Digital Commons Network^™

A Study Of Primary Schools In The Elias Piña Province On The Dominican Haitian Border: Immigrant Haitian Access To Education In The Dominican Republic In The 2010 Post-Earthquake Era, Matthew D. Kaye

CGU Theses & Dissertations

The research question of the study asked "In the post 2010 earthquake, what are the conditions faced by Haitian immigrants in accessing primary public education in the Dominican Republic"? Within the context of primary education, the study takes place in the town of Comendador, the capital of the Elías Piña province in the Dominican Republic. Using a mixed methods approach, incorporating ethnographic methods and database analysis, the study documents the voices of Haitian and Dominican parents, Dominican school personnel, non-governmental organization (NGO) officials and community stakeholders. Within the construct of access, there are six areas of focus: educational policy, curriculum …

Child Language In The Early Years, Maire Mhic Mhathuna

Books/Book chapters

This chapter describes how children acquire their first language in the early years. Some children also acquire a second language in early years setting and the processes and adult supports that assist them are described. These include dynamic scaffolding and environmental supports. The main theories of first and second language acquisition are reviewed and the importance of supportive facilitation by nurturing adults is emphasised.

Alternative Interventions Used To Help Mexican-American Students Improve Academic Achievement In Grades 9 - 12, Alberta M. Reyes

Department of Conflict Resolution Studies Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative research study employing a cross-case analysis on previous case studies is to better understand the engagement of Latino students in a small number of cultural sensitivity programs and the teaching practices that are factors in the development of their academic achievement. In the traditional infrastructure of public schools, assimilation is built on fundamental values aligned with the U.S. political establishment rather than on the value of adaptation to the demands and conflicts of other cultures. Thus, less-empowered groups are at a disadvantage resulting in subgroups abandoning their ideas and reducing their contributions to human capital. …

Accessing High-Quality Instructional Strategies, Edmund T. Hamann, Jenelle Reeves

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

Instructional strategies figure centrally in what happens in classrooms, are critical to educational outcomes, and central to the narrowing of achievement gaps. However, broad improvement of schools, including the narrowing of these gaps, will depend on changes in instructional strategy and improved student access to educators using these strategies. Much of the research on instructional strategies identifies universal aspects of effective instruction that pertain across subject matter, grade level and student characteristics. Other important findings from instructional strategy research are not as broadly applicable. These second kind of findings, are more specific to particular grade levels, topics of instruction, students’ …

A Study Of Primary Schools In The Elias Piña Province On The Dominican Haitian Border: Immigrant Haitian Access To Education In The Dominican Republic In The 2010 Post-Earthquake Era, Matthew D. Kaye

Mission & Culture Publications

The research question of the study asked "In the post 2010 earthquake, what are the conditions faced by Haitian immigrants in accessing primary public education in the Dominican Republic"? Within the context of primary education, the study takes place in the town of Comendador, the capital of the Elías Piña province in the Dominican Republic. Using a mixed methods approach, incorporating ethnographic methods and database analysis, the study documents the voices of Haitian and Dominican parents, Dominican school personnel, non-governmental organization (NGO) officials and community stakeholders. Within the construct of access, there are six areas of focus: educational policy, curriculum …

Bilingual Education As An Eeo: Educational Enrichment Opportunity For All, Anaida Colón-Muñiz, Norma Valenzuela

Education Faculty Books and Book Chapters

"In this chapter, we present our position on the need for more, not less, bilingual education based not only on our personal experiences and on the evidence that is available in the literature verifying the value of bilingualism and biliteracy. Even with our bumpy experiences as young bilingual children, we are still better for it than if we had been raised without the benefit of two languages. But we also know it is time to do a better job with our youth in the United States as it refers to language development.

In Part I, we argue that bilingual education …

The More She Longs For Home, The Farther Away It Appears: A Paradox Of Nostalgia In A Fulani Immigrant Girl’S Life, Kaoru Miyazawa

Education Faculty Publications

Nostalgia, which is derived from the Greek words nos (returning home) and algia (pain), refers to longing for the loss of the familiar (Kaplan, 1987). The loss of our connection to the familiar is a painful experience as such loss is connected to a fundamental loss, the loss of ourselves. By losing a connection to familiar people, objects, and places that continue to remain the same from the past to the future, we also lose the continuity within ourselves. And this discontinuity of our past, present, and future selves creates anxiety within us (Milligan, 2003). The painful experience that accompanies …

Refugee College Students Acquiring Academic Literacy: An Exploration Of How Their Views Of Academic Literacy Impact The Process, Amal H. Essak

