Digital Commons Network^™

Alternative Venues: An Efl Writing Center Outside The University, Brooke R. Schreiber, Snezana Djuric

Publications and Research

Recent years have seen an increasing presence of writing centers in diverse English as a Foreign Language (EFL) settings, particularly in East Asia and in Europe (Bräuer; Chang). These new centers face familiar issues such as a lack of resources, the need to adapt pedagogy to the local context (Reichelt et. al.; Broekhoff), and ideological resistance to the idea of peer learning (Turner) or even providing support for writing at all (Bräuer). In some cases, these difficulties may force potential writing centers to seek a platform entirely outside of the university, bringing both challenges and new possibilities as the center …

Academic Engagement And Learning Experience Of English Learners: A Case Study Of Chandler Magnet Elementary School, Worcester, Ma, Clara J. O'Rourke

Sustainability and Social Justice

Drastic increases in English Learner (EL) populations in public schools have prompted districts to investigate ways to improve programs for EL students to support their academic growth. This study explores academic engagement of ELs at Chandler Magnet Elementary School to understand how student success may differ among three distinct EL programs. This study incorporated teacher and EL student interviews, however, limitations prevented this study from making conclusions about student success by program. The findings of this study reveal that student learning experience is unique and academic engagement is influenced by many factors that are not necessarily associated with the EL …

An Internationally Adopted Child's Transition: A Family Story, Holly C. Heckmann

Rehabilitation, Human Resources and Communication Disorders Undergraduate Honors Theses

The goal of this study was to contribute to the literature on international adoption by conducting a case study with one adoptive family. Data was collected using a semi-structured, in-depth interview that was audio recorded and transcribed word-for-word. The interview questions asked about family configuration, language background and use, adoptive family decisions about cultural inclusiveness, and the transition from home to school. The analysis was member-checked following coding for the themes that emerged. Results indicated that lingering differences from reduced exposure to language in the first year of life took the form of subtle language differences that continued through the …

Participation In Dual Language Immersion Programs: Using Theory Of Planned Behavior To Predict Enrollment, Andrea Call

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Many theories have been developed to help explain and predict human behavior. Ajzen’s Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) holds that behavior is based on behavioral intention, as well as attitudes, subjective (or social) norms, and perceived behavioral control. According to the TPB mode, perceived behavioral control moderates (or influences) the effect of behavioral intentions on behavior. Previous research has focused on the application of TPB to health behaviors, although some research has been done in educational situations. In addition, dual language immersion (DLI) programs are increasing in popularity, particularly in Utah. The Utah model begins in first grade, and follows …

Arabic And English Sentence Patterns: A Comparative Guide, Cliff Breedlove

PDXOpen: Open Educational Resources

This text explores verb time, tense, aspect, and mood through comparison of Arabic and English sentence patterns. It includes examples of the Arabic patterns from classical and popular sources so Arabic students can learn by explanation and example how to formulate cohesive and grammatically correct sentence structure.

While this guide is intended mainly for English-speaking students studying Arabic, the charts also provide a quick reference of English sentence patterns for Arabic speakers.

The book is designed as a supplement.

Adopt/Adapt
If you are an instructor adopting or adapting this PDXOpen textbook, please help us understand your use by filling out …

"Off From Lost": Generation 1 Learners' Transition From Adult Esl To Developmental Education, Emily Kyungjin Suh

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Theses and Other Student Research

Immigrant students access community colleges with increasing frequency (Teranishi, Suarez-Orozco, & Suarez-Orozco, 2011); however, the majority of research focuses on Generation 1.5 students who completed K-12 education in the U.S. Generation 1 learners are defined in this study as adult immigrants (Rumbaut, 2004) and adult learners (Knowles, 1970) who began American education in adult ESL. Learners’ unique experiences and social roles motivate their transition to higher education and produce distinct linguistic and cultural needs. Many immigrant students begin in developmental education (Teranishi, Suarez-Orozco, & Suarez-Orozco), which is strongly influenced by the adult learning theory of andragogy (Knowles, 1968). This multiple …

"Y'All And All These Assessments Is A Little Bit Too Much" : The Effects Of High-Stakes Testing On Critical Literacy Pedagogy., Diana Lalata

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

As the United States of America becomes increasingly diverse, there is a need for teachers to embrace multiculturalism within the classroom. Shifting away from the traditional “banking model” of teaching, educational researchers call for a more critical approach—one in which teachers and students challenge dominant beliefs and practices of education. Foregrounded in those aims of cultural competence and critical consciousness, “critical literacy pedagogy” addresses the politicization of literacy education and employs conscious curriculum and teaching strategies to empower marginalized voices. Although a number of case studies on critical literacy pedagogy show considerable promise in disrupting dominant discourse and developing cultural …

