Language and Literacy Education Commons^™

Supporting English Language Learners Through Collaboration, Compassion, And Engagement, Lora Ann Stead

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

This portfolio illustrates the student’s academic work completed while in the Master of Second Language Teaching program at Utah State University. The project is centered around the student’s philosophy on teaching English language learners (ELLs) as drawn from personal experience and second language acquisition research. The author seeks to provide awareness into best practices for teaching ELLs.

The portfolio is divided into three sections: 1) teaching perspectives, 2) research perspectives, and 3) annotated bibliographies. Within these sections, the author explores themes related to ELL teaching that highlight the importance of collaboration, compassion, and engagement. These topics include politely closing a …

Critical Pedagogy And The Ethics Of Care: How Values Affect The Classroom Dynamic, Colby D. Reed

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

This thesis centers on the benefits of Paulo Freire’s critical and liberatory pedagogy for introductory composition classes when used as an ethical and moral template as opposed to a sociological ideology. Using care ethics as a lens, chapter one begins by addressing current difficulties and criticisms present in the discussion of care ethics and the pedagogy as the models for composition classes and then applying the ethics of critical and liberatory pedagogy to these issues. Chapter two builds on that by exploring what ethical and moral elements are present in Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed and how they relate to …

Reseña De El Trabajo De Fin De Grado Y De Máster. Redacción, Defensa Y Publicación, De Iria Da Cunha, David Sánchez-Jiménez

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Estudio Contrastivo Intercultural De Las Funciones Retóricas De Las Citas: La Producción De Textos Académicos En El Nivel De Posgrado Escritos En Español E Inglés, David Sánchez-Jiménez

Publications and Research

The main objective of this research is to discover which rhetorical functions were used in the Master´s thesis writing written by eight (8) American and eight (8) Spanish postgraduates in their na-tive language. A computerized tex-tual analysis of the rhetorical func-tion of citation was used to study this phenomenon (Petrić, 2007). The results obtained from the re-search showed that the different cultural conventions in the thesis writing indicate that when com-pared with native Spanish writers, the American writers of English use the highest number of cita-tions, and write a relatively longer Introduction and Conclusion parts. On the other hand, the …

Letter Reversals In L2 Learners And The Link Between Letter Reversals And Phonemic Awareness Skills, Bayley Renee Politte

Student Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the study was to find the prevalence of letter reversals in L2 students and a possible link between letter reversals and phonemic awareness skills. The participants were all bilingual children who spoke Spanish as their first language (L1) and English as their second language (L2). All participants were initially given a spelling test composed of words that contained letters that were often reversed. The spelling test was given to all participants prior to the Jordan Left-Right Reversals Test- Third Edition (JLRRT-3) (Jordan, 2011). The JLRRT-3 was standardized on both English and Spanish speaking children. The Dynamic Indicators …

Hermeneutic Phenomenological Interviewing: Going Beyond Semi-Structured Formats To Help Participants Revisit Experience, Alexandra A. Lauterbach

The Qualitative Report

Phenomenological research traditionally involves multiple focused interviews that rely on the participants’ memories and reflections to revisit experiences. There are many other interview formats that have the potential to support participants in this process by instead engaging with the phenomenon as it presents itself to their consciousness. In this paper, I present an example of how multiple interview formats, including think-aloud, stimulated recall, and semi-structured were used in a hermeneutic phenomenology study exploring expert teachers’ perceptions of teaching literacy within their content area to secondary students with learning disabilities. I provide example protocols in which I used multiple interview formats …

Do My Students Understand The Vocabulary In My Lectures?, Ulugbek Nurmukhamedov

Faculty Research and Creative Activities Symposium

No abstract provided.

Pakistani English Language Teachers’ Preparedness: An Investigation Of Ideological Meaning-Making In Higher Education Institutions In Pakistan, Yasir Hussain

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

This research study is an attempt to understand the ideological preparedness of English language teachers at the higher education institutions (HEIs) in Pakistan. The construct of preparedness is unique in this study because the phenomenon of preparedness is simplified for pedagogical methodologies and teaching practices. This study is a journey of understanding ideology, its representations through discourse, and its enactment through discursive practices of the participant-teachers. In this hermeneutical phenomenological study, I used interview texts as the data source and critical discourse analysis (CDA) as the analytical framework. The participants included 15 English language teachers at nine different HEIs in …

Unmasking Whiteness: Progressing Toward Cultural Responsiveness Within A Rti Framework, Melinda F. Scheetz

Dissertations

Response to Intervention (RTI) developed out of educational policies and practices that comprise NCLB and IDEA. RTI is a system to ensure all students receive high-quality instruction that meets their needs, increases opportunities to learn, and prevents reading failure. A culturally relevant RTI framework offers the most promising pedagogical approach to quality instruction and educational equity. The purpose of this study was to understand, describe, and explore the intersection of culturally relevant practices and RTI. The research questions that guided this study were: What can be learned about a culturally responsive approach to RTI by listening to teachers’ perspectives and …

Indigenous Inquiry: Understanding Language Ideologies Through Story From Individuals Who Attended Santo Domingo Pueblo’S Bia Day School, Estefanita L. Calabaza

Shared Knowledge Conference

This study focuses on Indigenous inquiry using the method of story as a holistic approach to gather information through the spoken word and movement. The project is to understand the dynamics of ancestral language ideologies through the ‘voice’ print of the elders through their BIA day school experiences of western schooling. Four participants, two males and two females, former students who attended the Santo Domingo Day School as children in the early 1900s will be interviewed, using two techniques based on Santo Domingo Pueblo Epistemology to convey information; semi-structured questions incorporating movement to express themselves using story to contextualize Santo …

