Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education Commons^™

The Politics Of Official English: Exploring The Intentions And The Outcomes Behind English-Only Policies In The United States, David Gonzalez Nieto

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Although the Constitution did not declare English the official language of the United States, its complete linguistic dominance in such a linguistically diverse nation is unparalleled. Despite its supremacy, the last three decades have witnessed a renewed nationalistic movement that claims the role of English is threatened and that its establishment as the official language of the United States is crucial to protect the language and the unity of the nation.

So far, attempts to institutionalize English at the federal level have failed, but 28 states have adopted English as their official language and/or legislation that limits the use of …

Social Justice Education: Using Communication Activism Pedagogy To Help University Cultural Centers Increase Campus Diversity & Inclusivity, Sophia T. Vu

Journalism

This study examined how student affairs professionals, especially those in cultural centers, could increase campus diversity and inclusivity. More specifically, it sought to find a theoretical basis for social justice education programs that could increase campus climate. It was performed as a single site case study at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. Three Cal Poly student affairs professionals were interviewed for qualitative data which were then compared and analyzed with the literature surrounding campus diversity and inclusivity. The study concludes that student affairs professionals can increase campus diversity and inclusivity by developing social justice education programs that not …

A Mixed-Methods (Quantitative-Qualitative) Study To Identify The Perceived Level Of, Zeky Zardo

Dissertations

Different approaches to developing leaders have been established through various forms of self-assessment, action learning, and education and training activities (Smither et al., 2005). The existing body of research on the impact and success of college and university leadership development programs focuses heavily on undergraduate leadership programs and not graduate-level programs such as the Master of Business Administration (MBA) or the doctorate. The purpose of this mixed-methods (quantitative–qualitative) study was to identify the perceived level of transformational leadership skill development by students enrolled in a doctoral program in organizational leadership. In addition, it was the purpose of this study to …

The Role Of Self-Awareness In Developing Global Competence: A Qualitative Multi-Case Study, Stacy D. Shipman

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Capstones

The current era of globalization and unprecedented global migration is creating the need for schools to educate students for global competence (GC). Multiple researchers (Boix Mansilla & Jackson, 2011; Hunter, 2004; Hunter et al., 2006; Morales & Ogden, 2013) suggest that self-awareness is the core dimension of GC, but about which very little is known. This paper considers the demonstrations of self-awareness in the development of GC. Using Kim's (2008) Intercultural Personhood Theory and the specific components of personal and social communication processes, self-awareness was investigated in East African immigrants. Findings suggest that the construct of self-awareness dimensionalizes differently for …

Language Policy And Bilingual Education For Immigrant Students At Public Schools In Japan, Naomi Asakura

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis discusses the current Japanese language (nihongo) education for immigrant students at public schools in Japan and provides recommendations through the study of language policy and the comparison of bilingual education in the United States. The current situation of a decreasing birth rate and increasing aging population in Japan has led to the acceptance of more foreign workers. Due to this change, language education in Japan has increasing development. The focus of chapter 1 is on the theories of language policy. This paper particularly focuses on the ideas of Wright (2004), Neustupný (2006), Spolsky (2004), and Cooper (1989), and …

Performing Critical Consciousness In Teaching: Entanglements Of Knowing, Feeling And Relating, Kathleen A. Mcdonough

Doctoral Dissertations

At a time when education reform is guided by neoliberalism, accountability and standardization have reshaped teaching as highly technocratic and threatened the democratic possibilities of public education. Even so, many teacher education programs have taken up the call to prepare teachers to teach for social justice, whether framed as multicultural education, critical literacy, or critical pedagogy. A construct that ties these pedagogical approaches together is critical consciousness, with the aim of some teacher education efforts to evoke critical consciousness among preservice teachers. This study focuses on exploring how nine educators from elementary grades to higher education experience and enact critical …

Reading Queerly In The High School Classroom: Exploring A Gay And Lesbian Literature Course, Kirsten Helmer

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation is to explore how teaching an English literature curriculum centered on the stories, experiences, cultures, histories, and politics of LGBTQI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex) people constitutes a meaningful site for teaching and learning in a high school classroom. The dissertation offers insights on how the teaching of LGBTQI-themed texts in English language arts classes can be reframed by bridging the goals, practices and conceptual tools of queer theory to critical literacies teaching. The project follows principles of critical qualitative research and employs an ethnographic case study approach with the purpose of transforming educational …

Managing Manacles: The Daily Struggles Of Unauthorized Latina Mothers In Kentucky, Elizabeth W. Mandeel

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Capstones

Two research questions guided this study: (1) Which barriers to daily life are faced by undocumented Latina mothers in Kentucky; and (2) What resources and strategies do they employ to navigate these barriers? Extant research reviewed has characterized this segment of the population as highly stressed victims of multiple levels of subjugation. Ten undocumented immigrant mothers from Guatemala and Mexico residing in Kentucky were interviewed for this phenomenological study and their responses analyzed using the frameworks of Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality. As predicted, themes of family separation, difficulties to be able to work, and living without health insurance emerged …

