Modern Languages Commons^™

Impact And Utilization Of Asl Lab Spaces In University Settings, Nathan J. Dutra, Michele Vincent

Journal of Interpretation

American Sign Language (ASL) is a challenging yet rapidly growing language taught at both secondary and higher education levels. Despite its increasing popularity, there is limited literature on utilizing ASL labs as learning centers. This quantitative study examines the implementation of a new ASL lab at a large four-year university in California. It investigates the factors influencing participation, the motivations behind students' involvement, and their perceptions of the lab's effectiveness. Results indicate significant associations between course modality, instructor influence, and lab participation. The study suggests that ASL labs function as cultural and educational spaces that promote visibility of Deaf culture …

Zoom In And Zoom Out: (Re)Telling Our Cultural Literacy Practices Through Engaged Learning, Isela Almaguer

Bilingual and Literacy Studies Faculty Publications

Empowering bilingual learners to engage in the Zoom In and Zoom Out approach is a way to enrich and validate students' cultural identity and support students' linguistic and academic development while fostering rich writing opportunities for students. Teachers will discover a genuine way that empowers students to explore vocabulary, build comprehension, and acquire a love for writing. This effective multifaceted strategy approaches writing by leveraging students' cultural background and literacy practices. Students will capitalize on their funds of knowledge and use their experiences to further propel their writing efforts. By starting from within, diverse learners make stronger connections with the …

Lesson Plan: Sr. Levadura (Mr. Yeast), Kali Elise Rye

World Languages and Cultures

This project addresses critical microbiology misconceptions concerning microbes and fermentation. Alongside Nuestra Ciencia’s lesson development team, this activity was researched and tested to demonstrate ideal fermentation conditions for yeast. In addition to the hands-on experiment, this project also required an interactive worksheet to be completed alongside the activity. With feedback from undergraduate students, researchers, and professors, the content was shaped to create an engaging, easily comprehensible activity that introduces microbiological concepts to students. As it has progressed, the Sr. Levadura (Mr. Yeast) activity has been implemented in two quarters of SCM 302 (Learn by Doing Lab) where over 400 elementary …

Developing Spanish-Language Campus Tours To Enhance Accessibility And Competitive Recruitment At The University Of Mississippi, Caitlyn E. Culpepper

Honors Theses

This thesis proposes and outlines an initiative that would bring Spanish-language campus tours and visit resources to the University of Mississippi, increasing accessibility to the campus visit experience while also providing institutional benefits within a competitive recruitment landscape. Through a review of current literature on Hispanic/Latino students in higher education, institutional enrollment and recruitment data, comparative research on peer institutions, and conversations with university professionals, this project explores the role that language accessibility, family engagement, and campus visits play in the college decision-making process.

Findings suggest that Hispanic/Latino students remain an underrepresented yet rapidly growing population in higher education and …

Expanding The Multivocal Video-Cued Ethnographic Method To Sow Seeds Of Conscientization In Teacher Attitudes And Practice, Kiyomi Sánchez-Suzuki Colegrove, Molly Ellen Mcmanus, Christian E. Zúñiga

Bilingual and Literacy Studies Faculty Publications

The purpose of this article is to present a methodological extension to video-cued ethnography, a qualitative approach that combines ethnography with a stimulus video to conduct focus groups, and share methodological insights drawn from our experience. In this extension, we center the knowledge of Latine immigrant parents and create dialogic opportunities between parents and teachers. We illustrate how the extension works by presenting a study that explores if and how this dialogical experience shapes bilingual/ESL teachers’ ideas and attitudes towards parents as educational partners. We share data samples that demonstrate an emerging process of conscientization through markers of humanization, such …

Cognitive Validity In Listen-To-Write Summary Tasks: A Mixed-Methods Analysis Of Notetaking Data, Rebecca Yeager, Gomee Park, Junhee Park

