Digital Commons Network^™

The Difference In Self-Efficacy Scores Among Students Who Participate In Work-Based Learning And Those Who Do Not Based On Their Disability Status In Community College, Kimberly Elaine Bowen

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Students with disabilities are attending higher education institutes at an increasing rate due to the programs and retention practices developed in k-12 classrooms. A concern for community colleges is the student’s ability to transition into the workforce after graduation. A high percentage of students with disabilities are unemployed. It is essential to study factors that can contribute to a student’s ability or inability to successfully transition into employment after matriculation. Self-efficacy has been associated with academic success and could be a determinate for employment status. The purpose of this study was to determine if self-efficacy levels differ between students with …

Motivating Students To Participate In The German As A Foreign Language Classroom, Joanna Walton

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

This details how to motivate students in the German as a foreign language class to participate and engage in the learning process. Increasing motivation in students is a struggle with which all teachers are familiar, but teachers of foreign languages have a particular challenge because of the intimidation students feel when faced with producing assignments and content in a new language. This topic is also of interest to foreign language educators because student retention is becoming a serious problem, leading many school districts to cut smaller language programs like French and German. Maintaining an engaging classroom environment, where students participate …

Understanding Children's Museums' Approaches To Diversity: A Critical And Socio-Cultural Investigation, Amber Nicole Smith

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Children begin to develop self-awareness and awareness of others at an early age (Marion, 2011). Before they reach kindergarten, children begin to make distinctions about race by noticing similarities and differences between themselves and others (Winkler, 2009). Exposing young children to diversity can help each child embrace their identity, accept and celebrate differences, and be accepting of themselves and others (Cole & Verwayne, 2018).

The purpose of this study is to explore how children’s museums support diversity through their programs and planning. The research of this study focuses on four children’s museums located in the United States. There are many …

Tapping Into The Potential Of Student Engagement With Universal Design For Learning In Pedagogical Courses, Lin Lin, Krystal A. Barber

Excelsior: Leadership in Teaching and Learning

This paper outlines instructional strategies and course projects that demonstrate multiple means of engagement, representation, action, and expression, the essential principles of the Universal Design for Learning (UDL). The authors first share specific practices and examples related to each of the essential principles of UDL. Next, three projects are presented to demonstrate how these principles, along with technological tools, can be infused into pedagogical courses to prepare preservice elementary teachers in inclusive, online learning environments. This paper explores how teaching strategies and online tools were chosen with purpose, to promote positive learning outcomes and to prepare preservice teachers for the …

Guns, Classrooms, And Politics: Eliciting And Reflecting Upon Education Student Beliefs In The Age Of School Shootings, James K. Rigney, Gage Jeter

Excelsior: Leadership in Teaching and Learning

Unearthing the perspectives students bring with them in their college-level education coursework is especially important as education instructors are tasked with interrupting the unexamined proliferation of dominant ideologies among future educational professionals. The introduction to education course serves as an important site for this interrogation. One trend largely unexplored in the scholarly literature is the pedagogical use of controversy in introduction to education coursework. This study analyzes student discussion of the controversy of school gun violence within a redesigned introduction to education course. Data for this study come from student postings and final reflection papers in an online section of …

Using Video Analysis As A Professional Development Tool In Order To Discern How To Better Foster The Engagement Level Of High School English Learners In A Content Area Class, Jennifer Lynne Ochwo

Theses and Dissertations

Many teachers struggle to engage English Learner students in the classroom as they feel students may be disconnected both academically and socially. In addition, many teachers have minimal intercultural experiences and limited training that could help them connect with these students. This qualitative study seeks to explore the use of video analysis as a professional development tool that would serve as a mirror for teachers who are focused on enhancing English Learners’ engagement in the classroom. The study participants were six teachers who teach sheltered English instruction classes at the Freshman Academy and High School. Data was collected over a …

A Finding Place: Social Justice Poetry Toward Empathy In The Secondary English Language Arts Classroom, Patricia Vicino

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the effects of a combined reader-response and close reading approach to social justice poetry on the empathy levels of secondary level English Language Arts students in my classroom. This action research study occurred over a six-week period during a Fall 2021 English elective course with six student participants in a high school within South Carolina. Research was conducted via a mixed methods approach that analyzed both quantitative and qualitative data from prestudy and poststudy Likert scales along with surveys, interviews, observation notes, and artifacts. The data revealed that student empathy levels were elevated after the study unit …

Reaching The Standard: An Action Research Study On Standards-Based Grading Practices And English Learners, Dylan D’Anthony L. Orot

