Education Commons^™

Critical Language Awareness In An Ell Urban Language Classroom: Transforming A Latina Teacher’S Language Ideology, Yvonne V. Fariño

Doctoral Dissertations

How can language be re-conceptualized as a tool and resource in contested pedagogies? Vygotsky theory of the mind (1978, 1986, 1998) and Engeström Activity Theory (1987, 1992) document how learning and development are situated within sociocultural contexts (Scribner & Cole, 1981; Tharp & Gillmore, 1988). Vygotsky theory of the mind (1978) central tenet is “understanding everyday activities and of cognitive processes” (Mondada & Pekarek Doehler, 2004: 467), or the process of appropriation itself, as it happens in everyday practices without isolating it from social context or human agency. Even though the goal of activity theory claims to be multi- voiced …

“Going The Extra Mile”: Perspectives And Experiences Of Coaches Supporting Primary School Teachers In Sierra Leone, Ashley Clayton Hertz

Doctoral Dissertations

Limited research exists that explores instructional coaching as a component of teacher professional development in low-income, developing countries. In response to this gap in the literature, I used an intrinsic case study design to explore the experiences and learning of a cohort of coaches supporting primary school teachers in a whole school development/ early grade reading initiative in Sierra Leone. Using an adaptation of Valsiner’s (1997) Zone Theory as a conceptual framework and analytical lens, I explored coaches’ perspectives of their knowledge and beliefs; coaching actions and experiences; constraints within their context; and professional learning and support needs. By examining …

The Use Of Ell Specific Assessment Accommodations: A Comparative Case Study Of Classroom Practices, Natalia Yeremina Ward

Doctoral Dissertations

Access and equity of instructional and assessment practices used with English Language Learners (ELLs) have been in the forefront of educational research. In recent years, the developments in computerized assessment design and the prevalence of Universal Design for Learning have complicated the already complex terrain of literacy and language instruction and assessment of ELLs. Within this context, the present study focuses on the daily experiences of two third-grade ELLs in a small city school system in the southeast United States. Through classroom observations, interviews with teachers and administrators, and document analysis, this comparative ethnographic case study aims to explore systematic …

Living The Change They Seek: Social Studies Teacher Educators Who Incorporate Race Into The Curriculum, Sara Beth Demoiny

Doctoral Dissertations

Despite the increasingly diverse K-12 study body within the United States (National Center for Education Statistics, 2014) and the numerous examples of racism and racial tension that continue to be exposed through news outlets and social media, race and racism remain at the periphery of social studies teacher education. Although social studies is a discipline whose main goal is citizenship education, race, which has been intertwined with citizenship through U.S. history, continues to be marginalized in social studies curriculum and instruction.

Grounded in critical race theory, I developed a study exploring the perspectives of 11 social studies teacher educators who …

Factors That Shape Arab American College Student Identity, Abdul Rahman F. Jaradat

Doctoral Dissertations

Arab American identity has not yet received the research attention and scholarship that it deserves. In this dissertation, I have qualitatively studied the narratives of young Arab American college students and recent graduates. The research questions that I explored include what makes them Arab Americans, and what are the factors that help them identify as such. By focusing on Arab Americans and their identity factors, I have presented the narratives of those women and men who self-identify as Arab American and quoted their accounts of how they navigate this undervalued, misunderstood, and stereotyped identity. I have used ethnic and racial …

Verbal -S Productions In The Structured Writing Samples Of Variable Aae-Speaking Fourth-Grade Students With And Without Language Impairment, Jacklyn High Felton

Doctoral Dissertations

Researchers in speech-language pathology and ethnolinguistics have worked to gain knowledge about typical and atypical language patterns of African American children who are identified as African American English (AAE) dialect speakers. Much progress had been made, but limitations in this field of knowledge have persisted, especially for AA children who demonstrate variable use of AAE, presumably through the process of assimilation in the school setting. Therefore, more information is needed to provide diagnostic markers for deviations in typical language development for variable AAE-MAE speakers. Prior empirical research has found that third- and fourth-grade AAE-speaking children with typical language development overtly …

