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Myth And Reality: Reflections On Our Travels Through West Africa, Julius A. Amin

Myth and Reality: Reflections on Our Travels through West Africa

A collection of essays by the University of Dayton faculty who participated in the 2018 and 2019 Global Education Seminars focusing on West Africa.

Language Nutrition For Language Health In Children With Disorders: A Scoping Review, Janet Y. Bang, Aubrey S. Adiao, Virginia A. Marchman, Heidi M. Feldman

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

The quantity and quality of child-directed speech—language nutrition—provided to typically-developing children is associated with language outcomes—language health. Limited information is available about child-directed speech to children at biological risk of language impairments. We conducted a scoping review on caregiver child-directed speech for children with three clinical conditions associated with language impairments—preterm birth, intellectual disability, and autism—addressing three questions: (1) How does child-directed speech to these children differ from speech to typically-developing children? (2) What are the associations between child-directed speech and child language outcomes? (3) How convincing are intervention studies that aim to improve child-directed speech and thereby facilitate children’s …

Chapter 3: A Study In Contrasts And Connections, Bobbi Sutherland

Myth and Reality: Reflections on Our Travels through West Africa

A reflection on the 2018-19 Global Education Seminars in West Africa.

The Brownies' Book, Valerie L. Williams-Sanchez

The Reading Professor

With editors such as legendary scholar and visionary publisher, W. E. B. DuBois, and Jessie Faucet, a renowned literary voice of the Harlem Renaissance, The Brownies' Book (January 1920-December 1921) is a publication for the ages. In print just two years, the children's magazine catered to an audience that targeted "all children, but especially for ours, the Children of the Sun" (DuBois, 1919, p. 285). In view of its groundbreaking contributions, the monthly is distinguished as a foundational work in American children's publishing, literature, and literacy. Examination of the short-lived magazine's successes and challenges uncovers and sheds light on its …

Creating A New Standard: Living, Learning, And Teaching In Southern Appalachia, Martha Holt

Master of Arts in English Plan II Graduate Projects

This portfolio, submitted in fulfillment of an MA in English with a teaching specialization, explores teaching and living in southern Appalachia. The papers include a defense of literary studies, a pedagogical piece on the use of code-switching, dialect, and the vernacular in today’s classrooms, a lesson plan and materials to introduce high school students to writing the academic memoir, and an example of the academic memoir which explores the personal and long-lasting effects of verbal and emotional abuse.

Barriers To Learning, Part L, 21cleo Research Team

21CLEO Research Project Blog Posts

This blog post is the first in a two-part series that focuses on barriers to learner participation and persistence in employersupported educational opportunities. In this framing of past research and reports, the 21 CLEO Research team draws on Margaret Patterson's categories of learning and persistence barriers as an analytic lens to situate literature reviewed in our landscape scan.

Meeting The Training Needs Of Des Moines-Area Adult Esl Teachers, Elyse Pate

Capstone Collection

The population of immigrants and refugees in Des Moines, Iowa, has grown rapidly in recent years, leading to an increased demand for adult English as a Second Language (ESL) classes. As ESL programs turn more and more to volunteer instructors to meet the demand, it is important that teachers, both volunteer and professional, are prepared and equipped to deliver quality instruction.

This study seeks to better understand the training and professional development needs of Des Moines-area ESL instructors in order to make recommendations for adult ESL programs. Data was collected through surveys of 32 ESL instructors from a variety of …

The Teaching Of Writing: Methods, Resources, Plans, And Analysis, Katelyn Knochenmus

Master of Arts in English Plan II Graduate Projects

As a culminating project for an MA in English on the individualized track, this portfolio is woven together with the theme of composition instruction. Beginning with a wide scope, the first selection is a reflective overview of writing instruction methods. The second piece in the portfolio, an annotated bibliography, offers many resources for teachers and tutors to better reach reluctant writers in particular. A unit plan for creating dynamic sentence variety through the use of grammar as a tool is the third selection. Lastly, the portfolio concludes with a narrower analysis related to one particular aspect of teaching writing: the …

Football, More Than A Sport, Nicholas Prokup

WRIT: Journal of First-Year Writing

The football program is a community that constantly grows. Not just players and coaches. I would consider the following, or the fans, of the football program to be part of what populates the community and more people want to become involved with football every year. The football program unconditionally qualifies to be a discourse community because it applies to all of the requisitioned characteristics and through the years has earned the title due to the commitment of its people.

Volume 41, Issue 1

The Reading Professor

No abstract provided.

