Education Commons^™

Middle School Teachers' Perceptions Of Long-Term English Language Learners, Rachel.Butiko O. Butiko

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Increasing numbers of English-language learners (ELLs) with limited literacy skills in middle schools have resulted in a high percentage of long-term English-language learners (LTELLs). The problem of LTELLs, ELLs who have attended school in the United States for more than 6 years and have not met the state ESL exit criteria, is addressed in this study. Cummins' concept of second language acquisition and Vygotsky's zone of proximal development theoretical frameworks were used in this qualitative case study to explore the perceptions of 6 Title I middle school teachers. The purpose of this study was to explore middle school teachers' perceptions …

Teaching In A Mixed Secondary Spanish Classroom: A Case Study Of Strategies And Successes Of Minnesota Teachers, Meredith Gunderson

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The population of Spanish heritage language learners is increasing throughout the state of Minnesota. This change in demographics impacts schools in a variety of ways; one such consequence is the creation of classes for Spanish for Native Speakers in locations with high Latino populations. However, in most locations, such programs currently do not exist, resulting in Spanish heritage language learners enrolling in Spanish foreign language classes. These classrooms, called mixed classes due to the combination of second language learners and Spanish heritage language learners in the same classroom, pose a unique challenge to the foreign language instructors. This qualitative multiple …

Perceptions Of Students With And Without Limited Formal Schooling, Sarah Schmidt De Carranza

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The purpose of this study was to examine and compare the perceptions that refugee and non-refugee English language learners hold of their academic performance and their perceived sense of membership in a school community. Students currently served in EL programs in grades 9-12 in a large urban school district were invited to participate in the study. Student perceptions were measured using the Morgan Jinks Student Efficacy Scale (MJSES) and Goodenow Pyschological Sense of School Membership (PSSM) scale.

Unexpectedly, the results indicated that differences of perceptions of student efficacy and school membership between the two groups of students were not statistically …

Religious Beliefs And Counseling Ethical Guidelines: Challenges For Catholic Counselors, Theophilus T. Okpara

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The Catholic Church tenets are in dissonance with American Counseling Association (ACA) ethical guidelines regarding same-sex sexual orientation. While homosexuality was removed from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual II as a disorder, the Catholic Church upholds same-sex sexual acts as grave depravity and disordered. Catholic counselors may face the dilemma of adhering to their religious tenets or their professional guidelines in working with gay men and lesbian women clients. Previous research has indicated that values conflicts between religious beliefs and ACA Ethical Codes on same-sex sexual orientation have resulted in legal issues due to counselors refusing therapeutic relationships or providing …

Gëm Sa Bopp: A Case Study Of Peace Corps Senegal Girls’ Camps, Tesia A. Eisenberg

Capstone Collection

This research explores the design, curriculum, and monitoring & evaluation efforts of Peace Corps Senegal Girls’ Camps through the lens of Youth Program Leadership and Design theory. The literature review reveals a research gap in youth camp programming and hopes to draw attention to this fact to promote more literature on this subject in the future. Interviews were conducted to gain information on the design and monitoring & evaluation experiences of camp facilitators from the 2015 and 2016 PCS Girls’ Camps. This research draws upon data collected from literature, interviews, personal experience, and relevant documents from Peace Corps Senegal to …

Starting World Languages In Elementary Schools, Seth A. Barnes-Smith

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This study addresses the position in which elementary school teachers find themselves when they recognize the benefits of bilingualism but are limited in being able to provide second language (L2) instruction. It seeks to answer the following questions: How many elementary school teachers in Montana have added a L2 component to their instruction? How likely are those teachers to turn to the Internet for materials and resources in order to add a L2 component to their instruction? What do elementary school teachers expect from those online materials? What L2 materials are available online and how can they be used? What …

Bell Hooks’ “Enactment Of Non-Domination” In The “Practice Of Speaking In A Loving And Caring Manner”: An Autoethnography Of A Saudi “Widow’S Son”, Braik Aldoshan

