Education Commons^™

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 …

Adjusting To Change: Learning American Sign Language Online During A Global Pandemic, Kara Gournaris

Northwest Journal of Teacher Education

Second language acquisition of American Sign Language (ASL) requires opportunities for engagement with native language models (Krashen, 1988). The shift to online instruction due to the impact of COVID-19 presented unique challenges for ASL programs across the United States. With little time to redesign courses, instructors and students had to navigate the experience of online learning together. The students who participated in this 2020 study at Western Oregon University (WOU) shared their raw experiences related to this transition, and unfortunately, one year later, many of the same barriers reported by students persist. The purpose of this article is to share …

Observación Participante De Clases Virtuales Bilingües En K-2 Durante Covid-19, Jennifer Quint

World Languages and Cultures

The Covid-19 pandemic is shifting education from the classroom to a virtual setting, forcing educational institutions to collaboratively innovate a new structure for virtual learning. The world’s current state of reliance on technology came so suddenly that teachers, students, and families have no choice but to learn as they go. This research analyzes how an elementary dual- immersion bilingual program adapts to new-found challenges such as technical difficulties, variances in at home support, and student independence. Furthermore, students enrolled in a dual-immersion bilingual program face additional challenges to provide students a language immersive environment. From August 2020 to March 2021, …

Investigando Los Éxitos Y Las Dificultades De Implementar Un Programa De Inmersión Dual A Través De Las Perspectivas De Tres Administradores, Victoria E. Slaybaugh

World Languages and Cultures

This Modern Languages and Literatures senior project investigates and analyses the successes and struggles of implementing a dual immersion program through interviews with three dual immersion principles. In interviewing three highly experienced administrators, ample information was collected on why some programs are prosperous while others see little success. Each individual principal had unique and valuable input, especially with regard to why their respective schools changed programs from 50/50 to 90/10, why they implemented K-12, and even why they chose to eliminate the program entirely. Using supplemental studies to more thoroughly examine the historical and social context of dual immersion, this …

Phil The Phytoplankton, Kylie Kihm, Lexi Frankiewich

World Languages and Cultures

This project, a bilingual children's book, “Phil the Phytoplankton” and “Felipe el fitoplancton” educates young readers on the importance of phytoplankton in our world. The book emphasizes the fact that such small organisms, invisible to the naked eye unless gathered in immense quantities, are responsible for providing the earth with approximately 50% of the oxygen essential for human life. As defined by Cal Poly, sustainability is “the ability of the natural and social systems to survive and thrive together to meet current and future needs.” This book encourages a symbiotic relationship as a young girl, initially afraid of the unknown, …

Iskay Simipi Yachay: El Papel De La Educación Intercultural Bilingüe En La Preservación Y Valoración De La Lengua Quechua En Perú, Tori Wiese

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Perú es un país multicultural y multilingüe, con una historia rica, especialmente con respecto a sus poblaciones indígenas. Específicamente, Perú tiene una población grande de quechua hablantes que viven principalmente en la región andina en el país. Más de tres millones de personas hablan quechua en Perú—el 13 por ciento de la población del país. Con un número tan significativo, el peligro que rodea al quechua puede no ser aparente, pero sin embargo existe. Durante su historia, Perú como un país sofocó la lengua quechua a favor de la lengua castellano. Esta represión de la lengua quechua también incluye la …

Deaf Translators: What Are They Thinking?, Janis Cole Ms.

Journal of Interpretation

The examination of work performed by Deaf translators in creating translations between written texts and signed languages is an emerging area of inquiry in Translation Studies. Deaf people have been performing ad hoc translations within their community for hundreds of years (Adam, Carty & Stone, 2011; Bartley & Stone, 2008). More recently, Deaf translators have begun to work as paid professionals, creating a new subfield of Translation Studies, one that, to date, is largely unexplored. Using qualitative data, this pilot study examines the thought processes of two Deaf individuals in the rendering of an academic text from written English into …

Morphological Production Accuracy Patterns In Younger And Older Spanish-English Bilingual Children, Isabel Angelica Cano

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Clinicians require a model of typical bilingual language development. Morphological production accuracy patterns vary in Spanish-English (S-E) bilingual children considering differences in the exposure and use of their two languages compared to their monolingual peers. The purpose of the current study was to examine morphological production accuracy patterns in thirty younger (3- to 4-years old) and older (5- to 6-years old) S-E bilingual children utilizing English and Spanish Morphosyntax subtests from a bilingual language screener. Across development, older bilingual children were more accurate on all forms in both English and Spanish than younger bilingual children. Across languages, all S-E bilingual …

