Digital Commons Network^™

Reducing Barriers To Entry: Enhancing Inclusivity And Engagement In Elementary School Extracurricular Programs, Katie A. Monahan

Education Doctorate Dissertations

This mixed-methods action research study explores the barriers and strategies related to developing inclusive extracurricular programs in an urban elementary school. Through stakeholder surveys, interviews, and archival data, the study investigates how extracurricular activities support student engagement, social-emotional learning (SEL), and a sense of belonging, particularly for students from marginalized backgrounds.

Findings highlight persistent barriers, including funding limitations, staffing shortages, logistical challenges, and the absence of a centralized system for tracking participation. These issues disproportionately impact students with disabilities, English Language Learners (ELLs), and those from low-income households. The study also identifies key supports, such as community partnerships and culturally …

Exploring The “4-Trans” In Bi/Multilingual Teacher Education: Introduction To The Special Issue, Sandra I. Musanti, David Martinez-Prieto, Xiaodi Zhou

Bilingual and Literacy Studies Faculty Publications

In this introductory essay, the editors of the special issue on the 4-trans in bi/multilingual teacher education, highlight the contributions of one or more of the “4-trans” lenses—transnationalism, transculturalism, translanguaging, and transdisciplinarity—to explain, question, challenge, or propose new ways of understanding bi/multilingual teacher education. Eight articles that challenge monolithic perspectives of teacher education are presented.

Dialogic Foundations Of The “4-Trans” Framework: Towards A Comprehensive And Dynamic Understanding Of Multilingual Teacher Education, David Martinez-Prieto, Sandra I. Musanti, Xiaodi Zhou

Bilingual and Literacy Studies Faculty Publications

In this article, we develop the “4-trans” framework by reflecting on the way current multilingual teacher preparation scholarship has addressed translanguaging, transnationalism, transculturality, and transdisciplinarity either in compartmentalized or integrative manners. While current literature has addressed some “trans” intersections, we propose the enunciation of the “4-trans” as permeable and complementary principles in multilingual education that can serve to better examine the experiences and challenges of multilingual pre-service teachers. To amalgamate the “4-trans” to examine the development of multilingual pre-service teachers, this article describes the construction of a multidimensional framework based on a dialogic conception of social …

"Integrating The Seven Stages Of Conocimiento With Nahuatl And Ralámuri Wisdom In Kosmic Feminism: My Creative Writer Identity.", Hilda Yaneth Sotelo Dr

Journal of Creative Writing Studies

This paper explores the intersection of Kosmic Feminism and the seven stages of conocimiento as outlined by Gloria Anzaldúa, integrating Indigenous wisdom from Nahuatl and Ralámuri traditions. It examines how decolonial thought, feminist theory, and creative writing can be transformative tools for personal and communal healing. Drawing on personal experiences rooted in the borderlands of Ciudad Juárez-El Paso and Rarámuri heritage, the author blends Anzaldúa’s framework of conocimiento with Indigenous perspectives to offer a critique of patriarchal systems and a vision of holistic, cosmic resistance. The seven stages of conocimiento—awakening (El Arrebato), liminality (La Nepantla), commitment (El Compromiso), healing (La …

Academic Freedom In Interpreter Education: Teaching Communication Access In A Culture Of Censorship, Dawn M. Wessling, Mark A. Halley, Brendan Stern

Journal of Interpretation

Abstract

The primary function of signed language interpreters and translators is to foster inclusion and equity by ensuring effective communication access for deaf individuals from diverse linguistic backgrounds in public spaces. The effectiveness of interpreter education depends on the freedom of expression, thought, and behavior. This paper explores the impacts of illiberal legislation on American Sign Language/English interpreter education in Florida. Specifically, we describe how the illiberal attacks on academic freedom that preclude Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives and curricula, such as Florida’s SB266/HB999 (2023) and SB2525/HB7 (2022), present unprecedented challenges for interpreter and translator educators. In conclusion, we …

Constructing A Teaching Identity That Centers A Multilingual Stance Using Digital Literacies, Melissa Garcia, Nancy Dubetz, Jayra Sanchez

Publications and Research

Throughout their preparation programs, bilingual education teacher candidates (TCs) are asked to develop a “multilingual stance” (Garcia et al, 2017) which emphasizes valuing their own and their students’ multilingualism and linguistic diversity (Morea & Fisher, 2023; Duek & Nilsberth, 2022), as well as planning and implementing culturally and linguistically responsive lessons. Our study sought to understand whether and how taking part in computing and digital literacies (CDL) integrated teacher education activities could support TCs to develop this multilingual stance. Objectives and significance Authors of this poster teach three courses that span the course sequence of study in a Pre-K to …

