Language and Literacy Education Commons^™

Literacy And Numeracy Learning: Lessons From The Longitudinal Literacy And Numeracy Study For Indigenous Students, Nola Purdie, Kate Reid, Tracey Frigo, Alison Stone, Elizabeth Kleinhenz

Dr Kate Reid

In 2000, ACER commenced the Longitudinal Literacy and Numeracy Surveys for Indigenous Students (ILLANS), which set out to track the development of English literacy and numeracy skills in a group of Indigenous students from school entry through the early years of schooling and beyond, to establish a data-rich picture of educational opportunities for Indigenous students. Phase 1 of ILLANS collected data from Indigenous students at 13 schools across Australia that had been nominated by education systems as examples of good practice in education for Indigenous students. The first three years of the study were reported in the monograph Supporting English …

Understanding Fourth Graders' Decline In Reading Motivation From Students' And Teachers' Perspectives, Christine A. Hebert

Teaching & Learning Theses & Dissertations

Previous research by Chall and Jacobs (2003) documented the phenomena of the fourth grade slump, a period in which students switch from learning to read to reading to learn and the subsequent loss of motivation to read. The purpose of this research is to present a phenomenological qualitative study of whether a sample of fourth grade students, low-achieving readers and average achieving readers, exhibited a loss in their motivation to read. Students' responses to a standardized conversational survey and questionnaire, the Motivation to Read Profile (Gambrell, Palmer, Codling & Mazzoni, 2007) and teachers' responses to a researcher-developed questionnaire were examined …

Literacy And Numeracy Learning: Lessons From The Longitudinal Literacy And Numeracy Study For Indigenous Students, Nola Purdie, Kate Reid, Tracey Frigo, Alison Stone, Elizabeth Kleinhenz

ACER Research Monographs

In 2000, ACER commenced the Longitudinal Literacy and Numeracy Surveys for Indigenous Students (ILLANS), which set out to track the development of English literacy and numeracy skills in a group of Indigenous students from school entry through the early years of schooling and beyond, to establish a data-rich picture of educational opportunities for Indigenous students. Phase 1 of ILLANS collected data from Indigenous students at 13 schools across Australia that had been nominated by education systems as examples of good practice in education for Indigenous students. The first three years of the study were reported in the monograph Supporting …

The Effects Of Content Enhancement Routines By Gender On Literacy Achievement In Arkansas Schools, Kimberly Renee Calhoon

Dissertations

This research project was intended to provide further insight into the impact of the methodologies utilized in the Arkansas Adolescent Literacy Intervention (AALI) on student achievement and teachers‘ practices. The purpose of this study was to determine by gender the effects of classes whose teachers utilized the Content Enhancement Routines versus classes whose teachers did not utilize the Routines on literacy achievement for sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students in three regions of Arkansas. In addition, another purpose of this study was to determine how teachers feel about using the routines in their classrooms and how effective they felt the …

What Happened To Literacy? Historical And Conceptual Perspectives On Literacy In Unesco, Daniel A. Wagner

Journal Articles (Literacy.org)

For more than six decades, UNESCO has dedicated itself to be the international agency leader in literacy, even though other aspects of educational development have received greater attention and resources by the broader international community. Resources for UNESCO's literacy work have not increased, and its programmatic activities have been increasingly debated when seen in relationship to the scope of literacy challenges across the globe. Moving forward in a time of restricted budgets will require UNESCO to strengthen itself as a professional innovator and thought leader.

Effects Of Poverty Funding On Math And Literacy Achievement In Arkansas, Karen L. Cushman

Dissertations

This research project was designed to provide a foundational study of the effectiveness of a state categorical fund directed at poverty students called NSLA funding on literacy and math achievement in Arkansas. Poverty funding for students in Arkansas is realatively new and there have not been any studies to examine the impact of this funding to date. Literacy and math achievement scaled scores were evaluated for one year for fourth, sixth, and eighth grades by four NSLA levels, NSLA level 1, NSLA level 2, NSLA level 3, and NSLA level 4.

