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Developing Language And (Pre)Literacyskills In Deaf Preschoolers Through Shared Reading Activities With Bimodal-Bilingual Ebooks, Gene Mirus, Donna Jo Napoli

Journal of Multilingual Education Research

Encouraging relaxed and playful interaction over stories naturally fosters language interaction and both preliteracy [hereafter (pre)literacy skills] and literacy without anxiety. Reading for pleasure is valuable for young hearing children – we know that, it is among the most beloved family rituals. In this article we argue that reading for pleasure needs to be recognized as valuable for young deaf children and needs to become a beloved family ritual for them, as well. One way to achieve this is to read ebooks to deaf children in order to advance their communication and other (pre)literacy skills. An exploration of these types …

Primary Teachers' Use Of Communicative Strategies For Linguistically Diverse Learners: A Cross-Cultural Case Study, Geraldine Mongillo, Dorothy Feola, Rochelle Goldberg Kaplan, Vered Vaknin, Randa Abbas

The Language and Literacy Spectrum

The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of communicative strategies employed by two primary grade teachers whose students’ home language differed from the language of instruction. The communicative strategies examined included verbal, gestural, and other visual modes of interaction within classroom discourse to promote student learning. One school we studied was in Northern Israel and one was in New Jersey in the US. In Israel, the teacher taught using formal Modern Standard Arabic while the children were familiar only with Spoken Arabic. In New Jersey, the teacher taught using English while the students were largely from Spanish-speaking …

Sentence Construction: Supporting Elementary Students’ Editing Skills, Zoi A. Traga Philippakos

The Language and Literacy Spectrum

Syntactic control is a necessary skill for quality writing and a needed knowledge for all writers who communicate in a specific language system. However, syntactic control is challenging for developing writers and for second-language learners. Instructionally, usually at the editing stage, attention is given to the syntax and grammatical clarity of a paper prior to it getting published or shared. The purpose of this paper is to explain specific practices that can support sentence construction. Specifically, evidence-based practices that refer to sentence combining and sentence expansion are explained and specific examples are shared. Implications for classroom practice are further discussed.

Motion, Matter, Force, And Writing???: Creating Space For Writing In A Secondary Physics Classroom, Lubna Javeed

The Language and Literacy Spectrum

This qualitative case study was an in-depth exploration into how writing may facilitate disciplinary literacy in an eleventh grade physics classroom. In response to the dearth of writing instruction in high school disciplinary classrooms, this study was an in-depth exploration into how writing may facilitate the cultivation of disciplinary writing in physics. The study focused on the perspectives of three participants during a semester of implementing writing by using sentence starters in physics. Findings showed participants were resistant to the change in curriculum and learning. Modelling effective disciplinary writing to support students may help improve attitudes and identities as writers.

“…4542 Miles From Home…”: Repositioning English Language Learners As Power Brokers And Teachers As Learners In The Study Abroad Context, Kenneth J. Fasching-Varner, Michaela P. Stone, Roberto Mora Mella, Francisco Olave Henriquez, Macarena Yacoman Palma

Teaching and Learning Faculty Research

This article provides an empirical context for the role that bi/multi-lingual children and families may play in supporting pre-service and in-service educators engaging difference through a literacy and language situated study abroad internship in Chile. Drawing on data over a 15-year longitudinal study of the program, the authors examine how students and parents navigate serving the role of teacher, whereas the teacher participants navigate a new role as a learner in a context where they, many for the first time, experience being language and cultural minorities.

