Education Commons^™

My Generation Will Never Forget: Oral Histories Of Chinese American Students In “Separate But Equal” Oriental Schools, Kelsey Owyang

Master's Theses

Asian Americans occupy a contradictory position in the American educational landscape, at once glorified for their academic success and vilified for their “invasion” of White academic spaces. This narrative first took root in the 19^th century, when the California Supreme Court ruled in the 1885 case Tape v. Hurley that Chinese American youth had a right to public education. Simultaneously, the state legislature declared that Chinese Americans must be educated in separate facilities from Whites. The first segregated “Oriental school” opened in San Francisco Chinatown that year. This study explores the oft-erased history of Asian American school segregation in …

Navigating School: An English As A Second Language Curriculum For Multilingual Caregivers, Kerry Stimpson

Master's Projects and Capstones

If multilingual families feel that they are not able to communicate with school staff, then these families may not become involved in their child’s school, and the child’s learning could be negatively impacted. The purpose of this project is to create a roadmap and lessons for English as a Second Language (ESL) instructors to implement in their classes with multilingual caregivers. This curriculum will address the lack of understanding that ESL teachers have in regard to the needs of multilingual caregivers to communicate with their child’s school staff and understand the school system in the United States. Given the content …

“I Want Them To See Me As A Complete Person”: Sustaining People Of Color In Predominantly White Institutions Through Counter-Hegemony, Jessica Albavera

Master's Projects and Capstones

Education in the United States is inequitable. Independent schools in particular add to this inequity because of limited access and affordability. This creates a situation in which educators who are fighting for more diversity, equity, and inclusion have to reconcile working in an institution that is part of an inequitable system. This research-based field project, through the method of focus groups, sought to examine the ways in which educators in an independent school in San Francisco are utilizing counter-hegemonic strategies in their classrooms to support the diverse and intersecting identities of their students. The focus group also provided a space …

Teaching American English Pronunciation In A Spanish Speaking Context: A Guide For Efl Teachers In Chile, Martin P. Quarto

Master's Projects and Capstones

This field project addresses the lack of education surrounding pronunciation teaching, and it specifically responds to the opportunities available within English as a Foreign Language settings. This project is especially relevant to English language teachers who would like to study pronunciation teaching and its history. The objective of this research is to inform educators of the validity of teaching pronunciation and to teach educators effective strategies that can be used. Theories of Contrastive Analysis and Error Analysis form the foundation of this project, as well as theories of Interlanguage and Markedness. The literature review includes extensive research into the subject …

Bridging Language Through Folktales And Authentic Outings: A Guidebook For Esl/Efl Teachers, Natalie Sauvain

Master's Projects and Capstones

There is a real need for authentic and culturally relevant materials to be integrated into ESL and EFL classrooms. Swiss classrooms, as well as the language acquisition curricula used in them, need to be redesigned with the native languages and culture of the learners’ in mind. All too often, teachers are dependent on textbooks, which can raise anxiety and decrease motivation among ELLs since the learners lack an authentic relationship with the teacher, language and materials. The aim of this field project is to address the lack of authentic materials in Swiss ESL classrooms. The creation of this field project …

Runaman Tukuy: Language Revitalization Strategies For Runasimi Heritage Learners, Allison B. Bejar

Master's Projects and Capstones

The legacies of colonization remain a pervasive force in society and actively work against Indigenous communities and their right to their languages, knowledge systems, and cultural practices. More specifically, the colonial legacy of linguicide has endangered and marginalized thousands of Indigenous languages all over the world. This field project focuses on Quechua language revitalization and aims to better understand and contribute to Indigenous language and identity scholarship. This field project is informed by a brief qualitative study through participant interviews with six Quechua heritage learners and educators. The study explores the limitations and possibilities of formal Quechua language learning, reiterates …

The Belt And Road Initiative In Kenya, As Represented By The Standard Gauge Railway (Sgr), Its Effects And The Response Of Kenyans To It., Kiplangat Arap Yegon

