Digital Commons Network^™

English In South Asia And Pedagogical Implications, Brittany R. Ehret

Senior Honors Theses

English at present maintains a significant role as a second or foreign language in the region of South Asia as well as globally. In a discussion of this topic, it is important to explore a brief history of the expansion of English and its origins in South Asia. It is also essential to provide a background of South Asian English and its unique linguistic characteristics as well as its use in different contexts of South Asia. The perspectives of linguists and educators who are native to the region of South Asia should be included as much as possible in this …

The Relationships Between Knowledge Of Literacy Instruction, Demographic Factors And The Classroom Management Orientation Of Teachers Of Students With Emotional Disorders, Emily Kleintop

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this correlational study was to test the theory that relates the teachers' knowledge of literacy instruction to the classroom foci for classroom management of the teachers of students with emotional behavioral disorders. The problem of the study is that students with emotional behavioral disorders continue to present high levels of unemployment and social adjustment problems in adulthood. The literature suggests a need for improved preparation of special educators for provision of literacy instruction as well as a shift towards academic priorities for students with emotional behavioral disorders. The study examined whether there is an effect from the …

Perspectives Of International Students Performing Service-Learning In The United States: A Case Study With Amizade, Suzanne Beth Unger

Teaching & Learning Theses & Dissertations

Past research has demonstrated consequences of service-learning and impacts of service-learning experiences on students and community members in domestic and international settings. Researchers have this topic in developing countries; however, few have studied international students' perspectives on doing service-learning in a developed country. This qualitative study aims to determine how students recognize their lives, and lives of community members in need are impacted as a result of their Amizade Global Service-Learning program in the United States. The investigation employs Cone and Harris' (1996) conceptual framework of service-learning to examine interpersonal, sociocultural, and psychological components of the experience. Data were collected …

Preparation For Practice: Elementary Preservice Teachers Learning And Using Scientific Classroom Discourse Community Instructional Strategies, Elizabeth Lewis, Oxana Dema, Dena Harshbarger

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

Despite historical national efforts to improve elementary science education, science instruction continues to be marginalized, varying by state. This study was designed to address the ongoing challenge of educating elementary preservice teachers (PSTs) to teach science. Elementary PSTs are one of the science education community's major links to schools and science education reform. However, they often lack a strong background in science, knowledge of effective science teaching strategies, and consequently have low confidence and self-efficacy. This investigation explored the initial learning of elementary PSTs using an interdisciplinary model of a scientific classroom discourse community during a science methods course. Findings …

A Phenomenological Investigation Of Instructional Practices Of General Education Teachers For English Language Learners, Cynthia Delozier

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This qualitative hermeneutical phenomenological study was designed to describe general education elementary teachers' perceptions of effective instructional strategies, methods, and models of instruction to enhance the learning of core content curriculum of the English Language Learners (ELLs) in the classroom. Through questionnaires and interviews, data was collected that described general education elementary teachers' perceptions regarding the need for instructional strategies, methods, and models to assist ELL students in learning. Challenges, frustrations, and successes were reported as teachers reflected on the process in which they make the decisions to use particular instructional strategies, methods, and models. The results of this study …

The Correlation Between Temperament And Technology Preference And Proficiency In Middle School Students, Sabrina Sterling

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this study was to identity the relationship between the temperament of middle school students, their level of interest and proficiency in technology-related activities. This study also aimed to identify the differences in proficiency of the students in the technology programs. Participants were selected from two middle schools in the medium-sized rural school system. State technology test results and a student technology interest survey were analyzed using analysis of variance and descriptive statistical measurements. Correlational studies help educators evaluate existing curricula, differentiate current instruction, and plan for future programs. The results of this study suggested that there is …

Review: The Media Ecosystem: What Ecology Can Teach Us About Responsible Media Practice, Ju-Pong Lin

Journal of Media Literacy Education

No abstract provided.

Quality Media Literacy Education. A Tool For Teachers And Teacher Educators Of Italian Elementary Schools, Damiano Felini Ed.D.

