Date of Award
Fall 10-28-2021
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education in Middle Grades Education
Department
Education
Committee Chair
Dr. Binyo Zheng
First Committee Member
Dr. Maria Montalvo
Second Committee Member
Dr. Guichun Zong
Abstract
With the increasing population of immigrants in our society, there is also a corresponding increase in the number of English Learners (EL) in the school system. With their low performance on standardized tests and high drop rate in high schools, an urgent need to focus on productive and effective instructional ways to connect the technology and pedagogical practices to enhance ELs’ progression in math is needed. Web 2.0 tools are a perfect example of how to connect technology and pedagogical practices in the classrooms to help ELs get motivated to engage and participate in mathematics classrooms. Web 2.0 technology is an online platform that offers a variety of applications to make sharing and collaboration in the classroom possible. Anyone can create and share information using Web 2.0 technology and with the internet, it can be accessed anywhere and at any time. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore secondary mathematics teachers and their use of Web 2.0 tools when instructing ELs. The data-collection was done through interviewing secondary mathematics teachers who have at least three ELs in their classroom. The results of the findings showed that most of the teacher participants indicated that they have little experience of how to use Web 2.0. The results also indicated that Web 2.0 tools technology was missing from teachers’ lesson plans and not being used to help meet the instructional needs of ELs in mathematics classrooms. The study recommended the necessity of intensifying and enhancing training for teachers on the use of Web 2.0 tools when instructing EL students.