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Literacy

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2017

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Full-Text Articles in Education

The Influence Of Participation In The Leveled Literacy Intervention Program On The Sustained Literacy Achievement For Students In Grades One Through Threev, Veronica Anne Glover Dec 2017

The Influence Of Participation In The Leveled Literacy Intervention Program On The Sustained Literacy Achievement For Students In Grades One Through Threev, Veronica Anne Glover

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

This study evaluated the efficacy of Fountas & Pinnell’s Leveled Literacy Intervention (LLI) program and its effect on struggling readers in the first grade, as well as the sustaining effects of the intervention over a two-year period. The students in the study attended an elementary school in a Central New Jersey public school district and received the LLI supplemental pull out reading program five days a week for 30 to 45 minutes per session as prescribed. The study hypothesized that the LLI program would have a significant effect on the reading progress of struggling first-grade students in the districts’ first …


Final Ma Portfolio, Jessica Goodman Dec 2017

Final Ma Portfolio, Jessica Goodman

Master of Arts in English Plan II Graduate Projects

A Final Portfolio submitted to the English Department of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the field of English with a specialization in English teaching. The first project is a syllabus for a course on American protest literature. The second project is a five-week major assignment plan focusing on identity and rhetorical writing choices. The third paper is a theory and practice synthesis of empowering literacy alongside a checklist for teachers who wish to include empowering literacy in their classrooms. Finally, the fourth item is a revision (re-vision) …


250 Words Of I Don't Understand: Reading Struggles For Freshmen College Students, Alicia Bushey Dec 2017

250 Words Of I Don't Understand: Reading Struggles For Freshmen College Students, Alicia Bushey

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The focus of this Capstone project is on the reading struggles of first year college students. This is important because reading is a fundamental need in secondary education and in our society. If people are challenged in this area, they will struggle both in higher education, as well as certain aspects of daily living. The three primary stakeholder perspectives examined were college teachers and tutors, because of their relevant expertise, as well as their roles and responsibilities. Based on an analysis of the data and the relevant research literature, action was taken to help first-year college students overcome their reading …


Visual Literacy: Integrating Social Justice Art Education Into The Middle School Curriculum, Anna Kazmarski Dec 2017

Visual Literacy: Integrating Social Justice Art Education Into The Middle School Curriculum, Anna Kazmarski

Masters Theses

The purpose of this paper is to explore how social justice art education and visual literacy can facilitate growth and compassion for the diverse other in society. Social justice art encourages exploration of art-making in a variety of settings in order to dispel anxiety or misunderstandings about those affected by injustice. An investigation of original lesson plans designed to meet national core art standards will be introduced to elaborate on how social issues can be incorporated into a comprehensive art education curriculum based on critical and analytical inquiry at the middle school level.


The Influence Of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy In Mississippi Public Schools To Improve Adolescent African American Males' Literacy Achievement, Shawnese Davis Dec 2017

The Influence Of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy In Mississippi Public Schools To Improve Adolescent African American Males' Literacy Achievement, Shawnese Davis

Dissertations

This study used a quantitative approach to measure Mississippi secondary teachers’ understanding and their extent of using culturally relevant pedagogy to increase students’ literacy performance, specifically African American males. The researcher identified school districts with 50% or more African American students. The data collected in this study was used to compare reading high growth (40%) school teachers’ use of culturally relevant pedagogical teaching approaches to determine if there was a statistically significant difference in their understanding and frequency of using culturally relevant pedagogy to increase students’ reading performance. A 38-statement survey instrument was adapted from McKinley’s Strategies and Behaviors of …


Changing The World Through The Word: Developing Critical Consciousness Through Multicultural Children’S Literature With Critical Literacy In An Elementary Classroom, Hyekyoung Lee Dec 2017

Changing The World Through The Word: Developing Critical Consciousness Through Multicultural Children’S Literature With Critical Literacy In An Elementary Classroom, Hyekyoung Lee

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of this study was to explore how fifth graders develop critical consciousness regarding the self and the world through critical literacy approaches using multicultural children’s literature. I employed Lewison, Flint, and Van Sluys’ four dimensions of critical literacy. I used a qualitative case study to design, frame and conduct this study in order to collect data and examine students’ cultural patterns including values, beliefs, behaviors, and language that they enacted in the critical literacy practices. I collected data through classroom observations, semi-structured students and teacher interviews, informal conversation, researcher’s reflective journal entries and field notes, and student-made artifacts. …