Journal of Media Literacy Education

The dissemination of good practices in MLE requires a more rigorous definition of their characteristics, including criteria and indicators to measure their quality. This article – after reflecting on the meaning and function of identifying good MLE practices – presents a systematic framework of 35 indicators for good MLE activities in Italian elementary schools. These indicators are grouped according to five general criteria of quality: adequacy of the teaching methods; competence and involvement of the actors; structuring and coherence of the activity's organization; awareness of the underlying MLE theories as well as their appropriateness; and originality of the project. The …

The Invisible Composition Classroom: The Reciprocity Of Face, Identity, And Politeness, Pennie L. Gray

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the role of face and identity as they arise in a first year composition classroom. Using the illuminating theoretical framework of linguistic politeness theory, new understandings of the social interactions in the composition classroom are unveiled. Specifically, through an analysis of the politeness strategies that students use during the peer review process, it becomes clear that students prefer to temper their critique of others' work rather than openly criticize that work. Additionally, students offer far more positive feedback than their peers' work perhaps merits, minimize the revision work they suggest, and downplay their own authority over each …

The 'Literacy' Idea, Ross Turner

Assessment GEMS

A central reason why researchers and practitioners refer to domain literacy is to draw attention to the kinds of things students learn in the domain. In a traditional learning domain the focus might be on the acquisition of discrete facts, skills and procedures that have little obvious connection or utility. In a learning domain with a literacy orientation, the focus is on applying the domain’s facts, skills and procedures to support creativity and inventiveness, to solve novel problems and to deal with the kinds of challenges that life presents outside the classroom. In the case of mathematics, for example, a …

Secondary Social Studies Teachers' Experiences Implementing Common Core State Literacy Standards, Krista Webb

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to examine the experiences of secondary social studies teachers who implemented Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in history/social studies, science and technical subjects in social studies courses requiring End of Course Tests at secondary schools in one suburban district in Georgia. Ten teachers of United States history and economics courses participated in this study. Data was collected through questionnaires, reflective online journaling, documents, individual interviews, and focus groups. Analysis was conducted using transcription, thematic coding, textural and structural descriptions, and a composite description of the essence of the …

Integrating Reading And Writing For Florida's Esol Program, George Douglas Mcarthur

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

This thesis examines an incongruity that exists within Florida's ESOL program. While the curriculum standards direct teachers to "develop and integrate" skills in speaking, listening, reading and writing, student promotions to higher fluency levels are based solely on reading assessments. Listening assessments are also required to "determine instructional needs," but writing assessments are not required and, in most cases, not given. As a result, reading is prioritized, writing is subordinated, the connection between the two skills is broken, and the mutual benefits of integration are lost.

Studies conducted during the last 50 years have consistently shown that the integration …

Where Writing Happens: Elevating Student Writing And Developing Voice Through Digital Storytelling, Jane M. Saunders

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

No abstract provided.

A Late Adopter's Chance To Take An Esl Program Multimodal, Erin K. Laverick

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

This article outlines an ESL program's journey in revising its curriculum to include multimodal compositions as a means to help non-native speakers of English improve their language proficiency by offering them greater means to communicate with wide audiences. The article also discusses means to provide faculty with the proper rhetorical and technology training, so they could use multimodalities in their own teaching.

Writing For The Audience That Fires The Imagination: Implications For Teaching Writing, Denise K. Ives, Cara Crandall

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

Great authors embody their audiences through the language of their texts. Good readers learn to recognize and respond to the cues such writers embed in their texts about the kind of audience they are expected to be. They also learn from other authors how to fictionalize in their minds audiences like those they have experience being. In this article through an analysis of two texts, we showcase how two middle school writers through their texts, embody their audiences and cue readers to the roles they are expected to play. We then trace the rhetorical moves made by the writers to …

“This Erstwhile Unreadable Text”: Deep Time, Multidisciplinarity And First-Year Writing Faculty Mentoring And Support, Denise K. Comer

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

Despite the otherwise rich multidisciplinary terrain of writing studies, the strategies most often used with first-year writing teacher teaching mentoring and support tend to remain discordantly anchored to a comparatively narrow version of writing pedagogy. I argue in this article that the geologic concept of deep time offers a way of infusing a multidisciplinary dimension into first-year writing faculty teaching mentoring and support that will enrich the ways faculty and students think, write, and talk about first-year writing. This article discusses deep-time pedagogy, providing specific strategies for infusing multidisciplinary dimensions into first-year writing faculty teaching mentoring and support. Such a …

