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Theses/Dissertations

2017

Literacy

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Full-Text Articles in Education

The Impact Of Preschool Philosophies On Children’S Language And Literacy Acquisition: A Synthesis Of The Literature, Vanessa Coste Aug 2017

The Impact Of Preschool Philosophies On Children’S Language And Literacy Acquisition: A Synthesis Of The Literature, Vanessa Coste

Honors Capstone Projects - All

"Preschool is essential to child development including areas such as language and literacy development. There are two overall teaching methods in preschool, which are playbased and academic-based learning. This research examines a synthesis of the literatu"


From "Struggling" To "Example": How Cross-Age Tutoring Impacts Latina Adolescents' Reader Identities, Dustin H. Drake Aug 2017

From "Struggling" To "Example": How Cross-Age Tutoring Impacts Latina Adolescents' Reader Identities, Dustin H. Drake

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Educators and policy makers have shown a consistent concern over the achievement gap. In academic assessments, Latino students have demonstrated lower achievement than their peers, particularly in reading scores. Many researchers attribute the existence of the achievement gap to a school system that ignores Latino culture or perpetuates struggles in Latino students’ reading by being culturally insensitive. Multiple theorists suggest that school systems that better understand Latino identities will be better at instructing Latino students. Many programs, including Latinos in Action, have been implemented in attempts to close this gap. The Latinos in Action program utilizes Latino adolescents as peer …


Let’S Take An Adventure: Exploring Beginner Writing In Chinese By Non-Heritage Learner, Ping Geng Jul 2017

Let’S Take An Adventure: Exploring Beginner Writing In Chinese By Non-Heritage Learner, Ping Geng

Doctoral Dissertations

Abstract Due to the globalization and economic growth, both the U.S. and Chinese governments increased their investment in Chinese language education across the US, especially in K-12 schools (Shi, 2010). This rapid development demands tremendous support, especially from the research on Chinese language learning and teaching. Unfortunately the research in this area is very limited, particularly on writing in Chinese. For those whose first language is alphabetical, writing in Chinese is tremendously difficult. Learners of Chinese usually do not compose writing until intermediate high level, before which learners usually learn to decode and write Chinese characters (Ke, 1998; Shen, 2005). …


Maximizing Test Efficiency: The Effects Of Test Format On Nonsense Word Reading, Amanda Kern Jul 2017

Maximizing Test Efficiency: The Effects Of Test Format On Nonsense Word Reading, Amanda Kern

Doctoral Dissertations

A repeated measures study was conducted to determine the effects of test format on accuracy and fluency performance on a computer-based, nonsense word, decoding task. Decoding is a phonics skill that is highly predictive of overall reading performance (Fletcher, Lyon, Fuchs, & Barnes, 2007). Therefore, identifying students who are struggling with decoding and providing instruction to remedy skill deficits is of high importance to teachers. A possible way for teachers to determine the instructional needs of their students is through testing (Hosp & Ardoin, 2008). However, time dedicated to test completion in classrooms limits the time available for instruction. Therefore, …


Using A Functional Language Approach To Modifiy Guided Reading For English Langauge [Sic] Learners, Kristen A. Young Jul 2017

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 …


Implicit Bias And The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy Phenomenon And Their Affects On Literacy Performance In Elementary Students, Anna K. Quirk Jul 2017

Implicit Bias And The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy Phenomenon And Their Affects On Literacy Performance In Elementary Students, Anna K. Quirk

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

The author’s inquiry was: How do implicit bias and the self-fulfilling prophecy phenomenon affect literacy performance in elementary students. Implicit or unconscious bias is known for causing issues with judges and police officers, but new awareness has been brought to the realm of education and how these biases can widen the achievement gap in literacy and other academic areas. The self-fulfilling prophecy phenomenon or Pygmalion Effect, can hinder growth in academics when an educator fails to identify student strengths, only focusing on deficits. This project brings awareness to how implicit bias and the self-fulfilling prophecy through the use of a …


How Can Primary Teachers Use Technology, Primarily Ipads, To Differentiate Language Arts Instruction And Increase Comprehension, Ellen Isaacs Jul 2017

How Can Primary Teachers Use Technology, Primarily Ipads, To Differentiate Language Arts Instruction And Increase Comprehension, Ellen Isaacs

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

This project answers the question: how can primary teachers use technology, primarily iPads, to differentiate language arts instruction and increase comprehension? This paper reviews technology resources that can be used in elementary classrooms, focusing on kindergarten, first, and second grades. These resources are analyzed using the SAMR model (Puentedura, 2014), The App Map (Israelson, 2015), and the dimensions of participatory literacy (Roswell & Wohlwend, 2016). A website was created to culminate the findings based off of research, student artifacts, and visuals from the digital resources


