Education Commons^™

The Express: September 28, 2007, Taylor University Fort Wayne

2007-2008 (Volume 12)

Andy Booth Leads Innovative Renewal Week — Stick Figure Worship — The Pen is mightier than a Taser — Right to be Wrong: The Smoking Ban — Applied Learning: Summer Internships — It’s All About Music — Cheap And Fun in Fort Wayne: The Children’s Zoo — Sports Stats — Emily Ford: Bold Move for TTO — The Rockin’ Restaurant Review: Uno’s Chicago Grill

Mirrors Reflecting Latinas' Realities In An Urban Community, Gabriela Díaz De Sabatés

Educational Considerations

What are the realities of Latina adult learners? This question guided the design of this research project. Utilizing a focus group approach, six Latinas in Kansas City, Kansas, had the opportunity to speak freely about themselves and to share their stories with each other.

Empowerment Through Critical Pedagogy, Premakumari Dheram

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal

In any multilingual country, it is imperative that the curriculum provide for a critical dialogue on the politics of language. Educators must address questions of linguistic and cultural identity especially in the context of the spread of English. Contrary to popular and academic conceptions, English has never been just a ‘link’ or ‘library’ language, and the epithets non-native speaker teacher/learner and second language teacher/learner echo a sense of marginality and displacement (Browne. 2005. Cummins.1996. Kachru.1982. Rampton.1990.Shondel.2005). For “…language itself is content, a referent for loyalties and animosities, an indicator of social statuses and personal relationships, a marker of situations and …

Teaching English In The Dominican Republic, Cassandra Craig

Senior Honors Projects

As thousands of immigrants and refugees are entering the U.S., and our school systems, each year, English as a second language (ESL) classes are becoming more and more necessary. As a future ESL teacher, it is crucial that I am aware of the wide variety of school environments from which they are coming. My curiosity brought me to Altamira, Dominican Republic, where I was able to experience first hand the school environment of my potential future students. Altamira is a small town located a half hour outside of Santiago, Dominican Republic. There, I was fortunate to stay with an extremely …

Ditcall-Slow: Slowing Native Speech For Language Learners, Dermot Campbell, Ciaran Mcdonnell, Yi Wang, Marty Meinardi, Bunny Richardson, Charles Pritchard

Conference papers

It is a common experience of many learners of a foreign language that native speakers (NSs) of that language speak too quickly for them to understand or imitate. Slowing down a segment of speech with older technology results in the familiar deepening of the voice as the pitch drops as well. The result is unpleasant and not particularly instructive. The DITCall-Slow tool slows recorded speech without tonal distortion, so that the learner has – literally – more time to hear what was said by the NS and, especially at slower playback speeds, can attend to the manner in which the …

The Effect Of An Intensive Writing Instruction Assessment Preparation Program On Student Writing Proficiency, Edward J. Bennett

Student Work

An intensive writing instruction and assessment preparation program was evaluated to determine its effectiveness in helping students improve their performance on a standardized statewide writing assessment. Following the six-week program, pretest to posttest gains made by 8th-grade students ( N = 74) revealed significant improvement in writing performance on the statewide assessment. As reflected by subject test scores, the control group of 8th-grade students (N = 86) also demonstrated significant pretest to posttest gains. Although posttest statewide writing assessment scores were significant for both groups, Norm Referenced Normal Curve Equivalent posttest measures dipped significantly for both groups. However, the achievement …

Living Among Guatemalan Mayans Is Fascinating Experience, Irene Scharf

Faculty Publications

I have just lived a dream. Five years ago I learned of a school where students of all ages could study Spanish intensively while living among the Guatemalan Mayans. Peace Accords had been signed in 1996, the government was encouraging tourism, and it was, finally, safe to visit.

Why a dream? Because, 25 years ago, when I traveled through Central and South America, I promised my family I would avoid Guatemala because of the perceived was dangers. During that trip, as I met my Europeans and other who had visited, remained safe, and found it a fascinating country, I vowed …

Amistades: The Development Of Relationships Between Preservice Teachers And Latino Families, John A. Sutterby, Renee Rubin, Michelle Abrego

Organization and School Leadership Faculty Publications and Presentations

Preservice teachers from a Hispanic-serving university and Latino families reflected on their interactions during an after-school children’s tutoring program conducted at an elementary school. This paper focuses on issues that both preservice teachers and families found important to communication and relationship building. These issues were valuing what families bring to the educational process, congruency in the interpretation of teacher roles, and the importance of language to communication and relationship building.