English Learners' Positioning During Interactions With Monolingual English-Speaking Students, Amanda Sugimoto, Kathy Carter

Curriculum and Instruction Faculty Publications and Presentations

Increasingly, English Learners (ELs) are being educated in mainstream classrooms alongside English fluent students. Using a positioning theory framework, this multiple case study explored how ELs reflexively positioned themselves during interactions with their peers as well as how English fluent peers interactionally positioned ELs. Drawing upon multiple data sources, (i.e., observations, interviews, and artifacts), and using cross case analysis techniques, we found that ELs’ reflexive positioning was influenced by their language history and schooling context and peers’ interactional positioning moves limited ELs’ access to academic interactions. These findings pose important considerations regarding the academic and linguistic access of ELs in …

Using Humor To Enhance Metalinguistic Awareness And Expand Cultural Competence In Adult Esl Classrooms, Jean L. Hilburn

Master's Projects and Capstones

Research has shown that there are many benefits to using humor in the ESL classroom. Although this is known, oftentimes humor is avoided. There are a variety of reasons for humor not being incorporated into the ESL classroom. In addition, because much of the research and curriculum development regarding humorous wordplay and its benefits for ESL students has been focused on children, there is a paucity of curriculum, materials, and resources which focus on humor and wordplay relating to adult topics and themes.

The purpose of this project is to fill the gap between what is available and what is …

Chandra's Story: An Adult Education Student Journeys From Fear To Gratitude, Robin L. Danzak

Communication Disorders Faculty Publications

This article presents the story of Chandra (her real name), a middle-aged, Guyanese-American woman attending an adult education center in the Northeast United States. Chandra grew up in extreme poverty in Guyana, and was taken out of school at age eight to help meet the family’s basic needs. At age 22, she immigrated to the United States in hopes of better opportunities. Through narrative methods, Chandra’s story is constructed from 34 narrative and expository written texts that she composed for a literacy tutoring program, as well as three in-depth oral interviews. The result is a moving account of Chandra’s childhood …

The Back Burner: A Case Study Of A Teacher’S Dilemmas When Working With English Learners, Amanda Sugimoto

Curriculum and Instruction Faculty Publications and Presentations

Increasingly, mainstream classroom teachers are working with (ELs), however, little is known about what dilemmas these teachers face in their practice with ELs. Using a dilemmatic spaces framework, this case study explored the dilemmas a fourth grade teacher negotiated while working with ELs in her low-incidence school. Drawing upon multiple data sources, (i.e., observations, interviews, and artifact analysis), and using iterative and thematic analysis techniques, three dilemmas were identified. These included: (1) a lack of professional experience with ELs, (2) lack of support from the ESL teacher, and (3) conflicting administrative expectations. These findings pose important considerations for the teaching …

Why “Correcting” African American Language Speakers Is Counterproductive, Alice Lee

Language Arts Journal of Michigan

In this article, I address the topic of AAL usage in the classroom, particularly the line of thinking that assumes “correcting” the language is what will “set students up for success” in the future. By providing some abbreviated information on how children acquire language, I explain how AAL “correction” is actually counterproductive for student “success”—in both language acquisition and learning. Additionally, I will offer practical suggestions for how AAL can be incorporated in curriculum and instruction.

Black Voices Matter, Shenika Hankerson

Language Arts Journal of Michigan

This article examines the role of voice in the writing of African American students from the African American Language (AAL)-speaking culture. Drawing on data from a qualitative study, this article presents empirical evidence that is likely to inform existing and new initiatives to support the voice and writing practices of AAL-speaking students, and by extension, all culturally and linguistically diverse students. This rarely considered insight, I argue, is important as in recent decades there have been a growing number of calls for instructional material that meets the language and literacy development needs of second language speakers and writers. By generating …

"We Run A Different School Within A School": Educator Perceptions Of Guatemala-Maya Students In A North Georgia Public School System, Anna Tussey

Master of Arts in American Studies Capstones

In recent years, the social and political persecution of the Maya population throughout Central America has led to an influx of Maya women and children migrating to the United States. The increased population of immigrant children presents new challenges for the United States, especially in public education. Maya people are rarely distinguished from the Latinx population, subsequently causing their linguistic and cultural needs to go unmet and unacknowledged. This project focuses on the education of Guatemalan-Maya students in a North Georgia public school system, framed through interviews with educators. The educators selected for this study worked almost exclusively with elementary, …

Developing Effective Assessment Practices Through Collaboration With Students, Families, And Colleagues, Tara Van Loo

Master's Theses & Capstone Projects

Developing and implementing effective assessment practices in mainstream classrooms is a thoughtful process. When classroom teachers of English Learners (ELs) seek to design assessments that will yield valuable information to guide whole-group instruction and targeted interventions, the unique needs of ELs must be critically considered. The most effective, appropriate assessments are the result of a collaborative process that invites student, parent, and teacher input, and generates relevant data through authentic, longitudinal learning experiences.

