Education Commons^™

The Self-Efficacy Beliefs Of Novice Elementary French As A Second Language Teachers, Shelley Cooke

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This mixed-methods study was conducted to examine the self-efficacy beliefs of novice elementary French as a Second Language (FSL) teachers in Ontario. Comparisons were made between the self-efficacy appraisals of English-dominant and French-dominant teacher participants, and core French (CF) and French immersion (FI) teacher participants. An online questionnaire and semi-structured interviews were conducted. Findings showed that French-dominant novice FSL teachers felt more effective in delivering a FSL program as compared to their English-dominant colleagues. As well, the FI teacher participants demonstrated a higher sense of efficacy than their CF colleagues. Factors identified as contributing to the participants’ sense of efficacy …

A Case Study Mapping Literacy Learning Opportunities And Identity Construction Among African Immigrant Youth In A Canadian Secondary School, Wambui J. Gichuru

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Studies with immigrant and refugee youth highlight challenges, school failure and early push-out rates (Anisef, 2008; James, 2012; Roessingh, 2010). There is limited research about how immigrant students especially from continental Africa negotiate their identity at school for positive outcomes. The goal of this qualitative case study was to explore literacy learning opportunities afforded by the school for African youth who were learning to become literate in English as an additional language in a Canadian secondary school and the implications for the students’ communicative and identity options.

The study utilized ethnographic tools, i.e., interview, classroom observation, mapping literacy activities and …

Core French Teachers’ Perceptions Of Ell Inclusion: A Mixed-Methods Investigation, Jordana F. Garbati

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Canada is perceived around the world as a bilingual country that embraces linguistic and cultural diversity. The purpose of this study was to examine French as a second language (FSL) teachers’ attitudes toward inclusion of English language learners (ELLs) and the contributing factors affecting teachers’ attitudes toward ELLs. The province of Ontario served as the context for this study and the participants were elementary core French (CF) (where French is taught as a subject) teachers. Theories of multilingualism and positioning theory were drawn on in order to understand CF teachers’ perceptions of ELL inclusion and the contributing factors affecting these …

A Case Study Of Pedagogical Practices And Learning Environment In An Ontario Francophone Child Care Centre, Alan D. Russette

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis explores the pedagogy and learning environment in an Ontario Francophone child care centre. This study is an exploratory descriptive case study using ethnographic tools. Relying on Cummins’ (1989) Minority Empowerment Framework and Lyster’s (2007) Counterbalanced Approach to Second Language Teaching as reference points, this study investigated how Franco-Ontarian culture and linguistic character are reinforced in this child care centre; how language instruction was integrated into educational activities; and what supports were in place to assist and support Anglophone and Allophone children in this environment. Over ten weeks, the researcher found that the centre promoted a culture of universal …

Balanced Bilinguals' Unique Emotional Expressiveness, Maya Salloum

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

In the contemporary globalized world, with diverse situations of language contact emerging, bilingualism is taking on dynamic new forms, yielding a new kind of bilinguals: balanced. Adopting a stance of resistance to the monolingual bias and with a view to refining the frameworks applied to the study of bilinguals, this research examines how balanced bilinguals process and express their emotions in each of their languages. This is a qualitative study that incorporates narrative inquiry and uses the narratives and autobiographical memories of five balanced bilinguals, of different language pairs and age/gender groups to better understand how these balanced bilinguals perceive …

An Investigation Into Identity, Power And Autonomous Efl Learning Among Indigenous And Minority Students In Post-Secondary Education: A Mexican Case Study, Colette Despagne

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This critical ethnographic case study draws on Indigenous and minority students' process of learning English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in Mexico. The study specifically focuses on students who enrolled in a program called A wager with the Future. The aim of the study is to identify and understand contributing factors in these students’ struggles with the process of learning English by focusing on factors that influence their investment in EFL. The research is framed by (critical) applied linguistics and post-colonial theories that favour the integration of an understanding of these students’ socio historical context in their learning of …

A Crosslinguistic/Cultural Perspective Of Learning Chinese As A Foreign Language In Canadian Universities, Xiuhua Ke

