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Full-Text Articles in Education
Teachers’ Perspectives On The Transition Of Dual Language Spanish Immersion Students To Middle School, Myriam Castro-Franco
Teachers’ Perspectives On The Transition Of Dual Language Spanish Immersion Students To Middle School, Myriam Castro-Franco
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations
How do Dual Language Immersion (DLI) educators envision a well-implemented program that supports their students’ transition from elementary DLI to middle school? This research is intended to amplify teachers’ voices in shaping elementary students’ transition to middle school. Results are focused on aligning teachers’ perspectives with the Guided Principles for Dual Language Instruction (Howard et al., 2018). Educators’ visions for a well-implemented immersion program can provide insight into the best ways to support students transitioning from elementary to middle school. This study intends to provide perspective into developing the program for a successful transition. This understanding can help inform policy, …
The Disappearing Of The Hmong Language, Choua Yang
The Disappearing Of The Hmong Language, Choua Yang
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
Within my personal and professional experience, I have observed that the Hmong oral language has declined since the Hmong people arrived in the United States. Over the past 50 years in the United States, there have been growing concerns regarding the decline in usage of the Hmong language within Hmong children. In my personal experience, my children who are second generation Hmong, only the five older children are bilingual while my three younger children only speak English. As for my seven grandchildren, who are third generation Hmong, they only speak English. They do not understand nor speak the Hmong language. …
Creating First Grade Math Learning Materials In The Chinese Immersion Learning Environment, Huishu Jia
Creating First Grade Math Learning Materials In The Chinese Immersion Learning Environment, Huishu Jia
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
Math is everywhere in people’s daily lives. It is also a universal subject taught everywhere. Research has demonstrated that math education includes many different components, the most essential mathematical skill for younger learners is to establish their number sense. Students’ math fluency will increase and will develop their math automaticity once they have strong number sense. According to studies, the Mandarin Chinese language helps students effectively master basic mathematical skills due to the uniqueness of the language, such as the pronunciation of each Chinese character, the “base ten” number system, etc. The project involved creating a pacing chart that aligns …
Chinese Immersion Cultural Teaching And The Use Of Authentic Materials, Li Cheng
Chinese Immersion Cultural Teaching And The Use Of Authentic Materials, Li Cheng
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
As Chinese language and culture education gains prominence in global contexts, the fusion of language acquisition with cultural competence becomes a central pursuit. Through a comprehensive exploration of theoretical underpinnings and practical applications, this study elucidates the significance of authentic materials as catalysts for cultural engagement within Chinese immersion programs. This paper delves into the dynamic landscape of Chinese Immersion Cultural Teaching by examining the pivotal role of authentic materials in enhancing students' cultural understanding. The resource developed consists of a ten-day lesson plan designed according to the Chinese New Year: Students will first learn the text and new words, …
Early Career Language Educators Experience Joy And Purpose In The Creation Of Multilingual Classroom Ecologies, Jonell Pacyga
Early Career Language Educators Experience Joy And Purpose In The Creation Of Multilingual Classroom Ecologies, Jonell Pacyga
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations
The goal of this phenomenological study was to intensely analyze and interpret the experiences of a select sample of early career language teachers as they reflected on their languaging interactions with their learners. To answer the research question: How do early career language teachers experience the creation of multilingual classroom ecologies?, four individuals participated by collectively providing 14 interviews, submitting 13 bi-weekly journals, and sharing 17 self-selected semiotic images over a two month time period. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (Smith, 1996) was then employed using a double hermeneutic to uncover themes in each case by elucidating descriptions and then cohesively analyzing …
The Impact Of Systematic Phonemic Awareness And Phonics Instruction In A Spanish Immersion First-Grade Classroom, Elisabeth Boe
The Impact Of Systematic Phonemic Awareness And Phonics Instruction In A Spanish Immersion First-Grade Classroom, Elisabeth Boe
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
Recent research suggests that structured literacy, the systematic teaching of phonological awareness, phonics, and word recognition skills, is highly indicative of students’ proficiency in reading. This is true not only in monolingual literacy programs but in bilingual programs as well. While many schools across the United States have implemented best practices, this is not the case for many Spanish immersion programs. This capstone seeks to address this problem with the question How does systematic literacy instruction of phonemic awareness and phonics in Spanish Immersion impact student mastery of early literacy skills in first grade? It analyzes the current research about …