Effective Early Literacy Interventions, Strategies, And Supplemental Programs For Primary Students, Anna Anderson Oct 2017

Effective Early Literacy Interventions, Strategies, And Supplemental Programs For Primary Students, Anna Anderson

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

In education today, more and more children are being identified to have reading difficulties in classroom. This is one of the main reasons that wanted to obtain my Master of Arts in Literacy Education, and ultimately lead to the development of my research focus question: What interventions, strategies, or supplemental programs are available to address and aid, primary students who struggle in reading? While seeking the answer to this research question, I learned a lot about the development of literacy itself. I discovered how literacy has changed throughout time, and the major theorists who contributed to these changes. I also …


L1 Literacy And Its Implications For Leslla Immigrant Women In Canada, Theresa Wall Oct 2017

L1 Literacy And Its Implications For Leslla Immigrant Women In Canada, Theresa Wall

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative study addresses two questions related to access to social services for adult newcomers with limited L1 print literacy skills: First, what barriers do LESLLA clients experience to accessing social services and to settlement? Second, what resources are they employing in order to access these services? Five LESLLA learners, a LESLLA instructor and a settlement counselor were interviewed about barriers and enablers to accessing social services where a disconnect between assumed and actual print-literacy skills exists. Participants also discussed work-arounds for accessing those services. While LESLLA participants reporting greater length of residency also described increased cultural capital, all LESLLA …


Giving Students The Opportunity To See Themselves And Diverse Cultures In Literature: A Multicultural Literature Wiki, Maria E. Effertz Oct 2017

Giving Students The Opportunity To See Themselves And Diverse Cultures In Literature: A Multicultural Literature Wiki, Maria E. Effertz

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

As our student body becomes more and more diverse, the literature we use in class must change in order to best represent them. The purpose of this capstone project was to create an online database to provide teachers with the multicultural literature they might need to best represent the diverse student voices in their classrooms. The research question addressed in this project was, how can literacy teachers more readily access multicultural texts for their curriculum that both reflects their students' backgrounds and cultures as well as gives students the ability to gain access to and recognize themselves in other cultures? …


What Are Effective Strategies To Enhance Motivation And Engagement Of Secondary Struggling Readers To Grow Reading Achievement?, David Hemmesch Oct 2017

What Are Effective Strategies To Enhance Motivation And Engagement Of Secondary Struggling Readers To Grow Reading Achievement?, David Hemmesch

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

The question addressed in this project was, what are effective strategies to enhance motivation and engagement of secondary struggling readers to grow reading achievement? Research was done on current reading instruction trends for secondary students and on the principles of motivation and engagement for students and people in general. The findings suggest that teaching struggling readers about cognitive strategies is more important than specific reading strategies. An e-learning curriculum project was created based on fixed and growth mindsets with the goal being for learners to discover his or her current mindset, to learn to recognize the difference between the two …


What Effect Does A Spanish Vocabulary-Through-Music Instructional Intervention Have On The Development Of Early Literacy Skills Of Preschool Students In A Bilingual Setting?, Natalie Ehalt-Bove Oct 2017

What Effect Does A Spanish Vocabulary-Through-Music Instructional Intervention Have On The Development Of Early Literacy Skills Of Preschool Students In A Bilingual Setting?, Natalie Ehalt-Bove

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

This study measured the effects of a music-based Spanish instructional intervention on the Spanish vocabulary acquisition of four- and five-year-old students of varying language backgrounds who were enrolled together in a dual immersion preschool program. Research by Christ & Wang (2010), Schwartz (2014) and others concludes that young, pre-reading children with underdeveloped vocabulary can encounter difficulties achieving literacy. Thus, this project set out to determine the effectiveness of one specific vocabulary teaching strategy, in an effort to aid teachers in choosing effective instructional methods. Twenty participants were divided into two groups, including a control group receiving a nonmusical instructional intervention …


How Can An Intermediate Elementary Educator Use Critical Literacy To Promote Social Justice Through Book Clubs?, Grace Shields Mevissen Oct 2017

How Can An Intermediate Elementary Educator Use Critical Literacy To Promote Social Justice Through Book Clubs?, Grace Shields Mevissen