This causal comparative study was conducted with data from …

A Case Study Of Spanish Language Use In A Texas Border Colonia, Maria E. Diaz

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

This case study reveals a Spanish language marginalization in a South Texas community of mostly Latinos, who are the fastest growing group in the U.S. (Colombi & Roca, 2003); furthermore, approximately 77% of English language learners (ELLs) have Spanish as their heritage language (Hopstock & Stephenson, 2003). Nevertheless, ELLs do not receive much academic literacy support in their first language in many schools (Zehler et al., 2003). Thus, out-of- school social practices play an important role on maintaining a native language (e.g., Burrows-Goodwill, 2009; Reyes, 2006). However, researchers have not explored this phenomenon in Texas border colonias, or unincorporated areas …

Bridging Professional Development And Context: Integrating Mathematics And Academic Language In A District Facing Takeover, Patricia Swanson, David Whitenack

Faculty Publications

This quasi-experimental, multi-phase study uses mixed methods to evaluate a professional development initiative focused on integrating mathematics and academic language. The context is a highly diverse urban district facing state takeover. The professional development focused on the understanding of key mathematics concepts and developing content-specific academic language. It linked explicitly to district-adopted texts and prescribed lesson formats. Teachers perceived the strategies to be feasible and beneficial to student learning, and had high rates of implementation. Nonetheless, pacing guides pressuring teachers to quickly cover content pose challenges for continued implementation. Implications for (1) professional development focusing on integrating subject-matter content and …

Writing Program Design For Esl Writers, Kacie M. Kiser

English Theses & Dissertations

Research and scholarship in the field of second-language writing have suggested that English as second language students (ESLs) require different modes of instruction than their native English speaking peers within the composition classroom (Matsuda, 1996; Silva, 1994). Yet ESL students are commonly marginalized in institutions' writing programs due to several commonplace beliefs shared by administrators that ESL students can be taught according to the same standards as mainstream students. Therefore, writing program administrators and instructors often do not have specific knowledge of ESL writing issues and, thus, do not know how to pedagogically accommodate these students or design a program …

Review Of Agneta Lind, Literacy For All: Making A Difference And John Oxenham, Effective Literacy Programmes: Options For Policy-Makers, Gina Arnone, Daniel A. Wagner

Journal Articles (Literacy.org)

The 1990 World Conference on Education for All (EFA) in Jomtien (Thailand) spurred a collective global movement to meet the basic learning needs of each person, with a special focus on developing countries. Ten years later, with the stated goals not met, and indeed far from it, the international community renewed its commitments in Dakar, Senegal. At the World Education Forum in 2000, national and organizational representatives resolved to improve educational opportunities and services and set six objectives for 2015, including a 50 percent increase in adult literacy. Despite this pledge and others (e.g., launch of the UN Literacy Decade …

How Much Is Learning Measurement Worth? Assessment Costs In Low-Income Countries, Daniel A. Wagner, Andrew Babson, Katie M. Murphy

Journal Articles (Literacy.org)

Timely and credible data on student learning has become a global issue in the ongoing effort to improve educational outcomes. With the potential to serve as a powerful diagnostic tool to gauge the overall health and well-being of an educational system, educational assessments have received increasing attention among specialists and the media. Though the stakes are high, relatively little is known about the cost-benefit ratio of various assessments compared to other educational expenditures. This paper presents an overview of four major types of assessments — national, regional, international and hybrid — and the costs that each has incurred within 13 …

Becoming A Good Teacher: Struggles From The Swampland, Mary Beth Schaefer

Curriculum & Instruction Faculty Publications

One seventh-grade English language arts teacher engaged in teacher research in order to become a more understanding, responsive, and confident instructor. Systematic inquiry into her own practice revealed a conflict between what students perceived as their literacy needs and desires (discrete reading skills) with what she perceived to be important and valuable (deeper literary understandings through reflective response to literature). The teacher sought to address the conflict by listening closely to students' talk, orchestrating activities to blend reading skills with responses to literature, and negotiating class conversations to produce knowledge.

