Digital Commons Network^™

Cultural Relevance In The Lep-Ld Classroom, Blanca Estella Rojas

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

This investigation considered Mexican-American students classified as Limited English Proficient (LEP) and Special Education Learning Disabled (LD) on achievement in and attitudes toward reading. Two students used culturally matched materials and two students used non-culturally matched, grade appropriate materials. The individuals who received treatment were paired with those who did not receive treatment on key variables as closely as possible. Qualitative descriptive information answered the following questions: (1) Will the use of a culturally matched novel have the same learning effects as use of a non-culturally matched novel? (2) Will the use of the culturally matched novel lower the affective …

Connecting Students To Culturally Relevant Texts, Yvonne Freeman, David Freeman

Bilingual and Literacy Studies Faculty Publications

Yvonne Freeman and David Freeman argue the importance of providing students with culturally relevant books and discuss their criteria for deciding if a book is culturally relevant to a particular child.

The Effects Of An Autobiographical Dialogue Journaling Activity On Student Teachers' Levels Of Cultural Sensitivity And Reflective Skills, Wanda G. Lastrapes

Theses and Dissertations in Urban Services - Urban Education

The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of a researcher-designed autobiographical dialogue journaling activity on student teachers' levels of cultural sensitivity and levels of reflection. Written feedback from the university supervisors and cooperating teachers was analyzed to identify differences and similarities in the structure and focus of their responses.

Data was collected from 30 student teachers assigned to urban elementary field placements following a six-week structured journaling activity. Student teachers were randomly assigned to one of three journaling conditions: autobiographical dialogue journaling with their cooperating teacher, autobiographical dialogue journaling with their university supervisor, or the traditional student …

A Comparative Study Of American-Born Chinese And Non American-Born Chinese Students' Language Learning Motivation, Language Acquisition, And Ethnic Identity Development In Chinese Language Schools, Sarah C. Tsai

Theses and Dissertations in Urban Services - Urban Education

This dissertation is a non-experimental comparative and correlational study. It compares the three variables of language learning motivation, language acquisition, and ethnic identity between American-Born Chinese (ABC) and Adopted Chinese students (Non-ABC) at Association of Chinese language schools on the East Coast of the United States. One hundred and eighty-two ABC and 70 non-ABC students enrolled in Chinese language classes in the fall semester of 2004 participated in this study. Additionally, this study identifies the teaching categories that are most commonly applied in the Chinese language school classroom.

The data were collected through a survey method. The research instruments used …

Assessment Practices In Foreign Language Education

Dimensions

SCOLT Dimensions Volume 39

Teaching Japanese In An American High School: How Japanese Teachers Make Sense Of Their American Students’ Communication Styles, Teppei Kiyosue

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

This qualitative research study explores how Japanese teachers make sense of their American students’ communication styles. I conducted classroom observations in two Japanese classes by two different teachers and interviewed four Japanese teachers at high schools in Cabell County, West Virginia. The results indicate that the American students don’t communicate with others under the pressure of enryo (response to group pressure for conformity) in their Japanese classes. Furthermore, the Japanese teachers usually approve of their American students’ active communication styles without enryo. The results also show that the native Japanese teachers use high-context communication styles frequently in their Japanese classes …

Teaching Adult Efl Learners In Japan From A Japanese Perspective, Patricia Jean Gage

MA TESOL Collection

This paper presents teaching materials that were developed for adult EFL learners in Japan. The author’s primary purpose for developing these materials was to create lessons that would utilize content from a Japanese perspective and the students’ personal interests. The author asserts that students are able to communicate more effectively when the topic and the content of the lessons are familiar to the students. Developed around topics chosen by the students, these lessons contain anecdotes written by the students along with activities that integrate listening, reading, speaking, and writing. The five lessons and the rationale for designing them are included …

We Talk Too Much: Quantitative And Qualitative Aspects Of Teacher Talk, Lynn Corwin

MA TESOL Collection

This paper is one teacher’s exploration of teacher talking time. As a language teacher the author understands that teacher talk is an essential tool of the trade and critical to the language learning process. However, she recognized that talking too much could be a problem. This paper describes the journey the author took to understand how and when to talk in the classroom. The author provides reasons and examples of why teacher silence can sometimes be more effective than talking. Throughout the paper, she focuses on the power of silence in the classroom when the teacher values it and when …

Promoting Language And Culture Learning In An Efl Context, Laura Anne Battles

MA TESOL Collection

This Independent Professional Paper (IPP) describes the intercultural communication project I undertook during my Interim Year Teaching Practicum (IYTP) in Granada, Spain. Throughout the academic year of 1998-1999, English-speaking students enrolled in the University of Granada’s Spanish Language and Culture Courses were invited to participate as volunteer language and culture exchange partners with my Spanish-speaking, intermediate-level English as a Foreign Language students. These classroom experiences, designed to enrich the course’s speaking, reading, writing, and listening curriculum, were intended to stimulate authentic communication and to heighten personal and intercultural awareness among the participants.

