Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons^™

English Literacy Curricula In A Sino-Canadian Transnational Education Program: Teachers’ Implemented Curriculum, Rong Hai

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This case study explored the English literacy curricula in a Sino-Canadian Transnational Education Program that is accredited by British Columbia (BC). Underpinned by nested pedagogical orientations and critical multimodal literacies, this study focuses on how the BC English literacy curricula were implemented in three English literacy teachers’ classes. Data show that two pedagogical orientations (i.e., transmission and social constructivist) were used by English literacy teachers in the transnational education program. This study also found little evidence of transformative pedagogy in all three teachers’ English literacy teaching. The implications include missed opportunities to engage students to critically analyze and evaluate the …

Building Intercultural Capacity In School Teams To Support Refugee Students, Heather A. Young

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

In a period of globalization and forced migration, refugee numbers are increasing exponentially, and unprepared school systems embrace students as families settle in unfamiliar territory. This Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) explores the experiences of a school team at Calluna Elementary School (CES, a pseudonym) in Southern Ontario, where staff strive to build their collective intercultural capacity in order to best serve an influx of newcomers who have survived war and significant loss. The Problem of Practice (PoP) involves addressing staff struggles with trauma-informed pedagogy, early literacy instruction, and maintaining an asset-focused perspective, through a refugee critical race theory lens. To …

Increasing The Academic Achievement Of English Language Learning Students: An Inquiry Into Culturally Responsive Pedagogy, Kimberly A. Bartlett

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

The English Language Learner (ELL) international boarding students at an independent, not-for-profit school have consistently demonstrated lower levels of academic achievement than their local peers. This Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) proposes to address this Problem of Practice (PoP) by creating a professional learning community (PLC) to institute more culturally responsive pedagogy. This OIP suggests a compelling correlation between inclusiveness and academic success, and therefore the school needs to raise its level of cultural competency, introduce more equitable assessments, and increase coordination among the various departments and systems that support the ELL students. The implementation of the proposed solution relies on …

Ontario High School Science Word List (Ohswl), Mohamed Mahfouz

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This research aims to explain the development of an Ontario High School Science Corpus and subsequently an Ontario High School Science Word List (OHSWL). The OHSWL is a list of the most frequent technical words in the Ontario high school science curriculum. The science corpus was compiled from Ontario science textbooks and public written lecture material. A total of 803 lemmas were identified as part of the OHSWL. The coverage of the OHSWL in the science corpus vs non-science corpus is 7.79% and 1.52% respectively. The high frequency vocabulary (top 3,000 words) of the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA) …

Becoming A Cosmopolitan Teacher: Empirical And Theoretical Inquires, James S. Budrow

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The contemporary conditions of the world are largely defined by global interconnectivity, heightened mobilities and super-diversity. Teachers and students are increasingly immersed in these conditions that prompt the heightened calls for internationalization of curricula and culturally relevant and inclusive school pedagogies. Teachers are also mobile, taking on positions beyond their local educational jurisdiction, where they must learn to navigate the intercultural and/or transnational conditions of unfamiliar locales and school communities. In turn, teacher education must respond by preparing teachers for both the super-diversity they may encounter in ‘local’ schools as well as for teaching ‘beyond their local.’ To better understand …

Building Leadership Capacity For The Effective Implementation Of A Professional Development Tool In K-12 School In A Region In Arctic Canada, Sonia Osbourne

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

This Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) aims to identify and remediate the organizational factors that are presently leading to the faulty delivery of a professional development framework (PDFM) tool in an educational organization in the Canadian Arctic. Implementation of change initiatives in organizations is a complex undertaking and can be further complicated by contextual factors such as culture. In this region, a large percentage of students are Inuit, and teachers and school leaders are both Inuit and non-Inuit. Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit (IQ), translated as Inuit traditional knowledge, is a foundation upon which education is delivered in the region. Therefore, this organizational change …

Music Education In A Liquid Social World: The Nuances Of Teaching With Students Of Immigrant And Refugee Backgrounds, Gabriela Ocádiz Velázquez

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This integrated-article dissertation explores the multiple ways in which music teachers, community facilitators, and students engage in music teaching and learning in social contexts prone to change due to human mobility. Drawing upon Bauman’s sociological understanding of modern societies as liquid and the larger implications of processes of human mobility in schools and communities, this research focuses on exploring music education as it happens within an increasingly diversifying Canadian society.

