Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education Commons^™

Scaffolding Strategies That Benefit And Support Adult English As A Foreign Language Reading Comprehension: A Literature Review, Walkiris Mejia Ortega

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The poor reading proficiency and the lack of reading comprehension strategies have been a major flaw for adult university learners in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) contexts, particularly in the case of English majors at the School of Foreign Languages in the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Research has shown this reading gap can be improved through suitable instructional strategies and assistance referred to as scaffolding. The purpose of this literature review was to investigate how beneficial scaffolding is for EFL adults´ reading comprehension, which scaffolding strategies prove effective in supporting EFL reading comprehension, and how those …

The Use Of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy In Esol Classes, Beth A. O. Haddinger

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is organized into five distinct chapters addressing multiple aspects of learning and engagement as it relates to English Language Learners (ELLs) in the classroom. First, the problem of practice is identified and explored. We, as educators, must look closely at instructional and systemic issues, actionable elements, broader strategies of improvement, and leverage, which refers to the ability of a program to motivate students and to generate a sense of practical value in academics. The next aspect of this dissertation proposal reviews the existing research literature. This literature review focuses on the specific learning needs of ELL students. Specifically …

Commonalities In Evidence-Based Instructional Strategies For Autism Spectrum Disorder And English Language Learners, Kimberly Michelle O'Mara

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Many English language learners experience life on the Autism spectrum. These students will spend much of their day in the general education setting, and teachers will need effective and proven strategies to support them. The data show that Autism Spectrum Disorder is increasing among all populations (CDC, 2023). Current understandings and influences on these learners will be explored. This review examines evidence-based practices presented by premier sources in the fields of Autism Spectrum Disorder and English language learning, seeking commonalities in strategies. Using the findings from the National Standards Report and the National Clearinghouse for Autism Evidence & Practice cross-referenced …

Experienced Nonnative English-Speaking Teachers’ Nonnativeness-Related Challenges, Coping Strategies, And Identity Construction, Roseli Marqueti Matos Franco

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Kamhi-Stein (1999) declares that little is known about nonnative English-speaking teachers (NNEST) who work in ESL settings also known as Inner Circle countries. Twenty years later, Fan and de Jong (2019) have echoed that view by stating that traditionally research on NNESTs focuses on Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) international graduate students and that little is known about professional nonnative English-speaking teachers in English-dominant environments such as the U.S.A. Therefore, to try to help fill this gap in the literature, I investigated the lived experiences of English teachers who speak English as an additional language, often called …

Adult Students’ Willingness To Communicate In The Esl/Efl Language Classroom: A Literature Review, Lisa N. Moreno

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this study was to survey the literature on what hinders and promotes willingness to communicate in the English /Foreign language classroom. Twenty-five articles published between 2017-2022 were evaluated in this study. The review of literature concentrated on foreign language students who are studying in a higher education setting or adults who are studying English in a Literacy Center setting. Findings indicated that the student’s psychological state played a major part in a student’s willingness to communicate. This includes self-efficacy, anxiety, emotions, trust, and motivation. A student’s involvement in the learning process determines a student’s ability to communicate. …

The Effects Of Immersive Virtual Environments On Motivation, Oral Communication, And Instructional Strategy In Efl Classrooms, John Martin Shipko

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The creation of web-based real-time computer simulations has given language educators incredible new opportunities to create immersive experiences for English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners. This thesis reviewed 12 empirical studies, 3 previous literature reviews, 3 non-empirical journal articles, and 23 additional background sources investigating the impact of Immersive Virtual Environments (IVE) on EFL learners’ motivation and oral communication in EFL learning. 12 empirical studies were analyzed closely while other sources were used to provide additional information and theoretical insights. The findings indicate that IVEs offer novel ways to connect EFL learners to native-speaking communities where they can acquire …

“Implacement”: The Importance Of Place And Community In Schooling, Emily Coady

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation consists of three chapters exploring my overarching research question: How does sense of place shape a teacher’s orientation to their profession? My first chapter empirically answers the question: Is there a relationship between place attachment and measured aspects of teacher quality? In an attempt to qualify the strength of bond between a teacher and his or her community, I adapted a place attachment instrument developed by Raymond, Brown, and Weber (2010). Each teacher is given a place attachment score informed by their responses on the 21-item survey. Next, I correlated these scores to other aspects of teacher quality …

Science Teachers' Perceptions Of Culturally Responsive Teaching In Majority Native American Schools In Oklahoma, Michelle Childress

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Native American students have consistently scored less than their white peers on high school academic achievement tests, have the lowest high school graduation rates, and have the lowest college enrollment rates. Research has evidenced challenges and struggles Native American children are faced with that negatively effects their success in the classroom. Native American students often encounter a disconnect between their home and school life resulting in difficulties of navigating two opposing worlds. When Native American students are associated with negative stereotype’s indicative of Native American culture as opposed to the dominant culture, this creates a conflict between their cultural identity …

