Digital Commons Network^™

Promoting College And Career Ready Readers And Writers: A Guide For English, Science, And Social Studies Teachers To Support Instruction Of Sat Reading And Writing Skills, David Fitzpatrick

Masters Projects

In Michigan and across the United States, student scores on the Evidence Based Reading and Writing section of the SAT have been steadily declining. This project responds to this decline by developing a set of resources for skills-based literacy instruction that English language arts, social studies, and science teachers can use to revise their approaches to teaching literacy skills. Highly effective curriculum design and literacy instruction strategies were reviewed to design guides, templates, and models for practicing high school teachers at all grade levels to adapt in order to improve literacy instruction in their classrooms. By scaffolding literacy skills across …

Teacher Training: An Investment In The Future Of Literacy Education, Kellie J. Hooper-Bressler

Wellspring: A Practitioner-Oriented Journal of Literacy and Language Education

One teacher's reflection on the professional development afforded by Reading Recovery coursework received thirty years ago in comparison to current explicit training in Science of Reading leads to conclusions about teacher training practices. The paper suggests not only is explicit foundational reading instruction essential for all new teachers, but continued investment at the school level improves the capacity of the district to meet the needs of students, including struggling readers, while also retaining future educators.

The Branch Waitlist Project, Addison E. Youngkin

SPARK Symposium Presentations

The problem that we have found is that The Branch has a limited number of English education classes, as well as limited numbers of teachers and other opportunities for students to engage and learn. The waitlist for the English learning classes is about 150 students long, and this study will explore a way to provide students with helpful resources for everyday life while they are waiting to get into actual classes. This will be done through research about the topics that students struggle the most with in their everyday lives. Our specific objectives include providing those within the waitlist with …

We Speak Life Into Their Language: Black Educators’ Approaches To Linguistic Justice In Urban Secondary Ela Classrooms, Lakeisha A. Davis

Dissertations

This study explores how Black educators navigate linguistic justice, deficit thinking, and stereotypes in urban secondary English Language Arts (ELA) classrooms. Using a hermeneutic phenomenological approach, it examines how teachers affirm Black Language (BL) while balancing the demands of White Mainstream English (WME) in academic spaces. Findings reveal that although educators employ culturally affirming strategies, they face challenges from restrictive language policies and standardized assessments. To counteract these barriers, they adopt negotiation practices that support students’ linguistic and cultural identities. From these findings, the study proposes Dynamic Linguistic Uplift (DLU)—a new theoretical framework that illustrates how Black educators sustain BL …

¿Y Ahora Qué? Interest Convergence And Hope Through Provision, Promotion, And Partnerships In Two-Way Dual Language Programs, Mitch Ingram, Charise Pimentel

Journal of Multilingual Education Research

As Two-Way Dual Language Programs continue in their nascent stages in the United States, some teachers, administrators, and researchers have reported issues of interest convergence. In this article, two researchers work alongside a bilingual pre-service teacher to highlight three such examples: the business of learning a language, Latin@ Spanish-speaking students used as resources, and the gentrification of bilingual education. Beyond the diagnosis of such dilemmas, we offer a preliminary framework and some promising tenets of hope to overcome any such asymmetries that can exist when interested families from different social locations agree to collaborate in the journey of dual language …

Life Long Perspectives On The Multilingual Experience, Annie Shaba

Journal of Multilingual Education Research

Multilingualism Across the Life Span is a text that explores the subject of language diversity and multilingualism across an individual’s lifespan and their community. Edited by Unn Røyneland and Robert Blackwood, the book features co-authored chapters that look into the complexities of linguistic diversity, multilingualism as a lived reality, and the non-linear trajectories of language development. The book is divided into three parts: methodological and theoretical developments in bilingual acquisition, language practices and policies in the family, and bilingual aging, communication, and cognitive impairments. It offers insights from research conducted in various parts of the world and is relevant for …

