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Span 202: Intermediate Spanish Ii (Focus On Literature & Culture)—A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Benchmark Portfolio, Kelly Kingsbury Brunetto

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

During Spring 2015 I undertook a curricular revision of UNL's fourth-semester Spanish course (SPAN202) with the objective of improving the materials to help the course better achieve its stated goal of moving students "away from knowledge about the language and expertise in using isolated skills into a practical and fluid use of the language in which [they] synthesize [their] isolated skills." As it existed at the time, in theory SPAN202 focuses on synthesis and helping students negotiate higher levels of discourse, but in practice it tended to get bogged down in a comprehensive grammar review. In reality, some grammar topics …

Teac 921b: Seminar In Literacy Studies (Special Topics: Schooling And The Multilingual Mind)—A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Benchmark Portfolio, Theresa Catalano

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

This portfolio will document the creation and implementation of a new doctoral seminar in my department. This introductory course to multilingualism and schooling (TEAC 921B) will cover topics related to teaching and learning in the multilingual classroom. The key goals for creating this portfolio are to aid me in creating this new doctoral seminar that reflects and builds on departmental goals for graduate students. In particular I would like to document and address the implementation of two new activities to my teaching ; a language study/journal, and the creation of a documentary film. I foresee using this course portfolio as …

Factors Associated With Graduation Among Latino Male High School Students, Judyann Watson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

High dropout rates for minority students require additional educational research to understand and implement changes that will increase graduation rates. The purpose of this nonexperimental study was to examine factors that may be associated with graduation for Latino male students. Guided by Tinto's work, which holds that students remain in school when they feel academically or socially connected to an institution, this study addressed the impact of social factors, academic factors, and small learning communities (SLCs) on graduation rates. The research study used archival data and bivariate logistic regression to analyze the data for Latino male participants (n = 208) …

Community College Developmental Education Services: Perspectives Of Spanish-Speaking Latino Early Childhood Educators, John Edward Eberly

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The purpose of this single case study was to understand the perceptions of Latino Spanish-speaking English learners on the efficacy of developmental education services at a western United States community college. The conceptual frameworks used in the investigation included critical theory related to human emancipation, social learning theory aligned to second language acquisition, and contemporary adult learning theories. The goal of the investigation was to understand how students used and perceived the developmental education services to transition from Spanish language instruction to English coursework. Research questions focused on how the developmental education services contributed to the successful completion of the …

Mind Mapping: Overcoming Problems Of Writer Identity And Convention For Academic Writing By Student Collaboration, Carmel O'Reilly

Articles

This article will consider Mind Mapping as an eLearning tool for the enhancement of learning and assessment within the discipline of academic writing. Building on research which relates to the use of Mind Mapping by students of English as a foreign language (EFL), this article will reflect specifically on students taking a module in Applied Writing on a Mature Access Foundation Programme (MAFP), at Institution X. It goes on to explore existing research in order to highlight two key problems student writers have in common: firstly, writer identity and the affective domain of writing and second, the conventions of academic …

Elementary Teachers' Perceptions Of Response To Intervention And Classroom Instruction, Lora Coonce

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Response to intervention (RTI) is a federal program created to improve student learning and reduce the number of students misidentified as needing special education services. Differing interpretations of how best to implement RTI between campuses and districts have resulted in teachers' confusion and misperceptions of the program. The purpose of this study was to understand how elementary classroom teachers' perceptions of RTI affect classroom instruction. Based on Gagne's instructional theory and Bruner's theory of constructivism, the study examined the perceptions of 10 classroom teachers in 2 low socio-economic elementary schools. The study examined how RTI forms and protocols, administrative leadership, …

Acculturation In Marital Satisfaction Among Mixed Caucasian And Asian American Heterosexual Couples, Lotes Nelson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The growing population of the United States is linked to the increasing migration of individuals from other countries. With migration comes the development of cross-cultural and interracial romantic relationships, many leading to marriages. This qualitative grounded theory study sought to understand how a migrant partner's adjustment process, acculturation, contributes to cross-cultural marriages. The main research question and purpose of this study was to investigate the role of acculturation in marital satisfaction among mixed Caucasian and Asian American heterosexual couples. This study utilized multiple data sources and a purposive sampling of 11 mixed Asian and Caucasian heterosexual married couples, with one …