Internationalizing The Study Abroad Classroom: An Intensive English Program At The American Graduate School In Paris, Jordan A. Caley

Capstone Collection

The American Graduate School in Paris (AGS) is a not-for-profit institution founded in 1994 to provide U.S. higher education in France to students from around the world pursuing graduate degrees in International Relations, Diplomacy, and Business. Since 2008, AGS has partnered with Arcadia University located in Glenside, Pennsylvania, USA, to provide summer, semester, and academic year undergraduate study abroad programs in these fields. While current study abroad participants are undergraduate students pursuing degrees at U.S. institutions, AGS has recently received permission to internationalize the study abroad classroom by recruiting students from around the world. Because AGS courses are delivered exclusively …

Curriculum, Marginalization, And The Professoriate, William L. White

Journal of Inquiry and Action in Education

The author exposes the subtext on which education and particularly curriculum making is based by focusing on the notion that the professoriate has been marginalized within curriculum planning by an educational hegemony that utilizes the sorting and classification mechanisms present in schooling to co-opt the development of educational plans.

Evaluating The Dimensionality Of First-Grade Written Composition, Luana L. Greulich, Young-Suk Kim, Stephanie Al Otaiba, Jessica S. Folsom, Cynthia Puranik

Faculty Publications

Purpose—We examined dimensions of written composition using multiple evaluative approaches such as an adapted 6+1 trait scoring, syntactic complexity measures, and productivity measures. We further examined unique relations of oral language and literacy skills to the identified dimensions of written composition.

Method—A large sample of first grade students (N = 527) was assessed on their language, reading, spelling, letter writing automaticity, and writing in the spring. Data were analyzed using a latent variable approach including confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling.

Results—The seven traits in the 6+1 trait system were best described as two constructs: …

Mathematics Achievement With Digital Game-Based Learning In High School Algebra 1 Classes, Terri Ferguson

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This study examined the impact of digital game-based learning (DGBL) on mathematics achievement in a rural high school setting in North Carolina. A causal comparative research design was used in this study to collect data to determine the effectiveness of DGBL in high school Algebra 1 classes. Data were collected from the North Carolina End-of-Course (EOC) Test for high school Algebra 1. The data collection was broken down by comparison groups based on academic achievement as measured by the North Carolina EOC Test for Algebra 1. The comparison groups were student participants who received digital game-based instruction and tradition instruction …

The Effect Of Dual-Language And Transitional-Bilingual Education Instructional Models On Spanish Proficiency For English Language Learners, Audrey Figueroa Murphy

Curriculum & Instruction Faculty Publications

The effects of “transitional bilingual” and “dual language” educational models on proficiency in students’ home language (Spanish) were examined in a study of English language learners in the first and second grades in a large urban elementary school. In each grade, students were taught with either a transitional-bilingual model or a dual-language one, with a Spanish proficiency assessment administered on a pre/post basis. ANOVA results showed that both models produced significant increases in multiple dimensions of Spanish proficiency (alphabet/sight words, reading, writing, listening, and verbal expression). However, second-grade students in dual-language classrooms (who had longer exposure to the instructional model …

Music Curriculum Map 2013-2014, Holly Gardinier, Char Booth, Dani Brecher, M. Sara Lowe, Sean M. Stone, Natalie Tagge

Curriculum Maps

This map displays degree requirements, courses, faculty information, clubs & organizations, and Library resources associated with music across the seven Claremont Colleges (7Cs) for the 2013-14 academic year. It was compiled using public information drawn from Colleges websites, course schedules and catalogs, and the Claremont Colleges Library website.

This project was completed as part of an IMLS Sparks! Ignition grant in 2013-14.

German Curriculum Map 2013-2014, Adam Rosenkranz, Char Booth, Dani Brecher, M. Sara Lowe, Sean M. Stone, Natalie Tagge

Curriculum Maps

This map displays degree requirements, courses, faculty information, clubs & organizations, and Library resources associated with German across the seven Claremont Colleges (7Cs) for the 2013-14 academic year. It was compiled using public information drawn from Colleges websites, course schedules and catalogs, and the Claremont Colleges Library website.

This project was completed as part of an IMLS Sparks! Ignition grant in 2013-14.

