Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education Commons^™

A Science Teacher’S Experiences When Fostering Intercultural Competence Among Students In Multilingual Classrooms: A Narrative Study, Uma Ganesan, Amanda R. Morales

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

Increased globalization of the world economy, growth in human migration, and rapid devel-opments in science and technology have required people to develop intercultural commu-nication skills. Teachers play a crucial role in developing intercultural competence among students in our globalized, multilingual classrooms. The need for fostering collaborative discourse among students with diverse cultural and linguistic repertoires and building in-tercultural competence among students is a common blind spot in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics teacher praxis. This can inhibit efforts to cultivate safe and supportive learning environments for all students and can ultimately threaten multilingual student success. As part of a larger …

Challenges Encountered In The Implementation Of The National Literacy Acceleration Program (Nalap) In The Abura Asebu Kwamankese District, Ghana, Julius Arhin-Asamoah

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The National Literacy Acceleration Program (NALAP) aims to enhance early grade primary school pupils' literacy rates, yet national evaluations reveal widespread deficiencies in reading proficiency in both the local language and English. This study examines challenges in implementing NALAP in the Abura Asebu Kwamankese district, Ghana, focusing on the teacher and resource-related issues. A mixed-methods sequential explanatory design was employed. The study covered 12 basic schools in the Abura Asebu Kwamankese district. In all, 61 respondents comprising 50 teachers and 11 circuit supervisors were involved in the study. The findings highlight teacher-related issues such as inadequate pedagogical practices, low motivation, …

Ecuadorian English Teachers’ Perspectives On Their Professional Development, Consuelo Marisol Gallardo

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents from University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2024–

Ecuadorian English Teachers’ Perspectives on Their Professional Development, Consuelo Gallardo, Ph.D., University of Nebraska, 2023

Professional development (PD) plays an important role in one’s ability to perform at a high level in a job (Mizell, 2010). As such, an increased emphasis on ongoing and varied PD opportunities to support educator’s professional growth has been described as an effective approach since it pays direct dividends for teachers’ self-efficacy and prepares them to help students surpass basic academic standards (Anderson, 2018; Borg, 2018; Tanveer et al., 2021).

However, PD opportunities for English teachers, who work at Ecuadorian public high schools (grades 8-13), …

How Teachers Use Data: Description And Differences Across Prek Through Third Grade, Amanda Witte, Lisa Knoche, Susan Sheridan, Natalie A. Koziol

Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families, and Schools: Faculty Publications

The use of data to inform instruction has been linked to improved student outcomes, early identification of intervention needs, and teacher decision-making and efficacy. Additionally, data are used as a means of accountability within educational settings. However, little is known about data use practices among early grades teachers. The purpose of the current study is to describe the data use of PreK to third grade teachers and to investigate differences in data use and support across grade levels. Participants were 307 early childhood teachers in PreK and early elementary school. Analysis of survey data revealed, overall, most teachers across grade …

Family Strengths Among Native American Families And Families Living In Poverty: Preventing Adverse Childhood Experiences, Natira Mullet, Emily A. Waterman, Katie Edwards, Briana Simon, Skyler Hopfauf, Ramona Herrington

Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families, and Schools: Faculty Publications

Objective: The purpose of this study was to understand how youth, caregivers, and community professionals perceive family strengths and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) in their community. Specifically, this study was focused on the protective role of caregivers and families, positive youth development, and how Native American families and families living in poverty support adolescents’ social–emotional development and help them thrive in the face of adversity.

Background: Research documents the concerning rates and negative outcomes of ACEs. However, very little research has examined the views of families and professionals on how to prevent ACES among these populations.

Method: Participants were youth …

French 203: Grammar & Conversation: A Faculty-Led Inquiry Into Reflective & Scholarly Teaching Benchmark Portfolio, Erica Schauer

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

The following Benchmark Portfolio is the product of a full reassessment of FRENCH 203: CONVERSATION & GRAMMAR, an intermediate-level grammar course that serves as a prerequisite for students pursuing a major or a minor in French at UNL. Previously, French 203 had been a review course that covered the essential grammar structures discussed in 101, 102, 201 and 202 and invited students to practice these structures orally with peers in class. This new iteration of the course, however, seeks to broaden the reach of student comprehension of French as a functional tool of communication by requiring students to understand and …

White Privilege And Teacher Perceptions Of Teacher-Child Relationship Quality, Kathleen Moritz Rudasill, Colin M. Mcginnis, Sheng-Lun Cheng, Dwayne Ray Cormier, Natalie A. Koziol

Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families, and Schools: Faculty Publications

