Education Commons^™

L1 Literacy And Its Implications For Leslla Immigrant Women In Canada, Theresa Wall

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative study addresses two questions related to access to social services for adult newcomers with limited L1 print literacy skills: First, what barriers do LESLLA clients experience to accessing social services and to settlement? Second, what resources are they employing in order to access these services? Five LESLLA learners, a LESLLA instructor and a settlement counselor were interviewed about barriers and enablers to accessing social services where a disconnect between assumed and actual print-literacy skills exists. Participants also discussed work-arounds for accessing those services. While LESLLA participants reporting greater length of residency also described increased cultural capital, all LESLLA …

How To Integrate Vocabulary In A Fourth Grade Classroom Of English Language Learners To Accelerate Reading Achievement, Randi Kay Weiland

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

English language learners are prevalent in modern American schools, yet educators are often still grappling with how to best teach these unique students. Unsurprisingly, vocabulary plays a fundamental role in reading comprehension. This capstone presents the existing research on the foundational relationship between vocabulary and reading comprehension as well as effective vocabulary instruction for English language learners. The research was then used to design a vocabulary curriculum for a fourth grade thematic literacy unit on Mexican Heritage. The curriculum focuses on four major aspects of vocabulary instruction: 1) the direct instruction of Tier II words, as defined by Isabel Beck; …

Aspect Comprehension And Processing In Narratives By Native Spanish Speakers, Hannah Riddle

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

Aspect is fundamental to expressing time and sequence of events in narratives. In second language acquisition literature little is known about how English aspect is comprehended. This study manipulates aspect in narratives and compares comprehension of Spanish speakers to English and Arabic speakers. English and Spanish have morphosyntactic aspect, Arabic does not. This study examines aspect comprehension in 18 native Spanish speakers, using 16 narratives to capture moment-to-moment and off-line processing. Results show that Spanish speakers comprehend aspect more like English speakers in the moment-to-moment processing, where Arabic speakers do not. Spanish speakers did not comprehend aspect like English speakers …

Levels Of Development Among Saudi Arabian Students Studying At An American University, Drew Boatman

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to understand Saudi students’ level of epistemological development and the extent to which intellectual development was connected with factors of academic success. The Measure of Epistemological Reflection was used to allow seven students to expound on their view of the roles instructors, peers and others play in the pursuit of knowledge and the truth. Using William Perry’s intellectual and ethical development theoretical framework, students were assigned to domains of development and their written answers were used to create holistic narrative pictures representative of how they individually view truth and knowledge. The researcher finds connections …

Introducing Non-El Teachers To Visual Learning Strategies For Beginning English Learners: A Proposal For Workshop Study, Jillian Magnusson

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

The research questions addressed in this project were, how can a professional development session be created to help make non-EL teachers more aware of visual learning strategies intended to offer comprehensible input for English Learners? How can the materials within the workshop be adaptable and relevant to teachers with low levels of experience in working with English Learners? This project documents the exploration of non-EL teachers’ lack of professional development in regards to supporting best strategies for English Learners in order to create workshop materials for a future training in the public school district where I work. I began by …

Indirect Requests: A Comparative Study Of Explicit-Deductive And Explicit-Inductive Instruction Methods, Nicholas J. Reishus

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

This study compared the effects of explicit-deductive and explicit-inductive instruction methods on the participants’ request types. Specifically, the researcher explored the following questions:

how Chinese university students’ English request types are affected by a ninety-minute explicit- deductive treatment or a ninety-minute explicit-inductive treatment; which request types are

most frequently used prior to the treatments; which request types are most frequently used following the treatment; and how do the request type frequencies differ between the two treatment groups. The participants were undergraduate and graduate students from an urban university in China. Discourse Completion Tests (DCTs) were used to gather data from …

Using A Functional Language Approach To Modifiy Guided Reading For English Langauge [Sic] Learners, Kristen A. Young

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

The first research question addressed in this study was, how can one modify the standard methods of teaching guided reading to better meet the language needs of non-native speakers? The second question was, what adjustments need to be made to include the teaching of academic language functions with guided reading instruction? This study documents the teacher’s exploration of the most effective strategies for teaching English learners (ELs) to learn the language needed to accelerate reading levels. The author uses the Modified Guided Reading for ELs lesson model produced in the work by Avalos, Plasencia Chaves and Rascon, and combines it …

Teaching Academic Language And Prosody Through Content-Related Collocations, Nell Duffy Hernandez

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

My research seeks to answer the questions How can students gauge their own prosody of targeted collocations?, What feedback and strategies can content teachers use to aid students? and Can a holistic rubric aid students’ learning to produce academic collocations?. To answer these questions I designed a study given to six sixth grade level four and five English language learners (ELs). Eight academic collocations were chosen from the students’ social studies textbook as the targeted language. The research examined the ELs’ language use using a holistic speaking and writing rubric designed for teacher assessment and a student self-monitoring sheet. The …