Bilingual and Literacy Studies Faculty Publications

This study examines the cognitive validity of a listen-to-summarize task on a university placement test. Cognitive validity is underinvestigated in listening assessment, especially for higher-order listening processes (Holzknecht et al., 2017; Rukthong, 2021). However, student notes from listening tests can record evidence of these processes (Yeager et al., 2024; Cushing, 1991). This study employed an exploratory sequential mixed-methods design to investigate the higher-order listening processes elicited by an integrated listen-to-summarize task. First, notes from two administrations of the same test form – one with notetaking scaffolding (n = 25) and one without (n = 25) – were analyzed qualitatively. Second, …

Promises Fulfilled: 114-Year-Old Alelia Murphy’S Life Of Faith And Resilience, Jacqueline B. Koonce

Bilingual and Literacy Studies Faculty Publications

Alelia Murphy was the oldest living person in the United States, turning 114 in July 2019 until her death in November 2019. She and her family credit her longevity to her faith in God. This premise is explored through her words as she stated she had not seen everyone she needed to see and compared that statement to Simeon from the Bible who did not die until he saw the Messiah. Alelia Murphy also had not seen everything. She was seeing the relative success of her much admired, former President Barack Obama, and she had just met me, her great …

Autoethnography, Poetic Performance Narratives, And Pláticas As Dialogues Of Radical Love, Miryam Espinosa-Dulanto

Bilingual and Literacy Studies Faculty Publications

This piece examines Autoethnography, Poetic Performance Narratives, and Pláticas as decolonial methodologies that challenge the coloniality of knowledge and center voices historically excluded from academic discourse. These approaches honor traditions rooted in community, solidarity, and radical love, presenting lived realities without oversimplification while inviting readers to inhabit contradictions and imagine ethical possibilities for equity. Grounded in Latin American and Chicana/Latina/Indígena feminist scholarship, this work situates these practices within a legacy of decolonial epistemologies that resist dominant Western paradigms and affirm lived experience as a site of theory-making. Through this lens, the piece seeks to: (1) bear witness to shared experiences, …

Dual Language In Higher Education: Assessing Student Success And Student Experiences, Katherine Christoffersen, Ramsés Ortín, Dania López García, Ming-Tsan Lu, Javier Cavazos Vela

Writing and Language Studies Faculty Publications

Although long-standing research has documented the many benefits of dual language (DL) education programs in the K-12 setting, there are few studies on the impact of DL in higher education. This study analyzes DL education at a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) where certain classes are taught in Spanish or bilingually across diverse disciplines. In this mixed methods research study, we examine (1) how enrollment in these classes impacts student success through an analysis of cumulative grade point averages, retention, and time to degree and (2) how students perceive these classes through an analysis of course evaluations and surveys responses from current …

Investigating The Relationship Between Noun Classes And Plant Folk Taxonomy In Chasu Language Of Kilimanjaro Region In Tanzania, Peter Rabson Mziray

Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

The current study investigates the relationship between noun classes and plant folk taxonomy in Chasu (G 22). The study focuses on two objectives: the first objective is to describe the plant folk taxonomy in Chasu and the second objective is to determine the relationship between noun classes and plant folk taxonomy in Chasu. Data were collected from rural villages in Same and Mwanga districts by using free listing, field interviews (jungle-walk-and-identify), and written texts containing Chasu plant names. The findings reveal that Chasu folk taxonomy reflects different ethnobotanical categories; including a unique beginner which is mmea/mimea ‘plant(s)’, and three life …

La Imposición Del Neoliberalismo En México: Resistencia Y Opresión Del Profesorado De Lenguas A Nivel Universitario, David Martinez-Prieto

Bilingual and Literacy Studies Faculty Publications

Este estudio utiliza las ideas de Althusser (1970) sobre el aparato ideológico del Estado para examinar las trayectorias de profesores (n=4) de lenguas que enseñaron en la Meritoria Universidad de Puebla, una de las principales universidades públicas en México. A través del análisis de los testimonios de dichos participantes, el presente trabajo analiza la represión de la comunidad universitaria durante la imposición de políticas neoliberales que pretendían privatizar la educación pública y limitar el derecho a la libertad de cátedra en esta universidad. De igual forma, en este artículo se examina la opresión que los docentes de lengua han experimentado …

Exploring The “4-Trans” In Bi/Multilingual Teacher Education: Introduction To The Special Issue, Sandra I. Musanti, David Martinez-Prieto, Xiaodi Zhou

Bilingual and Literacy Studies Faculty Publications

In this introductory essay, the editors of the special issue on the 4-trans in bi/multilingual teacher education, highlight the contributions of one or more of the “4-trans” lenses—transnationalism, transculturalism, translanguaging, and transdisciplinarity—to explain, question, challenge, or propose new ways of understanding bi/multilingual teacher education. Eight articles that challenge monolithic perspectives of teacher education are presented.

