Education Commons^™

A Plurilingual Approach For Secondary Efl Students In Panama, Charlie Kersey

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

This capstone project was guided by the following research question: How can we develop a pedagogy for emerging bilingual EFL students that leverages their full linguistic potential? The research question was identified in response to the shortcomings of an English immersion program that was not promoting the full linguistic potential of its bilingual students. This paper pursues solutions to this problem through a multidisciplinary literature review designed to explore the benefits of bilingualism, how to increase language awareness among students, as well as the explicit use of students’ L1 to learn a L2. Topics explored in the literature review include …

How Can Guest English-Speaking Teachers Best Promote Students’ Identity And Culture In South Korean Schools, Tracy Olsen

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

English language education in South Korea has complex layers. Ideas of Westernization, globalization, neoliberalism, native-speakerism, language ownership, culture, and identity all play a role in how Koreans view themselves as English language learners. Guest English-speaking Teachers (GETs) should promote student culture and identity to empower students as English speakers in a globalized world and work against ideas of native-speakerism and Westernization. The project created is a website for new and current GETs teaching English in South Korea. Based on research on culture and identity in English language learning in Korea and critically and culturally sustaining pedagogy, this website is meant …

Metaphor Matters: Teaching Metaphoric Competence, Linda Pope

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Research shows that metaphoric competence is necessary for communicative competence and this paper suggests Cognitive Metaphor Theory (CMT) may be useful in teaching metaphoric competence at all levels of English. Even though causality is difficult to establish, research underscores the link between metaphoric competence and overall language proficiency. This, and the pervasiveness of metaphor in everyday and specialized English, strongly suggests a pedagogical shift towards recognizing and engaging deeply with metaphoric language. This means making room for metaphoric competence training in the ESL and legal English classroom. The project models the analyses of two diverse texts: an intermediate-level newspaper article …

Integrating Translanguaging Into The Classroom: A Professional Development For Primary Elementary Teachers, Ashli Meyer

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Research has shown that translanguaging strategies can positively benefit language learners inside schools today. The benefits of translanguaging strategies can be incorporated into the classroom daily. This project incorporates useful strategies and the benefits that are connected to translanguaging into a three session, professional development series for K-2 general educators. The series begins by introducing translanguaging and the benefits aligned with translanguaging along with benefits of bilingualism. Each session will also introduce a new translanguaging strategy that educators can introduce into their classrooms. The three strategies from the framework provided in the CUNY-NYSIEB guide include building a translanguaging classroom, content …

The Decentering Of Native English Speaking Teachers In English As A Lingua Franca Contexts, Seamus Folliard

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

English’s spread throughout the world has made it the most widely studied second language in the world and the de facto lingua franca. Though the purpose of a lingua franca is to allow speakers with varied native languages to have a common language to communicate with, there are historical and social factors such as colonialism and racism that have created inequities in the field between native English speaking teachers and their non-native English speaking teacher colleagues. This project aims to to present the conditions that led to inequities, address discriminatory practices in the field, and provide opportunities for newly minted …

Translanguaging In Efl Settings, Erica Johnson

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

This Capstone seeks to ask how can teachers embed a translanguaging pedagogy into an EFL (English as a Foreign Language) setting? It was born out of the author’s realization that the majority of the literature surrounding the topic of translanguaging practices took place in English as a Second Language (ESL) settings in Western countries. To adequately adopt the translanguaging framework into the classroom, one must understand not only translanguaging pedagogy but translanguaging theory as well. Translanguaging theory is the view that people, particularly bi/multilinguals have one complete linguistic system, which they draw from strategically in order to communicate. In covering …

Esl Curriculum: Oral Language Acquisition For Teaching Under-Privileged School-Aged Children Of Hopeful Academy, Ibadan, Nigeria, Oloruntoba Ajibero

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

This project is centered on the development of the ESL curriculum for teaching of oral language to under-privileged school-aged children of Hopeful Academy, Ibadan-Nigeria. It investigated the question “How does Poverty impact the Oral Language Acquisition of English by School-Aged Children in Nigeria?” The content-based learning approach and the input-based approach served as useful guides in designing this ESL curriculum. The materials, activities, and units of this ESL Curriculum are mostly based on the Total Physical Response (TPR) from the WIDA English Language Proficiency standards. Children’s poor environments prevent them from being exposed to higher quantity and quality language learning …

English Writing Through Content And Language Integrated Learning For Korean University Students, Michael Delorenzo

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

The purpose of this project was to discover how to adapt Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) classes to serve the learning needs of Korean university students who want to learn content and English communication skills, particularly writing. The project outlines a goal focused curriculum unit. The curriculum unit includes a content portion focused on discussing current news events, and a portion for teaching writing using those same readings as authentic examples. The writing portion includes strategies to teach basic writing organization such as topic introduction paragraphs, body paragraphs, topic sentences, through process writing, as well as strategies to teach …