The Art Of Teaching Tongues, Deborah Idowu

Vernacular: New Connections in Language, Literature, & Culture

The poem describes the multifaceted role and experience of a language teacher through metaphors and imagery. The poem presents language instruction as both an art and a sacred duty, employing metaphors of a keeper of keys, shepherd, and smith to illustrate the teacher's diverse responsibilities. Through four-line stanzas with consistent rhyme schemes, the work progresses from describing the technical aspects of language instruction to revealing its deeper purpose of fostering cross-cultural understanding. An instructor's personal investment in teaching is portrayed through intimate first-person narration, while imagery of growth, construction, and transformation underscores the developmental nature of language acquisition. The poem …

Social Imagining In “Youth Taking Action:” Documenting Immigrating And Settling Through A Hybrid Youth Participatory Action Research Project, Natacha Monestel Mora, Julia Iriarte, Jennifer A. Vadeboncoeur, Sediqa Temori, Mathias Abraha

Occasional Paper Series

This paper is a memoir of our experiences with Youth Taking Action (YTA), a YPAR program that took place during the COVID-19 pandemic. YTA, a collaborative effort organized by a non-profit based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, provided a space for 6 newcomer youths and 4 immigrant adults to engage in active dialogue. Through these conversations, we explored stories of immigration and settlement, identified barriers that limit opportunities for young newcomers and discussed possible actions to address these issues. The youth also learned documentary filmmaking techniques, which helped them collect data and generate more dialogue. This process revealed that linguistic …

Critical Language Awareness For Spanish-English Bilingual 5th Graders, Mary Hudgens Henderson

Journal of Multilingual Education Research

Critical Language Awareness (CLA) instruction can and should be a part of K-12 education. This study reports on a CLA unit taught to Spanish-English bilingual 5^th graders enrolled in a dual language bilingual classroom in the southwest U.S. Scores from a pretest and three posttests administered throughout the school year were compared to peer bilingual and monolingual 5^th graders in an English-only classroom who did not participate in CLA instruction. A Mixed ANOVA repeated measures analysis found that bilingual students in the dual language bilingual classroom had high levels of CLA knowledge both before and after participating in …

Economic Status Of Texas Grade 8 Emergent Bilingual Students And Reading: A Pre- And Post-Pandemic Investigation, Teresa A. Dealba, John R. Slate, Clare A. Resilla

School Leadership Review

In this investigation, we examined differences in performance on the Texas state-mandated reading assessment for Emergent Bilingual students by their economic status (i.e., in poverty, not in poverty). Archival data were obtained from the Texas Education Agency Public Education Information Management System for Grade 8 students for the two pre-pandemic school years (2017-2018 and 2018-2019) and three post-pandemic school years (2020-2021, 2021-2022, and 2022-2023). A lower percentage of Emergent Bilingual students in poverty met the Grade 8 STAAR Reading Approaches Grade Level standard than Emergent Bilingual students not in poverty. For the Meets Grade Level and Masters Grade Level standards, …

The Role Of Capital On Literacy And Second Language Acquisition: A Cross-National Comparative Study, Brenda Koumondji

INSPIRE Student Research and Engagement Conference

Key Context:

• Globalization has increased the demand for multilingual skills.
• Yet, language learning opportunities vary based on national education policies and socioeconomic factors.
• Language learning opportunities are shaped by social structures and vary based on economic,social, and cultural capital (ESC) (Bourdieu, 1986).

Second Language Benefits

• Economic (Brown & Lauder, 1991; Foreman-Peck & Wang, 2014)
• Cognitive and Psychological (Bialystok, 2011; Dewaele & Wei, 2012; Graham, 2017)
• Social and Cultural (Marboua et al., 2024)

Research Focus:

• Cross-national comparison of South Korea, Norway, Chile, and the U.S.