The Semantics Of Article Acquisition, Emily G. Renie

Montview Journal of Research & Scholarship

Accurately using articles has consistently been a difficult task for English language learners as articles are often treated as solely grammatical forms rather than also recognizing as representatives of complex semantic properties. This paper aims to synthesize individual research on semantic factors which influence article acquisition and explore how they interact with each other. This paper especially focuses on how native and second language speakers of English acquire and understand the concepts of definiteness and specificity and explores these features within the framework of Chomsky’s theory of Universal Grammar. This paper examines the Fluctuating Hypothesis (FH) and its use as …

Mapping Rural Literacy Sponsorship Networks : Literacy Infrastructures And Perceptions In Abbyville., Amy Mccleese Nichols

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Recently, the academy has become aware that rural students are choosing to attend institutions of higher education less often than their urban counterparts. Rationalizing why this particular population remains underserved by institutions of higher learning is a new conversation for higher education. And yet, in literacy studies, the perceived urban/rural divide in terms of national politics sometimes seeps into conversations about the perceived “literacy” or culture of rural peoples. This polarization, unaccompanied by detailed portraits of rural community literacy sponsorship, means that rural areas do not benefit from the consistent attention paid to their urban counterparts in New Literacy Studies. …

Programs For Language Minority Students At Tbr Community Colleges: A Study Of Factors Affecting Design, Caitlin Chapman-Rambo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This purpose of this study was to determine to what extent programs for language-minority students at TBR community colleges adhere to the recommendations contained in the Conference on College Composition and Communications 2009 Statement on Second Language Writing and Writers and to investigate the factors beyond these professional recommendations that influence administrative decision-making about these programs and their designs. This study contained a survey sent to individuals at all 13 community colleges in the Tennessee Board of Regents system and follow-up interviews with 5 survey respondents from different institutions.

Analysis of the results of the study indicates all TBR community …

Guiding Language Students To Self-Sustained Learning, Hyrum Boone Checketts

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This portfolio is a compilation of written pieces which express the author’s beliefs about excellence in second language teaching. The views expressed here have been shaped by the author’s personal experience and by his time in the Master of Second Language Teaching (MSLT) program and are supported by relevant research throughout.

This portfolio contains three sections: (1) teaching perspectives, (2) research perspectives, and (3) annotated bibliographies. The teaching perspective section is centered on the author’s teaching philosophy, which emphasizes communication in the target language, classroom community, and student motivation. The second section consists of three research papers written over the …

Weighing Up Exercises On Phrasal Verbs: Retrieval Versus Trial-And-Error Practices, Brian Strong, Frank Boers

Education Publications

EFL textbooks and internet resources exhibit various formats and implementations of exercises on phrasal verbs. The experimental study reported here examines whether some of these might be more effective than others. EFL learners at a university in Japan were randomly assigned to four treatment groups. Two groups were presented first with phrasal verbs and their meaning before they were prompted to retrieve the particles from memory. The difference between these two retrieval groups was that one group studied and then retrieved items one at a time, while the other group studied and retrieved them in sets. The two other groups …

An Analysis Of High School Students' Self-Efficacy In Second Language Acquisition Through Digital Language Lab Learning: Exploring New Pathways To Proficiency, Lorna A. Fairess

Theses and Dissertations

Students are often faced with barriers acquiring a second language due to various factors such as language anxiety, learning differences, and a lack of speaking time with the language. The purposes of this qualitative study were to: a) determine students' perceptions of the effectiveness of a digital language lab on their self-efficacy in second language acquisition at the secondary level, and b) discern teachers' perceptions of the effectiveness of the lab as well as recommendations for best practices in teacher training and implementation. Twenty-seven Italian and Spanish students and 12 world language teachers from two fairly rural high schools in …

Cruzar Fronteras Em Espaços Acadêmicos: Transgressing “The Limits Of Translanguaging”, Brendan H. O’Connor, Katherine S. Mortimer, Lesley Bartlett, María Teresa De La Piedra, Ana Maria Rabelo Gomes, Ariana Mangual Figueroa, Gabriela Novaro, Marjorie Faulstich Orellana, Char Ullman

Publications and Research

Scholarship on translanguaging and related concepts has challenged traditional assumptions about how people use their multiple languages, urging us to move beyond the boundaries of named linguistic codes and toward conceptualizations of multilingual language use as flexible use of a speaker’s whole linguistic repertoire. Critiques of this theoretical shift have included assertions of translanguaging’s conceptual and practical limits—limits to its transformative potential as well as limits to its practical use. This paper takes up, in particular, the question of why we academics may assert the value of translanguaging in schools and communities while still largely failing to move beyond monoglossic …

