Education Commons^™

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.

Spaced And Expanded Practice: An Investigation Of Methods To Enhance Retention, Katherine Kalenberg

Journal of Undergraduate Research at Minnesota State University, Mankato

In order to promote quality instruction and maximized student learning, it is essential for schools to integrate the most practical, effective, and efficient teaching methods into the curriculum. The purpose of this research was to investigate the effect of various spacing patterns between practice sessions on retention of information. This study investigated the effects of practice at consistent intervals (spaced practice), practice at increasing intervals (expanded practice), and no practice. Participants were taught a set of eight unknown math words and definitions using incremental rehearsal (IR). After the teaching session, students in expanded and spaced practice conditions participated in three …

Infusing Critical Thinking Into Communication Courses, James P. Dimock, Kristen P. Treinen, Daniel Cronn-Mills, Robert S. Jersak

Daniel Cronn-Mills, Ph.D.

The importance of critical thinking is generally recognized by educators and during the past 20 years numerous initiatives have been taken to improve critical thinking. Although research demonstrates courses in communication study can have a positive impact on critical thinking skills, we argue that instruction in critical thinking can be more explicitly covered in basic communication courses. This article details our efforts to infuse critical thinking into an entrylevel communication course and outlines a guide to help communication teachers integrate critical thinking into their courses.

"I Feel Like Having A Nervous Breakdown": Pre-Service And In-Service Teachers' Developing Beliefs And Knowledge About Pronunciation Instruction, Michael Burri, Amanda Ann Baker, Honglin Chen

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Evidence on the impact of second language teacher education is inconclusive in the area of pronunciation pedagogy. This study explores how the cognition (knowledge, beliefs, thoughts, attitudes and perceptions) of 10 pre-service and five in-service teachers developed during a postgraduate course on pronunciation pedagogy. Questionnaire items, focus group meetings, semi-structured interviews, classroom observations and an assessment task were used to trace the development of participants' beliefs and knowledge. Findings demonstrated that the development of the student teachers' cognition was limited and the notion of integrating pronunciation into L2 lessons proved to be challenging for participants irrespective of their pronunciation teaching …

Collaborative Instruction For Information Retrieval And Appraisal Skills In Evidence-Based Practice Models For Dental Hygiene Students., Irene M. Lubker, Joan M. Pellegrini

VCU Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

Objectives:

1. Collaborate with VCU Dental Hygiene Program faculty to develop and evaluate a model of evidence-based practice (EBP) for students in didactic and clinical settings.

2. Describe how a course was modified to emphasize evidence-based practice.

3. Analyze course evaluations and student scholarly output.

Methods/Materials:

Dental educators strive to develop graduates who practice evidence-based practice and whose clinical decisions are based on current scientific research. A medical librarian was invited to assist in integrating EBP into the dentistry curriculum in 2012. To gain a better understanding of EBP in dental settings, the librarian and dental hygiene faculty attended the …