Efl Essay Writing: Grammatical Accuracy And Productivity, Yoshimasa Ogawa

Journal of Response to Writing

This study explored a way to help Japanese university students write longer essays while maintaining grammatical accuracy. Participants were three groups of students enrolled in a one-year EFL course in consecutive academic years (N = 111), and the number of words they wrote in 30 minutes and the number of errors made per 100 words were compared. To improve the participants’ grammatical accuracy, comprehensive coded feedback (e.g., Bonilla, et al., 2018, 2021; Hartshorn, et al., 2010) and selective metalinguistic explanation (e.g., Bitchener & Knoch, 2010; Sheen, 2007) were provided on the 12 paragraphs/essays they submitted. The first, sixth, and …

Two Sides Of The Same Coin: Efl Students’ Emotions Towards Teacher Written Feedback On L2 Writing, Hieu Manh Do, Han Nguyen

Journal of Response to Writing

L2 writing, known as a cognitively demanding process, has also been perceived to encompass emotional aspects for L2 writers, as they tend to exhibit various feelings towards teacher feedback on their writing performance. The current study therefore explored EFL Vietnamese students’ emotions toward teacher-written feedback and how their emotions were perceived to impact their engagement and writing performance during the writing process. Data was obtained through semi-structured interviews with the involvement of college Vietnamese students after their essays and teacher feedback were collected. The results showed variations in students’ emotions were found at different rounds of teacher-written feedback, which were …

The Impact Of Long Covid On Language Proficiency Across Different School Levels In Hong Kong, Shebe S. Xu, Yixun Li, Wanyi Li, Catherine M. Capio, Winnie W.Y. Tso, Derwin K.C. Chan

Health Sciences Faculty Publications

Long COVID, where symptoms persist after recovering from COVID-19, can affect cognitive functions like language. However, little is known about its impact on children’s language skills, especially across different school levels. This study investigated the impact of long COVID on language proficiency among 1244 children (Asian; 53.5% boys) from kindergartens (N = 408, Mage = 4.42 ± 1.26 years), primary schools (N = 547, Mage = 9.69 ± 1.96 years), and secondary schools (N = 289, Mage = 14.97 ± 1.85 years) in Hong Kong. Language proficiency was assessed using the Language Experience and Proficiency Questionnaire (LEAP-Q), which measured speaking, …

Reexamining The Relationship Of Georgia’S Rural World Language Teachers’ Efficacy To Teacher Attrition, Shannon Borum, Peter B. Swanson

The Rural Educator

U.S. schools, including those in rural America, have struggled with a shortage of world language teachers for decades. Using Bandura’s framework of self-efficacy teaching languages, the researchers conducted a study using the same methods as an earlier study of rural world language teacher attrition in Georgia. Contrary to those findings, results in the present study indicate that teacher efficacy is not a factor in one’s decision to remain in or leave the teaching profession in Georgia; environmental factors appear to be a stronger indicator of rural world language teacher attrition. The study also has implications for teacher and administrator preparation …

Edc 4200 Children’S Literature And Language Arts In Childhood Education Syllabus, Ivana Espinet

Open Educational Resources

This document is a syllabus for EDC 4200 Children’s Literature and Language Arts in Childhood Education.

Reading Between The Lines: Examining The Literacy Preparation And Classroom Realities Of Teachers Of Color, Dr. Cathy D. Kea, Fanica Young, Joy Banks, Annette Teasdell

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

This study examines the importance of literacy preparation in educator preparation programs (EPPs). Specifically, the authors examine the need to merge literacy practices with culturally responsive and sustaining pedagogies to increase reading outcomes for diverse students with disabilities. This article reports on a survey that was distributed to 18 dually prepared teachers of color to explore their collective literacy preparation experiences. The participants were graduates of a Historically Black College and University (HBCU). The findings indicate that regardless of the institution’s location, EPPs, including those at HBCUs, should be intentional about addressing topics related to diversity. For early career educators …

Rooted Writing: The Role Of Place In Rural Writing Identities, Layne Elise Ilderton

The Rural Educator

This article investigates the intricate dynamics of writing relationships among rural students, highlighting the profound impact of place and identity on their writing experiences. Using a mixed methods approach, the study explores how rural settings influence students’ self-perceptions, apprehensions, and preferences in writing, as observed through a survey administered in three rural high schools. Central to the findings is the observation that students demonstrate a notable decrease in writing apprehension when engaging with topics rooted in their personal and rural experiences. They also have auditory and social preferences for writing environment and feel restricted with stringent grammar requirements in writing. …

Language And Literacy In Early Childhood Education: Hybrid Syllabus, Michele De Goeas-Malone

Open Educational Resources

Language and Literacy in Early Childhood Education is a capstone course, which means it is a core course in the education degree that offers students nearing graduation the opportunity to integrate their learning to help them address issues in education related to the development of language and literacy from birth to 8 years of age. This course is also a writing intensive course. That means that you will be engaged in several high and low stakes writing activities throughout the semester.