Critical Race Theory: Measuring Anti-Black Sentiment In South Korean English Education, Kenya Nelson

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

This research study examines how anti-Black sentiment influences Black teachers’ experiences in South Korea, using the critical race theory (CRT) framework to analyze various forms of anti-Black sentiment (ABS) and explore correlations between major tenets of CRT and types of ABS. Previous research has concluded that Black teachers continue to face overt racism in South Korea. Also, there continues to be a lack of empathy or disinterest in discussing racism in Korea. Unfortunately, the amount of research that focuses on the experiences of Black teachers teaching English in East Asia, primarily South Korea, is scarce. This study will add to …

Need Not Apply: A Systematic Literature Review Re-Evaluating English Prestige And Its Retribution On Foreign English Language Leaders And Their Learners’ Identity, Jessica Ibarra-Gambrill

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

This comprehensive literature review aims to progress the dialogue on the influence of English prestige in the ESL field related to hiring practices, pedagogical practices, and consideration for how it impacts learner success. Traditional interpretations of cultural capital from Bourdieuean theory form a deficit view of Communities of Color with an extension to immigrant families and those for whom English is not the first language. Further to that, Bourdieu's concept of linguistic capital measures against the knowledge of the ability to speak the official language. The English language has served as a gatekeeper worldwide as the demand for English language …

Creating An Esl Curriculum In A Type C International School In China, Song Yang

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

The research question for this capstone project was: what does an ESL curriculum look like in a Type C Chinese international school and how will it reflect the cultural and linguistic needs of its students? The Type C international school is a relatively new kind of school that has become more common in the last few years that caters to affluent families who want their children to gain a Western curriculum and at the same time still maintain their national curriculum. Research on Type C international schools is scarce, but Bala Kumaravadivelu’s postmethod theory would insist that this author’s experience …

A Study On The Use Of Rubrics To Guide Writing And Self-Assessment In The L2 Elementary Classroom, Matthew Hoerr

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

The use of rubrics in the classroom to guide writing or as a means of self-assessment are not new concepts but ones that have received little study at the primary level. This study took the

form of a classroom-based action research project, over a seven-week period, in a fourth- grade elementary school classroom, at an international school in Ecuador. Data was collected

through responses to narrative writing prompts scored by the teacher and self-assessed by the students using the 6-Traits Writing Rubric. The students received direct instruction on writing traits as well as training on how to use the rubric. …

Teaching And Learning Pragmatics And Speech Acts: An Instructional Pragmatics Curriculum Development Project For Efl Learners, Bridget Borer

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

The intent of this curriculum development project is the advancement of instructional pragmatics as a component of interlanguage pragmatic development. The guiding question underlying this project is: What might an instructional pragmatics curriculum for adult EFL learners look like? Pragmatics as a level of linguistics is concerned with language use in context. The research for this project focused on concepts in pragmatics such as Speech Act Theory, especially the expressive speech act of apologizing, interlanguage pragmatics, and instructional pragmatics. This curriculum project was designed for teaching and learning concepts in pragmatics and developing English learner pragmatic competence when performing apologies …

What Is The Rational For Opening Elementary School In Somalia?, Abdikarim Mohamed

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

This project explores the research question “What is the rational for opening an Elementary school in Somalia” It creates and builds a new private school for the children in Somalia that will focus on increasing achievement standards to the highest possible levels, by utilizing the STEM curriculum and a comprehensive college preparation with emphasis on science, technology, engineering and mathematics — while ensuring that quality character education is taught through every opportunity, and that all learn responsibility, respect, honesty, and the skills of analysis. The project then narrows down to the focus of planning and outline. This explains different models-finance, …

Integrating The Nature Of Science Into The International Baccalaureate Chemistry Curriculum: Lesson Plans And Resources For Educators, Greta Wanless Stacy

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

This paper outlines the need for, and the creation of, ten lesson plans designed to teach the nature of science in an integrated fashion in the IB chemistry curriculum. The nature of science is necessary not just to prepare students to answer experimental questions on the IB exam, but also to answer new questions about chemistry and science throughout their lives. Simply using an inquiry approach is insufficient to teach the nature of science; it must be explicitly taught with varying degrees of contextualization to maximize student learning. Like all content areas, the nature of science should be taught in …

Designing Pedagogy For Existing Mathematics: Measurement Curriculum In A Language Immersion School, Jihee Jina Kim

