A context evaluation designed to set-up remedial English classes for grade one students in Hong Kong
Background
Globalisation is very evident in our society today. A number of people immigrate in English speaking countries in order to learn the language which has now become the medium of communication in the aspect of business, science and technology. A number of children in Hong Kong go abroad to study for college or for further learning. And most of these students prefer countries in which the official language is English. However, for students that came from non-English speaking countries, additional lessons are being given which adds more time for these students. Aside from that, the English language has now become a necessity and in order to get higher ranking jobs an individual must know how to speak English fluently. Knowing more than one language is an advantage for any individual especially in the sectors of education and work. Children as young as in the first grade must be able to learn how to write and speak the English language in order to have a distinctive advantage when they grow older. The main purpose of this study is to identify if the grade one students in two schools in Hong Kong that needs to have remedial classes in the English language apart from the normal classes given to the grade one students. The significance of this study is that it provides an assessment on how well the grade one students perform in their English classes and can be used to implement changes in the school policies and English curriculum of the school. This paper hypothesises that almost 75% of the grade one students in the school must take the remedial classes for the English language.
Study Design
The study design that will be used in this research is the randomised control trial in which according to (2006) individuals, schools or classrooms are randomly designated to various intervention and control conditions in order to produce estimates that are statistically unbiased of the associated effect of the interventions and a valid statement of confidence with the outcomes of the study.
Sample
Two elementary schools in Hong Kong will be contracted to perform in the study. In order to identify the two schools, the researchers will conduct a random sampling of all public elementary schools in the whole of Hong Kong. Random sampling according to (2006) is a sampling method or technique used in selecting the sample or group of subjects that will utilised in the study from a larger group or the population, the chances of having a bias result is reduced by employing random sampling because each member of the population has a chance to be selected.
After identification, observations and then the experiment will be conducted with the grade one students.
Methodology
After determining the sample and the study design, the experiment will then be conducted. The experiment will began in the month of January 2007 up to March 2007. But prior to the start of experimentation, letters will be sent to the chosen schools in the sample asking for permission to conduct a study, if the school administration did not approve, another random sampling will be conducted. Aside from the school administration, parents and guardians were also sent letters of permission. The procedure for the study will also be reviewed by the ethics committee of the community and the university in order to be allowed to conduct a study.
After the all the ethical procedures finished, the study will then be conducted. The grade one children from the two elementary schools were then be grouped into four groups each school, three groups for the interventions and one group for the control, each of the group consists of 20 kids. But before conducting the experiment, the English grades of the students will be gathered and assessed.
The first group of children will have thirty minutes English classes after school everyday, the second group will have one hour of English classes after school everyday, the third group will have four hours of English class every Saturday and the control group will not conduct any remedial English classes.
After three months of intervention, the children will then be tested to determine the understanding of the students of the English language. This could be assessed by having an examination in terms of reading, vocabulary and English comprehension. The examination in reading will be consisted of each child reading words, phrases, sentences and paragraphs wherein the teachers and the researchers will assess if the pronunciation of the words were right. In the examination in vocabulary, the usage of basic grammars such as this, that, those and these, the translation of some Chinese words to the English language and the basic lessons in nouns, pronouns, verbs and adjectives will be asked in the form of a written examination. And in comprehension, the children will be tested through two tests, first the teacher will tell a story wherein the children will listen and afterwards questions regarding the story will be answered by the students in the form of written examination, the second test the students will read a story and then answer the questions also through a written examination. The papers will then be checked and the performance of the children in reading will be assessed by the teachers and researchers in order to find out the performance of the children.
Afterwards, the grades of the students will then be compared within each group and then compared to their previous English grades wherein remedial classes in English were not yet conducted.
And to identify the statistical difference of the four groups and the two schools, the researchers will use the Analysis of Variance.
Review of Related Literature
Early Childhood Education is an approach which covers the education of the children from ages 0 up to eight years old, the education that is delivered to these kids are holistic in which it emphasises all the developmental aspects of education. Different models of curriculum were created over the past decades in order to address the different needs of various children with different levels of intelligence. There are approaches given to the children who have high levels of intelligence and there are also approaches that are specific to children with learning disabilities. Different curriculums have been developed in order to address some of the issues in early childhood education. However, those curriculums are for private education and implementation of new curriculum for public education is not usually done. However, the educators have the power to create minor changes in the curriculum for early childhood education; the educators must only understand and learn the curriculum framework for the developmental stages particularly the preschoolers. According to and (2000) a proper curriculum for the preschool and kindergarten children must provide a method in which it develops social and emotional competence simultaneously as the children learn the relevant concepts, information and skills. The traditional curriculum delivers activities that are often emphasising busy works. Rather than listing traditional activities such as games and songs, a proper curriculum addresses the needs of the children to display initiative and stresses on developing an environment wherein the children can interact, investigate systematically and make choices. The richer and more interesting environment the children have, the wider opportunities for learning the children will have. The teachers observe and watch how her or his students use the materials and listens how the children communicate with each other in order to understand the way the students are thinking. Afterwards, the teacher supports the learning of her students through addition of new materials, asking questions that are open-ended and teaching the children specific skills that will enhance their discovery further.
According to and (2005) the most efficient method of education for preschoolers with limited English proficiency is to use the dominant language in which the child uses together with the second language. According to the authors the following are suggestions in teaching and working with students having a limited English proficiency:
- Provide stimulation in the primary language such as taped stories and songs.