Theses and Dissertations

With the advent of standards-based education and its focus on English proficiency, English learners are at-risk of falling further behind when compared to their English adept peers because educators find themselves ill-equipped to meet the rigorous demands of such a curricular shift. This study aimed to identify pedagogical practices that bolster a standards-based grading (SBG) curriculum for sheltered English learners. Qualitative data from teacher participants and students, such as interviews and observations, were used to create a novel curriculum for sheltered English learners, centered on standards-based grading practices, and examine that curriculum’s effectiveness in helping teachers and their sheltered English …

Using Visual Arts To Teach Beginning Literacy Skills, Stacy Phaxaysithideth

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the effect of using visual arts to teach rhyming words and word family words. Two interventions were used, both utilizing the use of visual arts to learn both literacy skills. The interventions were then assessed with a pre- and post-test to see the if the interventions were successful. A student attitude survey was also given at the end of the study to see how the students felt about the interventions. A semi-structured interview was done at the end of the interventions as well to collect the thoughts of my co-teacher on the interventions. Lastly, my teacher observations …

The Impact Of An Interactive Simulation Program On English Language Learner Achievement In A Middle School Science Classroom, Scott Sutherland

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine how a particular technology program, Gizmos, would impact English language learner students in demonstrating their verbal and written comprehension of science content at a proficient level. Gizmos were incorporated as an intervention to facilitate the teaching of two different topics, convection cells and hurricane motion. This study involved three English language learner students with varying World-Class Instructional Design and Assessment (WIDA) proficiency levels between one and four. Semi-structured interviews, semi-structured observations, and work samples were conducted and collected from each of the participants. My analysis demonstrated a strong correlation between the use …

High Quality, Equity, And Assessment: An Analysis Of Variables Impacting English Learner Standardized Science Test Performance And Implications For Construct Validity, Maria Del Carmen Salazar, Joanna K. Bruno, Melissa P. Schneider

Curriculum and Instruction: Faculty Scholarship

In the United States, assessment is seen as a lever that can facilitate high-quality education. This study on English learners, students whose native language is not English, was based on data from eighth-grade English learners’ performance on science general and content-specific (physical, life, and earth science) standardized exams and an English language proficiency exam. The researchers utilized regression analysis to examine factors (i.e., socioeconomic status, home language, English language proficiency, and receptive and productive elements of language) that are predictive of English learner performance in general and content-specific science standardized assessments to identify implications for construct validity of high-stakes science …

“Sometimes I Do This Thing”: Exploring Preservice Teachers’ Knowledge And Beliefs About Reading Instruction, Sherridon Leigh Sweeney

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Prior research has established preservice literacy teachers’ beliefs about teaching and learning are often misguided and/or overly-simplistic, yet limited work has examined in what ways their in-the-moment teaching decisions align or misalign with what they believe. This qualitative study used deductive analysis methods to: (1) Identify three preservice teachers’ knowledge/beliefs about reading, reading instruction, and learning, as evidenced by their planning, reflecting, and in-the-moment teaching decisions, and (2) investigate if/how participants’ knowledge/beliefs manifested across multiple teaching experiences. Findings indicate that while participants made attempts to act on professional ideas they explored/practiced with the support of a university-based mentor, they taught …

Family Communication And Engagement With Digital Technology: Approaches And Strategies, Simone Elias, Edward Cromarty, Linda Wilson-Jones

Journal of Research Initiatives

This article discusses family engagement with digital technology in inclusive education focusing on the development of caring relationships, diversity of communication skills within family and educational communities, the integration of the classroom and home, and being a media mentor to families. It reviews research related to family engagement with media technology and seeks to provide a flexible guide which may be adapted to diverse environments to assist in developing technology-infused family engagement and communication strategies. The educational practices discussed consider the importance of the family in the technology hybridized classroom and consider socioeconomic, cultural, linguistic, and human diversity as factors …

English Teachers' Opinions On Challenges Face In Teaching English As Foreign Language: The Case Of Jalalabad Selected Secondary Schools, Fahim Rahimi, Hangama Samadi

Journal of Research Initiatives

One important goal of teaching is to achieve learning outcomes. It has been observed in universities that many students have different levels of English language proficiency. However, they study in the same English courses at the school level. The main objective of this study is to learn the challenges that exist in teaching the English language as a foreign language in secondary schools that affect the English proficiency of students. In addition, ways in which these challenges will be overcome is reviewed. The data collection tools were questionnaires and semi-structured interviews to collect data from English language teachers in selected …

Esl Teachers And School Leaders Perspectives: Culturally Relevant Pedagogy In Elementary And Middle Grades Social Studies, Matthew John Wynne, Landon Hadley

Journal of Research Initiatives

The American public education system is undergoing significant changes. This is in regard to what students should be learning and how teachers should deliver quality instruction. English language learners (ELLs) are a group that demands time, attention, and special consideration. This is due to their increasing population in public schools and their low academic performance when compared to their native English-speaking students (Samson & Collins, 2012). English language learners are one of the fastest-growing student populations in the United States, with over 4.6 million students as of 2015 (McFarland et al., 2017). This qualitative study with a narrative inquiry approach …

