Digital Commons Network^™

Teaching Inclusivity: Preservice Teachers’ Perceptions Of Their Knowledge, Skills And Attitudes Toward Working With English Language Learners In Mainstream Classrooms, Philip C. Smith

TAPESTRY

This study investigated the effect of one semester of ESOL education on preservice teachers by examining their perceived knowledge and skill in working with English Language Learner (ELL) students, and their attitude toward having ELL students in their mainstream classrooms. The survey identified two factors: a) Perception of ESOL Knowledge and Skills (PEKS) and b) Attitude Toward Inclusion (ATI). Results showed that preservice teachers’ perceptions of both knowledge & skill (PEKS) changed from introductory to the final ESOL course, and that PEKS changed significantly from pre- to post-test within the same course. No significant changes were found in students’ attitude …

Editor's Note, Tapestry Staff

TAPESTRY

From the Editors

Book Review Of "Teaching Reading To English Language Learners: Insights From Linguistics", Alex Poole

TAPESTRY

Text: Lems, K., Miller, L. D., & Soro, T. M. (2010). Teaching reading to English language learners: Insights from linguistics. New York: The Guilford Press.

“You Got The Word Now”: Problematizing Vocabulary-Based Academic Language Instruction For English Learners In Science, Katherine Richardson Bruna, Roberta Vann, Moises Perales Escudero

TAPESTRY

With increasing numbers of English Learners enrolling in public schools, teachers of core academic subject area classes are facing the challenge of integrating English language development into instruction. This article describes how teachers' understanding of infusing language into science teaching can shape instructional practices and consequently influence the simultaneous English language development and science learning of English Learner students.

Deciding When To Step In And When To Back Off: Culturally Mediated Writing Instruction For Adolescent English Learners, Leslie Patterson, Carol Wickstrom, Jennifer Roberts, Juan Araujo, Chieko Hoki

TAPESTRY

Culturally Mediated Writing Instruction invites students to take an inquiry stance toward issues of interest and significance—exploring issues, framing questions, gathering information, synthesizing findings into messages, publishing or presenting their findings, and assessing their efforts before moving on to other inquiries. CMWI can be seen as a rich and dynamic landscape of literacy tasks, routines, practices, materials, and dialogues that invites students to ask questions and to look for answers to those questions. Data from four high-school classrooms illustrate that CMWI teachers made interdependent and layered instructional decisions in response to students' needs, and that they provided mediation toward for …

Editor's Note, Tapestry Staff

TAPESTRY

From the Editors

Home To School Transitions: A Guatemalan Family Portrait, Lisa Crayton

TAPESTRY

This study applies a sociocultural perspective to examine the home to school transitions in literacy achievement of three low-income children from Guatemala. Through participant observation and informal conversations with the family during home visits, two factors appeared to influence the literacy development of the family's young children: bilingualism and cultural assimilation. Investigating the home literacy environment of an immigrant family provides an insider's perspective of the life experiences of children from non-mainstream homes. Understanding their home reading and writing experiences, and their transition to school literacy, is valuable for reading teachers facing increasingly diverse students from multicultural backgrounds.

Building A Community For Migrant Education Services Through Family Literacy And Farm Worker Outreach, Karen S. Vocke

TAPESTRY

Cultural and linguistic differences within the migrant population, coupled with the transient nature of these families, often present challenges that can inhibit the education of migrant students in our schools. How can schools and communities come together to provide resources and services for this vulnerable population? Through the theoretical lens of Paulo Freire, we identify the need to work against the current educational trend toward increased standardization and work towards a model of education that is both individualized and democratic. For migrant students, individualizing educational experiences often means reaching out to the families for linguistic support. We have found the …

Their Genocide And Ours: International Influence In 1994 Rwanda, Maggie Penkert

Historical Perspectives: Santa Clara University Undergraduate Journal of History, Series II

No abstract provided.