Foreign Language Teaching And Learning, Aleidine Kramer Moeller, Theresa Catalano

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

Foreign language teaching and learning have changed from teacher-centered to learner/learning-centered environments. Relying on language theories, research findings, and experiences, educators developed teaching strategies and learning environments that engaged learners in interactive communicative language tasks. A shift in foreign language pedagogy from a specific foreign language method to the measurement of language performance/competency has resulted in a change in the role of the teacher from one of authority/expert to that of facilitator/guide and agent of change. Current developments point to public pedagogy, social media, and action research as additional ways to foster intercultural competence and language learning.

Education Policy Implementation In The New Latino Diaspora, Jennifer Stacy, Edmund T. Hamann, Enrique G. Murillo Jr.

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

Villages, towns, and cities throughout the United States, including the 41 states of the New Latino Diaspora (NLD), continue to host/receive heterogeneous populations of Latinos who transform the physical and cultural landscape in ways that require social institutions, like schools and universities, to respond. Increasingly, this transformation includes newcomer parents starting families. Thirty-three percent of the U.S. Hispanic population is age 18 or younger, while that age profile is true of slightly below 20% of non-Hispanic Whites (Pew Hispanic Center, 2012). While voter rolls and retirement community residents may remain much Whiter than the U.S. population as a whole for …

Qualitative Case Study Of Read-Aloud Expository Text Strategies In Kindergarten Through Grade 2, Mary Adeyemo

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In an inner-city elementary school, students continue to lag in reading proficiency, and implementation of research-based, district-mandated teaching strategies is not well understood. The purpose of this case study was to explore teachers' perceptions of mandated, read-aloud expository text strategies in K-2 classrooms. The conceptual framework was Vygotsky's social constructivism model of learning, which envisions students learning by interacting with teachers and peers, in this case, using read-aloud strategies, until they become autonomous, expository readers. The research questions focused on benefits and challenges of the implementation of read-aloud expository text by K-2 teachers who were given a 5-year mandate by …

Challenges In Assessing College Students' Conception Of Duality: The Case Of Infinity, Grace Olutayo Babarinsa-Ochiedike

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Interpreting students' views of infinity posits a challenge for researchers due to the dynamic nature of the conception. There is diversity and variation among students' process-object perceptions. The fluctuations between studentsâ?? views however reveal an undeveloped duality conception. This study examined college students' conception of duality in understanding and representing infinity with the intent to design strategies that could guide researchers in categorizing students' views of infinity into different levels.

Data for the study were collected from N=238 college students enrolled in Calculus sequence courses (Pre-Calculus, Calculus I through Calculus III) at one of the southwestern universities in the U.S. …

Dual Language K-2 Latina Teachers: Juxtaposing Linguistic Identities And Pedagogical Practices On The U.S.-Mexico Frontera, Brenda Oriana Fuentes

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This ethnographic study explored the linguistic identities and pedagogical practices of Latina bilingual-certified K-2 teachers in a dual language (DL) program in the U.S.-Mexico border area. Drawing on sociocultural theory, methods of data collection and analysis focused on linking DL Latina teachers' identity formation with both their conceptions of teaching and their actual pedagogical practices related to language use. The findings from this study painted a portrait of how DL teachersâ?? languages, literacies, and identities intertwined to shape their pedagogical practice. The linguistic backgrounds of DL teachers on the border were shaped by country of origin and languages, schooling experiences, …

