Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education Commons^™

Evaluating The Intersection Of Continuous Growth And Assessment In The Field Of English As A Second Language, Madison Johnson

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

This teaching portfolio contains a compilation of the author’s personal teaching experiences and research interests while in the Master of Second Language Teaching (MSLT) program at Utah State University (USU). The sections of this portfolio highlight collaboration with current USU professors in the field of teaching English as a second language and the author’s personal experiences working in a second-grade elementary school classroom as well as teaching English in a community education setting. Much of the mentioned research focuses on the subfield of second language assessment. This is an area of interest to the author as an area for personal …

Authentic Low-Stakes Practice To Make Meaning Lasting For Ells: Creating Vocabulary Chants And Songs To Enhance The Word Generation Curriculum, Lori Cohen

Masters Theses/Capstone Projects

This curriculum creation is designed to supplement the Word Generation (WordGen) vocabulary program for middle school students. It adds songs and chants of the weekly focus words for use as a mnemonic device to remember and synthesize word meaning. The WordGen curriculum is heavily based on reading and writing and English Language Learners (ELLs) are at a disadvantage when tasked with learning and understanding academic vocabulary due to the short length of time for mastery (Cummins, 1999; Collier, 1987; Thompson, 2017). This curriculum is inspired by the desire to appeal to ELLs who would respond favorably to music or kinesthetic …

A Critical Analysis Of Cultura In Spanish World Language Textbooks, Amanda Holbrook

Education Doctorate Dissertations

This action-oriented multimodal discourse analysis explored how a high school Spanish world language textbook series construes Spanish speakers and cultures and invites students to engage with them through written texts and visual images. Through a lens of analysis based on systemic functional linguistics and influenced by critical discourse analysis and critical literacy pedagogy, this study found that the textbooks erase Spanish speakers as active creators of cultures, construe them as a standardized monolithic group when present, and construe cultures as tied to the interests of tourists and linked to place. Moreover, the textbook series invites students to engage with Spanish …

An Intensive Esl Camp Curriculum And Excursion Activities For International High School Graduated / College Students, Ying Chen

Master's Projects and Capstones

There are many factors for students’ poor command of English among international students in the native language institutions. One of the factors is the students’ negative attitude and low motivation in English learning. Another aspect to lower students’ English learning motivation is the inappropriate use of the learning materials. Moreover, learners still lack a chance to immerse in the real language environment and the authentic cultural background to improve their comprehensively intercultural and communicative competence. For the sake that the second language instruction provided in regular schools is limited in time, many students even do not have enough time to …

How Cultural Responsiveness Informs The Development Of And Decision-Making About K-12 Ela Curricula: A Mixed Methods Approach, Christa Tamanas Wade

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this mixed methods study was to explore how cultural responsiveness informed the development of and decision-making about K-12 English Language Arts curricula in New Jersey. Through the use of a survey and interviews, twelve curriculum supervisors offered an array of insight regarding their professional agency, curriculum processes, and factors that influence the areas associated with the program of study. Findings revealed that although supervisors do not have autonomy in the curriculum development process, they do have greater agency when it comes to selecting supplemental instructional resources and classroom supports. Another key theme was how a district's demographics …

Escribiendo Para Desahogarme: Release And Resistance In A Middle School Bilingual Writing Workshop, Carla Espana

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation examines a teacher’s language ideologies, their impact on curriculum modifications and bilingual Latinx middle schoolers’ storytelling, to understand how a bilingual pedagogy builds on their cultural and linguistic resources. This qualitative study was conducted in a sixth grade writing workshop class in New York City as the focus teacher taught the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project Personal Narrative Unit of Study. The first two findings center on the factors that influence a teacher’s stance on language practices and bilingual pedagogy, and how these contributed to curriculum modifications that included using students’ full linguistic and cultural repertoires, integrating …

Cultivating Student Voice: Writing As A Tool For Multilingual And Multicultural Students To Develop Language, Identity, And Cultural Competence, Gaeun Lee

Master's Projects and Capstones

The importance of using writing as an educational tool to English learners cannot be understated. It is critical for youth learning English as their second language to be encouraged to value their first language, culture, and identity by writing. Unfortunately, many teachers overlook the significance of the writing activity, which can be greatly helpful to develop the English learners’ language and cultural competence and their identity, specifically for multilingual and multicultural youth.

This project is developed with the purpose of cultivating student voice by using writing as a tool. The project is based on the two theories: the affective filter …

Effective Activities For Communicative Language Teaching Of English To Japanese With Intermediate English Proficiency, Satomi Shimabukuro

All Graduate Projects

The purpose of this project was to develop and try out five communicative activities for Japanese students with intermediate English proficiency in ESL class settings to promote their English proficiency. After reviewing the literature concerning communicative language teaching, the author describes the development, pilot-testing and feedback of the communicative activities. Finally, suggestions concerning the tested activities are given.