Problems And Suggestions To Improve Pronunciation Skills Of English Language Learners In China, Yi Fang

Master's Projects and Capstones

This project is based on the input hypothesis theoretical framework. The literature review explores the importance of pronunciation in English communication, problems with pronunciation and what causes them will be talked about for people learning English. Lastly, since the goal of this field project is to help English language learners in China improve their pronunciation, the third theme is about how to solve pronunciation problems and what learners need. One of the conclusions is that Chinese language learners' performance in the English language is significantly influenced by motivation, attitudes, parental support, openness to communication, and other linguistic and nonlinguistic factors. …

Teaching English As A Foreign Language In China: A Unit Plan For Educators, Yun Xie

Master's Projects and Capstones

The ultimate goal of English learning is to enable students to communicate in English.

However, English education in China ignores the importance of English communicative ability. The problem lies in the teaching method, that is, solely adopting the Grammar Translation Method; the teaching model, only the “teacher-centered” teaching model is adopted for teaching, thus students do not have enough opportunities to practice spoken English; moreover, the teaching materials lack authenticity, practicality and content of target culture.

These three problems were explored as three themes in this field project and provided a unit plan on how to improve these problems. This …

Decolonizing The Brazilian Efl Classroom: Creating Space For Afro-Brazilian Students Of English, Robyn Diane Mosely

Master's Projects and Capstones

ABSTRACT

Afro-Brazilians constitute the majority of Brazil’s total population. When compared to White Brazilians, Afro-Brazilians are more than twice as likely to live in abject poverty. These striking disparities have significant implications for this community and the socioeconomic well-being of the entire country. Securing access to quality secondary education is imperative for the Black communities of Brazil to ascend out of poverty and hardship.

Completing a foreign language program, typically English, followed by successfully passing a rigorous competency exam, is a prerequisite to obtaining a postsecondary degree in Brazil's university system. This assessment can present a dilemma for Black Brazilians …

Navigating Acculturative Stress: A Guide For Supporting Newcomer Students In California Esl Classrooms, Daniela Lopera Ruiz

Master's Projects and Capstones

Acculturation has been widely studied as a post-migration phenomenon that individuals face when coming in contact with their new recipient culture and environment. The different experiences, tasks, and requirements that newcomers must endure upon arrival may lead to their suffering prolonged periods of discomfort. This moderate, intermediate, or acute feeling of uneasiness is defined as acculturative stress. In it, the continued exposure to stressors such as adjusting to a new culture, rules, behavioral patterns, a second language, finding housing, and obtaining an education and employment can lead to trauma. This field project has been designed to provide educators and allies …

Interactive And Engaging Virtual/Online English Classes: Fostering Teaching And Social Presence, Merve Beyazit Taner

Master's Projects and Capstones

The COVID-19 pandemic brought many challenges to the education field. Due to the enforced immediate transition from in-person to online teaching, teachers, policymakers, administrators, and students had difficulty adapting themselves. Nearly three years since the pandemic began, it is clear that English language teachers have improved their digital literacy skills to sustain effective teaching. However, more than digital literacy skills are required to build community in the online learning environment. The claim for the literature review is that fostering interaction and creating presence, especially high levels of social and teaching presence, may contribute to academic achievement in online English learning. …

Enculturation For International Students In Online Classroom, Xiaohan Liang

Master's Projects and Capstones

This field project addresses the challenges that faced by international students who especially having online classes through an easily-accessed guidebook and the theme of which is sports. The guidebook developed for this field project included a brief literature review on the challenges faced by new international students and the effectiveness of participation in sports on enculturation. The guidebook may contribute to the gap of ways to adaptation for international students when they are having online classes by providing ample exercises, useful tips and appeal face validity that are easily accessible to students and teachers.

Addressing Culturally Congruent Care Amongst African Americans In Skilled Nursing Facility: A Systematic Review, Adekemi T. Adedipe

DNP Qualifying Manuscripts

Introduction: Healthcare disparities and mistrust of the healthcare system discourage African Americans from seeking mental health services. Healthcare providers face challenges delivering culturally appropriate care. Examining current cultural practices can inform the education needed for healthcare providers to understand cultural care and awareness. This review aimed to identify evidence available to understand the impact of a cultural training on healthcare providers in skilled nursing facilities.

Methods: APA PsycINFO, CINAHL, and PubMed, were searched for English-language studies published between January 2016 and January 2022. Healthcare cultural competency training

in any aspect of cultural care was considered. Outcomes of interest included changes …

Remembering The Bracero Program: Decolonizing Community Spaces & Expanding Migrant Representation In Children’S Literature, Ariadna Santoyo Zarate

Master's Projects and Capstones

This applied project explores the history of Bracero workers in the United States. This history of Braceros serves the purpose of deepening immigrant farm working communities’ understanding of who they are. This research study aims to expand narratives of the migrant experience by highlighting the Bracero program and addressing the lack of diverse representation in children’s books. This research gathers the personal experiences of Braceros through the book ‘OUR GRANDFATHERS WERE BRACEROS AND WE TOO’ by Abel Astorga Morales & Rosa Martha Zarate Macias and explores articles teaching us about decolonizing frameworks and indigenous ideologies. I’m writing a book that …

The Experiences Of International Graduate Students From Latin America In Their Transition Of Graduating And Finding A Job In The United States, Natalia Hernandez, Natalia Hernandez

