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Literacy

Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education

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Full-Text Articles in Education

Cornrowed Literacy & Lives: A Qualitative Case Study On Teachers Lived Experiences Through Culturally Responsive Literacy Instruction, Ashley N. White Apr 2024

Cornrowed Literacy & Lives: A Qualitative Case Study On Teachers Lived Experiences Through Culturally Responsive Literacy Instruction, Ashley N. White

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Capstones

This qualitative case study explores the lived experiences of thirteen certified elementary educators who teach literacy to students of color. The theoretical framework that guides this study is Abolitionist Teaching (Love, 2019). This study’s data collection is based on teacher surveys, conversational interviews and an artifact analysis. This study was centered on the following questions: (1) What are the lived experiences of certified elementary educators who teach literacy to students of color? (2) What are the lived experiences of certified elementary educators in planning and implementing culturally responsive literacy instructional practices? The themes that emerged from this study were teachers' …


Narrowing The Achievement Gap: Culturally Responsive Teaching For African American Students, Haylee Batzer Dec 2023

Narrowing The Achievement Gap: Culturally Responsive Teaching For African American Students, Haylee Batzer

Culminating Experience Projects

It is no surprise to educators that classrooms are filled with children of all different backgrounds. Most teacher preparation programs try their best to prepare educators to teach students of diversity and support inclusion in the classroom. However, educators are still finding themselves lacking the skills needed to incorporate culturally responsive teaching (CRT) into their classrooms. Students of all backgrounds need inclusive practices to be successful. It is important to all students that they feel supported and seen in the classroom, without these practices schools start to see a decline in graduation rates and an increase in dropout rates. Many …


Toward A Theory Of An Integrated Theoretical Approach Of Literacy For Black Boys, Aaron M. Johnson Sep 2023

Toward A Theory Of An Integrated Theoretical Approach Of Literacy For Black Boys, Aaron M. Johnson

Michigan Reading Journal

In the education landscape the literacy of Black boys is viewed from deficit framing. Often, educators, politicians, and laypeople point to scores on standardized assessments such as the MSTEP, NAEP, ACT, SAT, and NWEA, these tests only tell a part of the story. The part of the story that those assessments do tell is the abject failure of schools’ ability to engage Black boys in school-based literacy and catapult them into proficient and advanced proficient reading levels. The part of the story that those assessments do not tell is the literate lives that Black boys lead. Furthermore, schools do a …


Case Study: Reading Multicultural Literature To An Emergent Reader In The Home, Kiyna Twisdale Jun 2023

Case Study: Reading Multicultural Literature To An Emergent Reader In The Home, Kiyna Twisdale

Theses and Dissertations

This case study was conducted to find what happens when a parent reads multicultural books to their young child at home. The qualitative data collected was used to determine the child’s reactions to the similarities and differences between them and the characters, as well as how multicultural books can be used to address sensitive topics and complex themes in the home. A caregiver, the researcher, collected data from read aloud sessions with her five-year old daughter. After reading seven multicultural books together, the research found that the child was able to make simple and concrete connections with the physical appearance …


“I Want Them To See The Real Us Not Just What They What They Want Us To Be…”: Cultivating A ‘Literate Language Of The Soul’ For Radical Hope, Patriann Smith May 2023

“I Want Them To See The Real Us Not Just What They What They Want Us To Be…”: Cultivating A ‘Literate Language Of The Soul’ For Radical Hope, Patriann Smith

Literacy Practice and Research

In this conceptual essay, I argue that radical hope can be fostered through literacies of timeless learning based on student-created literature in literacy and English language arts classrooms as an endeavor of soul education, allowing teachers and youth to cultivate a literate language of the soul. Drawing on tenets of soul education and its interconnections with affect theory and Ubuntu as an African spirituality, I describe how literacy and English language arts teachers working with predominantly Black middle-school youth connected their histories, backgrounds, stories, and understandings while engaging with literature created by their students. I argue that exploring literacies …