Master's Theses

China has sought to strengthen ties with many countries in the Global South, and many African countries have signed Memorandum of Agreements(MoU) with China leading to trade treaties, foreign direct investments, loans and grants flowing into the African continent from China. This aggressive push by China into Africa has come under intense scrutiny with different actors, scholars and powers having mixed takes on the move. In my thesis, I look at the ways in which China’s Belt and Road Initiative has been undertaken in Africa. I use Kenya as a main case study in looking at the ways in which …

The Gallery As A Site Of Convergence: The Role Of Creative Environments At Postsecondary Institutions, Jordán Francisco Sandoval

Master's Theses

Not enough research explores the role of creative environments at postsecondary institutions. In response, this qualitative research study focuses upon university galleries believing them to be exemplary artistic spaces within college campuses. Using a theoretical framework of place-consciousness, the researcher examined the functions of the Mary and Carter Thacher Gallery at the University of San Francisco (USF), paying close attention to the ways it engaged the academic community in terms of scholarship and instruction. Informed by grounded theory and phenomenology, this study interviewed five professors who integrated a gallery visit into their curriculum during the 2021-2022 academic year. Collecting these …

Are School Districts Supporting Queer High School Students? A Document Analysis Of Sacramento School District Handbooks And Websites, Jisel Suguey Aguirre Noriega

Master's Theses

Queer youth face many obstacles and challenges, including unsafe conditions while in school and a lack of inclusive curriculum. Queer Theory, which disrupts and challenges the norms and heteronormativity of our current systematic, norm-based systems, helps us imagine what schools might look like if they support LGBTQIA+ youth.Using content analysis, I created my own protocols to analyze the handbooks and websites of three Sacramento area school districts. The findings indicated that all three school districts are providing some essential information in their handbooks and in their district websites for supporting Queer youth. There is still much work to be done …

Zest For English: Teaching Esl Content-Based Instruction Through The Culinary Arts, Melinda Joan Wright

Master's Projects and Capstones

ABSTRACT As only one-third of all degree-seeking California Community College English as a Second Language (ESL) students successfully complete transfer-level English within six years, new approaches ought to be considered to better meet the needs of these students. As most ESL classes are skills-based, offering more Content-Based Instruction (CBI) may be one solution to increasing successful student outcomes in ESL classes and pathway programs. The purpose of this project was to develop a content-based curriculum for community college and adult education students who are interested in the culinary arts as a way of engaging learners who may not be as …

Impact Of Covid-19 On New Teacher Retention And Perceived Supports In A Northern California Public School District, Rebecka Maxkenzie

Doctoral Dissertations

This qualitative study examined teachers, schools, and district approaches to new teacher retention with a COVID-19 spin. In the changing world of a global pandemic and shifting teaching modalities, including distance or hybrid learning environments, teachers reflected on their experiences of adaptation. Interviews with teachers in their first three years in the profession were conducted to share the stories of new teachers amid COVID-19. New teachers were recruited through a snowball sampling technique from a large school district in the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California. To answer the research questions, participants were interviewed about the presence or absence …

Understanding The Perspectives, Practices, And Expectations Of Korean American Parents Toward The Heritage Language Education Of Their Children, Yunhee Choi

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative study, conducted with parents of a Bay Area Korean school, was to explore how Korean American parents perceive, practice, and expect from the heritage language education of their children. The parents shared their experiences as Korean immigrants in raising their children in two languages. First, a survey was distributed and collected to apprehend the demographics of 24 Korean American parents in a West Coast metropolitan area who sent their children to a Korean heritage language school on weekends. Then one-on-one in-depth interviews were conducted with seven of these parents. Seven themes emerged from the data: …

Fifty Years Of Underrepresented Student Advocacy At One Jesuit Secondary School, Sonya Cotero Arriola

Doctoral Dissertations

Across the United States Conference, Catholic and Jesuit secondary schools are experiencing tremendous change in their student demographics. Schools of today are being challenged to consider what true inclusion looks like within their community vis-à-vis students whose racial, economic, sexual and gender identities do not fit the traditional Catholic or Jesuit school mold. The racial and social order of the United States is replicated within Catholic and Jesuit schools, even when those same communities claim to promote values of inclusion and opportunity. History offers valuable insights to school communities grappling with these questions.

