Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education Commons^™

Toward A Practice-Based Approach In Foreign Language Education, Kristin Davin, Richard Donato

Education: School of Education Faculty Publications and Other Works

In 1999, Ball & Cohen called for a practice-based curriculum in teacher training. While content areas such as math and science have responded to this call, few studies in foreign language education have been published on practice-based teacher training. This session details a course designed by the foreign language department at the University of Pittsburgh. This course centers around three high-leverage practices (HLPs). HLPs are practices which are done frequently and which novice teachers must be able to implement in order to be effective teachers. They are often context-independent and improve the learning for all students. This presentation describes how …

Transcending Borders: The Experience Of Six Undocumented Immigrant Mothers In The United States, Patricia Derobles

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to gain meaningful insights into the experiences of six undocumented immigrant mothers as they settled in the United States while they raise and participate in the educational life of their children. Currently 10 % of California's 6 million students originate from homes where one or two parents are undocumented, poor and have limited English skills. Undocumented immigrants live in constant fear of deportation, live and work in the shadows of mainstream society, are stigmatized by the media, are criminalized by immigration law and exploited by their employers. Historically, children originating from immigrant homes have …

Selecting Ell Textbooks: A Content Analysis Of Language-Teaching Models, Jeffrey Labelle

College of Education Faculty Research and Publications

Many middle school teachers lack adequate criteria to critically select materials that represent a variety of L2 teaching models. This study analyzes the illustrated and written content of 33 ELL textbooks to determine the range of L2 teaching models represented. The researchers asked to what extent do middle school ELL texts depict frequency and variation of language-teaching models in illustrations and written texts. Using content analysis, they measured the range of depiction of the 4 language-teaching models and concluded that 4 of the 33 textbooks had considerable to extensive frequency and variation of L2 teaching models

Ojos Claros, Roberto E. Bahruth

Literacy, Language, and Culture Faculty Publications and Presentations

Seis noches seguidas doña Clara soñó agua, soñó cielo, soñó luz. Fue así como Pati anunció, no sólo su nacimiento sino el color de sus ojos y la claridad de su alma. Y fue así, que unos meses después Pati naciera con ojos azules y claros en un mundo lleno de ojos sin luz. Desde pequeña esta niña fue especial y mágica. A su lado las personas no podían evitar sentirse en paz. Muchos empezaron a visitar la casa de doña Clara sólo para verse reflejados en la claridad azul de la pequeña. Sus ojos nunca dejaban de sonreír ni …

Mágico Encuentro, Roberto E. Bahruth

Literacy, Language, and Culture Faculty Publications and Presentations

Cuando aprendemos a caminar detenidamente, sin apuro, la vida nos revela algunos de sus secretos, esos que siempre han estado frente a nosotros y que en nuestra prisa, no vemos o no queremos ver. En mi más reciente visita a Guatemala fui dispuesto a no deterner los días en mis manos, sino dejarlos fluir mientras me dejaba envolver por el ritmo y luz de este país y su gente . Y fue así, como por primera vez, me entregué a esa canción, tan familiar, del viento jugando con los árboles. Muy pronto descubrí cómo un sin fin de colibrís llegaban …

Sms : Sortez Vos Téléphones Portable, Véronique Olivier

World Languages and Cultures Faculty Articles and Research

Mobile phones and SMS technology can be a tool to help students learn French in class, through the use of some creative teaching strategies.

Integrating Second Life Into A Chinese Language Teacher Training Program: A Pilot Study, Hsiu-Jen Cheng, Hong Zhan, Andy Tsai

Publications

Second Life (SL), a 3-D Multi-User Virtual Environment, has been found beneficial to foreign language education because of its immersive and interactive environments. This cross-continental study explored feasibilities of using Second Life to provide field experiences to pre-service Mandarin teachers in a program of Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language in Taiwan. This study also investigated pre-service teachers‘ insights of teaching Chinese in such a virtual environment, as well as the difficulties these teachers encountered when integrating Second Life in teaching Chinese. The study found that the more teaching experience the pre-service teachers gained in teaching Chinese in Second Life, …

Teaching Spanish To Beginning Spanish Students, Amy Baldini

World Languages and Cultures

During my time in college and studying abroad, I have developed a passion for languages.  As a result, I plan on teaching Spanish in High School.  Therefore, my senior project will involve tutoring beginning-level Cal Poly students in Spanish and evaluating the difficulties that students encounter while learning a second language.  I will tutor for a minimum of 30 hours and complete a write-up which summarizes my experience.  In this write up, I discuss the tutoring sessions and the different obstacles and successes I encounter.  I will also discuss what tutors must consider when tutoring students.  I will outline my …

First Generation Hispanic High School Students Going To College: Experiences That Support Decisions And College Going Pathways, Norma Ibarra-Cantú

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

In this study I examined the question: How do first generation Hispanic high school students decide to attend college? To understand how the students made college decisions and what supported their pursuit of college aspirations, I interviewed six Hispanic high school students from five different high schools in a south Texas-Mexico border town. Student participants were the first generation in their immediate family to graduate from high school and to consider going to college. I conducted qualitative open-ended interviews with each of the participants and used inductive multilayered analyses to identify how students made decisions to attend college and how …

Gesture As An Act Of Meaning-Making: An Eco-Social Perspective Of A Sheltered-English Second Grade Classroom, Alessandro A. Rosborough

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of this sociocultural study was to investigate gesture as a mediational tool for meaning-making in learning and teaching a second language. Gesture was observed between a teacher and her immigrant students in a second grade elementary classroom designed specifically for second language learners of English. This study provides an innovative investigation in the role gesture plays as a meditational tool for meaning-making by using a SCT framework at an elementary context level.

