Education Commons^™

A Closer Look At Toefl Speaking Assessment Test: A Guide To Teaching Toefl Ibt Speaking, Glen Ryan Alejandro

Master's Projects and Capstones

The lack of reliable speaking learning materials has been a problem of some non-native English speakers who are preparing for the TOEFL iBT Test (Test of English as a Foreign Language Internet-Based Test) and who are struggling most with the speaking section of said standardized test. Consequently, the lack of these reliable resources has been the main concern of TOEFL iBT speaking instructors whose main goal is to help meet the needs of these struggling students. As a result, many non-native English speakers who are preparing for the speaking section of the TOEFL iBT Test are not able to meet …

Eugenics In Education Policy And The Impact On African American Students, Ruth Jones

Master's Theses

Eugenics was defined as a science which used selective breeding as a mechanism to increase desirable traits in a population while restricting and eliminating undesirable traits. Eugenicists fell out of favor in the United States after the fall of Nazi Germany. Yet, eugenic ideas continued to prevail as they heavily influenced medical, social, and academic systems in the U.S. The country’s education system still carries the legacy of eugenicists who helped to build it. The purpose of this qualitative study is to identify eugenic ideas in federal, district and local school policy and determine their connection to the very local …

Indigenization Of Genocide Healing: A Grounded Action Of Culturally And Contextually Relevant Educational And Psychosocial Strategies To Reduce Impacts Of Societal Toxic Stress In Rwanda Post-Genocide, Jean Pierre Ndagijimana

Master's Theses

Sixty percent of the current Rwandan population were born after the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi and those born since or who were young at the time of the genocide have remained among those affected most. Although Western trauma theorists and interventionists have played the role of experts in the genocide healing, the exclusion of the indigenous population’s experiences, knowledge, and wisdom has limited them from meeting local needs. The post-genocide situation raises various issues, genocide ideology, and increasing family homicides; however, locals do not want to seek counseling services, or run the risk of being labeled as mentally ill. …

Breaking The Chains: Reversing The School-To-Prison Pipeline Through The Academic Experiences Of Formerly Incarcerated Black Males, Folasade Ogunbanwo

Master's Theses

This case study explores the academic experiences of formerly incarcerated Black males. The goal of the case study is to inform policymakers and critical race scholars who take interest in the prison-to-school pipeline and ultimately dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline. The historical impact of slavery has manifested into this vicious pipeline and the overrepresentation of Black males in the prison industrial complex. This case study is to demonstrate how the net is casted on those affected by the incarceration system and that break the cycle for themselves by pursuing an education to create an upward academic trajectory.

Multimedia Training For Novice Efl Teachers In East Asia, Franklin Hewins

Master's Projects and Capstones

Schools in East Asia have shown a preference for hiring young, native English-speakers from majority white countries as EFL teachers. In addition, the high demand for English language instruction has made it difficult to fill all positions with qualified teachers. As a result, there is an issue with undertrained and underqualified native English-speaking teachers in East Asian classrooms. The purpose of this project is to provide these novice teachers with training in the use of video clips as a way to help them overcome their lack of a pedagogical knowledge. The use of video clips allows teachers to personalize content, …

Ielts 360°: Increasing Fluency, Accessibility, And Familiarity For The Ielts Speaking Exam Through Virtual Reality And 360 Degree Videos, Kevin Zaragoza

Master's Projects and Capstones

IELTS 360 helps increase fluency, accessibility, and familiarity, to the speaking portion of the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) exam. By integrating 360-degree videos, virtual reality, and the YouTube platform, the content created targets English Language Learners prepare for the interview by placing the viewer/learner in the virtual environment (VE). Through my experiences outside of class in ESL settings, my students mentioned speaking to be the hardest language skill to conquer and so this project aims to help anyone viewing the content practice as much speaking as possible given the time constraints.

The content may be viewed on any …

Borderlands Of Teenage Mothering: Life Stories Of Latinx Teen Mothers From A Critical Feminist Perspective, Ashley Burciaga

Doctoral Dissertations

Borderlands of Teenage Mothering: Life Stories of Latinx Teen Mothers from a Critical Feminist Perspective Rather than trying to understand and support teenage mothers, society has stigmatized and marginalized them, even more so for women of color. The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of teenage mothers of color as they reflected back on their teenage years in school, at home, and in their communities. Participants were asked to photograph people, places, and things that reminded them of their time as a teen mom. Open-ended semi-structured interview questions along with photo elicitation were implemented to support the …

Combating White Resistance: What We Can Learn About White Educators Who Lean Into Anti-Racist Training, Erin Parr

Master's Theses

This work attempts to understand and describe why some white teachers lean into anti-racist training and racial literacy development when many resist it. A qualitative case study with three white female educators explores what initially drew the participants into racial literacy work, how they have transformed their professional values and educational practices because of such work, and what aspects of the work they found to be most valuable in meaningfully engaging them. It describes the ways in which they embraced critical anti-racist work, specifically in regards to education and teaching practices. The findings may be valuable for future teacher educators …

Saffronizing California’S History Curriculum: Long Distance Hindu Nationalism In The United States, Pei-Hsuan Wu

Doctoral Dissertations

How U.S. public schools teach South Asian history has been a site of contestation since the 2000s. California’s solicitation of community input into its history curriculum has brought ideological clashes to the California Department of Education (CDE); these conflicts over South Asian history are an extension of struggles in India driven by rising Hindu nationalism, a widespread movement for a “Hindus-first” India that brutalizes subaltern groups and dissenters. This violence is often justified through manufactured histories demonizing Indian minorities and glorifying an ancient, Hindu civilization.

