Document Type

Thesis

Degree Comments

Submitted to the College of Graduate Studies Bridgewater State University Bridgewater, Massachusetts In partial fulfillment of the requirement for the Degree of Master of Arts in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages.

Degree Program

Teaching

Degree Type

Master of Arts in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages

Abstract

Integrating twenty-first century skills within the classroom has become a global driving force within the educational field. While schools have adopted models of one-to-one technology or digital formats for native English speakers, addressing the twenty-first century skills for English language learners have been absent. Given that the present global society is driven on bilingualism and multilingualism, English language learners need to be given the equitable digital opportunity to build their twenty-first century skills. The purpose of this mixed methods research study is to explore the influence and use of the digital application, Flipgrid, on the oral, English development for foundational, beginning, English language learners. Students completed four Flipgrid videos, with each video increasing in the level of complexity and difficulty, as measured by Bloom’s (1984) taxonomy, and decreasing the level of scaffold and support the students received. Students’ recorded Flipgrid videos were assessed through the speaking rubric as designed by WIDA, and the data was triangulated with an outside ESL teacher. The results revealed that the use of digital video applications can increase student second language acquisition fluency when presented with proper scaffolds and supports. It was concluded that digital video applications do not replace physical scaffolds, and scaffolds should not be pulled from students unless prepared, presented, and practiced.

Committee/Advisor(s)

Dr. Alexandra Balconi, Advisor

Dr. Yulia Stakhnevich, Thesis Committee Member

Dr. Melissa Keh, Thesis Committee Member

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