In this study, we investigated differences in teachers’ perceptions of the teacher-child relationship from kindergarten through second grade as a function of child race and gender from the perspective of critical race theory and the cultural synchrony hypothesis. Given the extensive evidence of White privilege and anti-Black racism in the US education system, we expected that teachers, particularly White teachers, would perceive their relationships with White children more positively than with Black children. Controlling for family SES and child gender, results supported this hypothesis. Black boys had the highest risk of being perceived by teachers as having poor relationships with …

Translanguaging In World Language Higher Education, Alessia Barbici Wagner

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Increased global migration and a myriad of other social and political factors has made today’s universities more diverse than ever. As a result, teachers in higher education regularly find multilingual learners from a variety of different linguistic and cultural backgrounds in their classrooms and must consider this diversity in their teaching. One of the ways that teaching can better serve today’s multilingual and multicultural student population is through translanguaging. The objective of this dissertation is to investigate the intentional and unintentional use of translanguaging by multilingual language learners and world language instructors in higher education. Additionally, this qualitative case study …

Language Ideologies Of Multilingual Learners In An Intensive English Program, Madhur Shende

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Despite some rises and falls in the numbers due to various reasons, including the political climate in the Trump era and the COVID-19 pandemic (Laws & Ammigan, 2020), each year universities in the United States host a large number of multilingual international students from different parts of the world. Based on their TOEFL scores, many are required to enroll in an accelerated course of study in academic English, commonly known as the Intensive English Program (IEP) before they can begin their mainstream academic programs. Where there is language, there are language ideologies. Yet, often in monolingual, English-only classrooms, little is …

Exploration Of The Lived Experiences Of Native American Science Teachers Of The Great Plains: A Narrative Inquiry, Uma Ganesan

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The complicated history of the education of Native American children through U.S. government-sponsored practices has led to the elimination of the Native children’s sense of Indian identity, culture, and language (Noel, 2002). In addition, increased emphasis on standardization and high-stakes accountability under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 has resulted in less culturally responsive educational efforts and more Indigenous students left behind in school systems (Castagno & Brayboy, 2008). This has led to Indigenous students being underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields where they account for only 3% of STEM workers (Fry, Kennedy, & Funk, …

Multilingual Zambia - Language Issues In Primary/Secondary Schools Of The Eastern/Southern Provinces, Kenzie Steiner

NUTR/GLST 498b: Global Research Experiences in Nutrition and Health

Introduction: Zambia is a multilingual country that uses 8 different languages for instruction including English and 7 other indigenous languages.

Methods: Survey research conducted between May-June 2022 on 6-7th graders within 9 Zambian schools. Classroom observations made and teachers interviewed.

Results: In Eastern and Southern Provinces, Zambian teachers speak an average of 5 languages while students speak an average of 2. Both teachers and students say English remains the most important language followed by first languages.

Conclusion: Continued research on language-in-education policies and impacts on student performance must be conducted if “One Zambia, One Nation” is meant to promote all …

College Students’ Perceptions Of Alcohol’S Role In Disclosures Of Sexual Assault And Intimate Partner Violence, Emily A. Waterman, Lindsey M. Rodriguez, Sarah E. Ullman, Emily R. Dworkin, Katie Edwards

Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families, and Schools: Faculty Publications

Objective: Much is known about how alcohol increases the risk of sexual assault or intimate partner violence victimization during college. This research qualitatively explores perceptions about how alcohol influences disclosures about these events to informal supports.

Participants: Participants included college students who received a disclosure wherein they or the survivor were drinking during the disclosure (n = 81).

Methods: Responses were coded with regard to who was drinking and whether the effect of drinking during the disclosure was perceived as positive, negative, mixed, or neutral/none.

Results: Participants perceived alcohol to have both positive (e.g., increasing the likelihood of discussing …

Appreciating And Promoting Resilience In Families, John W. Eagle, Susan M. Sheridan

Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families, and Schools: Faculty Publications

Families comprise the primary context for a child’s development. As the composition of the family system continues to change, the adult caregivers’ role has become increasingly important in fostering healthy developmental trajectories for their children. Family relationships and interaction styles are central to developing competence and promoting adaptive educational, social, emotional, and behavioral functioning. Families give children an informal education (Turnbull et al., 2015), which is a prerequisite to successful experiences in the classroom (Adams & Christenson, 2000). Whereas the school environment sets up developmental tasks for students, the family serves as an important resource for the acquisition of these …

Concern, Conflict, And Chaos: Nebraska Educator Experiences During The Pandemic, Amanda Witte, Amanda Prokasky, Courtney Boise, Renata T.M. Gomes, Gwen Nugent, Susan Sheridan

Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families, and Schools: Faculty Publications

During the spring of 2020, Nebraska’s 983 public schools sat vacant, and Nebraska’s 329,290 Pre-Kindergarten to Grade 12 students were learning in environments other than school. Educators were expected to pivot quickly from traditional classroom instruction to remote experiences. Understanding the effects of the pandemic on educators is necessary to effectively meet their needs and the needs of students. The purpose of this study was to identify and describe the experiences of Nebraska’s urban and rural PreK–Grade 12 educators during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. In surveys collected in July 2020, participants (i.e., superintendents, principals, and teachers) completed …

