Education Commons^™

"Can You Just Speak Normal?": How Language Summer Camps Affect White Children's Participation In The Linguistically, Culturally, And Racially Diverse United States, Mary M. Bruggeman

Honors Projects

The United States is becoming an increasingly diverse county. Young children are at the best age to learn about language and race, but the way that language programs address the intersection of language and race echoes the issues present in the rest of society. Learning a language in a racially diverse environment improves racial attitudes, but the only way to get to the root of the issue of inequality among individuals who speak another language, have a different culture, or are a part of a different racial group is to discuss the topic of inequality in the United States directly. …

Magpie Naheševehe: An Autoethnographic Study Of A Chief’S Son Reclaiming His Language, Quinn A. Magpie

Master's Theses

This paper is an autoethnographic study covering my journey to learn my heritage languages, Cheyenne and Arapaho. The purpose of this study is to give a personalized account of what studying my languages means to my Indigenous identity. Between the months of January and April of 2024, I studied my languages daily and documented the process. I then used Brayboy’s TribalCrit as my theoretical framework to elicit themes from my experience, many of which became a personal reflection on how my languages have become a new part of my life. This study also frames my father’s knowledge as essential towards …

Online Esl / Efl Instruction For Korean Children Under 7 Years Old: A Curricular Design, Seong Sun Kim

Master's Theses

Early bilingual education is currently implemented in many countries around the world. There has been much research on the effects of early second language learning on children's language development and school performance, and the results are positive.

Koreans focus on learning foreign languages to communicate with other people around the world and approach to lots of information and experience. For Koreans to become fluent English speakers, the best time to learn a foreign language is during early childhood. It is a critical period for mastering pronunciation and developing language skills, making it an ideal time to easily learn a foreign …

Game-Based Learning: A Handbook For Chilean Elementary Efl Educators, Bernardita Maria Ramirez Larrain

Master's Projects and Capstones

English language learning in Chilean elementary schools presents a significant challenge. Despite mandatory English education since fifth grade, many students struggle to achieve high proficiency, highlighting the need for transformative interventions. The presented curricular design addresses this problem by integrating game-based activities to enhance listening and speaking skills in Chilean elementary schools. Titled "Level Up Language Learning: Transforming Chilean Elementary EFL Instruction with Game-Based Learning," the handbook offers customizable games aligned with the Chilean proposed curriculum, catering to individual learner needs and diverse learning styles. This approach aims to bridge the gap between theory and practice, empowering educators and improving …

K(Now) W(Here), Yulin Yuan

Masters Theses, 2020-current

“How does one discover solace and belonging within these layered narratives?”

In mythology, narratives were once created to answer the incomprehensible questions of an era. These narratives unveil half-truths, customs, and convictions. K(now) W(here) is based on the experience of the artist who is Chinese and immigrated to South Africa at a young age; she elaborates the story about assimilation, authenticity, tales of her ancestral roots, and, most often, myths of identity.

The artist used narratives from Chinese mythology, collaged physically and metaphorically using tangible objects from other’s homes in combination with photography, digital media, and domestic items and assemblage …

A Multiple Case Study Of Asl Mentoring For The Field Of Interpreting, Andy Lim

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

Drawn on the theoretical principles of sociocultural theory and constructivism, the aim of this multiple case study was to explore and understand the experiences of interpreting students, interpreter graduates, and pre-certified working interpreters after receiving ASL mentoring for at least 3 months to a year and to learn about the roles and impacts that ASL mentoring had on those groups of people as ASL mentees. Graduated from their respective 4-year universities for a bachelor’s degree related to the field of interpreting, participants included one interpreting student and one interpreter graduate, both of whom were from southern California, and one pre-certified …

Assessing Language Learners In Mathematics: A Single-Subject Ab Quasi-Experimental Study Exploring The Impact Of Dual Language And Monolingual Classrooms On Achievement, Molly M. Scheidt

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

Dual language classrooms provide instruction for language learners to use their first language (L1) as well as their second language (L2) to learn academic content. The goal of the study was to impact the decision-making among educational leaders who may be challenged by the dual language classroom due to the logistics and financial demands such a program possesses for school district leaders. A single-subject AB quasi-experimental study explored the impact of one monolingual mathematic classroom and making it into a dual language classroom providing a Spanish interpreter during whole group math instruction time. The model that was delivered replicates what …

A Teacher And Her Language Minoritized Students In A Translanguaging Mathematics Classroom: Activating And Suppressing Our Full Linguistic Repertoires For Increased Mathematical Reasoning And Sense-Making, Ana M. Bogota

