Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education Commons^™

A Curriculum For Improving Chinese Elementary School Students' Listening Comprehension Skills Through Video Games, Ming Cheng

Master's Projects and Capstones

English has been a compulsory subject in Grades 3-9 in China since 2010, English is also a compulsory subject at the secondary level and widely used at the postsecondary level as well. However, Chinese English teachers spend more time teaching English grammar and vocabulary translation while ignoring the instruction of listening and speaking. The importance of teaching listening has been ignored while listening skill is primary to the acquisition of the other language skills. Chinese students’ incompetence of listening and speaking has become a common phenomenon. Also, due to the exam-oriented education system in China, students are under intense pressure, …

Living In Two Worlds: The Phenomena Of The Language Immersion Experience, Laura E. Adelman-Cannon

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

As Vygotsky (1986) concludes in his seminal work Thought and Language, “A word relates to consciousness as a living cell relates to a whole organism, as an atom relates to the universe. A word is a microcosm of human consciousness” (p. 246). Even without an in-depth understanding of science and only the most popular appreciation of the police procedural be it Sherlock Holmes or CSI, it is easy to see how a single cell can relate to the whole organism. But how can a word be a microcosm of human consciousness? The purpose of this study was to explore …

Effective Teaching Techniques And Study Strategies For English Language Learners In Esl Community College Classes, Dorothy M. Steiner

Master's Projects and Capstones

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this field project, Effective Teaching Techniques and Study Strategies for English Language Learners in ESL Community College Classes, is to provide guidance to the busy instructors who work with adult ESL students, particularly in non-credit programs. This field project can also be used by instructors of credit community college ESL classes, Adult schools, or (Community Based Organizations) CBOs. The handbook is designed to be a resource on the many areas that present common challenges in the ESL classroom such as diverse needs, low literacy levels, building academic rigor and vocabulary, communicative language teaching, increasing engagement and …

Empowering Students To Develop L2 Identity - Supplemental Online Lessons, Laura Espino

Master's Projects and Capstones

As an immigrant, learning English is part of acculturating to the new culture. From this process, a new identity emerges in the context of the new language and culture. Currently, identity issues and intercultural competence are explicit objectives in language learning. The implications of neglecting identity formation in second language acquisition include vulnerability to culture shock, mental health issues, and the inability to thrive. The unique set of needs, motivations, and strengths of immigrant English language learners should inform language instruction design in order to achieve sustainable and equitable successful language learning and acculturation. Explicitly designing instruction that incorporates issues …

Teaching English In China’S Shadow Education Settings Where Communicative Competence Is Left Out, Bei Ye

Master's Projects and Capstones

English shadow education, whose curriculum in the shadow mimics the curriculum inside the school (Zhang, 2014) has become increasingly prevalent in China. The fact that English shadow education simply serves for dealing with examinations without developing learner autonomy and communicative competence is a problem that needs to be solved. However, the huge demand for shadow education is derived from deep-rooted traditional values and the current education system. Also, many contextual realities such as high student-teacher ratio, overloaded curriculum, and teachers’ limited English language proficiency (Nunan, 2003; Yu, 2001; Zhang & Watkins, 2007) stop teachers applying the Communicative Approach and should …

Teaching Idioms To Chinese International Students Through Multimedia, Wenrui Wang

Master's Projects and Capstones

Native speakers tend to use idioms to express specific meaning and make language vivid. However, using idioms sometimes causes problems for ESL learners to understand, because the idioms always have figurative meaning. It is necessary for international students to strengthen their ability to understand and use idioms, because the idioms also contain many culture meanings. This project explores research in vocabulary teaching and using multimedia in ESL learning to create a handbook of learning idioms for the target group of college level Chinese international students. It contains idioms selected from visual and audio materials, such as movies, documentaries, pop songs, …

Thinking Outside The Box: Incorporating Critical Thinking Strategies In Esl Reading & Writing Instruction, Johanna Carranza

Master's Projects and Capstones

ABSTRACT

ESL students in the United States avail the resources of community college to achieve their goal of academic excellence. However, many community colleges struggle to prepare their students for mainstream four-year institutions. Aside from reading, writing, and speaking, learning a second language requires the development of critical thinking skills which are not emphasized enough for many ESL students in contemporary American academia.