Small Group Explicit Academic Vocabulary Instruction For Kindergarten English Language Learners, Mara Verstraete

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the impact of small group explicit vocabulary instruction on kindergarten ELs’ receptive and expressive knowledge of selected academic vocabulary. Key influences include research by Beck, McKeown, and Silverman. The research consisted of a mixed-methods quasi-experimental approach. Data was collected through a pretest, posttest, checklists and a teacher observation journal. The main findings suggest that small group explicit vocabulary instruction is a more effective way to increase academic word meaning knowledge rather than embedded vocabulary instruction alone. The results from the study also show that modeling and prompting were often required for students to correctly respond to the …

Grammatical Acquisition Of Present And Past Tense Verb Forms In A Communicative Setting, Katherine N. Nelson

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

The research question addressed in this project was, “Does the communicative approach to teaching language increase 5th grade English Learners’ proficiency in their grammar acquisition of present and past tense verb conjugation?” This study looked at ELs’ challenge in conjugating present to past tense verbs and the subsequent effect on their ability to comprehend age-level literature, to create comprehensible original written works, and to perform well on high stakes testing. Research is reviewed in the areas of communicative language teaching (CLT), fifth grade grammar proficiency, grammar acquisition, and correct verb tense conjugation. Communicative language teaching is hallmarked by the understanding …

Esl International Students’ Perceptions Of Their Academic Readiness For Us Higher Education, Jaclyn Combs

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine English as a second language (ESL) international students’ perceptions on how prepared they felt they were for academic culture and classroom expectations at their higher education institution in the United States. A mixed-methods approach was employed using an in-depth quantitative survey and qualitative interviews. Findings suggest that even if ESL international students satisfy English language proficiency admissions requirements, they still need ongoing English language support, academic literacy development, and a clearer understanding of workload expectations in order to complete their studies successfully. Implications for future research include inspecting the role of US …

Cultural Hybridity: A Case Study On Hmong Teen Identity, Kao Moua Her

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

The research design attempted to examine racial and ethnic identities’ construction in adolescent Hmong girls by addressing two critical questions: (1) How do adolescent Hmong girls construct their own racial and ethnic identities within the Hmong and dominant White cultures? and (2) How does exposure to Hmong women of influence impact their racial and ethnic identities? In order to gain a comprehensive perspective of how adolescent Hmong girls construct their identities, multiple assessment tools such as the Multidimensional Inventory of Hmong Identity and pre- and post interviews were implemented to collect reliable and valid information so that answers to the …

Esp For Ecotourism: Discourse Skills, Technology, And Collaboration For Job Contexts, Jill King

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

This capstone’s primary aim was to design a companion instructional guide for teachers of English for Specific Purposes for ecotourism professionals in Mexico. It identified gaps left by traditional EFL courses that tend to lack strong connections between language instruction and real-world job requirements for English usage. It looked at curricular reform efforts in other world regions with the intention to innovate ESP instruction in Mexico. Findings include recommendations for student-centered curricula that incorporate multimodal learning activities and authentic contexts for tourism jobs. Multiliteracies pedagogy drove the creation of the instructional guide’s components, which provide support in conducting small-group projects …

Texts In Reading Intervention Programs: Are They Culturally Representative Of English Learner Populations?, Lisa N. Marquardt

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

In this study, a total of 52 reading intervention texts were examined for cultural representation and authenticity; the texts under analysis were from Fountas and Pinnell’s Leveled Literacy Intervention and Hasselbring’s Read 180. There were four major, interrelated research questions addressed by this work, two of which dealt with cultural representation in the texts and the extent to which they aligned to the regional population and national publishing statistics. The second set of research questions addressed the level of cultural authenticity through a comparative analysis of each program’s texts. The author concludes that, in this sample of texts, Read 180 …

Developing Academic Language In The Context Of A Fourth Grade Mathematics Geometry Curriculum Unit, Rachel J. Pazandak

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

The research question addressed in this capstone project was: How can a mathematics geometry curriculum unit be organized to support and develop academic language for fourth grade students through meaningful engagement strategies? The author reviewed literature in the areas of English as a Second Language and mathematics and synthesized best practice methods for teaching common to the two disciplines. The author found that explicit teaching, practice, and support of academic language is vital and beneficial for linguistically diverse learners, with attention to word, sentence, and discourse dimensions. Mathematics is rich in language, particularly when lessons are structured to allow students …

Malp® In The Classroom With A Focus On New Activities For Learning To Improve Linguistic Complexity In Writing For English Learners Seventh-Grade Students, Jehan Hanna Rehayem

