Effect of Grouping on Language Development of English Learners

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to examine if there was a significant difference between first-grade English Learners (EL) who constitute a majority (>50%) of the English language mainstream classroom (homogeneous grouping) and first-grade EL who constitute a minority (<50%) of the English language mainstream classrooms (heterogeneous grouping) in the area of English language acquisition as measured by the California English Language Development Test (CELDT). To accomplish this, the researcher gathered CELDT scores of entire English language mainstream EL who were enrolled in first grade for the 2006-2007 school year and who maintained enrollment in the same district for second grade in the fall of 2007-2008 school year at a Unified School District (USD). In this study, the researcher also determined perceptions of the teachers of the entire English language mainstream EL, who were enrolled in first grade for the 2006-2007 school year and who maintained enrollment in the same district for second grade in the fall of the 2007-2008 school year at the USD, on the advantages and disadvantages of homogeneous and heterogeneous grouping in EL A questionnaire, developed by the researcher, was given to all the English language mainstream first-grade teachers at the USD. A study of teachers' perceptions helped substantiate that the non-significant difference in differently grouped EL test scores was not due to the difference in teacher perceptions of EL groupings.