Education Commons^™

Autoethnography: A Self Reflection Of The Benefits In Attending A T-Stem High School, Adriana Garza

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this autoethnography is to analyze the benefits I obtained as a bilingual, first-generation, Hispanic student by attending a STEM high school. PSJA Thomas Jefferson T-STEM Early College High School provides an Early College experience as well as a Bilingual STEM environment in a district located at La Frontera. This autoethnography uses two techniques to collect data: artifacts and reflective journals. As the researcher, I self-reflected and analyzed my own success story which will be viewed through a Narrative Inquiry lens to answer two questions 1) to what extent has the STEM model/ curriculum influenced my academic …

Ethnic Identity, Stress, And Anxiety In Latinx University Students At Predominantly White Institutions, Anel Arias

Dissertations

Research indicates that ethnic minority-related stressors contribute to poor mental health outcomes in Latinx university students. There are inconsistent results of the moderating role of ethnic identity in ethnic minority stress and mental health outcomes. The purpose of this study was to examine whether ethnic identity moderates the relationship between ethnic minority stress and trait anxiety in Latinx university students attending predominantly White institutions (PWI). The secondary purpose of this study was to explore the effects of ethnic minority stress on trait anxiety symptoms.

Participants were 256 Latinx (67.6% women, n = 173; 31.3% men, n = 80) undergraduate and …

Multicultural Competence, White Privilege Attitudes And The Working Alliance In Clinical Supervision, Michelle A. Stahl

Dissertations

Research indicates that White supervisors have difficulty facilitating and integrating multicultural issues in supervision (Fong & Lease, 1997; Hird, Tao, & Gloria, 2004). A factor that interferes with a multicultural focus in supervision is the multicultural competence of the supervisor (Miville, Rosa, & Constantine, 2005). Moreover, as a result of White privilege, White supervisors may also be less aware of their cultural selves and subsequently less inclined to discuss multicultural issues in supervision (Hird et al., 2004). Lack of attention to important multicultural issues, such as White privilege, can interfere with the development of an effective supervisory alliance (Constantine & …

Toward A Culturally Inclusive Canon Of Multimodal Picture Books: Developing Multiliteracies Practices And Assessments For Ontario’S Classrooms, Arwa Jammali

Major Papers

Multimodal picture books are a critical component of children’s literacy development, and in a multicultural province such as Ontario, it is vital that literacy development include cultural literacy. The demographics of the province’s classrooms are increasingly diverse; however, minoritized cultures are underrepresented among teachers, and there are sparse training mandates related to cultural inclusion. Thus, Ontario’s culturally diverse student body is encountering a number of barriers related to gender, ethnicity, perceived race, sexual identity, ability, class, and other social markers. To provide teachers with the tools needed to support their students, the current study utilizes a theoretical framework derived from …

International Student Perceptual Challenges And Coping Within Higher Education, Edmund Martelli

Morehead State Theses and Dissertations

A capstone submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education in the College of Education at Morehead State University by Edmund Martelli on July 24, 2020.

Hopes And Struggles: Cross-Generational Metamorphosis Of Educational Beliefs And Practices Between Two-Generations Of Korean-American Parents, Haewan Rho

Graduate Theses & Dissertations

Although Korean-Americans are ubiquitous in contemporary American society, it was only after the enactment of the Immigration Nationality Act of 1965, when a sizable number of Koreans found their way to the U.S. During the two decades of the 1970s and 1980s, about a half-million Koreans immigrated to the U.S.

Almost five decades since their arrival, 2^nd-generation Korean-American offspring are now parents raising their own school-aged children - 3^rd-generation Korean-Americans. 2^nd-generation Korean-Americans who have grown up in the U.S. are largely assimilated to mainstream U.S. society, and therefore their views and practices on various …

Kofifi/Covfefe: How The Costumes Of "Sophiatown" Bring 1950s South Africa To Western Massachusetts In 2020, Emma Hollows

Masters Theses

This thesis paper reflects upon the costume design process taken by Emma Hollows to produce a realist production of the Junction Avenue Theatre Company’s musical Sophiatown at the Augusta Savage Gallery at the University of Massachusetts in May 2020. Sophiatown follows a household forcibly removed from their homes by the Native Resettlement Act of 1954 amid apartheid in South Africa. The paper discusses her attempts as a costume designer to strike a balance between replicating history and making artistic changes for theatre, while always striving to create believable characters.