Head Start Since The War On Poverty: Taking On New Challenges To Address Persistent School Readiness Gaps, Pamela Joshi, Kimberly Geronimo, Dolores Acevedo-Garcia

Journal of Applied Research on Children: Informing Policy for Children at Risk

This article explores Head Start’s overall effectiveness in improving school readiness outcomes and its potential to reduce gaps in these outcomes in light of changing program goals, resource and funding capacity, and the demographic changes in the low-income child population it serves. Although not an explicit goal of the Head Start program, we assess whether and how the program can address reducing school readiness gaps between children of different racial and ethnic backgrounds and income groups. Because of changing policy priorities and targeting vulnerable groups of children with diverse needs, meeting Head Start goals within funding constraints can be challenging. …

Flexible Loyalties: How Malleable Are Bicultural Loyalties?, Andy Y. Chiou, Brittany K. Mercado

Publications and Research

Biculturals are individuals who are acculturated in two cultures and have dual identities. Due to this, many early discussions on biculturalism argued that biculturals may have divided loyalties between their two cultural backgrounds and the identities derived from these backgrounds. This view is further highlighted given historical and contemporary debate regarding immigrants in the European and American political arenas. These concerns illustrate two possibilities. First, that biculturals have a preference for their home or host culture, identifying one as the in-group to express loyalty toward and the other as the out-group. Second, biculturals may alternate between who they identify as …

A Phenomenological Inquiry Into The Perceptions Of E-Leaders On Virtual Team Leadership, Deann Chriestenson

All Theses And Dissertations

Corporations are facing a more complex and challenging global business environment, and many have implemented a virtual workforce to maintain their competitive advantage through maximizing productivity, reducing product time to market, and cost reduction. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to gain a deeper understanding of the phenomenon of virtual leadership, as seen through the eyes of study participants (Merriam, 2009). Participants included fifteen Fortune 500 virtual team leaders who had prior experience leading traditional co-located teams. Data collected through telephone interviews were transcribed verbatim and NVivo 11 assisted in the coding, analyses, and presentation. The data analysis …

Teaching The First: A Phenomenological Study Of Southeastern Community College Instructors Communicating With First-Generation College Students, Tanyanika Mattos

All Theses And Dissertations

This phenomenological research study explored eight Southeastern community college instructors communicating with first-generation college students, specifically the lived experiences of community college instructors as they taught developmental education. The participated included a lawyer, health care executive, and engineer, psychologist, bookkeeper, health sciences professional, and education specialist and computer information systems professional. Pre-interviews, interviews and an electronic survey were utilized to obtain the data on the phenomenon. This phenomenological data analysis process offered a structured analysis process that is reflective and grounded in vibrant descriptions. During the interview, all forms were used to document responses of interviewees. The interviews were interpreted …

Digitally Mediated: Exploring The Correlation Between Hyper-Reliance On Electronically-Mediated Communication, Verbal Communication Apprehension And Interpersonal Relationship Skills, Kevin R. Bertsch

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this thesis was to identify a possible correlation between the use of electronically-mediated communication (EMC) as the dependent variable and both verbal communication apprehension (CA) and interpersonal intimacy and closeness as independent variables. Viewed through the lens of three primary theoretical perspectives, social penetration theory, social information processing, and uncertainty reduction, two questions formed the foundation of the project. RQ1) Is hyper-reliance on electronically-mediated communication associated with a corresponding increase in verbal communication apprehension during face-to-face conversations? RQ2) Is there a correlation between hyper-reliance on electronically-mediated communication and the ability to develop close interpersonal relationships? A combination …

Applying Text Mining To Analyze The Performance Of Pbos On The Basis Of Their Obligatory Annual Activity Statements, Tomasz Dyczkowski

European Management Studies

The paper’s aims is to investigate if the level of detail and selection of particular performance-related information by public benefit organizations (PBOs) in their obligatory annual activity statements can stimulate individual donations. The research encompassed 177 randomly selected Polish PBOs. It applied text mining methodologies and a laboratory experiment. The results obtained allowed the identification of nine key groups of topics that PBOs focus on the narrative parts of their obligatory annual activity statements. Moreover, it was proven that organizations that potential donors would like to support with their 1% tax write-off discuss their performance in more detail and focus …

Three- And Four-Year Olds Learn About Gears Through Arts Incorporation, Dessy Stoycheva, Leann M. Perkins

Journal of STEM Arts, Crafts, and Constructions

This research paper explores art integration into a science lesson unit that follows the Next Generation Science Standards (K-PS2-1) and focuses on the effects on memory retention of key concepts along with levels of enjoyment. An experiment was conducted with children ages 3 and 4 teaching scientific concepts about gears while incorporating student-made art products. The children were assigned to alternating experimental (art-integrated) or control (no art) conditions during the four stages of the lesson. The results did not show statistically significant differences at the alpha = 0.05 level between conditions in the amount of information retained based on the …

