Education Commons^™

Covid-19’S Impact On Climate Change Research And Institutional Resilience In Higher Education In Vermont And Tanzania, Stephanie Clement

Capstone Collection

The COVID-19 pandemic impacts all sectors of society. It is necessary to understand how higher education institutions (HEIs) react to, adapt to, and build resilience in the face of such a crisis. HEIs around the world shifted how they deliver education to their students and struggled to adapt to a changing economy. Yet, there is little information on how HEIs bolster their resilience to exogenous shocks, like the coronavirus. This study assesses how the COVID-19 crisis impacted institutional resilience and climate change research at four HEIs: the University of Vermont (UVM) and Vermont Law School (VLS) in Vermont, United States …

L'Enracinement Et L'Ouverture: A Relevant Global Citizenship Education In Senegal, Alanna Margaret Ross

Capstone Collection

As the international community strives to work together to respond to globalization implications in education, global citizenship education (GCE) has become more prominent in the educational agenda of the international community. While much literature has critiqued GCE’s potential neo-imperialist effects in postcolonial context, there have been very few studies that have sought out the voices of key stakeholders, such as students, parents, teachers, and school leaders. A total of nineteen school leaders, teachers, parents, and students were interviewed to examine whether they found global citizenship education relevant to students in Senegal. The study found that global citizenship education was perceived …

Supporting Latinx College Students Study Abroad, Nicole Melendez

Capstone Collection

Low participation of Latinx students in study abroad is something U.S. educators should be aware of and start to address. As the Latinx student population grows in higher education, growth of this population in study abroad should follow. The purpose of this research is to compile best practices and supports that can be implemented by international education professionals to support Latinx students who study abroad at their institutions. The research will answer the following research questions: how can international educators support Latinx students to study abroad? How can the current supports in place for Latinx students (in higher education) be …

Refugee Perspectives On Transitioning From Higher Education In The United States To Life Post-Graduation, Jessica S. Clarkson

Capstone Collection

In 2019, only 3% of refugees had access to higher education. Using qualitative research methods of surveys and semi-structured interviews, this study explores the perspectives of two student affairs professionals and six individuals with formal refugee status granted by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and in possession of a refugee travel document, who have not yet been resettled and are pursuing higher education in the United States. It focuses on the students’ preparation for and transition to life post-graduation, since UNHCR supposes that pursuing higher education abroad may be a viable ‘complementary pathway’ toward resettlement, self-reliance, and/or …

Study Away For The Differently Abled: A Study Away Program For Young Adults With Intellectual Disabilities, Emily Huydic

Capstone Collection

ABSTRACT

Study Away for the Differently Abled is a seven-day program for young adults aged 18 through 25 who have documented Intellectual Disabilities. During this program, they will live on Yale University’s campus in New Haven, Connecticut, USA, to develop independent living skills while also interacting with and learning from Yale international students. Study Away for the Differently Abled is grounded in the social approach to disability, aiming to extend access to quality intercultural post-high school programming to young adults who are not able to attend traditional college programs nor travel internationally through study abroad programs.

To ensure that the …

Spanish Language And Culture In Buenos Aires And Córdoba, Argentina, Sarah Eidt

Capstone Collection

The Spanish Language and Culture in Buenos Aires and Córdoba, Argentina program is a theoretical faculty-led multi-site semester-long program that is designed for Boston University students for the fall semester of 2022. The purpose of the program is to give student participants the opportunity to learn Argentine history and culture at two distinct locations with different sets of host families and speaking partners, while visiting contrasting regions around Argentina in order to obtain a more complete understanding of the country. Students will become more proficient in the Spanish language and gain a greater understanding of Argentine culture by immersing in …

Strategies Of Higher Education Admissions Professionals To Adapt To The Recent Drop In Foreign Student Enrollment At Us Universities, Peter Plass

Capstone Collection

The purpose of this capstone is to explore strategies employed by graduate-level admissions professionals to counteract the recent fall in international student enrollment as reported by the US Department of State in November of 2018. The US depends heavily on foreign students for economic gains nationally and financial stability at the institutional level. Through the semi-structured interviews with five international admissions professions, this qualitative research study examined the factors that may drive international students away from the US. The findings of this study demonstrate that the cost of education, violence, bigotry on campus, the national anti-immigrant discourse, and the inability …

