Digital Commons Network^™

American Muslims: How The “American Creed” Fosters Assimilation And Pluralism, James R. Moore

Cultural Encounters, Conflicts, and Resolutions

This article examines the status of American Muslims in the United States in relationship to other cultural groups and some of the widespread stereotypes that plague Muslims in contemporary society. Much has been written about the discrimination faced by Muslims, particularly after the September 11, 2001 attacks, spawned by religious, racial, and ethnic bigotry. Some polls show many Americans harbor some prejudices against Muslims, but these prejudices have not resulted in widespread violence or discrimination; although there has been some violence and discrimination experienced by some Muslims, the empirical data show that the majority of American Muslims are very successful …

On Confucius’S Ideology Of Aesthetic Order, Li Wang

Cultural Encounters, Conflicts, and Resolutions

Advocating order, order for all things, and taking order as beauty is the core element of Confucius’s aesthetic ideology. Confucius’s thought of aesthetic order is different from others of the “hundred schools of thoughts” in the pre-Qin period, and is also diverse from the Western value of aesthetic order. Confucius’s thought of aesthetic order has its own unique value system, which has become the mainstream value of aesthetic order in the Chinese society for 2000 years until today, after being integrated with the Chinese feudal imperial system in early Han Dynasty. This paper illustrates Confucius’s ideology of aesthetic order from …

Language And The Promised Land: Passage And Migration To A Spanish-Language ‘Third Place’, Kenya C. Dworkin Y Mendez

Cultural Encounters, Conflicts, and Resolutions

The Spanish-language anthology Caminos para la paz: Literatura israelí y árabe en castellano (Buenos Aires: Corregidor, 2007) [Paths towards/for Peace: Israeli and Arab literature in Castilian], compiled by Ignacio López-Calvo and Cristián Ricci, offers us a collection of over thirty reflections—some Jewish, others Muslim—about the millennial but also contemporary situation of two literally related and historic peoples in a language—Spanish—that seemingly allows them to inhabit the same, this time uncontested, space. Despite the potentially questionable title of the work, which couches the conflict as that of a nation-state versus a nation and/or two peoples contesting rights to one same land, …

Heteroglossic Practices In A Multilingual Science Classroom, Lydiah Kananu Kiramba

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

This paper uses sociocultural theories of language learning to investigate how teachers and students navigate between monolingual institutional policies and the multilingual realities encountered in a rural Kenyan fourth-grade classroom. The paper addresses not only how learners’ communicative repertoires are deployed to make meaning in a foreign language instruction context but also the sociocultural significance of these communicative practices. Results illustrate how the science teacher used heteroglossic practices to mediate students’ access to literacy, hence, supporting the content learning and language development of students. Both the science teacher and the students preferred a more flexible use of language to make …

Language, Culture, And Identity Negotiation: Perspectives Of Adolescent Japanese Sojourner Students In The Midwest, Usa, Reiko Akiyama

Open Access Dissertations

This qualitative research highlights the voices and lived experiences of adolescent Japanese sojourner students and their mothers residing in the Midwest. The central goals of this research are to understand what adolescent Japanese sojourner students’ school experiences in the U.S. are like—particularly in areas with small Japanese populations—and how their experiences in the U.S. shape their current identities as cultural and linguistic minority students. This research also aims to learn how the students’ sojourning experiences influenced their mindsets as future returnee students. I conducted an in-depth case study with a phenomenographic approach as the theoretical framework to deeply investigate the …

Predictors Of The Use Of English Language Assistance Services By English Language Learners In Elementary Schools, Juanita Hosch-Martin

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The number of English language learners (ELLs) in the American classrooms is growing at a rapid rate. The purpose of this correlational study was to determine whether there was a statistically significant relationship between the need for English language assistance services predicted using a combination of a student’s home language, student’s first language, student’s language used most, and W-APT scores for elementary school students in a southeastern state. The instrumentation for this study consisted of the Home Language Survey and W-APT scores. With the approval of the IRB and a southern state school district, the research was conducted using a …

The Lived Experiences Of Christian Missionaries Who Need To Learn A Foreign Language To Fulfill A Call To Serve In Immersed Settings: A Phenomenological Study, Stephanie Blankenship

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

he purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to describe the experiences of Christian missionaries living immersed cross-culturally who need to learn a foreign language in order to fulfill a Christian vocational calling. The theories guiding this study were Vygotsky’s (1978) sociocultural theory and Bandura’s (1986) social cognitive theory as pertains to the social aspects and interactions of immersion in second language acquisition. This study was important in offering support and guidance in the ongoing understanding of second language acquisition, in particular to individuals who have answered the Christian call to missions (Dixon et al., 2012; Price, 2013). This study …

The Effects Of Explicit And Systematic Phonemic Awareness Instruction On Reading For English Language Learners, Annette Freeman

College of Education Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation was to find effective phonological instruction for improving reading comprehension and oral language proficiency of ELLs. In addition, this study was conducted to inform school administrators without ESL certification about best practices in ELL education so they could make informed, school-wide decisions for better serving ELLs before entry into secondary schools.

