Language and Literacy Education Commons^™

The Key Role Of Social Media In Students’ Understanding Of The Rhetorical Situation, Olivia Montine

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Gen-Z students have been chastised repeatedly for their lack of attention span, addiction to social media, and inability to complete tasks in school in the manner of generations past (Richtel). It would not be productive to attempt to reform the way current college students process information, as their upbringing has largely altered their attention span and methods of content consumption. Older modes of understanding on how to write in a college composition class do not take this into account. What if the method of instruction professors utilized shifted to better meet the capabilities of college students in 2023? To answer …

Impacting Student Self-Efficacy In English/Language Arts: Using Student-Generated Questions In Small Group Discussions, Heather Johnson

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

Student engagement in the classroom can be a struggle for many teachers. Research shows that student engagement can be impacted by student self-efficacy in the classroom, and student engagement increases when participating in small group discussions and inquiry-based activities. This qualitative study aimed to understand the impact using student-generated questions in small group discussions had on student self-efficacy in the high school English/language arts classroom. A survey was created and given to 21 twelfth-grade student participants prior to and after using student-generated questions in three separate small group discussions in an elective English/language arts class. Qualitative data were also collected …

Alphabet Books Aren't For Babies: The Use Of The Alphabet Book In The Secondary Classroom, Chloe Skye Crane

Honors Theses

The goal of this thesis is to examine the role of alphabet books within the secondary classroom through the lens of research potential, development of cultural awareness, and the educational benefits for the secondary learner as well as three different types of alphabet books varying from least to most complex. The literature review supporting this thesis is broken into five sections: what are alphabet books, a closer look at three examples, the research potential in alphabet books, developing cultural awareness and empathy, and educational benefits (which includes subsections for skills developed). Following the literature review is the text of an …

Noteworthy Notes: Student Perceptions Of Online And Paper Notes, Hannah Hamaker

Masters of Education in Teaching and Learning

Notetaking is an often overlooked but important factor of student learning. Studies that have focused on notetaking in the past have highlighted performance over perceptions. This study investigated the importance of fifth-grade students’ perceptions of online and paper notetaking. The researcher collected data through pre- and post-surveys, interviews, observation field notes, student artifacts, and a data tracker. The researcher analyzed the data collected using the constant comparative method and a primary and secondary coding scheme. The resulting secondary codes were the copying process, features of online notes, features of paper notes, and use of notes. Findings suggest that students vary …

Culturally Responsive Strategies To Support Multilingual Learners, Liz Shanks, Mackenzie Weakland

James Madison Undergraduate Research Journal (JMURJ)

Teachers must develop pedagogical practices to meet the needs of the growing number of multilingual learners in K-12 classrooms. Our inquiry- based research study analyzed ways that teachers can implement pedagogical strategies that are culturally responsive to multilingual learners. Thematic analysis of recent academic studies, class observations, and an interview with a language specialist affirm a set of culturally responsive instructional practices in the classroom that lead to the academic success of multilingual learners. These practices included teacher attitudes, translanguaging, and thinking routines to assist in English language acquisition. K-12 teachers, administrators, and community leaders working with multilingual learners can …

In Search Of Effective Second Language Arabic Vocabulary Teaching Strategies: Theory And Implementation, Asmaa Yazidi Alaoui

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

This portfolio is the outcome of the author’s studies in the Masters of Second Language Teaching (MSLT) program at Utah State University (USU) as well as her experience as a graduate instructor of Arabic at the same university.

This work has two main parts. The first comprises the three major components that present the author’s perspectives as a teacher, such as professional environment, teaching philosophy statement and the teaching observation.

The second part demonstrated the author’s research interest that aligned with her teaching perspective as an Arabic teacher. It was a position paper that called for Arabic vocabulary teaching strategies …

Strategies To Aid Multilingual Learners In Academic Language Acquisition In Elementary Science And Mathematics Classes, Mikayla Grumbacher, Sophia Sladic

James Madison Undergraduate Research Journal (JMURJ)

This qualitative inquiry research study surveys academic language acquisition strategies for teachers of multilingual learners in elementary science and mathematics classes. We paired readings of recent peer-reviewed journal articles with video observations of three elementary school teachers and an interview with a Director of English as a Second Language for a county in Virginia. Thematic analysis helped us identify similar strategies across the different studies, classroom observations, and interview. Our findings suggest that utilizing sensory and interactive supports are especially helpful strategies for teachers seeking to help multilingual learners in academic language acquisition.