This course is designed to promote your understanding of the importance of issues concerning language and literacy in early …

Literacy For All: A Phenomenological Study On The Application Of Massachusetts Informational Reading Standards In Massachusetts Public High School Content-Area Disciplines, Abby S. Gillis

Doctor of Education Program Dissertations

The purpose of this phenomenological qualitative study was to describe the lived experiences of Massachusetts public high school content-area teachers with applying Massachusetts informational reading standards in their instructional practices to support reading development for all students. This qualitative study utilized data collected from six Massachusetts public high school content-area teachers through one-on-one semi-structured interviews. The literature review applied the theoretical framework of SFL which focuses on the practice of studying texts through the social and cultural context of the text, in this case, in content-area curricular texts and resources. Themes focused on national and local informational reading standards, reading …

Motivations For Authentic English Use And L2 Identity Expression Through Content Sharing And Commentary On Social Media, Paul Mcentee

Japanese Society and Culture

This essay explores the intersection of second language acquisition, social media engagement, and identity construction among language learners at a private university in Tokyo, Japan. Focused on understanding motivations for using English in online spaces, the research employs mixed methods to analyse social media use and motivations.

The study reveals that while students are active consumers of social media, they can use these platforms as a productive tool for language expression with proper guidance. It highlights the potential for social media to enhance language learning beyond the classroom, offering insights for educators to incorporate digital spaces into curricula effectively.

Key …

Cultivating Community: A Mixed-Methods Study Examining Community Literacy Practices In The Secondary Ela Classroom, Anna Heilers

Undergraduate Theses

Past research on the relationship between community literacy and schooling has emphasized how educators can use community-based prior knowledge to teach students the privileged literacies associated with academia. Some researchers have discussed the potential for university-community partnerships that are mutually beneficial, but few have explored possibilities for change in the high school setting. Utilizing 24 survey responses and 2 interviews, this study sought to answer the following questions: Do high school class experiences have any impact on students’ community literacies? If they do, do they support or hinder their growth? I analyzed data using a combination of correlational analysis, axial …

Examining Rural High School Students’ Perceptions Toward And Experiences With The Reading Plus Intervention Program: A Qualitative Case Study, Deshonda Wolfe

Dissertations

Reading is the gateway to all other academic skills and across all disciplines of learning. Content courses at the high school level central focus are on reading to learn core curriculum verses learning to read. However, research shows that if students read significantly behind their typical peers, the reading gap widens throughout high school. Learning is stalled, and access to other contents, curriculums, and instructions becomes limited. To address the reading proficiency gap of high school students struggling to read in grade level, school districts have turned to computer assisted interventions programs, such as Reading Plus, to combat the reading …

An International Framework And A Local Standardised Test: A Former Item Writer’S Autoethnography, Xuan Minh Ngo

The Qualitative Report

A recent trend dominating education worldwide is the enactment of external accountability frameworks and standards-based assessment. Likewise, in language education, international standards like the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) have been increasingly used for local standardised test development and alignment. However, there has been little research into the application of the CEFR in item writing, the activity of creating new items and associated materials, in local standardised testing contexts. To bridge this gap, this autoethnography shares my firsthand experience of writing items for a locally-developed, CEFR-aligned standardised English test in Vietnam. By combining evocative and analytic autoethnography, I aim …

Literacy Warriors: Engaging Our Community In The Fight For Literacy, Monica Rene Manns, Diane Saunders

Virginia English Journal

The Literacy Warriors initiative is designed to address the pervasive issue of illiteracy in underserved communities through innovative, community-driven strategies. Rooted in the evidence-based methodologies of Marva Collins and Orton-Gillingham, the program equips community members—referred to as Literacy Warriors—with the skills to teach foundational literacy, including phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Recognizing literacy as a tool for equity, empowerment, and social justice, this initiative emphasizes culturally affirming practices that resonate with the lived experiences of Black and marginalized students. The program also addresses a critical gap: many Literacy Warriors themselves were not taught phonics due to past whole-language initiatives, which …

