| Research question. In what ways will acquiring a metacognitive awareness of the form of use and function of certain parts of speech (nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions and prepositional phases) affect English Language Learners ability to write?;Research activities. This research explores the role of explicit instruction of grammatical concepts in context as an essential building block in developing writing. Students were explicitly taught each part of speech. This was done through sorting activities, group work, word wall building, writing activities, and the authoring of students own grammar books. Context: The study took place in a fourth/fifth grade ELD (English Language Development) classroom in a Spanish/English Dual Immersion school. This research was done whole group, but special focus was given to four students who represented the learning needs and abilities of the class. Method and Data: The intervention lasted a period of twenty-one days with seven homework sessions. Three days were used to gather baseline data and post data. Fifteen days were employed in teaching each part of speech. A day was used to laminate and bind published books and on the last day of the intervention an Author's Tea Party was held to celebrate students' books with parents. Method: Students were exposed to each part of speech through literature: Ruth Heller's grammar books. In depth knowledge was acquired through hands-on group activities that resulted in the construction of word walls and writing activities. Data sets include pre and post writing pieces, student generated word lists for each part of speech, students' definitions and examples of each part of speech, revised sentences and paragraphs. Results: Identified students grew in defining each part of speech studied, depth of knowledge was demonstrated through students' final writing piece and transferability was proven through students' authored books.;Grade level. Fourth/Fifth Grade;Data collection methods. Observation-Field notes, generated lists of part of speech, student's definitions and examples of parts of speech, pre and post writing samples, highlighted passages, revised sentences and paragraphs.;Curriculum area. English Language Development (ELD);Instructional approaches. group work, sorting words, word walls, authored books, and literature. |