Using Dual-Language Texts To Support Literacy For Emergent Bilingual Students, Amanda Dranchak May 2023

Using Dual-Language Texts To Support Literacy For Emergent Bilingual Students, Amanda Dranchak

Theses and Dissertations

This paper provides a qualitative account of how linguistically inclusive curriculums can enhance literacy instruction. The specific aim of this study is to explore the impact on literacy instruction of emergent bilingual students when the curriculum includes dual-language texts. Methods of data collection include student interviews, text discussions, student work, and student self-assessments. The findings show that the dual language literature positively affected the emergent bilingual students. Students enjoyed increased levels of engagement and a high level of confidence in their reading abilities. The research demonstrates the value of a culturally and linguistically inclusive instructional environment. With the inclusion of …


Teacher Perceptions Of Preparedness To Teach A Diverse Group Of English Language Learners With Different Literacy Levels And Languages In The Mainstream Elementary Classroom, Jennifer Mehu Jan 2023

Teacher Perceptions Of Preparedness To Teach A Diverse Group Of English Language Learners With Different Literacy Levels And Languages In The Mainstream Elementary Classroom, Jennifer Mehu

Theses and Dissertations

All across the United States, increased numbers of English language learners (ELL) are entering schools with limited formal education or proficiency in the English language at alarming rates. This new shift has affected school districts that are not prepared to address the needs of these ELL students due to the lack of preparation of mainstream teachers in their districts and schools. The problem addressed in this study was that many ELLs were not making adequate progress academically in mainstream classes. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore teachers’ perceived preparedness to teach ELLs in mainstream classes in the …


Unlocking Passion And Setting Students Free: The Impact Of Culturally Relevant Writing Instruction In A Middle School English I Classroom, Adam Whitaker, Trina J. Davis, Mónica V. Neshyba Dec 2022

Unlocking Passion And Setting Students Free: The Impact Of Culturally Relevant Writing Instruction In A Middle School English I Classroom, Adam Whitaker, Trina J. Davis, Mónica V. Neshyba

Journal of Multicultural Affairs

Culturally relevant writing instruction has the potential to validate the voices of students often not heard. Documented disparities in student writing proficiency in grades K-12 indicate a pressing need to employ more effective approaches in facilitating writing instruction. This paper presents the findings of a mixed methods research study that explored eighth grade English I students’ middle school reading and writing preferences, writing experiences, and the impact of culturally relevant writing instruction. Data were gathered from 63 students via reflective journals, writing interest forms, learning logs, and writing artifacts collected throughout a 3-week writing unit. Our findings reveal that writing …


To Be Young, Black, And In The Academy: A Collection Of Lessons, Yetunde Alabede, Jessica Reed, Blake Thompson Nov 2022

To Be Young, Black, And In The Academy: A Collection Of Lessons, Yetunde Alabede, Jessica Reed, Blake Thompson

Michigan Reading Journal

Literacy, a foundational tool that unlocks opportunities, can be viewed in both narrow and confining lenses. We, doctoral students at Michigan State University, center our own experiences in order to redefine such narratives of what literacy means, can mean, and should mean for students of color throughout the African Diaspora. We explore methods to disrupt, experiences to resist, and questions to challenge the ways that students and educators engage with various concepts of literacy. Though we come from various backgrounds, this manuscript seeks to push forward a dialogue that allows for the multiple literacies that Black children have, language and …


From Language To Literacy: Structural Features Of Acquired Languages Facilitating English Morphological Awareness, Erin N. Callahan Oct 2022

From Language To Literacy: Structural Features Of Acquired Languages Facilitating English Morphological Awareness, Erin N. Callahan