The argument presented in this paper is that …

Mexican-American Learning Styles In A Socioliterate Approach To Writing For English Learners, Natalia Pedersen

Theses Digitization Project

The primary goal of this project is to provide a unit of instruction that addresses the critical English skills of oracy, writing, and intercultural proficiency. The curriculum features the social-construction-of-knowledge approach and the socioliterate approach. In addition, it includes an emphasis on Mexican-American values, learning styles, and intercultural communication, showing how they are interrelated and how they affect oral and written language proficiency and intercultural communication competence.

The Policy Implications Of The No Child Left Behind Act For English Language Learners, Jacqueline Elena Arroyo De Romano

Theses Digitization Project

The purpose of this study was to present and analyze the political implications and the effects of the No Child Left Behind Act and its effects on English language learners.

How Grammar Instruction Can Benefit Students In The Second Language Classroom, Barbara Jean Bivins Peterson

Theses Digitization Project

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role that grammar has played in second language teaching methods throughout history and to question whether explicit grammar study has a place in the second language classroom today.

Building Literacy For Beginning English Learners, Amy Kathleen Anderson

Theses Digitization Project

This project is to help improve the instruction for English language learners (ELLs) in U.S. public elementary schools. Specifically, it explores research-based approaches for instructing students who enter upper-elementary classrooms speaking little to no English.

Registers Of Supplication And Demand In English-As-A-Foreign-Language Technical Writing, Kuang-Je Chen

Theses Digitization Project

This project introduces theoretical discussion on five aspects of writing: register, genre, pragmatics, functional writing, and social function the goal of this project aims at improving business peoples' technical writing competence.

Autonomous Elementary English Learning In Korea Using Mediated Structures, Backyoung Kim

Theses Digitization Project

The purpose of this project is to address the need for cultural awareness through mediated reading structures and dual language acquisition in the English as a foreign language (EFL) situation.

Using Research Based Teaching Strategies With Bilingual Students, Miriam Perez Blum

Theses Digitization Project

This project examines instructional approaches that have been used to teach literacy to the English language learner. It also examines elements of the Foundation for California Early Literacy Learning (2003) and how they become integrated into daily classroom instruction.

Using Self-Directed Learning Strategies And Affective Factors In Educating Adult English Learners, Jennifer Margaret Heald

Theses Digitization Project

The content of this project will serve to demonstrate that ample research connects self-directed learning to more healthy psychological dynamics in language acquisition. It will also show that self-directed learning strategies are practical and effective in teaching a second language.

Writing Inside The Caja: Constructing Pasos In English Composition Studies, Linda Joyce Preciado

Theses Digitization Project

In this thesis, I examine the resistance, privileges, and costs of Chicana textual identity issues in an academic arena that, by design, fragments voice and dictates choice. The scarcity in research of Chicana identity through mixed-language writing in composition depicts an existing chasm between academic demographics and university sentiments. Educational institutions that neglect to investigate, engage, and participate in textual identity perpetuate accepted pensamiento. Therefore, insight to Chicana thought, culture, and educational experiences may assist and inform the teaching dominant culture, not to separate, but to conjoin information with experience for those seeking diversity.

Multimedia As A Tool For Learning: The Design & Development Of A Hyperstudio Project On The Celebration Of Chicano Culture, Kathy Elliott Markos

Theses Digitization Project

This project was intended to demonstrate how multimedia can be utilized to differentiate instruction in order to meet the diverse needs of all students, and educate teacher credential candidates about cultural awareness and acceptance.

An Evaluation Of The Effectiveness Of Proposition 227'S Implementation In The Inland Empire, Wesley George Musson

Theses Digitization Project

The purpose of this study is to ascertain whether or not the implementation of Proposition 227 has been effective for advancing the English language acquisition needs of English Learners in the Inland Empire.

The Effect That An Intensive Literacy Program, Comprehension Early Literacy Learning (Cell) Has On English Language Learners' Reading Proficiency, Susana Puerta Ramos

Theses Digitization Project

This research paper investigates the effectiveness of an intensive literacy program, Comprehensive Early Literacy Learning (CELL), to teach second language learners to read and write in English. Since this program provides numerous opportunities to practice the English language through literacy activities, the researcher believes it is a good method to teach English in its oral and written forms.