Developing Effective Resources To Maintain The Target Language Of A Dual Language Immersion Program, Sofia Henao
Developing Effective Resources To Maintain The Target Language Of A Dual Language Immersion Program, Sofia Henao
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
Dual Language Immersion programs (DLIPs) have been around for more than 60 years in the United States. DLIPs focus on teaching students subject matter in a second language. This project connects the topics and goals of dual language immersion education to a website that can be used as a source of practice for students that are no longer directly in an immersion program by investigating the question, “What supports can teachers put in place that students can use when they are not directly in a dual language immersion program?” The research intends to illustrate the importance of continued practice and …
Using An Interactive Word Wall To Increase Spanish Language Acquisition For Urban Middle School Learners, Jordan Schuneman
Using An Interactive Word Wall To Increase Spanish Language Acquisition For Urban Middle School Learners, Jordan Schuneman
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
My primary research question for my capstone project is: What are the ways in which interaction, collaboration, and dialogue impact students’ Spanish language acquisition? More specifically, my research and project aim to answer: How can an interactive word wall affect Spanish language acquisition in an urban classroom? I have created an interactive word wall curriculum. This was specifically designed to fit my context as a middle school Spanish teacher, grades 6-8. However, this interactive word wall curriculum can be utilized effectively in any content area. Through considering culturally and linguistically responsive teaching (Hollie, 2018) as well as how to best …
Bridging The Gap Between Language Learning, Technology & Community: The Importance And Viability Of A Language Learning Mobile Application That Will Connect Users To Each Other Based On Location To The English As A Second Language Community, Parinaz Kassemi
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations
The research question addressed in this study was: what is the importance and viability of a language-learning mobile application that will connect users to each other based on location to the English as a Second Language Community. The topics explored in the review of the literature include what a mobile application is, the current language learning applications that are available, the openness to technology in education, and the future of mobile apps. Six different adults who spoke more than one language took a short survey in which I collected some feedback on the perceived usefulness of having a language learning …
How Does The Use Of Annotation Affect Reading Comprehension In The Primary Grades Of Immersion Education?, Erin O’Flaherty
How Does The Use Of Annotation Affect Reading Comprehension In The Primary Grades Of Immersion Education?, Erin O’Flaherty
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
This capstone project is developed to support students’ reading ability and comprehension. I want to improve my students' interaction with texts. I hope for students to not just passively read but to actively engage in their reading which will lead to a deeper understanding and better comprehension. The purpose of this capstone project is to address the following research question: How does the use of annotation affect reading comprehension in the primary grades of immersion education? Through my research and literature review I found that annotation of text has a positive effect on promoting students’ reading ability including improving reading …
Implementing Translanguaging Pedagogies To Promote Academic Success Of English Learners In An Eighth Grade English Language Arts Classroom, Jenna Kotula
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
Many mainstream educators in the United States are under the impression that immersing students in English is the best practice in helping students excel academically. Monoglossic ideologies, which only place prominence on one language in the classroom, can send English Learners (ELs) the message that their cultural and linguistic funds of knowledge are not accepted or valued in the school community. As educators, it must be our mission to create a safe space where learners feel tolerated and eager to share about their unique backgrounds and experiences. Translanguaging practices compete with the common misconception that only the target language should …
Reading Strategies In A Second Language Spanish Classroom, Wendy Gorman
Reading Strategies In A Second Language Spanish Classroom, Wendy Gorman
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
Reading in a second language can be a challenge for many students. This project seeks to answer the question ““ What are the most effective reading strategies to use in a middle school comprehensible input Spanish classroom? The project is a website designed to show teachers of Spanish ways to implement reading strategies that word in Spanish in their classrooms. Grounded in research on both language acquisition and reading strategies, this project keeps the basis of several key components in mind at all times- the specific needs of middle school students, how to teach language, how students acquire language skills, …