Language Program Models For Recently Arrived English Learners, Sarah E. Schulz

Graduate Teacher Education

Many schools in the United States have been responding to the growing number of Recently Arrived English Learners (RAELs) and the academic needs when adjusting to mainstream classrooms. These students can have long periods of interrupted schooling, traumatic immigration experiences, and unique acculturation processes that require specific needs apart from other English Language Learners (Sugarman, 2023). This literature review examined the ways K-12 schools can support RAELs academically and socially-emotionally during the transition to becoming accustomed to the educational models used in the United States of America by analyzing current research on the effectiveness of various English Language Program Models. …

Factors Of Social And Emotional Development Which Positively Impact Language Acquisition In Early Childhood To Support Well-Being And Academic Development, Amanda L. Sauer

Graduate Teacher Education

Students who speak a first language other than English often enter classrooms with educators who may not know how to support second language (L2) development. Even more so, there is little research about L2 development and the social and emotional factors that foster language growth for English language learners (ELL) as it pertains to early childhood. Through quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-method studies, research was synthesized to give early childhood educators the necessary insight into factors that foster positive social and emotional growth for these dual language learners’ (DLL) L2 acquisition. Studies suggested that young students benefited from play-based learning environments …

The Causes And Effects Of Procuring A Culturally Relevant And Sustaining Educational Pedagogy, Lauren Mcneil

Education Doctorate Dissertations

This study investigates the causes and effects of educators adopting a Culturally Relevant and Sustaining Education (CR-SE) pedagogy within our educational system. Three qualitative data collection and analysis pathways are used: thirteen participants are surveyed and interviewed, a policy analysis occurs, and an autoethnographic journal is analyzed. This research explores how cultural conflicts, deficit mindsets, and at-risk labeling contribute to systemic inequities, leading to social suffering for both students and educators. The research examines how educators who develop a critical consciousness navigate these challenges, often experiencing moral injury as they advocate for equitable educational practices. Through qualitative inquiry, this study …

We Speak Life Into Their Language: Black Educators’ Approaches To Linguistic Justice In Urban Secondary Ela Classrooms, Lakeisha A. Davis

Dissertations

This study explores how Black educators navigate linguistic justice, deficit thinking, and stereotypes in urban secondary English Language Arts (ELA) classrooms. Using a hermeneutic phenomenological approach, it examines how teachers affirm Black Language (BL) while balancing the demands of White Mainstream English (WME) in academic spaces. Findings reveal that although educators employ culturally affirming strategies, they face challenges from restrictive language policies and standardized assessments. To counteract these barriers, they adopt negotiation practices that support students’ linguistic and cultural identities. From these findings, the study proposes Dynamic Linguistic Uplift (DLU)—a new theoretical framework that illustrates how Black educators sustain BL …

Jmer Volume 13 Full Issue, Senior Editor

Journal of Multilingual Education Research

No abstract provided.

An Autoethnographic Account Of The Dimensions Of Learning To Teach, Angela Reyes-Carrasquillo, Diane Rodríguez

Journal of Multilingual Education Research

This is a review of the book Navigating Teacher Education in Complex and Uncertain Times by Carmen I. Mercado. The volume offers an autoethnographic narrative of an innovative learning and teaching process in teacher training including her role as a professor responding to the needs of the urban diverse students and their families served. It is an ethnographic contribution where Mercado’s life and work are intertwined. Through a rich autobiographical account, spanning 40 years, Mercado theorizes from her experiences as a teacher and teacher educator, offering powerful lessons to teachers and teachers’ educators alike.

Career Long Scholarly Contributions To Educating Teachers For Multilingual Classrooms And Exploring Multilingualism, Yidan Shao, Patricia M. Velasco

Journal of Multilingual Education Research

No abstract provided.

¿Y Ahora Qué? Interest Convergence And Hope Through Provision, Promotion, And Partnerships In Two-Way Dual Language Programs, Mitch Ingram, Charise Pimentel

Journal of Multilingual Education Research

As Two-Way Dual Language Programs continue in their nascent stages in the United States, some teachers, administrators, and researchers have reported issues of interest convergence. In this article, two researchers work alongside a bilingual pre-service teacher to highlight three such examples: the business of learning a language, Latin@ Spanish-speaking students used as resources, and the gentrification of bilingual education. Beyond the diagnosis of such dilemmas, we offer a preliminary framework and some promising tenets of hope to overcome any such asymmetries that can exist when interested families from different social locations agree to collaborate in the journey of dual language …

Description And Publishing Guidelines

Journal of Multilingual Education Research

No abstract provided.