This qualitative study centers the efforts of …

The Relationship Between Metacognitive Strategies And Listening Comprehension Proficiency In Intensive-Korean-Foreign-Language Setting, Gumok Seo

Doctoral Dissertations

The study investigated the relationship between a metacognitive-listening strategy and listening proficiency and gained insights into students’ perceptions of listening-strategy use among Korean-as-a-foreign-language learners in an intensive-language setting in Northern California. Little research has been carried out in a Korean-as-a-foreign-language (KFL) setting, and investigation in a different context of an intensive-language program is needed where good study habits, such as metacognitive strategy, self-regulation, and autonomous learning are required. Thus, this study aimed to investigate the relationship between metacognitive-listening-strategy use and listening proficiency outcomes by more- and less-proficient students among KFL adult learners and their perception of metacognitive-listening-strategies.

To achieve the …

Effects Of Teaching Argument To First-Year Community-College Students Using A Structural And Dialectical Approach, Sharon Radcliff

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to measure to what extent an experimental method of teaching argument incorporating elements from both Toulmin’s (2004) structural approach and Walton’s (2013) dialectical approach effects first-year college students’ ability to write strong arguments. This experimental instruction used critical questioning as a strategy in building a strong argument, incorporating alternative viewpoints, and creating a dialogue between claims and counterclaims, backed logically by verifiable evidence from reliable sources.

Using the Analytic Scoring Rubric of Argumentative Writing (ASRAW; Stapleton & Wu, 2015) that includes the argument elements of claims, data, counterclaim, counterclaim data, rebuttal claim, and rebuttal …

Using Peer Review To Improve English As A Second Language College Students' Writing Scores, Mengjie Wei

Doctoral Dissertations

This study was conducted to examine the effectiveness of peer-review in college English as Second Language writing classes to improve ESL students’ writing scores. It also investigated a statistically significant difference in college ESL students’ writing scores between those who use the self-check list and peer review worksheet and those who only use the self-check list in writing paragraphs and essays. More specifically, this study was conducted to determine the influence of different areas on students’ English writing scores, i.e., format/content/structure, grammar, vocabulary, and spelling. In addition, this study explored students’ attitudes and opinions on peer-review in writing class.

This …

Genocide In East Turkestan: Exploring The Perspectives Of Uyghurs In The Diaspora And Their Resistance To Chinese State Violence, Lina Semyonovna Lenberg

Doctoral Dissertations

The Uyghurs of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region—or East Turkestan, as many Uyghurs call their Indigenous homeland in northwestern China, are a Muslim ethnic group whose culture and identity are being systematically destroyed by the Chinese state. Since 2016, Uyghurs have been imprisoned in China’s “re-education camps” on an enormous scale, numbering up to three million. Uyghurs have experienced discrimination and marginalization in China for many years, yet relatively little attention has been given to what has now become a set of gross human rights violations amounting to crimes against humanity and genocide. The purpose of this study was twofold. First, …

The Use Of Simulation With The School Of Nursing And Health Professions (Sonhp) Prelicensure Students To Support Affirming Practice With Transgender Communities, Genevieve Charbonneau

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation investigates how prelicensure nursing students are prepared to address healthcare disparities with transgender patients, specifically through simulation scenarios at the University of San Francisco School of Nursing and Health Professions Simulation Center.

A critical review of current literature reveals how microaggressions against transgender communities create and sustain barriers to equitable healthcare. The qualitative study was designed to explore the lived experience of prelicensure nursing students who are actively seeking to understand the healthcare needs of transgender patients in the San Francisco Bay Area.