Teaching World Language As A Push-In Class With Teaching Proficiency Through Reading And Storytelling, Leah Mark
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
This project will describe in detail a world language program that could be offered in an elementary school for those interested in implementing or modifying an existing program. This world language program is unique in that it depends on two essential components, those being co-teaching and using comprehensible input methodologies, such as Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling (TPRS), working in unison to provide a highly effective and positive world language experience for students. The reader will be provided with the details of how this model would exactly look for anyone interested in rolling out such a program. The project, …
Effectively Enabling Translanguaging In The Classroom, Kelly Miller
Effectively Enabling Translanguaging In The Classroom, Kelly Miller
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
Bilingual students have historically been pushed to become as fluent in English as quickly as possible in order to have the students keep up with the rigor of the mainstream classroom. This has the potential to push those students to lose their native languages (L1) and a part of their culture in order to maintain the norm of language within the American public school. This capstone explores the concept of translanguaging through a website, professional development, survey, scholarly research to answer the question How does an educator effectively implement translanguaging strategies in a classroom? Research shows that translanguaging is an …
Teaching Grammar Through Music, Katie Monson
Teaching Grammar Through Music, Katie Monson
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations
The research questions addressed in this action research project were How can repeatedly singing songs in Spanish containing temporal words and past tense vocabulary impact Spanish immersion second graders’ use of past tense verbs when speaking Spanish?; And how will learners perceive the songs and their effect on their learning? A pre-assessment was given to evaluate students’ abilities to use past tense verbs in speaking. The same assessment was given after a teaching intervention in which the students sang three songs containing the six verbs every day for two weeks. Students were then interviewed about how they felt about the …
In What Ways Do Language Lessons That Incorporate Student- And Teacher-Generated Gestures Support Language Learning In An 8th Grade Beginning-Level Spanish Classroom?, Simone Johnson
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations
In this six-week action research study, 18 participants between the ages of 12 and 14 were given four week-long gesture-based vocabulary lessons to determine the role that gestures have on L2 vocabulary acquisition in an eighth-grade beginning-level Spanish classroom. Each week, students were encouraged to learn and practice a list of vocabulary words using gesture-based activities, seeing that gestures, a form of embodied learning, has proven to positively affect L2 vocabulary acquisition and address the needs of diverse learners. The first and third lessons consisted of teacher-generated gestures, while the second and fourth were student-generated gesture-based lessons and the two …
A Family Approach To Family Literacy With Latino Parents, Jessica L. Davies-Lopez
A Family Approach To Family Literacy With Latino Parents, Jessica L. Davies-Lopez
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
The research question addressed in this project is, How can Latino parent involvement and direct teaching of literacy skills help to improve their child’s reading skills? Over the years, research has demonstrated the importance of parent involvement in the success of students’ achievement. Furthermore, Latino parent involvement has demonstrated benefits that far exceed expectations. When families and schools work together utilizing different Family Literacy programs, students and families succeed. This Capstone reviewed different literature to help understand Latino family involvement, in addition to reviewing different family literacy programs to help answer the research question. The Capstone also included a project …
Comprehensible Input And Output In The Math Immersion Classroom: A Professional Development Series, Kimberly Kulhanek
Comprehensible Input And Output In The Math Immersion Classroom: A Professional Development Series, Kimberly Kulhanek
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
The one-way immersion classroom provides a unique environment for students to learn content through instruction in their non-native language. However, students in early elementary grades typically have not had enough exposure to the target language to maintain sentence-level dialogue. The professional development series designed for this project uses the concepts of growth mindset, cognitively guided instruction, comprehensible input, and comprehensible output to increase students' ability to process and explain their mathematical thinking in the target language. Both growth mindset and cognitively guided instruction have been used in classrooms for years, but there has been little research into their implementation in …
Learning Science In A Second Language, Alisha Tomsen
Learning Science In A Second Language, Alisha Tomsen
