ESOL Endorsed Teacher Candidates' Undergraduate Academic Performance as a Possible Predictor for Their ESOL Performance on the Professional Education (PEd) Test within the Context of Florida

• Other Authors: Olwi, Abdulrahman (authoraut)
• Format: Others
• Language: English; English
• Published: Florida State University
• Subjects: Education; Language and languages
• Online Access: http://purl.flvc.org/fsu/fd/FSU_FA2016_Olwi_fsu_0071E_13446

This quantitative research study investigated the ESOL (English to Speakers of Other Languages) academic performance of teacher candidates (n=632) at a large educational institution in Florida, USA, who majored in Elementary Education, Early Childhood Education, Exceptional Student Education, and English Education with an ESOL endorsement. Three research questions guided the study. A secondary data analysis was conducted to examine the relationship among the teacher candidates’ ESOL course grades and test scores as well as the academic majors of study. Investigation of "Knowledge of ESOL" as stated in the Professional Education competencies and skills (i.e., Competency #7) was the goal of this analysis. The results showed that the means of the ESOL PEd Test scores of Elementary Education, Early Childhood Education, Exceptional Student Education, and English Education were respectively 80, 79, 76, and 73 out of 100; while the overall mean across all academic majors was 78. Also, the overall MANOVA investigating the mean differences across academic majors for all variables was significant, and follow-up ANOVAs indicated that teacher candidates’ academic performances were statistically different across the academic majors of study. Tukey statistical tests showed that teacher candidates in the academic major of Elementary Education tended to have higher TSL4080 grades and Exceptional Students Education tended to have lower TSL4080 grades compared to teacher candidates in the other academic majors. With respect to TSL4081 grades, teacher candidates in the academic major of English Education tended to have higher grades than teacher candidates in Elementary Education and Exceptional Students Education. With respect to overall GPAs, teacher candidates in the academic major of Exceptional Students Education tended to have higher overall GPAs compared to teacher candidates in the academic major of Elementary Education and English Education. Finally, with respect to ESOL PEd Test scores, teacher candidates in the academic major of Elementary Education tended to have higher scores than English Education. Last, to determine the extent to which TSL4080 grades, TSL4081 grades, and overall GPAs predict teacher candidates’ ESOL PEd Test scores, an overall regression analysis was conducted. The results showed that the relationship was significant, but small. With respect to the individual predictor variables, the strongest predictor of teacher candidates’ ESOL PEd Test scores was their overall GPAs. The next strongest predictor of teacher candidates’ ESOL PEd Test scores was their TSL4080 grades. Finally, teacher candidates’ TSL4081 grades did not significantly add to the prediction of their ESOL PEd Test scores. Overall, the standardized coefficients of overall GPAs and TSL4080 grades were significant. However, it was found that the standardized coefficient for TSL4081 grades was not significant. Therefore, while overall GPAs and TSL4080 grades predict ESOL PEd Test scores, TSL4081 grades do not predict ESOL PEd Test scores. === A Dissertation submitted to the School of Teacher Education in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. === Summer Semester 2016. === May 31, 2016. === ESOL, Teacher Competency, Teacher Education, Teacher Tests === Includes bibliographical references. === Elizabeth Jakubowski, Professor Co-directing Dissertation; Rebecca Galeano, Professor Co-directing Dissertation; Jeannine Turner, University Representative; John Myers, Committee Member.