Usa V. Anthony Robinson

2016 Decisions

USDC for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania

The Eurasian Agenda: The International Relations Of Kyrgyzstan, Azamat Baiyzbekov

Master's Theses

The disintegration of the Soviet Union and the emergence of the newly independent states in Central Asia are among the most important historical events of the 20^th century. As one of these newly independent and sovereign state, Kyrgyzstan found itself in the sphere of the geopolitical rivalry among the Great Powers, such as the U.S., Russia, and China. Even though a relatively small and militarily weak state, Kyrgyzstan came to play an important role in their Eurasian agenda. In this thesis, I examine in detail the international relations of Kyrgyzstan with all its neighboring states, but focus extensively on …

A Cognitive Approach To Phonology: Evidence From Signed Languages, Corrine Occhino

Linguistics ETDs

This dissertation uses corpus data from ASL and Libras (Brazilian Sign Language), to investigate the distribution of a series of static and dynamic handshapes across the two languages. While traditional phonological frameworks argue handshape distribution to be a facet of well-formedness constraints and articulatory ease (Brentari, 1998), the data analyzed here suggests that the majority of handshapes cluster around schematic form-meaning mappings. Furthermore, these schematic mappings are shown to be motivated by both language-internal and language-external construals of formal articulatory properties and embodied experiential gestalts.

Usage-based approaches to phonology (Bybee, 2001) and cognitively oriented constructional approaches (Langacker, 1987) have recognized …

The Comorbidity Of Communication And Psychological Disorders: An Analysis Of The Origin And Prevalence Of Children Presenting With Comorbid Language, Speech, And Psychological Disorders, Victoria L. Triska

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

This paper addresses the comorbidity of communication and psychological disorders in children by gathering and analyzing research on communication disorders, psychological disorders, and approaches to understand their connection and present a possible origin of these two disorders. Using the transactional model, one can understand the comorbidity of these disorders and of an individual's psychological environment, communicative environment, and the relationship between these two spheres. The impacts on academics and social life can cause learning disabilities, reading disabilities, and social isolation from friends, teachers, and family. Furthermore, understanding disorders' origin allows for researchers to better assess the prevalence of speech, language, …

Body Beyond Boundaries: An Auto-Ethnography On My Embodied Culture In My Work As A Dance/Movement Therapy Intern Practicing In Another Culture, Akanksha Mishra

Creative Arts Therapies Theses

This auto-ethnographic study explored how embodied cultural knowledge impacts my work as a dance/movement therapy intern, practicing in a culture different from my own. As the sole participant in the study, I am a 23 year old female, international student at Columbia College Chicago. I am originally from New Delhi, India and moved to the United States to pursue my Master’s degree. My dance/movement therapy internship was at a high school in the Northwest region of Chicago, United States. This qualitative study included data collection methods of journaling, art making and creating a movement narrative over a period of eight …

The Fortuitous Impact Of A Cross-Cultural Tutoring Experience On Prospective Teachers' Development Toward Cultural Competency, Carrie Ann H. Kondor

CUP Ed.D. Dissertations

In this study, I explored the possibility of prospective teachers’ development toward cultural competency, fortuitously or incidentally, as a result of intercultural experiences while tutoring diverse preK-12 students. I investigated 25 prospective teachers’ growth toward cultural competency as they participated in a ten-week cross-cultural tutoring program designed to help children from different ethnic, socioeconomic, cultural, and linguistic backgrounds develop reading skills. These prospective teachers were composed of first year students in an undergraduate program prior to entering into teacher preparation coursework and pre-service teachers in the final year of teacher preparation program completing their teaching practice in K-12 schools. This …

Book Clubs In The Esl Classroom: A Microinteractional Analysis Of Literacy Development In Adult Esl Students, Sharon E. Johnson

English

This study uses conversation analysis to identify literacy development in adult ESL classroom book club discussions. The investigation focuses on the interactions of three university students participating in a six-week book club about Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. The longitudinal microethnographic analysis reveals the students' development of interactional routines for enacting topic transitions. Two student strategies are examined: (a) the development of a group routine for reading discussion questions aloud; and (b) the use of the transition markers okay and next. The students' establishment of these strategies during the six meetings provides evidence of literacy development during classroom book …