A Case Study Of Afghan Foreign Language (Fl) Teachers' Attitudes Towards Literature As A Method Of Teaching, Omid Wali, Kishwar Zafir

Journal of Research Initiatives

For the last two decades, teaching foreign languages through literature has been advocated as an effective method and trend. Literature also plays a vital role in the language curriculum and teaching. Many instructors believe in using literature as a remarkable strategy for teaching foreign languages effectively. However, many others argue why and how literature should be embodied in the language curriculum. Teachers' attitudes toward literature as a fundamental tool for teaching the four integrated language skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) are inconsistent. Therefore, the study aims to survey the perceptions and attitudes of Afghan foreign language teachers towards literature …

Discourse In Inquiry Science Classrooms, Diisc, Version 2.0 (User’S Manual For An Observation Research Instrument), Elizabeth B. Lewis, Dale R. Baker, Lyrica L. Lucas, Amy Tankersley, Elizabeth Hasseler, Ana Rivero, Brandon Helding

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

This is a user's manual for the externally validated Version 2.0 of the Discourse in Science Inquiry Classrooms (DiISC) instrument. The instrument is best suited for use in conducting research in secondary (grades 6-12) science classrooms that focuses on teachers' instructional practices, but can also be used as a professional development tool for teacher self-reflection and identifying goals for instructional change. The DiISC Version 2.0 is aligned with a model of a scientific classroom discourse community and articulated characteristics of social constructivist lessons in the categories of inquiry, oral and written discourse, and academic language development and essential learning principles.

100% Say Writing Is Important To Their Work, But What Harm Does This Uncontroversial Finding Obscure? Early Results From A Survey Of Scientists And Technical Professionals About Writing And Communication, Sarah Read

English Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper explores preliminary results from an on-going IRB-approved online survey of workers in scientific, academic, technical and industrial contexts on their attitudes about and approaches to writing in their work. The survey collects samples of language use by scientists and technical professionals when talking about writing and communication in their work and careers in order to document how conventional, or regularized and non-controversial, their language choices are (i.e., “Successful writing is clear and concise”). Coding of survey responses for the construct of the Communication Metaphor reveals a multivalent complex of tacit beliefs, assumptions and learned practices that inform and …

Enacting Disciplinary Literacy Instruction: Essential Practices In Action, Darin B. Stockdill, Stacie B. Woodward

Language Arts Journal of Michigan

In this paper, we will explore elements of the Essential Instructional Practices for Disciplinary Literacy: Grades 6-12 , a statewide initiative in Michigan designed to support exactly this kind of teaching. In particular, we will discuss key instructional implications of the Essential Practices for both social studies and ELA instruction and highlight important commonalities and distinctions across these two content areas. We provide concrete examples of these practices in action as we share activities and reflections from a curricular project we undertook with US History and ELA teachers called Equitable Futures. In this initiative, teachers engaged their students in inquiry-driven …

Literacy As A Civil Right In The Past, Present And Future: Disciplinary Literacies As An Act Of Advocacy, Liberation, And Community-Building, Rosalyn Shahid Ph.D, Melissa A. Brooks-Yip

Language Arts Journal of Michigan

The Essential Instructional Practices for Disciplinary Literacy in the Secondary Classroom were presented to the educational community in 2016; in this article, we look back at history and ahead to classroom instruction to present the evolution of the purpose and practices of disciplinary literacies. By examining literacy as a civil right throughout history and the creation of the Essential Instructional Practices for Disciplinary Literacy, a path is revealed for educators to collaborate, differentiate professional learning, and implement classroom practices to engage students with content knowledge to foster real and relevant literacies for life.

Experiences Of College Professors With Students With Identified Disabilities And Ada Compliance In Face-To-Face Courses At A State College In Florida: A Case Study, Rafael Sanchez

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This qualitative case study’s purpose was to understand college professors’ experiences regarding students with identified disabilities and compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act 1990 (ADA) in their face-to-face courses at a multicampus state college in Florida. The leading theory guiding this study was the adult learning process: andragogy complemented by the disability theory. These theories provided a foundational understanding of how college professors teach adult learners with identified disabilities. The study explored the following research question: How did college professors describe their teaching experiences with students with disabilities and ADA compliance in their face-to-face courses? The sample comprised fifteen …

Integrating The Technology In Teaching And Learning Process Through Digital Media Creation As A Way To Improve Indonesian Eyl Teachers’ Competence, Shirly Rizki Kusumaningrum, Utami Widiati, Khoirul Anwar, Hernik Farisia