Education Doctorate Dissertations

This study delves into translanguaging practices within a mathematics classroom led by a bilingual teacher and attended by language minoritized students. Grounded in translanguaging theory and practices, it investigates the dynamic language interactions between teacher and students, shedding light on the activation and suppression of linguistic features within purported “named languages.” Utilizing diverse data sources, such as audio-recorded lessons and student interviews, the study uncovers patterns in classroom language use. Results highlight the prevalent utilization of the full linguistic repertoire by both teacher and students, especially in elucidating mathematical concepts and fostering conceptual understanding. Furthermore, the study examines how translanguaging …

Translanguaging And Ethnolinguistic Identity: A Case Study Of A Hispanic Latine Family, Destiny Zhinin

Undergraduate University Honors Capstones

This case study focuses on the impact of the presence or absence of translanguaging in the educational environments of a Hispanic Latine family on their self-perceived ethnolinguistic identities. Translanguaging is the process where multilinguals use the full potential of their linguistic repertoire in their discourses. This includes the various vocabulary words, dialects, gestures, and other characteristics of their languages (Garcia, 2012, pg. 311). English monolingualism (knowing or only using English) discriminates against racial and ethnic minorities, labeling them incompetent, inferior, or even “un-American,” regardless of how systematically correct their English is. In contrast, translanguaging maximizes the opportunity for teachers of …

Culturally Sustaining Pedagogical Practices In Early Literacy Classrooms: A Qualitative Case Study Of Two Kindergarten Classrooms, Elizabeth Carlton Phd

Dissertations

Students who attend school possess their own “funds of knowledge” from their home life and prior experiences (Moll et al., 1992). Yet, learners from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds are not viewed from a strengths-based perspective but rather a deficit perspective. The deficit perspective perpetuates the oppression and marginalization of students of color and multilingual students. Using a qualitative comparative case study research design, the study is rooted in the tenets of Critical Pedagogy (Freire, 2000), Critical Literacy, and Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy as it sought to uncover insights into asset-based instructional strategies that allow multilingual learners opportunities to participate equitably …

Exploring Early Language Acquisition Through English And French, Rebecca C. Aguilar

Honors Capstones

Knowing that there is no singular event that leads to learning a language, and factoring in the extent an individual’s culture can affect language learning, this study emphasizes the importance of a cross-linguistic approach to continue to broaden the scope of language acquisition research. The primary objective is to identify and analyze the critical commonalities in the initial stages of learning English and French as first languages through two major categories: speech/language and culture. This project carried out an analytical review of 24 pieces of relevant literature, in both languages, in an effort to highlight key findings. Those findings include: …

Aguaaaa!!!, Cory Villegas

Theses and Dissertations

“AGUA” is a call for new models of learning and sharing, celebrating the diasporic as a place of global revolution. Salsa, rooted in Latin American and Afro-Caribbean histories, is choreographer Cory Villegas’s expression of cultural legacy. As an Afro-diasporic dance, Salsa carries the wealth and variety of African and Indigenous roots. Villegas contextualizes her thesis event “Las Leyendas: An Afro Cuban Suite,” presenting herself and her troupe Soul Dance Co. as evidence that contradicts the erasure of Latin & Caribbean Culture in US dance history. The paper uses English and Spanish, written, visual, and oral materials with an accompanying webpage.

Developing A Teaching "Toolbox" With Experiential Learning Principles, Kieth Matte

MA TESOL Collection

In this thesis paper, I focus on developing a comprehensive "toolbox" of language teaching techniques and instructional strategies by integrating experiential learning principles, specifically the Experiential Learning Cycle by David Kolb. The primary objectives of my project are to enhance my language teaching practice, foster effective and positive learning experiences for my students, and stimulate discussions regarding the intentional and meaningful application of experiential learning in language teacher training.

Throughout the research process, I gained valuable insights into the practical implementation of experiential learning to enrich my teaching practice and cater to the diverse needs of my students. The findings …

Youth Alchemy: Non-Formal Learning Around Identity & Agency, Jayashri Sarkar

Dissertation Collection

The social and educational disruption during confluence of COVID isolation and Black Lives Matter protests was critical to learning and agency amongst Youth of Color. This phenomenological qualitative study centers around Youth of Color in Providence, Rhode Island as they contested formal education and sought to make meaning of these events. Drawing on Amartya Sen’s capability approach, a series of in-depth phenomenological interviews with participants to explore the meaning they gleaned from their engagement in Youth-led emancipatory educational initiatives, particularly in terms of their sense of identity and agency. Although existing literature documents Youth resistance, this study explores Youth reflections …

The Effects Of Online Mind Mapping On The Cognitive Outcomes Of Students And Their Perceptions In The Collaborative Prewriting Stage, Yen Thanh Hai Duong

Doctoral Dissertations

In language acquisition, writing is the most challenging skill that English learners must master. Students often struggle at the beginning of their writing process with idea generation. Due to students’ low academic achievement and their struggles, online mind mapping is suggested as a useful tool to support language students’ brainstorms and idea organization during the writing process. The purpose of this mixed-method study was to investigate how online mind mapping can help students collaboratively brainstorm and organize their ideas during the prewriting process. This study focused on the effects of online mind-mapping intervention on student academic writing performance and perceptions …

