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Training English Language Teachers To Help Adult General English Students With Complex Noun Phrases For Business Writing, Christina Cipriani
Training English Language Teachers To Help Adult General English Students With Complex Noun Phrases For Business Writing, Christina Cipriani
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
An overwhelming number of English Learners (ELs) are motivated to learn English because it can act as a tool to help them achieve career success. However, textbooks, which form the backbone of many General English (GE) courses, do not provide enough information in a number of areas related to success at work. Notably, few textbooks offer models for the language needed in job searching, including complex noun phrases. Since textbooks are not providing this material, teachers have to fill that gap themselves. In order to help teachers fulfill this task, my capstone project investigates the following research question: “How can …
Maximizing The Effectiveness Of Peer Interaction In The English-Language Classroom, Benjamin Kahn
Maximizing The Effectiveness Of Peer Interaction In The English-Language Classroom, Benjamin Kahn
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
The research question addressed in this capstone project is the following: How can teachers maximize the effectiveness of peer-to-peer interactions in an English Language classroom at the secondary or post-secondary level? The paper documents this practitioner’s exploration of the research literature on peer interaction to discover what makes for high quality peer interactions and how various teacher-controlled practices can affect interaction quality. This document also follows the creation of a professional development presentation intended for English-language teachers to help familiarize them with the field’s current understanding of peer interaction and possible best practices in their classrooms. The topics of focus …
Adult Immigrant English Learners’ Perceptions Of Their Multilingual And Multicultural Identities, Greta Mcelvain
Adult Immigrant English Learners’ Perceptions Of Their Multilingual And Multicultural Identities, Greta Mcelvain
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations
Adult immigrant English learners (ELs) must navigate living in a new country while also learning a new language. These immigrants are becoming both multicultural and multilingual. It has been established in prior literature that as immigrants adjust to living in a new culture with a different language, they experience both a language (Wardhaugh & Fuller, 2015) and cultural (Gibson, 2001, as cited in Schwartz, 2006, p. 2) shift. These shifts can sometimes result in immigrants losing connection to their first languages (Zhang, 2010) or their home cultures Gu and Lai (2019). Self-reflection activities have been shown to allow individuals to …
Supporting Kindergarten Multilingual Learners During Morning Meeting, Tamara Tripp
Supporting Kindergarten Multilingual Learners During Morning Meeting, Tamara Tripp
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
The guiding question of this capstone project is: “How can kindergarten classroom teachers support Multilingual Learners during Morning Meeting to improve their ability to engage and communicate with classmates?” Morning Meeting is a daily classroom time that supports the building of a shared classroom community. Students are seen and heard as they share about themselves and learn about their peers. Research has demonstrated the need for students to make connections with their classmates in order to feel safe taking academic risks. Multilingual learners in kindergarten classrooms can struggle to make social connections and actively engage in learning when they are …
English Learner Families, Rural County Public Libraries, And Rural Public Elementary Schools, Carmel Murphy
English Learner Families, Rural County Public Libraries, And Rural Public Elementary Schools, Carmel Murphy
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations
English Learner families in rural areas have unique experiences in accessing bilingual materials in home languages for literacy learning. This research focused on gathering the perceptions of parents of elementary school ELs regarding the barriers that impede collaboration between public elementary schools and county public libraries for improving the literacy of ELs in rural communities. This qualitative research followed a grounded theory process and community-based research from data collection via interviews with parents of ELs, rural public elementary school educators, and rural county public librarians. Seven participants from Central Minnesota included two bilingual parents of ELs, three educators, and two …
Supporting Upper Elementary Newcomer Students In The Areas Of Speaking And Writing, Amy Brown
Supporting Upper Elementary Newcomer Students In The Areas Of Speaking And Writing, Amy Brown
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
Multilingual students, especially those who are new-to-the-country, need access to language rich curriculum that meets their unique needs. There is not a one-size-fits-all approach on the best way to meet these needs and a lack of age-appropriate material led to the research question: “How can teachers best provide writing and speaking opportunities for upper elementary newcomer multilingual students in a content classroom?” A push to have language learners in the content classroom as much as possible regardless of English proficiency and grade level were driving factors in the creation of this fourth grade language arts curriculum project. This curriculum is …
