Final project report: What happens when ESOL students receive continuous feedback, whether written or verbal, regarding their progress?

Kevin McKay,
Literacy Coordinator, West Warwick Public Library
Rhode Island Family Literacy Initiative


















photo: Kristen McKenna
photo of Kevin McKay at final representation

Introduction


My name is Kevin McKay. I teach ESOL at West Warwick Public Library. I have been teaching ESOL for five years. The RI Family Literacy Initiative was established in 1998 as a free first-step literacy program to help learners gain confidence and strength in their abilities to read, write, and speak English. The year-round program is comprised of two four-month sessions and an eight-week summer session. Classes meet twice a week for an hour and a half each class.

Many students come into our classes with very limited English skills. Some students progress as they had expected while a number of students express concern about their progression because it is less than they had expected. There may be different reasons for disparity in progress. One contributing factor to our family literacy program is that it meets only twice a week and many adults miss classes due to responsibilities outside the classroom.

In this practitioner-based inquiry project I examined student progress by collecting and recording student work (productivity) in order to better interpret or measure progress and to communicate progress to students at regular intervals.

One very important goal I hoped for was to promote continued enthusiasm from the student by continuing to make decisions and choices about his or her own literacy education


The Story of the Question


My question came about because students would approach me many times and inquire about their progress because they were unsure whether their English skills were improving. Many times I was not completely prepared to give the students an accurate picture of their progress. Because I already kept some student work from previous lessons sometimes I was able to show the student their improvement. But except for my word and some student work there was really not an accurate way to indicate or communicate progress. I began to ask myself questions such as; how can I measure progress and how can I better communicate that progress?

My initial question, "How can an ESOL teacher systematically measure an adult student¹s progress and use this method of measurement to inform the student at regular intervals of their progress while providing valuable information for the teacher?" was too large of an undertaking. After several meetings with the inquiry group I was able to develop a specific question that focused more directly what I wanted to know. Since I was already measuring student progress in various ways it was first necessary to isolate the methods I had already been using. After isolating the methods I already used and adding additional methods I began developing a communication system, which involved using all of the methods of measuring student progress that I was using.

Measuring student progress can be achieved many different ways such as goal setting, field notes, monthly surveys, student journals, assessment scores and student work (Student Portfolio).

My question is related to measuring and communicating student progress. One important goal was to continually involve each student in making decisions and choices about his or her own literacy education and to weigh each decision¹s outcome. (Ex. attendance, participation, amount of study time outside the classroom, etc.)

Over time my question became more focused and I was able to isolate what I needed to do to answer my inquiry. My new question asks, "What happens when ESOL students receive constant feedback, whether written or verbal, regarding their progress?" This question is more focused and allowed me to see the main task at hand, collecting, measuring and communicating progress.


Data Collection Methods


Data collection methods included goal setting, field journal notes, monthly surveys, student journals, assessments and student work (Student Portfolio).

Initially I had already been collecting and looking over student work, giving assessment quizzes, discussing student progress, and receiving student feedback from end of session evaluations. Isolating these methods and adding student journals, field journals and setting up a file to hold student work was necessary to satisfy my inquiry.


Goal Setting: The goal cards offer at least two benefits, they not only gave me input as to what I should include in lessons but, it gave the students and teacher a target to begin to assess if progress is being made towards the desired goal.

At the start of each session students would participate in a goal setting activity. The activity required students to split into smaller groups with a tutor or a teacher. Then students were given 5 index-size cards and asked to write a goal onto each card with their name and date. The tutor or teacher assisted with setting goals. Many times it can be difficult translating or conveying the meaning of "goal" to students. When each student wrote five specific goals, such as "I want to learn English to get my driver¹s license" the students then placed them in order or importance to themselves. I collected the goal cards and told the students that we will post all goals accomplished by the end of the session onto the "Goals Accomplished Board" hung in the classroom.


Field Journal Notes: The field journal notes allowed me to see patterns arise such as particular students being late habitually or particular students requiring more attention and it also indicated my initial assessment to a students level, whether beginner, intermediate or advanced. I wanted to take field journal notes at the end of each class, however I found that it became too difficult. I settled on taking notes once a week. I knew I had limited time so I thought about the easiest way to take notes. I am very comfortable with computers and use them often so I decided to find a software program that allowed me to take notes quickly and would allow me to save it quickly. I found a software program called 2Sync® by Global Beach Ltd.2003, and it worked well. I took notes about once a week, a few times every other week.


Monthly Surveys: The surveys had two important goals, one to stimulate interest in their own literacy education and second, I had hoped to learn from the evaluations how students felt about their progress. During the four-month session I was only able to do two monthly surveys, once during the middle of the session and once at the end. Student attendance and attrition hampered my attempts to give surveys monthly. The surveys asked the students six questions regarding what they have learned, what do they want to learn, which lessons they liked or disliked, if they wanted to continue and what their future plans were. I believe the surveys did stimulate more enthusiasm for their progress, however I feel I was only able to gain limited information regarding their progress. I believe more monthly evaluations would have given me a better indication of student progress.


Student Journals: Student journals were used to help students use and improve their writing skills and also to indicate progress. Student journals were introduced halfway through the session. Students were given journals with a question from either the tutor or the teacher. The students always completed their journals for homework. The journals were not corrected so students would not worry about spelling or grammar. The journals were only somewhat successful. Because the journals were started only halfway through the session I was not able to see much student progress. Next session I will begin using journals earlier so by the end of the four-month session I may see more results. I will also save previous session journals to help determine progress.