Intercultural Sensitivity Orientations Prior To Short-Term Study Abroad: A Qualitative Study On Prospective English Language Teachers, Emrullah Yasin Çiftçi, Nurdan Gürbüz

The Qualitative Report

Short-term study abroad programs can contribute to the multidimensional development of prospective language teachers. However, participants’ intercultural sensitivity orientations prior to the mobility period can significantly influence the quality and quantity of the outcomes gained from such programs. Therefore,in this qualitative case study, we explored the intercultural sensitivity orientations of a cohort of prospective language teachers from Turkey who prepared to study at three different universities in Italy. We also explored the participants’ perspectives regarding the potential contributions of short-term study abroad to their ongoing language teacher education processes. Following an interpretive analysis of qualitative data, our findings revealed that …

English Language Minority Students And Education Policy: A Focus On The Latinx Population, María De Los Ángeles De Santos Quezada

McNair Research Journal SJSU

Our federal government allows states to pass and ratify new laws every year. Over the last thirty years, America has experienced a polarized fight over the expansion or reduction of government involvement. In terms of education policy, local districts and governments can play an essential role in the implementation, evaluation, and development of equitable educational opportunities. This paper examines federal and state level policies in the context of English Language Learners’ (EL) educational opportunities. In particular, I focus on Mt. Diablo High School, which is located in the Mount Diablo District. According to the California State Department of Education, the …

Science-Literacy Integration: Equity And Learning In First-Grade, Urban Instructional Contexts, Angela J. Stefanski, Nicole M. Martin, Melinda A. Zurcher

Journal of Educational Research and Practice

Previous research demonstrates that integration of science and literacy instruction in primary grades has positive outcomes for students’ science and literacy development. However, variations in how science and literacy are enacted suggest integration may not be sufficient to meet the literacy and science needs of all students in an equitable manner. The purpose of this study was to examine two first-grade teachers’ science integration during literacy instruction in one high- and one low-income school context within one urban district. Analysis of field notes, transcripts of lessons, and interviews revealed that expectations to integrate science during time set aside for literacy …

Maximizing Cross-Cultural Opportunities: Pre-Service Teachers And Pakistani Teachers Writing Together, Margaret Berg, Courtney Luce

Journal of Educational Research and Innovation

This qualitative and quantitative study examines a cross-cultural writing workshop between undergraduate pre-service teachers and Pakistani in-service teachers. The 27 undergraduate students were in their junior year in the teacher education program, and had focused majors in a variety of content areas including history, science, music, and language arts. The 17 visiting scholars from Pakistan were all secondary level classroom teachers, also from a variety of disciplines. The undergraduates completed a questionnaire before and after the workshop, and the Pakistanis participated in a focus group following the workshop. Findings demonstrate a shift in the undergraduates’ thinking of genre to forms …

Effects Of Frequency Of Early Intervention On Spoken Language And Literacy Levels Of Children Who Are Deaf Or Hard Of Hearing In Preschool And Elementary School, Ann E. Geers, Jean S. Moog, Amanda M. Rudge

Journal of Early Hearing Detection and Intervention

Language delays associated with hearing loss during infancy may have a negative impact on academic development throughout childhood. Early intervention provided by the Moog Center for Deaf Education prior to 36 months of age was quantified, and associations with later outcomes were examined for 50 students who are DHH representing Moog Center alumni. The objective was to determine whether the amount of early intervention (referred to hereafter as dose of early intervention received at the Moog Center during the time children were 0-36 months of age) contributed uniquely to outcomes in preschool (4–6 years) and in elementary school (8–14 years). …

Second Language Identities Of International Teaching Assistants In The U.S. Classroom, Adam Agostinelli

Faculty Publications

Sociolinguistic research has yet to comprehensively address changes in the second language mediated identity, or second language identity (L2I), of English as a second language (ESL) students that take place as a result of traveling abroad and experiencing English in authentic circumstances. First, this study provides an outline of L2I and proposes a framework for evaluating L2I in authentic contexts (i.e. in a country where the target language is the primary means of communication). Second, personal narratives, formal reports, and observed classroom comments of international graduate teaching assistants (ITAs), who were placed in a required English Speaking course as a …

Second Language Identities Of International Teaching Assistants In The U.S. Classroom, Adam Agostinelli

