Language and Literacy Education Commons^™

“What Makes Me Who I Am?”: Using Artifacts As Cosmopolitan Invitations, Tiffany A. Dejaynes

Publications and Research

As a classroom researcher, Tiffany DeJaynes revisited the curriculum of an English elective she helped design and found students using artifacts to investigate personal identity and create community

Small Group Reading Instruction For English Language Learners In Grades 3-5, Emily Peters

All Graduate Projects

This project highlights best practices for small reading group instruction for third through fifth grade English language learners in the general education classroom. By completing a literature review, a journal article was developed to report the pros and cons of heterogeneous and homogeneous groupings for reading instruction. Data from the National Assessment for Educational Progress (NAEP) and the OSPI Report Card were used to discuss a need to raise student reading proficiency scores.

Language Socialization Of Mainland Chinese Adolescents In U.S. Science Classrooms, Fang Yu

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Secondary schools in the United States are enrolling an increasing number of Mainland Chinese students, and this cohort of students is often seen as a “model minority” that can achieve academic success without much if any, extra support. However, many Chinese students encounter difficulties not only in learning English but in learning other content areas raising questions as to what they experience as the affordances and constraints to their learning.

Aspiration, Attainment, And Assimilation : A Critical Ethnography Of Newcomer Youth In An American High School, Aaron Leo

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

As immigrants and refugees constitute an increasingly large proportion of public school students across the United States, much scholarly attention has focused on the variables which promote and hamper academic success of these students. Specifically, the high aspirations and optimistic attitudes towards schooling and the effects of assimilation pressures have been identified as two important features contributing to the academic performance of newcomers.

Exploring Kindergartners' Understandings Of Gender : Responding To Picture Book Read Alouds With A Focus On Fairy Tales, Karen Marie Maher

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This dissertation explores four of my kindergartners’ understandings of gender across one academic year with an in-depth study of responses to a series of picture book read alouds including Cinderella variants. Critical literacy offered opportunities for these young students to critique inequities within social practices (Au & Raphael, 2000; Vasquez, 2014, 2017); whereas, poststructuralist feminism framed the inquiries into the locations of deeply ingrained gender identities (Blackburn, 2005, 2006; Blaise, 2005a, 2005b, 2014; Villaverde, 2008). This critical analysis of literature provided a means for the kindergartners to uncover underlying messages of power and inequity by interrogating whose voices were heard …

A Practitioner Research Study Exploring Critical Literacy In A Secondary English Classroom, Dilnavaz F. Hushmendy

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

ABSTRACT

The Effect Of Reflective Teaching On Iranian Efl Students’ Achievement: The Case Of Teaching Experience And Level Of Education, Shiela Kheirzadeh, Nafiseh Sistani

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

High quality teaching, student learning, and students achievement is dependent on the skills teachers use and the existence of professional expertise such as teachers reflectivity. The purpose of this study was to see whether there was any relationship between Iranian EFL teachers reflectivity and their students’ language achievement and whether there was any difference between teachers reflectivity, considering their teaching experience and level of education. For the study, 83 EFL teachers from nine language institutes in Isfahan, Iran, were randomly selected. Larrivee's (2008) reflectivity questionnaire, which classifies reflectivity into four levels: pre-reflection, surface reflection, pedagogical reflection, and critical reflection, was …

Culturally And Linguistically Diverse School Environments – Exploring The Unknown, Lyn Gilmour, Dr Helen Klieve, Dr Minglin Li

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Abstract: Australian education policies aspire to meet the unique needs of all students including those from linguistically diverse backgrounds; however, a first step in achieving this aim is clear identification of such students. Many children from previous migrant families and new arrivals to Australia come from homes where at least one parent speaks a language other than English. This exploratory research utilises survey and interview responses from students and staff in five Queensland state high schools. Results showed that 79.5% of the 2,484 students surveyed were from English-only homes with only 10.5% classified as having English as Another Language/Dialect. …