The sample included first and second-grade students identified as ELLs in two Northwest Arkansas elementary schools. The two schools were selected based on their similar student demographics of grade configuration, ethnicity, and poverty rate. All students selected for the study were identified as ELLs …

Young People's Literature Of Algerian Immigration In France, Anne Schneider

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In her article "Young People's Literature of Algerian Immigration in France" Anne Schneider discusses questions of language, hybridity, and heritage in some works for young people published in France about Algeria and/or Algerian-French identity, by Leïla Sebbar, Jean-Paul Nozière, Azouz Begag, and Michel Piquemal. She argues for the need for an intercultural education at primary school that uses literature about immigration to highlight questions of place, belonging, exile and language. Schneider's focus is on Begag's Un train pour chez nous (2001) and Piquemal's Mon miel, ma douceur (2004). These texts use linguistic hybridity and an emphasis on common human experiences …

Introduction To New Work On Immigration And Identity In Contemporary France, Québec, And Ireland, Dervila Cooke

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

No abstract provided for the introduction.

"Let Me Tell You What I See" Creating A Culturally Relevant Arts Based Education Through The Use Of Photography And Storytelling, William Tran

Master's Projects and Capstones

There are many constructs that can hinder the ability of students of color to succeed in a classroom environment. Factors such as the construct of whiteness, microaggressions, the banking method, as well as cuts in arts based classes create a learning environment where oppression occurs on multiple levels. The construct of whiteness creates an environment in which only the ideas, values, lived experiences, and knowledge of whites are considered valid. Microaggressions uphold the construct of whiteness by insulting and invalidating any ideas, values, lived experiences, languages, and knowledge that are outside the construct of whiteness. The constructs of whiteness as …

Lotuses Rising: Fostering Southeast Asian Community Cultural Wealth Through Arts Based Culturally Specific Programming, Rhummanee Hang

Master's Projects and Capstones

This project explores how Banteay Srei, a community organization in Oakland, California, works with young Southeast Asian American women using arts based and culturally specific programming to make visible the community cultural wealth that exists in this community. Through cooking and telling stories about their elders' refuge and resettlement experiences, the young women gain a better sense of their own history, culture, and identity. This intergenerational project allows participants to learn, feel empowered, and begin to heal. The result is a cookbook for the young women of the organization. While this project and program is not meant to be replicated …

Evaluating Intercultural Communicative Competence Using Mediated Self-Reflection In Teaching English To Speakers Of Other Languages, Hessah Khaled Alzimami

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

In a globalized world, teaching English as a second language (ESL) or English as a foreign language (EFL) requires mastery of intercultural communicative competence (ICC). Deploying ICC has many benefits, especially with teaching and learning English, because it is a preeminent necessity for intercultural communication today. In ESL and EFL contexts at college and university levels, learners and instructors interface with other learners and instructors who have various languages and cultures, so there is a need for implementing ICC, because it encourages instructors and learners to communicate effectively with others using both their native and target languages, as well as …

Developing Academic Literacy: What Novice Teachers Can Learn From The Case Of Teaching Latino/Bilingual Learners Science And Mathematics, Sandra I. Musanti, Sandra Mercuri

Bilingual and Literacy Studies Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

A Case Study Of Non-Native English-Speaking International University Students Participating In A Community Of Practice, Linka G. Crosby

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

The social identity construction of international students studying in the United States is important to the field of second language learning and the study of identity. A Social Identity and Communities of Practice (CoP) framework were used to understand how participation in a CoP informed the identity of non-native speaking university international students studying in the U.S. The focus of this study was to investigate how participation in a CoP informed the identity of non-native speaking international university students studying in the U.S. I proposed that these frameworks provided a foundation for understanding how participation in a CoP for non-native …

Deliberative Democracy: A Contested Interactive Space. A Response To "Deliberative Democracy In English Language Education: Cultural And Linguistic Inclusion In The School Community", Esperanza De La Vega

Democracy & Education

This is a response to Liggett’s (2014) call to implement “deliberate democracy” in English language education classrooms. While the concept of participating in deliberate democracy is a solid ideal and worthy of pursuit, I present questions and scenarios that illustrate the complicated nature of the tasks. By sharing my testimonio along with the research, I propose that in order for teachers to guide their students' participation in deliberate democratic activities, they must step back and understand the context of the sociocultural interactive space created in the classroom and whether ELL students are able to and/or prepared to speak in an …