On Love And Treason: Critical White Feminist Thought For Social Justice Praxis, Amanda Joyce Parker

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

This dissertation is a theoretical piece that examines the positionality of white women in upholding white supremacy and a framework for critical white feminist thought that will move white women toward a self-reflexive and self-implicating praxis. A white matriarchy (Parker, 2018) is fully conceptualized as part of a powerful subsystem that operates under white supremacy. Concepts, such as a race-gender bribe and white women’s negative solidarity (Combahee River Collective, 1977), are exposed and discussed as part of the workings of white matriarchy. White emotionality (Matias, 2015), intergenerational whiteness, and antiracist parenting are also analyzed. I also suggest possibilities for resistance …

Reflections On Learning, Communication, And Identity In A Hybrid Course On Language Development, Anni Leming

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

This research explored the relationship between the face-to-face and online spaces in my university hybrid course on first and second language development in cultural contexts, as well as my students’ and my own communication, learning, and development of identity as teachers and students. This study was grounded in practitioner inquiry and ethnography of communication as a methodological tool to understand the role of language among teacher and students in the virtual co-construction of knowledge. The findings suggest that self-disclosures, legitimizing the self and others, and relatability played key roles in students navigating new course content, a hybrid space and discussions …

Trespassing And Transcending: Newcomer Crossing And Movement In Latina And Latin American Literature, Marina C. Todeschini

Spanish and Portuguese ETDs

In times when walls are raised and human diversity condemned, stories that present the free urban movement of marginalized characters become political. While the system excludes the brown/black newcomer bodies and restricted them to the margins, the texts analyzed here bring these bodies to the center, claiming their active role in the construction of the urban fabric. This way, Latin American and Latina authors are contesting the idea of citizenship and the right to the city of newcomer subjects by narrating the freedom of geographic and symbolic movement of often disenfranchised peoples. This dissertation analyzes the claims to urban rights …

Engaging Middle School Emergent Bilinguals In Language Awareness: A Practitioner Researcher Study, Carol Lickenbrock

Dissertations

This practitioner research study (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 2009) traced the journey toward critical literacy of a group of seven emergent bilinguals and me, their teacher, over the course of a four-month unit on argument as part of our English for Speakers of Other Languages 3 (ESOL3) class. Many of these students, like many emergent bilinguals in the United States, had been disempowered because they had not had access to the academic texts of school. As part of this research, students worked with tools of Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) to analyze the interpersonal, ideational and textual metafunctions of argumentation in lessons …

The Effect Of Semantic Neighborhood Density On Vocabulary Learning In Spanish As A Second Language And Spanish As A Heritage Language, Marián Giráldez Elizo

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

This dissertation reviews the results from an online survey created to identify and compare how second language (L2) learners and heritage language (HL) learners of Spanish, enrolled in beginning-level coursework at the college level, acquired and built vocabulary. A total of 451 participants completed the survey. The purpose of the online survey was to serve as a baseline for pedagogical purposes, since it provided information about participants’ language profiles and the way they build vocabulary based on sematic relatedness. Overall, the findings from the survey showed that HL and L2 learners differ in the way they build semantic neighborhoods and, …

Blended Learning Showing Gains, Jessica Lynn Becker

Graduate Teacher Education

In light of what is known about how children learn and the use of technology in society, blended learning is proving to be an effective teaching strategy to improve student academic achievement. Blended learning is a combination of digital technology with face-to-face direct instruction. The purpose of blended learning instruction is to combine the benefits of face-to-face direct instruction with the personalization and collaboration of digital technology. Blended learning comes in many different models that meet the many needs of teachers and school districts. It has succeeded in improving student academic achievement in different subject areas by allowing students to …

Insights Into The Lived Experiences Of English Language Learners, Rina Kassem

Dissertations

The purpose of this research is to examine how schools can provide special language instruction to meet the increase in the numbers of English language learners (ELLs) and its effect on educators as well as students. This is a descriptive single case study that is focused on a public school, prekindergarten through fifth-grade located in a middle class suburb in a big metropolitan area in the Midwest. This study addresses the commonality problems that face a school system include academic performance, different cultural backgrounds, communication issues, professional development, and funding. To address these issues it is necessary to understand how …

Flourishing Through Communicative Language Learning: An Exploration Of University Learners’ Basic Needs, Well-Doing, And Well-Being, William S. Davis

