Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education Commons^™

Assessment Of Foreign Language Proficiency Amongst Parks, Recreation, And Tourism Professionals, Brook Garnica

Recreation, Parks, and Tourism Administration

The purpose of this study was to assess foreign language (FL) proficiency perceptions and motivations amongst individuals employed in the recreation, parks, and tourism (RPT) fields. The subjects of this study were California Travel Association (CalTravel) members to represent the tourism sector and California Park and Recreation Society (CPRS) members to represent the recreation and parks sector. This study was conducted through the Web-based survey application, Zoomerang. The results of the survey indicate that members of CalTravel and CPRS both agree that professionals in their fields should have a basic knowledge of FL vocabulary. Both CalTravel and CPRS members are …

Executive Function Development And Early Mathematics: Examination Of Dual Language Learners, Hattie A. Harvey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the convergent validity between a third-party rating scale of executive function (EF) and a task-performance measurement of EF; examined the effects of age, gender, and dual language experience on preschool children‘s EF skills (inhibition, working memory (WM), and shifting) and on early mathematical skills; and investigated the contributions of inhibition, WM, and shifting to early mathematical skills. Ninety-two children attending Head Start were assessed. Correlation analyses revealed a number of relationships between the EF rating scale and the EF taskperformance measure. A multivariate analysis of variance revealed a main effect of age on all EF measures and …

Culturally And Linguistically Diverse Decision-Making: Development Of A Survey Tool, Janeann M. Lineman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

It has been projected that by 2020 one out of three children will originate from a culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) population (Rogers & Lopez, 2002). Thus, school psychologists are called to reexamine and modify their service-delivery methods to better meet the needs of CLD populations (Guerrero & Leung, 2008). The purposes of this study were: (1) to identify what a CLD problem-solving process looks like in the daily practices of school psychologists; (2) identify the impact of perceived value and skill level on the frequency of implementation practices of a CLD problem-solving model; and (3) identify if personal characteristics …

Beyond The Language Program Model: The Importance Of Student Identity For The English Language Learner, Arthi Rao

College of Education Theses and Dissertations

This ethnographic dissertation study focuses on life in fourth grade classrooms, examining how sociocultural experiences and influences in the local learning environment impact native Spanish-speaking English language learners’ (ELL) identities, and subsequently how students perceive their schooling experience and language practices. Connections are made between their learning and experiences that occur in their classrooms and schools at large, specifically through language of instruction and schooling practices, and how ELLs identify themselves as individuals and members of society. This qualitative research looks at ELLs in transitional bilingual and dual language classroom contexts through the frameworks of sociocultural theory and language as …

Children's Day At The Plaza 2011 Booth Coordinator, Claribel Marquez

Psychology and Child Development

This project outlines the organizational process of Children's Day at the Plaza, as well as a literature review about linguistic diversity at the elementary school level. Imersion, dual immersion, and other bilingual programs are among the linguistic programs discussed in the review.

Personalismo, Small Schools, And Latino Students' Academic Success, Isabel Mesa Collins

College of Education Theses and Dissertations

A growing body of research indicates that Latino students continue to struggle academically presenting educators and school leaders with serious concerns about a cultural achievement gap. Guided by the work of Lee & Loeb, (2000); Lee & Freidkin, (2007) and Stevens, (2008) who have examined small personalized learning communities, this paper examines the concept of personalismo as a conduit for establishing a platform that may help narrow the achievement gap within the Latino population in the public school system. Through a series of T-Tests, conducted in two small public schools with varying levels of personalismo, within a Chicago Public School …

Intersections: The Schooling Experiences Of African-American Females Inolved In Long-Term Foster Care And Their Transition Into Womanhood, Sonia Kennedy

College of Education Theses and Dissertations

African-American girls are entering foster care and experiencing longer stays in a system that was not intended to facilitate adolescents transitioning into adulthood. For African American adolescent girls many remain in care indefinitely and move from one temporary foster home, group home and institution to another, with little stability or preparation for the future. Although the Adoption and Safe Families Act (AFSA) of 1994 and other policy reforms were designed to guide the temporary placement of children in foster care, this has not been the case, particularly for African American females. Upon entrance into foster care, African American adolescent females …

