Effects of Instructional Conversations on English Language Learners

Abstract

The Instructional Conversation pedagogy centers around the idea that student success increases when given the opportunity to learn content-related material through conversation and collaboration with their peers. With the foundation of this pedagogy built upon Social Learning Theory, it is suggested that children learn best when working with others. What sets this pedagogy apart from traditional group work is the requirement of students to set conversational goals prior to every activity and the responsibility to monitor and track those goals. Previous research suggests that Instructional Conversations have a positive impact on academic achievement, student motivation, student engagement, and academic language usage. However, there is a gap in research that determines if Instructional Conversations create better results for English Language learners in comparison to traditional group work. This study was implemented in two first grade classrooms, consisting of 39 participants total. The experimental group received math instruction through Instructional Conversation activities, while the comparison group was taught using traditional math instruction and centers. This research is ongoing. Once research is complete, it is expected that students who received instruction through Instructional Conversation activities will have higher academic achievement, an increase of academic language usage, and engagement when compared to those who received traditional instruction. These findings would add to the pervious findings that the Instructional Conversation teaching method is beneficial for English Language Learners.