1. Research in action project SEDP 651
Paige Hanna

2. Research Question
How do peer modeling strategies during playtime increase the overall verbal social interaction responses of a preschool aged Hispanic English Language Learner?

3. Rationale
English language learners (ELL) are becoming more prevalent in early childhood classrooms (Callender & Jackson, 2014)
Spanish/English speakers are the fastest growing minority in the United States (Callender & Jackson, 2014)
Children who attend American preschools, and are learning English, but speak Spanish at home are more at risk for delay than monolingual speakers (Bell, et al., 2016)
It’s important that teachers know how to recognize differences between learning English as a second language, and having a learning disorder or disability (Callender & Jackson, 2014)
It’s also important that teachers understand that young children learn the most through play (Bell et al., 2016)

4. Rationale Cont.
Peers interact through play by listening, initiating, responding to comments, and turn taking (Green, et al., 2013)
Based on the Bell et al. study, I chose to focus on peer play to foster the peer modeling approach (2013)

5. Article Topics used for Literature review
Peer Modeling using video modeling with four children with special needs
Peer play to examine academic readiness in children enrolled in Head Start
Home and School Comparison or Spanish-English speakers vocalizations

6. Literature Review INformation
Ledford et al. and Green et al. showed the positive effects of peer modeling, and how children can learn observationally through their peers
The Ledford et. al study found that there was an increase in commenting through observational peer to peer learning (2016)
The Green et al. study showed how peer modeling through video modeling increased the positive social interactions between four peers
- This study helped to show the importance of positive
peer interaction and how it can influence behaviors

7. Literature Review Information
The Bell et Al study found that high engagement with peers resulted in greater academic achievement of preschool aged children (Bell et al., 2016)
- This study helped to showed the important role that
peer interaction has on academic achievement

8. Gaps in Research
How does peer modeling affect the social skills development of ELL children?
Can peer modeling strategies cause an increase in peer interactions between ELL children and monolingual English speaking children?
Peer modeling and ELL children
Peer modeling and it’s impact on the verbal social interactions of preschool aged ELL children

9. Research Plan Participants Intervention Setting Intervention
Data Collection

10. Participants
The ELL child and peer model will be selected from the Bright Beginnings Program in Williamsburg, VA
One Hispanic ELL child selected, and one monolingual English speaking peer model selected
The ELL child will be attending their first year of preschool, and be a new English speaker
The peer model will be chosen from a questionnaire from the child’s teacher and will be a monolingual English speaker
Both children will be in the same class, and be the same age, and gender

11. Intervention Setting
A Bright Beginnings Early Childhood Special Education Classroom at Rawls Byrd Elementary School
All aspects of this study would be done in the classroom, during normal school hours

12. Intervention
The study will occur during morning center time, and will last 10 minutes
The peer model, and ELL child will be placed in the block center for the first 10-minute portion of center time. After ten minutes, the timer will go off and all children in the room will have free choice time for centers
Baseline data will be taken for one week on MWF. During this time the peer model will not be trained, and it will be the first time the peer model and ELL child have been paired together in the block center

13. Intervention Peer Model Training
Following the one week baseline data phase, the peer model will be trained through video modeling for 10 min each day MTWF
The peer Model will work with the researcher when they first enter the classroom when they first enter the classroom. The other peers will be unpacking their belongings
The researcher will introduce the peer modeling script that is going to be used for the video and encourage the child to repeat it back
SCRIPT
- The child says, “let’s build a castle”
- Then the researcher says, “ok”
- The child then says, “Can I have that block? and the
researcher responds by saying “no”
- The child says, “ok but put your block here (points to top of
the long flat block).
- The researcher responds to the child by placing her block on
the long flat block
- The child then says, “yay! Look it’s a castle.”
- The researcher says, “It needs one more block”.
- child says, “ok”. The researcher says, “Lets knock it down”.
- The child and researcher proceed to knock down their castle. The
child says, “Lets build it again”.

14. Intervention Peer Model Training Cont.
The session will be videoed on Friday during the training week
The peer model child will watch the video each day that they are going to be working with the ELL child
The peer model will no longer watch the training video once the researcher feels confident that they can communicate appropriately with the ELL child to encourage social interactions.

15. INtervention
The trained peer model and the ELL child will be placed in the block center for the first 10 minutes of center time
The block center will be the only space at the designated carpet area. The peer model and the ELL child will be instructed to play at the center until they hear the timer signaling the time to switch.
The peer model will follow examples of prompting from the video to engage with the ELL child
The intervention will be implemented three days a week, MWF for four weeks.

16. Intervention Follow-Up Phase
There will be a one week break between the intervention ending, and the follow-up phase beginning
The ELL child will be paired with a non-trained peer
The ELL child and the non-trained peer will be paired together at the block center
Foam Blocks will be used instead of wooden blocks will be used
The same protocol that was used during baseline and intervention phases will be used
The follow-up phase will last one week and the ELL child and non-trained peer will be observed MWF

17. Data Collection
A questionnaire will be used to select the peer model child. The questionnaire will be given to the child’s teacher to complete
The questionnaire will consist of the following questions:
- Is the child a native
English speaker?
- Is the child a monolingual speaker?
- Does the child initiate, and engage in peer interaction, and
is the child considered to be highly participatory?

18. Data Collection
During the baseline, intervention, and follow-up phases, a form will be used to tally the amount of direct opportunities for interaction, and the number of verbal responses for the ELL child

19. Data Collection Form Week: _______ Dates: _____-- Researcher: ________
Number of Opportunities for Interaction
(TALLY)
Number of Responses (TALLY)
Anecdotal Notes
Monday
Wednesday
Friday

20. Data COllection
At the end of the six week period, the data will be compiled to form a graph that shows each day of the week the ELL child and peer model were paired together (x-axis) and the percent of verbal responses for social interaction (y-axis)
The graphs will be divided into three phases so that data from each phase: baseline, intervention, and follow-up are clearly defined
% of verbal responses = verbal responses to peer model X 100
# of opportunities for interaction

21. Data Analysis
The researcher will look for a positive trend in the percent of verbal responses from the ELL child
There should be an increase seen when comparing baseline data to data collected during the intervention and follow-up phases
The goal is for the data to show that peer modeling is an effective strategy to increase the verbal social interactions of an ELL child
The follow-up phase should show that the ELL child was able to maintain or increase their amount of verbal responses to a peer

22. Collaboration
The researcher will work closely with the children's teacher to implement the study and review the data together
The children's teacher will also be involved in selecting the ELL child and peer model child
Hopefully the teacher will be able to see how implementing peer modeling strategies can positively affect the children in her classroom, specifically ELL children
The teacher can also share the data from this study with other educational professionals and therapists

23. References
Bell, E., Greenfield, D. B., Bulotsky-Shearer, R.J., Carter, T.M. (2016). Peer play as a context for identifying profiles of children and examining rates of growth in academic readiness for Children enrolled in Head Start. Journal of Educational Psychology, 108(5), Callender, M. F. & Jackson, C. W., (2014). Environmental Considerations: Home and School Comparison of Spanish–English Speakers’ Vocalizations. Topics In Early Childhood Special Education, 34(3), Green, V. A., Drysdale, H., Boelema, T., Smart, E., van der Meer, L., Achmadi, D., & Lancioni, G. (2013). Use of Video Modeling to Increase Positive Peer Interactions of Four Preschool Children with Social Skills Difficulties. Education & Treatment Of Children, 36(2), Ledford, J.R., Urlacher, S., & Wolery, M. (2016). small group direct instruction for academic behaviors. Journal of Early Intervention, 38(I),