On Growing Up Finnish In The Midwest: A Family Oral History Project, Ingrid Ruth Nixon

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study explores what oral history interviews with my mother reveal about the familial and community dynamics that influenced Finnish-American children growing up on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula between 1930 and 1950. Close to four hours of oral history interviews were conducted with Viola Nixon, who is second and third-generation Finnish-American on her father’s and mother’s sides, respectively. After conducting a narrative analysis of the interviews, five themes emerged as significant to community function: family, language, education, work and church. I grouped some of these themes together to create three stories informed by materials drawn from the interviews, a cookbook, and …

Bilingualism And The American Family, Caitlin M. Nickerson

Senior Honors Projects

Bilingualism is the ability to speak more than one language fluently. People of all ages may aspire to learn a second or third language in order to fulfill both personal goals and communicate with a variety of people in different contexts. Irrespective of one’s walk of life or socioeconomic status, being bilingual is a valuable skill. Although English is the language of power in the United States, there are hundreds of other languages spoken in this country.

There are a number of different ways in which children can become bilingual. For example, they may enter the school system speaking the …

De-Colonizing Language Needs: A Critical Ethnographic Study Of Former And Current Teachers’ Language Dispositions And How Taking A Multicultural Education Course Mediates Those Dispositions, Ravijot Singh

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of this critical ethnographic research was to examine how taking a Multicultural Education course mediated teachers’ language dispositions. Particularly, this study examined how language and culture have a profound connection that is largely unrecognized in the American education system, and how lack of respect for the home language of students by their teachers leads to negative attitudes towards the children and impedes students’ academic progress.

This study used a theoretical and conceptual framework that incorporate intersectionality (Crenshaw, 1991) as its research paradigm to understand the interaction and overlapping roles of language and culture in society, and how neoliberal …

Up From Poverty: A Narrative Non-Fiction Study Of Three Female Superintendents From Poverty, Stephanie L. Johnson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This narrative non-fiction study was designed to investigate the lived experiences of three female superintendents in the state of Texas who have lived in poverty during their youth and early life. The participating female superintendents were contacted by this researcher through email. The information used in this study was collected from participating superintendents through interviews and analyzed to find the common themes that exist between the lived experiences of each female superintendent from poverty as she progressed through the stages of development in life. The information was also analyzed to ascertain how she was able to elevate out of poverty …

Creating A Multiracial Lesson Plan, Clayton Davis

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The purpose of this project is to teach students about multiracial identity issues. Multiracial populations in the U.S. continue to grow and it’s important for educators to address the needs of these students. A 5-E multiracial literature lesson plan was created for second grade that incorporates KWL and Text-to-World teaching strategies. A second grade class were read two children’s picture books, each featuring a biracial protagonist, and were asked to discuss and evaluate the content and commonalities of these stories. Students recorded what they learned in this lesson in their KWL’s. The results reveal that some students understood the problems …

English Only? Enrichment Of English Language Learner Education, Laura R. Hinton

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Due to pressures to acquire the English language, English Language Learners (ELL) have school schedules inundated with English Development and other English acquisition classes. This means most ELL students have few opportunities to take elective courses. Furthermore, ELL students at the basic proficiency level have Science and Social Studies excluded from their schedules. Additional challenges for ELL students include being segregated from their English only (EO) peers and inadequate development and training of teachers serving ELL students. Interviews were conducted with Administration, the English Language (EL) Specialist, and ELL Students at Wakefield Middle School, to better understand ELL students’ educational …

Effective Strategies For Foreign Language Teaching: A Focus On Russian, Marina Krutikova

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

This portfolio presents the collection of writings that reflect the author’s beliefs about effective foreign language instruction. Throughout much of the portfolio, focus is made on teaching communicatively, providing instruction on the target language culture, and enhancing students’ motivation to learn foreign languages. The first section of the portfolio is centered around the author’s teaching philosophy that was informed by her experience as a teacher of Russian as a foreign language, observations of other language instructors, and studies in the Master of Second Language Teaching (MSLT) program. The following section consists of the language, literacy, and culture papers in which …

Effectively Teaching A Second Language: Principles And Practices, Alexander Gatica

