dr. ronald e. mcnair acknowledgements - University of St. Thomas

UST McNair Scholars Program Research Journal
Initial contact with potential participants was made
through the use of e-mail and telephone invitations (e-mail
and telephone recruitment letter can be found in Appendix
A). E-mail and telephone invitations were used as a simple
and quick way to invite potential participants to be a part
of the study. In order to provide compensation for the
participants in the study, they were given the opportunity
to enter a drawing for one of two $10 gift cards to a local
store.
PARTICIPANTS
Upon request for more information or acceptance of
participation, the researcher did a follow-up through
telephone or email to set up a time, date, and location to
conduct interviews, including a discussion of the minimal
risks of participating in the study. The teachers included
two females and four males. All six teachers have taught
ninth through twelfth grade students in local high schools
throughout the Twin Cities area. The female teachers
taught English and English Language Learning for
approximately five to six years. In contrast, the four male
teachers have taught between three to ten years in the areas
of math, social studies, and physical education. One of the
male teachers has been an advisor to their high school Asian
student organization for six years.
Each interview lasted for about 30-45 minutes
(interview questions can be found in Appendix B). All
interviews were audio recorded to ensure the clarity of all
words and thoughts of each participant for transcription
on a later date.
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Teachers Literacy
Challenge
Concept Tally
Culturally
Sensi tive School
Environment
Concept Tally
Supportive
Home
Environment
Concept Tally
FINDINGS AND DATA ANALYSIS
The primary researcher used content analysis as a way to
define and code the transcription. According to Grinnell
and Unrau (2011), content analysis is the recording of
frequency in which certain symbols or themes appear in a
communication. The researcher looked for recurrent
themes or units of analysis that were noticeable from the
individual interviews. Notable themes were the association
between teacher and parent collaboration, home and school
environment that may help or hinder learning, and
academic resources needed to help students succeed in
school. The results represented the perceptions, opinions,
and feelings of six teachers at local high schools throughout
the Twin Cities area.
To analyze the results, a recording sheet was developed
to tally the frequency of teachers’ comments from the
transcriptions. Table one shows six subcategories that arise
from the overall themes. The subcategories were 1) Literacy
Challenge, 2) Culturally Sensitive School Environment, 3)
Supportive Home Environment, 4) Parent’s Intimidation
Factors, 5) Academic Learning Activities, and 6) Gender.
The results are shown in the table below.
LITERACY CHALLENGES
Results from the six teachers were consistent in terms of
the literacy challenges experienced by Hmong students.
These teachers understood that Hmong students and their
parents have literacy challenges with reading, writing, and
verbal communication in English. All of them discussed
that acculturation to the Western education system may
Parents Intimi -
dation Factors
Concept Tally
Academic
Learn ing
Activities
Concept Tally
One 5 8 5 3 3 ✓
Two 6 6 3 8 4 ✓
Gender of
Teacher
Male Female
Three 4 4 3 0 5 ✓
Four 5 9 4 4 4 ✓
Five 7 5 5 3 5 ✓
Six 4 6 3 1 3 ✓