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This study examines adult student learning of Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) in a Canadian university context, focusing in particular on how students’ diverse prior language(s) and experiences influence their CFL learning and how student motivation develops. It aims at gaining a better understanding of the nature of adult CFL learning; at yielding pedagogic implications and raising questions for further research. Framed by sociocultural theory and cognitive linguistic perspectives, the research was guided by the following questions: 1) What elements of Chinese as a foreign language challenge student learning? 2) How do students’ prior language(s) and language learning experience …

Mapping The Contact Zone: A Case Study Of An Integrated Chinese And Canadian Literacy Curriculum In A Secondary Transnational Education Program In China, Zheng Zhang

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This case study using ethnographic tools was conducted in an Ontario transnational education (TNE) program in China where Ontario secondary school curricula were integrated with the Chinese national curricula. Curricula are seen by TNE researchers as key to successful TNE programs (e.g., Hughes & Urasa, 1997). However, little is known about how literacy-related curricula are exported across borders and what happens with them in local contexts. The study investigated how literacy was conceived and practiced at the various levels of curriculum at the elite secondary school (Pseudonym: SCS), namely, intended, implemented, lived, hidden, and null curriculum.

The theoretical tools of …

The Language Learning Of Refugee Students In Canadian Public Elementary And Secondary Schools, Hongfang Yu

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This dissertation investigated the role that funds of knowledge play in refugee students’ language acquisition and acculturation to the new school, and the support schools provided for their language learning.

This study explores theoretical frameworks related to student ecological environments, second language acquisition, and funds of knowledge that refugee students bring with them to the classroom. This qualitative research study presents a case study of four refugee students in both ESL classrooms and mainstream classrooms at an elementary school and a secondary school. Refugee students’ English language learning was scrutinized through research techniques which include participant observation, interviews, and documents. …

Little Liberals: A Child-Centred Approach To The Inculcation Of Values, Alison M. Braley-Rattai

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

In a liberal-democracy, the proper role of parents and of the state in forming children’s beliefs involves several separate but interrelated debates: These concern the conceptual space that children occupy within liberal theory, the basis of the ‘control rights’ adults are said to have over children, and the tension between the values of autonomy and diversity, which are foundational values for a liberal-democracy. To clarify these debates, competing paradigms are identified in political theories that address them: A dual-interest view and a child-centred view. The former ‘balances’ the interests that parents and children have in the child-rearing relationship, and the …

National Identity Perceptions And The Experiences Of 1.5 Generation Youth With English Learning And First Language Loss, Olena Yuzefova

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

With the increasing number of immigrant youth, often referred to as the 1.5 generation, settling in Canada every year, it is important to understand the experiences and national identity perceptions of this immigrant generation. This qualitative case study investigates national identity perceptions and the experiences of 1.5 generation youth with English language learning and first language maintenance. A focus group was held with five high school students to understand their current experiences of being 1.5 generation. In addition, seven individual interviews were conducted with college/university students who were asked to reflect on their past and current experiences. The findings indicate …

Motivation And Technology For Quebec Cegep Esl Classes, Jamie R. Bridge

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This paper focuses on English as a second language (ESL) learning by students at Quebec Collèges d’Enseignement General et Professionnel (CEGEPs). The research seeks to describe the positive outcome of computer assisted language learning (CALL) practices on the motivational level of students, their efficacy in helping students understand the cultural contexts of a second language, and their role in the achievement of proficiency in oral and written language skills. The main aim of the research is to investigate the role of new constructivist pedagogies and CALL practices in enhancing student motivation for continuous second language learning. Following qualitative case study …

Sentence Recall In Monolingual And Ell With And Without Parental Concerns About Language Development, Areej Mazin Balilah

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Sentence recall has been identified as a potential clinical marker of Specific Language Impairment (SLI). The extent to which sentence recall may be useful in distinguishing children with SLI from English Language Learners (ELL) has not been examined. Despite tapping existing language knowledge, sentence recall may be sufficiently sensitive to reveal differences between these groups. In the present study, 1253 school age children completed a sentence recall task and their parents declared whether their first language was English and whether there were any concerns about language development. Given the lack of a gold standard in identifying language impairment in bilingual …