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

The Prophet Mohammed lost his parents when he was a child, and because he was an orphan, he believed that anyone caring for an orphan would hold a special place in the hereafter. Often when children in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia lose the father, as the author did, there is a stigma attached to the boy with no father, and a tremendous hardship is placed on the family. Having married at age 11 to her third cousin 10 years her senior and giving birth to three children, and expecting another child, his mother became a widow. He analyzes his …

Teaching The Biography Of Pearl S. Buck: Developing Collaborative Reading Strategies For Multilingual Writers, Nichole S. La Torre

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

The present study is action research with a narrative inquiry approach, and seeks to determine the benefits and challenges of using a collaborative method to teach reading comprehension strategies in English 112: Composition for Multilingual Students. As Kenneth Bruffee (1984; 1991), Margaret Mount (2014), Chiu-Hsin Lin (2007) and others have determined, there are many challenges English language learners face when reading college-level texts. This study sought to determine whether the use of collaboration would facilitate the learning of reading strategies and self-monitoring of reading skills.

Ten students participated in this study, including nine undergraduate students and one graduate-level Saudi teaching …

An Autoethnography Of A Novice Esl Teacher: Plato’S Cave And English Language Teaching In Japan, Kevin Lemberger

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

This autoethnography documents the author’s one-year experience teaching English in Honjo, Japan. The author details daily life in the public schools and introduces World Englishes. Chapter 1 includes definitions and examples of autoethnography as well as the author’s background, which qualified him for employment in Japan. Chapter 2 is a literature review of research on varieties of English and how they are evolving and being used in classrooms in Japan. The author suggests that Baudrillard’s simulation and Plato’s Allegory of the Cave provide a framework for analyzing current teaching methods and materials being used in the national core curriculum in …

A Triple Case Study Of Two Saudi And One Italian Language Learners' Self-Perceptions Of Target Language (Tl) Speaking Proficiency, Jena M. Robinson

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

This triple case study examined the diverse ways in which two Saudis and one Italian English language learner (ELL) came to speaking proficiency according to his or her own perceptions and observations. The researcher conducted interviews of the two Saudi ELLs face-to-face and the one Italian ELL through Skype by asking 15 open-ended questions related to their English language learning experiences (narrative inquiry) specifically related to speaking proficiency from their beginning learning through the present. This study was not intended as a contrastive analysis.

The researcher was a monolingual English speaker with beginning experience in Korean and Spanish, and was …

Young Chicanx On The Move: Folklórico Dance Education As A Mechanism Of Self-Assertion And Social Empowerment, Maya Salas

Scripps Senior Theses

In the context of Chicanx experiences in the United States, where varying generations of Chicanxs experience bicultural realities, this study shows how embodied knowledge performed through the body’s movements in folklórico dance by Chicanx youth from multiple generations, acts as a mechanism for reconnecting youth to cultural ties, reevaluating educational practices, and emplacing within youth, the ability to foster the confidence to express and create imagined futures. Data collection incorporated a series of interviews with eight Chicanx youth and adults who have either taught or danced folklórico in the Phoenix, Los Angeles, or Coachella Valley areas. Interview participants revealed a …

Exploring The Racial And Gender Identity Formation Of Men Of Color In Student Leader Roles Who Have White Women Supervisors And Advisors In Higher Education, Alejandro Frank Covarrubias

Doctoral Dissertations

Daily experiences of isolation and invalidation create adverse campus climates that often lead to men of color dropping out of higher education. Student leadership positions can increase feelings of belonging, provide greater access to campus resources and increase retention for men of color, particularly when they centralize identity exploration. White women are overrepresented in student affairs direct student contact positions in higher education and are likely to supervise and/or advise men of color student leaders, but many student affairs professional are not properly trained to supervise or advise through an identity-based framework. This study explored: how do men of color …

Understanding Translanguaging And Identity Among Korean Bilingual Adults, Nancy Ryoo

Doctoral Dissertations

This qualitative study, conducted at a Northern California university, explored how six Korean bilingual adults expressed their unique identities while utilizing both Korean and English in their daily and academic lives. The six study participants shared their journeys as bilingual adults who migrated to the United States from South Korea to attend graduate school. Several will return to South Korea at the conclusion of their graduate studies. Research data included narratives from in-depth personal interviews as well as focus group discussions.