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this action research is to better understand, “How can an intermediate elementary educator use critical literacy to promote social justice through book clubs?” The author researched and defined social justice, critical literacy and book clubs. After, the author administered a pre assessment, helped facilitate book clubs and a post assessment. The action research was conducted in a suburban school that is mainly comprised of white students. Two groups, having selected the same text, were chosen as a focus group. The author notes and highlights themes across all seven of the students’ experiences throughout the unit. The author …


Transitioning From Teachers' Words To Students' Words: Strategies To Promote Comprehension During Literature Circles, Tiffany Tozke Brian Oct 2017

Transitioning From Teachers' Words To Students' Words: Strategies To Promote Comprehension During Literature Circles, Tiffany Tozke Brian

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

Literature circles can be a powerful tool for motivating students to take part in discussions around text. The power of these literature circles lies in the success of the conversations students have. Those conversations are shaped by the words the teacher uses to facilitate them, and by the words students use within them. This capstone addresses how teachers can focus on words in a student-focused manner that supports students in having in conversations that deepen their understanding and connection to novels.


World History Instruction For English Language Learners: A Systemic Functional Linguistics Approach, Mary Engelun Oct 2017

World History Instruction For English Language Learners: A Systemic Functional Linguistics Approach, Mary Engelun

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

The research question addressed in this project was how can text analysis using a Systemic Functional Linguistic framework inform curriculum design in sheltered EL world history classes? Research in the theory and applications of systemic functional linguistics in education was described; emphasizing connections to instruction for secondary English language learners. The project was completed in parts: text analysis of theme progressions in history text, development of curriculum, and a pre-planning checklist for future unit development. This project documents one teacher’s creation of an integrated unit of world history content with language development lessons through a systemic functional linguistics approach. A …


Implementing Best Practice Literacy Instruction Into A Middle School Social Studies Classroom, Christopher Devine Oct 2017

Implementing Best Practice Literacy Instruction Into A Middle School Social Studies Classroom, Christopher Devine

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

The research question addressed in this project was, how can best practice instruction support student engagement in a secondary (middle school) social studies class? It documents the topics of literacy, best practices, engagement and reading to learn strategies as compared to the current research on each of those topics. The study was done in conjunction with a website developed to support social studies teachers. Each of these areas support the guided learning that occurs in all classrooms, but specifically to the non-fiction texts that are primarily used by social studies teachers in a secondary setting. The result of the paper …


A Family Approach To Emergent Reading And Writing, Amanda Jones Oct 2017

A Family Approach To Emergent Reading And Writing, Amanda Jones

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

The research question addressed in this project was, how can adult education programming be developed to support parents of emergent readers and writers? It discusses the importance of emergent literacy, brain development, and the role of parents in their child’s development. The stages of emergent literacy, including milestones of child’s development are included. The research of Malcolm Knowles is the framework used in order to create a presentation that supports literacy in the home. Specifically, the six assumptions of andragogy (adult learning) from Knowles’s theory are identified and described.


Discovering The Learner Profile: An Interactive Read-Aloud Curriculum For K-2 Students In The International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme, Dannika Wright Oct 2017

Discovering The Learner Profile: An Interactive Read-Aloud Curriculum For K-2 Students In The International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme, Dannika Wright

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Interaction with quality picture books is a powerful way for young students in the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program (IB PYP) to develop understanding of the Learner Profile. The Learner Profile is a set of ten attributes that define the “internationally minded learner” and is an integral part of the PYP curriculum framework. The author of this capstone examines existing literature on the history and structure of the IB and PYP, character education, and interactive read-alouds to create a curriculum that focus on attributes of the Learner Profile. Using the PYP curriculum framework and elements of the Fountas and Pinnell …


The Best Uses Of Digital Resources To Support And Engage Struggling Readers At The Middle School Level, Dianne Dorle Oct 2017

The Best Uses Of Digital Resources To Support And Engage Struggling Readers At The Middle School Level, Dianne Dorle

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

The author chose to explore the question what are the best uses of digital resources to support and engage struggling middle school readers? Many students in middle school find themselves struggling with comprehension skills. As many schools are moving to the 1:1 iPad model it is easy and necessary to incorporate digital resources in the teaching instruction. The current middle school students, through exposure, are fluent with using digital resources. Some of the main inquiries that were researched in this paper are why middle school students are struggling in reading, what motivates middle school students and what are digital resources? …


