Effective Informative Evidence Based Writing Strategies for Teaching Long Term English Learners in Grades 4-8 in Social Studies

Long-term English learners struggle to write social studies research papers clearly. The purpose of the teacher action research is to provide specific teaching strategies to support and improve English learner writing in social studies. Long-term English learners struggle to write clearly and fluently but are being asked to write research papers on social studies topics that utilize references. This is a teacher action research study. Participants include two groups of 4th graders. Both groups are involved in a pre test and a posttest. The target group will receive 5 lessons targeted to improve writing skills. The second group will get different lessons taken from the teachers provided curriculum. The research done by Wolf et al (2014) compares the demands of Common Core State Standards for English learners to those of old standards across different states and examines the similarities and differences in each state. The study examines specific skills in the Common Core standards for English Learners that are essential for student success. Wolf, M. K., Wang, Y., Blood, I., & Huang, B. H. (2014). INVESTIGATING THE LANGUAGE DEMANDS IN THE COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS A comparison study of standards. Middle Grades Research Journal, 9(1), 35-52. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.dominican.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=97816655&site=eds-liv