Enhancing Students' Lampung Language Pronunciation Through Audio-Visual Folk Story Media, Farida Ariyani, Mulyanto Widodo, Dwi Yulianti

Bahasa dan Seni: Jurnal Bahasa, Sastra, Seni, dan Pengajarannya

Lampung language is currently experiencing a decline in usage, increasingly being supplanted by other languages. This trend can be attributed to students' waning interest in learning Lampung, which is partly due to the lack of innovative teaching approaches. Additionally, the complexity of Lampung pronunciation, further complicated by the existence of Dialect A and Dialect O, presents another challenge. To address these issues, there is a need for accessible and easy-to-use audio-visual media, particularly those focused on folklore, which can be widely utilized by educators. This study employed a comparative descriptive approach to investigate the impact of folklore-based audio-visual media on …

Language In Context: Exploring The Learning Experiences Of Culturally And Linguistically Diverse Students In Stem After-School Program, Gulnara Kussainova

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

This study examines how language shapes interactions and learning outcomes for culturally and linguistically diverse middle school girls and their facilitators in an after-school STEM program. Grounded in the multiple identities approach, it explores how participants navigate hierarchies, build relationships, and engage through their multiple identities. Using Systemic Functional Linguistics, it analyzes linguistic strategies to reveal how language empowers or marginalizes. Focusing on interpersonal meanings of tenor, it examines expressions of authority and autonomy. The findings emphasize how participants’ multiple identities—such as gender, race, language, and cultural background—shape their STEM learning experiences. By exploring the intersection of linguistic and social …

Mitigating The Negative Effects Of Over And Early Exposure To Media With Joint Media Engagement: A Literature Review, Mary K. Littlepage

Kentucky Teacher Education Journal: The Journal of the Teacher Education Division of the Kentucky Council for Exceptional Children

This paper examines the negative impact of over and early exposure to media on children’s developmental domains. Among other deleterious effects, early and over exposure to media has been associated with attention deficits, language delays, and interrupted social interactions. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) addresses these concerns with recommendations, discouraging the use of screens for children birth to eighteen months and recommends that children over two years old limit their viewing to one to two hours or less per day (AAP Council on Communications and Media, 2016). For children within the recommended viewing and age parameters, many studies have …

Difficulties And Challenges Facing Use Of Interactive Multimedia Applications (Imms) To Develop The Skills Of Reading And Writing In English From The Visually Impaired Students' Points Of View At The Syrian Governmental Universities, Hala Muhammad Sulieman, Nadim Badie Mustafa

Journal of the Association of Arab Universities for Research in Higher Education مجلة اتحاد الجامعات العربية للبحوث في التعليم العالي

The article aimed to identify the challenges and difficulties associated with the use of interactive multimedia applications (IMMs) for developing the skills of reading and writing in EFL (English as a foreign language) from the perspective of visually impaired students at the Syrian governmental universities, considering their gender and academic year as variables, on which the article problem relies on. The researcher developed a questionnaire of 43 questions, and divided them into three sections and two main themes. After the validity of the questionnaire had been verified, and its stability had been calculated as well, it was applied to gather …

Linguistic Differences Between Spanish And English: Challenges For Native Spanish Speakers And Instructional Strategies For Effective Language Learning, Allison Kassing

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

This research article presents a contrastive analysis of Spanish and English, highlighting key linguistic differences that contribute to common grammatical errors among Spanish-speaking English learners. The study examines these differences across four linguistic layers: phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics. Through error analysis, patterns of language transfer were identified and used to develop four 50-minute lesson plans tailored for English Language Learning (ELL) classes with native Spanish speakers. By recognizing students’ prior linguistic knowledge, ELL teachers can anticipate and address common errors more effectively. Special emphasis is placed on phonemes, morphemes, cognates, and sentence orders that do not exist in both …