Using Cultural Contextual Story-Based Lessons To Teach Emergent Literacy Skills, Elizabeth Smith

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate and determine the effectiveness of teaching an English Language Learner (ELL) teacher to use a task analysis comprising story-based lessons with cultural contextual literature to promote emergent literacy skills for a middle school-aged Hispanic ELL student with an intellectual disability (ID). Using a single-case multiple probes across skill sets design, one student with an ID and an ELL teacher participated in this study. The student was taught by the ELL teacher using story-based lessons with cultural contextual literature to promote emergent literacy skills. Results indicated a functional relation between story-based lessons with …

Influences Of Cultural Capital And Internationalization On Global Competence: Evidence From China’S Higher Vocational Education, Yiying Teng

Education (PhD) Dissertations

The purpose of the study was to explore global competence-based pedagogy in higher education. Under the umbrella of cultural capital theory and internationalization framework, a systematic literature review analyzed and synthesized 26 empirical studies pertaining to global competence education in postsecondary education from 2013 to 2022. The review revealed a research gap highlighting the lack of exploration into global competence pedagogy among students in higher vocational education. To address this gap, the present study focused on a sample of 1,504 participants recruited from a Chinese vocational university situated on the eastern coast of China, encompassing both 3-year college students and …

Developing Hispanic Pre-Service Elementary Bilingual Teachers’ Cultural Competence And Teacher Identity Through Mixed Reality Simulation, Yajaira A. Flores

Theses and Dissertations

Due to the constant migration of diverse populations, multicultural communities are developing across North America. As a result, multi-culturally diverse classrooms are multiplying (Allen et al., 2017). Our pre-service teachers must be multi-culturally prepared to enter diverse classrooms and effectively teach students without implicit bias (Ladson-Billings, 1995; Banks, 2010; Paris, 2017). Pre-service teachers' identity and cultural competence should be prioritized in teacher preparation programs. Using Latino/a Critical Race Theory (LatCrit), Practice-Based Learning, and Teacher Identity as conceptual frameworks, this study will answer how Mixed Reality Simulation (MRS) may be used as a teacher preparation tool (Aguilar & Flores, 2022) to …

Ecologies Of Teaching With Bilingual Students: Connecting Identity, Agency, And Assessment In First-Year Writing Class, Sumantha Nikole Zapata

Theses and Dissertations

As many students who graduate from high school transition into applying for college or university, they are not aware of the drastic changes that come with it. For bilingual students, this transition can be much more challenging due to their language barrier and the lack of support they may receive. The intersection of demographics, pedagogy, and linguistic agency led to the research question for this study: how can pedagogies in first-year writing classes be adjusted or developed to justly educate and assess bilingual students who are still working toward competence in English? The history of bilingual education …

Benefits Of Dual Immersion Programs On Elementary School Students, Belle Sanchez

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

This senior capstone research project aims to share the benefits of dual immersion programs in elementary school years. Understanding what a dual immersion program is and knowing the different models within the program allow parents to select which program is best suited for their students. A key point in clarification is that a dual immersion program does not aim to replace an English, or standard, education program, but adds a target language to enhance the students learning. This study looks at the overall benefits that students can gain in elementary school, from kindergarten through fifth grade, sometimes through eighth grade. …

Family Engagement: Identifying And Meeting Family Needs, Clara Beas

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Family engagement in early education is insufficient. The Early Learning Program is an agency which serves low income families by providing early childhood education and a variety of different services like health and dental screenings for children and nutrition and parenting workshops for the parents and family to do together. The project is aimed to evaluate the agency's Family Strengths and Needs assessment tool and provide updates to better serve families by focusing on areas that are lacking. As a result, the assessment language was clarified and the method of delivery improved so that future assessments will gather more accurate …

Financial Self-Efficacy Among Puerto Rican Women In The United States: An Ethnographic Action-Based Research Study, Melinda Jimenez Perez

Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this ethnographic action research study was to better understand the financial self-efficacy of Puerto Rican women in the United States. There is a gap in the literature in identifying the relationship between middle-class Puerto Rican women and financial literacy. In a pilot study, four major findings emerged from the survey about Puerto Rican women and their relationship with finances: (a) as children, mothers taught them to save, and as adults, they rely on the male figures in their families; (b) the traditional education systems did not provide financial education; (c) the childhood culture of poverty and scarcity …

Exploring Diversity In Genetic Counseling: Experiences And Perspectives Of Bipoc Faculty And Leadership, Dessiah Phillips