Sharing Stories, Building Bonds: The Reconciliating Power Of A Narrative, Breanna Nicole Thompson

Capstone Collection

The Vusumnotfo Persona Doll Programme is a program that incorporates Way of Council, traditional storytelling and dialogue together to enable community preschool teachers in rural Eswatini to use the Persona Doll Approach with their students. Many emaSwati are not given the support to develop their Emotional Literacy, leading to a continued cycle of emotional abuse and community trauma. The Vusumnotfo Persona Doll Programme is designed to give preschool teachers the necessary skills to navigate this shared trauma, create a safe space for these teachers to confront their own trauma and work together to create a culture of healing for the …

Can I Make The Language Mine? Dynamics And Implications Of Language Ownership Within Esol Classrooms, Megan Ellsworth

MA TESOL Collection

This paper discusses and investigates the concept of ownership with an interest in gathering information which may enable educators to empower learners towards possession and ownership of the English language. The literature review and discussion seek to understand ownership as an experience and the particular dynamics at play with English as the target language: perceptions, attitudes, larger contextual factors which may help or hinder the strength of language ownership. The resulting connection with the target language has an observable impact on the learners’ motivation and engagement with the language-both inside and outside of the classroom. Considering this research, analysis is …

An Experimental Clil Course For Moroccan Students Preparing For The International Baccalaureate, Amine Bouhzam

MA TESOL Collection

The author of this thesis aims to investigate Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) approach for seniors (grade 12) in the Moroccan EFL classroom. The field of science has been broken into range of specialisms which influence students’ choices for the international Baccalaureate in which the language of instruction is either French, English or Spanish. Being so, the approach acts as the backbone for the study of certain content through specific language use (Dalton-Puffer: 2007).

The intent of the thesis is to explore the instructor's thorough processes in starting the project, his desires, encounters and difficulties, and the long-term impact …

Interacting With The Other: Culturally Responsive Approaches Toward Intercultural Competence, Tamara Devine

MA TESOL Collection

Traditional language teaching approaches assume a strong focus on linguistic proficiency, syntax, and grammar. This thesis makes the case that culture and language must be given equal consideration in a language curriculum, and educators must approach their work with a critical eye for the cultural identities of each of their students. The author examines the ways that learner identity, most notably as it pertains to race and sexual orientation, is a crucial element to consider as teachers build in areas of representation to mirror their learners. The author lays out the theoretical foundation of culturally responsive teaching and points out …

Influencing College Choice: Enrollment Factors For International Students At A Private Research University In The Northeast, Erin Slocum

Capstone Collection

This study aims to understand the factors that influence international students' decisions to enroll at a private research university in the Northeast. Through interviews with current students and staff members at the university, the study gathered data about trends in enrollment, how students learned about the university, obstacles faced by international students in the application process, and finally what factors were most important in their enrollment decisions. The most important factors in an international student's decision to enroll in the university were cost, environment, and recommendations. Due to the limited diversity in the demographics of the student participants, there is …

The Island Earth Field Studio: A High School Summer Program On Polynesian Voyaging In Hawaii, Andrea M. Bachmann

Capstone Collection

The Island Earth Field Studio is a ten-day program for high school students to learn about Polynesian voyaging in Hawaii as a framework to understand non-Western knowledge systems. The program design is grounded in research on the historical significance of voyaging and informed by current literature on adolescent development and place-based pedagogy.

To further refine the program, a needs assessment was conducted using a combination of surveys and interviews with parents and educators in the continental United States (mainland) as well as interviews with local partners in Hawaii. The assessment revealed that cultural learning and community building were viewed by …

Global Citizenship Education In Homeschooling Practices And Experiences In Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, And Pennsylvania, Bethany Shackelford

Capstone Collection

Global citizenship education (GCED) has moved to the forefront of U.S. education policy. The core tenets of GCED are knowledge, skills, behaviors, actions, attitudes, and values. Through these tenets, GCED strives to prepare students to be contributing members of society through making positive change. In this study, I examined the extent to which GCED was integrated in homeschooling education in eight families located in four Northeastern states, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania.