Wayne State University Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to first, examine the difference between the academic literacy definition and views of the involuntary immigrant college students and the academic literacy definition and views of the hosting country; and second, to examine how these students acquire academic literacy over the course of one academic semester at a US college. This study provided understanding of how involuntary immigrant and refugee students develop new academic literacies practices as they go through the academic socialization process, rather than focusing just on what they should know in order to become successful educated members of the new community. …

A Multi-Method Investigation Of The Effectiveness And Utility Of Delayed Corrective Feedback In Second-Language Oral Production, James Hunter

TESOL Faculty Scholarship

A major challenge in second-language pedagogy and research is that of determining linguistic competence. Spontaneous oral production gives some indication of the state of a learner’s interlanguage, but the presence of non-target-like forms in such production confounds the analysis since the teacher or researcher cannot be certain whether such forms are random or systematic. Corrective feedback (CF) in oral production, usually in the form of recasts or elicitation, can thus appear arbitrary and inconsistent. This thesis investigates the effectiveness of delayed CF, in which representative samples of learners’ non-target-like production are systematically collected and tracked. The investigation employed three methods: …

The Observation Protocol For Academic Literacies: Conceptual Framework And Validation Report, Magaly Lavadenz Ph.D., Elvira G. Armas Ed.D.

Reports

The Observation Protocol for Academic Literacies (OPAL) conceptual framework and validation report describes the development of the OPAL instrument and the results of the validation study that confirms OPAL as a research-based tool to measure classroom practices for ELs.

The OPAL development began in 2006 as a research-based behavioral observation tool that measures teacher practices and classroom interactions from a sociocultural language acquisition perspective. It utilizes a six-point Likert- scale (1-Low – 6-High) to rate instruction across four domains and 18 indicators: 1) Rigorous and Relevant Curriculum, 2) Connections, 3) Comprehensibility, and 4) Interactions. The instrument allows for anecdotal notes …

Analyzing Best Practices In The Schooling Of Secondary-Level Latino Newcomer Immigrant Youth: A Comparison Study Of Two Yearlong Specialized Programs, Amanda Keri Matas

CGU Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this research study is to compare two yearlong program models designed specifically to educate secondary-level newcomer immigrant youth within one large, urban school district in Southern California. The two divergent secondary-level programs that are compared in this study, a self-contained newcomer program and a beginning level English as a Second Language program (ESL 1/2), are explored to determine which program more successfully prepares secondary-level Latino immigrant youth to gain the language proficiency, academic skills, and academic self-concept necessary to exit after the requisite year.

The research for this study is informed by scholarly literature that concerns the …

How Porous Are The Walls That Separate Us?: Transformative Service-Learning, Women’S Incarceration, And The Unsettled Self, Coralynn V. Davis, Carol Wayne White

Faculty Journal Articles

In this article, we refine a politics of thinking from the margins by exploring a pedagogical model that advances transformative notions of service learning as social justice teaching. Drawing on a recent course we taught involving both incarcerated women and traditional college students, we contend that when communication among differentiated and stratified parties occurs, one possible result is not just a view of the other but also a transformation of the self and other. More specifically, we suggest that an engaged feminist praxis of teaching incarcerated women together with college students helps illuminate the porous nature of fixed markers that …

Supporting English Language Learners In Today's Early Childhood Classrooms, Katie Furlong

Graduate Research Papers

The purpose of this review is to identify the kind(s) of early childhood instruction and learning environment that best supports students whose primary language is not English. The research examined focused on which teacher strategies used in the classroom improve academic achievement for English Language Learners (ELLs). In addition, the research compared the effects of dual language, or two-way immersion (TWI) and monolingual English immersion (El) early childhood education program models on children's learning. A variety of sources were used and synthesized to provide the reader with informational data and recommendations.

Public Libraries : Celebrating Diversity, Rajeswari Chelliah, Justin A. Brown, Barbara Combes

Research outputs 2012

No abstract provided.

The Development And Analysis Of The Global Citizen Award As A Component Of Asia University America Program At Eastern Washington University, Matthew Ged Miner

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

"The purpose of this thesis report is to document the research, development, and analysis of the Global Citizen Award and its introduction, pilot, assessment, and revision as a cunicular component of Asia University America Program at Eastern Washington University. The Global Citizen Award is a merit-based and optional award for students who meet various criteria while attending the five-month study abroad program from Asia University in Tokyo, Japan. The thesis includes background and context for the award, including history and philosophy of the stake-holding institutions such as Asia University and Asia University America Program. This report includes an extensive review …

Exploring New Roles Of Classroom Teachers In Iowa Communities Experiencing Rapid Ethnic Diversification, Cindy R. Lewis

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Non-English speakers are currently the fastest growing population group in Iowa schools. Immigrant and refugee families are choosing in record numbers to make Iowa their home. Across the state, newcomers are added daily to classroom rosters, and teachers are challenged to meet the unique social, emotional, and educational needs of students.