Fay B. Kaigler Children's Book Festival, Karen Rowell, The University Of Southern Mississippi, The University Of Southern Mississippi's School Of Library And Information Science

Fay B. Kaigler Children's Book Festival Programs

The program for the forty-fourth annual Fay B. Kaigler Children's Book Festival held on the campus of The University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, Mississippi in 2011.

Case 4: Padbury School Community Links Project, Australian Council For Educational Research (Acer)

Tender Bridge

Padbury Primary School have found several funds and potential partners through Tender Bridge to assist them in developing a key school-community initiative: Padbury School Community Links Project. In this Tender Bridge Case, Aaron Young (Principal of Padbury Primary School) explains where the idea for the Padbury School Community Links Project came from, and how they are going about growing their great educational project to improve outcomes for the children at Padbury.

Points Of Departure: Developing The Knowledge Base Of Esl And Fsl Teachers For K-12 Programs In Canada, Farahnaz Faez

Education Publications

In this paper, I examine the contextual factors that impact the development of knowledge base of teachers of English as a second language (ESL) and French as a second language (FSL) for teaching in Kindergarten through Grade 12 programs in Ontario. Using a sociocultural orientation to second language teacher education and prominent knowledge base frameworks from the field, I discuss how a variety of local contextual factors impact the development of teacher candidates’ (TC) knowledge base in pre-service teacher education programs in Canada. Individual factors include: the linguistic and cultural backgrounds of candidates’ in ESL and FSL programs, the TCs’ …

Representations Of Self In Reflection Essays Of Philippine University Students, Isabel Pefianco Martin

English Faculty Publications

In the Philippines, there are few, if any, studies of student compositions that investigate the use of language as an effective, efficient, and creative means of expressing the self. This study is an attempt to contribute to knowledge about student writing in the Philippines. In particular, the study aims to describe the various ways freshman students from a private university in Manila represent themselves in their reflection essays, a writing task required in the core humanities courses of the university. Two sets of compositions, one written in the English language and another in the Filipino language, are analyzed for ways …

The Abc Of Teaching Diverse Learners, Vicky Giouroukakis Ph.D., Andrea Honigsfeld Ed.D.

Faculty Works: Education

As the impending Common Core State Standards (CCSS) seem sure to entail even more assessment in most states, there are increasing demands for teachers to adequately prepare all their students to meet the new standards and achieve passing scores on high-stakes, standardized state assessments. Teachers around the U.S. today are facing new standards, new assessments, and new curricula that they will need to study and incorporate quickly in order to comply with state and federal requirements while doing their best to provide quality education for all of their students.

Social Discourse Of Literature Circles With A Focus On Gender, Laurie Hornor

Graduate Research Papers

This research study examined the social discourse of literature circles with a focus on gender within a fifth-grade regular education classroom. The researcher examined the nature of social discourse that was held by students and examined whether gender appeared to influence social discourse. The results from this study showed that gender did have an impact on how students responded to literature within discussion groups. Two main gender-related characteristics of the discussions were noted. The first characteristic was that males and females did hold beliefs that paralleled culturally-determined gender roles. These beliefs had an impact on how students responded to literature. …

Engaging Emergent Writers With Anchor Lessons, Jamie Meyer

Graduate Research Papers

This research project focused on the creation of writing curriculum for emergent writers aged 5 to 7 years old. The purpose of this study was to research how beginning writers can be scaffolded in their attempts to learn how to write. This study also examined how emergent writers can be engaged in developmentally appropriate ways, what writing concepts to expect from young writers, and how to motivate young children to write. Anchor lessons were developed that connect children's literature to writing concepts and engagement. Results illustrate that children need to be taught in the zone of proximal development, use materialization …

Student Motivation : Encouraging Children To Read In School, Kelly White

Graduate Research Papers

Teaching students how to read, comprehend,. and enjoy text are goals that many teachers make in their classrooms each year. Yet, the biggest challenge that goes along with these goals is often student motivation. Motivating students happens in many forms in classrooms around the world. There are research-based techniques for males and females, English speaking and English language learners, each of the multiple intelligences, and overall individual student needs. There is no one proven catchall method for motivating students in the classroom. Instead, teachers are encouraged to find the motivation strategies and techniques that work for specific individuals. This paper …