How Can An Effective Parent Outreach Program Impact Literacy Achievement And Foster A Community Network At An Urban Charter School?, Anne C. Weisheipl Jul 2017

How Can An Effective Parent Outreach Program Impact Literacy Achievement And Foster A Community Network At An Urban Charter School?, Anne C. Weisheipl

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

This capstone identifies the process of creating a family literacy program to support literacy growth. The research question addressed in this project was, How can an effective parent outreach program impact literacy achievement and foster a community network at an urban charter school? It documents a teacher's creation of a family literacy program that builds literacy communities through school-home partnerships and literacy activities. The author documents the process of creating a family literacy program following researched methods that validate the creation of the curriculum. The results of the research help focus the capstone on two very important aspects of school-home …


Relationships Between Comprehension And Fluency Levels Within Reading At A Second Grade Level, Erika Gregor Jul 2017

Relationships Between Comprehension And Fluency Levels Within Reading At A Second Grade Level, Erika Gregor

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this action research is to investigate the relationship between comprehension and fluency levels in a Spanish Immersion second grade setting and answer the question of: What is the effect of daily use of comprehension strategies, including inferencing, summarizing and visualizing, on fluency within a Spanish Immersion program? The literature review served the purpose to explore and deliver vital components in understanding the process of reading and how comprehension and fluency are achieved. I used a quantitative approach and utilized assessments throughout the school year to observe fluency levels when implementing comprehension strategies and assessments. The data revealed …


Grammatical Acquisition Of Present And Past Tense Verb Forms In A Communicative Setting, Katherine N. Nelson Jul 2017

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 …


Factors That Influence Motivation To Read With African American Middle School Males, Brandon Tuttle Jul 2017

Factors That Influence Motivation To Read With African American Middle School Males, Brandon Tuttle

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

The research question addressed in this project was, what factors influence motivation to read with African American middle school males? Current research suggests that many African American males are performing poorly nationwide in reading. As the author researched the topic, four recurring categories emerged in searching for factors that would influence motivation in reading with African American middle school males. These categories included culturally relevant instruction, choice with literacy, building relationships and parental involvement. These four categories helped build the framework for a strategy guide that educators could use in reading intervention classes to help build proficiency in reading with …


Trauma In Refugee And Immigrant Students: A Website Resource For Educators, Christine Marie Houstman Jul 2017

Trauma In Refugee And Immigrant Students: A Website Resource For Educators, Christine Marie Houstman

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

After the 2016 presidential election of Donald Trump, many of my elementary refugee, immigrant, and native-born English Learners (ELs) became distraught with the safety of their future in the United States, and that of their family and friends. In my school building, EL students were negatively acting out both socially and academically. Our mainstream and EL teachers, along with administration, struggled to help this traumatized population. Determining the need for a readily available web-based resource was an efficient method to get much needed, research-based, information into the hands of concerned teachers. The website was created for educators and administrators as …


How Can The Orton-Gillingham Approach Be Used As An Effective Tool To Receive A Deeper Understanding Of Syllables And Word Spelling For Students Who Are Hard Of Hearing?, James D. Grota Jul 2017

How Can The Orton-Gillingham Approach Be Used As An Effective Tool To Receive A Deeper Understanding Of Syllables And Word Spelling For Students Who Are Hard Of Hearing?, James D. Grota

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Students who are deaf or hard of hearing come to school with limitations to learning that the average student does not have. Being able to hear words and sounds is an important part of learning to spell those words. This paper will identify some characteristics in the development of learning word syllable recognition and phonics, as well as, strategies to help improve learning for students who are deaf and hard of hearing by using the Orton-Gillingham Approach. The OrtonGillingham Approach uses a multisensory strategy that includes audio, visual, and feeling to help solidify word recognition and spelling. Although the approach …


Spanish Reading Intervention Program Using Multisensory Methods, Marissa Jurado Jul 2017

Spanish Reading Intervention Program Using Multisensory Methods, Marissa Jurado

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

The purpose of this project was to create a Spanish reading intervention program that incorporated multisensory strategies. It documents the creation of a program based on research on reading instruction and interventions, dyslexia, multisensory strategies, and the Spanish language. The format and structured was adapted for Spanish, inspired by Winsor Learning’s Orton-Gillingham based Sonday System program that is in English. The program created through this project includes a lesson plan book with thirty-six lessons and ten progress checks, a word book, and cards that correlate to the sounds being introduced in each lesson. Different syllabaries from Fe y Alegria (n.d) …


Incorporating Effective Practices Into An Intermediate Classroom To Improve Student Writing, Heidi M. Shannon Jul 2017

Incorporating Effective Practices Into An Intermediate Classroom To Improve Student Writing, Heidi M. Shannon