Human Genetics Theses

The underrepresentation of racial and ethnic minorities within faculty and leadership roles in genetic counseling programs highlights a critical gap in the field's commitment to diversity and inclusion. This sequential explanatory mixed-methods study investigates the experiences, challenges, and perspectives of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) serving in these capacities. By examining responses from the faculty and leadership members across various genetic counseling programs, this research aimed to identify barriers to diversity and explore mechanisms for fostering a more inclusive environment. The findings revealed an underrepresented number of BIPOC individuals (n≤3) in leadership or faculty roles per genetic counseling …

Investigating The Production And Perception Of Lexical Stress In English As A Second Language: A Cue-Weighting Approach, Natalia Irene Minjarez Oppenheimer

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The Cue-Weighting Transfer Hypothesis states that (a) listeners weight acoustic cues according to how informative they are in signaling a lexical contrast in their L1, and (b) that listeners transfer their cue weightings from the L1 to the L2, using those cues that are important in the L1 to perceive lexical stress in the L2 (Tremblay et al., 2021). Most of the Spanish-English bilinguals in our region are highly proficient in both languages, but differ in their language dominance spectrums. That is, they can handle both languages with ease, but are usually more dominant in one of them. Because of …

Teacher Language Ideologies Concerning The Reclassification Of Emergent Bilingual Students: Navigating The Levels Of Power In Reclassification, Claudia Cabrera

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Reclassification is a crucial educational student outcome when a school system determines that a student is English proficient and ready for mainstream instruction without language support services (Umansky et al., 2020). This study examined the relationship between crucial and complex language ideologies of dual language teachers and the reclassification of emergent bilingual students1.. Language ideologies were the theoretical framework for the study through which the voices of dual language teachers were captured. The analysis of data sources, including teacher interviews, classroom observations and evidence of biliteracy development, helped to understand and reveal how dual language teachers navigate the dynamics of …

Becoming A Bilingual Teacher On The Border: Developing Ideological Clarity At A Hispanic-Serving Institution, Laura J. Salazar

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

As teacher education programs encourage more candidates to pursue bilingual certification, a need exists to improve the ways that preservice teachers (PSTs) are prepared to teach in bilingual classrooms. Research suggests the importance of preparing PSTs in the area of linguistic ideological clarity. Scholars define ideological clarity as an ongoing process through which individuals can critically consider their ideological orientations as well as dominant ideologies that favor those in power, with an aim of becoming agents of change through this process (Alfaro & Bartolomé, 2017). This case study sought to understand the opportunities that bilingual PSTs have to develop ideological …

Impact Of Reclassification Of Assessments Tests Of English Language Proficiency Assessments For California (Elpac) On The English Language Learners, Nivardo Martinez Nunez

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The reclassification process of English Language Proficiency Assessments for California (ELPAC) significantly impacted the English Language Learners (ELLs) in educational settings. This senior capstone examines the multifaceted impacts of reclassification of assessment tests of ELPAC on the ELLs, and discusses its implications for academic achievement, language proficiency development, and socio-emotional well-being on them. Through a comprehensive review of literature, interviews with English language teaches and anonymous survey for middle school and high school students, the findings indicated that there are benefits as well as challenges for the ELL students when they take the ELPAC assessment tests involving a much more …

Nuestro Futuro: Exploring Perspectives About Cultivating Bilingual & Bicultural Latinx Educators In California, Jaime Garcia Ramirez

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

In response to the nationwide effort to cultivate, recruit, and retain qualified bilingual and bicultural Latinx teachers and the growing demand for bilingual education in California, this qualitative study explores the perceptions of teacher educators at University X. The research considers the significant presence of emergent bilingual learners (EBLs), the increasing Latinx population, teacher shortages, and high attrition rates. The study aims to investigate how University X educators and teachers perceive initiatives designed to increase the number of bilingual and bicultural Latinx educators and their suggestions for improvement. Through a comprehensive analysis of collected data and an extensive review of …

Effects Of Americanization On The Immigrant Student Population, Jose Lopez

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

This senior capstone study aims to investigate the impact of Americanization on immigrant students whose first language is not English and the effects of Proposition 227. This law, which cut all state funding for bilingual programs, prompted significant changes in language education policies. Through surveys, this research seeks to determine whether Proposition 227 has influenced students' cultural identity or academic success. Additionally, this study examines California education standards to understand how they influence language education practices. Interviews with teachers will provide insights into their approaches to teaching immigrant students and fostering cultural inclusivity in the classroom. This capstone aims to …

Food And Culture In Challenged Books, Noah Hawkins

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

This paper looks at the way food and culture are intertwined and discussed in literature. I also discuss how many of these books that represent culture in America are being challenged across the country. My research takes a deeper look into why challenging these books is more harmful for students than it does good. My lesson planned is then planned around poetry and how food and culture and be a great opportunity to talk about their culture in their homes. My lesson plan aims to make students better writers as well as be able to give them a voice to …