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

This portfolio is the amalgamation of the author’s research and experience during his time in the Master of Second Language Teaching program. The first section contains the Teaching Philosophy, which centers on applying effective teaching methods, increasing learner motivation, and incorporating technology into the classroom. The next section consists of three artifacts in which the author further investigates specific aspects of language teaching. The language paper focuses on the effect that identity has on motivation to learn a language. The literacy paper discusses how to increase vocabulary acquisition via a mobile-assisted language learning application called Duolingo. The culture paper addresses …

Preview-View-Review: Increasing Academic Access For Students With Intellectual Disabilities Who Are English Learners, Dolores Marie Williamson

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Recent changes to federal education laws for students with and without disabilities have kindled an increased interest in implementing evidence-based practices for teaching academic skills to all students, including students with severe disabilities and students learning English. Teaching students with significant disabilities who are learning English poses a unique set of challenges. To date, no research has been conducted on teaching science to students with significant intellectual disabilities who are learning English.

This study was designed to measure the effect of an evidence-based science curriculum, delivered in both English and Spanish using the preview-view-review (PVR) strategy, on the science vocabulary …

A Case Study Describing Practices And Beliefs Of Teachers Who Are Effective In Their Classroom Behavior Management In A Diverse Rural School System In Georgia, Busani Siphambili

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this nested case study was to describe the practices and beliefs of teachers who are effective in their behavior management with minority students (African American) in three rural schools. This study was shaped by Vygotsky’s (1978) sociocultural behavior theory that states that learning is a social process and the origination of human intelligence in society or culture. It also emphasizes that the development of thinking is a shared process, not an individual one, and that children learn by participating and sharing other people’s frame of reference. Social interactions play an important role in the development of cognition. …

Chandra’S Story: An Adult Education Student Journeys From Fear To Gratitude, Robin L. Danzak

The Qualitative Report

This article presents the story of Chandra (her real name), a middle-aged, Guyanese-American woman attending an adult education center in the Northeast United States. Chandra grew up in extreme poverty in Guyana, and was taken out of school at age eight to help meet the family’s basic needs. At age 22, she immigrated to the United States in hopes of better opportunities. Through narrative methods, Chandra’s story is constructed from 34, narrative and expository, written texts that she composed for a literacy tutoring program, as well as three, in-depth, oral interviews. The result is a moving account of Chandra’s childhood …

Strategies Of Reading As A Second Language Instruction Across Curriculum In Secondary Grades, Anisa A. Ben Idris

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study explored what themes of best practices teachers report using in real classrooms to teach reading skills to ESL students across curricula. It examined teachers’ applications of the following five themes in their instruction as a regular routine described as best practices in the literature for teaching diverse students: (1) providing comprehensible input, (2) teaching learning strategies of metacognition to bridge the gap between school literacy practices and home literacy practices (3) lowering the affective filter, (4) implementing formative assessment, and (5) cooperating between teachers and ESL facilitators. The study involved teachers from two high schools in one school …

Monolingual And Bilingual Children's Language-Based Social Preferences In A Predominantly Monolingual Environment, Rachel Marie Stevens

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Monolingual children consistently display Social preferences for individuals who speak their native language with a native accent compared to individuals who speak a foreign language or speak their native language with a foreign accent. Two explanations have been proposed for these language-based preferences. The first explanation is that language cues a child to in-group membership and children prefer to affiliate with individuals who are members of the same in-group. The second explanation is that children display preferences for their native language and accent because that is what they are most familiar with, and children prefer familiarity over the unknown. The …

Error Analysis: A Case Study On Non-Native English Speaking College Applicants’ Electronic Mail Communications, Casey Kraichoke

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to discover major writing problems international college applicants make when composing electronic communications by analyzing the nature and distribution of their writing errors. Additionally, the researcher seeks to discover if there is a relationship between non-native English speakers’ (NNS) writing errors and demographics, which include: gender, country of origin, country of origin’s official language, program level, and program of study. The researcher hypothesizes that countries with English as an official language and the language of instruction in higher education are the most significant predictor of non-native English speakers’ writing errors in terms of count …

Educational Trajectories Of Latino English Language Learner Students In Dual-Language Programs, Kathryn Lindholm-Leary

Faculty Publications

The purpose of this research is to examine the language proficiency and reading achievement trajectories of 2201 fourth- through eighth-grade students who differed by English language proficiency and were enrolled in a dual language program. Results showed that: 1) students achieved average in Spanish reading achievement and at similar levels in English as their English mainstream ELL peers; 2) students in the four English language proficiency groups varied significantly in all outcome measures in English and Spanish (FEP>Advanced>Intermediate>Beginner) by upper, but not K/1 entry, grades; and 3) examining students’ trajectories shows the importance of Bilingual, not just …