Barriers To Bilingual: How Students Participate In Spanish And English Classes, Bailey Strahan

Masters of Education in Teaching and Learning

While participation has been linked to achievement in the classroom, various external factors can change students’ willingness to participate. In this study the researcher sought to discover what participation looks like in regards to one of these factors, language. Additionally the researcher wanted to discover what students and teachers in a bilingual program thought of their own participation in regards to language. Through the use of surveys, interviews, and observations over the course of several weeks, the researcher was able to determine that many factors including student motivation, preferences, resources available, and misunderstanding all contribute to their willingness to participate …

Implications Of Dual Language Scoring Of The Preschool Language Scale-Fifth Edition Spanish For Bilingual Preschool-Aged Children, Callie Mae Mathis

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Purpose: Spanish versions of standardized tests used in language evaluations are not well studied. The purpose of this study is to further examine the appropriateness of the Preschool Language Scale, Fifth Edition Spanish (PLS-5S) in a U.S./Mexico border community by comparing the Dual language scores versus the Spanish only scores and comparing the normative sample of the PLS-5S to the population of El Paso, TX.

Method: Twenty-three bilingual preschool aged children in the El Paso area completed the Spanish Edition of the PLS-5S. The parents and teachers of the participants completed two language proficiency questionnaires (Bilingual Input Output Survey; BIOS …

Speaking Their Language: Developing A Bilingual Libguide For Chinese Students., Nathan Elwood, Maryalice Wade

Kansas Library Association College and University Libraries Section Proceedings

This article documents the development of a bilingual English/Mandarin library guide for the Chinese student population of Fort Hays State University. Growing international student populations across the country mean that many university libraries need to customize services for unique student groups. At Forsyth Library of Fort Hays State University we serve over 3600 students from China. We sought to develop further services for this student group. Please note that throughout this paper, when referring to “Chinese language,” we are specifically referencing Standard Mandarin, which is predominant among our Chinese students.

El Español En El Pueblo Ngäbe. Factores Fonológicos Y Morfológicos, Kafda I. Vergara Esturaín

Spanish and Portuguese ETDs

This study examines phonological and morphological features involved in the release of plural marking –s in nominal phrases of Spanish as a second language (L2). The linguistic variety belongs to Spanish spoken by members of the Ngäbe pueblo of Panama.

Despite the preference of final /s/ deletion in Panamanian Spanish, morphology seems to activate the production of plural marking –s in certain nominal phrases. Meanwhile, other circumstances stimulating the application of alternative strategies for plural marks are detected.

This study also includes questions about the influence of the first language (L1), particularly by comparing Ngäbere and Spanish nominal phrases. It …

Promoting Student Success: Bilingual Education Best Practices And Research Flaws, Lillian Fassero

Senior Honors Theses

This paper first determines the benefits which bilingual education offers and then compares transitional, dual-language, and heritage language maintenance programs. After exploring the outcomes, contexts, and practical implications of the various bilingual programs, this paper explores the oversight in most bilingual studies, which assess students’ syntax and semantics while neglecting their understanding of pragmatics and discourse structures (Maxwell-Reid, 2011). Incorporating information from recent studies which question traditional understandings of bilingualism and argue that biliteracy requires more than grammatical and vocabulary instruction, this paper proposes modifications in current research strategies and suggests best practices for transitional, dual-language, and heritage maintenance programs.

Bilingualism And The American Family, Caitlin M. Nickerson

Senior Honors Projects

Bilingualism is the ability to speak more than one language fluently. People of all ages may aspire to learn a second or third language in order to fulfill both personal goals and communicate with a variety of people in different contexts. Irrespective of one’s walk of life or socioeconomic status, being bilingual is a valuable skill. Although English is the language of power in the United States, there are hundreds of other languages spoken in this country.

