Date of Award

8-2014

Document Type

Action Research Project

Degree Name

Master of Arts in Education

Department

Education

First Advisor

Kimberly Johnson

Department/School

Curriculum and Instruction

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine if parent participation outside of school could improve their child’s knowledge of key curriculum words when shared in their first language. Six pre-school English Language Learners (ELL) and their families participated in the study. Data was collected through two parent surveys, participation in class website and an online tool called VoiceThread which provided supports in the first languages of the students, and a pre and posttest of student knowledge of curriculum vocabulary words. Overall this experience had a positive impact or neutral on student learning; the results indicated that all students’ ability to describe and identify the vocabulary objects increased, but the results were mixed with their acquisition of the new vocabulary, however, it is unclear if this is due to the implementation of VoiceThread. All families indicated that they had access to technology at home, but only two of the six families frequented VoiceThread. It is also unknown why all families didn’t access the class website. Because of the potential, it is worth continuing to explore the value of using technology to support parent engagement. The ELL parents may benefit from repeated explanations of school expectations throughout the year and exploration of a variety of means of communication with their child’s teacher.

Included in

Education Commons

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