Students With Interrupted Formal Education: A Toolbox For Instruction, Mary Palmer
Students With Interrupted Formal Education: A Toolbox For Instruction, Mary Palmer
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
The research question addressed in this capstone project is: What are best practices for schools to support students with interrupted schooling? This paper and three-session professional development series showcase ways that content teachers can help facilitate learning for a growing multilingual learner population, students with limited formal education (SIFE). Within the professional development series, there will be three strategies that are highlighted including: Culturally Relevant Teaching, using aspects and background knowledge from a student’s own lived experience to facilitate knowledge acquisition; Mutually Adaptive Learning Paradigm which bridges the skills that students with limited formal education come to classrooms with to …
The Science Of Reading For English Learners, Allison Hanson
The Science Of Reading For English Learners, Allison Hanson
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
In recent years, a movement of researchers, educators, and parents promoting the science of reading has been reigniting the so-called “reading wars.” This movement has pointed out the ways in which typical balanced literacy practices do not reflect research on how students learn to read, especially in the acquisition of word recognition skills. However, the current debate is sometimes ignoring the unique needs of a rapidly growing segment of the U.S. student population: English Learners (ELs) and other multilingual students. This capstone project addresses the question: How does the science of reading inform reading instruction for ELs within a balanced …
Subverting The Academic Language Hegemony: Implementing Language Architecture And Similar Pedagogies, Viviana Chavez Garcia
Subverting The Academic Language Hegemony: Implementing Language Architecture And Similar Pedagogies, Viviana Chavez Garcia
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
The field of English language teaching is continually evolving in order for teachers to best serve the students. The field’s connected history with colonization and racism must be acknowledged in order to confront the reasons why academic English is valued higher than all other forms of English and other languages. Under the current framework, teachers are asking multilingual students to change their language in order to reverse their own oppression. According to language architecture, the languages that students bring to class are already sufficiently cognitively sophisticated to achieve content standards and participate in academic activities. This is where the foundation …
Classroom Questions: How Mainstream Elementary Teachers Use Questions To Support Achievement For English Language Learners, Holly Wandersee
Classroom Questions: How Mainstream Elementary Teachers Use Questions To Support Achievement For English Language Learners, Holly Wandersee
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations
This small-scale study of an elementary classroom was designed to better understand the research question How do mainstream elementary teachers use questions in their instruction of ELLs? The goal of this study was to explore how one elementary teacher used questions in the classroom, how her class responded to the questions, and how she supported her learners along the way. A detailed literature review explored research that has already been conducted related to teacher questions and ELLs, and it included information about the following topics: second language acquisition, classroom questions in both the ESL/EFL classroom and the mainstream classroom, and …
Applying Multiple Intelligences Theory In Esl/Efl Classrooms, Shirin Soltani
Applying Multiple Intelligences Theory In Esl/Efl Classrooms, Shirin Soltani
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
The purpose of this project was to create a unit on activities that were inspired by multiple intelligences theory to help English Learners (ELs) develop their language proficiency. The questions explored in this capstone project were: How can language learners develop their multiple intelligences to become proficient language learners through classroom activities? What are ways to create a curriculum that includes both the traditional foundations of language teaching and multiple intelligences theory? I learned English as a foreign language through rote learning. During my teaching experience, I realized that not all ELs learn English the same way and they have …
Best Practices Using Pair Work For English Language Learners, Olivia Meyer
Best Practices Using Pair Work For English Language Learners, Olivia Meyer
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
This project examined English Language (EL) learners and pair work in order to improve English skills and proficiency, answering the question: What are the best ways to use pair work to assist EL students in making English proficiency gains? There are many sources that show that collaboration and in particular, pair collaboration, supports language learning for all ages. One reason for this may be because language learning is most successful when there is plenty of feedback and interaction, creating plenty of opportunities to practice language skills. The project led to creation of a professional development course for educators that teaches …
A Curriculum Resource For Teachers Of Low-Level Adult English Learners: Incorporating Digital Literacy Skills, Jennifer Sorlie