Reading Aloud: Children's Attitudes Toward Being Read To At Home And At School, Susan Ledger, Margaret K. Merga

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

: Whilst there exists a plethora of research about the benefits of reading aloud on children’s literacy development and a range of government reports highlighting the positive investment return on early intervention strategies such as reading aloud, most literature is presented from an adult perspective. Limited research exists on children’s attitudes toward being read to at home or school or the frequency of reading aloud practices that occur within these contexts. This mixed method study examines reading aloud practices in schools (N=21) and homes (N=220). It captures the attitude toward reading aloud practices from the viewpoint of 220 children aged …

Developing Pre-Service Teachers: The Impact Of An Embedded Framework In Literacy And Numeracy., Peter Sellings, Karen Felstead, Anitra Goriss-Hunter

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This paper focuses on the development of the academic and personal literacy and numeracy skills of pre-service teachers. It examines how an embedded enhancement framework of literacy and numeracy support named the DEER (Developing, Embedding, Extending, Reflecting) framework by the researchers was created in initial teacher education (ITE) programs in regional Victoria. The implementation of the DEER framework will be discussed and an evaluation of the impact of the DEER framework will be presented. Quantitative data draws on two test results in both literacy and numeracy, comparing the performance of students. These tests were undertaken by pre-service teachers, before and …

Language Teachers’ Self-Efficacy Beliefs: A Review Of The Literature (2005-2016), Mark Wyatt

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Research into language teachers’ self-efficacy (LTSE) beliefs, a domain-specific branch of research into teachers’ self-efficacy (TSE) beliefs in general education, has emerged in the past 16 years. To date, though, this emergent domain-specific research field has not been described in depth, with most accounts of it summarised very briefly, even in published research that provides empirical data relating to the specific topic of LTSE beliefs. Guided by a synthetic research ethic, this literature review aims to explore the gap. It highlights the characteristics of this LTSE beliefs research field, discussing the methodology employed by various studies that have elicited LTSE …

Teachers’ Phonological Awareness Assessment Practices, Self-Reported Knowledge And Actual Knowledge: The Challenge Of Assessing What You May Know Less About, Karyn Carson, Anne Bayetto

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This study investigates the relationship between early childhood (EC) and early years’ primary school (EYPS) teachers’ phonological awareness (PA) assessment practices, self-reported PA knowledge and actual PA knowledge. Method: A survey design was employed whereby 102 registered Australian EC and EYPS teachers responded to questions regarding PA assessment practices, self-reported PA knowledge and actual PA knowledge. Results: The results showed: a) more than 80% of teachers use PA assessments, with EYPS teachers conducting frequent assessments and EC teachers conducting rare-to-occasional assessments; b) over-estimation of self-reported PA knowledge; c) low levels of actual PA knowledge; and d) high usage of observations …

Poems Found Among The Resolution Scrapbooks: A Teacher Narrative Inquiry, Cynthia M. Morawski

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Six pre-service teachers participated in a component of narrative inquiry that took place the week before their teacher education program began. The component offered the teachers a variety of multimodal activities, such as body biographies, teaching museums, and paper tearing representations, all making use of repurposed materials, to critically consider their recurring narratives in relation to their recurring pedagogical beliefs and practices. Handmade journals and resolution scrapbooks acted as places to reflect and record their responses (Author). For this paper, I turned to narrative inquiry supported by found poetry and focus on the part of the component that contains the …

Early Career Teachers’ Knowledge And Practice In Spelling Instruction: Insights For Teacher Educators, Grace Oakley

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Children who cannot spell fluently are likely to encounter difficulty in writing texts across the curriculum. Furthermore, spelling is often a component in high stakes tests, the results of which have significant implications for students and schools. In the context of debates on teacher quality, it is pertinent to examine the views of early career teachers on their preparedness to teach spelling. This article reports on a small scale study on the views, knowledge and practices of early career teachers in relation to the teaching of spelling, and their views on their pre-service teacher preparation. Participants were early career teachers …