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
This project addresses the question, how to enrich and expand the vocabulary of kindergarteners in a Spanish immersion program through science lessons and science-focused learning objectives. The project was born from the author’s experience as a language-immersion primary teacher and her desire to create a space for more science in the classroom while also facilitating target language growth. Literature concerning second language acquisition, language immersion education, inquiry-based learning, national science standards, and connections between science and literacy were researched and consulted to create this project. A five-part professional development was created, directed towards primary-level immersion educators that focuses on supporting …
How New Chinese Immersion School Teachers Can Improve Their Teaching Skills And Have A Mindset Of Supporting And Inspiring Students?, Mi Gu
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
The research question in this article is to find out how new Chinese immersion school teachers can improve their teaching skills and have a mindset of supporting and inspiring students. The project consists of a literature review and a website. Based on large amount of literature review and intensive research, conclusion have been drawn to answer the research question, The research conclusions are presented in a well-designed website aiming to help new teachers who are in transition to teach in Chinese immersion school in U.S. The findings are combined into four representative aspects: social ideologies, patterns of teacher-student interaction, classroom …
Adult Education, Community Building, Environmental Studies, Special Education, Staff Development, Teachers/ Teaching, Jennifer Whelan
Adult Education, Community Building, Environmental Studies, Special Education, Staff Development, Teachers/ Teaching, Jennifer Whelan
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
Language and culture are dynamically connected. The culture of a place refers to its people, traditions, beliefs and products such as music or food. Despite the body of evidence to support the importance of teaching about these cultural aspects, many world language teachers struggle to include cultural study alongside their language instruction. One engaging way to improve students’ linguistic and cultural competence is through read-alouds. Read-alouds are the foundation of early literacy and provide a number of benefits for young learners: they support a solid linguistic foundation for further study of the target language’s grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation; they engage …
Creating Smart Board Activities To Engage Students’ Learning In Chinese Immersion Kindergarten, Wenting Qiang
Creating Smart Board Activities To Engage Students’ Learning In Chinese Immersion Kindergarten, Wenting Qiang
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
The research question addressed in this capstone is How to create SMART Board activities to engage students’ learning in Chinese immersion kindergarten. Through literature review and my personal experience as a Chinese immersion kindergarten, I find that SMART Board offers very interactive activities that can be very beneficial to young children in learning. That to be said, SMART Board has transformed a typical classroom into a stimulating and encouraging learning environment. The project for this research is a website of SMART Board activities that can be used and shared among Chinese immersion teachers, as well as students and parents who …
A Curriculum For Teaching Elementary-Aged Spanish-Speaking Students To Read In Spanish, Kelly Kum
A Curriculum For Teaching Elementary-Aged Spanish-Speaking Students To Read In Spanish, Kelly Kum
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
The purpose of this capstone project was to develop a heritage language curriculum that teaches Spanish literacy skills to Spanish-speaking students in second and third grade. This project was based on research that supports the importance of students maintaining their first language and developing reading skills in their first language to help them improve their reading abilities in English and improve their test scores. The creator based the curriculum on WIDA’s Spanish Language Arts Standards and used the Understanding by Design framework to develop the curriculum. The main focus of the curriculum is to teach decoding and phonics skills to …
Best Practices And Culture Change In Two-Way Immersion Through The Use Of An Action Plan, Kimberly Johnson
Best Practices And Culture Change In Two-Way Immersion Through The Use Of An Action Plan, Kimberly Johnson
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
This project consists of an action plan developed for the purpose of guiding planning committees through the process of implementing a two-way immersion program rooted in best practices. The action plan lays out important key components that must be addressed within a two-way immersion program that is in its second year of implementation. It also provides a timeline for project completion, a section for action items to be addressed, sections to determine who is responsible for implementation of the action items and who will monitor the implementation of the items, and research to support the need for the program components …
Building Comprehension Skills With Cognitive Training, Mindy Oakley
Building Comprehension Skills With Cognitive Training, Mindy Oakley
