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

Data Presentation

This study was done at a comprehensive high school in Central California, which we referred to by the pseudonym Central California High School (CCHS), and the city in which it is located as Central Valley City (CVC). Figure 1 shows the town has a diverse neighborhood, with

22.4 % white residents, 1.9% black residents, 3.0% Asian residents, less than 1% Native Hawaiians, and 4.5% of two or more races. People of Hispanic or Latino origin make about 67.2% of the population.

Figure 1

Town’s population

Figure 2 shows Hispanic students make up the majority of the student body at CCHS, accounting for around 86 % of the student body. White, non-Hispanic students are the only significant grouping of students at CCHS.

Figure 2

School population

The students that took part in the interview ranged in age from 15 to 18 years old. There were three students in total: two females and one man. The pupils were all socioeconomically challenged, with two of them being classed as English Learners and one being reclassified in 7th grade. All the participants are Latino; the male comes from a Salvadorian family, while the two females were born in Mexico and arrived in the United States less than three years ago.

Table 1.

Participants

Name	E.L. Status	Gender	Ethnicity
Student 1	Reclassified	Male	Hispanic
Student 2	Intermediate	Female	Hispanic
Student 3	Newcomer	Female	Hispanic

To collect the data, the researcher developed a semi-structured interview. The students were given a ten-question questionnaire using Google Forms, with the intent that they would review the questions prior to the interview. The first two questions were meant to obtain some background information on the participants, such as how long they have been in the country and whether or not they were actively participating in extracurricular activities. The next three questions were used to observe if students' English skills influenced their intention to engage in extracurricular activities. The last questions were intended to assess how well the school community has integrated English Learners into extracurricular activities.
The interviews were recorded via zoom at the convenience of the participants. The interview with the reclassified student was conducted in English and the interviews with the newcomer and intermediate students were conducted in Spanish. The data from the interviews was then classified into different themes: Reasons to participate in Extracurricular Activities, Reasons to not participate in Extracurricular Activities, Benefits of participating in Extracurricular Activities, and Recommendations from interviewed students. Table 2 presents data regarding the benefits students think participating in extracurricular activities could have for language development, or the benefits they have experienced when participating in extracurricular activities.