Protocolo gabriela buenfil

15
THESIS PROJECT Title: The Effects of Students’ English Proficiency on Academic Performance in Philosophy of Education Student’s name: María Gabriela Buenfil Nevárez Supervisor’s name: Edith Hernández Mendez Type of research: Qualitative (Case Study)

Transcript of Protocolo gabriela buenfil

Page 1: Protocolo gabriela buenfil

THESIS PROJECT

Title: The Effects of Students’ English Proficiency on Academic Performance in Philosophy of Education

Student’s name: María Gabriela Buenfil Nevárez

Supervisor’s name: Edith Hernández Mendez

Type of research: Qualitative (Case Study)

Page 2: Protocolo gabriela buenfil

INTRODUCTION

Page 3: Protocolo gabriela buenfil

Abstract

The current program for the Lengua Inglesa major at the Universidad de Quintana Roo is designed to admit students with no previous knowledge of English and to gradually prepare them for the content in the core courses. However, it seems that some students face many problems in these subjects. This qualitative study intends to find if there is a relationship between the English proficiency of the students and their academic performance in one of most essential courses in their major, Philosophy of Education. By comparing students’ grades and the English proficiency obtained from their language courses, this study will demonstrate how well articulated the language program syllabi are to achieve a successful performance in the class of Philosophy of Education.

Page 4: Protocolo gabriela buenfil

Statement of the Problem

In the Lengua Inglesa major at the Universidad de Quintana Roo, students get prepared to become English language teachers. It is important to mention that having previous knowledge of the language is not a requisite to enter the major, and with that, many Lengua Inglesa students start their bachelors with little or sometimes even no knowledge of English. Later on in the curricular program (in fourth semester), their entire core courses are instructed in English. At this point, students have fulfilled the mandatory language courses of English I, English II and English III which supposedly provide students with enough language competence to be able to have an acceptable performance in their core courses.

Page 5: Protocolo gabriela buenfil

However, in my personal experience, I noticed that this seemed to not be the case: Many of my classmates could hardly understand the academic content of the course of Philosophy of Education, for example, which is one of the first core courses instructed in English and the contents are very theoretical and dense. We were assigned reading material which held a big amount of academic language and terms unfamiliar to most of us. They also had very little oral participation in class and a poor performance in their writing assignments like reports, essays and reflections. All of this drastically affected their grades and academic performance in class.

This led me to think that the language courses from the major were perhaps not providing students with the necessary language skills to cope with the content of the core courses. Perhaps students not only need classes to help them develop language but also classes that are more focused on English for Academic Purposes (EAP).

Page 6: Protocolo gabriela buenfil

Rationale

Provide empirical data to help as a background to deal with a real problem at the Lengua Inglesa classrooms.It will benefit: Teachers at the university Curriculum planners and designers English Language Learners from the

major Researchers

Page 7: Protocolo gabriela buenfil

Research Questions

RQ1: How may the proficiency level in the medium of instruction affect academic performance?

RQ2: How are the language programs from English I, II and III at the Universidad de Quintana Roo articulated with the core course of Philosophy of Education?

RQ3: What is the relationship between the grades obtained in English I, II, III and IV from the major and Philosophy of Education?

Page 8: Protocolo gabriela buenfil

Objective(s)

General objective Analyze how the factor of English proficiency could be

intervening with the academic performance of Lengua Inglesa students in the Philosophy of Education class.

Specific objectives b) Compare the level of proficiency demanded by the

language syllabi I, II and III and their articulation with the core course of Philosophy of Education.

c) Establish the relationship between the grades obtained at the English language courses and those in the class of Philosophy of Education.

d) Analyze how the English proficiency perceived by the learners and the instructor affects the academic performance.

Page 9: Protocolo gabriela buenfil

Conclution of the literature review To the writing of this paper, I still have

not found a study that does research on a case similar to the one presented here. I believe this is because of the particularity of the context: English being the language of instruction on the academic subjects for future English language teachers. However, slightly similar studies show the concern and the importance of relating a poor language competence to the academic performance of students.

Page 10: Protocolo gabriela buenfil

METHOD

Page 11: Protocolo gabriela buenfil

Subjects

6 students of the Universidad de Quintana Roo from the Lengua Inglesa major, more specifically, enrolled in 5th semester in the class of Philosophy of Education.

The students will be selected according to the grades they have achieved in their language classes and in Philosophy of Education, so as to be able to represent students with low, medium and high grades.

Page 12: Protocolo gabriela buenfil

Instruments and Materials The syllabi from English I, English II,

English II and Philosophy of Education, to compare their articulation;

 Students’ grades from English III and from Philosophy of Education, both of which will be used as reference of students’ academic achievement.

Two face-to-face interviews: an ice-breaker and a semi-structured interview.

Page 13: Protocolo gabriela buenfil

Procedure

STAGE 1

Gathering materials (students’ grades & syllabi)

STAGE 2

Random selection of participants

STAGE 3

Face-to-face interviews

STAGE 4

Transciption of interviews

Page 14: Protocolo gabriela buenfil

Data Analysis

A basic descriptive statistical analysis of the students’ grades will be done using Microsoft Excel, obtaining information such as the mean, median and mode. This will allow the researcher to select the sampling for the interviews.

All the transcriptions collected from the interviews will be analyzed looking for patterns, variables and similar units of meaning given by the student, making use of the Atlas-ti software, which enables the information to be organized.

A content analysis of the programs from English I, II and III will take place, looking for variables or categories and comparing their articulation to the syllabus of Philosophy of Education. The need of an expert on program evaluation might be needed.

Page 15: Protocolo gabriela buenfil

References

Aguilar Arana, I. Y. (2010).  Beliefs about foreign language learning and their relationship with academic achievement.  Chetumal, Quintana Roo: El autor.

Montalvo Pool, J. E. (2009). Beliefs about language learning and their relationship with academic achievement. Chetumal, Quintana Roo: El autor.

Goldenberg, C. N. (2010). Promoting academic achievement among English learners: a guide to the research. Thousand Oaks, Calif. : Corwin.

Fakeye, D. & Ogunsiji, Y. (2009). English Language Proficiency as a Predictor of Academic Achievement among EFL Students in Nigeria. Nigeria: European Journal of Scientific Research. Retrieved October 20, 2012 from: http://www.eurojournals.com/ejsr_37_3_14.pdf

Howie, S. (2002). English language proficiency and contextual factors influencing mathematics achievement on secondary school pupils in South Africa. Enschede: PrintPartners Ipskamp.