There are a number of different ways in which children can become bilingual. For example, they may enter the school system speaking the …

The Spanish-English Bilingual: A Cross-Classfication Comparison Of Maze Use In Children, Jessica Valles

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

With the continual increase of bilingual individuals in the United States, there is a critical need for research that can appropriately identify unique characteristics of language production for these individuals. In particular, maze use, or errors in production have been identified as a characteristic of language that typically occurs more in bilinguals' speech production than in monolingual productions. Research comparing bilingual maze use in individuals who are typically developing with bilingual maze use individuals who are language impaired is limited. To compare these bilingual children with language impairment with to their typically developing peers, children were paired by age, grade, …

Mood-Dependent Memory In English/Spanish Bilinguals, Alix Mclaughlin

Butler Journal of Undergraduate Research

Past research examining the effects of emotion on memory has documented that individuals find material more memorable when the emotional valence of the information is consistent with their mood state. While these mood-congruency effects have been applied to different contexts, one situation that has not been investigated is the effects of language on mood-congruency in bilinguals. This study explored mood-congruency effects in English and Spanish bilinguals by inducing a happy or sad mood and examining between-language and within-language memory for positive, neutral, or negative information. I investigated whether mood effects are consistent across languages or if the switch from one …

Translating Françoize Boucher’S Le Livre Qui T’Explique Enfin Tout Sur Les Parents For Us Audiences: Playing With Words And Images, Evgeniya Bugaeva

Masters Theses

The focus of this thesis is my translation of Le livre qui t'explique enfin tout sur les parents by Françoize Boucher from French into English. Chapter one begins with a brief history and definition of children’s literature, as well as children’s literature in translation. I discuss the subgenre of informational picturebooks—its objectives, characteristics, and current trends. What follows is a short biographic and bibliographic sketch of Françoize Boucher. Then, I discuss the content, format, style, and illustrations of Le livre qui t'explique as well as examine the work’s audience, aims, and values. Finally, I discuss my English translation of the …

Mandarin Chinese As A Second Language: A Review Of Literature, Wesley A. Spencer

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Mandarin Chinese has become increasing prevalent in the modern world. Accordingly, research of Chinese as a second language has developed greatly over the past few decades. This paper reviews research on the difficulties of acquiring a second language in general and research that specifically details the difficulty of acquiring Chinese as a second language. Based on this research, the author also reveals some areas that should be researched further in order to advance the field.

Exploring Elaborated Noun Phrase Use Of Middle School English Language Learners Following Writing Strategy Instruction, Stephanie R. Cooper

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

English Language Learners (ELLs) are a growing population within the U.S. school system. In the secondary grades, this diverse group requires instruction to improve not only English language proficiency but also utilization of the academic language register, especially in writing tasks. The present study focused on ELLs in middle school. The aim was to explore the effects of enhanced Self–Regulated Strategy Development (SRSD) writing instruction on the use of complex language, particularly elaborated noun phrases (ENPs) when SRSD was combined with linguistic instruction on increased sentence complexity.

As a part of a larger study exploring critical literacy and the persuasive …

The Development And Analysis Of The Global Citizen Award As A Component Of Asia University America Program At Eastern Washington University, Matthew Ged Miner

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

"The purpose of this thesis report is to document the research, development, and analysis of the Global Citizen Award and its introduction, pilot, assessment, and revision as a cunicular component of Asia University America Program at Eastern Washington University. The Global Citizen Award is a merit-based and optional award for students who meet various criteria while attending the five-month study abroad program from Asia University in Tokyo, Japan. The thesis includes background and context for the award, including history and philosophy of the stake-holding institutions such as Asia University and Asia University America Program. This report includes an extensive review …

A Novice Esl Teacher's Experience Of Language Learning In France: An Autoethnographic Study Of Anomie And The "Vulnerable Self", Christopher Ryan

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

"This thesis combines diary study with autoethnography to report an MATESL candidate's study abroad experience as an advanced learner of French. The writer summarizes language-learning experiences in Quebec and France while focusing on his second study abroad experience in France, where he encountered an educational system that was inconsistent with his training as a language teacher and his learning style as a language learner. He discusses challenges he faced in a language institute he was required to enroll in before he could matriculate in the university. Rote memorization and test preparation were the primary focuses of two classes, but the …

Discomfort, Deficiency, Dedication: Pre-Service Teachers Voice Their Ell-Related Concerns, Wendy J. Glenn, Mileidis Gort

Mileidis Gort

No abstract provided.