Jurnal Pendidikan: Teori, Penelitian, dan Pengembangan

Now that the spread of COVID-19 is still high and the teaching and learning process should be continued to be conducted at homes, but it seems that some teachers – in this case EYL teachers– are not ready to integrate various digital platforms. It is necessary for us to respond to the need of investigating technology readiness of English for young learners teachers in teaching during this COVID-19 pandemic. It is strongly important to reveal the teachers’ technology readiness as it plays vital role, especially during this pandemic —when the only thing that the teachers and the students can do …

Revealing Attitude And Motivation Of Young Efl Learners Through Metaphor Analysis: Learning English In The Crisis Time, Yossy Sunda Permatasari, Sri Rachmajanti, Utari Praba Astuti

Jurnal Pendidikan: Teori, Penelitian, dan Pengembangan

This study aimed to find out learners’ attitude and motivation toward online English learning during COVID-19 outbreak. Eight first graders were involved in an interview session to reveal their perspectives through metaphor. The results of metaphor analysis showed that the learners have low motivation and attitude although they tend to get good score in English subject. Due to many obstacles in its implementation, students, teacher, and parents hope that the English teaching and learning activities can be done face-to-face completely to result in effective learning process.

Using Google Suite In Lin 200: How To Create Your Own Language, Andrew M. Byrd

Greater Faculties: A Review of Teaching and Learning

No abstract provided.

“Sí Se Puede”: Using Innovative Application Of Apps In Language Learning, Heather Campbell-Speltz

Greater Faculties: A Review of Teaching and Learning

No abstract provided.

Teacher Of Literature And Literacy: Rethinking Secondary English Language Arts, Jenelle Williams, Laura Gabrion

Michigan Reading Journal

This article aims to explore the complexity of instruction in secondary English Language Arts (ELA) classes, addressing the role of teacher identity, educator preparation programs, equity and access, and the role of the Essential Instructional Practices for Disciplinary Literacy in the Secondary Classroom. We suggest that there is a possibility to attend to both teaching literature and literacy within middle- and high-school ELA classrooms and provide a vision for working toward this balance.

Responsible Classrooms: Unfinalizability, Responsibility, And Participatory Literacy In Secondary English Language Arts, Emma Jamilah Gist

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study examines participatory literacy practice in secondary English language arts classrooms. While literacy achievement in this context is often measured according to a student’s ability to receive and repeat predetermined information within the scope of mandated curricula and standardized tests, this study attends specifically to classroom literacy practice that centers authentic, unanticipated, dialogic student response. Within its consideration of literacy practice, this study applies the Bakhtinian notion of unfinalizability to consider those conditions that allow for learning experiences that are not predetermined but are rather uniquely, unpredictably, and unrepeatably co-constructed by individual students, student groups, and teachers. These unfinalizable …

Developing Strategic Learners: Collaborative Reasoning With Strategy Instruction To Scaffold Debate And Support The Writing Of Arguments, Zoi A. Traga Philippakos

The Language and Literacy Spectrum

The paper explains the role of oral language and dialogic interactions in the development of individual thinking and reasoning processes. Collaborative reasoning and its contribution is explained while examples are shared to illustrate ways to scaffold students’ questioning, meaning making, and writing in the context of read alouds during genre-based writing. A process to support students’ written production that builds on dialogic applications of argumentative discourse is provided, too. Finally, the paper comments on ways that dialogic argumentation scaffolds students’ entry into debate and written argument. Cautionary notes are provided regarding instructional practice and guidelines to teachers.

"To Get Free": How A Black Girl’S Ways Of Being And Knowing Inform A Literacy Teacher’S Multimodal Pedagogies In An Alternative Secondary Context, Delicia Tiera Greene Ph.D.

The Language and Literacy Spectrum

This qualitative inquiry examines how a White literacy teacher learns from and with a Black girl through multimodal composing in an out-of-school, alternative learning context. Data collection instruments include field observations, teacher planning sheets, teacher reflections, and researcher feedback. Multimodal Literacy Pedagogy and Black Girls’ Digital Literacies drove this study. Critical Discourse Analysis was employed to interpret the data. This inquiry accounts for the factors that reposition the role of a literacy teacher while working with a Black girl’s digital story development process. This inquiry found a literacy teacher’s multimodal pedagogies were shaped by a Black girl’s: (1) home, community, …

Teaching American English Pronunciation In A Spanish Speaking Context: A Guide For Efl Teachers In Chile, Martin P. Quarto

Master's Projects and Capstones

This field project addresses the lack of education surrounding pronunciation teaching, and it specifically responds to the opportunities available within English as a Foreign Language settings. This project is especially relevant to English language teachers who would like to study pronunciation teaching and its history. The objective of this research is to inform educators of the validity of teaching pronunciation and to teach educators effective strategies that can be used. Theories of Contrastive Analysis and Error Analysis form the foundation of this project, as well as theories of Interlanguage and Markedness. The literature review includes extensive research into the subject …