A Guest In Someone's House: Exploring The Role Of African-American Student-Faculty/Staff Interactions In A Community College Setting, Yolanda Isaacs

College of Education Theses and Dissertations

African-American students are enrolling in four-year universities and community colleges in the hope of receiving a degree; however, their rate of degree attainment at the latter institutions in particular continues to be troubling. Although community colleges are making efforts to improve the graduation rates of African-American students, more institutional strategies are needed to address this concern. The purpose of the study was to explore how the role of African-American faculty and staff can affect the success of African-American students in a community college setting. The researcher investigated African-American students’ perceptions and experiences regarding how African-American faculty and staff members have …

Culture And The Classroom: Teachers' Perspectives Of Ethnic And Racial Culture In The Middle School Classroom, Rachel E. Heide

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Public education has experienced an unprecedented growth of diversity within the student population and accompanying that growth are inequities that are present in our schools and communities. Many school teachers and administrators have a limited awareness of how their own class, gender, and race impact their work, and often, do not see how their views about others' class, gender, and race help to reproduce the social hierarchy. These limited or uneducated views may also contribute to the achievement gap that exists between students belonging to the minority and non-minority groups.

It is important to study these views and ask whether …

Children’S Stories From Across Borders: A Contrastive Analysis Of Children’S Folk Tales In Ecuador And Appalachia, Teresa Cox

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

The Appalachian region of the United States encompasses fourteen states, ranging from southern New York to northern Mississippi. Despite the thousands of miles separating the mountain region of Appalachia within the United States and the small, diverse country of Ecuador, the two areas are decisively similar in their values. These values are clearly demonstrated in the traditional children’s folk stories, passed down orally between generations, in both Ecuador and Appalachia. Having surveyed anonymous subjects in both areas, four stories from Ecuador and seven stories from Appalachia have been collected at random in order to draw on comparison and contrast of …

Bilingualism And Bilingual Education In The U.S., Zakaria Jouaibi

Department of Curriculum, Instruction, and Media Technology

No abstract provided.

The Establishment Of Effective Advisory Boards For Promoting Social Justice In The Arts On College Campuses, Sherwood Thompson

Educational Leadership and Policy Studies Faculty and Staff Research

This paper focuses on some of the important aspects of establishing an advisory board on college campuses for governing arts organizations with social justice missions. In contrast to Boards of Directors of for-profit corporations, the nonprofit advisory board services the needs of organizations by performing services aimed at assisting the activities of the organization. Most boards are made up of people who like the same things and who support the same causes. This is especially true for arts organizations which tend to have a homogeneous board make-up. This paper makes the argument that advisory boards are an important component of …

Developing Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (Calp) In Diverse Classrooms, Kristen M. Lillywhite

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

The process of second language acquisition was studied by examining the distinction between basic interpersonal conversation skills (BICS) and cognitive academic language proficiency (CALP). This distinction, originally proposed by linguist Jim Cummins, relates to current trends in the U.S public education system. A review of the literature was conducted and integrated with information obtained by interviewing local language arts teachers. The primary goal of the study was to learn how public school teachers conceptualize second language acquisition and literacy instruction. The thesis also addresses how the BICS/CALP distinction can be applied in real classroom settings. Teachers reported that low student …

A Formative Experiment To Increase English Language Learners' Awareness And Use Of Metacognitive Strategies Through Reciprocal Teaching: Pushing Toward An End To Silence In The Classroom, Jane Casey

All Dissertations

During the course of 13 weeks, a reciprocal teaching (Palincsar & Brown, 1984) intervention was introduced into two fifth grade inclusive, social studies classrooms to increase English language learners' (ELLs) awareness and use of metacognitive strategies. A formative experiment (Reinking & Bradley, 2008) was selected as the methodology, and both qualitative and quantitative data were collected to determine student-participants' progress toward the goal. Results of the data analysis guided the study, and the intervention was adapted to ensure students' moved steadily toward attainment of the established, pedagogical goal. The researcher and teacher-participants worked in a collaborative fashion to make adaptations …