The High School In The Middle Of Everywhere: Nebraska’S Lincoln High, Edmund T. Hamann, Janet M. Eckerson, Mark Larson

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

In 2002, world-renowned author Mary Pipher published a book about her home city, Lincoln Nebraska, playfully titled “The Middle of Everywhere” a tongue-in-cheek rejoinder to the idea that Nebraska is ‘the middle of nowhere.’ But word play aside, her title was empirically apt, as her volume documented how immigration and refugee resettlement were demographically transforming Nebraska’s capital city. As in other cities, resettlement was concentrated in some areas of Lincoln, placing differential burdens on different parts of the community’s institutional infrastructure. Of interest to readers of this volume, Lincoln’s refugees and immigrants were concentrated in the city’s oldest high school. …

Spanish Cultural Club, Carolina Barraza, Katya Reason

Honors Expanded Learning Clubs

The goal is for students to learn essential Spanish words and phrases and learn more about the culture of Latin America.

Sexual Activity Between Victims And Perpetrators Following A Sexual Assault: A Systematic Literature Review And Critical Feminist Analysis, Katie M. Edwards, Christina M. Dardis

Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families, and Schools: Faculty Publications

Rarely are perpetrators found guilty of sexual assault when the victim engaged in sex with the perpetrator following the sexual assault. Although the recent trial of Harvey Weinstein is an exception, the fact that his accusers engaged in consensual sex with him following the alleged assaults ignited debate that garnered international attention. The purpose of this paper was to conduct a systematic review to (1) document the extent to which victims engage in sex with the perpetrator following a sexual assault and (2) examine theoretical explanations for this phenomenon. Five peer-reviewed journal articles published between 1988 and 2016 were identified. …

Contact Sports With Mental Health And Aggression, Jai Alvarez

Nebraska College Preparatory Academy: Senior Capstone Projects

Sports have many benefits that can develop new motivations, drives and goals within a person. Contact sports, specifically, benefit someone's mental health and a healthy mindset by giving people an outlet to take out their aggressions. Being physically active can produce certain parts of the brain being activated and release serotonin, overall affecting someone's mood. Although contact sports such as football have been in a negative light within in society recently, contact sports have improved protection against injuries and research has shown that contact sports can improve your mental health by letting out aggression in a safe manner.

Plastic Pollution’S Affect On Coral Reefs, Alexander Gomez

Nebraska College Preparatory Academy: Senior Capstone Projects

Plastic pollution has been an increasing problem in the world. This is getting worse every year and it is having an impact in our world specifically in our oceans. A big thing in the ocean is coral reefs, coral reefs end up dying by diseases and debris caused from plastic pollution. Coral reefs are important in the lives of humans and fish so if we do nothing about it many will suffer the consequences. With coral reefs gone many fish suffer from change and do not adapt quick enough and later end up dying. Plastic pollution stays on top of …

Availability, Accessibility And Utilization Of Electronic Information Resources By Undergraduates Of Ladoke Akintola University Of Technology, Ogbomoso, Oyo State, Nigeria, Kehinde Mary Oyelade Mrs, Vincent Enyeribe Unegbu Prof, Madukoma Ezinwayi Madukoma Dr

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The study investigates the availability, accessibility and utilization of electronic information

resources by undergraduates of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, Oyo

state, Nigeria. Survey research design was adopted for this study. A population of six thousand

three hundred and forty (6340) undergraduates were involved in the study. A total number of

Three hundred and seventeen 317 undergraduates were drawn as sample size through stratified

sampling techniques. Questionnaire was the main instrument used for data collection. Two

hundred and seventy 274 four dally filed questionnaires were received, given an overall response

rate of 86.49%. Data were collected and analyzed using …

Risk And Protective Factors For Sexual Aggression Across The Ecosystem: An Overview, Emily A. Waterman, Katie M. Edwards

Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families, and Schools: Faculty Publications

Prevention of sexual aggression (which ranges from perpetration of unwanted sexual contact to attempted/completed rape) is a complex public health and safety issue that requires attention to multiple levels of social ecology (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2004). The social ecological model provides a framework for understanding how risk and protective factors for sexual aggression exist at multiple levels, with some factors being more proximal such as the individual attitudes, and other factors being more distal such as the broader culture (e.g., laws and policies) (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2013). Indeed, research indicates a variety of risk …

Informal And Formal Mentoring Of Sexual And Gender Minority Youth: A Systematic Review, Katie Edwards, Jillian R. Scheer, Victoria Mauer

Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families, and Schools: Faculty Publications