Exploring Adult Punjabi-Speaking Immigrants’ Path To English Language Acquisition: A Case Study, Pankaj Sharma

All Theses And Dissertations

Punjabi-speaking immigrants to the United States find many successes and face many challenges as they strive to become full citizens of their new communities. There are success stories and obstacles faced by immigrants as they embark upon a journey from another country. This study examined what major obstacles Punjabi speaking immigrants face when they immigrated from India, including poverty, lack of employment, and stress specifically related to moving from the Punjabi to English language that ultimately affect the acculturation process for the entire family. The study also looked at support received by Punjabi immigrants from others in the community and …

Pedagogical Approaches To Multicultural Education Within Teacher Preparation Programs, Mark Steven Barajas

Dissertations

Despite national standards established in 1979, U.S. teacher preparation programs have struggled to incorporate comprehensive, multicultural teacher education into existing curriculum (Sleeter, 2008). The weakness of multicultural training in most teacher preparation programs is theorized as a major contributor to the persistent achievement gap between students of color and White students (Ferguson, 2003). Furthermore, literature indicates White teachers frequently hold lower expectations for racial and ethnic minority students compared to White students and these lowered expectations often manifest as lower academic achievement (McKown & Weinstein, 2007).

This study provides empirical data regarding multicultural education within teacher preparation programs. Individual course …

The Development Of Language And Identity: A Sociocultural Study Of Five International Graduate Students Living In The U.S., Alexandra Dema

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of this sociocultural study was to analyze the longitudinal process of identity development of international graduate students as their lives unfolded across time and experience in the second languaculture. Furthermore, it was aimed at exploring what role is attributed to second language in this process. The study relied on the mainstream sociocultural perspectives on individual development that originated from Vygotsky’s work and were further elaborated by his followers to address the issues of identity and language development of second language learners. As part of such perspectives, it integrated the unit of perezhivanie into the examination of individual experiences …

Openness To The "Other" During A Summer Language Study Abroad In Madrid, Spain: Six Case Studies, Samuel Cox

Dissertations (1934 -)

The purpose of this study was to explore the interaction of summer language study abroad students in Madrid, Spain, with a cultural and linguistic "Other," and to examine the resulting evolution in those participants' openness to that Other. Gordon Allport's four optimal conditions for prejudice reduction in intergroup contact theory provided the framework for this analysis. The student in a language study abroad context is both a linguistic and cultural minority, an experience manifested in multiple daily interactions that potentially affect openness to the linguistic and cultural Other. As such, qualitative data were drawn from six participants via interviews during …

Empowering All Who Teach: A Portrait Of Two Non-Native English Speaking Teachers In A Globalized 21st Century, Rosa Dene David

Dissertations and Theses

One of most prevalent issues surrounding English education internationally is the differentiation between Native English-Speaking Teachers (NESTs) and Non-native English-Speaking Teachers (NNESTs). What is sometimes termed the "Native speaker fallacy" is the notion that in order to be a proficient teacher of the English language one must either be a native speaker or possess native like fluency (Phillipson, 1992). This position is furthered by Hollidays Native Speakerism (Holliday, 2006) which suggests that within the field of English Language Teaching (ELT) there is an assumption that NESTs are better equipped to teach English language learners due to language proficiency and Western …

Talking Back, With Reawakened Voices: Analyzing The Potential For Indigenous California Languages Coursework At California Polytechnic State University, Logan Cooper

Ethnic Studies

The legacy of colonialism in the United States, including genocidal practices and cultural assimilation, has left Indigenous languages endangered. Native peoples, scholars, and activists have been working to revive and heal the languages of America’s first peoples, and the cultures those languages speak to, yet more work remains in the field of language revitalization. California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo currently does not offer any course specifically teaching or discussing Indigenous languages, even those of the Chumash people who know the San Luis Obispo area as their ancestral homelands.

By synthesizing revitalization and Indigenous activist literature with the narratives …

Analysis Of English Language Learner Performance On The Biology Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System: The Impact Of English Proficiency, First Language Characteristics, And Late-Entry Ell Status, Mary A. Mitchell

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

This study analyzed English language learner (ELL) performance on the June 2012 Biology MCAS, namely on item attributes of domain, cognitive skill, and linguistic complexity. It examined the impact of English proficiency, Latinate first language, first language orthography, and late-entry ELL status. The results indicated that English proficiency was a strong predictor of performance and that ELLs at higher levels of English proficiency overwhelmingly passed. The results further indicated that English proficiency introduced a construct-irrelevant variance on the Biology MCAS and raised validity issues for using this assessment at lower levels of English proficiency. This study also found that ELLs …

