Improving English Language Learners' Oral and Written Language Through Collaborative Discussions

Results showed that experiences of CR discussions accelerated ELLs' oral and written English. The CR group performed significantly better than the control group on reading comprehension. Only the mainstream-class students, but not the bilingual-class students, significantly benefited from CR discussions on listening comprehension. The CR group produced more coherent narratives in a wordless-picture storytelling task. The reflective essays written by the CR group, with greater length and vocabulary diversity, contained a significantly greater number of reasons, counterarguments, and use of text evidence. CR discussions enhanced students' motivation and engagement, perceived benefits of discussions, and attitudes toward English learning. These results altogether yield significant implications for the literacy instruction practices of ELLs.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Educational Psychology

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2015

Author dc:creator

• Zhang, Jie

Contributors dc:contributor

• Anderson, Richard C.

• Education, Bilingual and Multicultural

Language dc:language

eng

Identifier

(MiAaPQ)AAI3363125

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/80109