Research demonstrates that mentoring relationships can promote positive outcomes for youth across numerous domains, a topic of importance to school social workers. Whereas most mentoring research to date has been conducted with heterosexual cisgender youth, there is a growing body of literature that examines mentoring experiences among sexual and gender minority youth (SGMY). The purpose of this article is to conduct a systematic literature review of informal and formal mentoring experiences among SGMY. Results from twelve studies that met inclusion criteria suggested that (1) the majority of SGMY report having a mentor/role model; (2) demographics are generally unrelated to having …

Searching For Mental Health Services: Search Strings And Information Acquisition, Antover Tuliao, Natira D. Mullet, Lindsey G. Hawkins, Derek Holyoak, Marisa Weerts, Anthony Inyang

Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families, and Schools: Faculty Publications

Based on decision sciences and information processing theories, how information is acquired is the foundation of decisions and choices subsequently made. Adapting the Active Information Search methodology, the aim for this study is to examine what information potential mental health clients look for in a service provider through their use of search strings. College students (N = 519) from a large public university from the southwest USA (data collection from August to December 2018) were asked in an online survey to imagine themselves needing mental health services and list down the search string they would use in a search engine …

Mental Health Vs. Social Media, Alexandra Avalos

Nebraska College Preparatory Academy: Senior Capstone Projects

Mental health is a persons condition with their emotional well-being and social well-being. A persons mental health is so important because it affects how you feel, think and act. Your mental health can determine how motivated you are or how you handle stress and or stressful situations. Social media has impacted peoples mental health especially in teenagers that depression rates are higher, as well as anxiety and self image issues.

Performance Enhancing Drug Use In Professional Sports, Moises Cotom Pacheco

Nebraska College Preparatory Academy: Senior Capstone Projects

The use of Performance Enhancing Drugs(PEDs) should not be legalized in professional sports due to the negative effects it has on the body and influencing the youth to participate in its use. Multiple studies have been conducted to show how PEDs affects the body in negative ways. There is also an ethical reasoning to why PEDs should not be legalized. The youth are heavily influenced by athletes that whenever they promote something they are willing to convince their parents to buy it. They are also influenced when it comes to PED use and how they can become like their idol …

Racial Disparities In Organ Donation, Lilly Brown

Nebraska College Preparatory Academy: Senior Capstone Projects

Organ donation and its process is a scientific breakthrough that the medical community uses daily and continues to perfect. Although the donation process is well known all around the world, there is still a dent in the percentage of how many people donate. When taking a deeper look at where the majority of organ donations come from, its apparent that minorities’ numbers are significantly lower compared to their white counterparts. Different cultures and ethnicities vary all around the world just like the ever-changing outlook on organ donation. The focus of racial disparities in organ donation is addressed through research papers …

Foster Care And Adoption: Youth Aging Out, Cherish Flyinghawk

Nebraska College Preparatory Academy: Senior Capstone Projects

Those challenges are finding employment, housing, financial stability, and educational attainment. Some do not have life skills like other youth in the general population. When youth age out they may not have access to education, guidance, family support, which helps them with responsible decision making. As youth get older we can see whether or not being in foster care made them stronger or broke them into a place they cannot come out of. A percent of youth are resilient from the situation. Reunification with parents or primary care takers is also known to happen until they can get back on …

Talking To A Screen, Maria Dominguez

Nebraska College Preparatory Academy: Senior Capstone Projects

Throughout the U.S. 20% of teens and adults between the ages 18 and 49 use a dating app on a daily basis. Dating apps can have a good quality of communication. Studies showed that 60% of the participants have had positive experiences with dating platforms. There is also information that dating apps can also be a sign of danger such as false information and false identity. This research will show what are the good and bad outcomes of using a dating app.

How Homeless People Take Care Of Themselves, Esperanza Aguirre

Nebraska College Preparatory Academy: Senior Capstone Projects

Society sees the homeless as the unworthy and less fortunate population of the world. Society looks down on the homeless and pity’s them. They throw spare change in their hands and then go on with their lives not giving them another thought. But what society doesn’t realize is that homeless people spend days on on without getting their basic needs met. They lack money, food, water, shelter, and medical assistance. Which leads them to think outside of the box in order to survive.

Inhumane Experiments On Humans, Dakota Harris

Nebraska College Preparatory Academy: Senior Capstone Projects

This capstone projects is about inhumane experiments on humans around the world and how it effected the people involved or what it brought to light. Many of these experiments are kept secretive because of how they effected people’s livelihood. Inhumane experiments often lead to death, trauma, illness, shortening of life, disfigurement, or permanent disabilities in the victims, plus more trauma for the family. The reason why these experiments are considered inhumane is because they occur when the ‘patient’ couldn’t sign off on informed consent of the experiment, or they were unaware of the possible outcomes of what they were involved …