This qualitative study postulated that translanguaging is commonly observed within bilingual/multilingual populations and can be utilized as a source …

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, …

Relevant And Represented: The Presence Of Special Populations In Trade Books, Jessica Krahnke

Masters Theses

This study provides insight into the presence of special populations in trade books. Special populations are defined as a population that has been assigned a label for the sake of educational interventions; in this case, special populations refer to thirteen categories of disability as well as English Language Learners. Past winners of the Rebecca Caudill Young Readers' Book Award were analyzed for the presence of special populations, how special populations were portrayed, and any significant patterns over time regarding the presence of special populations. Results indicated a lack of characters belonging to special populations, characters in a special population most …

Multilingual Writers’ Perceptions And Use Of L1 In A U.S. Composition Class: A Case Study Of Nepalese Students, Shyam Bahadur Pandey

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

This thesis shares a qualitative study of multilingual student writers’ perceptions and attitudes toward the use of L1 (i.e., Nepali) in L2 (i.e., English) writing. The research questions include: 1) What are Nepalese students’ attitudes toward using their L1 in a first-year composition class in the U.S.? and 2) How do Nepalese undergraduate students in a U.S. composition class use their L1 for the research writing process? A case study research design was adopted to shed light on the lived experiences multilingual writers in U.S. university writing programs. Nepalese students were recruited from two multilingual sections of English 101 Composition …

Multilingual Students' Perceptions Of And Experiences With Instructor Feedback Methods In A U.S. First-Year Composition Class, Hong Thi Tuyet Vo

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

While instructor feedback has generally been recognized as an essential factor in enhancing writing proficiency for multilingual writers, little known research has focused on students’ perceptions of and their experiences with different modes of instructor feedback. In addition, impacts of various feedback methods on students’ writing have remained debatable. This case study seeks to gain an in-depth understanding of the meaning and significance of three instructor feedback methods, namely written, oral, and audio-visual feedback, from students’ perspectives. Furthermore, it offers additional insights into the impacts of these three instructor feedback methods on students’ writing. To be more precise, this study …

Exploring Nnests’ Beliefs And Identities: A Case Study Of Japanese Efl High School Teachers, Ryosuke Aoyama

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Studies have suggested that, to understand language teaching and learning, it is critical to examine teachers’ beliefs and identities, along with their impacts on actual teaching practices in the classroom. The purpose of this study was to explore teaching beliefs and teacher identities of eight non-native English speaking teachers (NNESTs) in Japanese public high schools. Three research questions were addressed to examine what teaching beliefs they have, what influences their belief formation and professional identity development, and what identities constitute their teacher identity. To do this, a qualitative case study was undertaken. An in-depth analysis of the interview transcripts revealed …

Taking It To Heart : A Case Study Of Supporting English Language Learners Through Culturally Responsive Teaching, Collaboration, And Esol-Focused Leadership, Gretchen Oliver Oliver

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

A continued increase in the number of English language learners (ELLs) in U.S. schools has made educators consider the ways they approach teaching and learning for these students. Culturally responsive teaching is one way many educators have attempted to meet ELLs’ unique needs, valuing the cultural and linguistic diversity that they bring to school with them. Moreover, through collaboration and ESOL-focused leadership, educators are able to take a system-approach to teaching and learning for these students, and in doing so, they are able to provide ELLs with meaningful and authentic learning experiences that will allow them to be inclusive members …