A Curriculum Resource For Teachers Of Low-Level Adult English Learners: Incorporating Digital Literacy Skills, Jennifer Sorlie
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
The use of technology in the workforce and in academia is ever increasing. Given the events of the past two years, more and more individuals are turning to technology as a means to help them function in today’s world. There are many individuals who arrive from other countries to the United States for various reasons. One possible reason is learning English. However, what happens when you arrive to a country that uses technology daily in a prolonged manner and you have never had this experience? This is the case for many learners who enroll in adult education programs across the …
English Language Learners: Closing The Achievement Gap, Silyvanus Juma
English Language Learners: Closing The Achievement Gap, Silyvanus Juma
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
The purpose of this research is to investigate the best practices and effective teaching strategies that teachers and other educators can use with English Language Learners (ELLs) to close the achievement gap. The research intends to illustrate that English language proficiency requirements should not in any way be a barrier to the academic performance and achievement of English Language Learners. ELLs are continuously lagging behind their native English speaking peers academically. Various reports indicate that ELLs continue to under-perform in state tests, course grades, and college placements tests. They face numerous challenges including lack of interaction with native speakers of …
Supporting Multilingual Learners In The Content Classroom Through Culturally And Linguistically Responsive Teaching Practices, Karen Martinez Tinajero
Supporting Multilingual Learners In The Content Classroom Through Culturally And Linguistically Responsive Teaching Practices, Karen Martinez Tinajero
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
Culturally and linguistically responsive teaching practices have been demonstrated to yield positive learning outcomes for multilingual learners. The curriculum designed for this project focuses on making direct use of the culturally and linguistically responsive guidelines, frameworks, and strategies as proposed by Zaretta Hammond, Sharroky Hollie, Sydney Snyder, and Diane Staehr Fenner in a secondary level history classroom for the purpose of maximizing learning opportunities for multilingual learners. This project involved creating a dynamic curriculum complete with teacher considerations to transform content learning through cultural and linguistic responsiveness. The curriculum will primarily be used in secondary social studies classrooms for multilingual …
Representation Of Cultures And Languages In Children’S Picture Books, Kristen Neff
Representation Of Cultures And Languages In Children’S Picture Books, Kristen Neff
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations
This study investigated cultural representation in children’s picture books located in classroom libraries. The literature review explored what is culture, the history of children’s books, what past studies have found on representation in books, and why this topic is important. The research methodology was a qualitative study that involved inventorying classroom teachers’ libraries, as well as interviews with teachers about diversity and their libraries. The results included each of the individual teachers’ libraries as well as all the libraries’ data together; data revealed that the majority of characters were animal or non-human characters. Additionally, most of the books in these …
A High School Economics Course Curriculum That Effectively Integrates Language And Content Instruction For English Learners, Jennifer Weddell
A High School Economics Course Curriculum That Effectively Integrates Language And Content Instruction For English Learners, Jennifer Weddell
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
While secondary English learners face barriers to learning across all content areas, social studies courses are especially linguistically complex, and have a high level of expected prior knowledge. In the author's experience as a high school EL teacher, economics is often a particularly challenging course for EL students. This prompted the research question: How can a high school economics curriculum be designed to help English learners gain a deep understanding of the course topics while improving their academic English proficiency? A review of the literature found that features of a sheltered instruction model will validate, engage, and benefit a diverse …
Helping High School English Learners Self-Regulate Their Writing Development Through Formative Assessments, Pamela Madsen
Helping High School English Learners Self-Regulate Their Writing Development Through Formative Assessments, Pamela Madsen
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
The goal of many educators is to prepare students for lifelong learning, yet something about the U.S. school system is having the opposite effect; while students begin their educational journey with curiosity and excitement, somewhere along the way, their thirst for knowledge is extinguished and replaced with the goal of just getting by. This is especially true for English learners who are often overwhelmed with the simultaneous learning of language and content and whose diverse backgrounds create diverse needs. Through exploring the theory of self-regulated learning, characteristics of effective formative assessment, and how best to meet the cultural and …