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

This study was conducted to answer the following question: Can MALP® help raise the ELP of our EL students in writing by focusing on new activities for learning to improve linguistic complexity? Based on the existing literature, I designed my study to incorporate tried strategies pertaining to the implementation of MALP® in Writing with a focus on linguistic complexity in the classroom. I carefully documented my students’ progress using established assessments. At the end of five months, more than fifty percent of my students rose to the next level on the ELP rubric for Writing, a much more promising progress …

Guided Reading For Beginning English Learners In The First Grade Classroom, Alexis L. Lundberg

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to examine how guided reading can support beginning English learners (ELs) in the first grade classroom. Three first grade English learners were observed in twelve guided reading sessions and their observation survey results were analyzed. This is a mixed methods study conducted in a mainstream classroom. Data collected for this study consisted of observation survey results from the fall, winter, and spring, three video recorded guided reading lessons which were assessed using a rubric, and an electronic teacher observation journal. The primary finding of this study is that when guided reading is modified to …

Valuing Multilingualism: Differences In Perceptions Of Students In World Language Classes Versus Students In Esl, Kazusa Yamashita

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

With globalization, the need and benefits of multilingualism become increasingly clear (Diamond, 2010). This study aims to identify how multilingualism is valued in a school by comparing the teachers’ perceptions of students taking world language classes versus those taking ESL classes. By understanding the perceptions of teachers towards students engaged in becoming multilingual, the study provides information on how multilingualism is perceived by the school community. Students taking world language classes are praised for their language acquisition but ELs are viewed with a deficit perspective, their potentials overshadowed. Even though the school overtly promotes multilingualism, ELs may be marginalized due …

Fourth Grade Curriculum To Increase Literacy Achievement In Ell Students, Shannon Baker

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

This curriculum project answered the question: How can I make the Units of Study more accessible to English Language Learners by incorporating balanced literacy techniques? The author incorporated ideas from best practices in literacy, and combined them with best practices for ELL students to create a curriculum unit. The unit is comprised of ten lessons. It includes graphic organizers and best practice ideas for ELL students. In this paper the author describes the research involved in creating this unit. She also discusses limitations, implications, and ideas for future research.

An Investigation Into The Allophonic Split Of /B/ And /P/: Is There A Relationship Between Noticing And Pronunciation For Adult Somali Els?, Amy Christine Carruthers

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

My study sought explore the relationship between an adult Somali EL’s ability to notice the difference between the allophonic split of /b/ and /p/ in two-letter syllable minimal pairs and each participant’s ability to pronounce the same minimal pairs. I also explored whether the use of color photos in targeted pronunciation instruction was significant in improving noticing and pronunciation ability. I conducted a quasi-experimental study using the framework of Schmidt’s noticing theory, and his definition of focal awareness, in a one-time session with two treatment groups; one group utilized the independent variable, color photos of minimal pairs. I conducted a …

English Learners’ Oral Production Of Math Vocabulary In A Play-Infused Kindergarten Classroom, Meagan Reissy

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

Research indicates that ELs’ vocabulary knowledge is an important basis for building communication skills in a second language, as well as a strong predictor of later academic skills. High quality vocabulary instruction is crucial and the literature emphasizes direct instruction techniques with words that are intentionally selected (Anderson & Nagy, 1993; Christ, 2007; Silverman & Crandell, 2010). However, little research has been done in kindergarten classrooms that teach through a play-based curriculum which avoids extensive amounts of direct instruction. This qualitative casestudy of two ELs in a kindergarten classroom using the Angry Birds Playground (ABP) framework to guide curriculum and …

Culturally Responsive Grammar: Utilizing Contrastive Grammar Analysis To Support Knowledge Of Modern Dialects In The High School Classroom, Katie Corrigan

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

Varying dialects are spoken depending on the speaker’s location and community. While each one of these dialects has very clear patterns and rules, only one dialect, Standard American English, is regarded as “correct grammar” according to academic and professional associations. For this reason, students learn the rules of Standard American English in school. However, this practice leaves students who speak other dialects at a significant disadvantage. This capstone addresses this dichotomy by providing curriculum that includes grammar instruction using a contrastive approach. Students are simultaneously taught grammatical rules in both Standard American English and African American Vernacular English in order …

Teaching Listening For Prominence In Combination With Reading To Help Students Determine New Information, Margaret Genereux

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to assess whether teaching adult English Language Learners (ELLs) to listen for new information spoken with prominence on the target new information increased their ability to make inferences about meaning. Data collected included: a pre and post-test to assess students’ learning during the intervention; an uptake sheet to solicit students’ self-perception of their learning about pronunciation and placement of new information; and a Likert scale to elicit participants’ self-assessment of their ability to identify and use prominence. While results of the post-test on selecting the correct inference were inconclusive, quantitative and qualitative data indicated …