How Reading Comprehension Strategies Support English Learners In A Primary Integrated Environment, Amanda Roberg Oct 2017

How Reading Comprehension Strategies Support English Learners In A Primary Integrated Environment, Amanda Roberg

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

English Learners (ELs) are an important and growing population of students in schools nationwide, and how they are taught can have a major impact on their academic success (of course). The overall purpose for this study is to ensure that ELs in my own classroom are taught reading comprehension strategies from an effective curriculum that meets their specific needs. The curriculum used in the school in which this study was conducted was a combination of Daily 5 and the Treasures curriculum. The question posed for my research is: “What instructional strategies are appropriate for teaching reading comprehension to second language …


What Alternative Reading Curriculums Are Available For Students Who Have Not Made Adequate Progressing Using Tier 1 And Tier 2 Interventions?, Lorinda Unger Oct 2017

What Alternative Reading Curriculums Are Available For Students Who Have Not Made Adequate Progressing Using Tier 1 And Tier 2 Interventions?, Lorinda Unger

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

The research question addressed in this project was: What alternative reading curriculums are available for students who have not made adequate progress using Tier 1 and Tier 2 interventions? The purpose of this inquiry was to create a system to provide students who are below their grade level peers in reading an intervention that matches their specific reading need. Current research confirms there are five essential reading elements that students need to master to become efficient readers. Each reading element is explored with curriculums, interventions, and learning activities provided.


Independently Implementing Best Practices In Flexible Guided Reading At The Elementary School Level, Ashley Teare Oct 2017

Independently Implementing Best Practices In Flexible Guided Reading At The Elementary School Level, Ashley Teare

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Guided reading is a vital part of a balanced reading program in the elementary classroom. Guided reading should be flexible to meet readers where they are. Unfortunately implementation of differentiated guided reading varies from district to district, leaving learning and understanding of the reading processes of children up to the teacher. This project examines the question: How can best practices in flexible guided reading be independently implemented at the elementary school level? The literature review emphasizes the importance of guided reading and how flexible grouping can be implemented to accommodate readers strengths and needs. Research shows that guided reading can …


Meeting The Needs Of Struggling Readers In Middle School Social Studies, Megan Stevens Oct 2017

Meeting The Needs Of Struggling Readers In Middle School Social Studies, Megan Stevens

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

This capstone identifies strategies and practices middle school social studies teachers can integrate into their instruction to support readers of all abilities. It addresses the research question, how can middle social studies teachers better meet the needs of students who struggle in reading? The author documents the importance of combining literacy instruction with social studies instruction due to the adoption of Common Core’s ELA standards and to better support readers in comprehension of complex text. The author also examines the needs of struggling readers and how literacy practices can enrich social social studies instruction. Focusing on vocabulary and comprehension strategies, …


Integrating Comprehension Strategy Instruction Into Literature Study For Primary Students, Traci Lee Taylor Oct 2017

Integrating Comprehension Strategy Instruction Into Literature Study For Primary Students, Traci Lee Taylor

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

The research question addressed in this curriculum design project was: How can I redesign a current second grade literature unit by integrating explicit comprehension strategy instruction while maintaining a focus on meaningful interaction with text? It documents one teacher’s foray into the field of reading research, beginning with the historical and theoretical underpinnings of reading comprehension and then moving onto how research on proficient readers has impacted current views on effective reading comprehension instruction. The literature unit that was designed focuses on key strategies used by proficient readers including activating and building schema, making connections, visualizing, inferring, and summarizing. The …


Professional Development In Disciplinary Literacy Strategies For Middle School Content Area Teachers, Jodi Dubbeldee Oct 2017

Professional Development In Disciplinary Literacy Strategies For Middle School Content Area Teachers, Jodi Dubbeldee

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

The purpose of this professional development plan is to provide disciplinary literacy instruction support for content area teachers at the middle level. The inspiration for the research was the author’s desire to discover and share how content area literacy is critical to student learning. In-depth research in physical, emotional, and social adolescent development, literacy strategies, disciplinary literacy strategies, and professional development practices drove the findings to create a professional development plan that is built-in and sustainable. Teachers can use the online professional development resource collaboratively in order to determine literacy goals, write lesson plans, and incorporate literacy strategy instruction into …