Life Long Perspectives On The Multilingual Experience, Annie Shaba

Journal of Multilingual Education Research

Multilingualism Across the Life Span is a text that explores the subject of language diversity and multilingualism across an individual’s lifespan and their community. Edited by Unn Røyneland and Robert Blackwood, the book features co-authored chapters that look into the complexities of linguistic diversity, multilingualism as a lived reality, and the non-linear trajectories of language development. The book is divided into three parts: methodological and theoretical developments in bilingual acquisition, language practices and policies in the family, and bilingual aging, communication, and cognitive impairments. It offers insights from research conducted in various parts of the world and is relevant for …

Navigating Taiwan's Bilingual 2030 Policy: Unveiling Teachers' Glocalization Efforts And Agency, Ching-Ching Lin, Ming-Hsuan Wu

Journal of Multilingual Education Research

As a strategic initiative aimed to enhance English communication skills and bolster the global competitiveness of the general population, Taiwan’s Bilingual 2030 Policy takes place at the intersection of neoliberalism, globalization, and the global spread of the English language. The neoliberal framing of Taiwan’s language education policy has exerted powerful influences on teacher education, teacher hiring practices, curricular design, assessment, and other school practices. While the neoliberalist influences are prevalent among countries in the Global South, responses and resistance may take many forms embedded in specific sociocultural contexts. The reflection discussed here examines the challenges faced by teachers in Taiwan …

Exploring Teaching And Learning In Diverse Multilingual Spaces, Juliet M. Luther

Journal of Multilingual Education Research

None

Critical Language Awareness For Spanish-English Bilingual 5th Graders, Mary Hudgens Henderson

Journal of Multilingual Education Research

Critical Language Awareness (CLA) instruction can and should be a part of K-12 education. This study reports on a CLA unit taught to Spanish-English bilingual 5^th graders enrolled in a dual language bilingual classroom in the southwest U.S. Scores from a pretest and three posttests administered throughout the school year were compared to peer bilingual and monolingual 5^th graders in an English-only classroom who did not participate in CLA instruction. A Mixed ANOVA repeated measures analysis found that bilingual students in the dual language bilingual classroom had high levels of CLA knowledge both before and after participating in …

The Influence Of Field Experiences On English Language Teachers' Preparedness: An Analysis Of Teacher Education In Nigeria, Bushroh O. Animashaun

INSPIRE Student Research and Engagement Conference

Brief Context:

• Definition of key terms: teacher education, field experiences.
• Importance of teacher education in language education
• Challenges in the Nigerian education system
• Why focus on teacher education?

Deconstructing Ideological Habits: An Analysis Of An Antiracist Place-Based Education Course, Terry John Stockton

Mid-Western Educational Researcher

White teachers enter culturally and racially diverse urban classrooms ill-prepared to teach. The resulting cultural mismatch contributes to educational disparities, including academic gaps and punitive imparities. Teacher education programs' attempts to address the gaps intend to immunize young teachers to the effects of implicit bias. However, the efforts do little to help teachers recognize how their implicit bias, in the form of ideological habits, created the need for a culturally responsive curriculum in the first place.

As part of a larger project, this study deconstructed three reflective essays assigned during an introductory place-based education course. The post-structural analysis used a …

Review Of Perspectives On Good Writing In Applied Linguistics And Tesol, Jennifer E. Eidum

Journal of Response to Writing

No abstract provided.

Reexamining The Relationship Of Georgia’S Rural World Language Teachers’ Efficacy To Teacher Attrition, Shannon Borum, Peter B. Swanson

The Rural Educator

U.S. schools, including those in rural America, have struggled with a shortage of world language teachers for decades. Using Bandura’s framework of self-efficacy teaching languages, the researchers conducted a study using the same methods as an earlier study of rural world language teacher attrition in Georgia. Contrary to those findings, results in the present study indicate that teacher efficacy is not a factor in one’s decision to remain in or leave the teaching profession in Georgia; environmental factors appear to be a stronger indicator of rural world language teacher attrition. The study also has implications for teacher and administrator preparation …

Challenges In Higher Education For Latino U.S - Born Children Of Undocumented Immigrants, Lupita Gomez Benitez

Senior Theses

Latino native-born children of undocumented immigrants in the United States occupy a unique position within American society. They are citizens by birth and therefore, entitled to all the rights of a regular citizen. However, society does not treat them as such due to their parents' legal status. This paper analyzes the barriers that these students face during the higher education process, specifically in South Carolina. The study uses a review of existing literature and qualitative interviews to uncover some of these challenges and why these students do not ask for help. The findings suggest that these students do have certain …