New Approach To Chinese Writing: An Exploratory Study Of Writing Performance On Social Q&A Online Community, Lin Zhu

Chinese Language Teaching Methodology and Technology

Many studies have investigated how the online community has informed language acquisition and teaching. In the scholarship of Computer-Mediated Communication Theory (CMC), while most of the studies have emphasized second language English writing using the CMC framework, evidence is shown to support CMC in foreign language instruction. However, there is a lack of research on how feedback from native speakers of Chinese influences Chinese learners’ writing in a web environment. In response to the research gap, drawing on sociocultural and CMC, the current exploratory study probes the nature of feedback on Zhihu, the largest Chinese social question-and-answer website, and how …

Pre-Service Teachers' Implicit Bias: Impacts Of Confrontation, Reflection, And Discussion, Katherine E. Batchelor, Kendra Dewater, Kennedy Thompson

Journal of Educational Research and Innovation

Abstract: Although there is much research regarding implicit bias in numerous fields, such as criminal justice, psychology, and health, little research has examined pre-service teachers’ attitudes and beliefs regarding implicit biases they carry, especially when it comes to race. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to fill the gap in qualitative research regarding how pre-service teachers address, confront, and talk about biases. We begin by defining implicit bias. Next, we situate our research within sociocultural theory with an emphasis on critical literacy practices. Then, we share our findings, which centered on the course environment, students’ reactions to their results …

A Dialectical Relational Analysis Of Tesol Quarterly 2006 Special Issue On Race: Discourse, Race, And White Supremacist Ideology, Ginger A. Looney

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

Although the field of TESOL is not racially neutral this dialectical relational analysis examined (1) what discourses did the authors use to deploy race in the articles in the 2006 TESOL Quarterly Special Issue on Race (TQSIR)? and (2) how do these discourses work to either conform to, or resist white supremacist ideology? Analysis of the texts identified four key discourse: racialization, whiteness, emotional labor of racism, and sonic and optic negation of racism. These discourses were examined in the domains of scholarship, curriculum, teachers, and students. In 21 instances, these four discourses work to resist white supremacist ideology. …

The Experience Of Co-Teaching For Emergent Arabic-English Literacy, Anna M. Dillon, Kay Gallagher

The Qualitative Report

In this paper we explore teachers’ experiences of co-teaching within a new bilingual (Arabic/ English) model in public Kindergarten schools in the United Arab Emirates. The main objective was to understand teachers’ experiences with intercultural teaching for biliteracy in this context. We interviewed six pairs of co-teachers. These co-teachers represent six of the nationalities of teachers working in public Kindergartens in Abu Dhabi, thereby representing a cross-section of the cultural context of teaching in the reformed public schools. The data highlight teachers’ varied co-teaching practices and point to aspects such as classroom management and translanguaging as aspects of classroom practice …

Gjr Volume 42 Number 1 Summer 2019, Lina B. Soares

The Georgia Journal of Reading Archive

The Georgia Journal of Reading's Summer 2019 issue includes:

Message From the Chair by Davetta Grigsby (pg. 4)

Message from the Editor by Lina B. Soares (pg. 5)

Diversity in Literacy Education: How Are Literacy Teacher Educators Preparing Teacher Candidates? by Rebekah E. Piper, Laurie A. Sharp and Roberta D. Raymond (pg.6)

Exploring the Reading Motivation of Less-Motivated Adolescent Latinx English Learners by Robert A. Griffn (pg. 18)

Ready, Set, Grow: Exploring the Readiness and Preparation of Kindergarten Students within a Title 1 School by Morgan Mitchell, Sybil Keesbury and Vicki Luther (pg. 31)

Movement And Action: Action-Based Learning In The Classroom, Jordan Nguyen

Master's Theses & Capstone Projects

The purpose of this literature review is to explain what action-based learning is, how does action-based-learning fit within the classroom, and what are the effects it has on English Language learners and students who are placed in academic support programs in the classroom. The hope of this literature review is to gain more knowledge about what is action-based learning and to gain insight on how educators can effectively implement action-based learning within their classrooms. After analyzing the literature on this topic, the results of the analysis determined the effectiveness of action-based learning within the classroom on English Language Learners and …

Fostering Agency In Single-Gender, Middle Level Ela Classrooms: A Descriptive Multiple-Case Study, Jennifer V. Stowe