The findings derived from individual interviews and surveys with homeschooling parents and their adult children as well as document analysis demonstrate that seven of the eight …

Integrating Education Abroad: Fostering Critical Reflexivity In Students, Cara Masullo Ekwuabu

Capstone Collection

This Capstone research aimed to address a need in higher education internationalization, which was to bring more intentionality and integrated learning around education abroad. The research explored the ways in which educators help students effectively process and make meaning of their lived experiences abroad. The following questions were addressed: how can educators help students to critically reflect on what they gained from their education abroad experience, and on who they are in a larger global society? How can educators foster this critical reflexivity in students for life-long learning?

The conceptual framework explored key theories in student development, adult learning, and …

Surviving Monolingualism: Embracing Translingual Perspectives And Trans-Semiotizing, Kyle O'Brien

MA TESOL Collection

This thesis is an attempt to contribute to the deconstruction of the monolingual myth that has dominated language attitudes and the language classroom in the U.S. for centuries. Its main proposition is that by promoting and advocating for translanguaging and trans-semiotizing in the classroom and in daily life, we can affirm the linguistic and cultural identities of students, individuals, and groups that are marginalized or oppressed by hegemonic monolingual ideologies and improve our language teaching practices. Through literature review and personal narrative, the author has endeavored to demonstrate how translanguaging offers potential solutions to some current linguistic conflicts and how …

Winter Travel For Cold Weather Novices; Methods For Making Challenging Outdoor Experiences More Inclusive, Anders Fristedt

Capstone Collection

Cold Weather for Winter Novices is a weeklong experiential education trip developed for students, between the ages of 17 and 21, from the Armand Hammer United World College of the American West (UWC-USA), an international boarding school in Montezuma, New Mexico. This trip is an opportunity to examine multicultural perspectives of adventure and wilderness. Specifically, the research question focuses on if the concepts of adventure and wilderness present inherent hurdles for diverse populations.

This program was developed trough a detailed literature review and needs assessment that involved both outdoor education professionals and potential students. The literature review looked at the …

Boosting Students’ Fluency Through Incorporating Context-Specific Content Into Task-Based Language Teaching, Reflecting On Their Fatalistic Cultural Beliefs, And Fostering Their Agency., Nixon Cadet

MA TESOL Collection

This study will look into incorporating context-specific content into Task-Based Language Teaching techniques to enable students at the American University of the Caribbean in Les Cayes, Haiti, to develop fluency. It will particularly draw lessons from my own language learning and teaching experiences and explore ways to establish a culture that nurtures students’ agency. In my context, students have deeply ingrained fatalistic cultural beliefs which are not conducive to optimal learning. Therefore, fostering a culture that reconsiders these views could strongly help boost their self-efficacy and confidence and compel them to embrace productive learning strategies and behaviors. This study will …

Using What You Have: Understanding And Utilizing The Intergenerational Make Up Of A Porous, Fluid Classroom To Better Serve Non-Profit Students, Timothy Bowman

MA TESOL Collection

In South Florida, non-profit education centers struggle to keep seats filled consecutively throughout the class semester. The fluid nature of attendance based on job availability means that teachers struggle to maintain a sense of continuity and forward momentum in their lesson plans. Coupled with expected benchmarks from outside financial partners and unknown student populations, the teachers can start to feel overwhelmed by the outside factors at play in their classroom. At El Sol Community Center in Jupiter, Florida, that is exactly the case- it is a place where the community and the classroom truly merge into one in fluid, unpredictable …

Marrying Science And Experience: An Exploration Of How Multilinguals Interact With And Between Languages And Cultures, Allie Heeg Polzin

MA TESOL Collection

This paper will begin exploring bi- and multilingualism at an individual level. The author will explore previous research written on how the brain processes several languages, how languages might affect individuals emotionally, and how one switches between languages as well as the effects of this, if any. Beyond this, the experience of navigating languages between discourse communities and balancing two or more cultures will be considered. As the title suggests, the science of multilingualism will be married with the diverse individual experience while considering both intrapersonal and interpersonal relations. The author will look at her own experience as well as …