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore how selected teachers in classrooms across Iowa have responded personally and professionally to an evolving socio-political climate. The study examined how professional roles have been redefined and how teachers have responded to the changes. Three research questions guided this qualitative …

The Maze Task: Training Methods For Second Language Learning, Elizabeth Enkin

Spanish Language and Literature Papers

The maze task was created for psycholinguistic experimental testing (Forster et al., 2009). However, this paper explores the merits of this task as a language training program for beginning Spanish learners. The attributes of providing ample comprehensible input and immediate corrective feedback allow the maze task to be considered as a potential supplemental pedagogical tool. Moreover, transfer effects to implicit and explicit measures as well as students’ perception of such a task are examined.

The maze task is a psycholinguistic technique used in experimental testing that records reaction times as subjects read (and comprehend) sentences. The task asks subjects to …

Enrollment And Academic Outcomes Of English Language Learners In Pre-K To Grade 3 In The Boston Public Schools, Sy2009: Data Points For A Discussion At Wheelock College, Miren Uriarte, Faye Karp

Gastón Institute Publications

This brief report focuses on the enrollment, characteristics and academic outcomes of English Language Learners in Pre-Kindergarten to Grade 3 in comparison with those of English proficient students and all students at these grade levels. The purpose of the report is to generate discussion about ways in which the learning needs of these students can best be met. As proposed, the report consists primarily of data tables and annotations organized around five sets of questions.

Using Storytelling To Integrate Faith And Learning: The Lived Experience Of Christian Esl Teachers, Monir Nazir Atta-Alla

International Christian Community of Teacher Educators Journal

English as a second language (ESL) settings lend themselves more easily and naturally than others to storytelling-based discussions and activities that integrate faith and learning. Stories and storytelling offer students from diverse backgrounds a compelling mechanism for understanding their world and creating shalom learning community conducive to the restoration of wholeness of the learners. This qualitative study explores the perceptions and lived teaching experience of Christian teachers regarding the integration of faith and learning in ESL settings through using storytelling. Findings indicated that storytelling is an effective tool for the integration of faith and learning in ESL settings. Using storytelling …

Writing Across Institutions: Studying The Curricular And Extracurricular Journeys Of Latina/O Students Transitioning From High School To College, Todd Ruecker

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation is based on a year and a half multi-institutional study of seven Mexican American students transitioning from high school to a community college or a university. It explores the differences between high school, community college, and university literacy environments, focusing on the following: the impact of standardized testing at the high school level, the role of rhetoric and composition disciplinary expertise in shaping first-year composition (FYC) curricula, writing in the disciplines, and the digital divide between institutions. Seven case studies examine students' literacy experiences across institutions as well as both challenges and sources of support in and beyond …

Culturally Responsive Teaching: An Investigation Of Effective Practices For African American Learners, Antonia L. Hill

Dissertations

Diversity increasingly characterizes the population of the United States. As the number of African Americans, Latina/os, and Asian populations increase, there will be drastic implications for teaching and learning in classrooms where students of color dominate. The purpose of this mixed methodological study was to examine the characteristics, practices and frequency of use of fifty -two strategies employed by two teachers in a predominately African American urban public school to determine their impact on student learning and engagement. The fifty-two effective and culturally responsive strategies used in this study were created by Dr. Johnnie McKinley, Professor in Educational Psychology at …

Muppets Abroad: Globalization Of Multiculturalism And The International Co-Productions Of Sesame Street, Julianna Carlson Palm

Master's Theses

In recent years globalization has been cited as the cause or force changing our world, making it more interdependent and "smaller" through new means of technology and communication. As such a force, globalization is seen as pervasive in all aspects of contemporary life. Sesame Street has been used as an educational tool in the United States since 1969 and since that time, the producers of the program have created a presence in various countries throughout the world, using the technology of television to communicate with preschool audiences. In particular in the last decade, new productions have begun and been funded …

Perceptions Of Bilingualism And Home Language Maintenance And Loss: A Study Of Latino Parents At A San Francisco Bay Area Elementary Charter School, Emily Mccormick Enstice

Doctoral Dissertations

There is limited research that investigates parent perceptions with respect to their early elementary school children's home language use. To fill the gap in research, this study explores the relationship between first generation Latino parent perspectives of bilingualism, home language maintenance and loss, and the intersection of culture and identity in an elementary school community. It also investigates how parents create an additive bilingual environment in the home.