Fostering Language Development And Literacy In Children From Birth To Two Years Old, Vanessa Vives

Honors Theses

This thesis explores what language is and how its development can impact literacy. It includes a brochure with practical tips for parents and guardians to foster language and literacy development in children from birth to two years old.

Student Behavior Ratings And Response To Tier 1 Reading Intervention: Which Students Do Not Benefit?, Wilhelmina Van Dijk, Christopher Schatschneider, Stephanie Al Otaiba, Sara A. Hart

Special Education and Rehabilitation Counseling Faculty Publications

Core reading instruction and interventions have differential effects based on student characteristics such as cognitive ability and pre-intervention skill level. Evidence for differential effect based on affective characteristics is scant and ambiguous; however, students with problem behavior are more often non-responsive to core reading instruction and intensive reading interventions. In this study, we estimated the range of students' behavior ratings in which a core reading instruction intervention was effective using a data set including 3,024 students in K-3. Data came from seven independent studies evaluating the individualized Student Instruction (ISI) Tier 1 reading intervention and were pooled using integrative data …

The Impact Of Supplemental Phonemic Awareness Lessons On Phonological Awareness And Spelling Development Among Kindergarten And First Graders, Crystal Olinger

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Capstones

Reading is a developmental process that builds on complex cognitive processes and starts long before children enter school. This present study investigated the impact of supplemental phonemic awareness lessons on phonological awareness and spelling development among kindergarten and first graders. The Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing (CTOPP-2) measured phonological awareness. The Kindergarten Inventory of Developmental Spelling (KIDS) measured spelling development in kindergarten students. The Developmental Spelling Analysis (DSA) measured spelling development in first grade. Participants in the treatment group received 16 weeks of weekly word study instruction and 10-15 minute daily phonemic awareness instruction. A mixed design full factorial ANOVA …

“I Think Writing Is…” A Multi-State Study Of Teacher Candidates’ Changing Beliefs About Writing, Jenn Raskauskas, Sonia M. Kline, Amanda Wall, Grace Y. Kang, Chinwe H. Ikpeze, Joy Myers, Roya Q. Scales, Linda D. Smetana, Kelly Tracy

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

While writing scholarship framed by sociocultural theory illuminates the complexity of writing, writing in schools is frequently presented in simplistic ways. For this to change, teacher educators must support future teachers to develop complex understandings of writing. The purpose of this multi-state study was to investigate teacher candidates’ changing beliefs about writing and to consider the implications for teacher preparation. Data sources were written responses from 113 teacher candidates to questions about good writing and the purposes of writing that were collected at the beginning and end of semester-long literacy courses in six institutions across the United States. The responses …

A Trauma Responsive Approach To Fostering Resilience, Addressing Equity Issues And Improving Student Wellness And Academic Success, Mark Harrington, Joe Thompson, Kimberly Witeck

National Youth Advocacy and Resilience Conference

We’ll start with our school’s motto, “Family, Love, Respect,” which is posted in nearly every hallway, office and gathering place in our school. We attempt to provide each student with a strong sense of each. Although ours is an alternative high school, filled with stories of trauma, neglect and despair, our students are resilient! With that in mind we have created a number of programs to encourage resilience, provide a healthy path forward, decrease student discipline, and foster student success. All of these programs, and the stories we share detailing what our students have overcome show just how resilient young …

知源育利用のガイド, Yoshihiko Ariizumi

Learning, Teaching, & Researching Optimization

知源育を応用するための様々な角度からのヒントを学ぶことができるガイドです。実勢んをしながら、時々このガイドを参照することで、より高いレベルでの実践が可能になるでしょう。

Introduction To A Universal Performance Improvement Method (Chigen-Iku), Yoshihiko Ariizumi

Learning, Teaching, & Researching Optimization

This brief article introduces a universal performance improvement method called Chigen-iku, which has been developed carefully and extensively over more than 25 years through more than 100 individual and group projects based on the principles that were selected through my doctorial study in the field of Instructional Psychology and Technology.