This was a qualitative research study including data that suggests that using simulation scenarios featuring …

Teaching Solidarity: Popular Education In Grassroots U.S. Social Movements, Tenaya Summers Lafore

Doctoral Dissertations

Fifty years after he wrote Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1970), Brazilian educator Paulo Freire’s work is as relevant as ever. But while many of Freire’s ideas are well known in the United States, there is limited research on their application in social movement settings, a practice commonly known as popular education. This comparative case study draws on Freire’s theory of popular education to analyze two U.S.-based grassroots education programs, one with low-income residents in the Tenderloin neighborhood of San Francisco and one with front-line hospital and public school employees on the East Coast. Through six months of participant observation and …

The Effects Of Curriculum-Integrated Explicit Learning Strategy Instruction On Reading Comprehension For English As A Second Language (Esl) Learners At The Community College, Sylvia Chaiyeon Lee

Doctoral Dissertations

Reading skills are critical for English as a Second Language (ESL) students in higher education to achieve academic success. However, effective ways to promote student success in ESL reading courses are under-researched. Identifying factors that may enhance the quality and outcomes of learning ESL reading is essential. One such factor identified by previous research is learning strategies. Explicit instruction on learning strategies may lessen the problems and difficulties that international students encounter. Explicit strategy instruction can bring a systematic scaffold into a language learning process, guide students toward proper learning strategies, and promote constructive cognitive processing during learning.

This study …

The Collegiate Black Space: Black College Students’ Use Of New Counter-Spaces For Support, Knowledge Production, And Organizing For Activism, Heather Streets

Doctoral Dissertations

Black collegians who attend historically white institutions continue to struggle with racism, microaggressions, feelings of alienation, minimal or improper advising, and an undue pressure to prove themselves (Bonner, 2010; Feagin & Sikes, 1995; Strayhorn, 2010). These barriers to success result in part due to a lack of support from the colleges and universities that they attend (Allen, 1992; Parker, Puig, Johnson & Anthony, Jr., 2016). With institutional benefits designed to benefit white students over students of color, Black students must find their own alternatives for collaboration and to provide support for their peers.

Many Black spaces can be defined as …

Cuentos Criollos: Colombian Internally Displaced Families As Knowledge Producers, Liliana Salazar De Deck

Doctoral Dissertations

Colombia continues to report the highest number of internally displaced people (IDPs) with over eight million registered in 2021 (UNHCR, 2021). The majority of the internally displaced people are campesinos, AfroColombians, and members of Indigenous communities. Historically, people in these demographic groups have been excluded from political participation and wealth accumulation, and their identities are minoritized (Bello, 2003). Urban schools have become contact zones (Pratt, 1991) for internally displaced families and various economic, social, and political discourses attempt to explore and explain their experiences. However, the voices of the families themselves are not often found within this body of scholarship. …

Voces Of Little Michoacan: A Collective Narrative Of Resistance And Preservation Of Home, Ana Angel Avendaño

Doctoral Dissertations

This empirical study captured the ongoing community organizing, led primarily by Chicanas and young people in a Latinx community in the San Francisco Bay Area. This community has experienced historic neglect, inequities, gentrification, and economic displacement. Through muxersita portraiture, a critical qualitative methodology, with young people as co-researchers, this study captures the collective narrative of the community of North Fair Oaks through platicas, encuentros y acción. In the process, this collective narrative disrupts the negative impact of gentrification by providing a historical context of the contributions of Latinx in North Fair Oaks. This study uses a critical coraje framework; a …

Feminist Catholic Organizational Identity: A Phenomenological Study Of Charism In The Lay Educator Of A Notre Dame De Namur Learning Community, Kathleen Barrera Quiazon

Doctoral Dissertations

The Catholic schools of women’s religious congregations in the United States possess a distinctive Catholic identity, owed in great part to the charism of their founders and the feminist worldview that emerged in the sisters’ mission, communal narratives, and ministries. With the decline of women religious across the country, schools and congregations ask questions for the future of that identity in the hands of lay educators. As with many religiously sponsored schools, the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur and their lay partners in education are engaged in these critical questions for their own learning communities across the country.