Faculty Publications

Sociolinguistic research has yet to comprehensively address changes in the second language mediated identity, or second language identity (L2I), of English as a second language (ESL) students that take place as a result of traveling abroad and experiencing English in authentic circumstances. First, this study provides an outline of L2I and proposes a framework for evaluating L2I in authentic contexts (i.e. in a country where the target language is the primary means of communication). Second, personal narratives, formal reports, and observed classroom comments of international graduate teaching assistants (ITAs), who were placed in a required English Speaking course as a …

The Impact Of Collaborative Strategic Reading On Esl International Students’ Reading Comprehension And Metacognitive Awareness In College, Fatima Benlyazid

Education Dissertations

Many ESL international students struggle with academic reading, which hinders their success in American colleges. Collaborative Strategic Reading (CSR) is a multi-component approach that trains struggling readers to apply a set of cognitive and metacognitive strategies to enhance their reading comprehension and content area reading. This quasi-experimental nonequivalent control group pretest-posttest study aims to evaluate the effect of CSR on ESL international students' reading comprehension and their metacognitive awareness in college. The researcher employed Degrees of Reading Power (DRP) and Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategies Inventory (MARSI) measurement tools to collect the data. Capturing students' perceptions of CSR in the …

English Language Learners In K-12 Classrooms: Problems, Recommendations And Possibilities, Trisha Henderson

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Since California is the state with the highest number of English Language Learner (ELL) students in the nation (Abedi and Levine, 2013; Estrada, 2014), there is clearly a need for what Abedi and Levine (2013) call "accommodation" in educating ELLs in K-12 classrooms. This paper is an attempt to synthesize the current scholarship surrounding K-12 educational practices of ELLs nationally, but with special emphasis on key states: California and Arizona. It begins by describing the achievement gap between the growing number of ELLs and their native English speaking peers (NSP). The paper will first discuss possible reasons for this achievement …

Sources Of Missed Understanding: A Framework For Diagnosing Comprehension Breakdown, Tarr Jennifer

Dissertations

This research sought to understand how a formative assessment framework created by the researcher (called the Sources of Missed Understanding construct) would be used by teachers to diagnose students’ reading comprehension challenges during authentic reading instruction, and to understand the context and supports teachers needed to use the tool effectively. A design experiment methodology was used to follow the diagnostic processes of five reading specialist candidates, each working one-to-one with an upper elementary or middle school reader during a five week summer university-based tutoring setting, resulting in five case studies and cross case analysis. This study shows that teachers who …

From Word To World: Designing Children’S Literature To Empower Thoughtful Engagement In Life And Learning, Lauren Taub

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

In this paper, I discuss the importance of a strong literacy foundation, the challenges of acquiring that foundation, and the consequences of functional illiteracy. I emphasize the role that parents and caregivers can play in establishing a positive, engaged learning disposition and ways that adopting confident thinking habits and attitudes can help children in their early learning. To facilitate these behaviors and dispositions, I have provided the early design of three original children’s stories and an accompanying parent/caregiver toolkit with questions, strategies, and activities. The aim and focus of this research is early intervention using the reading experience as an …

Daily Departures: Speed Reading Passages For English Language Learners, Regina D. Weaver

PDXOpen: Open Educational Resources

Daily Departures: Speed Reading Passages for English Language Learners is a collection of twenty 200-225 word reading passages written primarily within the 1,000-word level of the New General Service List and designed to provide fluency support for English language learners at the Waystage level of the Common European Framework Reference.

