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Decolonization Of The Writing Classroom: Creating Space For Decolonial Theory, Tools, Anti-Racist Pedagogy, And Methods To Improve The Emerging Bilingual Student Experience, Desiree L. Brown

Masters Theses

In this thesis, the author addresses the colonial roots of the secondary writing classroom and the origin of standard academic English which enables strict standardized testing and writing assessment requirements that in-turn incite linguistic violence towards emerging bilingual students. The author frames her study within the framework of April Baker-Bell and Asao B. Inoue through a reflective/reflexive study of her teaching in a ninth grade writing classroom in a primarily Hispanic school district in South Texas, which is assessed by the state of Texas through STAAR. This study seeks to identify instances of linguistic violence being perpetuated in the writing …

Language Laws And Regional Identity: A Case Study Of Euskera In The Basque Country, Jenna Ebel

Honors Theses

This thesis explores the interconnectivity between language laws and regional identity, focusing on education, public health, and transnational systems. Through this case study of the Basque Country, the context and wording of the language laws in the subregions within the Basque Country are utilized to understand how they affect the usage and understanding of the Basque language, “Euskera.” Through this, the study is then focused on the Spanish autonomous community of the Basque Country to understand the effects of a minority language on educational systems, the COVID-19 Pandemic, and the connections to both the EU and the UN. Through a …

The Latino Achievement Gap: The Role Of Teachers In The Success Or Failure Of Latino Students, Sandra Gonzalez-Adamski

Dissertations

Understanding that the academic achievement of Latino students continues to lag behind their White peers, this study explored the role of the teacher in the success or failure of Latino school-age children. The methodology utilized for this research was qualitative. I used a narrative approach to discuss the thoughts, opinions, and insights of the six teachers interviewed for this study. The in-depth conversations with the participants suggested differences in how Latino and White teachers view their Latino students. Most of the White teachers suggested that academic achievement can be reached through explicit vocabulary instruction, reading a wide variety of books, …

Rethinking Language Teaching Methods And Materials, Matthew Barge

MA TESOL Collection

With a vast number of people speaking and learning English all over the world, the English language has shifted from being a national language to an international language and finally into a global language. However, English is often taught in a very exclusive way in which English language learners are often times only introduced and exposed to the language practices of speakers who have historically held the most power and prestige in the English-speaking world. One result of this teaching methodology is that many English learners are being taught language practices that are not reflective of how various English speaking …

Surviving Monolingualism: Embracing Translingual Perspectives And Trans-Semiotizing, Kyle O'Brien

MA TESOL Collection

This thesis is an attempt to contribute to the deconstruction of the monolingual myth that has dominated language attitudes and the language classroom in the U.S. for centuries. Its main proposition is that by promoting and advocating for translanguaging and trans-semiotizing in the classroom and in daily life, we can affirm the linguistic and cultural identities of students, individuals, and groups that are marginalized or oppressed by hegemonic monolingual ideologies and improve our language teaching practices. Through literature review and personal narrative, the author has endeavored to demonstrate how translanguaging offers potential solutions to some current linguistic conflicts and how …

When Healing And High-Stakes Meet: Restorative Justice In An Era Of Racial Neoliberalism, Dani O'Brien

Doctoral Dissertations

Based on a 3-year ethnography, this dissertation documents the story of Presente, an explicitly critical youth-led restorative justice group attempting to dismantle the school-prison nexus and create a more youth-centered culture at their high-reform high school. This dissertation addresses the questions: How does serving as a restorative justice peer leader impact students? What challenges and opportunities arise as the school tries to transition to more restorative practices? And how do the values central to restorative justice come up against, challenge, and get challenged by neoliberal education reform?

Becoming Biculturally Competent An Autoethnographic Journey Of A Guera Woman, Bernadette M. Hall-Cuarón

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

Becoming Biculturally Competent

an Autoethnographic Journey of a Güera Woman

Bernadette Hall-Cuarón

ABSTRACT

This dissertation represents a personalized account of my lived experiences and analytically describes the autoethnographic and qualitative processes of bicultural development and bicultural competency. My autoethnographic study advocates that cultural self-reflection allows for an accurate determination of one’s cultural-self and more importantly provides an instrumental passageway to cultural awareness, bicultural awareness, and proposedly bicultural competency.

