VOCABULARY DEVELOPMENT FOR ACADEMIC SUCCESS IN KINDERGARTEN ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS THESIS Presented to the Graduate Council of Texas State University-San Marcos in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of ARTS by Monica Salas, B.S. San Marcos, Texas May 2012 VOCABULARY DEVELOPMENT FOR ACADEMIC SUCCESS IN KINDERGARTEN ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS Committee Members Approved: B. Gloria Guzmán-Johannessen, Chair Kathleen Fite Gene Martin Approved: __________________________ J. Michael Willoughby Dean of the Graduate College COPYRIGHT by Monica Salas 2012 FAIR USE AND AUTHOR’S PERMISSION STATEMENT Fair Use This work is protected by the Copyright Laws of the United States (Public Law 94-553, section 107). Consistent with fair use as defined in the Copyright Laws, brief quotations from this material are allowed with proper acknowledgment. Use of this material for financial gain without the author’s express written permission is not allowed. Duplication Permission As the copyright holder of this work I, Monica Salas, refuse permission to copy in excess of the “Fair Use” exemption without my written permission. DEDICATION This thesis is dedicated to my family for all their love and support. To my parents Adan and Oralia Gutierrez for being my first educators, teaching me the importance of an education and their constant push to succeed. These are not only my accomplishments, but ours. To Marky, Maddy, and Dante, the world is in your hands. Believe in yourselves and you can achieve anything! ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I thank Pflugerville Independent School District for allowing me to complete this research study. My principal, Tana Ruckel, who always said “yes” to any request I needed in preparation for this Thesis. Ms. Gillian for agreeing to take part in this research study despite everything else the district had going on. I am very thankful for the members of my thesis committee. Dr. Fite and Dr. Martin for taking a chance and agreeing to be apart of my committee. Dr. Johannessen, Chair of my thesis Committee, I cannot thank you enough for all the love, support, guidance, and encouraging words such as “I am so proud of you” and my favorite: “When you have stopped believing in yourself, know that I continue to believe in you.” Last but not least, my support system, my family and friends. To my family, thank you for hanging in there with me during this process. Thank you for understanding the trips back home I had to miss to continue this writing process from Thanksgiving, Charro Days, Spring Break, Christmas, and birthdays. Carlos, thank you for sticking by me during this emotional process, from my breakdowns to making sure I had dinner – thank you for having faith in me. This manuscript was submitted on April 9, 2012. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................. vi LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................. ix CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY ................................................................1 Historical Overview .................................................................................................2 Shift in Education in the United States ....................................................................3 Bilingual Programs ..................................................................................................5 National Overview of English Language Learners ..................................................8 English Language Learners in Texas .......................................................................9 Language Acquisition ............................................................................................12 Strategies for English Language Learners .............................................................13 Supporting English Language Learners in Mathematics .......................................18 Preview-view-review .............................................................................................19 II. METHODOLOGY ..........................................................................................21 Subjects ..................................................................................................................21 Procedures ..............................................................................................................21 III. RESULTS ........................................................................................................24 IV. DISCUSSION ..................................................................................................47 Limitations .............................................................................................................48 Conclusion .............................................................................................................49 REFERENCES ..................................................................................................................50 APPENDIX A: English kindergarten math content exam: Pre– Post–..............................54 APPENDIX B: Spanish kindergarten math content exam: Pre– Post– .............................58 vii APPENDIX C: Texas Essential of Knowledge and Skills: Mathematics..........................62 APPENDIX D: Results graphs ..........................................................................................63 viii LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1. ESC regions with 60% of Hispanic populations ............................................................10 2. Percentages of groups receiving bilingual or ESL services ...........................................11 3. Post– Assessment of English kindergarten math content exam.....................................24 4. Post– Assessment of Spanish kindergarten math content exam ....................................30 5. Experimental group pre– and post– assessment English section ...................................35 6. Experimental group pre– and post– assessment Spanish Section ..................................40 7. Experimental group post– assessments in Spanish and English ....................................46 ix ABSTRACT VOCABULARY DEVELOPMENT FOR ACADEMIC SUCCESS IN KINDERGARTEN ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS by Monica Salas, B.S. Texas State University- San Marcos May 2012 SUPERVISING PROFESSOR: B. GLORIA GUZMÁN-JOHANNESSEN Based on research of the literature on first- and second-language acquisition and learning, an experimental study was conducted with kindergarten English Language Learners for a period of four months. The purpose of this investigation was to find whether the teaching method of preview-view-review is effective for teaching mathematics. The findings showed subjects in the experimental group performed higher than those in the control group in some portions of the mathematics content assessment. In the areas that subjects did not perform higher, it appeared to be because the students did not have the vocabulary in their native or primary language. x