Selected Honors Theses

Morphological awareness is a crucial metalinguistic skill, specifically for English Language Learners (ELLs). Since languages differ widely in degree of orthographic opacity, degree of morphological fusion, and degree of morphological synthesis, this thesis sought to evaluate the impact of the structural features of other languages upon ELLs’ levels of English morphological awareness. Additionally, the study investigated the relationship between morphological awareness and perceived levels of literacy and oracy proficiency. Multilingual individuals responded to an online survey containing a morphological awareness task and a language history questionnaire. Each language represented in the sample was coded according to its structural features. Subsequently, …


Virtual Free-Writing Journal Portfolios In An Intensive English Program In Iraq, Charles Mckinney May 2022

Virtual Free-Writing Journal Portfolios In An Intensive English Program In Iraq, Charles Mckinney

MA TESOL Collection

Middle-Eastern English language learners (ELLs), specifically Iraqi students, are often not well equipped to succeed in university settings where English is the medium of instruction (EMI) for their intended graduate and undergraduate studies. Oftentimes, they are weaker in their academic literacy skills, when compared to listening and speaking, and need extra scaffolding and/or remedial instruction to develop their reading and writing dexterity for overall academic success. One way to support their writing development is to implement free-writing journal projects that will enable them to cultivate an original writer voice, to think quickly and critically in the L2, and to integrate …


Finding Their Chrysanthemum: Linguistic Representation In Children's Literature, Marielena Zajac May 2022

Finding Their Chrysanthemum: Linguistic Representation In Children's Literature, Marielena Zajac

Master of Arts in Professional Writing Capstones

Children in America today struggle with finding themselves in the books they read due to societal expectations. From an early age, children are dictated on the correct way to speak and write in “American,” which can leave children and their home languages feeling unseen and dismissed. To help further the conversation and promotion of linguistic diversity in American society, this capstone analyzes dialectal representation in children’s books, with a heavy focus on attitudinal linguistic principles rather than prescriptive mechanics. The secondary research explores current literature and resources that discuss literacy acquisition in adolescents, trends in dialects in America, and childhood …


Student Centered Language Teaching: A Focus On Student Identity, Rachel Mano May 2022

Student Centered Language Teaching: A Focus On Student Identity, Rachel Mano

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This portfolio is a compilation of essays that describe what the writer has come to see as essential topics in second language acquisition. It begins with a professional environment piece, and then a teaching philosophy statement focused on student identity and interaction in the classroom. This is followed by an essay on observations of teaching. The next two sections focus on pragmatic resistance among advanced learners and the importance of preparing learners for peer interaction. The portfolio concludes with an annotated bibliography outlining the main concepts associated with Communicative Language Teaching, a method that is commonly employed in second language …


Zapatista Maya Literacies And Decolonial Civic Pedagogies, Juan Moisés García-Rentería May 2022

Zapatista Maya Literacies And Decolonial Civic Pedagogies, Juan Moisés García-Rentería

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Zapatista Maya Literacies and Decolonial Civic Pedagogies evaluates an educational outreach project led by an Indigenous grass roots mobilization in the high plateau of central México, the Zapatista movement. Using retrospective narrative inquiry and theoretically informed perspectives, this dissertation shows that the program of the Zapatista escuelita, Spanish for “little school,” is rooted in the Maya educational paradigm of nojptesel-p’ijubtasel, a cultural and political process of socialization at the heart of contemporary Maya peasant families. The research focus of this study offers rhetoric, composition, and literacy studies two interrelated points of insight tied to the overall Maya conception of the …


Contextualizing Mother-Tongue Based Multilingual Education Preschools Within The Turkmen Community Of Afghanistan, Carrie Ann Shaver May 2022

Contextualizing Mother-Tongue Based Multilingual Education Preschools Within The Turkmen Community Of Afghanistan, Carrie Ann Shaver

Theses and Dissertations

The Turkmen Mother-Tongue Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE) Preschool program in Afghanistan provided the ideal environment to research how evidence-based MTB-MLE preschool programs can be implemented in a way that aligns with the cultural and linguistic views of the Turkmen people in Afghanistan such that supervisors, teachers, and the community strive to implement and participate in the program to the fullest extent. Data was triangulated by the use of interviews, participant observation, and MTB-MLE preschool monitoring reports. A qualitative research method was used to gain insights into the perceptions and experiences of supervisors, teachers, and the community on the MTB-MLE program. …