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

This project addressed the research question of how instruction in the multilingual classroom learning environment can be beneficial in a language immersion school? How should the first-year teacher start to deliver effectively for students in multicultural circumstances? This document created curriculum for the subject of measurement taught by a first-year language immersion school teacher and included appropriate teaching pedagogy according to students’ individual circumstance in second grade mathematics. The author has keenly researched current, various perspectives from teachers, parents, and students as well as other facts regarding language immersion schools. Where there are students of different educational backgrounds, the teacher …

Indirect Requests: A Comparative Study Of Explicit-Deductive And Explicit-Inductive Instruction Methods, Nicholas J. Reishus

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

This study compared the effects of explicit-deductive and explicit-inductive instruction methods on the participants’ request types. Specifically, the researcher explored the following questions:

how Chinese university students’ English request types are affected by a ninety-minute explicit- deductive treatment or a ninety-minute explicit-inductive treatment; which request types are

most frequently used prior to the treatments; which request types are most frequently used following the treatment; and how do the request type frequencies differ between the two treatment groups. The participants were undergraduate and graduate students from an urban university in China. Discourse Completion Tests (DCTs) were used to gather data from …

Esp For Ecotourism: Discourse Skills, Technology, And Collaboration For Job Contexts, Jill King

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

This capstone’s primary aim was to design a companion instructional guide for teachers of English for Specific Purposes for ecotourism professionals in Mexico. It identified gaps left by traditional EFL courses that tend to lack strong connections between language instruction and real-world job requirements for English usage. It looked at curricular reform efforts in other world regions with the intention to innovate ESP instruction in Mexico. Findings include recommendations for student-centered curricula that incorporate multimodal learning activities and authentic contexts for tourism jobs. Multiliteracies pedagogy drove the creation of the instructional guide’s components, which provide support in conducting small-group projects …

Discovering Conceptual Metaphors In High School Biology To Instruct English Language Learners, Nancy R. Mccurdy

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

An investigation was completed to identify and define abstraction that occurs within abstract nouns in biology terminology in the Mississippi high school biology subject area practice test in order to determine conceptual language patterns in biology terms to teach to high school English Learners. The conceptual metaphors that dominate biology concepts in major scientific theories of the text exemplar examined are ORGANISMS ARE MACHINES, ECOSYSTEMS ARE COMMUNITIES, DNA IS A TEMPLATE, and DESIRED TRAITS ARE VALUABLE. The most prevalent common conceptual metaphors found within abstract nouns in biology of the text examined are MATTER IS A STRUCTURE, PROCESS IS A …

Motivation For Learning English At A Theological Seminary In Ukraine, Joshua Tokar

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

This study was designed to determine what factors motivate students to learn English at an evangelical seminary in Ukraine. After the fall of communism, English was mainly taught at newly formed evangelical seminaries in Ukraine to enable students to access theological resources in English that were not available in Russian or Ukrainian. A mixed-method approach involving a written attitudinal questionnaire and follow-up focus group interviews was employed to collect data. Participants in this study were second- year music ministry and first- to third-year theology students enrolled in English courses.The results of this study revealed that twenty-five years later seminary students …

Teacher Identity, Motivation, And Career In The Efl Setting, Kevin Peter Gilman

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

This study looked at how English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers’ motives and identities changed throughout their careers. It looked at teachers’ initial motivations for entering the field, and how these motivations changed with regards to their ever-evolving teacher identity. It also looked at some of the roles and challenges EFL teachers encounter while working in foreign countries and how this contributes to their job satisfaction and desire to continue teaching. Data was gathered through interviews with four EFL teachers. Results concluded that EFL teachers’ motives frequently involve external factors not related to teaching and that their ongoing motives …

Twelve Best Practices For Mathematics Vocabulary Instruction For K-5 Elementary Students, Shannon Elisa King

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

The research question addressed in this project was, what are the current best practices for mathematics vocabulary instruction for K-5 elementary students? The motivation for this capstone was the struggle with K-5 students to understand the complex language of mathematics vocabulary. This capstone details the challenges students face in learning mathematics vocabulary, twelve best practices for mathematics vocabulary instruction for K-5 elementary students, and the level of awareness teachers have of these twelve best practices and the level of use of these strategies within their classrooms. Key influence for this capstone was the accreditation process for mathematics at the writer’s …

Elementary School Teacher Inspiration In Lifelong Musicianship, Austin John Wellman

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

This study gathers the stories of musician teachers, asking how teacher avocations in music might impact the students in the classroom. This work begins by telling the music and teaching story of the author. Topics related to music are explored in the literature review, including music as an avocation, educational research surrounding music, and finally music as a possible sense of community. Six teachers are observed and interviewed, three of whom are music teachers, and all of whom are at minimum musicians by hobby. Three notable themes are found common to all teachers participating in the study. First, all participants …