Border Thinking Through Diverse Modalities: An Ethnographic Case Study Of The Multimodal, Multiliteracy, And Translanguaging Practices Of Latinx Emergent Bilingual Youth, Romelia Rodri­Guez Reyes

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This three-article dissertation explores how translanguaging, multimodality, and multiliteracies intersect to support the learning, identity formation, and meaning-making practices of Latinx emergent bilingual middle school students in El Paso, Texas, a border city shaped by transfronterizx realities. Guided by the frameworks of Border Thinking (Mignolo, 2000) and Pedagogy of Border Thinking (Cervantes-Soon and Carrillo, 2016), this study foregrounds the cultural, linguistic, and epistemic fluidity that characterizes borderland communities. I approach this work as a bricoleur (Denzin and Lincoln, 1994); the three-article format allowed me to center distinct but interconnected theoretical and methodological orientations, reflecting my commitment to situated, decolonial knowledge …

Beyond The Interruption: Understanding The Lived Realities Of Students With Limited Or Interrupted Formal Education (Slife), Rachel Hapennny-Rogers

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Terms such as English as a Second Language (ESL), English Language Learners (ELLs), and Limited English Proficient (LEP) are widely used by educators and policymakers. However, these broad classifications often reflect deficit-based language and obscure the individuality of the students they describe—students who have diverse educational needs, represent a range of cultural backgrounds, and bring valuable assets and funds of knowledge to their school communities. The dominance of English in the United States has reinforced a normative standard of English proficiency, positioning those who meet this standard as typical while marginalizing and segregating those who do not. Students with Limited …

Enhancing Interprofessional Staff Competence In Culturally Sensitive Patient Education: A Web-Based Health Literacy Toolkit For Brazilian Immigrants In Florida, Faila Reis Pereira Dos Santos

Student Scholarly Projects

Practice Problem: Brazilian immigrants in Florida face cultural and language barriers that hinder their ability to understand and engage with healthcare services. Additionally, healthcare providers often lack the cultural competency needed to deliver effective patient education, contributing to poor health literacy within this population.

PICOT: The PICOT question that guided this project was: For healthcare interprofessional staff supporting Brazilian immigrants in Florida (P), how does the development of a web-based health literacy toolkit (I), compared to standard educational methods (C), influence their competency in delivering culturally sensitive patient education (O)?

Evidence: Research demonstrates that culturally tailored health literacy interventions improve …

Bridging The Gap Between Muslim Students And School Leadership In The United States, Sahar Khawaja

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Entering the third decade of the 21st century, the political landscape in the United States presents a challenging environment for Muslims, mirroring the global trend of oppression and discrimination faced by this community (Neptune, 2021). Despite being the fastest-growing demographic in the nation (Lipka, 2017), Muslim Americans increasingly encounter discrimination. By actively addressing and dismantling these stereotypes, educators can cultivate an inclusive environment where the needs of Muslim students are understood and respected. Understanding the stories and experiences of these students is vital for school leaders, as it enables the creation of an environment where every student feels a genuine …

Digital Stratification: Comparing Digital Literacy Practices Among Aboriginal And Mainstream Children In Australian Homes, Huan Gao, Gui Ying Annie Yang-Heim

Faculty Publications - College of Education

This qualitative study examines the home digital literacy practices of Aboriginal and Mainstream elementary-age children in Australia, highlighting how socio-economic and cultural factors influence these practices. This study integrates conceptural framework such as capital, digital capital, and social reproduction theory to analyze conversational interviews conducted with six children. Our findings reveal significant disparities in digital capital accumulation, primarily driven by socio-economic differences and varied access to digital resources. Mainstream students typically possess more digital capital, which allows them to navigate the digital landscape more effectively and perpetuate systemic inequalities. The enduring digital divide reinforces existing economic and social hierarchies, exacerbating …

Persistence, Mentorship, And Educational Achievement: Exploring The Daca Student Experience, Patricia F. Mejabi

Education Doctorate Dissertations

The study aimed to understand demographic, cultural, and ecological factors, as well as supportive assets like mentorship on the academic persistence and educational achievement of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) students. DACA protects qualified individuals who arrived in the United States as children from deportation and grants them lawful permission to seek employment and educational opportunities.

Interviews of DACA students, and mentors and advocates of DACA students, were conducted to identify similarities, differences, and common themes. Despite DACA protection positively impacting the students' financial and academic success, limited socioeconomic conditions created a need for guidance or mentorship to help …