Sfl In The Secondary Classroom: Writing Procedural Recounts To Describe Thinking When Solving Algebraic Equations, Theresa Brunker

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

The research questions addressed in this classroom study were, after explicit instruction, do students choose language structures inherent to procedural recounts, such as technical verb processes, precise nouns, sequence words and causal phrases to describe their mathematical thinking? Additionally, do student self-perceptions of their mathematical abilities change after learning to write procedural recounts to describe their thinking processes? This study examined the use of these language structures prior to explicit instruction in writing procedural recounts and compared it to post-intervention writing samples. The author documents the use of these writing structures by participants before and after intervention and finds relational …

How Mindsets Matter: Second Grade, English Language Learners’ Reportings Of Their Experiences With A Growth Mindset Curriculum In Colombia, Amanda Brooks

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative, classroom action research was conducted in a private bilingual school in Colombia with seventeen participants. The research questions were: 1) How do second-grade Colombian English language learners report changes to their Growth Mindset qualities following a six-week Growth Mindset intervention? and 2) How do second-grade Colombian English language learners perceive their language learning ability following a self-evaluation of Growth Mindset qualities? The research fills a gap in existing literature on three similar topics: Growth Mindset and academic achievement for adolescents and adults, conditional self-worth for children six and younger, and attribution theory and language learning for adolescents. One …

Discovering Conceptual Metaphors In High School Biology To Instruct English Language Learners, Nancy R. Mccurdy

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

An investigation was completed to identify and define abstraction that occurs within abstract nouns in biology terminology in the Mississippi high school biology subject area practice test in order to determine conceptual language patterns in biology terms to teach to high school English Learners. The conceptual metaphors that dominate biology concepts in major scientific theories of the text exemplar examined are ORGANISMS ARE MACHINES, ECOSYSTEMS ARE COMMUNITIES, DNA IS A TEMPLATE, and DESIRED TRAITS ARE VALUABLE. The most prevalent common conceptual metaphors found within abstract nouns in biology of the text examined are MATTER IS A STRUCTURE, PROCESS IS A …

Mathematics Vocabulary: Teaching Tier 3 Language Of Math Fractions To English Learners, Emily Grove

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

This capstone sought to research vocabulary instruction techniques and strategies in the upper elementary classroom. The need for specific instruction and activities was identified and described. Several relevant sources were cited including August, Calderòn and Beck, resources and techniques used traditionally in the language arts classroom were also applied to the mathematics classroom. A curriculum addendum was created and described in detail. This curriculum and approach to teaching mathematical vocabulary terms in the 4th grade fractions unit can be altered to different vocabulary terms for other units of instruction outside of the mathematics classroom. Strategies and techniques described include interactive …

Interactive Videos As A Vocabulary Pre-Teaching Tool In Middle School Science, Kimberly Severson

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of interactive video instruction to teacher-led direct instruction for pre-teaching science vocabulary to newcomer middle school ELs. The second phase of the experiment utilized interactive videos to pre-teach science vocabulary in a flipped learning environment. This study was influenced by vocabulary experts Beck, McKeown, and Kucan, as well as R. E. Mayer, multimedia learning expert. Data collection included pre-tests and post-tests of expressive and receptive vocabulary knowledge, as well as a student survey to determine ease of use, students’ perceived learning and satisfaction with the type of instruction. Results from …

How Does Goal Setting Impact Intrinsic Motivation And Does It Help Lead To Enhanced Learning At The Kindergarten Level?, Melissa A. Beal

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

The research question addressed in this project was, how does goal setting impact intrinsic motivation and does it help lead to enhanced learning at the kindergarten level? It documents one teacher’s creation of letter identification pre and post-tests along with check points in between the pre and post-tests. She utilized student graphing charts to document student progress. It integrates Frank’s seven-step process on how to set a goal for yourself. It also discusses Locke’s theories for goal setting and Deci & Ryan’s SelfDetermination Theory. The author documents results collected based on the different tests to help validate the study. She …

Cross-Cultural Implications Of Silence Between Adult Somali English Students And A United States Teacher, Erin Head

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

This study explores the multiple meanings and uses of silence with respect to the Somali culture and the cross-cultural implications of silence between a United States teacher and the Somali English language learner (ELL). The findings can enhance teachers’ cultural understanding of silence as a form of communication used by English learners native to Somalia in a beginning — intermediate ELL classroom. Three overarching trends were found through inductive analysis of data collected through a modified Communication Observation Language Tool and open-ended interviews. These trends include: silence as a means for organizing and upholding social norms; silence as a space …