“No Other Agency”: Public Education (K-12) In Washington State During World War I And The Red Scare, 1917-1920, Jennifer Nicole Arleen Crooks

All Master's Theses

This paper examines the impact of World War I and the Red Scare upon public education in Washington State. Schools, expected to be the instruments of governmental policy, played an important role in the everyday lives of people on the American homefront. Although many helped in the war effort willingly, this wartime drive included both instilling nationalism and loyalty to American political and economic institutions as well as the assimilation of immigrants. While these forces existed well before World War I and the Red Scare, they strengthened and became more publicly acceptable in 1917-1920 as more people grew convinced that …

Examining Elementary Teachers' Implementation Of Culturally Responsive Teaching, Katherine A. Silva

Masters Theses

The purpose of this research is to examine if elementary teachers in Central Illinois are implementing culturally responsive teaching (CRT) practices, since the United States and Central Illinois are becoming more diverse. Central Illinois is characterized by primarily White, rural communities and schools. Thus, some teachers may not have the theoretical or practical skills to meet the needs of culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students. A quantitative study utilizing a survey-questionnaire method was designed to examine if kindergarten through fifth grade teachers are implementing CRT in Central Illinois. The researcher examined which CRT practices teachers are doing the most and …

Living And Teaching For Social Justice: Teacher Educators' Stories And Experiences, Courtney Kay Clausen

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

In the United States, the population of students’ with diverse racial/ethnic, linguistic, and economic backgrounds is on the rise, while teachers entering the field of education continue to be White or of European decent, monolingual, and female. These experiential differences between students and teachers can result in a demographic gap, where teachers struggle to meet the needs of all learners due to misperceptions, stereotypical beliefs, and biases. Educational scholars have called for the integration of social justice education into teacher preparation programs in order to assist preservice teachers in challenging their perceptions of students, to challenge the existing inequitable educational …

Program Design, Delivery, And Evaluation: Lpc Us Host Family Program, Gillian Wigton Bell

Capstone Collection

This capstone paper outlines the design, delivery, and evaluation processes of the 2017 LPC US Host Family Program, a short-term, pre-camp host family experience administered by the LPC Board, a US support group of Luethi-Peterson Camps, International. It seeks to evaluate the program effectiveness and to determine a set of recommendations for future organizers, based upon the results of evaluative surveys and literature review.

A full review of the research proposal was conducted by the SIT IRB, due to the sensitive nature of research participants below the age of 18. Once approved, online surveys were disseminated to participating campers, camper …

How Whiteness Is Preserved: The Racialization Of Immigrants & Assimilation In Education, Hadiel Mohamed

Capstone Collection

This research aims to answer how educators can incorporate ethnic/racial identity development in the classroom for youth of color who are driven to pursue Whiteness. This quest begins by understanding Whiteness and its role within ethnic/racial identity and educational systems. The societal avoidance of discussing race furthers the perpetuation of Whiteness as the norm and removes the value of marginalized histories and voices. We can witness the preservation of Whiteness through immigration laws, the void of ethnic/racial identity exploration in schools, and the mono-cultured representation in classrooms. Therefore, this research explores assimilation and the racialization of immigrants through a macro-, …

Enhancing The Acquisition Of Discipline-Specific Vocabulary Through Student Concordancing, David W. Longstreth Jr.

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

This Master’s Project focuses on advanced-level English learners' acquisition of discipline-specific vocabulary as they transition from intensive English programs into English-medium university coursework. During this period, the number of discipline-specific terms students must master quickly and independently can be overwhelming. To address this problem, this M.A. Project argues that vocabulary-acquisition strategies should be foregrounded in intensive English programs, and that instructors should train students to supplement traditional vocabulary learning methods with independent concordancing strategies. Using concordancers, students can research vocabulary items by scanning a corpus (a large collection of texts) to retrieve examples of discipline-specific terms within authentic texts, revealing …