Dialogic Foundations Of The “4-Trans” Framework: Towards A Comprehensive And Dynamic Understanding Of Multilingual Teacher Education, David Martinez-Prieto, Sandra I. Musanti, Xiaodi Zhou

Bilingual and Literacy Studies Faculty Publications

In this article, we develop the “4-trans” framework by reflecting on the way current multilingual teacher preparation scholarship has addressed translanguaging, transnationalism, transculturality, and transdisciplinarity either in compartmentalized or integrative manners. While current literature has addressed some “trans” intersections, we propose the enunciation of the “4-trans” as permeable and complementary principles in multilingual education that can serve to better examine the experiences and challenges of multilingual pre-service teachers. To amalgamate the “4-trans” to examine the development of multilingual pre-service teachers, this article describes the construction of a multidimensional framework based on a dialogic conception of social …

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 …

Los Beneficios De La Enseñanza De Lenguas Extranjeras Con Cuentos Bilingües En Escuelas Rurales, Morgan Gosdin

World Languages and Cultures Senior Capstones

This action research explores and reflects on the use of bilingual storytelling as a model for foreign language education in third-grade classrooms. Previous research indicates that familiar stories foster an ideal environment for young learners, shifting the focus to language rather than content (Kirsch, 2008). Stories invoke curiosity in students and allow learners to view a foreign language as comparable to their own rather than simply a list of rules and vocabulary words. The action research, conducted in rural Middle Georgia third-grade classrooms, incorporates cultural and linguistic education. A class of undergraduate language students conducted biweekly lessons reading Spanish stories, …

Language-Related Episodes In Individual Observations Versus Collaborative Interactions: The Case Of Advanced Learners Of Spanish, Emilia Alonso-Marks, Mariche G. Bayonas, Diana Marysol Contreras-Licea

International Journal of the Linguistic Association of the Southwest

The pandemic forced many students to complete tasks individually either at home or in virtual classrooms. This study compares individual task performance with small group collaborations in terms of Language-Related Episodes (LREs) and the honing of pronunciation. Two groups of advanced Spanish learners from India and the USA participated in the study. Results note that having more than one learner does not increase LRE productivity; individual learners produce more affective/metacognitive LREs; and linguistic forms focused on by individual learners are more memorable than those discussed collaboratively. Pedagogical recommendations are proposed for both types of learning scenarios.

Book Review - Language Ideologies And Linguistic Identity In Heritage Language Learning., Michelle F. Ramos Pellicia

International Journal of the Linguistic Association of the Southwest

No abstract provided.

Resisting Neoliberalism: Testimonios Of Language Teachers As Social Activists, David Martinez-Prieto

Bilingual and Literacy Studies Faculty Publications

This study examines the testimonios of Mexican language teachers who experienced the violent and institutional imposition of neoliberal policies at the main university at the state of Puebla. Through the analysis of testimonios, language teachers narrated their own trajectories to resist the implementation of the neoliberal policies, such as the restriction of teaching freedom for educators, the elimination of the right to free education for students, and the current subjugation educators experience at the site of study. Based on the Foucauldian concepts of sovereign and institutional power, along with governmentality, this article analyzes the activism of language teachers, and …

A Methodological Study: Using Eye Tracking & Comprehension Questions With L1 And L2 Spanish Readers, Julia Cerveira-Bianchi