Ii International Colloquium On Languages, Cultures, Identity, In School And Society, International Colloquium

Proceedings of the International Colloquium on Languages, Cultures, Identity in School and Society

The influx of immigrants in countries worldwide, coupled with the challenges associated to the schooling of their children in host countries' schools, makes it more necessary than ever to broaden our knowledge of the linguistic, ethnic, and cultural realities derived from this phenomenon. This is the rationale for the present Colloquium, which revolves around the following topics:

• Individual, school, and societal bilingualism/multilingualism-related issues
• Multi/Transculturalism-related issues in families, schools, and society
• Impact of bi/multilingualism on individuals' and societies' language, culture, and identity
• Impact of multi/transculturalism on individuals' and societies' language, culture, and identity
• Language ideologies, policies, and practices
• Promotion, maintenance, and …

An Examination Of How Adult English Second Language Learners Learn Pronunciation Skills, Joni Pagnotta

Doctor of Education (EdD)

This study examined research questions regarding differences in intelligibility levels of spoken English as a Foreign Language (EFL) and the use of pronunciation drills between two groups: control and treatment. The goal of this study was to discover if even short-term use of dedicated pronunciation drills (simple tongue twisters and voice exercises) in the EFL classroom was sufficient to significantly improve pronunciation in the target language. This study also examined some of the historical pedagogies and methodologies used in pronunciation teaching. Lastly, this research investigated whether or not there were any correlations between the use of and non-use of dedicated …

Perceptions Of Educator Preparation In The Field Of English Language Learners, Vivian R. Fry

Selected Honors Theses

This study investigated how well pre-service teachers felt prepared to teach English Language Learners in the areas of second language (L2) acquisition and culture. 62 preservice teachers responded to a survey sent out to education majors at Southeastern University. Majority of the participants in the study indicated that they had less than adequate knowledge in the area of L2 acquisition and were less than adequately prepared to educate ELLs in the area of L2 acquisition. The participants indicated that they wanted professional development opportunities that focused on pedagogy for the specific stages of L2 acquisition. Regarding culture, a little more …

Betla Teacher Leaders: An Unselfish Sense Of Purpose, Lillian Hernandez, Christian Solorza

Occasional Paper Series

Recognizing that much of the leadership in resolving the issues of quality and equity for English Language Learners (ELLs) will fall to teachers themselves, Bank Street's Bilingual/ESL Teacher Leadership Academy (BETLA) has taken on the mission of preparing teachers of ELLs for the intense and unique leadership challenges they will face. Our study of the narrative accounts of nine BETLA teacher leaders was designed to give voice to teachers who have often been silenced and to speak to the positive relevance of teacher leaders in today's schools.

Into The Field: Learning About English Language Learners In Newcomer Programs, Cecila Silva Dr., Stephen B. Kucer Dr.

Journal of Inquiry and Action in Education

This research examines the impact of field experiences with English language learners on the conceptual and emotional development of preservice disciplinary students. For one semester, preservice university students worked with English language learners enrolled in middle and high school Newcomer Programs. During this time the university students wrote reflection papers and grand learnings/lingering questions essays linking the field experiences with course readings and in-class activities. A qualitative analysis of these reflections found four critical content-based learnings related to English Language Learners emerged from these field experiences: (1) the distinction between content, language, and activity challenges, (2) conversational versus academic language, …

An Investigation Into English Language Instructors' And Students’ Intercultural Awareness, Burcu Yılmaz, Yonca Özkan

The Qualitative Report

The role of English as a global language has been increasing greatly in importance for the past few decades, giving rise to different varieties of English spoken by native and non-native English speakers all around the world. It has pointed to the need to raise intercultural awareness in English language classes. This study aims to reveal teacher and student perspectives of intercultural awareness regarding ownership of English and cultural integration in English language classes in Turkey. A mixed method research investigation was used in this descriptive case study. Questionnaires were employed to collect data from 45 English language instructors and …

"I Had To Discard Initial Assumptions": Equipping Writing Center Tutors With Expertise In Second Language Writing, Vicki Kennell

Purdue Writing Lab/Purdue OWL Presentations

As writing center use by L2 writers increases, writing center directors face the need to help tutors work successfully with this population that has the same needs as native-English-speaking writers plus additional needs for language- and sentence-level help. Supported with data from an IRB-approved study and using examples from a case study of the Purdue Writing Lab, this presentation offers guidance on creating training to help equip tutors with L2 expertise.