This dissertation focused on the 2016-2017 controversy surrounding the CDE’s process to revise its history …

Intercultural Communicative Competence: A Diversity Training For Educators, Administrators, And Managers, Amanda Marie Lowrey

Master's Projects and Capstones

Educators, administrators, and managers consciously or unconsciously perpetuate and create hostile environments through their (re)actions and interactions with students and employees. Examining the role of deficit discourses, systematic marginalization, oppression, and racism, and lack of self-reflection and efficacy, this paper and project explore selected models of Intercultural Communicative Competence, create a sociolinguistic understanding of selected dialects of English, and examine the role of self-reflection and efficacy in order to learn to resolve intercultural conflicts and promote the creation of truly inclusive environments.

This project then is a communicative competence diversity training handbook for educators, administrators, and managers who work in …

A Communicative English-Speaking Supplementary Curriculum: Using Wechat To Develop Chinese Efl Learners’ Speaking Fluency, Tianxing Yao

Master's Projects and Capstones

The development of English communication skills is ignored by most EFL learners in China. This problem attributes to sufficient practice during their English-learning process in class, since most public schools in China, grammar-translation is still the mainstream teaching approach. Which means that Chinese not English is used to give lectures. Students do grammatical analysis and vocabulary memorizing instead of communicating in the target language. However, this approach cannot help the development of students’ speaking fluency. The deficiency of English speaking a variety of problems when students need to communicate with English speakers. Besides, the inner shy personality and face-saving culture …

Energy Renovation While Learning English: A Guidebook For Elementary Esl Teachers, Di Yang

Master's Projects and Capstones

This project discussed the causes of low classroom energy from two aspects, one was the students' problems. Students were insufficient in learning motivation was a foremost problem, including intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation. Because students hardly had a clear learning goal or desire on the way of education, it would affect students' learning interest and vitality. In addition, students' learning anxiety was another factor. For example, students would feel dysphoric in learning, which could reduce their engagement during learning. The other one is the teachers themselves. This project would start with the instruction enthusiasm of the teacher. If the teacher …

Vizuri Kabisa 2019, Vizuri Kabisa

Black Activism and Education

Pamphlet and script from the 23rd Annual Vizuri Kabisa celebration. Tuesday, May 14th, 2019 in McLaren Hall.

Vizuri Kabisa 2019 Script, Vizuri Kabisa

Black Student Union

No abstract provided.

African-American Christian Female Missionaries In Nyasaland, Congo, And Liberia: Perpetuation And Resistance At The Intersections Of Blackness, Gender, Disability, And Christianity, Karen Yvette Dace

Doctoral Dissertations

Events are taking place in the United States today regarding blackness, gender, disability, and Christianity, and the perceived place of those with black and brown bodies. Current efforts have focused on blackness and gender, blackness and disability, gender and disability, and disability and Christianity; but there has not been concerted efforts focusing on the historical intersections of blackness, gender, disability, and Christianity and how these intersections help in understanding the contemporary black social movement and the climate in which we now live.

The purpose of this qualitative study sought to understand the narratives of Christian mission agencies and how African-American …

University Of San Francisco Black Student Union Constitution 2019, Black Student Union

Black Student Union

University of San Francisco's Black Student Union Constitution updated April 8, 2019.

The purpose of the Black Student Union (BSU) is "to foster community and unity among students of the African Diaspora on the University campus as well as focus on exploring and examining the identity, history, issues and culture of the African diaspora. This purpose does not contradict the University's mission or its Catholic, Jesuit character."

Signatories: Black Rainbow Party, African Student Association, USF Alliance for Change, and the Black Student Union Executive Board.

Promoting Tolerance Through Learning About Human Evolution And Creation Myths, Afsoon Alishahi

Doctoral Dissertations

The role that religion plays in the lives of humans is complex, contradictory, and deeply impactful. According to Allport (1979), religion has a paradoxical function in that it can either combat or contribute to prejudice. A meta-analysis by Hall, Matz, and Wood (2010) found a significant correlation between being deeply religious and having racial prejudice. Similarly, many social scientific studies since 1940 have concluded that religious individuals are more prejudiced than less religious individuals (Hunsberger & Jackson, 2005).

Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine whether gaining knowledge about human evolution, creation myths, and their relationship to religious …

Throw Out Your Books: Designing Libraries For Their New Roles, Shawn P. Calhoun, Karen A. Cribbins-Kulkin, Joey Favaloro

Gleeson Library Faculty and Staff Research and Scholarship

Designing libraries based on student experience rather than book storage provides the potential to cater to a wider variety of students and learning styles, transforming libraries from an afterthought for prospective students to an asset for recruitment. This session will use recent library projects to study the effect of major program shifts on student behavior and discourse. We will look at both larger capital improvement projects and “small wins” that can be readily executed.

