Limitations:
Time
One of my biggest challenges during this investigation was time, as it usually seems to be in a classroom. However, my limitations on time were significant because I was in a classroom where I was not just the student teacher but also the teacher, because the other teacher was out on maternity leave. Not only was I responsible for implementing research but also had to dedicate time to planning curriculum, assessment, and report cards. Even though the implementations for this investigation fit seamlessly into math instructional time, the individual conferences did require a lot of time that was not always available. I did my best to be patient with each student and allow them to take their time with the learning process, however I also needed to make sure that time would allow for me to meet with each of the 10 students. Upon reflection, it may have been wise to include fewer students, but I wanted to have a diverse group of students to see how the implementations themselves affected student progress.
What constitutes a Spanish word?
When I asked students to explain their thinking out loud, I expected them to say that they had added two numbers by counting because the problem said more, or something along those lines. Some students however would count aloud in Spanish and say something like, “I counted 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and the...” Everything that they said was in Spanish but I had to decide whether number names counted as Spanish words. I decided that if they counted a string of numbers I would consider two of the number names as Spanish Words Produced. I did this because my aim was not for them to be able to count out loud in Spanish, but for them to be able to articulate their thinking in Spanish. I found this to be a limitation because there were students who would have “produced” a far greater number of words had I included the counting in my word count of Spanish Words produced.
Number and Population of Students
I found that the number of students who were a part of my investigation was somewhat high due to the time constraints associated with my teaching situation. However, from a researchers standpoint the number of students included in this study was very low, only 10 students. Since not many students were a part of my investigation the results are limited to that particular population of students. I bring up the population of students because I did not include native Spanish speakers in this investigation. I wanted to know how many words students could produce based on the implementation of my interventions. However, this means that this study investigation may not be applied to dual language immersion students as a whole, only students who are beginning to learn the target language, Spanish.
Bias of the teacher
As a teacher conducting research in my own classroom, I acknowledge that I do have a bias about how my students should be performing and how they are performing. It is in my opinion as their teacher that they are performing well and I am also the one who chooses how to evaluate them. Since I have had control over both deciding what to evaluate and the actual evaluations, my findings do hold a bias.
Time
One of my biggest challenges during this investigation was time, as it usually seems to be in a classroom. However, my limitations on time were significant because I was in a classroom where I was not just the student teacher but also the teacher, because the other teacher was out on maternity leave. Not only was I responsible for implementing research but also had to dedicate time to planning curriculum, assessment, and report cards. Even though the implementations for this investigation fit seamlessly into math instructional time, the individual conferences did require a lot of time that was not always available. I did my best to be patient with each student and allow them to take their time with the learning process, however I also needed to make sure that time would allow for me to meet with each of the 10 students. Upon reflection, it may have been wise to include fewer students, but I wanted to have a diverse group of students to see how the implementations themselves affected student progress.
What constitutes a Spanish word?
When I asked students to explain their thinking out loud, I expected them to say that they had added two numbers by counting because the problem said more, or something along those lines. Some students however would count aloud in Spanish and say something like, “I counted 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and the...” Everything that they said was in Spanish but I had to decide whether number names counted as Spanish words. I decided that if they counted a string of numbers I would consider two of the number names as Spanish Words Produced. I did this because my aim was not for them to be able to count out loud in Spanish, but for them to be able to articulate their thinking in Spanish. I found this to be a limitation because there were students who would have “produced” a far greater number of words had I included the counting in my word count of Spanish Words produced.
Number and Population of Students
I found that the number of students who were a part of my investigation was somewhat high due to the time constraints associated with my teaching situation. However, from a researchers standpoint the number of students included in this study was very low, only 10 students. Since not many students were a part of my investigation the results are limited to that particular population of students. I bring up the population of students because I did not include native Spanish speakers in this investigation. I wanted to know how many words students could produce based on the implementation of my interventions. However, this means that this study investigation may not be applied to dual language immersion students as a whole, only students who are beginning to learn the target language, Spanish.
Bias of the teacher
As a teacher conducting research in my own classroom, I acknowledge that I do have a bias about how my students should be performing and how they are performing. It is in my opinion as their teacher that they are performing well and I am also the one who chooses how to evaluate them. Since I have had control over both deciding what to evaluate and the actual evaluations, my findings do hold a bias.