The Critical Need For Mental Health Education To Be Mandated In New Mexico's Public Schools, Bonnie L. Murphy

Shared Knowledge Conference

Based on a review of research and best practices in mental health awareness and skills, this inquiry project argues for state legislative policies that would require mental health awareness and skills in the K-12 curriculum. Mental health affects individual accomplishments in every stage of people’s lives beginning in early childhood and throughout the life cycle. Prevention and treatment of mental illness plays a key role in the ability of an individual to cope with loss and develop resiliency and perseverance in challenging times and to make better decisions that improve the individual’s life and the lives of those around them. …

Language And Literacy: Politics Of Language, Brittany A. Zayas, Missy Watson

Open Educational Resources

This syllabus is for a Freshmen Inquiry Writing Seminar, which is a two-section, collaboratively taught course wherein one of the two courses engages students in critical thinking, reading, and writing about the issue of language and literacy, while the other introduces students to conventions of academic writing and mentors them in social and rhetorical writing processes. Thus, this course draws on the topic of language and literacy as a vehicle for critically analyzing students' own languages and literacies and developing especially their academic and information literacies.

Signing Exact English; A Simultaneously Spoken And Signed Communication Option In Deaf Education, Kabian Rendel, Jill Bargones, Britnee Blake, Barbara Luetke, Deborah S. Stryker

Journal of Early Hearing Detection and Intervention

Current reviews of the literature continue to evidence that even with current assistive listening technology, many children who are deaf or hard-of-hearing (D/HH) persist in demonstrating English language and literacy gaps compared to hearing peers (e.g., C. Mayer 2016; C. Mayer, & Trezek, 2018). For example, Geers, Tobey, Moog, and Brenner (2008) reported that “only about half” (p. 262) of children using cochlear implants (CIs) (and no sign to support their speech production) achieved age-appropriate abilities by third grade. Given the continually-reported variability of results (e.g., Harris, 2016; C. Mayer, & Trezek, 2018), an alternative is warranted. Signing Exact English …

Latinx Children’S Push And Pull Of Spanish Literacy And Translanguaging, Kathy M. Bussert-Webb Dr., Hannah M. Masso Ms., Karin A. Lewis Dr.

The Qualitative Report

We explored 19 Latinx children’s literacies in Spanish and translanguaging by asking, “What are Latinx children’s experiences and beliefs regarding Spanish and translanguaging reading and writing? How do tutorial staff and teacher candidates (TCs) help the youth to resist hegemonic and bracketing practices of English-only?” This study took place in a South Texas tutorial agency, where children voluntarily attended for after-school homework help. Data sources consisted of questionnaires, interviews, focus groups, hobby essays, and newsletter articles. Most children reported negative school-related language experiences and expressed dislike and unease regarding Spanish and translanguaging reading and writing, although they lived less than …

Rewriting Disciplines: Stem Students’ Longitudinal Approaches To Writing In (And Across) The Disciplines, Anna Ruggles Gere, Anna V. Knutson, Ryan Mccarty

ETSU Faculty Works

Drawing on three cases from a larger (N=169) longitudinal study of student writing development, this article shows how STEM students “rewrote” disciplines to suit their writerly purposes as they moved through their undergraduate years. Students made it clear that the institutional dimensions of disciplines, visible in administrative units or departments that control resources and records, remained visible in their mental landscapes, but they had a much more flexible view of the epistemological dimensions of disciplines. Rather than entering a field as novices aiming to emulate the writing of its experts, they drew on the intellectual resources of multiple disciplines in …

The Utah English Journal, Volume 46, 2018: Full Issue

The Utah English Journal

No abstract provided.

The Power Of Poetry In Building Classroom Community, Chris Peck

The Utah English Journal

I stood in front of my class of sophomores, paper in hand, ready to share a poem with them. They had grown used to me sharing poems by that point. At the start of each class, I would stand in front of them and read aloud a poem written by one of many famous poets. However, this day was different. We were starting a new unit—poetry—and I had high expectations for my students. I had toiled with how best to teach poetry to those whose only exposure to poetry consisted of Emily Dickinson, William Carlos Williams, or Shakespeare. There is …

Turning Over A New “Moon” For Twilight, Georgina Dibble

The Utah English Journal

This year Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight is celebrating 13 years, which seems unbelievable to me because I still remember so clearly experiencing the craze that swept over my middle school when it was released. I can remember my 11-year-old baby doll t-shirt wearing, side bangs bobby-pinned back self, reading that first book in 2005. It completely captivated me. And not just me but every girl in my school. Even then I could feel just how cringey some of the melodramatic scenes were to read, there was nothing better than getting to dive into a story with a group of girls and …

Book Review: 180 Days: Two Teachers And The Quest To Engage And Empower Adolescents, Megan Russell

The Utah English Journal

The blank calendar of 180 days, an ominous cavern of white space, stares back up at me, challenging me to fill its space with productive, interesting lessons for an entire year. As with many new teachers, I have experienced some trepidation with planning out an entire year of school, and so as any English graduate would, I turned to the source that has never let me down: literature.

Genres: Moving Toward Authenticity, Deborah Dean

The Utah English Journal

Writing in a new genre can be tricky. When we teach students a new genre, we often begin by exposing them to the genre by reading multiple mentor texts and helping them identify the salient features. This is a practice supported by many current writers in our field today, including Gallagher & Kittle (2018), Dean (2017), and Marchetti & O’Dell (2015), among others. When we teach academic genres (the kinds of writing common in schools such as research papers, literary analysis, and reports), we often provide additional help by providing students with more specific directions or scaffolds, such as forms …