Promoting Completion Of Advance Directives In A Hispanic Religious Congregation: An Evidence-Based Practice Project, Luis Daniel San Miguel, Mary Jo Clark

Doctor of Nursing Practice Final Manuscripts

Background: Hispanics utilize more aggressive medical treatment at the end of life and are less likely to receive end-of-life care consistent with their wishes than nonHispanic Whites. Hispanics are less likely than nonHispanic Whites to have an advance directive (AD). Increasing AD completion among Hispanics can promote end-of-life care consistent with their wishes, diminish healthcare disparities, and eliminate unnecessary healthcare spending. Objectives: To promote completion of advance directives by increasing knowledge, positive attitudes, and comfort with advance care planning (ACP) among Hispanics through culturally sensitive interventions. Intervention: The project was conducted in Spanish and implemented among a …

Incorporating Community Cultural Wealth In A Community-Based Organization, Henriette S. Ako-Asare

Master's Projects and Capstones

This project examined how Hack the Hood, a Bay Area non-profit organization, successfully works with low-income youth of color in an outside of school context using technological skills to empower them. Critical Race Theory, community cultural wealth, and the many studies on academic success provided a model through which to examine the efficacy and cultural relevance of Hack the Hood programming using interviews and data already gathered on the organization. Based on the analysis of Hack the Hood and the promising findings related to how their work advance several of the tenets of the community cultural wealth model, this project …

Cross-Cultural Bridges : Closing The Gaps In Direct Services With Immigrant And Diverse Populations, Lucy Chen

Graduate Student Independent Studies

The shifting cultural, racial, ethnic, and linguistic makeup of the United States is expected to become more diverse in the coming decades. This has important implications for direct service professionals, including social workers and educators. An overview of culturally sensitive, responsive, and competent practices is provided for work with immigrant and diverse populations to assist professionals in the process of crossing cultural bridges, overcoming privilege, and building bridges.

A Case For An Ecological Approach And Against Language Commodification In Elt, Vinicius O. Souza

MA TESOL Collection

This paper aims to provide an alternative approach to the English language education practiced in many developing countries which can help reverse their current low-proficiency status, as revealed by standard international examinations such as the PISA scores and others. The author argues that this can be best accomplished by adopting an ecological approach to teaching which promotes language learning as emergent and socially situated phenomena, two concepts largely neglected by current teaching methods. In fact, many of these countries have long been dominated by an extremely commodified and cognitivist ELT market, where business interests have taken precedence over pedagogical considerations. …

Ways In Which Community Involvement May Influence Girls’ Education In Senegal, Babou Ndiaye

Masters Theses

This study attempts to examine through the lens of social feminist theory the ways in which community involvement may influence girls’ education in Senegal. It highlights the extent to which networking, advocacy, and meaningful interactions between community and school may contribute to improving access, learning conditions, and academic achievements for girls. The paper also provides an analysis of the adverse effects of community involvement on girls’ education in Senegal. It underscores the extent to which patriarchy and class interfere to shape community involvement and undermine girls’ education, in terms of both access and quality. The paper further sketches a combination …

Negative Impacts Of Teacher Evaluation Reform: The Role Of Federal Policy In Student Achievement And Teacher Quality, Allison Smith

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of this sequential transformative study was to elucidate the negative experiences of teachers with performance evaluations and to juxtapose the intended use of current popular teacher evaluation reform movements to the evident implementation. One may quickly assume that negative experiences with evaluation are a result of unsatisfactory teaching practices. However, this may not accurately explain the negative experiences. This study focused on the negative experience of teacher evaluation to provide a broader understanding of the impact of new evaluation policy reform on student achievement and teacher quality. Five data sources were analyzed: PAR policy, a teacher survey, district …

Reckless Abandonment? Explaining Congressional Hispanic Caucus Support For The 2001 No Child Left Behind Act, Elizabeth C. Reynolds

Politics Honors Papers

When No Child Left Behind (NCLB) was signed into law in early 2002, many hoped the legislation would help reduce achievement gaps among traditionally underperforming populations. For Hispanic students specifically, however, NCLB has contributed to educational inequality, school segregation, and high drop-out rates in major ways. Given these outcomes and trends, it is surprising that members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) and other Hispanic American interest groups overwhelmingly supported NCLB despite potentially being able to anticipate how the law would hurt Hispanic students. The political environment of 2001 left members of the CHC with few options other than to …

Choices, Chores, And Cheerleading: A Study Of Hartford Pubic Housing Residents’ Perceptions Of Parent-School Involvement, Karen Taylor