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Understanding High School English Learners’ Chronic Absenteeism, Patricia A. George

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Chronic absenteeism has significant implications for both the individual student and society at large and has been receiving attention for over a century. Every school day counts. Regular attendance provides students with opportunities to learn and has a strong link to achievement. Conversely, poor attendance has serious implications for high school students. For each subgroup of students there is a similar pattern: the likelihood of chronic absenteeism increases as students progress through high school. Notably, the U.S. Department of Education found English learners experience higher chronic absenteeism than their non-English learner peers when they reach high school. Furthermore, compared to …

Providing A Platform: An Examination Of How Teachers Utilize And Practice Culturally Responsive Pedagogy, Hannah Storm

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

For this study, I posed the following question to guide my research: How do elementary teachers reshape and change curriculum and/or teaching practices when provided the opportunity through professional development? Specifically, the study examined K-2 teachers at two different elementary schools in Minnesota. The study aimed to determine how teachers implemented and redesigned curriculum material when provided optional professional development sessions, focused on educational equity, multiracial/multicultural read aloud(s), and culturally responsive teaching strategies. Further, this study focused on how these teachers successfully or unsuccessfully reshaped components of curriculum and teaching practice in order to be more equitable, relevant, and responsive. …

Demystifying English Simple Past Tense: A Thai Teachers’ Guide To Teaching English Simple Past Tense To Thai Adult Learners, Chitkamon Tungkaburana

Master's Projects and Capstones

Similar to many English learners whose native language does not use tense-aspect system to describe events/ or actions, Thai learners find English tense-aspect system very challenging to fully acquire. Ineffective current pedagogical teaching approaches used and mother tongue influence inhibit English tense-aspect acquisition and pose learning difficulties. In this field project, I would like to show Thai teachers how to teach English Simple Past tense more effectively with application of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) approach. I created a teachers’ guidebook solely just to prove that English tenses are not too difficult to acquire. It is relatively accomplishable if done right. …

Interactive Health Literacy: Gender Differences In A Representative Deaf College Student Sample, Gabrielle Humlicek

Undergraduate University Honors Capstones

For some deaf people who experience communication and/or language barriers, health literacy is impacted. This capstone project focuses on interactive health literacy, which refers to an individual’s ability to extract health information through communication (e.g. Internet; family/friends; doctors) and apply this information towards self-care (Nutbeam, 2000). Research suggests that gender role influences a person’s interactive health literacy in the general population, but this effect has not been investigated in the deaf and hard-of-hearing population. This capstone project aims to examine whether gender disparity exists for interactive health literacy in a pilot sample of deaf and hard of hearing college students. …

Defining Employer Supported Learning Opportunities, 21cleo Research Team

21CLEO Research Project Blog Posts

The 21st Century Learning Ecosystem Opportunities (21Cleo) research team has been hard at work! In our last two blog posts, we reported on a field review of learning opportunities from a process perspective (how we chose the literature we reviewed) and from a product perspective (what we are learning from this literature).

Fictional Narrative Skills Of Preschool-Age Bilingual Children With Typical Language Development, Lydia Bias

Honors Projects

Oral narrative retells are commonly used in assessment to examine language and literacy development in young children. Due to the increasing number of bilingual children in the United States, it is necessary to understand typical development in order to assess and intervene when needed. English story retells from eight preschool-age Spanish-English bilingual children were analyzed in the present study using the Narrative Assessment Protocol. Analyses were conducted to examine differences in narrative microstructure at two time points. In the present study, a Wilcoxon Signed Rank Sum test which is a nonparametric statistical measure was used to determine whether there was …

Perceptions Of Secondary Students Who Have Experienced The Label Of Poor Reader Or Low Reader, Anna S. O'Rourke

Graduate Theses & Dissertations

Abstract A phenomenological qualitative study was conducted to investigate the perceptions of Black Male secondary students who are labeled as poor or low readers, as well as the perceptions of their teachers. The researcher sought to understand how the eleventh grade students perceived their own capabilities as well as the instruction they have received and are receiving. The study took place at a large, comprehensive high school in the mid-Atlantic section of our country. Teacher and student interviews were conducted, as well as field observations of teacher participants and the instructional methodology they utilized. The student participants took the RSPS-2 …