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

The research question addressed in this project was, How can the teaching of effective writing practices support struggling intermediate students? This study documented the experience of an intervention coach working with fifth grade teachers to improve writing instruction using research based practices. The motivating factor for this capstone was to improve student writing. The study documented lessons and resources that were implemented during the teaching of three fifth grade writing standards and how students improved in their writing. Data was collected through the use of proficiency scales, spreadsheets, reflections and surveys. Results of the study showed student growth in writing. …


Close Reading As A Means For Increasing Self-Perception In Struggling Middle School Readers, Megan Slinger Jul 2017

Close Reading As A Means For Increasing Self-Perception In Struggling Middle School Readers, Megan Slinger

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

The research question addressed in this capstone was: How does explicit instruction in close reading skills impact self-perception as a reader in struggling middle school students? In this project, action research was conducted over a four week period in a seventh grade suburban summer school classroom with eleven students. All of the participants were categorized as struggling readers. At the beginning of the research, students were administered a survey to gather information about their self-perception as a reader. Over the next four weeks, students received explicit instruction in three close reading strategies. During this period, students were also interviewed one …


Embedding Social Emotional Learning Goals Into A Reading Curriculum For Third Grade, Molly Tiedeman Brown Jul 2017

Embedding Social Emotional Learning Goals Into A Reading Curriculum For Third Grade, Molly Tiedeman Brown

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

The inquiry into the best way to embed Social Emotional Learning in a literacy curriculum for 3rd grade, led the author to read literature explaining the components of social emotional learning, focusing on one competency: selfawareness. Effective curriculum elements, third grade standards and specific strategies were also reviewed. The author concluded that the best way to do this was through the reader’s workshop framework, specifically the mini-lesson. The author created a four-week curriculum, each week focusing on one children’s literature text that teaches both literacy standards and social emotional learning. Extension activities and strategies to implement throughout the school day …


Free Voluntary Reading: Enhancing The Reading Component Of Teaching Proficiency Through Reading And Storytelling In An Elementary Spanish Classroom, Elizabeth M. Werner Jul 2017

Free Voluntary Reading: Enhancing The Reading Component Of Teaching Proficiency Through Reading And Storytelling In An Elementary Spanish Classroom, Elizabeth M. Werner

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

The research question discussed in this project is what impact does access to Spanish books at their level and time to read Spanish books of their choice have on elementary students' language development and fluency? In includes a review of literature and research on the values of stories, comprehensible and compelling language input, and Free Voluntary Reading (FVR). The project consists of a teacher’s creation of two Spanish chapter books written for elementary students studying Spanish as a second language. The purpose was to expand the repertoire of available literature for elementary Spanish students in an attempt to promote FVR …


Curriculum For Teaching Relative Constructions To Somali-Speaking Learners Of English, Kelly M. Rynda Jul 2017

Curriculum For Teaching Relative Constructions To Somali-Speaking Learners Of English, Kelly M. Rynda

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

The research question addressed in this project was, how do relative constructions in Somali compare to relative constructions in English, what difficulties do Englishlanguage learners have acquiring relatives, and what teaching strategies are most appropriate for these learners? It documents one teacher’s creation of a unit focused entirely around the acquisition of relative constructions, using strategies that have been identified as most effective, such as learning subject relatives and object relatives in sequence and utilizing repeated timed reading. The author provides lesson plans and activities that align with the best practices outlined in the research, with particular consideration given to …


Online Collaborative Literature Circles For Small Groups Of Elementary Gifted Language Arts Students, Deborah A. Scherber Jul 2017

Online Collaborative Literature Circles For Small Groups Of Elementary Gifted Language Arts Students, Deborah A. Scherber

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

School schedules and the study of advanced literature content often do not allow enough collaboration time to meet the unique learning needs of gifted elementary language arts students. The author’s guiding question to address this challenge was: how can I create and implement an effective online collaborative novel study unit for small groups of gifted language arts students? The literature review includes an examination of general literature circle models, including definitions and explanations of student and teacher roles; implications for integrating technology into literature circles; and an overview of several instructional models and lesson plan templates. Utilizing an online platform …


How Can I Best Support Classroom Teachers With Their Use And Understanding Of Tier Two Interventions?, Shelley Harris Jul 2017

How Can I Best Support Classroom Teachers With Their Use And Understanding Of Tier Two Interventions?, Shelley Harris

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

The research question addressed in this study was, how can I best support classroom teachers with their use and understanding of Tier Two interventions? It documents one teacher’s use of qualitative research to create a Tier Two intervention toolkit for classroom teachers. The author documents what the RtI process looks like at each tier and how to implement the Tier Two interventions into the classroom. She also created the toolkit digitally to help teacher access the interventions quickly and easily put them into practice. Each intervention can easily be found by clicking on the link on each skill page. In …