Assessments: Assessments were given in order to stimulate student participation and to communicate progress. Assessments or sometimes-called quizzes were given with and without notice. There were four-five quizzes given throughout the session. Students usually displayed a desire to be tested with smiles and excited chatter. The students that did not want to be tested were usually students that had missed a few classes. I did not test students that missed classes unless they agreed or insisted to be tested. A quiz would last not longer than 5-7 minutes.

After the quizzes were given students became very anxious to get their corrected work back. By the next class students would receive their corrected quiz and we would review and discuss them as a class. During this time students would ask many questions and become conscious about their mistakes or progress. I found quizzes to have the most immediate impact on a student's consciousness about their progress. Many students displayed more excitement and enthusiasm after receiving their corrected quizzes than other student work.


Student Work: Material produced by students while learning in class or for homework. Student work was reviewed after each lesson. Students were able to retrieve their work from their student file-folders.


Student file-folders were created to allow students access to reviewed or corrected student work, which included student journals, assessments and all student work as well as the initial student goal cards.

The most important thing about data collection, I found, is developing a method or collection system to keep all student information in one central spot. When the time comes to accurately determine whether a student is making progress, I found it is too time consuming to find student information in several different spots.

Keeping track of all of the methods used to indicate student progress was sometimes difficult. The student filing system was extremely helpful to keep student information together and organized. The student files held student work, student journals, assessments and student goals. Field notes were kept on my computer and monthly evaluations were kept in a folder on my bookshelf.

Communicating the results of student progress was achieved by giving students an opportunity to examine their teacher-reviewed work or output (journals, assessment scores, and student work) in class and address their concerns immediately. (Student work is kept in a student file for all students to access) Five to ten minutes of each class were given to examine teacher-reviewed work. In addition when students inquired further about their progress I was able to use the other collected materials (field notes, monthly surveys, attendance and goals), all located in one central location, to more accurately interpret and communicate progress.


Findings


My findings were divided into three components: Recording student progress, communicating student progress and student response to progress.


Recording student Progress:

After gathering the data needed to answer my inquiry I found that I had plenty of information to accurately determine whether a student had made progress. What I found most difficult was keeping track of all of the methods used to measure student progress. The student filing system was most helpful to keep student information together. The student file-folders kept all student generated-materials in one central location and allowed me to interpret a student¹s progress more easily and accurately.

All student material found in the student file-folders was reviewed with corrections and given a comment such as great, good or super, but never a grade. Reviewed and corrected work helped students become conscious of their progress.

One problem I had was whether I should allow students to take work home from their folders. I had mixed feelings about this because some students wanted to use their work to study from or to just take home, while others did not mind leaving the work in the folders. I allowed students to take work home as long as they returned it. I found many did not return work. If I do not have student work from previous classes or sessions it may become difficult assessing student progress.

Data gathering was definitely helpful and I was able to use all of the information I gathered to record student progress.


Communicating student progress:

Students were very receptive to corrected student work such as homework or assessments. Students responded to their corrected work with enthusiasm. Some students requested more homework to help them with a particular lesson and expected the work to be corrected by the teacher. I also found that the student's interest and enthusiasm increased as we regularly discussed progress.

I believe the student file-folder was critical in the communication process. Students could retrieve work when they had time and look over it and ask questions at the start of class or at the end of class.

Sometimes however I would have to prod students to get their work from the file-folder or even pass it out myself.

In addition to the file-folder I was able to use the reviewed work to communicate student progress each class. If I noticed a student having difficulty with a particular lesson from reviewed work or from other data-collecting materials I could suggest extra homework or ask the volunteer tutor to sit next to this student.


Student Response To Progress:

One very important goal I hoped for was to promote continued enthusiasm from the student by continuing to make decisions and choices about his or her own literacy education. I found that students were more concerned about their progress for two reasons, first because I included student progress as part of the class and second because many expressed interest in ways to improve their English skills.

At the start of each class a few students would even arrive a little early to discuss reviewed work; this was the enthusiasm I was looking for, although most students waited until class to begin discussing their work. At times there were a couple of students that did not want to review work; in most cases they had missed the previous class and did not have the work to review.

I believe overall there was definitely an increased level of enthusiasm in response to communicating student progress.


Implications


When I began this inquiry project I wanted to develop a way to collect, measure and communicate student progress so students could see their progress regularly and take an enthusiastic approach to their literacy education. I believe I succeeded in developing a way to collect, measure and communicate student progress, although it needs refining.

In addition to learning new data-collecting methods I learned that I had already been using methods to determine student progress but that I had not collected them and made them available to the students and me in order to measure and communicate student progress. Establishing a student file-folder allowed student work to be collected in one central location so students and I could review it.

I found that because I included student progress as part of each class, students were more inclined to discuss their progress and ways to improve. Such as better attendance or discussing the results of some of their student work.

By taking a new approach to data collecting and putting it all into one central location when needed gave me the information I needed to more accurately determine student progress. In addition I have made these new data-collecting methods part of my everyday routine.

With this new approach to data-collection and student progress I hope to give students the information they need to quickly move along in their literacy education. I believe students with continuous feedback will better understand their mistakes and progress, which in turn will propel them into the next level.

This practitioner-based inquiry project has definitely changed my approach to data-collecting and student progress. Collecting, reviewing and communicating progress through various forms of student work, as well as student and teacher analysis are parts of the procedure to determining student progress.


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