Navigating Tensions In The Process Of Change: An English Educator’S Dilemma Management In The Revision And Implementation Of A Diversity-Infused Methods Course, Mileidis Gort, Wendy J. Glenn

Mileidis Gort

In response to growing concerns among faculty regarding the lack of attention to the bilingual student population in our pre-service teacher education program, the authors engaged in a shared self-study of the process of revising and implementing a secondary English methods course with explicit attention to the special needs of bilingual/bicultural learners. The paper describes how the second author, an English educator, with support from the first author, a mentor/colleague in bilingual education, identified and negotiated tensions and dilemmas that arose in a process of curricular transformation toward culturally and linguistically responsive teacher education practice. The study highlights several points …

Increasing Cultural Awareness Through A Cultural Awareness Program, Christina Collins

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Racial tension still motivates strife and violence in the metropolitan Detroit area. This study sought to determine the effectiveness of a collaborative partnership on the attitudes of a group of diverse learners regarding multicultural relations. The purpose of this research study was to investigate whether participation in the Cultural Awareness Consortium (CAC) improved the multicultural relations of diverse high school students. The 2 theoretical frameworks guiding this study were Allport's intergroup contact theory and intercultural competence theory originating from International Education and International Studies. The research questions addressed whether attending the CAC for 4 months, the treatment, changed students' attitudes …

Analyses Of Language And Culture Beliefs And Reported Practices Of Pre-Kindergarten And Kindergarten Teachers Working With Dual Language Learners, Giselle Sanchez

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study explored the underlying factors involved in the Language and Culture Questionnaire (LCQ), a measure of lead pre-kindergarten and kindergarten teachers' (n = 119) beliefs and best practices for working with dual language learners (DLLs). The LCQ was found to have suboptimal reliability and all results herein should be interpreted with caution. The exploratory factor analyses suggested the LCQ weakly captures two factors, beliefs and practices. Frequencies of teachers holding the appropriate beliefs and implementing best practices were reviewed. The beliefs and practices scores exhibited a degree of relationship between each other. Finally, multiple regression designs were utilized …

Navigating Tensions In The Process Of Change: An English Educator’S Dilemma Management In The Revision And Implementation Of A Diversity-Infused Methods Course, Mileidis Gort, Wendy J. Glenn

Teaching and Learning Articles and Papers

In response to growing concerns among faculty regarding the lack of attention to the bilingual student population in our pre-service teacher education program, the authors engaged in a shared self-study of the process of revising and implementing a secondary English methods course with explicit attention to the special needs of bilingual/bicultural learners. The paper describes how the second author, an English educator, with support from the first author, a mentor/colleague in bilingual education, identified and negotiated tensions and dilemmas that arose in a process of curricular transformation toward culturally and linguistically responsive teacher education practice. The study highlights several points …

Discomfort, Deficiency, Dedication: Pre-Service Teachers Voice Their Ell-Related Concerns, Wendy J. Glenn, Mileidis Gort

Teaching and Learning Articles and Papers

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of Teacher Race In The Elementary School On Student Achievement Test Scores, John Stortz

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The racial and gender composition of elementary school teachers does not match those of the students and this may be contributing to an inequity of achievement scores between African American and European American students. This ex post facto causal comparative study compared three levels of elementary school diversity personnel staffing on Grade 4 African American student Criterion-Referenced Competency Test (CRCT) scores and differences between male African American scores and female African American scores in a suburban Atlanta county. Nine intentionally selected elementary schools were chosen representing 3 racial diversity personnel staffing levels including 39% to 50%, 25% to 27%, and …

Dual-Language Education: A Longitudinal Study Of Students' Achievement In An El Paso County, Texas School District, Pauline Anne Dow

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This Dissertation describes a longitudinal study of one-way and two-way bilingual education programs (also known as dual-language programs) to assess achievement of elementary-aged English learners (ELs) in a school district located in El Paso County, Texas, using both norm-referenced and criterion-referenced tests. The design features assessment for bilingual students' language skills in both English and Spanish, which allows for the examination of the interrelationships among skills in the two languages. The study also compares the achievement of ELs and non-ELs in the two-way program. The work reported in this Dissertation was conducted with a common group of children over a …

Effects Of Dual Language Learning On Early Language And Literacy Skills In Low Income Preschool Students, Vanessa Tápanes

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This paper presents a framework for literacy skill development relating to both monolingual and dual language learners. The purpose of this study was to identify the differences that may exist between monolingual and dual language learners' performance on literacy tasks, before having a significant amount of exposure to the preschool curriculum. The sample included 78 monolingual language learners and 44 dual language learners who were assessed using the Woodcock Language Proficiency Battery-Revised (WLPB-R). The researcher used scoring methods that took into consideration split vocabulary in dual language learners where a conceptual scoring technique was used (Bedore, Pena, Garcia, & Cortez, …