- Access web sites that delivers work sheets in English and the primary language of the child.
- Use gestures when describing and explaining things.
- Integrate many senses in order for a child to acquire better understanding.
- Position the child or children close to the educators when teaching the language.
- Give opportunities for the child or children to interact with other children or persons who speak the English language.
- Do not force the child to speak in English, allow him or her to be silent.
In addition, in the study of (2005), in the United States there is a program for preschoolers who have a limited English proficiency. It is called the Manchester Even Start program wherein it gives emphasis on the early childhood education. The even-start program is provided in the form of classes, home-visiting activities and parent and child interactive literacy. The curriculum that is being used in the program is based on the theoretical framework of the creative curriculum which involves integrated skill building in listening, speaking, phonological awareness, emergent literacy and writing. Everyday the educators teach the young children for two and a half hours about language, cognitive and early reading skills.
After-school program is an effective tool in addressing some of the learning issues a child might have. In the study conducted by (2001) it revealed that the children from backgrounds that are high-risk have gained the most from the after-school programs with regards to the opportunities in education. After-school programs according to (2003), increases the traditional learning time. In the after-school program employed by a school in Philadelphia, the students were added two hours of instruction in a student every week, and the feedback that school has been getting so far is positive, according to the collected data students that were under the after-school tutor program have increased their vocabulary, learned additional literacy skills and strategies in reading and strengthened their comprehension skills.
Moreover, the study have shown that if the educational benefits are the main objective of the program, further attention must be given on the quality of the programs and the activities being offered.
In addition, most parents do not have time to teach or review the lessons of their children and by having an after-school program the gap in learning will be filled. However, time on time the children must be educated by their parents, especially in reading according to , and (1999), the following ways can be helpful in enhancing the reading ability of children:
- Have one on one conversation with young children.
- Read books with children.
- Give children materials for writing.
- Support the dramatic plays of the children that integrate literacy activities.
- Show the usages of literacy.
- And maintain a happy, playful environment around literacy activities.
With regard to the changes in the curriculum of the school, aside from the educators there are also persons that must be involved in the assessment whether an intervention program is needed. According to (1992) proper assessment of young children must include the children, parents and teachers, a portfolio method encourages a shared approach in the decision-making that have a lasting effect on the attitudes of children towards school and in the future towards work. Aside from the benefits on the children and the parents, the method also is beneficial among the teachers because it frees them from the confinement of the standardised tests and expands the classroom horizon in which the teacher will be able to focus on the child or children.
In addition, according to and (1993) changes must also involve collaboration and the following are guidelines on having an effective collaboration between individuals and groups that are involved in the changes:
- The key players such as the parents and educators must be involved in the collaborative decisions and activities.
- Make certain that the collaboration must have a leadership that has a vision, willing to take risks and facilitate the changes.
- The persons involved must set-up a vision on how the collaboration should progress.
- The commitment to changes must be mobilised at all the levels of the organisation, the agencies involved and the members of the community that will be directly benefited by the changes in the education.
- A process of decision making and communication must be established so that the disagreements could be identified and could be dealt constructively.
- Encourage the agencies that are involved to include collaborative goals in the mandates of their institutions.
According to (1990) the public schools have the capacity to make changes in order to meet the needs of the young children; however those changes must be planned carefully and must be based on a research and established theory regarding what is appropriate for the young children. In addition the changes must be supported by a strong commitment from the decision-makers and time planning, training and problem-solving. The changes must be implemented over a time period so that the teachers, students and parents that will be involved in the changes can make preparations.
Changes in the curriculum of the early childhood education is easy for private institutions, however, when changes or interventions are applied to public education, conflicts may arise due to the fact that it involves more children and parents. However, changes must also be made in order to be certain that the education that the children receive from the public institutions would be beneficial and helpful in the near future. But in order to implement those interventions and changes collaboration between the parents, children, the school and educators must be made in order to ensure the success of the program. A program no matter how good it is will not be useful if the parents, children and educators are not receptive to the idea. Early Childhood Development is a critical stage for any individual because during this stage the emotional, physical, cognitive and social aspects of a person’s life are being developed. An effective curriculum must be implemented in institutions handling these vulnerable individuals, aside from the traditional method of teaching the preschoolers the educators must also utilised different methods of teaching in order to enhance the learning of the children, and the learning does not end in the school premises nut it continues at home, parents must also teach their children about their lessons in school to facilitate their learning.
Assessment of the Data
Reading
The students will be assigned to read twenty words, ten phrases, five sentences and one paragraph and the teachers and the researcher will put a mark on the checklist. The students will get a mark on the following:
Excellent
Good
Okay
Poor
Terrible
Words
Phrases
Sentences
Paragraphs
English Language
The students will have an examination regarding their understanding of the English language and the teachers and researchers will grade them according to the performance on each test. The students will get a grade on the following.
A
B
C
D
F
Grammar
Nouns
Pronouns
Adjectives
Verbs
Spelling
Comprehension
The comprehension of the children will be examined by first listening to the story which will be told by the teacher and then the children will answer questions regarding the story and reading a story afterwards answering the questions. The children will also be graded on the following:
A
B
C
D
F
Comprehension by listening
Comprehension by reading
After getting all the grades it well then be assessed and identified, which among the four groups performed the best.
References:
Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com
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