Digital Commons Network^™

Expanding Traditional Literacy Frameworks: A Multiliteracies Approach In Elementary Classrooms, Caroline Cuenca

Doctoral Dissertations

Teaching literacy in elementary schools can provide students with a rich, meaningful, and engaging learning experience. Furthermore, cultivating a culturally responsive approach to teaching and learning can promote feelings of acceptance and belonging in young children (Comber, 2018). However, elementary educators are feeling increased pressure to emphasize literacy instruction with a sole focus on foundational literacy skills, standardized curriculum, and accountability measures (Unadkat & Ochoa, 2026). Unfortunately, these instructional practices often limit students' opportunities to engage in creative, collaborative, multimodal, and meaningful learning (Unadkat & Cuenca, 2025). This mixed-methods study examined how a critical multiliteracies curriculum was implemented in a …

Technology In The Classroom: The Features Language Teachers Should Consider, Sophie Cuocci, Padideh Fattahi Marnani

Journal of English Learner Education

The fast development of technology and the new generation of highly computer literate students led to consider the integration of technology in school as essential. Throughout the last two decades, research has identified multiple factors leading to the successful and unsuccessful integration of technology in the classroom. Educators must consider these factors when deciding on which technology tools to use and how to integrate them to their lessons. Simultaneously, the increasing number of English learners in the United States calls for the identification of teaching strategies that will best support their needs. Many language teachers now rely on teaching techniques …

Using Technology To Support The Writing Of Adolescents With Disabilities, Lauren Gibbons

The Reading Professor

Abstract

Adolescent students with disabilities can benefit from technology based interventions for writing instruction, but with so many different tools available, it can be difficult to determine how best to spend classroom time. Students with disabilities struggle with composition knowledge when compared to their typically developing peers (Bouck, Meyer, Satsangi, Savage, & Hunley, 2015; Englert, Zhao, Dunsmore, Collings, & Wolbers, 2007; Evmenova et al., 2016; Smith & Okolo, 2010). This article examines the benefits of using technology to support struggling student writers. The article seeks to connect research supporting technological tools with decisions made by classroom teachers. Four effective practices …

Flipgrid And Second Language Acquisition Using Flipgrid To Promote Speaking Skills For English Language Learners, Annelise Difilippantonio-Pen

Master’s Theses and Projects

Integrating twenty-first century skills within the classroom has become a global driving force within the educational field. While schools have adopted models of one-to-one technology or digital formats for native English speakers, addressing the twenty-first century skills for English language learners have been absent. Given that the present global society is driven on bilingualism and multilingualism, English language learners need to be given the equitable digital opportunity to build their twenty-first century skills. The purpose of this mixed methods research study is to explore the influence and use of the digital application, Flipgrid, on the oral, English development for foundational, …

Bridging The Gap Between Researchers And Wider Audiences: Navigating A Community Literacy Collaboration In Real-Time, Terry S. Atkinson, Kimberly L. Anderson, Elizabeth A. Swaggerty

eJournal of Public Affairs

While campus-community partnerships are common, such engaged scholarship efforts often lead university researchers to community-centered presentations and publications; however, this type of scholarship and especially the venues in which it is often disseminated are of questionable value within the academy’s tenure and promotion process. Three literacy scholars who were invited to study the impact of community-wide Imagination Library implementation share challenges they encountered related to collaboration, communication, and dissemination of findings during the first two years of a five-year early literacy community partnership. Selected outcomes and implications for other community-engaged scholars include (a) investing in true multi-directional consistent collaboration and …

Integrating Technology Into The Literacy Curriculum Within A First Grade Classroom, Christina M. Hargrove

Theses and Dissertations

Technology is ingrained in almost every part of our culture, affecting the way we live, work, play, and learn. Most careers in this day and age require professionals to be proficient in the new literacies of 21st-century technologies. Thus, it only makes sense that technology be used in classrooms with even our youngest learners to help prepare our students to be successful in their futures. This research explores what happens when technology is integrated into the literacy curriculum within a first grade classroom. To this end, technology was integrated into a multitude of literacy lessons and classroom routines. Results revealed …

Creating A Culture Of Literacy: Strengthening The Core Of Secondary Reading Instruction, Karen C. Waters, Charles Britton

Education Faculty Publications

The purpose of this paper is to articulate a plan to provide high quality literacy instruction in secondary content area classes that will yield the highest impact on student learning while addressing the needs of the lowest-performing students whose literacy needs cannot be ignored. This will necessitate a restructuring of the three-tiered format within which a systems approach for school improvement embeds a well-defined professional learning plan, and strong collaboration among content area teachers, reading professionals, and special educators to collaborate on the delivery of differentiated, cross-curricular instructional supports.