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the last 25 years, world language education (i.e., “foreign” or “second” language education) in the United States has seen a meaningful turn toward pedagogical approaches emphasizing communication, contextualization, and culture. This has coincided with the blossoming of recent theoretical perspectives and empirical research centered on language learners’ emotions, beliefs, and well-being. Two frameworks, self-determination theory (SDT) and positive psychology, are leading this exploration. Although these two perspectives have enhanced the discussion around language learning, each has its gaps; positive psychology research and its recommendations for practice do not often agree on what constitutes well-being and flourishing, while SDT, which …

Social And Emotional Development To Foster Academic Growth In English Language Learning Preschoolers, Donna Mangone

Graduate Teacher Education

The fastest growing population of students entering preschool classrooms are English language learners (Winsler et al., 2014). Not only is the population of English language learners growing (Winsler et al., 2014), but there is a steady increase in the academic achievement gap. Further, the growth of ELL students corresponds with the gap. Related to both is social and emotional development. Social and emotional skills provide the apparatus for all learning. The early childhood educator is well-versed in teaching these skills. Therefore, an early childhood educator teaching social and emotional development to English language learners provides opportunities to remedy the academic …

Bilingual (Zhuang And Han) Education In Urban Guangxi, Yawen Li

Major Papers

Though many people see China as an ethnically and culturally homogenous country, it is actually host to a wide variety of ethnicities. For example, though Mandarin is China’s official language, and Cantonese is commonly used in Hong Kong, the Zhuang language is spoken by an ethnic group of the same name whose population is equal to 90% of Guangxi Zhuangzu Autonomous Region (GZAR), one of China’s five autonomous regions (Zhou, 2000). Nanning, the capital city of GZAR, has a population of approximately 7.55 million, and the Zhuang accounts for 4.21 million citizens, equal to 55.78% of the city’s population. However, …

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, …

Implementing The Siop Model To Support English Language Learners, Pamela T. Chandler

All Theses And Dissertations

Children who are English as a Foreign Language Learners (EFL) and/or English language learners (ELLs) are missing critical content-specific learning. These students are transitioning into mainstream classrooms, lacking basic literacy foundation skills, including vocabulary, grammar, comprehension, phonology, and meaning, which is preventing them from accessing grade-level content. Teachers who are charged with educating English language learners are not always provided with sufficient professional development that will allow them to meet the students’ needs. ELL students need specific instructional strategies that will address their learning needs as well as language development. The purpose of this study was to examine the implementation …

Interacting With The Other: Culturally Responsive Approaches Toward Intercultural Competence, Tamara Devine

MA TESOL Collection

Traditional language teaching approaches assume a strong focus on linguistic proficiency, syntax, and grammar. This thesis makes the case that culture and language must be given equal consideration in a language curriculum, and educators must approach their work with a critical eye for the cultural identities of each of their students. The author examines the ways that learner identity, most notably as it pertains to race and sexual orientation, is a crucial element to consider as teachers build in areas of representation to mirror their learners. The author lays out the theoretical foundation of culturally responsive teaching and points out …

Creando Un Sitio Web Para Concientizar Cómo Implementar Un Programa Bilingüe, Kylie S. Potter

World Languages and Cultures

This website serves the purpose of educating the community of the process of the implementation of bilingual education programs, specifically dual immersion programs. Because the demand for bilingual education is evidently high in the San Luis Obispo County, it is important for local families and community members to have access to information regarding the implementation process. The website provides detailed information from the book Designing and Implementing Two-Way Bilingual Programs by Calderón and Minaya-Rowe. As bilingual education rises in popularity, it is essential that all members of the community are aware of not only the benefits of bilingual education programs, …

Kinesthetic Language: A Dialect Of Kinesics, Terrill Suzanne Corletto

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Human communication requires the disciplines regarding physical fitness, codified language, and the performing arts to overlap, and exist symbiotically. Within the realm of artistic performance, the three disciplines working together deliver a deliberate message in a way unique to performing artists. The general tendency to compartmentalize sports, communication, and the performing arts into their pigeonhole categories of Kinesiology, Linguistics, and Theatre Arts is impractical, particularly for performing artists simply because all of the disciplines are mutually dependent in the context of all kinesthetic communications.