In the first article, a philosophical research study, I conceptualize the notion of coping with discomfort as a form of response possibly experienced by music teachers. Here, I draw from …

Learning From Cultural Diversity For Intercultural Competency And Global Stewardship Development In A Boarding School, Alan Hesketh

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

This Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) explores opportunities to prioritize, teach, and assess intercultural competency in students at a large independent boarding school. The school currently assumes that the presence of a diverse population will result in intercultural learning, a strategy shown to be ineffective. Considering culture as the combined beliefs and behaviours of individuals due to the groups they have been a part of, and intercultural competency as the ability to interact appropriately with individuals who are different from oneself, the range of countries of origin and backgrounds of students, including boarders, provides diversity that could be leveraged to create …

Creating Sustainable Support Systems For The Cultural Integration Of International Students At A Medium Size Ontario University, Muzi Li

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

This OIP investigates the lack of cultural integration and support for international students at Medium-Size Ontario University (MSOU). The support for cultural integration of the international students at MSOU is inadequate and international students are facing social, emotional and academic challenges as they are not provided with the needed assistance to acclimatize to Western culture. Three potential solutions to address the PoP are demonstrated and evaluated. The chosen solution of implementing extended orientation and workshops is inspected in detail. Transformational Leadership and Confucianism are examined to ensure their relevancy and appropriateness to address this PoP and OIP and connected to …

Dilemma And Knowledge - Book Review Of Re-Imagining Utopias: Theory And Method For Educational Research In Post-Socialist Contexts, Jessica Zychowicz

Comparative and International Education / Éducation Comparée et Internationale

No abstract provided.

Trends, Affordances, And Implications For Learners' Literacy And Identity Options: A Systematic Review Of Studies On Transnational Education, Bethany C. Mckishnie

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The purpose of this systematic literature review (SLR) was three-fold: to identify the trends of the reviewed research on transnational education (TNE) and investigate the reported affordances of TNE and the implications for TNE in curriculum, pedagogy, and teacher training regarding expanding learners’ literacy and identity options. Through the lens of a multiliteracies framework, this SLR is premised on 60 screened articles that are based on the understandings of the relationships between TNE, literacy and identity options for students in globalized contexts. Findings indicate that this study offers TNE scholars future areas of research to investigate. It enhances the existent …

A Case Study Of Literacy Curricula In A Canadian Offshore School In China, Wanjing Li

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This single case study is embedded in a multiple case study conducted in Canadian offshore schools in China. In response to the scant literature on literacy curriculum in transnational education contexts, particularly in secondary schools, this study reports findings regarding literacy curricula implementation in a secondary Sino-Canadian school.

The theoretical tools of the study include theories on curriculum, multiliteracies, and multimodality. Data presented in this paper emerges from observations of 46 periods of Mandarin and English literacy classes, interviews with two Chinese and two foreign literacy teachers regarding curricula actualization, and related curriculum documents.

Findings relate how Chinese and Canadian …

Universal Design For Belonging: Living And Working With Diverse Personal Names, Karen E. Pennesi

Anthropology Publications

There is great diversity in the names and naming practices of Canada’s population due to the multiple languages and cultures from which names and name-givers originate. While this diversity means that everyone encounters unfamiliar names, institutional agents who work with the public are continually challenged when attempting to determine a name’s correct pronunciation, spelling, structure and gender. Drawing from over a hundred interviews in London (Ontario) and Montréal (Québec), as well as other published accounts, I outline strategies used by institutional agents to manage name diversity within the constraints of their work tasks. I explain how concern with saving face …

Parental Support For Newcomer Children’S Education In A Smaller Centre, Xuemei Li, Antoinette Doyle, Maureen Lymburner, Needal Yasin Ghadi

Comparative and International Education / Éducation Comparée et Internationale

This study explored the issues around parental support for newcomer children’s transition to school in a smaller urban centre in Atlantic Canada where newcomer support is relatively limited. Data were drawn from semi-structured interviews with 11 newcomer parents, five children, and one settlement worker. The findings revealed newcomer parents’ difficulties in understanding the school system, limited engagement with the school community, isolation from other parents, and barriers to understanding and connecting with other parents. Among these newcomers, refugee parents are particularly challenged. We conclude that newcomer children’s parental involvement need to be viewed multi-dimensionally, and that the creation of a …