Equitable Identification Of El Students For Special Education By All Teachers, Hanna Winkelman

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

The research question addressed in this project is: How do teachers refer EL students for special education services and how can the process be more equitable for students? The motivating factor for this research was one teacher’s frustration in referring EL students for special education services at a large urban school. The teacher felt as though the process was disorganized, inequitable and did not support EL students with the highest needs. The author interviews ESL, special education teachers and a bilingual educational assistant at one urban school to identify their perspective of the process and frustrations that arise from it. …

Britain And The Anglo-Saxons In Late Antiquity, Todd Morrison

History ETDs

This thesis concerns the final century of Roman Britain, the continental origins of its medieval Germanic invaders, and the socio-political situation in sub-Roman Britain in the fifth and sixth centuries. Multiple issues are discussed in each of these three broad areas, including the effects of the Diocletian Reforms on Britain, fourth-century urban decay, the first-century origins of the Saxons among the piratical Chauci tribe, and the continued existence of Roman institutions in Britain into the early Middle Ages. Furthermore, the reasons the Anglo-Saxons did not assimilate into Roman culture like their counterparts on the continent, making medieval England an essentially …

Linay'sdulkaas De': Let's Start Sewing, Sondra Shaginoff-Stuart, Kaggos Ts'akae

Linguistics

This paper proposes Task Based Language Teaching (TBLT) as a teaching method for Ahtna language learners. TBLT focuses on engaging learners in meaningful activities or tasks which they accomplish through using the target language, learning Ahtna in the process. TBLT incorporates deeper understandings and meaning by teaching students the language in a cultural context. For this paper, the focus activity will be making a beaded necklace. Beading has been an important activity for me, from the time of learning about my culture and people from my Aunt Katie Wade. The website accompanying the project and be found at: http://www.ourlanguagecameback.com/.

Colonization Experiences Of Alaskan IñUpiat And Model For Decolonization, Ukallaysaaq Thomas Okleasik

Rural Development

This project explores a potential method for examining American, Alaskan and Iñupiaq colonization with a process for decolonization to help restore authentic community self governance that addresses modern socioeconomic challenges and opportunities on terms that will best work in indigenous villages sustainably and effectively. The focus is on Iñupiaq peoples; however, it can be adapted for use by other indigenous peoples. The six-step decolonization process begins with building awareness and understanding the many layers of colonization - both from the colonizer’s perspective and perspective of those subjected to colonization. The decolonization process continues by encompassing healing, revitalization, vision, strategy and …

Argumentative Factors In The Verses Of Rulings, Eayd Jadue Hanun, Thayir Eimran Shadhan

Uruk Journal of Human Sciences

Argumentative factors are among the most important linguistic means that the speaker resorts to in directing his speech towards a certain argumentative point of view; to convince his recipient of the result he seeks to achieve. Argumentative factors work to reduce the argumentative potential of a single statement within the speech, and increase its argumentative energy in moving towards a certain result. It is one of the most important main concepts in argumentative theory that helps the recipient discover the meaning of the text.

Parallelism By Deletion In The Arabic Proverb, Majma’ Al-Amthal By Al-Maydani (518 Ah), As An Example., Hussam Adnan Rahim Al-Yasiri, Enas Adnan Qattan Al-Zayyadi

Uruk Journal of Human Sciences

This is a research that deals with a structural phenomenon, which is the phenomenon of parallelism, which we had chosen as a method for studying sentence patterns and deleting some of its parts in Arabic proverbs in a book by Al-Maydani. I had chosen a title for it, which is (Parallelism by Deletion in the Arabic Proverb in the Book by Al-Maydani’s Collection of Proverbs). Parallelism is one of the terms of rhetorical origin. Its use was mentioned by Arab rhetoricians in different terms. When they presented it as a concept, they dealt with it within the mosaic and rhyme …

Compliment-Blame Relation And Responses, Israa Hasan Ajeel

Uruk Journal of Human Sciences

Compliment and blame are rhetorical devices that people use to evaluate other people's behaviors as well as to motivate and educate them to act according to the moral norms of their society. Yet, these acts speech can be used to express someone’s attitudes towards the addressee. While compliment is implemented to denote admiration and approval, blame is used to denote disapproval and criticism. The main objective of this study is to study these two speech acts and to show how one of them can be expressed by means of the other because a lot of studies have been done on …