Opportunities And Challenges For Rural Educators: A Mixed Methods Study Of Emergent Bilingual Studies In Rural Colorado, Andrea Johnson Jan 2022

Opportunities And Challenges For Rural Educators: A Mixed Methods Study Of Emergent Bilingual Studies In Rural Colorado, Andrea Johnson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Over nine million students in the United States attend school in rural school districts, with a growing percentage of these students identified as emergent bilingual. The purpose of this study is to examine the national emergent bilingual literacy trends and to determine how the opportunities and challenges that rural educators encounter, impact emergent bilingual education in rural schools. Utilizing a theoretical framework of culturally sustaining practices and funds of knowledge, this study uses a convergent mixed methods design to answer the following research questions: What are the national trends in emergent bilingual reading test scores? What opportunities and challenges do …


The Translanguaging Pedagogies Continuum, Marcela Ossa Parra, Patrick Proctor Jan 2022

The Translanguaging Pedagogies Continuum, Marcela Ossa Parra, Patrick Proctor

Publications and Research

Translanguaging pedagogy is an approach to educational equity that harnesses multilingual learners’ communicative repertoires (e.g., home languages, non-standard varieties, gestures) by strategically incorporating them in the classroom to ensure students’ active participation and meaningful learning. This paper proposes a research-informed continuum that captures a range of possibilities for integrating translanguaging in language and literacy instruction. This continuum provides insight into how educators may make socially just instructional and curricular decisions that are based on recognizing multilingual students' languages, cultures, and ways of knowing as valuable assets in the classroom.


Culturally Relevant Teaching For The 21st Century: The Success And Challenges Of Pre-Service Teachers When Using Technology In Critical Ways, Virginie Jackson, Stacy Delacruz, Dominique Harry Dec 2021

Culturally Relevant Teaching For The 21st Century: The Success And Challenges Of Pre-Service Teachers When Using Technology In Critical Ways, Virginie Jackson, Stacy Delacruz, Dominique Harry

Georgia Journal of Literacy

This case study examined pre-service teachers' use of technology as they implemented culturally relevant literacy lessons while tutoring elementary students in their field placement sites. As we enter a new decade, we want our students to be future-ready with technology skills. Here, we present an examination of how pre-service teachers integrated culturally relevant teaching with technology along with a discussion of the tools and devices their students used. Findings provided evidence that as pre-service teachers experienced authentic and engaging learning experiences within a supportive space, they emerged equipped to teach in culturally responsive ways that supported student learning and deeper …


Expanding Stem Membership: Using Science Process Skills In A Social Justice Curriculum To Combat Stereotype Threats And Build Self-Efficacy In African American Students, Beverly A. King Miller, Alma D. Stevenson, Shelli L. Casler-Failing Oct 2021

Expanding Stem Membership: Using Science Process Skills In A Social Justice Curriculum To Combat Stereotype Threats And Build Self-Efficacy In African American Students, Beverly A. King Miller, Alma D. Stevenson, Shelli L. Casler-Failing

Journal of Educational Research and Practice

Science process skills were scaffolded throughout instruction over the ten-week program. The culminating project included the development, design, and testing of their own independent science fair project. The results reflect an increase in students’ self-efficacy which was evidenced by the students’ preparation and presentation of their projects in the science fair.