As such, there are two major problems that this project aims to address. The first is that English as a Second Language (ESL) and English instructors have different expectations for ESL students. ESL instructors do not focus …

Crosslinguistic Influence Of Chinese Efl Learners On English Acquisition, Weijia Tang

Master's Theses

This thesis introduces both positive and negative crosslinguistic influence of Chinese EFL learners on English Acquisition. Most Chinese EFL learners have difficulties in English acquisition due to the negative crosslinguistic influence caused by the differences between mother tongue and the target language. In order to help Chinese EFL learners to tackle this problem, comparative analysis is done between English and Mandarin Chinese in terms of phonetics and phonology, morphology, part syntax, and pragmatics.

The focus of this thesis is to investigate both the positive and negative crosslinguistic influence phenomena in the process of English acquisition conducted by Chinese EFL learners …

Multilingual Families Homeschooling: Reasons, Goals, And Challenges, Georgina J.J. Aubin

Master's Theses

This study examines homeschooling among multilingual families by providing insight into multilingual parents’ motivations, goals, and challenges in homeschooling, along with their perception of the role their diverse language background plays in their homeschooling experience. Through the LangCrit framework, this study explores the intersection of language and parental involvement in the identities multilingual parents live as they homeschool their children. Findings demonstrate that parents’ goals and challenges center on academic and social concerns, rather than language issues. Rather, the influence of their language background emerges in descriptions directly focused on language and culture. The fluid dimensions of their identities are …

Self–Assessment In Efl Grammar Classroom: A Study Of Efl Learners At The Centre For Languages And Translation, Ibb University, Marwan Saeed Saif Moqbel

International Journal for Research in Education

The present study investigated the implementation of self-assessment in EFL grammar classroom to identify the attitudes of EFL learners at the Centre for Languages and Translation, Ibb University towards self-assessment, their perceptions of the advantages of self-assessment, and the problems or difficulties that EFL learners may face while carrying out self-assessment activities. To collect data, the researcher used three instruments: a questionnaire, a structured interview, and a focus group discussion. The questionnaire was administered to (85) EFL learners. Using the stratified sampling technique, the researcher selected randomly (14) learners for the interviews and (21) learners to participate in the focus …

Educational Values Practiced By Almujamah University Students In Saudi Arabia, Musaad D. Alharbi

International Journal for Research in Education

Abstract:
This study aimed at identifying the values practiced by Almujamah University students in Saudi Arabia. In order to achieve this objective, the researcher designed a study tool which is a questionnaire consisting of (50) items distributed to the four areas. Then the validity and reliability of the questionnaire were validated. It was distributed to subjects of the study (645) male and female students at the University of Almjmah. The study found that the degree of the educational values practiced by Almjmah University students was high and there is no statistically significant differences due to variables of jeandar and students’ …

How Well-Aware Are Families Of Children With Special Needs, Sara Alosaimi

International Journal for Research in Education

The study aims to increase the knowledge towards the genetic counseling services .at parents with special educational needs children. The study sample targeted (104) families. Each family has one or more children of special educational needs. The families were classified according to the cases they represent such as: special needs, mobility disabilities and mental disability. The researcher has applied a questionnaire of the genetic counseling services (the questionnaire was prepared by the researcher herself) and has felicitated evidence signs and constancy for the study. The results of the study have shown that the level of parents' knowledge about the genetic …

Self-Determination And Its Relationship With Intrinsic Motivation Among Tenth-Grade Students In Karak, Jordan, Wejdan Abd Al-Aziz Karki

International Journal for Research in Education

Abstract:

This study attempts to identify self-determination and intrinsic motivation amongst tenth-grade students in Karak. The study sample consisted of 724 students selected according to the stratified random sampling. In order to achieve the study objectives, the author used Self-Determination Scale (SDS) and the Intrinsic Motivation Scale (IMS) after verifying their validity and reliability. The results showed that the level of self-determination among tenth-grade students in Karak was medium with a mean of 3.33 and standard deviation of 0.71. The level of intrinsic academic motivation among tenth-grade students in Karak was medium with a mean of 3.66 and standard deviation …

Focusing On The "Learning" For The English Language Learner, Taneka L. Tate

Theses and Dissertations from 2018

Educators are faced with the challenge of teaching an ever-changing student population. The classrooms are filled with students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds and cultures. English Language Learners account for 12% of our student population (Garcia, Jensen, & Scribner, 2009). Providing English Language Learners with effective instruction that integrates both content area knowledge and English language acquisition is necessary. English Language Learners are relying on educators to teach them what they need to know in order to be successful in all academic areas in schools. The purpose of this study was to examine the systemic approach of SIOP as …

Using Pictorial Action Instructions To Train Low-Literacy Adults To Construct A Basic Humanitarian Engineering Project, Kathleen Paco Cadman