Implicit Bias In Pre-Service Teachers: A Mixed Methods Approach, Tara Pepis

Doctoral Dissertations

Research Goals/Questions Colleges of Education, through educator preparation programs, have applied a scattershot approach to addressing diversity through multicultural teacher education programs. These programs have not been shown to reduce bias levels in pre-service teachers and are not systematic or uniform. (King & Butler, 2015). This study focuses on an alternative approach to preparing pre-service teachers to work with diverse populations. It measured the levels of implicit bias in a sample population of pre-service teachers and attempt to reduce their implicit bias levels. The aim of the dissertation was to answer the following questions:

1. Can a brief, computer-based intervention decrease …

Moving From Trauma To Healing: Black Queer Cultural Workers’ Experiences And Discourses Of Love, Durryle N. Brooks

Doctoral Dissertations

Within the US context, there is a considerable misunderstanding of what love is. Normative discourse on love within our society is almost exclusively relegated to romance, familial relations, and or sexual connections. However, many scholars (Fromm, 1956, 1976; hooks, 2000, 2001; Tillich, 1952, 1954) have explored love within a critical theoretical construction, which has linked contemporary discourse on love to power, privilege, and oppression. In that sense, normative discourses on love are not innocuous but instead are hegemonic and serve as an ideology to perpetuate individualism and oppression. This qualitative study explores the impact of normative discourses of love at …

Expert Elementary Readers: A Profile Of Reading Proficiency, Shelley Watson Burton

Doctoral Dissertations

This study examined, through think-aloud protocols, the metacognitive processes that proficient fourth-grade readers use while they read to explore what types of thinking are present in successful elementary-school readers. Using an embedded mixed methods design, I studied the reported thinking processes of 12 proficient, fourth-grade readers to determine what these readers reported thinking as they read informational texts and what types of patterns were evident in their thinking. Several common themes emerged from the analysis of the students’ think-alouds and the findings indicated that the participants applied multiple, similar reading strategies while reading to aid their comprehension.

A Situated Perspective Of Rural Elementary School Mathematics Teachers’ Planning Practices, Ashley Paige Walther

Doctoral Dissertations

Rural areas are home to approximately 20% of the population in the United States. Schools that serve rural populations are geographically isolated and lack resources when compared to urban and suburban schools. Educators who serve students in rural schools are often born and raised in the same system in which they ultimately work. Elementary teachers are typically certified as generalists. As a result, many report a lack of confidence or proficiency in mathematics. This dissertation offers an analysis of the planning practices of rural elementary school mathematics teachers in a district located in the southeastern United States. The study sought …

Modeling As Teaching: Preparing Preservice Teachers To Implement Universal Design For Learning, Eric Jordan Moore

Doctoral Dissertations

Increasing diversity and growing achievement gaps among diverse groups in U.S. public schools has resulted in increased pressure on teacher education programs to prepare teachers effectively to meet the needs of contemporary students. Research is needed to establish best practices of teacher education that carry forward into future practice. Universal Design for Learning (UDL) has been proposed as a framework to help address the need for more flexible learning environments, but limited research has been conducted to determine best practices for supporting preservice teachers in learning this complex framework. In this dissertation study, I examine the notion that education research …

Seguimos Luchando: Women Educators’ Trajectories In Social Movement Based Popular Education Projects In Buenos Aires, Argentina, Jennifer Lee O'Donnell

Doctoral Dissertations

Through a multisite ethnographic investigation, I provide a look at the vision and practices of women teaching in the popular education sector, particularly those who impact social, economic, and political public spaces in Buenos Aires, Argentina. As an alternative to Freirean based education theory, which may overshadow the collective work of women in popular projects, this work highlights women’s commitments to education that contests neoliberal reform, transforming not only curriculum and pedagogies, social practices, and discourses inside classrooms, but the communities where they live as well.

Relative Importance Of Anxiety And Motivational Variables In Predicting Language Achievement For College Learners Of Chinese, Qi Wang

Doctoral Dissertations

The growing worldwide enthusiasm in learning Chinese calls for more research on learner characteristics in Chinese classrooms to better inform teaching practice. Language anxiety, which falls under the umbrella of learner’s affect, is considered an important affective aspect that negatively influences language learning and acquisition. As research on language anxiety mainly focused on the learning of Western languages, this study constitutes an initial attempt to investigate anxiety in the learning of Chinese through the testing of a structural model. The purpose of the study was to examine the relative importance of language anxiety in predicting Chinese achievement when motivation, integrativeness, …