Dreaming My Ancestors: A Poetic Inquiry Into Longing And Legacy, Maya T. E. Borhani

Artizein: Arts and Teaching Journal

This poetic inquiry traces certain aspects of my identity as the daughter of an Iranian immigrant growing up in the United States. I use autobiographic life writing (Hasebe-Ludt, Chambers, Leggo, 2009) to lay out (some of) the bones of a larger personal and family story, followed by a suite of poems addressing some of the mysteries, wonderments, gifts and reckonings that I am left with—and which are inherent to—my misplaced, scattered family history and lineage. Although my father shared little about his life in Iran before coming to the U.S., with the help of other relatives I have gleaned a …

“I Feel Like I’M More Likely To Get Triggered, I Guess?”: A Poetry Cluster About Safety In Rape Culture Research, Amber Moore

Artizein: Arts and Teaching Journal

This paper offers and explores a poetry cluster of found list poems written from data collected in a feminist literacy education research study. The larger project examined secondary English teacher candidates’ responses to teaching and learning about sexual assault narratives from a trauma text set, as well as pedagogy for addressing sexual violence, rape culture, and Tarana Burke’s MeToo movement, in the literature classroom. The selected poems are raw, much like the subject matter they collectively speak to, and function together as micro collection that carry a particular politics: exploring what it means to resist rape culture as a witness …

Students’ And Teachers’ Perceptions Of Using Memes In Esl Classrooms, Fadwa Youssef

Theses and Dissertations

Using humor in the language classroom has proven to be an effective pedagogical teaching tool that builds rapport between students and teachers. It also reduces anxiety and affective filter as well as increases students’ performance and willingness to communicate in class using their L2 (Azizinezhad & Hashemi, 2011; Banks, 2014; Soares, 2015). Previous studies used humor broadly starting from humorous comments in class to funny TV shows, movies, or songs. Some studies went further using funny memes in class and fewer studies went all the way making students create memes as part of their class requirements (Purnama, 2017). Results of …

Explanation Needed: Understanding The Low Graduation Rates Of Spanish-Speaking English Learners In Southeastern Louisiana, Alice I. Garcia

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This qualitative research study used the case study method of one-on-one interviews to collect and examine the experiences of former English learners (ELs) who were unable to finish high school in southeastern Louisiana. This study aimed to identify specific factors that, using Everett Lee’s theory, pushed or pulled these ELs from school and affected their ability to graduate. The push factors that were identified included language, inadequate support, academic performance, discrimination, and lack of connection with school and culture. Pull factors that were identified included lack of prior education, immigration, poverty, pregnancy, being far from family, financially supporting family, and …

Hook’D On Ebonics And Black Texts: Enacting An Engaged Pedagogy In An 11th Grade Ela Classroom, Teaira Mcmurtry Phd

Language Arts Journal of Michigan

In this article, the author discusses the process of creating an engaged pedagogy (hooks, 1994), one that prioritized authentic, engaging, and equally rigorous engagement activities that were ongoing preparation for standardized tests and embedded in core ELA instruction. These learning experiences were not only academically necessary, but they were also integral in developing positive racial identity. The author shares three ways to amplify reading instruction that prepares students for skill-based standardized tests and beyond.

Engaging Students And Teaching Life Skills Through Community Collaboration, Kim Stein

Language Arts Journal of Michigan

Collaboration with the Youth First Program of Saginaw increased students' engagement in eleventh-grade English. Students bonded with community partners, their teacher, and their peers in new ways which produced an environment of mutual respect and deeper learning. Students engaged in a debate project which garnered recognition from school administrators and community members, who were influenced to enact positive changes for the school community.

Utilizing The Classical Christian Study Of Latin To Promote Intentionality, Erin Lamont

Master of Arts in Classical Studies

It is well known that the study of Latin increases English vocabulary, helps one understand grammar, raises standardized test scores, and helps one learn other languages. As modern education sees itself as an agent for change and social reform set on reconstructing society, fewer schools are offering Latin to students. Of those that do offer it, many are veering away from the traditional approach which has a goal of being able to read and connect with the writing of the great thinkers of the past while utilizing a methodology that focuses on grammar and syntax. This paper looks at three …

A Restorative Justice Book Club For Secondary Classrooms, Mary M. Mcconnaha

Language Arts Journal of Michigan

Schools face several challenges in creating meaningful community relationships, and the breakdown of these relationships causes harm to students, teachers, and administrators. Many schools have turned to restorative justice practices as a way to disrupt the school-to-prison pipeline, reduce discipline referrals, increase graduation rate, and strengthen the school community (Evans & Lester, 2013; Winn et al., 2019; Weaver and Swank, 2020). However, Winn (2013, 2018) and others have proposed that the principles of restorative justice can be embedded into the English Language Arts curriculum. In this paper, I describe a restorative justice book club unit for early adolescents that is …