A Menu About Me: A Next Generation Science Standards Aligned 9-12 Life Science Curriculum Adapted For Students With Limited Or Interrupted Formal Education, Madeline Carras
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
In order to face the challenges of a rapidly changing world, it is imperative that thinkers with diverse backgrounds and perspectives are supported in the development of their scientific skills and voice. However, very few, if any, high school life science curricular resources are available that are specifically adapted with the assets and needs of students with limited or interrupted formal education (SLIFE) in mind. The widely adopted Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) are uniquely designed to center the learner’s authentic thought process and pre-existing funds of knowledge–a framework which also happens to be aligned with the strengths of SLIFE …
Increasing Student Engagement Of English Learners In Synchronous Online Settings, Pachia Vang
Increasing Student Engagement Of English Learners In Synchronous Online Settings, Pachia Vang
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
Increasing engagement has been an essential focal point in second language acquisition for English learners (ELs). However, further research is needed to comprehend precisely how to increase engagement of ELs during live video conferences, also known as synchronous online learning. This is especially prevalent after COVID-19 created a shift in learning, where K-12 teachers were forced to adjust their instruction to benefit from an online platform. Teachers and students had to use technology as a means of teaching and learning without proper planning for teaching online. The limited knowledge of how to instruct and engage English learners online during my …
“Use Your Teacher Voice”: How A Podcast Could Support Esol Teachers’ Voices In Advocacy, Veronica Green
“Use Your Teacher Voice”: How A Podcast Could Support Esol Teachers’ Voices In Advocacy, Veronica Green
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
It is clear from the current research that there is a lack of training at all levels for teachers that are advocating for ELLs and themselves. With the changing roles and needs of ESOL teachers working with marginalized EL communities, the push for co-teaching, and the emphasis on more collaboration, this project sets out to create a podcast in order to support listener learners in finding and amplifying their voices in advocacy. With a conceptual theoretical base, Bakhtinian Dialogisim, in conjunction with the chosen Chat Show genre in podcasting, these dialogues are ripe for participants to share their stories and …
Effective Reading Strategies For Multilingual Learners In The Mainstream Classroom, Megan Hebert
Effective Reading Strategies For Multilingual Learners In The Mainstream Classroom, Megan Hebert
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
This capstone project was designed to provide educational support for the literacy development of multilingual learners in the mainstream classroom. The guiding questions this project seeks to answer are: How can multilingual learners develop strong literacy skills within their mainstream classrooms? What strategies, resources, and instructional models best support them in this learning? These questions led to relevant literature that provided research in the areas of instructional model design, engagement strategies, home language scaffolds, and cultural considerations. Through these four key areas, educators will be able to grow in their ability to meet the needs of their multilingual learners and …
The Impact Of Language Attitudes On The Bilingual And Bicultural Self-Perceptions Of Fifth-Grade Latino Students, Abigail Winnes
The Impact Of Language Attitudes On The Bilingual And Bicultural Self-Perceptions Of Fifth-Grade Latino Students, Abigail Winnes
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations
This study investigated the impact of language attitudes on the bilingual and bicultural self-perceptions of fifth-grade Latino students. The research questions posed in this study included: 1) What are the language attitudes (specifically toward English, Spanish, and Spanish-English bilingualism) held by Spanish-speaking English learners in Fifth Grade? and 2) How do these attitudes interact with students’ developing bilingual and bicultural self-perceptions? The literature review includes research related to heritage language maintenance; societal attitudes toward minority languages and their speakers; Latino language attitudes; language attitudes in multilingual educational settings; and the development of bilingual and bicultural self-perceptions. Participants in this study …
Factors Of Persistence In Multilingual Abe Secondary Credential Participants, Sherry Smith
Factors Of Persistence In Multilingual Abe Secondary Credential Participants, Sherry Smith
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations
The research question addressed in this study is What factors contribute to multilinguals’ persistence in adult secondary credential programs? ABE participants in general have a high rate of stopping out of programs. For those trying to earn a secondary credential in a second language, the goal of earning a secondary credential may be more complex. There was little research focusing on this population of ABE participants with this goal. This mixed methods retrospective case study examines which factors supported the persistence of three multilingual participants in Adult Basic Education (ABE) who earned their GED®. The supports are categorized into individual, …