Learning Outcomes

1. Pilot small library design projects on campus to see how students react and engage.
2. Create a dialogue with library administrators and admissions/recruitment professionals to …

Grand Launch Of The Black Resource Center: Michael Tadesse-Bell's Speech, Michael Tadesse-Bell

Black Activism and Education

This speech was given by Michael Tadesse-Bell at the Grand Opening of the Black Resource Center (BRC) - the third component of the Black Academic Success and Engagement Program (BASE).

Michael has a BS in Business Administration and an MA in Sports Management, both from USF. He is the BASE Program Manager and Assistant Dean of Retention and Persistence Programs here at USF.

Grand Launch Of The Black Resource Center: Event Overview, Black Academic Success And Engagement Program

Black Activism and Education

The Black Resource Center (BRC) - the third component of the Black Academic Success and Engagement Program (BASE) - provides a safe, supportive space for black-identified undergraduate and graduate students to connect with each other to receive academic, spiritual, mentoring, and emotional support services.

This event overview for the opening of the BRC includes a general outline of the night's events and a panel script.

Redefining Career Communities In Higher Education, June Y. Lee, Sheetal Patel

Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Strategy

This study aims to revisit the understudied concept of career communities. Using mixed methods, this study assesses how university students define and characterize career communities compared to general communities. Based on our interviews (N=25) and survey (N=123), we formally define a career community more narrowly as a group of individuals who share similar career interests or aspirations where one can receive direct or indirect customized benefits through the exchange of knowledge, expertise, and resources. Theoretical and practical implications with future research opportunities have been recommended.

Ethnic Studies In San Francisco High Schools: A Model For The U.S.?, Noah E. Borrero

Journal of Interdisciplinary Perspectives and Scholarship

Noah Borrero discusses the development of ethnic studies programs in California public schools and recent initiatives to bring courses to San Francisco high schools.

Bay Area Resistance To Trump’S Anti-Immigrant War, Bill Ong Hing

Journal of Interdisciplinary Perspectives and Scholarship

From the Muslim ban to the assault on sanctuary cities, to the repeal of DACA, the Trump administration’s policies on immigration may be the worst in a generation. Bill Ong Hing outlines the long history of anti-immigration policies from past administrations. In the Bay Area, immigration service providers have continued their work to protect immigrants and their families.

Prevention And Education: A Case Study Of An Anti-Human Trafficking Nongovernmental Organization In Mumbai, India, Danielle Kraaijvanger

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to gain an in-depth understanding of the role of community-based NGOs in developing and delivering prevention interventions and nonformal education programs that work to end human trafficking of at-risk women and children. Specifically, the study explored the intersection between human trafficking and education, and the critical role NGOs play in human trafficking prevention. Essential to understanding this phenomenon was giving voice to the experiences of children who are the recipients of such prevention and education interventions.

An international community-based, anti-human trafficking NGO—Prerana—served as the case study setting. Direct observations and participant interviews …

Climate Of Transformation: Pursuing Carbon Neutrality And Economic Equity In San Francisco, Stephanie A. Siehr

Journal of Interdisciplinary Perspectives and Scholarship

San Francisco has enacted numerous policies in its efforts to achieve carbon neutrality. Stephanie Siehr outlines current initiatives and the work that still needs to be done to lower greenhouse gas emissions.

Going To Jail To Receive Mental Healthcare?, Lisa De La Rue

Journal of Interdisciplinary Perspectives and Scholarship

San Francisco jails are now the largest mental health facility in the country. Lisa De La Rue writes about issues with affordable healthcare and the growing population of incarcerated people with mental illness.

It’S About Discrimination And Equality, Not Just Diversity And Bad Actors, Tristin Green

Journal of Interdisciplinary Perspectives and Scholarship

Silicon Valley firms have made changes in response to accusations of discrimination and harassment. Tristin Green writes about the narrative around individuals and suggests that the focus move to systemic problems within organizations.

A New Model Of Art Commerce, John Zarobell

Journal of Interdisciplinary Perspectives and Scholarship

Rising rents in San Francisco led to galleries closing and vanishing studio space for artists. John Zarobell explores innovative development of art galleries and studios as a new model for creative spaces.

Bay Area – Nexus Of Change – But Toward What?, Rick Ayers

Journal of Interdisciplinary Perspectives and Scholarship

The Bay Area has a history as a site of innovation and change. With Caffe Trieste as a backdrop, Rick Ayers considers recent shifts in culture and freedom.

Queering California’S K-12 History Curriculum, David Donahue

Journal of Interdisciplinary Perspectives and Scholarship

To comply with the California Fair, Accurate, Inclusive and Respectful Act (FAIR Act), new inclusive textbooks were developed for K-12 instruction. David Donahue discusses the process of implementation and how this will impact curriculum in California and across the United States.