Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education Commons^™

Teachers’ Beliefs Towards Learners’ Heritage Languages Inside Schools In A Multilingual Setting, Ivian Boruchowski Phd

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study adds to the conversation about the increasing language diversity in U.S. schools (Paris & Alim, 2014). In the South Florida district discussed here, ELLs represent 16.9% of the total student enrollment (Miami Dade, 2020), and there is a popular narrative about the value of bilingualism in this community. Despite that, Valencia and Lynch (2019), Mackinney (2016), and Lanier (2014) indicated: even though the bilingual political and economic value in South Florida is noticeable, HLs are relegated to a secondary place and with no prestige inside local school settings.

As Garcia and Wei (2014) observed: "language practices cannot be …

Effects Of Bilingualism In Short-Term Memory In Individuals With Down Syndrome, Evelyn I. Pinto-Cardona

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of bilingualism in short-term memory (STM) compared to monolingualism with individuals who have Down syndrome. Five tasks were used for STM skills comparison between monolingual and bilingual participants. Sixteen participants between the ages of 13 to 37 were included in this study. Participants were divided based on their language groups. The experimental tasks consisted of non-verbal activities to examine visual (RVDLT) and spatial (Corsi) STM; as well as three verbal STM tasks (RAVLT, WMS, and Digits). The results showed that bilinguals acquired higher overall correct responses, with a significant difference …

Becoming Bilingual: Examining Teachers' Perceptions And Practices For Achieving Bilingualism And Biliteracy In English And Spanish In A Two-Way Dual Language Bilingual Education Program, Carolyn O'Gorman-Fazzolari

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Bilingualism characterizes not only people, but homes, schools, and communities across the United States. While some bilingual people are forced to suppress their bilingualism, others are encouraged to develop their skill set to a level of becoming biliterate. Bilingualism and biliteracy are key features in dual language bilingual education (DLBE) programs where students are provided daily opportunities to develop two languages simultaneously, along with grade-level academic content. Research in DLBE suggest closure of the achievement gap (Valentino & Reardon, 2015). Traditionally, DLBE programs were designed to keep the two target languages (for example, Spanish and English) separate as designated by …

Investigating Vocabulary Abilities In Bilingual Portuguese-English-Speaking Children, Ana Paula Fabian

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the vocabulary abilities of bilingual Portuguese-English-speaking children compared to their monolingual peers. Parental Report Surveys were conducted using the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories (CDIs), which are standardized norms for vocabulary assessment. Electronic versions of the “Words and Sentences CDI” in English and Brazilian-Portuguese were used in order to assess the vocabulary of children between the ages of 16 and 36 months. Parents answered the surveys online.

Different vocabulary score types were used in order to evaluate the children’s lexicons: The Total Vocabulary score, the Conceptual Vocabulary scores, and the Total Modified Vocabulary. The analyses of the results …