The Impact Of Baby Sign Training On Stress Levels Of Daycare Providers, Grisel Julieta Rodriguez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Proponents of baby sign claim improvements in child-caregiver interactions and reductions in parental stress as benefits of implementing baby sign. Due to research contradicting the claims, and to the rise in daycare attendance, the current study investigated the effects of a baby sign workshop on the stress perception of daycare providers. A pre-test post-test between groups design with 20 participants was conducted using the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS10) and a workshop-specific descriptive survey as measures. The difference between the post-test stress levels of experimental and control groups approached significance, as did the differences between pre-test and post-test results for the …

A Community-University Partnership: Collaborating To Improve Teacher Preparation For An Urban Indigenous Community, Anna Lees

Dissertations

This qualitative case study explored a community-university partnership for teacher preparation with an urban Indigenous community organization in Chicago, Illinois. In the examined partnership, Indigenous participants collaborated with university faculty to prepare graduate-level students in an initial preparation program. I examined the impact of the partnership on the participating Indigenous community members, emphasizing how their interactions with university faculty and teacher candidates impacted the Indigenous organization and participants. Indigenous participants considered what teachers must understand to serve urban Indigenous children and the community's role in teacher preparation.

I collected data through focus groups with Indigenous participants before and after engagement …

In Defence Of The Lecture, R. Scott Webster

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

In response to the lecture format coming under ‘attack’ and being replaced by online materials and smaller tutorials, this paper attempts to offer not only a defence but also to assert that the potential value of the lecture is difficult to replicate through other learning formats. In this paper some of the criticisms against lectures will be challenged, in particular that they are monological and promote a banking concept to learning. To make this argument I shall be drawing upon Freire’s ‘banking concept’ and Vygotsky’s notion of ‘inner speech’ and shall claim that listening is a virtue to be encouraged …

Learning To Become Teacher Educators: Testimonies Of Three Phd Students In China, Rui Yuan

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

While there has been an increasing number of graduate students who enter teacher education after obtaining a higher research degree (e.g., PhD or EdD), scant attention has been paid to their professional learning as prospective teacher educators in higher education. To fill this gap, this study, informed by the social theory of learning, investigates how three PhD students learned to become teacher educators in a university in China. Drawing on the data from interviews and the participants’ personal reflections, the study shows that the participants engaged in professional learning by interacting with different others (e.g., teachers and teacher educators), negotiating …

The Relationship Between University Learning Experiences And English Teaching Self-Efficacy: Perspectives Of Five Final-Year Pre-Service English Teachers, Ksenia Filatov, Shane Pill

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

No literature exists on English teaching efficacy or self-efficacy or on pre-service teachers’ English teaching self-efficacy and its relationship to pre-service teacher education. This project addressed this conceptual and methodological gap in current teacher efficacy research literature. Five pre-service English teachers in their final year of double degree Bachelor of Education/Bachelor of Arts teacher education programmes at an Australian university were interviewed about their self-efficacy for specific English teaching skills. Results suggest that the pre-service teachers see a significant relationship between their self-efficacy to teach English and their degree. The data suggests that the relationship between university learning experiences and …

Factors In Instructional Decision-Making, Ratings Of Evidence And Intended Instructional Practices Of Australian Final Year Teacher Education Students, Mark Carter, Jennifer Stephenson, Toni Hopper

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

There has been increasing interest in an evidence-based approach to education in Australia but relatively little research has provided relevant data on knowledge of the evidence base for instructional practices among teachers preparing to enter the profession. Final year teacher education students (N = 290) in 15 Australian tertiary institutions were surveyed on their understanding of the strength of evidence for 14 instructional strategies and their intended frequency of use of the strategies following graduation. They were also asked to rate the importance of factors they considered in instructional decision-making. Empirical evidence was important in selection of instructional practices but …

What Benefits Can Be Derived From Teaching Knowledge About Language To Preservice Teachers?, Michael D. Carey, Michael Christie, Peter Grainger

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This paper evaluates the validity of teaching English grammar to preservice teachers in a teacher education course at a regional university. The course was delivered in blended mode using the grammar component of My Writing Lab Global (MWLG) and face-to-face instruction. The aim of this study was to establish if there are benefits to derive from teaching knowledge about language (KAL) to preservice teachers. Our quasi-experimental study found MWLG was well-received by participants who believed it had improved their KAL; this improvement was confirmed by 10% improvement on a pre and post KAL test (p < .001). MWLG scores and the KAL test also reliably predicted other academic competencies: the students’ accumulated GPA and their final written assessment scores for the course (r= .4 to .54; p < 0.01). Collectively, these findings suggest that explicit KAL is valued and valid knowledge and should be included in teacher education programs.