How Explicit Vocabulary Instruction Leads English Language Learners In Early Elementary Ages To Become Proficient Readers, Angela Kaye Nixon Oct 2017

How Explicit Vocabulary Instruction Leads English Language Learners In Early Elementary Ages To Become Proficient Readers, Angela Kaye Nixon

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

The number of English Language Learners (ELLs) continues to increase nationwide. Early elementary teachers are tasked in laying a foundation of reading, and ELLs face a gap in their literacy journey compared to their English speaking peers. The research question for this project was: how does explicit vocabulary instruction lead English language learners in early elementary ages to become proficient readers? The literature review focuses on vocabulary instruction, proficient readers, ELLs, and professional development. It discusses research with ELLs in the classroom and in reading instruction. Within the extensive world of literacy, explicit vocabulary instruction has been shown to have …


Creating A Culture Of Independent Reading Among African American Students, Especially Black Males, Donna Carol Franklin Clemenson Oct 2017

Creating A Culture Of Independent Reading Among African American Students, Especially Black Males, Donna Carol Franklin Clemenson

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

The research question addressed in this project is: How can I create a culture of independent reading among African American students, especially black males? The goal is to help motivate students to become lifelong readers who will be prepared to develop their life choices into great successes. The author examines the history of education of African Americans and the ensuing achievement gap. She discusses literature on the topic of motivating African American students, especially males, to see the value of reading and education, and includes literature on culturally relevant teaching. She documents three areas of teaching that influence the development …


Literacy Coaching: A Research Based Coaching Guide, Mary E. House Oct 2017

Literacy Coaching: A Research Based Coaching Guide, Mary E. House

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

The question that guided the work of the researcher was: What impact would a research based coaching guide have on a coach’s effectiveness with teachers, understanding that the end goal of coaching is increased student achievement? Research suggested that professional learning via coaching is key to building capacity in teachers. However, the researcher found that the role of the literacy coach in many schools is one with little or no initial training or a core resource from which to anchor a coach’s work with teachers. Research clearly suggested that the instructional coach role lacks effectiveness if the coach does not …


Negative Attitudes Toward English As A Second Language: Refusal To Participate In Esl Services In The Somali Community, Rebecca C. Kipchumba Oct 2017

Negative Attitudes Toward English As A Second Language: Refusal To Participate In Esl Services In The Somali Community, Rebecca C. Kipchumba

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

The research question addressed in this project was: Why do some Somali parents refuse ESL services for their qualifying children? With a goal to start the conversation on what we can do as educators, to reduce the instances of parents declining services for their children. The refusal of service can potentially hinder their success in school. Three adults from the Somali community were interviewed. The findings suggest that, not all Somali parents have adequate information about the importance of ESL services in their children's' schools and in turn do not see the benefits. My conclusion after this study is that …


Uncovering What Readers Know: Understanding Readers’ Online And Offline Processes For Identifying Story Elements, Esther Hellmann Sep 2017

Uncovering What Readers Know: Understanding Readers’ Online And Offline Processes For Identifying Story Elements, Esther Hellmann

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

School-age children are frequently asked to read and summarize narrative texts. However, despite the frequency that summarizing tasks are assigned, teachers infrequently provide instruction on summarizing narratives. In addition, researchers have failed to empirically investigate a summarizing technique specifically designed for narratives. In Study 1, thirty typically developing fourth grade students read passages at lower and upper levels of difficulty and produced summaries of the passages. The treatment participants received four, thirty-minute intervention sessions on using story grammar to summarize the narratives. Results found that story grammar is an effective method for summarizing narratives, and that text difficulty impacts summarizing …


The Power Of Partners: A Qualitative Study On The Effects Of Long-Term Partnerships During Writing Workshop, Nicole Smith Aug 2017

The Power Of Partners: A Qualitative Study On The Effects Of Long-Term Partnerships During Writing Workshop, Nicole Smith

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to determine how long-term partnerships will support second grade students during Writing Workshop. The specific goals of the study are to examine the effects long-term partnerships utilized during Writing Workshop will have on both student achievement and student engagement. Student interviews pre and post study, student writing, along with weekly student reflections were analyzed. The group of students who were the focus of the study demonstrated increased engagement when participating in Writing Workshop. The students also demonstrated increased writing proficiency throughout the duration of the study. The benefits of utilizing long-term peer partnerships during …