A Comparison Between Speech Language Pathologists' And School Administrators' Attitudes And Perceptions Regarding Professional Development, Melinda Margaret Salloukh

Theses and Dissertations from 2019

The purpose of this descriptive study was to identify the attitudes and perceptions of speech-language pathologists and school administrators regarding professional development. This study contains both quantitative and qualitative survey data from speech-language pathologists and school administrators currently serving in the public schools in Arkansas. This survey, deployed over a six-week period, contained a series of Likert-type and open-ended questions that were analyzed by the researcher to answer three research questions. There were 182 speech-language pathologists and 103 school administrators who responded to this survey. The participants were chosen from an email list obtained from Arkansas Department of Education and …

Advances In Global Education And Research: Volume 3, Waynne B. James, Cihan Cobanoglu

University of South Florida (USF) - M3 Publishing

This is the third volume of the Advances in Global Education and Research Book Series. This volume has the following parts:

• Part 1: Adult Education
• Part 2: Curriculum and Instruction Development
• Part 3: Education in Other Specialties
• Part 4: Educational Technology
• Part 5: Global Competence
• Part 6: Higher Education and Educational Leadership
• Part 7: Human Resource Development
• Part 8: Inclusive Education
• Part 9: International Education
• Part 10: Pre K-12
• Part 11: Research Methods in Education

ISBN: 978-1-7321275-4-8

More Than Just A Myth: How Shapeshifter Rhetoric Relates To Esl Students 2019, Amber Kent

Master's Theses

The academic analysis surrounding the shapeshifter, or shapeshifter mythologies has, so far, been related to modern issues of violence, militarization, feminism, gender studies, or studies simply focusing on the compilation of shapeshifter myths themselves. This essay will map out the current discussion surrounding shapeshifter mythology to illustrate that it has often fallen into two forms of analysis: that of an anthropological or sociological analysis, where shapeshifter myths were analyzed as a method for understanding different cultures and their development, and that of a poststructural analysis, where shapeshifter myths are analyzed as a means of deconstructing binaries such as good/bad and …

Validation Of A Scale To Measure Phonological And Morphological Knowledge And Skill Of Speech-Language Pathologists And Elementary Teachers, Susan S. Perry

Dissertations

Phonological and morphological skills are crucial to the process of reading. Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) have received advanced trained in these basic foundations of language and could be an untapped resource in our school systems for teaching beginning reading skills. The purposes of this research were to examine SLPs’ and general education elementary (K-6) teachers’ attitudes toward SLPs taking part in reading instruction, to compare the differences in phonological and morphological knowledge and skill among SLPs and teachers, and to assess the performance of the Revised Basic Language Constructs Surveywhen administered to SLPs and teachers.

Results indicated that, although fewer …

The Cultural Adaptation Experiences Of Chinese Higher Education Students In The American Deep South: A Comparison Across Disciplines, Xiaonan Song

Dissertations

In the past decade, Chinese international students have been found as one of the largest international student groups at American institutions across the country. However, the American Deep South was not less frequently studied in the past. Due to the distinctiveness of the Deep South, the researcher conducted this qualitative research on Chinese international students studying in this historically and culturally distinctive region. Mississippi was chosen as a representative state of the Deep South in the current study. The researcher collected data from in-depth interviews from three publicly funded institutions in Mississippi. Besides reporting many common issues regarding to cultural …

Vocabulary Development In Preschool English Language Learners, Annie Van Der Zwaag

Master's Theses & Capstone Projects

The purpose of this actions research project was to determine what the impact of using pictures when teaching vocabulary would have on preschool English Language Learners (ELLs). Participants were four and five-year-olds in a public preschool. Quantitative data was taken using Creative Curriculum GOLD to collect observations. Two checkpoints were used for this research. The fall checkpoint was collected in October. The winter checkpoint was collected in February. Students were shown pictures of new vocabulary words from a story along with pictures in the book. The results of this study suggest that there was a small amount of growth in …