Case Study: EAL Child with Additional Educational Needs - 7 Weeks

This case study presents a child-centered analysis of a boy, referred to as Bob, with English as an Additional Language (EAL) within a mainstream educational setting over seven weeks. The research employs a qualitative approach, collecting primary data through observations of Bob's classroom interactions, participation in activities, and social interactions with peers. Data collection methods included classroom observations, questionnaires answered by parents and teachers, and notes from various subject lessons. The study explores the effectiveness of inclusive practices and provisions for EAL learners, examining aspects such as home language, parental support, and the child’s social interactions. The methodology highlights the use of questionnaires for efficient data collection, the importance of teacher support, and the creation of talk-based activities to support Bob’s learning. The study also refers to various research papers to justify the chosen methods.

Topic – A child-centered case study focusing on a child with an additional
educational need.
Methodology
The methodology of research deals with the categories of techniques that is used for
conducting the above mentioned research. For this particular research study, primary
data has been collected for understanding the educational requirement of child, the
interests and the social interaction with his peers (Creswell & Creswell, 2017).This
paper takes a child-centred case study to focus on a boy with English as an additional
language for a period of seven weeks to demonstrate the effectiveness of inclusion and
provisions that EAL learners get in a certain mainstream setting. In order to protect the
true identity of the child and the school implied, a fantasy name had been given to
conceal the real data. Assessingthe child’s education need, now named as Bob, would
require the understanding of his home language, parental support, interests, past
experiences, teacher’s preconceptions, and ability to socially interact with his peers
(Orr, 2001).
For this research paper, a qualitative approach is chosen. This is because
qualitative research refers to the investigative research process. This method is generally
used for the understanding of perceptions and the views. The qualitative apprach in the
research is chosen since its offers the visions to various and wide rannge of problems
that furthermore helps in the development of the theries and the concepts for the
potential quantitaive resaerch (Lampard & Pole, 2015). This approach involves
exploration of data through observations taken in regards to his learning, the support
given by the school, interactions with his peers indoors and outdoors, annotations in
different subject lessons, at play time outside, and notes ofa questionnaireanswered by
his parents and teachers (Cohen, 2011). The qualitative approach is suitable for this

study since it involves the examination of perceptions and views regarding a particular
topic (Karen, 2018).
The quantitative approach of the research has been rejected for this research
study since it involves the use to enumerate the issues through the creation of the
numerical data that can be transferred to useable statistics. This method includes the
behaviours, attitudes and other defined variables in large sample size which is not
suitable for this research study (Bryman, 2017).
According to Adderley, et al. (2015), the initial point of understanding the
implications of a child’s inability to communicate in a certain language requires the
assessment of his voice, speech and any discomfort or challenges that comes with this
struggle. Subsequently, it is possible to analyse behaviour, values, beliefs, ideas,
motivations, and feelings that determine the acquisition of language and learning in
Bob’s case(Bell & Waters, 2014). According to Guldenmund (2007), the use of
questionnaires as data collection tools can be effective when information is needed in a
short time.This method is suitable for this research study since the data can be collected
on a relatively quicker way. For the data collection, questionnaire with open ended
questions has thus been an effective tool for the collection of data in short time. Other
methods were rejected for the process of the data collection since the questionnaires are
the most practical, they are scalable, comparable and is easy towards the analysis and
the visualization as compared to the other methods (Palinkas et al., 2015). Bob’s class
teacher and teaching assistant were helpful to explore the practices that is inclusive to
his needs. In classroom, some of the activities teachers come up with included creating
talk-based activities for Bob and other pupils, guiding him to partner with good English-
speaking peers, providing him access to texts having rhyming words and repetitive
language, at times drawing responses to class tasks rather than written outputs, role play,

and using picture books for oral storytelling. His parents have shared their views and
observations of Bob at home, which includes their child’s interest to learn and do
homework, and how their current support is enhancing Bob’s interest in learning and
progressing through the academic year.
Reference
Bryman, A. (2017). Quantitative and qualitative research: further reflections on their
integration. In Mixing methods: Qualitative and quantitative research (pp. 57-78).
Routledge.
Creswell, J. W., & Creswell, J. D. (2017). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative,
and mixed methods approaches. Sage publications.
Lampard, R., & Pole, C. (2015). Practical social investigation: Qualitative and quantitative
methods in social research. Routledge.
Palinkas, L. A., Horwitz, S. M., Green, C. A., Wisdom, J. P., Duan, N., & Hoagwood, K.
(2015). Purposeful sampling for qualitative data collection and analysis in mixed
method implementation research. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and
Mental Health Services Research, 42(5), 533-544.
Taylor, S. J., Bogdan, R., &DeVault, M. (2015). Introduction to qualitative research
methods: A guidebook and resource. John Wiley & Sons.