Through the implementation of this qualitative research method, I explored my role as the subject, researcher, and narrator of this autoethnographic examination. This bicultural autoethnography necessitated attending to the details of genuine …

The Effect Of Hyperarticulation On The Perception Of Palatalization In Russian By L1 American English Speakers, Ekaterina Kolshenskaya

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The current study investigates a relationship between the ease of perception of a feature of secondary palatalization in Russian and a speech condition (casual and hyperarticulated). Forty-one L1 American English speakers – the students of the Russian program at The University of Mississippi – took part in two experiments. In addition, the research aimed to explore the influence of a hyperarticulated speech condition on a level of language proficiency of students (beginner or intermediate) and investigate whether students of a certain level benefit from hyperarticulation more. The results of two experiments shothat none of the groups of students benefited from …

Black Mothers' Counter-Narratives Of Agency: A Pulse On Racism And Parent Involvement Strategies In Twenty First Century Schools, Sharnee N. Brown

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

This qualitative study examined African American mothers’ perceptions of their children’s schools (public, charter, and private) within the context of institutional, structural, and individual racism. Employing qualitative techniques, interviews and focus groups of middle to lower working class Black mothers were conducted to explore their lived experiences with individual, institutional, and structural racism within American schools. The goal of this study was to learn how these mothers make meaning of the educational institutions that serve their children, the racial barriers they encountered and the strategies of contestation they employed in order to address these perceived barriers.

The results of the …

Privileging Autistics Of Color: A Human Rights Approach To Applied Behavior Analysis (Aba) Therapy, Rebecca Rubey

Master's Projects and Capstones

This field project examines the social construction of autistic people of color through the pathology paradigm and the associated human rights violations. The purpose of the project is to disrupt the pathology paradigm by privileging voices of autistic people of color in professional development workshops for ABA therapy providers. The workshops aim to help ABA therapy providers understand the historical context of ABA, how it fits into the wider systems of white supremacy and ableism, and how these dynamics are re-enacted in every day practice with autistic people of color.

Immersion Schools And Language Learning: A Review Of Cherokee Lanugage Revitalization Efforts Among The Eastern Band Of Cherokee Indians, Elizabeth Albee

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Preparing White Teachers To Teach In Racially Diverse Schools, Cristina Benz

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

My personal experience as a White educator in racially diverse classrooms led me to choose my capstone topic and develop my research question: “What core knowledge, essential skills, and experiences do White teachers believe have effectively prepared them to teach racially diverse students?” Based on my literature review, I chose five concepts and theories that I considered connected to my research capstone. Critical Race Theory was the overarching theory that provided related concepts of Racial Realism, Critical White Studies, and Colorblindness. A newer concept that I included, Equity Literacy, provided tools for teachers to consider and use. I used a …

The Experiences Of Grade 4 Public Elementary School Teachers Regarding Multiculturalism, James Hill Hill

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

An increasing number of multicultural students are attending U.S. public schools. At a Title I elementary school in a rural region of the southern United States, multicultural students had not met academic standards as measured by state exams, and state scores had been very low for 5 consecutive years. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to understand the instructional strategies used by Grade 4 teachers in helping multicultural students pass state tests. The conceptual framework was Vygotsky's theory of cognitive and social constructivism and Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences. The foci of research questions were on identifying teachers' …

Mother Tongue Interference In English Language Pronunciation Of The Chinese Immigrant In The United States, Chaowei Hu

Master's Projects and Capstones

English is one of the most widely used languages in the world. As an unofficial lingua franca, it serves a key role in cross-cultural communication. Chinese immigrants in the US will certainly encounter many difficulties in acquiring L2 proficiency. Some of these challenges are tied to 1) Chinese immigrants’ history in the US and the variety of Chinese dialects; 2) distinctions between Chinese and English phonological systems; 3) diversity among Chinese Americans; 3) mother tongue influence on English language learning; and 4) foreign language anxiety.

Young, Gifted, Black, And Blocked: A Critical Inquiry Of Barriers That Hinder Black Students' Participation In Gifted And Advanced Placement Programs, Elizabeth Anne Evans

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This inquiry explores the underrepresentation of Black students in the Gifted and Advanced Placement (AP) Program from the perspective of the student. This study focused primarily on the barriers students perceived that hindered their participation. In addition, I explored the role teachers and guidance counselors play in Black students’ decisions to enroll or drop out of AP classes, and how the history and institution of gifted educations has aid and excluded Black students. Five Black high school students, four male, and one female, were interviewed.