Senior Theses and Projects

A growing body of research suggests that parents’ involvement in their children’s schooling is an important factor for student academic achievement. In the Greater Hartford area, the changing landscape of public education options emerging from the 1996 Connecticut Supreme Court ruling in Sheff v. O’Neill has put an emphasis on understanding factors impacting academic achievement for low-income students of color. This study examines how parents of color living in public housing perceive their role in their children’s schooling. Through semi-structured interviews, parents expressed which forms of involvement are most important to them as well as their perceived barriers and motivations …

Nato Educational Readiness For The Millennials, John Patrick Kelley

Educational Foundations & Leadership Theses & Dissertations

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), formed in 1949 and described as the most successful alliance in history, is facing change. By 2020, the majority of students in the NATO educational institutions will be Millennium Generation students. To best meet this student group's educational needs, changes to the delivery of educational content may be needed. This study determined how Millennial Generation characteristics may change as Millennials mature, how military service may change Millennials, confirmed the international nature of Millennial characteristics across the 28 nations of NATO and predicted the state of educational technology in 2020.

This qualitative study investigated these …

Implementing Culturally And Linguistically Responsive Strategies Using Children's Literature In The Urban Multicultural Preschool: Examining Teachers' Language Dialect Beliefs And Practices, Nicole Victoria Bailey Austin

Teaching & Learning Theses & Dissertations

This study examined preschool teachers' implementation of culturally and linguistically responsive strategies using children's literature in an urban multicultural preschool. Through a qualitative phenomenological design, this research aimed to expand understandings of language dialect and achievement in early childhood education and examine preschool teachers' knowledge, beliefs, and instructional practices regarding identified home languages—African American Vernacular English and Hispanic American English, Academic Language, and code switching. The phenomenon under investigation was early childhood professionals' beliefs and frequency of home language dialect use within the classroom and implementation of culturally and linguistically responsive strategies within the classrooms of an urban multicultural preschool …

Survival Analysis: Timelines To English Language Proficiency At The Secondary School Level, Elisha W. Beardsley

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Capstones

The ELL population in the United States continues to increase. Research suggests that the English language proficiency growth rates for numerous ELL students are strongly correlated with their English language proficiency levels (Cook & Zhao, 2011; Conger, 2008). The results of Conger’s 2008 study suggested that just over fifty percent of students gained English language proficiency after three years. According to the same study, the students that did not typically gain English language proficiency were students who entered public schools older and with a lower English language proficiency level. The current study examines the likelihood of high school ELLs in …

The Encoding Of Temporality In Second Language Acquisition: A Study Of Mandarin Chinese-Speaking Esl Learners, Li Ma

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation investigates the influences of pragmatic factors, lexical devices, as well as the lexical aspectual properties of verbs on second language learners' encoding of temporality in their target language. The pragmatic factors being investigated include a recency effect and the number of occurrences of a tense in the previous context, and the lexical devices include past-time temporal adverbials and frequency adverbs. The role of the lexical aspectual properties of verbs is checked against the Aspect Hypothesis, which states that learners will initially restrict past or perfective marking to achievement and accomplishment verbs and later gradually extend this usage to …

Vocabulary Through Affixes And Word Families - A Computer-Assisted Language Learning Program For Adult Ell Students, Magdalena Kieliszek

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Vocabulary plays an important role in language learning of ELL (English Language Learner) students. This work discusses the importance of metalinguistic awareness in teaching vocabulary to adult English Language Learners at an intermediate- or advanced-level of English language proficiency with an emphasis on learning vocabulary through word families and increased morphological awareness. The main contribution is a computer-based program that guides users through a series of interactive reading and vocabulary practice exercises which allow them to explore and learn how certain words are connected through word families and how some of the most common affixes in English can affect the …

The Perceptions, Knowledge, Benefits And Barriers Of Hispanics Regarding The Dietary Guidelines For Americans, Luisyana De Amor Gamboa

Theses and Dissertations--Nutrition and Food Systems

Background: Hispanics are the largest minority group in the U.S. and by the year 2060 the number of Hispanics is projected to double. They are disproportionately affected by obesity and chronic diseases which translate into decreased quality of life, loss of work opportunities and perceptions of injustice for the Hispanic population. The Dietary Guidelines (DG) provide information to help Americans make healthy food and physical activity choices and if followed can be a means of reducing the health disparity gap. However, culturally relevant recommendations specific to Hispanics’ health and nutritional habits are often lacking. The purpose of this study was …

Encouraging Latino Students Through Relational Teaching: A Case Study In Lawrence, Massachusetts, Ohilda Difo

MA IDS Thesis Projects

Within the next 10 years, the majority-minority ratio in the United States will shift, and people of color will outnumber white Americans. In 2014, for the first time in history, a majority of students in K-12 were children of color. Although the student demographic of public schools has changed, the demographic of teachers and the style of teaching remain archaic and catered to white students. This qualitative study focuses on the lowest educated population in the U.S. – Latino youth. The project is a case study on a highly concentrated Latino community in the city of Lawrence, Massachusetts, where 71% …