Running Head: English Language Learner Case Study

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Kristen Houlihan
ELL Case Study
TSL4080.798
April 19, 2015
Ramona Kreis

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Part A
Cultural
Alexa Gonzalez is five years old and in Kindergarten. Her place of birth is the country of
Columbia and she moved to America when she was three years old. She lives with her mother
and her two siblings, one older and one younger brother. Her father works back in Columbia and
has minimal contact with the family. The highest amount of schooling that he received is that he
finished the 8th grade. Her mother works in a hotel, and in the late afternoons and at nights she
cleans the facility, and on weekends and in the morning she works on landscaping. The highest
level of education that she received was that she completed the 2nd grade. Alexa has received no
previous schooling prior to entering Kindergarten, and when she first arrived to Tampa Bay she
attended a local church daycare for a brief period of time.
Institutional
As stated in the data, the elementary school that Alexa is attending is not meeting the
needs of the ELL students in the areas of Reading and Mathematics, and there is a general lack of
understanding on how to help ELL students and provide accommodations beyond FCAT testing.
Also, the current Bilingual paraprofessionals are all at different levels of expertise. And lastly,
the math and reading teachers are unfamiliar with ESOL strategies.
In the School Improvement Plan states that the school is working on improving their ELL
program. In order to obtain higher proficiency in the ELLs, the school will schedule professional
development provided by the ESOL resource teacher. They will also implement the Cognitive

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Academic Language Learning Approach (CALLA) in their courses to insure consistency

between the reading and math teachers. The ELL program has been drastically cut due to
budgets, and now the classroom teacher is responsible for sharpening the ELL students language
skills in English.
Phonetic
The main areas that Alexa is having difficulties in are in consonants and certain digraphs.
She repeatedly mispronounces the consonants /t/ and /d/ and interchanges them. This can be
seen in examples such as changing the word this to dis. She also interchanges the letters /b/
and /v/, and this can be seen in examples such as the pronunciation of the word best and it
sounding like vest. In terms of digraphs, Alexa has troubles with /wh/ and /sh/ and she changes
these to /wa/ and /sch/, and can be seen in the examples of pronouncing what as wat and
should as schoold. The confusion of /sh/ is also having an effect on Alexs pronunciation of
the rest of the word, as seen in example of pronouncing /show/ as /shuw/.
The ESOL teacher has implemented a lot of strategies in Alexas classroom in order to
help with her phonetics. She has asked the teacher to post the different letters of the alphabet,
the different digraphs, and blends of Basic English grammar around the room so ELLs can
practice pronunciation. The ESOL teacher and Alexas teacher have labeled every object in the
room and included an index card beneath labeled in Spanish. Also, during the days that Alexa
meets with the ESOL teacher, they work with a website called Myon.com. This site has work in
Spanish and English that helps Alexa in her primary language and allows her to practice
pronunciation and phonological awareness in English.
Social

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According to Alexas teacher, in the beginning of Alexas time in the classroom she was
hesitant in answering the teachers questions. She would pause before replying and would
always look down at her desk. As time went on however, she became more comfortable in
talking to the teacher and gave longer answers. She even started asking questions without having
to be prompted.
According to Alexas paraprofessional who spends a majority of her time with Alexa in
the classroom, Alexas conversations with her peers are much different than those that she has
with her teachers. She is much more animated in speaking with her classmates and feels
comfortable in making eye contact and smiling. When she is speaking to her teachers however,
she is much more reserved and avoids making eye contact. She does share a lot of personal
information, but the paraprofessional states that this is common in young children as they are
learning appropriate cultural discourses. The paraprofessional also states that her lack of eye
contact and reserved nature when speaking with teachers could be the cultural norm of her region
and not shyness. In Columbia, many children view direct eye contact as a sign of disrespect.
Linguistic and Lexical
In the beginning of Alexas time in the classroom, her teacher states that Alexas answers
to questions consisted of one to four words, and it made it seem as though she did not understand
the question that was being asked, or that she had trouble finding the correct words to answer the
question. As time went and she started provided longer answers, it shows that she did
comprehend the questions but did not possess the vocabulary in order to answer the questions.
Her BICS is developing faster than CALP, and this is common because CALP normally takes 7
years to develop for ELLs. Her sentence structure is good in her primary language, but she is

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struggling to find words to structure her sentences in English. She has, however, started asking
questions to broaden her vocabulary.
Psychological
According to Alexas school counselor, many teaching techniques are being used in the
classroom. These techniques include, repetition of key words, modeling with actions, and
singing the directions of assignments. He states that Alexa is highly visual in her learning, but
there are some subjects where she tends to be more of an auditory learner. This can be seen in
music, where he believes that she might be gifted in. Alexa has highly benefitted from listening
to keywords being repeated, listening to directions in song form, and watching the teacher model
what is expected.

