I have not taught except for one day in the last 2 weeks because we were on a field trip, students have had testing for 4 days, and I have been sick for several days. So I haven’t been able to test my inquiry hypothesis. But nevertheless, here is the hypothesis and the system to test it that I designed.
My inquiry hypothesis is that complicated oral instructions are very difficult for ELLs, particularly those in my class to follow. This leads to them getting behind, getting confused and moving one step further down to the belief that school is not for them, or even worse that they are incapable in a school environment.
Putting the hypothesis in a testable form, it is: Students comprehend directions better when they are given oral and written (and if possible visual) instructions as opposed to just oral or just written instructions.
To test this I would give two assignments that share some similarities in terms of the overall difficulty. Perhaps I would ask students to put themselves in the shoes of a person in a historical setting, and write a letter describing a historical event. In the first letter I’d ask them to address a set of questions based on one historical class of person, say priests in India, and in the second one I’d ask them a different set of questions based on, say, the untouchable caste.
The testable difference between the two tasks is that the directions in the first case would be given orally and in a written form. In the second case they would be only given orally that is to say with minimal written instructions (though the prompts themselves would likely be included).
And after students received the directions, they would be asked to turn over their papers, and briefly write what they believe they are to do in the assignment.
From my personal experience, unless my ELL students are either:
1. Given ultra clear instructions and asked to repeat them back
2. Given instructions in a written and verbal form OR
3. Allowed to work at their table groups to help each other out
Then… students don’t know what to do, and they don’t usually produce work that is correct or they may not produce work at all.
I have seen this pattern take place several times. Most recently with a game which I was explaining in class, verbally, (and also showing them how to move their hands). I think the number of instructions made it really hard for my ELLs to understand the game until they saw it played.