The Disconnect Between General Classroom Teaching Techniques And English Language Learner Needs, Marliese Belt

Honors College Theses

This project will seek to identify gaps in pre-service teacher education as it relates to appropriate instructional strategies for English Language Learners (ELLs). First, public and private liberal arts schools of higher education in Kentucky will be analyzed for relevant programs and courses addressing the needs of ELLs and research-driven instructional techniques used to educate them. It will be determined that many of the schools offer undergraduate or graduate level endorsements and certificate programs, but only one, Murray State University, offers an undergraduate degree-bearing program. Next, ELLs, their characteristics, and unique needs will be defined to ensure that all stakeholders …

Acceptability And Feasibility Of Web-Based Diabetes Instruction For Latinos With Limited Education And Computer Experience, Sharon A. Fitzgerald, Victor E. Martinez-Zavala, Kenia Yazmin Reyna Blanco, A Paula Cupertino, Mugur V. Geana, Edward F. Ellerbeck

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Introduction: The internet offers an important avenue for developing diabetes self-management skills, but many Latinos have limited experience with computer-based instruction.

Objective: To evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of delivering a web-based diabetes education program in a computer classroom for Spanish-speaking Latinos.

Methods: Spanish-speaking Latinos (n=26) attended two classroom sessions to learn computer skills while navigating a web-based diabetes education platform. Diabetes knowledge was assessed before and after the intervention; structured interviews were completed to assess program acceptability.

Results: Half of participants (50%) had not previously used a computer. Post-intervention, diabetes knowledge improved significantly (p=.001). The majority of participants (86%) …

Developing Blended Learning In Library Instruction To Cultivate Research And Critical Thinking Skills In The Undergraduate Student Population, Bernadette López-Fitzsimmons

Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy

The ever-evolving digital resources in multiple types and formats have introduced numerous opportunities for enhanced teaching-and-learning environments focused on student–driven activities. Many of these strategies have already been implemented at educational institutions throughout the world.

This presentation will demonstrate how blended learning pedagogies in a library’s one-shot and for-credit courses cultivate research and critical thinking skills. The presenter will discuss how to customize library instruction for diverse student populations who have a complex history of multiple learning styles and varying literacy levels.

The presenter will describe several strategies that activate prior knowledge so that building new knowledge is seamlessly organic. …

Reflections On Donor-Funded Reports And Education Programs In Pakistan: A Qualitative Analysis On Pakistan’S English Education, Amy M. Puett

MA TESOL Collection

The extensive rise in aid from aid organizations and donor agencies for education in Pakistan at the beginning of the 21st century has resulted in a rise of the number of studies and reports on Pakistan’s education system and newly developed education programs. This was partially due to the concern about the status of the religious schools known as madaris and the quality of education they provided. The majority of the existing reports on education offer quantitative analyses and pay little attention to English taught in schools although English is critically important for job opportunities and professional growth in Pakistan. …

The Extent Of Implicit Bias In Gifted Students: Utilization Of The Iat To Inform Diversity Education, Adrienne Coleman, Kyle Thomas '15

Publications & Research

The National Association for Gifted Children position statement on “Identifying and Serving Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CLD) Gifted Students” suggests that educators need to change their view of CLD students from a “deficit to a strength perspective”. In addition, it states that “schools should create support programs to help gifted students from diverse backgrounds develop strong academic identities, learn coping strategies for dealing with negative peer pressure and discriminatory practices, and gain resiliency for responding to challenging life circumstances”. One approach to support and retain CLD students that can be utilized by both educators and gifted students is understanding one’s …

Migrant Education In Morocco: Cross-Cultural Competence Favored Over Integrative Reform. An Analysis Of The Moroccan Government’S Migrant Integration Efforts Through Education., Ella Schoenen

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In 2014 the Ministry in Charge of Moroccans Abroad and Migration Affairs, adopted the National Policy of Immigration and Asylum detailing efforts to realize an adaptive education system, sensitive to migrant education and inclusive of teaching and learning strategies directed towards children of foreign heritage. As migrant networks grow more and more fortified, and people all over the world experience improved mobility, destination countries are finding multicultural and inclusive education systems integral to the wellbeing of its new residents, and the tolerance of its native citizens. Based on the national strategy for immigration and asylum put forth by the Ministry …

Educational Histories Of Newcomer Immigrant Youth: From Countries Of Origin To The United States, Joanna Yip

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation details the educational histories and linguistic portraits of newcomer immigrant youth in their countries of origin, and provided accounts of their academic trajectories after arrival in the United States. The data provide evidence of poor quality instruction, particularly in literacy, and educational environments in low-income sending countries. The study shows that prior schooling experiences in the country of origin have an impact on school readiness, the degree to which immigrant youth are prepared for education in secondary classrooms in the U.S. The dissertation also provides an analysis of how pre-migration education interacts with educational performance after immigration, leading …