Open Access Master's Theses

Eye tracking with a violation paradigm is an online, real-time measure, used within the field of second language acquisition to measure implicit or automatic knowledge (Godfroid, 2019). Native speakers (L1) demonstrate implicit knowledge, and second language learners (L2) exhibit various levels of developing implicit knowledge, which serves as a measure of proficiency. In a violation paradigm, L1 and L2 speakers read grammatical and ungrammatical stimuli. The eye-tracking data provides insight into participants’ sensitivity to grammatical violations. Previous studies have included comprehension questions, an offline measure, to ensure that participants read for meaning. However, eye tracking has rarely been applied to …

Decolonizing Educational Research: Pláticas As Sites Of Reciprocity, Vulnerability, And Reflexivity, Miryam Espinosa-Dulanto

Bilingual and Literacy Studies Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The B3 Scholar Seal: Designing And Implementing An Alternative To The Sobl At A Hispanic-Serving Institution In South Texas, Katherine Christoffersen, Dania López García

Writing and Language Studies Faculty Publications

This chapter describes how the Bilingualism, Biculturalism, and Biliteracy (B3) Institute at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) developed the B3 Scholar Seal. Since its founding, UTRGV has provided a rare example of dual language education at the university level, offering courses taught bilingually or in Spanish across diverse disciplines. However, the language of these courses was not formally recognized upon graduation. The B3 Institute developed the B3 Scholar Seal to acknowledge students who successfully complete five courses, including at least three courses taught in Spanish or bilingually and at least one course, including culturally sustaining pedagogy. In …

Non-Plus Ultra Ideologies In Multilingual Teacher Education Research: Towards Real Inclusion, David Martinez-Prieto, Xiaodi Zhou

Bilingual and Literacy Studies Faculty Publications

In this duo autoethnography, we reflect on the ideologies prevailing in the United States regarding the use of English as the de facto academic language. In a parallel manner, we analyze the ideologies embedded in the rejection of academic variations in other languages (i.e., Spanish and Mandarin). We collected data from 2016 to 2023 in physical and digital spaces while interacting with U.S. academia. To analyze our experiences, we used a framework that combined critical literacies and language ideologies. We found the rejection of non-English academic domains related to structural and epistemological ideologies present in some U.S. institutions and among …

Los Retos And Opportunities Del Transnational Translanguaging In English-Language Teaching Programs In Mexico, David Martinez-Prieto, Sue Kasun, Peter Sayer

Bilingual and Literacy Studies Faculty Publications

Nuestro principal objetivo en este ensayo es promover el uso del translingüismo como una alternativa para la formación de profesorado bilingüe en universidades mexicanas. Defendemos esta postura no simplemente por las ventajas pedagógicas del translingüismo, sino como una imperiosa necesidad ante la multiculturalidad y transnacionalismo de los futuros docentes de lengua inglesa en México. En otras palabras, en este ensayo promovemos el uso de translanguaging as a reaction towards the reproduction of systemic oppression which occurs in many English Language Teaching programs in Mexican universities regarding nativism, raciolinguistics, and irreflective neoliberalism.

“Kematz'ib' Para Gritar” Innovative Technologies In Revitalizing The Mayan Languages: Empowering Youth Through Poetry - A Narrative Study, Héctor De Jesús Palala Martínez

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

This dissertation explores innovative approaches to preserving and revitalizing the linguistic and cultural heritage of Mayan-speaking youth of Guatemalan descent in rural Nebraska. It delves into the intersection of technology, artistic expression, and cultural practices, emphasizing the revitalization of Mayan languages in Abya Yala (the Americas), particularly emphasizing the Guatemalan and the Mayan diasporas in Nebraska.

The research investigates the roles of digital humanities, culture-based education, and poetic expressions in language preservation/revitalization efforts among Mayan youth and unaccompanied minors in transnational educational settings. Central to the study is an academic initiative for transnational Mayan high school students integrating poetry and …

Black Lives Still Matter: Freedom Schools As An Embodiment Of Critical Literacy Through Reflection And Action, Elena M. Venegas, Lakia M. Scott

Bilingual and Literacy Studies Faculty Publications

The continuation of racial inequities in the United States has ignited the recent Black Lives Matter Movement, a protest of police brutality and gun violence. Black lives matter in public school classrooms, too—where students of color face barriers to equitable educational experiences. The Children's Defense Fund Freedom School program is a major component in developing critical literacy skills through critique, inquiry, and transformation through social justice and action. Critical literacy is enacted through identity—mainly as difference, self, consciousness, narrative, and positionality. Historical and contemporary relevance of Freedom Schools connects to the urgency of the Black Lives Matter Movement.