Theoretically, my study was grounded in two distinct inquiries; Critical Theory (Kincheloe & McLaren, 2008) …

Black Male Graduates’ Reflections On Their College Experiences At A Private, Faith-Based, Predominantly White Institution Of Higher Education, Kimberly Hayworth

Dissertations

This study takes an in-depth look at the experiences of 12 Black males who graduated between 2001 and 2012 from a private, faith-based, predominantly White institution of higher education, with a purpose to better understand the essence of their collegiate experiences. Most research on minority college enrollment has focused on reasons why students of color do not persist (Bowen, Chingos & McPherson, 2009; Douthat, 2005; Tinto, 1993; Western, Schiraldi & Ziedenberg, 2003). Rather than rehearsing reasons for attrition, my dissertation investigated the essence of their collegiate experiences and what could be learned from Black males who did persist to graduation, …

Toward A Philosophy Of Race In Education, Corey V Kittrell

Doctoral Dissertations

There is a tendency in education theory to place the focus on the consequences of racial hegemony (racism, Eurocentric education, low performance by racial minorities) and ignore that race is antecedent to these consequences. This dissertation explores the treatment of race within critical theory in education. I conduct a metaphysical analysis to examine the race concept as it emerges from the works of various critical theorists in education. This examination shows how some scholars affirm the scientifically discredited race concept by offering racial essentialist approaches for emancipatory education. I argue that one of consequences of these approaches is the further …

The First Child In A Chinese Family Who Could Read Prior To Entry Into Elementary School: A Qualitative Intrinsic Case Study, Shu Ping Zhang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study is an account of the literacy-related human environment a Chinese girl experienced as the first person in the history of her family who was able to read prior to entry into elementary school. Temporally speaking, the study spanned more than a decade from the initial, tentative research question to the formal, primary research question. Spatially speaking, it crossed three cultures: the Chinese, Korean, and American cultures. The study was inspired by the Zero Project in China, known as the "Project of Quality Education and Implementation for Children Aged Zero (fetus) to Six." The significance of the content issue …

Recuerda Que Yo Estoy Aqui Tambien : A Bilingual Picture Book, Liliana Ivette Funes

Graduate Student Independent Studies

My independent study for my Integrative Masters consists of a bilingual (Spanish/English) picture book that is based on personal experience, and endeavors to describe the emotional distress and anxiety children can experience as second language learners entering a monolingual classroom for the first time. The book addresses not only the emotional and academic struggles of the child, but also the ways in which peers and teachers can intervene to ease the child's transition into English. Thus the book can serve as a resource to support monolingual classrooms. The study also includes a personal reflection of the process and journey, I …

Unlocking The Power Of Multidimensional Literacy In A Language Arts Classroom: A Middle School Language Arts Curriculum, Andrew Raymond Kostelnik

All Graduate Projects

A curriculum project that incorporates a multidimensional and multicultural point of view is created for a middle school language arts classroom in a rural community. Multiculturalism theories and underpinnings are examined and critically analyzed. Materials are identified and examined to determine the appropriateness in relation to the demographics and nature of the Kayman School District. Multiple sources and materials were established as a permanent curricular component to ensure an education that incorporates multiple perspectives and viewpoints.

Developing Oral Proficiency Through Poem Recitation In Elementary English As A Second Language, Anne Picpican-Bell

Theses Digitization Project

This project addresses the need for a performance-based language-development curriculum to serve the growing number of non-English-speaker immigrants in California's public schools.

Culture And Ethnic Identity In The Curriculum, Enrique Fernández Nárez

Theses Digitization Project

No abstract provided.

White Students' Racial Attitudes And Racial Identity Development In A Liberal Arts Environment, Mary Hornback Glisan

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

The purpose of this study was to document the racial attitudes and racial identity development scores of White students in a liberal arts environment. of particular interest was gender differences, classification differences, and Greek/nonGreek affiliation differences. Furthermore, an effort was made to predict the racial attitude and racial identity development scores using self-report biographical variables.;The College of William and Mary, a public liberal arts university was the institution studied for this project. A stratified random sample was obtained of all White students attending the College. Participants completed the White Racial Identity Attitude Survey (WRIAS), the Racial Attitude and Opinion Scale …