L1 Use In L2 Writing: A Case Of Multilingual Undergraduates In A Basic Writing Course, Lal Bahadur Rana

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The study entitled "L1 Use in L2 Writing: A Case of Multilingual Undergraduates in a Basic Writing Course" is a qualitative case study research carried out to find out the purposes for which undergraduate students use their L1s in an L2 Basic Writing course in the US university context, their perceptions regarding the effects of their use of L1s in L2 writing, and the ways they utilize their prior experience of writing academic essays while they are writing similar types of texts in L2. To these ends, the data were collected from the students enrolled in the Basic Writing course …

Effectiveness And Impact Of The Sheltered Instruction Observational Protocol On Ell Student Academic Achievement, Gladymar Soto-Huertas

Theses and Dissertations

This applied dissertation was designed to determine the effectiveness of using the Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol with fidelity for English Language Learners (ELL) and its impact on student academic achievement through FCAT Reading and FSA scores. In a high school located in Central Florida that served approximately 2,244 students there were 1,129 (50.6%) students classified as English Language Learners (ELLs), by the 2016-17 school year the school expected to have 62% of their entire student body passing state mandated assessments in order to make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) (PCSB, 2013).

In order for the aforementioned to take place it was …

Using Multiple Instructional Mediums To Foster Critical Literacy Skills With The Adult Lingusitic Diverse Learner, Kaemanje Thomas

Publications and Research

Critical reading is the apex of tertiary education and the chief focus in higher education courses as they prepare adults for the workforce. Without significant improvements in academic preparation and support, many linguistically diverse [LD] students will have higher dropout rates in their first year of college. Developmental reading instruction practices are designed to emphasize moving the first-year LD students from sub-par reading levels towards the application and development of critical reading skills, as demanded by their college courses. Many community colleges across the United States, prepare assessments tests in reading and mathematics for most, if not all, newly admitted …

Factors Affecting Adult Speakers Of Other Languages' (Esol) Enrollment In English For Academic Purposes (Eap) Courses: A Multicase Study, Jacklyn Smith

Theses and Dissertations

This applied dissertation provided insight and identified impediments and obstacles in the areas of educational and societal assimilation, career and monetarist support, and academics to ascertain the effects they have on students transitioning from ESOL classes to EAP courses. Adult non-native speakers have evolved into an important segment of the adult population in the United States. Many Limited English Proficient (LEP) students lack the aptitude as it relates to the English language, often translating into lower wages, higher rates of poverty, and limited upward movement in the workplace. Researchers have identified several factors that may potentially influence the program participants …

Graves, R. & Hyland, T. (Eds.). (2017) Writing Assignments Across University Disciplines. Bloomington, In: Trafford., Daniel P. Richards

English Faculty Publications

[First paragraph] For the last three years, I have been part of a team of multi-disciplinary faculty that holds a weeklong workshop each semester for approximately twenty teachers. These teachers, migrating to our cozy space in the library from all corners of campus, have applied—they get paid a modest sum, which is not nothing—to attend our workshop in the hopes of improving their ability to integrate writing assignments into their courses. The workshops are part of a larger initiative, Improving Disciplinary Writing, which was borne out of a needs assessment from our regional assessment body. It is designed to bring …

Coming To Voice: An Analysis Of Social Justice And Transformative Learning Approaches In English Language Curriculum Design, Lucy Burriss

Capstone Collection

Language is a tool for communication and an expression of cultural values, norms and beliefs. Teaching the English language is a global profession that carries social justice and ethical implications. The School of English for Engaged Social Service (SENS), a program of the International Network of Engaged Buddhists (INEB) offers an alternative and transformative English learning opportunity, which emphasizes self-reflection and strengthening interpersonal relationships to live a life of greater integrity and work towards social change. Yet, there are still social justice implications to consider in any program or initiative. This Training Course Linked Capstone (CLC) is an analysis of …