Theses and Dissertations

Students’ sense of agency or self-efficacy has been linked to student achievement levels (Goodman & Eren, 2013; Johnston, 2004; Skinner, Wellborne, & Connell, 1990). Research has also established that teachers position their students as having agency in the context of the classroom, frequently by the ways that they use language (Johnston, 2004; Paulson & Theado, 2014). However, little, if any, extant research describes teacher language as it relates to agency within the middle level English Language Arts (ELA) classroom. Additionally, studies concerning agency rarely address the ways in which gender may influence the ways in which teachers position their students …

Constructing Professional Identities: Native English-Speaking Teachers In South Korea, Natalie-Jane Howard

The Qualitative Report

Responding to globalisation, a ubiquitous obsession with English has pervaded South Korea and led to the employment of tens of thousands of expatriate English teachers. However, native-speaking English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers may be subject to marginalisation and acculturation difficulties as they navigate overseas employment contexts. Moreover, scholars question the legitimacy of their careers and challenge the bias for their native-speaker expertise. Against this contentious backdrop, this study explores how the experiences and beliefs of native-speaking EFL teachers both promote and hinder their professional identity constructions. Adopting a qualitative, interpretivist approach, interviews are mobilised to document the participants’ …

Effects Of Primary Grade Literacy Field Experiences On Preservice Teachers' Self-Efficacy: A Causal-Comparative Study, Lauren E. Kirk

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Learning to read is an essential skill, yet many new teachers enter the profession unprepared to be effective literacy teachers. Teacher preparation has been at the forefront of many reforms in education. However, discrepancies still exist in how teachers are prepared to enter the profession. This study investigated preservice teachers’ sense of efficacy for primary literacy instruction by the amount of field experience. The levels of field experience included no/ introductory field experience, reading practicum experience, and clinical teaching experience. Participants were preservice teachers who had been accepted into the educator preparation program at small, private universities in Texas and …

A Transcendental Phenomenological Study Of The Experiences Of African American Male High School Sophomores Who Are Struggling Readers, Nechellar Franklin

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to understand the lived experiences of African American male high school sophomores in the metro-Atlanta area who are struggling readers. The study encompassed investigation of the self-efficacy, future outlook, and how past and present reading experiences impact African American adolescent males’ ability to be hopeful and optimistic in their future career paths and postsecondary options. Participants comprised 12 African American high school sophomores enrolled in a Title I school found in the metro-Atlanta, Georgia area. The study was guided by one central research question and two research subquestions. In general, the research …

Improving Literacy Outcomes For Adolescent English Language Learners, Grace Diaz-Peterson

Graduate Teacher Education

As the population of English Language Learners in United States public schools has risen significantly in recent years, the unique academic challenges these students faced, particularly in middle and high school, became more apparent. A widening reading and vocabulary gap between English Language Learners and their native English-speaking peers posed particular barriers in secondary content area classes, where many teachers reported feeling ill-prepared to meet the specialized linguistic needs of their English Language Learner students. This paper analyzed a mix of recent, available qualitative and quantitative research on best practices to improve literacy outcomes for adolescent English Language Learners. As …

Innovative Teaching Practices To Accelerate Student Learning In The Areas Of Literacy And Science, Michelle Simmons, Paris Bouchard

Dissertations

The researchers of this joint dissertation aspired to create and implement innovative instructional practices that would accelerate student learning. Both researchers believed in the importance of experimenting with structures and processes that lead to instructional impact. They were both passionate about developing an instructional model that would accelerate student learning by focusing on student transfer of skills. They sought to answer the question, Can learning be accelerated when teachers are supported and encouraged to create and implement instructional practices grounded in research? One researcher studied a practice that would potentially increase students’ ability to think critically and problem solve using …

Growing Phonological And Morphological Knowledge And Improving Spelling Outcomes In Year 2 Primary School Children Through Explicit Instruction And Contextualised Dictation, Sally Louise Robinson-Kooi

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Using Explicit Instruction (EI) to teach spelling is controversial because teaching approaches vary considerably in the contemporary classroom. Teachers may privilege visual over linguistic strategies and include target words based around themes, rather than the phono-morphological structures of words. There is also little current research about the benefits of using sentence dictation to practise taught spelling skills and thus to increase the likelihood of developing spelling automaticity. Spelling automaticity is important because it complements crucial reading and writing skills. Developing fluent spelling through EI, followed by sentence dictation, was a specific focus of this study.

Two primary schools in rural …