Wakanda: Opening The High School Classroom To Afrofuturism, Carrie M. Mattern

Language Arts Journal of Michigan

Afrofuturism has a solid place in high school classrooms thanks to the current work of Ryan Coogler, but also to those who have been in this work for decades including the Mother of Afrofuturism herself, Octavia Butler, adrienne maree brown, dream hampton, and a litany of Black poets and artists. This article leaps inside an Afrofuturistic unit curated for high school seniors with feedback and insight from their teachers and also the students who buckled up for a journey through time, space, and place.

What Makes A Best Book?, Zach Libresco

Graduate Student Independent Studies

Stories affect how people see the world and themselves. Stories matter. This is a study of what makes a “best” book. This study considers conversations that discussed and evaluated whether a book should be on a “best of the year” list, how evaluators thought about selecting books for children, and how the lens of looking at children’s literature has changed over time. The researcher conducted six interviews with members of the Children’s Book Committee, observed over fifty hours of Children’s Book Committee meetings, eight hours of awards committee meetings, and reviewed relevant literature. Three topics emerged as central to the …

Review: Unwell Writing Centers: Searching For Wellness In Neoliberal Educational Institutions And Beyond, Aurora Matzke

English Faculty Articles and Research

“Unwell Writing Centers: Searching for Wellness in Neoliberal Educational Institutions and Beyond” blends narrative, mixed methods research, and rhetorical analysis to make a case for the possibilities inherent in homegrown wellness practices that are “communal, political, and rooted in defiance of white supremacy.”

Student With Twice-Exceptionalities Iep Meeting Assignment Description, David Wolff

Open Educational Resources - Teaching and Learning

General education teachers should remember that all students are general education students, first. We need to be prepared to work with students of all abilities in our classrooms. As general education teachers, we have an active role on a child’s IEP team and an active role during the IEP meeting. This assignment asked preservice teachers to develop a script of what they would say at an IEP meeting of one character from four different novels that would be considered a child with twice-exceptionalities.

Journey “Box” Assignment Description, David Wolff

Open Educational Resources - Teaching and Learning

The Journey “Box” allows preservice teachers to explore and share their own historical narrative as they different aspects of their own family’s journey to America. The Journey “Box” first asks preservice teachers to explore themes by reading children’s literature and then positions preservice teachers as interviewers as they seek out different facets of their family’s historical narrative from members of their family. Preservice teachers then use their experience with a Journey “Box” to design an inquiry that could be used in their field experience. The Journey “Box” integrates social studies standards and best practices with ELA standards.

The Journey Box: Promoting Language Development While Exploring One’S Identity, David Wolff

Open Educational Resources - Teaching and Learning

A Journey Box allows students to explore and share their family’s historical narrative using primary sources like interviews and artifacts. Students explore different facets of their own family’s history and journey to America while engaging in a larger shared experience among classmates to understand different perspectives. The Journey Box develops oral and written language skills while supporting individual’s exploration of their culture and identity.

James Joyce’S Prose Pedagogy: Language In Freirean Dialogue, Jack Mcdermott Wellschlager

Honors Projects

My project concerns the pedagogical nature of James Joyce’s Ulysses. Across the various styles and forms of Ulysses’ chapters, or “episodes,” I theorize the pedagogy of James Joyce’s prose by tracking the ways that the text demands readers participate in a Freirean dialogue. I will also discuss how Ulysses understands language as a practice of resistance: the novel’s characters have personal linguistic practices that help them open up the worlds that occupy them. I will appreciate the control these characters take of their world as I argue, through Paulo Freire’s work, that no true change occurs without the presence of …

An Education In Democracy: Understanding And Subverting Censorship In The English Classroom, Hannah R. Woolsey

MSU Graduate Theses

The politicization of education has presented a challenge to offering students diverse English Language Arts instruction. Across the county, lawmakers have proposed legislation that limits discussion about race and sex or allows parents to restrict their child’s exposure to materials that violate their moral or religious beliefs. In this tug-of-war, teachers will be forced to decide between avoiding controversial topics or risking dismissal. Increasing censorship, now codified by law in many states, is rooted in our polarized political landscape, divided along cultural and geographic lines. The challenge facing educators, then, is how to create space for inclusive, social justice-oriented instruction …