Using sociocultural theory, particularly the Vygotskian tradition, this study views gesture as a part of image in thinking. This SCT framework views second language learning in …

A Critical Analysis Of The Identification, Placement, And Assessment Policies For Achieving Educational Parity Of Bilingual Learners, Lilia Rocio Estrada

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

This study analyzed the process of proper identification, placement, and assessment of Bilingual Learners (BLs) by investigating the perceptions of members in the Texas Language Proficiency Assessment Committee (LPAC). The findings focused on LPAC perceptions of their decisions to identify, place, and assess BLs as well as how these compared among members with different positions. Also, the LPAC members’ perceptions from schools that followed a dual language education program were compared to those schools that followed a transitional bilingual education program. It was found that majority of LPAC members lacked the confidence in assessing BLs, LPAC members holding higher positions …

Integrating Digital Technologies In The German Language Classroom: A Critical Study Of The Technology-Integration Experiences Of Three Secondary German Teachers, Stephen Van Orden

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

German language teachers are gaining increased access to smart classrooms and digital technologies that offer teachers and students greater access to authentic cultural and language materials and enable more student target language communication. Teaching with technology changes the teaching and learning environment in many ways. Little is known about how integrating technology into the daily German-language-teaching curriculum changes the implicit power structures embedded in all classroom interactions. Because of the central, decision-making role of the teacher, this study uses a critical theory of technology lens to examine the daily technology integration experiences of three secondary German language teachers. This study …

A Protection Post-Mortem On The "Death" Of Multiculturalism In Germany, Erin Mooney

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Noticeably absent from the recent pronouncements of the “death” of multiculturalism in Germany, including Chancellor Angela Merkel’s own conclusion that the policy had “utterly failed,” has been any interest to seriously examine, let alone address, the reasons for such a failure.

Finding My Way Into Opposition: Joel And Jon, Michael C. Vocino

Technical Services Faculty Publications

Short story about homophobia and gay life in the 1970s.

“Better Multiculturalism” Through Technology: Dora The Explorer And The Training Of The Preschool Viewer(S), Drew Chappell

Theatre Faculty Articles and Research

No abstract provided.

The Relationship Of Personality Traits To Satisfaction With The Team: A Study Of Interdisciplinary Teacher Teams In Rhode Island Middle Schools, Michele D. Humbyrd, Robert K. Gable

Teacher Education

Shared practice in schools has emerged; teachers are moving from isolation to team collaboration where personality traits could be related to quality interactions. Team personality traits and team satisfaction were examined. A survey and interview approach was used for N = 244 full-time teachers from N = 49 interdisciplinary teams at N = 7 middle schools. Descriptive, correlational, multiple regression analyses and coded themes about team members’ personalities and interactions were employed. No significant relationships were found between the BFI traits and Satisfaction with the Team. Team-level analysis indicated a significant negative correlation between Satisfaction with theTeam and Extraversion and …

Closing The Gap

Closing the Gap Newsletter

Newsletter of the College of Education

El Fin De La Xenofobia: El Plurilingüismo, George Wendell James, Jr.

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Teaching foreign languages starting from primary school has been a topic of discussion in the European Union for the past twenty years. The European Union unanimously decided in a recent proposal The White Book that every student who attends a public school in the European Union must be proficient in at least three languages. This mandate was formed to prepare Western Europe for a growing global market and to increase understanding of different cultures. In Andalucía (Southern Spain), despite methods taken to prepare its students for the future, still lags behind the majority of the countries in the European Union

Análisis De “Proyecto Mirlo”: Aprendiendo A Acoger Al “Desconocido”, Abigail Bissette

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

During the fall and early winter of this year, I volunteered with a program called, “Proyecto Mirlo,” which is a small part of a larger organization, “Caritas,” whose focus is providing support to marginalized groups of people in Spanish society. Proyecto Mirlo is a subsection that provides free language classes for immigrants, as well as food and, in extreme cases, financial help. In my volunteer work, I taught basic Spanish classes to an eighteen-year-old immigrant from Senegal. As my student grew in his language proficiency, I grew in my teaching proficiency, especially on the discovery of teaching resources that I …

España Y El Buen Ciudadano: El Debate Educativo, Thomas Mcafee

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

During the spring of 2010 I volunteered in the Colegio Cristo de la Yedra as an English language tutor. My original plan was to work in a human rights organization, but this fell through and I therefore decided to help students learn English. While volunteering at this school, I taught four English classes every week, with students whose levels ranged from beginner to intermediate. During the first week, one of my students told me that he did not like the football team Barcelona F.C. because he thought it was just a tool of the Catalan government and that it promoted …