Examining The Effects Of Reflective Journals On Pre-Service Science Teachers' General Chemistry Laboratory Achievement, Canan Cengiz, Faik Özgür Karataş

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The general chemistry laboratory is an appropriate place for learning chemistry well. It is also effective for stimulating higher-order thinking skills, including reflective thinking, a skill that is crucial for science teaching as well as learning. This study aims to examine the effects of feedback-supported reflective journal-keeping activities on first-year pre-service science teachers’ achievement. The pre-service science teachers were observed for eight weeks by collecting their journals. At the beginning and end of this process, an achievement test was administered. At the end of the study, the participants were also interviewed. It was found that feedback-supported reflective journal-keeping activities improved …

Navigating Discourses Of Cultural Literacy In Teacher Education, Kelsey Halbert, Philemon Chigeza

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Pre-service teachers’ understandings, skills and dispositions as global, culturally literate citizens and agents of change have arguably never been more important. Professional standards, systemic policies and frameworks and a broad range of scholarly perspectives on culture position pre-service teachers to take up cultural education in sometimes conflicting ways. It is these orientations to culture within a teacher education program and how they sit alongside potentially incongruent policies, practices and worldviews that are the focus of this paper. The practitioner research draws on cultural identity theories, policies and student experiences in the teaching and learning of an undergraduate education subject entitled …

Lessons Learned: Insights Into One Teacher’S Experience Working With Karen Refugee Students In The United States, Daniel J. Gilhooly

Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement

This study is informed by funds of knowledge and culturally responsive teaching studies that aim to explore and legitimize the cultural knowledge immigrant children bring to their communities and schools. Consequently, this paper specifically addresses issues related to the educational experiences of Karen children and their parents from one American teacher/researcher who has worked with the Karen for the past four years. In aggregate, this paper addresses issues germane to Karen education including; (1) background information on Karen educational experiences prior to resettlement, including a review of their journey from Thailand to the U.S.; (2) important characteristics of Karen culture; …

Exploring Stakeholders' Perceptions Of The Evaluation Of Early Fieldwork Experience In An Undergraduate Teacher Preparation Program, Amber R. Peacock

Theses and Dissertations

This study is a qualitative meta-evaluation of the early field experience (EFE) program at a small, private, undergraduate teacher preparation program in Virginia focusing on the perceptions of preservice teachers, cooperating teachers and course instructors about the EFE evaluation objectives, evaluation experience, and resulting data usage. The EFE evaluation protocol at the study site is explored using a participatory-oriented evaluation model that solicited the perceptions of stakeholders. Analysis of EFE evaluation documents and semi-structured interviews with the stakeholders were conducted to explore the extent to which (1) official EFE objectives are congruent with the EFE evaluation, (2) the intended evaluation …

Facilitating A Transdisciplinary Approach In Teacher Education Through Multimodal Literacy And Cognitive Neuroscience, Margaret Billings Krause

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is a compilation of research and theoretical papers based on the affordances of multimodal literacies for marginalized learners and for pre-service teachers’ developing conceptualizations of literacy. Through a transdisciplinary lens, the author considers complex issues presented in traditional, print-based learning environments that potentially marginalize learners in their developing abilities to become successful participants in the multiple literacies in the real world.