Using Repeated Oral Assisted Reading To Improve The Fluency Of Students With Learning Disabilities, Angela J. Leyk Jul 2017

Using Repeated Oral Assisted Reading To Improve The Fluency Of Students With Learning Disabilities, Angela J. Leyk

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

This study explores the research question: How much does repeated reading improve the reading rate, accuracy, and prosody of students with learning disabilities in fifth grade? Three key topics: learning disabilities, fluency, and repeated reading are discussed. The author was greatly influenced by Timothy Rasinski and his work in the area of fluency. Repeated Oral Assisted Reading was administered to monitor and document accuracy, rate, and prosody utilizing both daily instructional-level reading probes and monthly grade-level reading probes as well as prosodic reading rubrics and a daily journal. The improvement in rate was compared to scores on nationally normed fluency …


How Can Teachers Enhance The Acquisition And Retention Of Vocabulary In Their Urban Learner?, Sarah K. Norenberg Jul 2017

How Can Teachers Enhance The Acquisition And Retention Of Vocabulary In Their Urban Learner?, Sarah K. Norenberg

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to identify high impact vocabulary strategies for urban learners and create professional development for the staff at my elementary school. I determined what would be high-impact by looking at my students three different ways. First, I examined students who are English language learners, second, students who live in poverty, and third, standard English learners. Next, I read research about the best practices for teaching vocabulary in all three categories. Finally, I looked for similarities, ultimately identifying and synthesizing what works best for all three types of students, keeping in mind that the urban classrooms …


Guided Reading For Beginning English Learners In The First Grade Classroom, Alexis L. Lundberg Jul 2017

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 …


Leveraging Technology To Impact Reading Achievement Of Early Elementary Students, Sarah Lidstrand Wall Jul 2017

Leveraging Technology To Impact Reading Achievement Of Early Elementary Students, Sarah Lidstrand Wall

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

The adoption of technology in the classroom has dramatically changed the way in which teachers teach and students learn. Technology is constantly evolving, creating a sense of urgency to examine the most effective methods to successfully integrate technology into classrooms. The research question addressed in this project was: how can teachers leverage technology to impact reading achievement of early elementary students? The review of literature investigated early literacy skills, proficient readers, reading in the digital age, iPads, technology in the classroom and technology integration models. It was evident that technology alone will not increase student achievement. Wood and Joicus (2014) …


What Are The Components Of An Effective Middle School Reading Intervention Curriculum?, Michelle Hager Jul 2017

What Are The Components Of An Effective Middle School Reading Intervention Curriculum?, Michelle Hager

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Many different structures and approaches have been implemented in an effort to provide struggling adolescent readers with appropriate and effective reading intervention. Experts in the field of reading intervention have determined that a successful reading intervention curriculum must include instruction in the areas of fluency, comprehension, and vocabulary aligned to content area curriculum, and also attend to student mindset and motivation. Therefore this researcher set out to design a curriculum to answer the research question: What are the components of an effective middle school reading intervention curriculum? The curriculum created was designed to support struggling adolescent readers in the specific …


Blue Collar Literacy: Using Situated Literacy To Build A Curriculum In Support Of Vocational Education, Kathleen Drahosh Jul 2017

Blue Collar Literacy: Using Situated Literacy To Build A Curriculum In Support Of Vocational Education, Kathleen Drahosh

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

Through building a curriculum, the author addressed the research question: through projects founded in situated literacy, how can high schools give vocationally-inclined students the literacy skills they need in their chosen field? Research delves into job market implications for the coming future as well as how situated literacy and collaboration can help students engage in school and acquire literacy skills needed in their future careers. The curriculum teaches technical writing and reading skills and applies those skills in a project. The project has students use those writing skills to create the technical literature for a creation or task from a …


How Reading Through Literary Lenses Impacts The Quality Of High School Students’ Arguments, Craig D. Zimanske Jul 2017

How Reading Through Literary Lenses Impacts The Quality Of High School Students’ Arguments, Craig D. Zimanske

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

The research question addressed in this study was: how does teaching high school students to analyze text through literary lenses impact the quality of students’ arguments? Topics explored in the review of the literature include the context of struggling readers, literary theory and literary lenses, teaching literary theory to secondary students, and argument writing. A cohort of 18 struggling readers in a co-taught high school English class were instructed to shift their reading focus from finding meaning to constructing meaning. To accomplish this, students were familiarized with the tenets of three literary lenses (social-class, gender/feminist, and psychological) and guided through …


Fourth Grade Curriculum To Increase Literacy Achievement In Ell Students, Shannon Baker Jul 2017

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 Jul 2017

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 …