Grammatical
According to the writing samples, Alexas organization is good to average. This means
that her organization was somewhat choppy and loosely organized but main ideas stand out but
have limited support, and that it has logical but incomplete sequencing. Alexas main idea stands
out and is coupled with pictures. In regards to her vocabulary, it is very poor. She does however,
attempt to use new words. In terms of language use, it is also very poor, but she does have
developmental writing with shapes forming into letters. In terms of mechanics, it is again very
poor, even though her letters flow from left to right for the most part.
Cognitive/Intellectual

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In terms of the test scores of Alexa, she performed much better in the Spanish Edition
than she did in the English Edition. In terms of math in the Spanish Edition, she fell in the 25th
percentile during the first quarter, the 28th percentile during the second, and stayed at the 28th
percentile during the third. In terms of reading in the Spanish Edition, she fell in the 30th
percentile during the first quarter, the 34th percentile during the second, and fell back down to the
30th percentile during the third. Her IQ during in the Spanish edition started out as 85 in the first
quarter, and fell to 80 in the second and third quarters. In the English Edition math section,
Alexa fell in the 5th percentile during the first quarter, the 7th in the second, and the 8th in the
third. In terms of reading in the English edition, she fell in the 4th percentile during the first
quarter, the 9th in the second, and the 15th in the third. Her LAS or Language Assessment Score
was a Level 1 in the first and second quarters, and a Level 2 in the third.
Alexa was labeled as an LY student, and was required to take the CELLA. In the
Reading section of this test, she fell in the Low Intermediate category with a score of 555. In the
Oral Skills section, she fell in the Beginning category with a score of 553. And in the Writing
section of this test, she fell again in the Low Intermediate category with a score of 637. Her
composite score was a 1745 where a 2050 or greater was needed.

Part B: Plan
Instructional Approach and Methods
The instructional approach that I would definitely recommend being incorporated in the
classroom would be group learning. There have been many different studies done to prove the
success of group learning for both ELL and English-speaking students. It is already shown that

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Alexa is much more comfortable conversing with her peers than she is the teacher or authority
figures, so she might be more willing to both ask and answer questions with her peers. This
could help Alexa greatly with her vocabulary needs, and it could also help the English-speaking
students both become more cultured and also help them to learn the material even more
thoroughly because they will be teaching the material to someone else.
The teacher should make the groups in the classroom methodically. She should place
students that are good at explaining concepts with Alexa so that she is able to answer questions.
She could also change the groups depending on what subject is being taught at the time. There
are many different ways in which she could arrange her classroom so that there is a mixture of all
types of learners and students and so that Alexa is not being singled out as the only one
participating in group work.
Techniques and Activities
A technique that could also compliment the group-work could be assigning each student
to a peer-buddy. This buddy system could allow Alexa to ask the questions that she needs
without feeling as though she is interrupting the class. The teacher should place Alexa with a
student who is quick-learning and is good at explaining topics. The teacher should place the
entire class with buddys so that Alexa again is not feeling singled out. This buddy system could
also be very beneficial for struggling students and students who are having trouble socially. I
also think that even more music should be incorporated into Alexas learning. There are many
songs that go along with lessons that I think that not only Alexa, but every student in the
classroom would benefit from.

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An activity that I think would be beneficial to Alexa would be an on-going vocabulary

book. This could be a booklet that Alexa keeps with her, and every time during reading activities
that she comes across a word that she does not know, she could write the word in English, and
then in Spanish. She could be allowed to use this vocabulary book at all times, and also when
taking tests so that she can look back and comprehend what is being asked of her.
Teacher Competencies and Training, and Administrative Support
I think that in addition to the professional development provided by the ESOL Resource
Teacher, Alexas teacher should receive additional training in order to better provide for Alexa.
There are many different training seminars out there for teachers to attend in order to learn about
how to address the needs of the ELL students in their classroom. The administrative support that
would be needed would be in terms of providing Alexas teacher with money in order to attend
and also providing a substitute.
Parental Involvement
Alexas mother really wants to see Alexa perform well in school, she just does not have
the time to provide Alexa with the extra help that she needs. I would encourage the teacher to
talk to Alexas mother about enrolling her in an after-school program so that Alexa can receive
the one-on-one help that she needs. Many schools provide an after-school program for free that
students can attend that provides them with homework help and study skills. This would be
greatly beneficial to Alexa, if her parents allow her to go after school.
Another thing that I would implement in order to help with parental involvement would
be sending Alexas homework home in both English and Spanish, so that her mother can better

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help Alexa. I would also stress the importance of reading every day. I would encourage Alexas
mother to read to her, whether it be in Spanish or in English.

Assessment Strategies
I would use both informal and observational strategies in order to assess Alexa. Informal
assessments could be in the form of peer grading, or oral assessments in Spanish and in English.
This would be a lot less scary for Alexa and would give her the opportunity show that she
understands in her home language. Observational strategies would be walking around the
classroom during group work and making sure that Alexa is grasping the material and is asking
questions to her peers and the teacher in order to better understand the material.