This participatory action research (PAR) study involved group dialogue sessions and individual interviews in order to engage co-researchers and participants. PAR provided this study with the structure and tools to change and …

Are The Challenges And Opportunities In Contemporary Diverse Classrooms Being Met?, Loukia K. Sarroub, Lisa Patel Stevens, A. Jonathan Eakle

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

The following two essays underscore novel and powerful dimensions of the multiplicity of cultures and education. Unlike many of the essays in the present volume, both authors chose to write in the first person. This is not coincidental because culture is based on identifications—what allows one to articulate the “I” of group alliances and identity. In contrast, scientific writing style, such as that of the American Psychological Association (APA)—which is the standard for much professional publication in education—typically pushes the author “I” to the side, which can give an inaccurate view of how subjectivity influences research and writing. Such narrative …

Contextualizing The Path To Academic Success: Culturally And Linguistically Diverse Students Gaining Voice And Agency In Higher Education, Melissa Holmes, Cristina Fanning, Amanda Morales, Pedro Espinoza, Socorro Herrera

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

This ethnographic case study documents the experiences of culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) first-generation immigrant students as they developed their sense of voice and personal agency at a predominantly White, Midwestern university. The study is framed within the larger context of an ongoing, longitudinal study on the BESITOS (Bilingual/Bicultural Education Students Interacting To Obtain Success) model of recruitment and retention (Herrera & Morales, 2005; Herrera, Morales, Holmes, & Terry, 2011-2012), which was developed in 1999 to address the multifaceted assets and needs of Latina/o learners in higher education. The model takes into account literature on CLD student recruitment and retention …

Motivation In The Portland Chinuk Wawa Language Community, Abigail Elaina Pecore

Dissertations and Theses

Throughout the world, languages are becoming extinct at an alarming rate. Perhaps half of the 6,000-7,000 languages worldwide will go extinct in the next 50-100 years. One of these dying languages, Chinook Jargon or Chinuk Wawa, a language found in the Pacific Northwest of the United States, is in the process of being revitalized through the concerted efforts of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde (CTGR). Reasons to revitalize endangered languages often seem irrelevant to our modern daily lives, and revitalizing these languages is a difficult process requiring much dedication, commitment, and persistence. In light of this significant struggle, understanding …

A Phenomenological Study Of Teaching Endangered Languages Online: Perspectives From Nahua And Mayan Educators., Dustin De Felice

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Language and culture teaching has always been a complex and challenging task. For many educators, their teaching experiences are rooted in their earlier preparation, their classroom situations and their curriculum. In this study, indigenous educators recount their lived experiences with teaching their language and culture at a distance. These educators belong to either Nahua or Mayan speech communities where endangered languages are maintained. Using a transcendental phenomenological approach, my participants described and explained their perspectives and experiences with teaching, studying, and integrating technology. I focused the interviews, the reflective writing tasks and their artifact sharing on their experiences in an …

The Benefits Of Intercultural Interactions: A Position Paper On The Effects Of Study Abroad And Intercultural Competence On Pre-Service And Active Teachers Of Esl, Bergen Lorraine Mccurdy

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

"This thesis discusses a potential connection between immersion programs, second language acquisition, intercultural awareness, and the pre-service English as a Second Language instructors' ability to provide interculturally aware TESL education to their language learners. A review of the literature connected to intercultural awareness and second language acquisition contributes to the discussion of how the two topics are connected and how they combine to inform current United States' TESL programs and education"--Document.

A Novice Esl Teacher's Experience Of Language Learning In France: An Autoethnographic Study Of Anomie And The "Vulnerable Self", Christopher Ryan

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

"This thesis combines diary study with autoethnography to report an MATESL candidate's study abroad experience as an advanced learner of French. The writer summarizes language-learning experiences in Quebec and France while focusing on his second study abroad experience in France, where he encountered an educational system that was inconsistent with his training as a language teacher and his learning style as a language learner. He discusses challenges he faced in a language institute he was required to enroll in before he could matriculate in the university. Rote memorization and test preparation were the primary focuses of two classes, but the …

Book Review: Mcgraw-Hill's Chinese Dictionary & Guide To 20,000 Essential Words, Hong Zhan

Publications

Chinese Dictionary & Guide to 20,000 Essential Words is a concise dictionary specially designed for learners of Chinese as a foreign or a second language. This dictionary distinguishes itself from other Chinese language dictionaries by its unconventional character look-up system, a system that searches for a character by counting the total number of “broken marks” (not linked or unlinked strokes) of each character.