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Conclusions Regarding Hypothesis and Research Question Three
Sufficient data were collected to indicate that students who
utilize English communication opportunities made more progress in
mastering English than students who did not. There were measurable
behavioral differences between students who were achieving higher
on standardized oral and written measures of English and students who
were achieving lower on these same tests. While there were definite
indications that most students participating in the research preferred
to speak Spanish, there were circumstances under which higher achieving
students used English and lower achieving students avoided using it.
Use of English appeared to reinforce the students' self-confidence and
encouraged further English utilization.