Master's Theses

The purpose of this thesis project is to conduct a qualitative phenomenological study to understand the lived experiences of international graduate students from Latin America in the United States as they transition from their studies to finding a full-time job in the United States. The most common themes mentioned in the different sections of the interviews were: the different dynamics in their identity, the benefits, and limitations of their status in the American context, and how their professional development and economy are impacted while being international graduate students from Latin America. Student service departments such as the Career Service department, …

Are School Districts Supporting Queer High School Students? A Document Analysis Of Sacramento School District Handbooks And Websites, Jisel Suguey Aguirre Noriega

Master's Theses

Queer youth face many obstacles and challenges, including unsafe conditions while in school and a lack of inclusive curriculum. Queer Theory, which disrupts and challenges the norms and heteronormativity of our current systematic, norm-based systems, helps us imagine what schools might look like if they support LGBTQIA+ youth.Using content analysis, I created my own protocols to analyze the handbooks and websites of three Sacramento area school districts. The findings indicated that all three school districts are providing some essential information in their handbooks and in their district websites for supporting Queer youth. There is still much work to be done …

My Generation Will Never Forget: Oral Histories Of Chinese American Students In “Separate But Equal” Oriental Schools, Kelsey Owyang

Master's Theses

Asian Americans occupy a contradictory position in the American educational landscape, at once glorified for their academic success and vilified for their “invasion” of White academic spaces. This narrative first took root in the 19^th century, when the California Supreme Court ruled in the 1885 case Tape v. Hurley that Chinese American youth had a right to public education. Simultaneously, the state legislature declared that Chinese Americans must be educated in separate facilities from Whites. The first segregated “Oriental school” opened in San Francisco Chinatown that year. This study explores the oft-erased history of Asian American school segregation in …

Runaman Tukuy: Language Revitalization Strategies For Runasimi Heritage Learners, Allison B. Bejar

Master's Projects and Capstones

The legacies of colonization remain a pervasive force in society and actively work against Indigenous communities and their right to their languages, knowledge systems, and cultural practices. More specifically, the colonial legacy of linguicide has endangered and marginalized thousands of Indigenous languages all over the world. This field project focuses on Quechua language revitalization and aims to better understand and contribute to Indigenous language and identity scholarship. This field project is informed by a brief qualitative study through participant interviews with six Quechua heritage learners and educators. The study explores the limitations and possibilities of formal Quechua language learning, reiterates …

Teaching American English Pronunciation In A Spanish Speaking Context: A Guide For Efl Teachers In Chile, Martin P. Quarto

Master's Projects and Capstones

This field project addresses the lack of education surrounding pronunciation teaching, and it specifically responds to the opportunities available within English as a Foreign Language settings. This project is especially relevant to English language teachers who would like to study pronunciation teaching and its history. The objective of this research is to inform educators of the validity of teaching pronunciation and to teach educators effective strategies that can be used. Theories of Contrastive Analysis and Error Analysis form the foundation of this project, as well as theories of Interlanguage and Markedness. The literature review includes extensive research into the subject …

Understanding The Perspectives, Practices, And Expectations Of Korean American Parents Toward The Heritage Language Education Of Their Children, Yunhee Choi

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative study, conducted with parents of a Bay Area Korean school, was to explore how Korean American parents perceive, practice, and expect from the heritage language education of their children. The parents shared their experiences as Korean immigrants in raising their children in two languages. First, a survey was distributed and collected to apprehend the demographics of 24 Korean American parents in a West Coast metropolitan area who sent their children to a Korean heritage language school on weekends. Then one-on-one in-depth interviews were conducted with seven of these parents. Seven themes emerged from the data: …

Voces Of Little Michoacan: A Collective Narrative Of Resistance And Preservation Of Home, Ana Angel Avendaño

Doctoral Dissertations

This empirical study captured the ongoing community organizing, led primarily by Chicanas and young people in a Latinx community in the San Francisco Bay Area. This community has experienced historic neglect, inequities, gentrification, and economic displacement. Through muxersita portraiture, a critical qualitative methodology, with young people as co-researchers, this study captures the collective narrative of the community of North Fair Oaks through platicas, encuentros y acción. In the process, this collective narrative disrupts the negative impact of gentrification by providing a historical context of the contributions of Latinx in North Fair Oaks. This study uses a critical coraje framework; a …

Using Peer Review To Improve English As A Second Language College Students' Writing Scores, Mengjie Wei

Doctoral Dissertations

This study was conducted to examine the effectiveness of peer-review in college English as Second Language writing classes to improve ESL students’ writing scores. It also investigated a statistically significant difference in college ESL students’ writing scores between those who use the self-check list and peer review worksheet and those who only use the self-check list in writing paragraphs and essays. More specifically, this study was conducted to determine the influence of different areas on students’ English writing scores, i.e., format/content/structure, grammar, vocabulary, and spelling. In addition, this study explored students’ attitudes and opinions on peer-review in writing class.

This …

The Collegiate Black Space: Black College Students’ Use Of New Counter-Spaces For Support, Knowledge Production, And Organizing For Activism, Heather Streets

Doctoral Dissertations

Black collegians who attend historically white institutions continue to struggle with racism, microaggressions, feelings of alienation, minimal or improper advising, and an undue pressure to prove themselves (Bonner, 2010; Feagin & Sikes, 1995; Strayhorn, 2010). These barriers to success result in part due to a lack of support from the colleges and universities that they attend (Allen, 1992; Parker, Puig, Johnson & Anthony, Jr., 2016). With institutional benefits designed to benefit white students over students of color, Black students must find their own alternatives for collaboration and to provide support for their peers.

Many Black spaces can be defined as …