Representations Of Chinese Culture And History In Picture Books Of The Westerville Public Library: Educational Quality And Accuracy Of Children Literature About China And Chinese Culture, Han Zhang

Masters Theses/Capstone Projects

In order to learn about the educational quality and accuracy of most children's picture literature accessible to readers of Westerville area, which aim to illustrate and introduce the content of Chinese culture and history, the author of this paper examines whether children's picture books in the Westerville Public Library serve American readers as authentic and accurate representations of Chinese culture and its history. Based on the ardent debates of former researcher, the author discusses frequent mistakes existing in most picture books. Later, the author collects data and uses estimation and hypothesis testing to prove the error rate of the whole …

A Case Study On Perspectives, Whitney Tallarico

Senior Honors Projects

The Rhode Island Training School becomes a home to juvenile offenders of the law.  Home, in so far as it is a place that they sleep, eat, and spend a lot of time in, as well as the atmosphere in which learning and growth occur during the adolescent phase of their lives.  There is a very high rate of released inmates who return to the facility for things like running away from group homes, not checking in with their parole officers, or other misdemeanors.  It is my belief that this is, at least in part, due to the fact that …

Factors Influencing International Students' Academic And Sociocultural Transition In An Increasingly Globalized Society, Chung-Hsien Hsu

Dissertations

This study is a mixed-method study. It consists of a quantitative study and a qualitative study. The quantitative study focused on international adult learners’ experiences of adaptation to American academic and social cultures. The qualitative study then investigated their experiences of cultural transition.

Based on the definition of globalized influences (Finger, 2005) and existing studies discussing the effects on globalized educational environments (Merriam & Young), factors related to globalized influences were selected and used to examine the extent to which these factors have affected international students’ adaptation to learning and life in the American university. Additionally, the other two variables, …

Teaching Communication In The Chinese As A Foreign Language Classroom, Xia Wu

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

This portfolio is a collection of the author’s teaching beliefs and approaches regarding Chinese as foreign language teaching, which she developed during her time in the Master of Second Language Teaching program. The centerpiece of the portfolio is the author’s personal teaching philosophy. It is followed by three artifacts. The language artifact analyzes one of the complexities encountered by learners in the Chinese as a foreign language classroom: the three particles 的 (de), 地 (de), 得 (de). The culture artifact illustrates the difference between American and Chinese language teachers. The literacy artifact talks about using literature circles in the CFL …

An Imperative For Change: Bridging Special And Language Learning Education To Ensure A Free And Appropriate Education In The Least Restrictive Environment For Ells With Disabilities In Massachusetts, Maria De Lourdes B. Serpa

Gastón Institute Publications

English Language Learners (ELLs) are the fastest-growing group of school-age students in public schools across the nation, and in Massachusetts. In this state, even as the total student enrollment declines slightly, the number of ELLs grows steeply. They number 68,820 in the 2010-2011 school year, an increase of 9,662 from the year before.

The number of ELLs identified as also having a disability doubled in Massachusetts (a striking increase of 115.4%) from 2001-2002 to 2010-2011. The proportion of ELLs placed in Special Education has increased by 5 percentage points, from 9.8% to 14.8%. This time period coincides almost exactly with …

Attitudes Of Parents And Teachers Toward Bilingual Education, Gilda Rios

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

The importance of bilingual education has caught the attention of public school administrators. The current study used a quantitative approach to investigate the perceptions of bilingual education of teachers and parents from a selected elementary school in South Texas. Bilingual education is used in this study to describe the study of two languages among students. The term “bilingual education” can have multiple meanings to many people so we wanted to understand what people believed of educating students among two languages being that the area in which this study was conducted has traditionally rejected bilingual education. There were a total of …