An Investigation Of Multiliteracies Pedagogies In Language Teacher Education: A Mixed Methods Study, Adrienne Doucette-Vanthuyne

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Research into teacher preparedness within teacher education programs and its relationship to teacher attrition is an increasing area of interest in Canada and around the world. In Canada, on average, the estimated turnover for second language educators is approximately 30% in the first five years and 50% of these are within the first two years (Canadian Teacher’s Federation (CTF), 2004; Karsenti, Collin, Villeneuve, Dumouchel, & Roy, 2008; Siwatu, 2011; Swanson, 2012). The CTF (2004), French and Collins (2014), Karsenti et al. (2008) and Swanson (2012) have reported on several factors that influence language teacher attrition and retention: teacher preparedness, teacher …

Professional Development Based On The Common European Framework Of Reference For Languages And The New Ontario French Immersion Curriculum: A Case Study Of Reflective Practice, Tiffany H. Mui

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

In this multi-phase case study, the teacher researcher aimed to determine how teachers can be assisted in implementing some principles of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages/CEFR (Council of Europe, 2001) into their pedagogical practices for primary-aged children enrolled in early French Immersion programs. Through a series of interviews conducted over three phases and a five-month period, the researcher led the teacher participant through professional development (PD) to shed light on the PD needed for French Immersion and other FSL teachers to adopt key principles of CEFR-inspired pedagogy into their practice. The results suggest that PD should be …

Muslim Parents At Crossroads: Choosing The Right School For Their Children, Ghazala E. Ahmed

Comparative and International Education / Éducation Comparée et Internationale

This paper is based on a qualitative study that investigated reasons behind twelve Muslim parents’ decisions to send their children to either an Islamic or a public school in South-Western Ontario. Three major thematic reasons for parents’ choices emerged from the interviews: first, were the parents’ experiences with either the public or Islamic school environment; second, were the parents’ experiences and perceptions of the school’s dress codes; and, third, was the parents’ understanding of the school curriculum content. In addition to these themes, the paper also discusses parents’ views on the language of the school and that of the home …

A Case Study Mapping Literacy Learning Opportunities And Identity Construction Among African Immigrant Youth In A Canadian Secondary School, Wambui J. Gichuru

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Studies with immigrant and refugee youth highlight challenges, school failure and early push-out rates (Anisef, 2008; James, 2012; Roessingh, 2010). There is limited research about how immigrant students especially from continental Africa negotiate their identity at school for positive outcomes. The goal of this qualitative case study was to explore literacy learning opportunities afforded by the school for African youth who were learning to become literate in English as an additional language in a Canadian secondary school and the implications for the students’ communicative and identity options.

The study utilized ethnographic tools, i.e., interview, classroom observation, mapping literacy activities and …

“My Classroom Is A Bigger Place”: Examining The Impact Of A Professional Development Course On The Global Perspective Of Experienced Teachers, Steve Sider, Mary Ashun

Comparative and International Education / Éducation Comparée et Internationale

How do experienced teachers develop a global perspective through a professional development course and how can this perspective impact classroom practice? These are the two key questions which this paper examines. We utilize Guskey’s (2002) model of teacher change as a framework for understanding the results of a study involving experienced teachers who took a professional development course which had a focus on global education. The participants engaged in a number of activities four months after the completion of the course to explore how the course had impacted their classroom teaching practice. Common themes were identified through participant reflective papers …

Teaching In Northwestern China Under A Market Economy: Opportunities And Challenges, Gulbahar H. Beckett

Comparative and International Education / Éducation Comparée et Internationale

This article discusses a case study that explored the impacts of a market economy on some Northwestern Chinese teachers’ working and living conditions as well as opportunities and challenges the new economy presented from teachers’ perspectives. Analysis of surveys, interviews, and documents revealed that the participants believed they had benefited from the market economy, citing pay raises as well as improved working and living conditions. Participants thought opportunities under the market economy included additional earnings as well as improved national and international professional development. However, the participants found the shift from the traditional teacher-centered pedagogy to a more student-centered approach …