The purpose of this paper is to define and discuss several concepts and the ways in …

Positioning And Repositioning: Transnational Identity (Re) Construction And (Re) Negotiation By American-Senegalese Children, Aminata Diop

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The main aim of this dissertation is to study the ways American-Senegalese children position and reposition themselves as they (re) construct and (re) negotiate their transnational identity upon returning to the U.S. from Senegal. This project explores the following questions: 1) why do US-residing Senegalese parents send their children back to their homeland to be raised by relatives? 2) how do these American-Senegalese children (re) construct and (re) negotiate their multiple layers of identities upon returning home after being raised by extended family members for more than a decade?3) and how do the American-Senegalese children (re) story their racial, class, …

Afro-Americano: The Transracialization Of The African-American Spanish Speaker, John M. Flanagan

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Transracialization is not a biological term connoting the change of one’s skin tone to become a member of a different race. Its definition has its roots in racialization—the ideological process that describes how one assembles ideas about groups based on their race and decides, for example, what a ‘Black’ person is and how ‘Black’ people speak. Thus, transracialization is a linguistic term that describes the political and sociocultural act of recontextualizing one’s phenotype with the use of language, and in so doing, upending the observers’ stereotypical expectations of who one is (Alim 2016). This dissertation deals with how Spanish influences …

Black Girls Matter: The Impact Of Historical Representation On Contemporary Education, Carolyn Strong

Dissertations

A long history of misogynoir and negative stereotypes about Black
girls and women can be found throughout the literature and popular
culture of the United States. These stereotypes inform the lived
experience of Black girls and women, and in particular interfere with
African American girls’ ability to thrive in a school environment. An
autoethnographic research approach shows that various strategies, in
particular, Black girl-centric spaces, have proven to be helpful in
supporting Black girls who have to negotiate varying degrees of
hostility in general environments. These could be applied more broadly
to improve Black girls’ mental, psychological, physical, and
educational …

Critical Period Controversies For Second Language Acquisition: Implications For Language Teaching, Randy Lucio

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

It was proposed by Eric Lenneberg (1967) in Biological Foundations of Language that implicit first language (L1) acquisition was only possible during a critical period (CP) spanning from infancy to puberty. The critical period hypothesis (CPH) has since been a topic of controversy among L1 and second language (L2) scholars, whose studies have produced varying results that argue for and against a CP. It is suggested in this paper, however, that these often-varying results offer important insight that can serve to inform current and future L2 educational policy and instruction within K-12 education in the U.S. Thus, it is imperative …

Intergenerational Family Learning Programs: Stories Of Latinx, Immigrant Families And Their Journeys To And Through Higher Education, Monica Ramos

Dissertations

ABSTRACT

This research presents the stories of three Latinx families who participated in an intergenerational family program. I endeavored to understand their experiences navigating the American system of education and their immigrant stories. Their narratives revealed significant details that can serve as integral elements in the development of an intergenerational learning curriculum based on culture, language, and traditions, and that steps away from the assumptions that perpetrate the deficit-based narratives about Latino families and higher education. Their hopes provide points for further research and advocacy. In this qualitative study, I collected data using semi-structured interviews, including documents and artifacts. The …

Enseignement Engagé: Engaging And Motivating French Language Learners, James T. Workman

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This portfolio is a compilation of work that the author completed during the Master of Second Language Teaching (MSLT) program at Utah State University. It represents the culmination of the author’s personal learning and teaching experiences from his coursework and teaching experience both as a graduate instructor of French at USU and as a seventh-grade French Dual Language Immersion (DLI) instructor.

The portfolio consists of three main sections. The teaching perspectives section provides insight into the author’s beliefs about the ideal roles of teachers and students in an L2 classroom, both in a foreign language setting and an immersion setting, …

Elementary School Teachers’ Perspectives And Practices Of Multicultural Education In Indonesia, Robby Anggriawan

Theses and Dissertations

The main purpose of the study was to investigate multiculturalism and multicultural education perspectives and practices of elementary school teachers in Indonesia. The research was designed as a qualitative case study which focused on seven elementary school teachers as study participants. In this study, semi-structured interviews are used to evaluate teachers’ understanding of culture as defined by Creshaw (1989, 2008) and multiculturalism concept by using four levels of understanding multiculturalism as defined by Nieto (1994, 2017). As well as elementary school teachers’ practices of multicultural education implementation as outlined by Banks (1999, 2019). The results of the study showed that …