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are often disproportionately faced with environmental hazards, which can cause adverse health outcomes. Although humanitarian engineering projects have been created to mitigate these hazards, LMICs are also frequently impacted by literacy deficits, creating a barrier in training low-literacy individuals to construct these projects. The purpose of this dissertation was to develop, refine, and test the usability of pictorial action instructions (PAI) in training low-literacy individuals to construct a humanitarian engineering project. A concept analysis was completed, including the creation of an operational definition, for “lay worker health literacy.” This analysis and definition set a foundation …

Food Insecurity And Pre-Hypertension, Pre-Diabetes In Adult Women: Results From The 2007-2010 National Health And Nutrition Examination Survey, Michelle L. Redmond, Phd, Ms, Fanglong Dong, Phd, Philip Twumasi-Ankrah, Phd, Robert B. Hines, Phd, Mph, Lisette T. Jacobson, Phd, Mpa, Ma, Elizabeth Ablah, Phd, Mph, Judy Johnston, Ms, Rd/Ld, Tracie C. Collins, Md, Mph, Mhcds

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Background

Being food insecure is generally defined as the limited or uncertain availability of safe and nutritious foods and is linked to poor nutrition and fully progressed diet-sensitive chronic diseases. However, little is known about the association between food insecurity and pre-clinical disease such as pre-hypertension and pre-diabetes. This study sought to examine the associations between food insecurity and pre-clinical disease among a racially/ethnically diverse population of women.

Methods

Using data from 2007-2010 NHANES, we examined associations between food security and pre-clinical disease among women 18-65 years. Chi-square tests were used to examine differences in demographic variables. Bivariate and multivariable …

Nativity Differences In Stress Among Asian And Pacific Islander American Women, Brittany N. Morey, Gilbert C. Gee, Salma Shariff-Marco, Gem M. Le, Alison J. Canchola, Juan Yang, Laura Allen, Sandra Lee, Roxanna Bautista, Trish Quema La Chica, Winston Tseng, Pancho Chang, Scarlett Lin Gomez

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

According to the Stress Process Theory, people who are marginalized in society encounter more stress than those in more advantaged positions. Immigrants are one such marginalized group in the United States (US) who may experience greater psychological stress than their US-born counterparts due to (1) severing of social ties; (2) social disadvantage and marginalization; and (3) adaptation to a new environment. This study examines the disparity in stress by nativity, and how social factors contribute to this disparity for Asian and Pacific Islander (API) women. Data come from the Asian Community Health Initiative, which included a sample of 291 foreign-born …

Application Of The Imb Model To The Reported Intake Of Fruits And Vegetables Of Native American Children, Rachel C. Sinley, Julie A. Albrecht

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the applicability of the Information-Motivation-Behavioral Skills (IMB) model to identify variables that are associated with fruit and vegetable intake among Native American children. A cross-sectional study design was employed with a convenience sample of 92 English-speaking caregivers of Native American children between the ages of 2 and 5 from several tribes representing the Midwest, including Omaha, Santee Sioux, Ponca and Winnebago. Caregivers completed an IMB model survey, fruit and vegetable food frequency questionnaire and demographic survey. Multivariate linear regression and path analysis were conducted to assess association between model constructs and fruit …

Are Parent Activation And Health Literacy Distinct Concepts? A Study In Low Income Urban Populations, Harita S. Shah, Kate Leifheit, Sarah Polk, Elizabeth Sloand, Tina L. Cheng, Lisa Decamp

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Patient activation (the knowledge, confidence, willingness, and skills to manage one’s healthcare) and health literacy have well-established associations with health and healthcare outcomes in adults. However, little is known about parent activation on behalf of children and its relation to health literacy. Our objective was to examine relations between parent activation, health literacy, and parent-provider relationship quality. We surveyed 316 Spanish- or English-speaking parents of publicly-insured patients of a general pediatrics clinic. Surveys included the Parent-Patient Activation Measure (P-PAM), the Newest Vital Sign (NVS), and parent-provider relationship measures. We used chi-square analyses and logistic regression to explore associations stratified by …

A Biographical Study Of A Female Karen Refugee Who Experienced Academic Success In A Texas High School, Katherine P. Whitbeck

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative biographical study explored the life experiences of a female Karen youth who moved to the United States as a pre-teenager, entering a medium-sized Texas rural public high school as a freshman. Perceptions of English Learners are that they are ill-prepared for achieving success in rigorous academic subjects taught in United States public schools. Refugees are considered to have more difficulties because of the trauma associated with their pre-immigration violent environments, which often involve little or no organized education in the native country or in refugee camps. The biographical design allowed the Karen student who achieved academic success at …