"Like Everybody Else": Equalizing Educational Opportunity For English Language Learners, Jenelle Reeves

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

Equal educational opportunity for all students has long been a goal of public education in the United States. Realizing equality of educational opportunity for English language learners (ELLs), however, has proven to be a difficult task. This article examines 1 high school community's perception of educational opportunity and its approach to equalizing it. The findings reveal a community-wide endorsement of a policy of equal treatment for equalizing educational opportunity. This policy of difference blindness, however, was found to produce inequities for ELLs in at least 2 ways: restricted access to course content and inaccurate assessment and grading. Although teacher participants …

Literacy Education And The Ell, Tammara L. Schober

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

No abstract provided.

Resources To Support And Expand Native American Kindergarteners Shared Reading Experiences Integrated With Open Court Unit 6, Stephanie Lynn Hull

All Graduate Projects

Relevant literature pertaining to shared reading, the benefits of shared reading, shared reading and the diverse learner and recommendations for the Native American learner was studied. The need for using culturally relevant material in the classroom and creating a positive learning environment for Native American students was discussed. A project utilizing shared reading strategies in the kindergarten classroom was created for teacher use in the Mount Adams School District. The project included the integration of culturally relevant stories with the objectives of Open Court Unit 6. The project also included a list of resources available from the Harrah Elementary School …

Approaching Equity: Strategies For Working With Hispanic Students In The Middle School Health Science Classroom, Heather L. Jones

All Graduate Projects

This project provides middle school science teachers with practical classroom strategies for working with Hispanic students. The strategies are built upon national and state recommendations as well as other expert opinions which can be found in the Review of Literature. The strategies align with the Essential Academic Learning Requirements for Washington state. For each strategy, a rationale is provided based on the literature review. In addition, each strategy includes a detailed explanation, along with specific examples. The strategies themselves address environmental, communicative, pedagogical, as well as assessment considerations. Recommendations for implementation are also discussed.

Teaching Speaking In The Foreign Language Classroom, Amanda J. Smith

Presidential Scholars Theses (1990 – 2006)

One of the most necessary skills for living in the twenty-first century is gaining the ability to know and use another language. In many areas of life, from business transactions to broadcasting television weather warnings, the demand for proficiency in a foreign language is growing. One of the most important skills to have in a foreign language is the ability to speak the language with native or non-native speakers of that language. A great number of foreign language learners most likely consider one of their primary language goals to be the ability to speak the language at a high level …

Unlv College Of Education Multicultural & Diversity Newsletter, Porter Troutman, Jian Wang, Steven Grubaugh, Randall L. Astramovich, Jennifer L. Fabbi, Kyle Higgins, Lori Navarrete, Jean Henry, Carli Kyles, R. R. Apache, Cecilia Maldonado-Daniels, Chizu Jaret, Karla V. Kingsley, Nancy Sileo

College of Education Multicultural & Diversity Newsletter

A newsletter discussing a variety of topics dealing with multicultural topics and diversity in education.

Addressing The Cultural Needs Of Latino Students In The Classroom : A Workshop For Reflective Educators, Tamara J. Hess

Graduate Research Papers

This is a professional development workshop intended for an elementary staff venue. The purpose is to facilitate teachers in developing culturally responsive classrooms in which Latino students can confidently develop their literacy skills. The workshop will serve to assist participants in identifying what their own cultural beliefs are, developing connections with people of the Latino culture, and exploring avenues to encourage growth and understanding between the two. It allows for the participants to be proactive in the creation of instruments that will enhance communication between home and school, and to use the information gained from it to build cooperative relationships …

Children's Efl Motivation: An Investigation Of 7-12 Year Old Students In Training Schools In China, Daosheng Liao

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

English training schools in China are a new EFL phenomenon and infromation about EFL for 7-12 year old students is also new. There appears to be little research done regarding their motivation to learn EFL, and this constitutes a gap in theory addressing this area. This research attempts to fill the gap by investigating the factors that affect the motivation of learners in this age group. Questionnaires wers administered to 200 students and the responses were analysed to establish the motivational factors associated with learning English in training schools in Xi'an, China.

Being Black In U.S. Urban Schools: No Assumptions, Lavada Taylor Brandon, Mary J. Didelot

Essays in Education

To be an African-American student attending a school dominated by working class, urban, minority learners means failure. Working class African-American students are not experiencing education, they are colliding with education. These collisions will continue as long as they are facilitated by the assumptive dominant theories regarding African- American students’ educational experiences. One strategy to constructively disrupt these assumptive theoretical notions buried within current theory is to look to a working class, urban African-American student’s qualitative longitudinal formation of identity as she progresses from student to teacher within the learning process as categorized by Bateson (1972). The understanding gleaned from this …