Linguistic And Cultural Diversity: Examining Support For English Language Learners In Canada Through Multiliteracies And Sociocultural Theories For Teaching And Learning, Rasha Qaisi Oct 2021

Linguistic And Cultural Diversity: Examining Support For English Language Learners In Canada Through Multiliteracies And Sociocultural Theories For Teaching And Learning, Rasha Qaisi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study explores and analyzes the use of multiliteracies, multimodalities, and sociocultural perspectives as pedagogical practices for the teaching and learning of secondary school students and adult learners for literacy and second language acquisition. This qualitative, comparative case study research questions the impact of the theory of multiliteracies and the use of multimodalities and technology has on student experiences across the curriculum and language acquisition with English language learners (ELLs). More specifically, this research study investigates the implementation of multiliteracies, multimodalities, and sociocultural theories of education in language acquisition classrooms, the use of technology in the classroom, and the role …


Critical Awareness For Literacy Teachers And Educators In Troubling Times, Patriann Smith, S. Joel Warrican Aug 2021

Critical Awareness For Literacy Teachers And Educators In Troubling Times, Patriann Smith, S. Joel Warrican

Literacy Practice and Research

The field of literacy remains assailed by a persisting discrepancy between an increasing body of literacy research that honors the diversity in students’ practices juxtaposed against a persistent system of schooling and high-stakes assessment that has not been designed to draw from underrepresented students’ literate assets. This discrepancy has created a situation where teachers often receive well-intentioned instruction from literacy educators about how to address diverse literacy needs, but then, struggle to enact this instruction in the high-stakes testing environment of classrooms and schools where they have little autonomy. We argue in this essay that critical multilingual, critical multicultural and …


The Effectiveness Of Mother Tongue Based Multilingual Education (Mtb Mle), Ni Komang Darmini Aug 2021

The Effectiveness Of Mother Tongue Based Multilingual Education (Mtb Mle), Ni Komang Darmini

English Language Institute

Mother Tongue Based Multilingual Education (MTB MLE) is an educational program for helping ethnic minority children that rarely speak the national language. Firstly, in early grades, children will learn only in their native language, with other language(s) added in later years. The research studies presented here examine the effectiveness of MTB MLE program in improving students’ academic achievement in Vietnam, Thailand and Philippines.


(Re) Actualizing Culturally Sustaining Read Aloud Practices: Enriching Latinx Bilingual Learners’ Literacy Development, Isela Almaguer Jul 2021

(Re) Actualizing Culturally Sustaining Read Aloud Practices: Enriching Latinx Bilingual Learners’ Literacy Development, Isela Almaguer

Bilingual and Literacy Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

Focusing on culturally sustaining literacy practices, I sought to conceptualize the integration of culturally rich literature as inclusionary practices for the reading and literacy development of Latinx bilingual learners. It is forecasted that by 2036, Latinx students will make up a third of the nation’s 3 to 17 year old learners - our school age population (US Census Bureau, 2010). Recognizing the importance of engaging with culturally sustaining read alouds and the value in learners seeing themselves reflected in the stories allows for increased opportunities for engagement in the literature used in the read alouds. I steadfastly advocate for asset-based …


Liberating Instruction: A Critical Bilingual Literacy Approach For Latinx Students, Anel V. Suriel May 2021

Liberating Instruction: A Critical Bilingual Literacy Approach For Latinx Students, Anel V. Suriel

Journal of Multilingual Education Research

This article reviews Dr. Carla España and Dr. Luz Yadira Herrera’s En Comunidad: Lessons for Centering the Voices of Experiences of Bilingual Latinx Students. Though a critical bilingual literacies approach, the language practices, experiences and cultural histories of Latinx students are centered for literacy instruction in grades 3-8. Before instruction begins, the authors support educational practitioners in creating equitable educational and language stances that hold students’ language practices in a strength perspective. Each chapter that follows details and explains a thematic unit of student that guides educators in creating lessons based on students’ experiences and are summarized within this review. …


A Curriculum Creation For Revolutionary Change: Using Diverse Mentor Text To Teach Literary Elements Through A Social Justice Lens, Sara Barkley Apr 2021

A Curriculum Creation For Revolutionary Change: Using Diverse Mentor Text To Teach Literary Elements Through A Social Justice Lens, Sara Barkley

