English Learners Outside the Classroom: The Effects of Participating in Extracurricular Activities

Procedures

The researcher began by contacting CCHS and gaining permission and support to conduct the research using high school students. The researcher expressed to her classes the idea and meaning of her study and asked if there were any volunteer students who wanted to participate in the study. Several students were excited to participate; only three were selected to meet the criteria of reclassified EL, intermediate EL, and newcomer students. The students were chosen through purposeful sampling, the deliberate selection of people and places to learn about or comprehend the topic under discussion (Creswell, 2005). The researcher proceeds to send the information sheet to the selected students via Google Forms in order to always have electronic access. Students checked the form to confirm that they read the information and are aware that they are volunteering to participate but can refrain from answering any questions if they do not feel comfortable.

The researcher then emailed the questions to the three students and allowed them time to think about their experiences. The researcher anticipated that maybe the students would not go into detail about their experiences and scheduled a time to conduct a semi-structured interview face to face with the students to deepen their understanding of their experiences and complete the narrative study.

Analysis

The researcher used holistic coding in the first round to organize the participants' responses into codes, categories, and themes (Mertler, 2019). In vivo analysis was used in the second round of coding. This analysis type suits the study since it emphasizes the participants' voices. This analysis used the lens of cultural proficiency to approach the data analysis. Serving the needs of all students is the goal of cultural proficiency. All students understand and cherish their own culture and the cultures of those around them when education is given in a culturally competent way (Lindsey et al., 2016). The study was conducted in the effort of transforming the school's culture, which ultimately would benefit students from all backgrounds. As a result, it is critical to advocate for continuous learning in order to be more effective in fulfilling the educational demands of the school's ethnic groups (Lindsey et al., 2016).