<p> Elementary English language learners lack sufficient English fluency to achieve grade level writing outcomes on state required writing tests. Pre-write strategies incorporating drawings, visual literacy, non-linguistic representations, thinking techniques, and collaboration could be beneficial to help English language learners generate language supports necessary for developing writing fluency in English. The central questions for this study were to determine if drawing as a pre-write activity, and social collaboration, are effective strategies for improving writing achievement for young second language writers. The purpose of this quantitative pretest/ posttest design with four control groups and four treatment groups was to explore how the socio-cultural and visual strategy of prewrite drawing changes the writing outcomes of grade school English language learners. In this experimental study, outcomes of a pre-write visualization strategy were explored for eight fifth grade classes of English language learner students in English language development classes in Northeast Georgia. The data revealed there was no evidence that pre-write drawing treatment had an effect on the GADOE posttests when compared to the control group <i>F</i>(1,5) = 0.00, p = 0.9742). Additionally, there was no evidence that the pre-write drawing treatment had an effect on the Total WIDA posttests when compared to the control group <i>F</i>(1,5) = 0.15, p = 0.7152). Interactions of the treatment and the pretest score covariate were found to be statistically significant (p >0.05) in every case. Although statistically insignificant, the findings indirectly validate concerns among ESL educators and mainstream teachers of ELs in regard to L2 writing. The implications of the study findings indicate a need for continued research in second language writing outcomes of grade school English learners.</p>
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PROQUEST/oai:pqdtoai.proquest.com:3722037 |
| Date | 30 October 2015 |
| Creators | Fraser, Melissa A. |
| Publisher | Northcentral University |
| Source Sets | ProQuest.com |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | thesis |
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