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
The research question addressed in this project was how does explicit instruction in executive functioning skills impact students’ ability to read and comprehend text at a deeper level? The continued rise in difficulties with reading comprehension and executive dysfunction among students was the focus of the author’s capstone question. The capstone paper focused on the topic of executive function in education and documents the author’s creation of a five-week curriculum that focuses on the use of cognitive training strategies. Executive functioning skills are defined, their presence in reading skills is described, and the possible ways to teach executive function skills …
How Social Studies Curriculum Can Help Spanish Immersion Students To Develop And Improve Their Grammar And Language Skills, Juan Perona
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
The purpose of the project is to develop examples of activities and lessons within the regular social studies curriculum of Spanish immersion students in middle school that reinforce Spanish language skills that most of these students seen to struggle to master. The rationale of the project came from the observations of the author of the language skills of Spanish immersion students in middle school, in which he notice that, although their communication and understanding skills were very advanced, the students have gaps in language areas like specific grammar concepts, and develop academic Spanish language. The literature review major studies on …
The Type Of Homework Assignment And Its Potential To Influence Student Motivation And Language Learning In A High School Spanish Language Classroom, Sarah Spilde
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations
The research question addressed in this study was, how does the type of homework assignment influence student motivation and Spanish language learning in the classroom? It documents one teacher’s implementation of two lessons in a unit of study to evaluate student in- class Spanish language use, homework scores, test scores and student perceptions on motivation and homework. The teacher records student data and identifies research literature to provide meaning and context to the study in the area of Spanish language learning. She defines the areas of success and areas of limitations in conducting an action research study and concludes that …
Adapting Tools To Measure Students' Affective Filter For The Elementary Dual-Immersion Context, Megan Frutiger
Adapting Tools To Measure Students' Affective Filter For The Elementary Dual-Immersion Context, Megan Frutiger
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
The purpose of this study was to discover what tools were available to educators to measure students’ affective filter; it further sought to adapt current tools for use in the Spanish-English dual-immersion elementary context. Research revealed that R. C. Gardner developed a measure called the Anxiety and Motivation Test Battery (AMTB) in 1985. Another measure, the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) had been developed by Horwitz, Horwitz, and Cope in 1986. For this project, these two measures were synthesized and adapted for the elementary dual- immersion context. Careful attention was given to each survey item to ensure that it …
Increasing Target Language Input For L2 Students: Strategies For Success In Classroom-Based Language Acquisition, Katie Schmidt
Increasing Target Language Input For L2 Students: Strategies For Success In Classroom-Based Language Acquisition, Katie Schmidt
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
The research question investigated in this project was, in what ways can teachers enhance language input for L2 students in classroom-based language acquisition? Generally, students do not get sufficient exposure to the target language in the average classroom setting. This project explores the role of input/exposure on language acquisition and success. The research in this capstone provides evidence for the importance of strong language input as well as other factors that attribute to language acquisition. By closely analyzing the studies completed in the classroom, a clear connection was found between language input and interaction. The curriculum created for this project …
What Effect Does A Spanish Vocabulary-Through-Music Instructional Intervention Have On The Development Of Early Literacy Skills Of Preschool Students In A Bilingual Setting?, Natalie Ehalt-Bove
What Effect Does A Spanish Vocabulary-Through-Music Instructional Intervention Have On The Development Of Early Literacy Skills Of Preschool Students In A Bilingual Setting?, Natalie Ehalt-Bove
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations
This study measured the effects of a music-based Spanish instructional intervention on the Spanish vocabulary acquisition of four- and five-year-old students of varying language backgrounds who were enrolled together in a dual immersion preschool program. Research by Christ & Wang (2010), Schwartz (2014) and others concludes that young, pre-reading children with underdeveloped vocabulary can encounter difficulties achieving literacy. Thus, this project set out to determine the effectiveness of one specific vocabulary teaching strategy, in an effort to aid teachers in choosing effective instructional methods. Twenty participants were divided into two groups, including a control group receiving a nonmusical instructional intervention …