This …

An Exploration Of Learning-At-Home Experiences Among Families And Children Of Color Labeled With Disabilities During Covid-19: A Narrative Inquiry, Nam Ju Han

Doctoral Dissertations

We are living in this historical moment of a COVID-19 global crisis that is continuing to impact marginalized families in our very own communities. Students of color, especially those who are already on the margins, and experience inequities in the classroom and in the community, have been further impacted by the quarantine as the educational system had not prioritized how to support students who face certain vulnerabilities due to lack of government funding, the historical oppressive tendency for schools to function within a medical model of standardization, along with the commodification of learning. Given the novelty of COVID-19 research, the …

Mediating Language Fluency Development: An Action Research Study In A High-School Ap Chinese Second-Or-Foreign-Language Task-Based Language Teaching Classroom, Jing Liang

Doctoral Dissertations

Fluency development is critical in language learning; however, the teacher’s role as a mediator in a learner’s fluency development rarely has been explored in Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) classrooms. This study investigated how a teacher, as the human mediator who can be certain that stimuli in the learning environment will be available and benefit the learners, implemented mediation under the guidance of Mediated Learning Experience (MLE) theory in aiding learners’ speaking cognitive and utterance fluency development in one AP Chinese high-school TBLT classroom in the Bay Area. MLE theory, developed by psychologist Reuven Feuerstein, provided a mediation framework for this …

¿Tú Qué Sabes?: Latina Doctoral Women Disrupting And Resisting Dominant Knowledge, Sendy Ramos Madsen

Doctoral Dissertations

Education environments have systematically excluded, silenced, and erroneously spoken on behalf of Women of Color. Linear forms of scholarship and research practices propagate the dominant perspective and fail to address systems of oppression that result in epistemic suppression and academic hostility towards brown minds. Historically, Latina women have not been seen as creators of knowledge, and their access to educational spaces has been restricted. According to census projections, in 2036, Latinas/os will account for the largest minority group in the United States and one-third of the American educational system. Therefore, academic spaces must establish practices to include Latina women as …

Reclaiming Our Humanity: Redemption, Reimagining, And Restorying Of The Foundations For Success Of Formerly Incarcerated African American Males, Robert Mossi Alexander Iii

Doctoral Dissertations

Reclaiming Our Humanity: Redemption, Reimagining, and Restorying of the Foundations for Success of Formerly Incarcerated African American Males African American men represent the highest population found in the criminal justice system. Systemic racism contributes to the high recidivism rates of formerly incarcerated Black men. Additional barriers to affordable education, job training, and other services exist for the formerly incarcerated. The purpose of this study was to interview formerly incarcerated African American men and provide a counter-narrative of the foundations for success post-incarceration. This research project explored the narratives of the lived experiences of formerly incarcerated Black men through the lenses …

Women In Senior Leadership Roles Career Mobility, Challenges, Success Stories And Need For Future Research, Giselle Flores Martin

Doctoral Dissertations

Women in Senior Leadership Roles Career Mobility, Challenges, Success Stories and Need for Future Research Women represent 57.4% of the US working population (~77M in 2019). From this, 51.8% held positions in managerial or professional roles. Although women represent over half of the working population and have demonstrated success in management and professional roles, they face challenges in attaining senior level leadership roles across multiple fields. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to look at how women respond to these challenges as they navigate their careers and ultimately the tools they used to successfully advance to senior level leadership …

Towards Charism Identity: A Catholic Identity Case Study Through The Lens Of Laudato Si’, Kristofer Ross Koller

Doctoral Dissertations

This case study evaluates the current relevance of how Catholic identity is conceived as an evaluative tool in accreditation processes. Catholic identity, though a concept inconsistently defined among various international contexts, is nevertheless utilized reductively as criteria for K-12 Catholic school accreditation in the United States, primarily through the framework of the National Standards and Benchmarks for Effective Catholic Schools (NSBECS). Using the example of a secondary school with an explicit Catholic charism-based commitment to environmental sustainability, this dissertation collects qualitative data in an exploratory manner to evidence how schools that may seem insufficiently Catholic according to currently utilized frameworks …