Embracing The "American Dream" Social Media Imaginary Versus The Daily American Nightmare For Immigrant Youth, Miryam Espinosa-Dulanto, Iris Rubi Monroy Velasco

Bilingual and Literacy Studies Faculty Publications

In this chapter, we embark on a journey to explore the hopes for a better future, the American Dream, shared by a group of transnational, first-generation Hispanic/Latino college students located along the border between the United States of America (Texas) and Mexico (Tamaulipas). We gathered the data through a blend of ethnographic interviews and surveys to unravel, juxtapose, and deliberate upon the experiences shared. Employing a thematic analysis methodology inspired by Braun and Clarke (2006), we categorize the data into two overarching categories. The first category delves into the social and virtual spaces where the ideals of the American Dream …

Inter/Weaving, Inter/Lacing Consciousness & Resistance: Decolonizing Practices, Intersectionality & Aesthetics, Miryam Espinosa-Dulanto, Rosalva Resendiz

Bilingual and Literacy Studies Faculty Publications

Overall, the primary role in this issue was to create a space for scholars/artists/activists to share co-learned knowledges, testimonios, auto/biographies, stories, experiences, methods, research, as well as their own challenges and struggles while reclaiming, negotiating, or situating into their own paths. The issue works like our Borderlands, as a metaphorical terrain where shared information not only carefully addresses the paradoxical process of working towards decolonizing but also awareness that this work is being done within our own colonized/colonizing organizations, environments, and minds.

Hampering The Dogmatization Within The System By Building An Itinerant Practice In Bilingual Education And Dual-Language Programs, Jose Orozco, Michael Whitacre

Bilingual and Literacy Studies Faculty Publications

This paper focuses on dual-language programs and the transformation of implementation through the lens of Itinerant Curriculum Theory (ICT), curricularized language, and personal pedagogies, and how it impacts the way educators work within a dual-language program. The pedagogies of educator practices and influences included individuals with different ideologies, education, experience, distinct backgrounds, methods, and aspirations were part of the interactive mechanisms and educator practices that were analyzed. Thus, it concludes that the mindset and pedagogical approach affects the implementation of any program or model and shows how disparate agendas shape the program, its implementation, and the effect on the child.

Spirituality Among Mexican Transnational Teaching Youth: Towards Decolonialization And Humanization Of Research, David Martinez-Prieto

Bilingual and Literacy Studies Faculty Publications

The ultimate purpose of this study is to illustrate the transnational journey of Mexican populations in terms of their spirituality. With this goal, I designed this study based on decolonial and humanizing principles of testimonios epistemologies (Calderón-Berumen et al. 2022) to describe the spiritual trajectories of Mexican transnational returnees pursuing a teaching degree in Tlaxcala, Mexico. Based on interviews, written questionnaires, and the teaching journal of the author, I suggest that transnationals understand that spiritual and religious development is different for Mexican communities on both sides of the border. On the one hand, transnationals realized that religiosity—rather than spirituality—is present …

Repast: A Collective Autoethnographic Process Of Meaning Making, Vejoya Viren, Miryam Espinosa-Dulanto, Karin Lewis, Eunice Lerma

Bilingual and Literacy Studies Faculty Publications

For over six years, our writing collective has drawn upon our multivarious experiences and existence to examine and question our presence, purpose, motivation, and place at an HSI at the USA Mexico border. We thrive in our plurality and our disparate discourses have created an enduring sense and space of safety and belonging. However, this sense/space is not impervious and events as monumental as the global pandemic, as horrific as the images of wars, as devastating as the ravages of climate change, as destabilizing as divisive politics, as personal as new professional expectations, all have become intrinsic part of our …