Three studies focus on pre-service teachers and their developing understanding of effective literacy-related classroom practices. Chapter Three explores potential affordances of a multimodal learning environment for pre-service teachers with self-identified reading difficulties. The phenomenological study highlights differing …

Our (Different) Place In The World Internationalising An Architectural Curriculum To Help Prepare Students For Professional Practice In A Transnational World, Johanna Cleary

Theses

Internationalisation of the Curriculum (IoC) is an idea whose time has come. The intention behind this educational agenda is to help prepare graduates for professional life in a transnational world characterised by diverse mobilities and cultural hybridity. The process of internationalizing a curriculum is context-dependent: IoC looks different in different disciplines, institutions and countries. A rapidly globalising world intimately affects the practice of architecture where the transnational flows of people, information and capital intersect in our cities presenting complex challenges to professional architectural practice. Yet the teaching of architecture is seen as anachronistic: national systems of accreditation and professional registration …

Participatory Action Research: Effect Of Emphasising Graduate Attributes On Work-Placement Reflection, Julie Dunne

Theses

This project aimed to investigate what the effect of activities to promote awareness of graduate attributes development introduced during 2014/15 would be on the quality of reflection displayed in student pharmacy technicians’ workplacement blogs. The project was undertaken in response to a deficit in critical reflection shown in earlier years. The work-placement blogs from 2013/14 were used as a comparison for this study. The theoretical perspective included a constructivist ontological position and an interpretivist epistemological position. The methodology was participatory action research involving the Pharmacy Technician students as co-researchers. The cycles of action and research aligned to three research objectives, …

Learn Languages, Explore Cultures, Transform Lives, Aleidine Kramer Moeller

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

Selected Papers from the 2015 Central States Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages

Aleidine J. Moeller, Editor

1. Creating a Culture-driven Classroom One Activity at a Time — Sharon Wilkinson, Patricia Calkins, & Tracy Dinesen

2. The Flipped German Classroom — Theresa R. Bell

3. Engaging Learners in Culturally Authentic Virtual Interactions —Diane Ceo-Francesco

4. Jouney to Global Competence: Learning Languages, Exploring Cultures, Transforming Lives — J. S. Orozco-Domoe

5. Strangers in a Strange Land: Perceptions of Culture in a First-year French Class — Rebecca L. Chism

6. 21st Century World Language Classrooms: Technology to Support Cultural Competence — …

Teachers' Perceptions Of The Implementation Of A Multilingual Approach To Language Teaching, Susanna Rosmarie Schwab-Berger

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

How teachers perceived and experienced the implementation of a multilingual approach in their classrooms during the first year of implementation in Switzerland is poorly understood by policy makers and teachers. Findings from three pilot studies conducted before the implementation indicated that teachers had transferred only few aspects of the new multilingual approach into practice. Guided by constructivist learning and third language acquisition theories, this study explored how teachers perceived and experienced the implementation of the multilingual approach. A purposeful criterion sample of primary school English language teachers at Grade 5 who had completed a professional development program was targeted for …

Speech-Language Pathologists On Multicultural Counseling Competency, Denise Moore Revel

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Despite reports of speech-language pathology graduate-level programs focusing on multicultural competence, the literature suggests speech-language pathologists are not adequately educated and trained to be culturally competent. The purpose of this study was to examine the experiences of public school-based speech-language pathologists' graduate-level academic instruction and the clinical practicum experiences in multicultural competence, specifically in the area of multicultural counseling. Guided by the theory of multicultural counseling and therapy, this study used a phenomenological approach, employing semistructured, in-person interviews with 7 participants. The inclusion criteria used for selecting study participants included: having a master's degree in speech-language pathology, graduation from an …

The Relationship Among Esol Services, Vocabulary, And Reading Comprehension In Primary Grades, Cassandra Marie Arcila-Knortz

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

With the growing English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) population in the United States, English instruction is becoming vitally important in schools. Despite this growing need, many schools are eliminating ESOL support services that promote English learning, and some schools are eliminating ESOL support services in primary grades. The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine whether providing ESOL support in kindergarten improved students' reading level, vocabulary, and reading comprehension. Vygotsky's social learning theory and theory of proximal development provided the theoretical framework of the study. The research questions concerned differences in comprehension scores, vocabulary scores, and reading …