The Impact Of Instructional Rounds Professional Development On Teacher Self-Efficacy, Melessa B. Widener

Education Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of instructional rounds professional development on teacher self-efficacy. The scope of this study was a qualitative case study including interviews with teachers who had participated in instructional rounds professional development in a rural district in the foothills of North Carolina. The methodology included interviews with two teacher leaders from all elementary schools implementing Responsiveness to Instruction (RtI) and teachers at the Early College who participated in instructional rounds professional learning through the New Schools Project. The findings include teachers' quotes from the transcriptions of the interviews as supporting the research …

From Porciones To Colonias: The Power Of Place And Community-Based Learning In K-12 Education - A Case Study From The Lower Rio Grande Valley Of Texas, University Of Texas--Pan American. Community Historical Archaeology Project With Schools Program (Chaps), Edna C. Alfaro, Roseann Bacha-Garza, Margaret E. Dorsey, Sonia Hernández, Russell K. Skowronek

Community Historical Archaeology Project with Schools (CHAPS) Publications

From Porciones to Colonias: The Power of Place- and Community-Based Learning in K-12 Education redefines culturally relevant learning in today’s diverse classroom. By integrating an interdisciplinary approach including: anthropology, archeology, biology, geology, and history the CHAPS Program presents an effective method in supporting teachers of the Rio Grande Valley in creating culturally relevant curriculum, while meeting the demands of state and federal mandates.

Sponsored by The National Endowment for the Humanities.

Gender And Women's Studies Curriculum Map 2013-2014, Alexandra Chappell, Char Booth, Dani Brecher, M. Sara Lowe, Sean M. Stone, Natalie Tagge

Curriculum Maps

This map displays degree requirements, courses, faculty information, clubs & organizations, and Library resources associated with Gender and Women's Studies across the seven Claremont Colleges (7Cs) for the 2013-14 academic year. It was compiled using public information drawn from Colleges websites, course schedules and catalogs, and the Claremont Colleges Library website.

This project was completed as part of an IMLS Sparks! Ignition grant in 2013-14.

Teaching With Audacity: A Board Game For Urban Studies, Colby King, Matthew Cazessus

Sociology Faculty Publications

In order to improve undergraduate students’ mastery of urban theory, we developed an active‐learning module that allows participants to compete with one another in a board game of strategic planning and coalition formation called “AudaCity.” Utilizing a games‐based learning design, the game places players in the roles of adversarial property developers, political actors, and zoning committees all seeking to build and raise rent from developments within a spatially constrained urban grid. Game mechanics such as proximity bonuses and limitations to available space compel players to simultaneously compete against and collaborate with their peers to advance their development agenda while thwarting …

Case For Foreign Language In The Elementary School, Mary Beth Pollema

Master of Education Program Theses

Our students are learning and growing in a rapidly changing world that is far more globally interconnected and culturally diverse than we had envisioned at the close of the 20th century. As we are now well into the 21st century, research and test scores consistently reveal that U.S. students are not prepared to take their place as the servant-leaders of their time where opportunities for active participation require the ability to compete, cooperate, and communicate cross-culturally.

Research shows that language is acquired best when instruction is initiated in early childhood and sustained over an articulated number of years. Since the …

Anthropology Curriculum Map 2013-2014, Natalie Tagge, Char Booth, Dani Brecher, M. Sara Lowe, Sean M. Stone

Curriculum Maps

This map displays degree requirements, courses, faculty information, clubs & organizations, and Library resources associated with anthropology across the seven Claremont Colleges (7Cs) for the 2013-14 academic year. It was compiled using public information drawn from Colleges websites, course schedules and catalogs, and the Claremont Colleges Library website.

This project was completed as part of an IMLS Sparks! Ignition grant in 2013-14.

Linguistics And Cognitive Science Curriculum Map 2013-2014, Gale Burrow, Char Booth, Dani Brecher, M. Sara Lowe, Sean M. Stone, Natalie Tagge

Curriculum Maps

This map displays degree requirements, courses, faculty information, clubs & organizations, and Library resources associated with linguistics and cognitive science across the seven Claremont Colleges (7Cs) for the 2013-14 academic year. It was compiled using public information drawn from Colleges websites, course schedules and catalogs, and the Claremont Colleges Library website.

This project was completed as part of an IMLS Sparks! Ignition grant in 2013-14.