, p. 119). If students do not have a strong foundation in their native language, this can

lead to difficulty in the vocabulary development in English, particularly for students with native languages that

are phonetic.

The second implication is that TCKs often have high mobility, and in these frequent and usually

unexpected changes in location and community, TCKs may start to feel choiceless. Van Reken and Pollock
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refer to this phenomenon as the “delusion of choice” (2009, p.107). When children make connections within

their community and start to set personal goals for themselves just to find that an event out of their control will

mean moving to a new school where they will have to start the process of connecting with others all over again,

it can lead to a feeling of helplessness and, eventually, a reluctance to make choices. This can be a difficult

developmental obstacle for TCKs to overcome, but even more so for young children who refuse to take

ownership of their own learning. Many of the TCKs at our school are multilingual, but struggle to develop both

academic and social fluency in their home and school languages because they have developed an avoidance of

decision making, even in the interest of their own learning.

The third implication, TCKs confidence and fear of making mistakes, is also directly connected to their

regularly changing lifestyles. As TCKs become accustomed to unexpected changes, they may start to have more

confidence heading into unfamiliar situations because they realize that eventually they will be able to make

friends and learn about their new community. However, with this confidence can come an intense fear of

making mistakes. As TCKs try to understand how they can fit into a new environment and culture, they may

avoid situations by “withdrawing in extreme shyness” if there is a chance that they might make a mistake that

would make them seem foolish (Van Reken & Pollock, 2009, p. 118). This added layer of social struggle can

further complicate young TCKs ability to learn new languages fluently. As Stephen Krashen suggests in his

work Practices and Principles, the affective filter can negatively impact language acquisition. The three main

types of factors that have been linked to a rise in the affective filter are motivation, self-confidence, and anxiety,

all of which can be exacerbated for TCKs. Krashen posits that learners with low motivation and higher levels of

anxiety may not seek out additional input opportunities in an additional language and may have increased

difficulty acquiring the language if these factors are present (2009). Considering the stress of moving across the

world and the possibly low ambition to make choices, TCKs are likely in need of extra support to be able to

sustain their first language and acquire additional languages deeply.

Elementary Literacy and English Language Learners

The findings of this action research study suggests three major implications involving elementary

literacy and English language learners. The first implication is that teachers need to incorporate more sight word
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instruction into their everyday class, in order for students to recognize these words with automaticity. This

could mean sight words are embedded throughout the day, whenever possible. For example, sight words

activities could be embedded through the morning message, small group guided reading, highlighting sight

words in different texts (both books and activity handouts), interactive word wall, personal word books, and

sight word centers. The second implication is that teachers need to provide students with a balanced literacy

program in order for students to have multiple opportunities to develop reading fluency by reading sight words

in context and not solely in isolation. Lastly, the third implication is that students must be able to recognize

sight words with automaticity to help aid them in their reading fluency and comprehension. As it is estimated

that these words make up between 50-70% of the words we encounter in text, it is critical for students to

recognize these words as they do not necessarily adhere to the basic rules of English (Van Alst, 2016). If

students are unable to recognize these words, there may be negative impacts to the students’ ability to

comprehend grade level material and their ability to build a strong foundation in the English language.

Limitations

Dolch Sight Word Assessment

The Dolch Sight Word Assessment used at CCHS, which was created by Make, Take, Teach and based

off of The Teacher Reading Academy, splits the 220 Dolch Sight Word into 9 lists, ordered by frequency found

within texts, rather than using the common 5 lists organized by grade level (pre-primer, primer, first, second,

third). As the 9 lists advance, the frequency of word occurrences within texts decreases. Since the students did

not move on to another list if they scored below the 80% benchmark, the total number of known sight words for

each student across the grade levels was not calculated. This implies that students may know more words than

the Dolch Sight Word Assessment suggests, however they were stopped when they fell below the 80%

benchmark and, instead of moving forward, they were given interventions to help them recognize the words on

that particular list in order to achieve above the 80% benchmark.

Fountas and Pinnell Running Records

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Fountas and Pinnell running records were used to track student accuracy and fluency while reading

texts. Students accuracy rates are determined by using a formula based on the total number of running words

and student errors. While students did show increased independent reading levels, the number of errors may not

solely reflect sight word errors and the number of running words is the total amount of words within the text.

However, lower level books, specifically levels A-E are very sight word heavy, which does help imply that

students had more accuracy in recognizing sight words with automaticity within text.

Language Usage MAP Test

The Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) Language Usage test focuses on a wide range of skills,

some that were not necessarily covered in core content before the time of testing. Although the majority of our

students showed increase Language scores, they were being tested on many different factors, including three

core focus areas and their sub-indicators. The three core focus areas are: Writing: Write, Revise Texts for

Purpose and Audience, Language: Understand, Edit for Grammar Usage, and Language: Understand, Edit for

Mechanics (where sight word recognition falls). The students’ overall scores for Language reflect these three

areas and their sub-indicators. However, the learning continuum breaks down each core focus area and shows

where students fall within the sub-indicators.

Additional Limitations

Although our focus groups of students received interventions with our choice board, we cannot

determine that it was the only positive intervention to support students’ growth. On top of additional support in

the students’ homeroom class, all of our focus students receive addition pull-out SPED support, in literacy,

throughout the week. Many of our focus students also receive outside tutoring in English. Additionally, we did

not conduct any assessments to find out how well students performed regarding their native language.

Practitioner's Reflections

As we reflect on our research study, we note the importance of allowing students, specifically TCKs,

choice in the classroom that allows them to feel confident without the fear of making mistakes. The choices that

they are able to make in the classroom can have a significant impact on their ability to successfully acquire
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English as a second language that will ultimately aid in their academic vocabulary, reading fluency, and ability

to comprehend grade level material. We also realize the importance of developing sight word recognition not

only in isolation, but also in context. As sight words do not necessarily adhere to the grammatical rules of

English, it is essential for students to be able to recognize them with automaticity, as these words make up

nearly 50-70% of the text we encounter on a daily basis, especially when it comes to elementary literacy and

beginning readers.

References
Fountas, I.C., & Pinnell, G.S. (2010). Fountas & Pinnell benchmark assessment system 1. Grades K-2, levels A-

N. Portsmouth, NH :Heinemann.

Krashen, S. (2009) Principles and practices in second language learning (Internet Edition) Los Angeles,

CA:.Pergamon Press Inc. Retrieved from:

http://www.sdkrashen.com/content/books/principles_and_practice.pdf

MAP growth: Precisely measure student growth and performance. (n.d.) Northwest Evaluation Association.

Retrieved from https://www.nwea.org/map-growth/.

Lightbown, P.M. & Spada, N. (2008) How languages are learned. New York: Oxford University Press.

Pollock, D. C. & VanReken, R.E. (2009). Third culture kids: growing up among worlds. Nicholas Brealey Publishing:

Boston, MA.

Van Alst, J. (2016, February 07). Dolch 220 sight word assessment. Retrieved from

http://blog.maketaketeach.com/dolch-220-sight-word-assessment/