Masters Theses/Capstone Projects

The purpose of this study is to present a literacy curriculum designed specifically for fifth grade students. The curriculum utilizes Culturally Relevant Pedagogy (1995) and Learning for Justice (2018) social justice standards and domains, in order to provide best practices for all students to achieve academic success, celebrate diversity, and take action against injustices in the world. The following question framed the literature research that was conducted to develop this curriculum: How can we create a literacy based curriculum through a social justice lens that utilizes diverse children’s mentor text in order to create equitable school experiences? The question was …


My Journey As An Emergent Bilingual, Cynthia Villarreal Cantu Jan 2021

My Journey As An Emergent Bilingual, Cynthia Villarreal Cantu

The Qualitative Report

This autoethnography was conducted at an elementary school not far from the South Texas border. I documented how my journey as a kindergarten, first-grade, and second-grade student has impacted me to become a better educator. Through this qualitative study, I planned to determine if my childhood experiences as an emergent bilingual learner have made an impact in my teaching and the connections I have formed with my students. I analyzed observations of my current teaching practices and my elementary report cards and test scores. After observing my students’ interactions among their peers and my reaction towards their conversations, I found …


Literacy Uses And Practices Of Schoolchildren Living In A Contemporary Malaysian Context, Syerina Syahrin Jan 2021

Literacy Uses And Practices Of Schoolchildren Living In A Contemporary Malaysian Context, Syerina Syahrin

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This paper reports the uses and practices of literacy in English of primary schoolchildren in Malaysia. Data was gathered from two children, their parents and the English subject teacher. The results reveal four major findings. First, the results reveal that the students’ experience with out-of-school literacies in English were largely afforded by new technologies Second, popular culture played a considerable role in the students’ out-of-school lives. Third, the students’ engagement with out-of-school texts was influenced by cultural artefacts and social discourses, and fourth, there were also complementing and contrasting literacy practices reflected in both environments. This paper argues that …


Embracing The New Normal: Infusing Academic Language And Technology To Empower Ells, Scott B. Freiberger Dec 2020

Embracing The New Normal: Infusing Academic Language And Technology To Empower Ells, Scott B. Freiberger

Journal of English Learner Education

This au courant, research-based article offers specific program ideas for teachers during this unprecedented time when supporting our ELLs is especially needed.


Engaging Middle School Emergent Bilinguals In Language Awareness: A Practitioner Researcher Study, Carol Lickenbrock Jul 2020

Engaging Middle School Emergent Bilinguals In Language Awareness: A Practitioner Researcher Study, Carol Lickenbrock

Dissertations

This practitioner research study (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 2009) traced the journey toward critical literacy of a group of seven emergent bilinguals and me, their teacher, over the course of a four-month unit on argument as part of our English for Speakers of Other Languages 3 (ESOL3) class. Many of these students, like many emergent bilinguals in the United States, had been disempowered because they had not had access to the academic texts of school. As part of this research, students worked with tools of Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) to analyze the interpersonal, ideational and textual metafunctions of argumentation in lessons …


White Pre-Service Teachers’ Perceptions And Their Development Of Culturally Relevant Literacy Practices, Lakia M. Scott, Elena Venegas Sep 2019

White Pre-Service Teachers’ Perceptions And Their Development Of Culturally Relevant Literacy Practices, Lakia M. Scott, Elena Venegas

Journal of Multicultural Affairs

Existent literature purports that providing White teacher candidates with increased exposure to urban schools in order to create culturally competent educators has failed. These findings reflect the notion that teacher ideologies and overall perspectives about working with diverse student groups must be harnessed in a genuine ethic of care and intentionality for students of color. However, few studies have taken the approach of examining the development of culturally relevant pedagogy through context-specific field experiences using content-specific courses. This study examines the perspectives of twenty-five White pre-service teachers from a predominately White, private university regarding their initial perceptions and gained conceptual …