No “Pobrecito Student”: Translanguaging High-School Science For Academic Language Development, Agustina Borré
No “Pobrecito Student”: Translanguaging High-School Science For Academic Language Development, Agustina Borré
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations
Borré, A. (2022). No “Pobrecito Student”: Translanguaging High-School Science for Academic Language Development. The research questions addressed in this study were: what are the impacts of translanguaging on academic language development? And what are the challenges and successes in implementing translanguaging in highly culturally and linguistically diverse classrooms? Thus, the topics explored in the literature review range from research on academic language development and the teaching and learning of science in high school and the struggles and challenges English Language Learners (ELLs) face when learning then different content areas. The literature review also reveals some of the findings emerging from …
Integrating Translanguaging Into The Classroom: A Professional Development For Primary Elementary Teachers, Ashli Meyer
Integrating Translanguaging Into The Classroom: A Professional Development For Primary Elementary Teachers, Ashli Meyer
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
Research has shown that translanguaging strategies can positively benefit language learners inside schools today. The benefits of translanguaging strategies can be incorporated into the classroom daily. This project incorporates useful strategies and the benefits that are connected to translanguaging into a three session, professional development series for K-2 general educators. The series begins by introducing translanguaging and the benefits aligned with translanguaging along with benefits of bilingualism. Each session will also introduce a new translanguaging strategy that educators can introduce into their classrooms. The three strategies from the framework provided in the CUNY-NYSIEB guide include building a translanguaging classroom, content …
Teaching Pragmatic Suprasegmentals In The Adult Esl Classroom, Jordan Wooldridge
Teaching Pragmatic Suprasegmentals In The Adult Esl Classroom, Jordan Wooldridge
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
While many ESL teachers acknowledge that there is more to learning English than understanding letter sounds, grammar, and vocabulary, suprasegmental work still gets relatively little attention in most classrooms. The curriculum designed to address this need looks at how to create effective and engaging material in order to teach pragmatic suprasegmental features in the adult ESL classroom. It is designed to be delivered in 10-15 minute bi-weekly “mini-lessons” that draw on what students already know and incorporate visual, auditory, and kinesthetic components to engage all learning preferences. Drawing on the work of Celce-Murcia et al., (2010) the suprasegmental features that …
Key Aspects Needed For Creating A Successful Esl Program In The Workplace, Dianne Sandeen
Key Aspects Needed For Creating A Successful Esl Program In The Workplace, Dianne Sandeen
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
Businesses that employ low-skilled workers are looking for ways to increase retention, workplace engagement, and communication. However, many of their employees lack English skills. Workplace ESL education programs have been shown to increase employee satisfaction, engagement, and retention, but few businesses understand how to implement a workplace ESL program. This capstone project uses a professional development workshop to help businesses and educators understand how to implement a successful workplace ESL education program. It examines labor-exchange theory, human capital theory, and the theory of sense of community to understand how businesses can influence employee satisfaction, engagement, and retention by implementing a …
Maintaining And Retaining The Home Language While Learning English, Panhia Vang
Maintaining And Retaining The Home Language While Learning English, Panhia Vang
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
The Hmong are an Asian ethnic group that has been living in the United States for over 50 years now. Given the history of the Hmong, many Hmong parents have had no formal education or the highest education attainment they have is a high school diploma. Having little to no formal education, many parents do not know how to navigate the American school system to support their children with their academics. With the influence of American media and the school system, many Hmong American students are fluent in English, however, they are losing their cultural identity and home language. Despite …
The Decentering Of Native English Speaking Teachers In English As A Lingua Franca Contexts, Seamus Folliard
The Decentering Of Native English Speaking Teachers In English As A Lingua Franca Contexts, Seamus Folliard
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
English’s spread throughout the world has made it the most widely studied second language in the world and the de facto lingua franca. Though the purpose of a lingua franca is to allow speakers with varied native languages to have a common language to communicate with, there are historical and social factors such as colonialism and racism that have created inequities in the field between native English speaking teachers and their non-native English speaking teacher colleagues. This project aims to to present the conditions that led to inequities, address discriminatory practices in the field, and provide opportunities for newly minted …