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Effects Of A Spanish Phonological Awareness Intervention On Latino Preschoolers' Dual Language Emergent Literacy Skills, Xigrid T. Soto

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Young children’s emergent literacy skills, particularly phonological awareness (PA) and alphabet knowledge (AK), are two of the strongest predictors of future reading skill. There is limited research evaluating the effectiveness of emergent literacy interventions on the dual language PA and AK skills of at-risk Latino preschoolers who are Dual Language Learners (DLLs). The bulk of existing interventions are conducted only in English. There is preliminary evidence supporting that DLL Latino children benefit from Spanish PA and AK instruction; however, few studies include preschool-aged children.

This study applied a multiple probe design across units of instruction to evaluate the effects of …

Why Parents Choose Dual Language Immersion Programs, Darice Irby

Education Dissertations and Projects

School choice details a range of programs which offer families alternatives that are available to educate their children. Language immersion is a school choice option that is available for parents seeking to provide their children an innovative environment conducive for learning. This modality of learning uses dual languages to immerse students completely within the subject being taught. This qualitative design study sought to investigate why parents choose to send their child to a dual language immersion school. This study examined parent motivations and decision-making processes for choosing dual language immersion programs. This study also investigated parents’ own school experiences and …

Using Spanish In English-Language Spaces: Identifying Bilingual Composition Students' Translanguaging Practices, Maria Isela Maier

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This Dissertation is a qualitative study that uses ethnographic research methods to examine the translanguaging practices of bilingual students in first-year composition at a university along the U.S.-Mexico border. Specifically, I observe how and why bilingual students employ translanguaging practices, as they are encouraged or invited by their instructors, in contexts where English Standard Language policies exist. The results of this qualitative project demonstrate bilingual students' use of translation as part of their translanguaging practices, as well as a tool that uncovers students' writing processes which also demonstrates their language negotiation. Furthermore, the students' translanguaging practices reveal the rhetorical use …

Biliteracy Development In A Second Grade Dual Language Classroom, Erika Harumi Aoki

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This case study examines oral language development during structured guided reading instruction in English and Spanish in a second grade dual language classroom. The participants in this study included four focal second grade students identified as balanced emergent bilinguals. The four case studies offer insights into the development of five oral language components: phonological skills, morpho-syntactic skills, vocabulary, syntax and pragmatics in English and Spanish that students undergo as they develop biliteracy. The key findings showed code-switching as the main linguistic behavior students used to build on language skills as well as the need for modeling and offering structured opportunities …