The Hard Work Is Worth It: Overcoming Unfavorable Determinants To Pass Pro-Immigrant Education Policy In A Conservative State Legislature, Megan Cardwell Godfrey

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Immigrants, English learners (ELs), and culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD)students often lag behind their White, monolingual peers in academic achievement and English language proficiency. While there are policy solutions to improve academic and linguistic opportunities and outcomes for immigrant/EL/CLD students, such as implementing bilingual instructional models and increasing teacher diversity, these pro-immigrant policies can be hard to come by in some legislative contexts due to unfavorable economic, social, or political determinants. This qualitative case study analyzed the multifaceted political work that contributed to the passage of two pro-immigrant education policies in the Arkansas 93rd General Assembly: a bill for bilingual …

Arts Integration For Foreign Language Teaching And Learning: A Three Paper Dissertation, Qian Zhang

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This three-paper dissertation examines whether arts integration-an approach to teaching in which students construct and demonstrate understanding through an art form-helps with foreign language teaching and learning, especially language performance. The first paper conducts a comprehensive literature review of research on arts integration and its use in the context of language classrooms, including both English as a Second Language and Foreign Language classrooms. The second paper is a qualitative case study exploring how a French teacher perceives the role that arts integration plays in her students’ language performance. Specific arts-integrated strategies are discussed, and connections are made to students’ language …

The Effects Of Watching Text-Relevant Video Segments On Reading Comprehension Of Culturally Unfamiliar Texts With Adult English Language Learners Supported By The Schematic Information-Processing (Sip) Model Of Reading Comprehension, Amirreza Karami

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this mixed-methods sequential explanatory study was to investigate the effects of watching text-relevant video segments on reading comprehension of a culturally unfamiliar text when technical words are present or absent. Therefore, 44 adult English Language Learners (ELLs) with higher-intermediate to advanced English language proficiency levels from the Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo (UASD) School of Languages located in the Dominican Republic were chosen and randomly assigned to two different groups: control vs. experimental.

First, the researcher compared two different types of reading instruction—traditional text-based vs. video-based reading instruction supported by the Schematic Information-Processing (SIP) model of reading …

Listening To Voices Of Latinx Immigrants In Rural America, Jacqueline Smith

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this phenomenological qualitative study was to capture and gain an understanding of Latinx immigrants’ lived experiences during their transitions from their native countries to rural Arkansas. Using purposeful criterion-based sampling, the population of interest was five Latinx immigrant students and families who migrated from their native countries to the state of Arkansas. The analytic strategy included a single-case model of each family’s transcription, two-case model, cluster analysis to identify likeness, document portrait, and subtheme development. The structural descriptions that formed the essence of the experience resulted in three themes: education, migration, and emotional experiences. The three overall …

Culturally Responsive Pedagogy And Writing Achievement For Native High School Students, Angelia Christine Greiner

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study focuses on the effects of culturally responsive pedagogy as it is implemented in a high school classroom with Native American students. This mixed methods case study collects, analyzes and synthesizes both quantitative and qualitative data within an overall formative and experimental design approach to measure the effects of culturally responsive pedagogy on students’ writing and their attitudes about writing. The study identified specific approaches to literacy instruction that hold promise for engaging Native students. Furthermore, findings from the study reveal the use of visual art as a particularly powerful tool that extends students’ meaning-making skills, leading to more …

Flourishing Through Communicative Language Learning: An Exploration Of University Learners’ Basic Needs, Well-Doing, And Well-Being, William S. Davis

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the last 25 years, world language education (i.e., “foreign” or “second” language education) in the United States has seen a meaningful turn toward pedagogical approaches emphasizing communication, contextualization, and culture. This has coincided with the blossoming of recent theoretical perspectives and empirical research centered on language learners’ emotions, beliefs, and well-being. Two frameworks, self-determination theory (SDT) and positive psychology, are leading this exploration. Although these two perspectives have enhanced the discussion around language learning, each has its gaps; positive psychology research and its recommendations for practice do not often agree on what constitutes well-being and flourishing, while SDT, which …

A Phenomenology: Teachers Lived Experiences With Workplace English As A Second Language (Esl) Programs, Odilia Lineth Mitre Marciaga

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative phenomenological study was designed to understand in-depth teachers lived experiences with workplace ESL programs. This study provides strategies and recommendations to improve the overall logistics of workplace ESL programs which can benefit the employer, the students, the institution, and the teachers. Strengthening the partnership and communication of all the parties can strengthen the program as whole as well. Data collection of the methodological process included in-depth face-to-face interviews with seventeen teachers during the summer of 2019.The data was managed and analyzed through initial and axial coding from which main themes emerged. Six key findings emerged from themes as …

The Relationship Between English Language Learners’ Mathematics Problem Solving Strategies And The Mathematics Register, Sarah Reeves Frederickson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This case study followed three Hispanic and three Marshallese students’ participation in a seventh grade pre-algebra unit over the course of four weeks. Pre-assessment items indicated that the students had difficulty with aspects of the mathematics register. Their teacher employed an interpretation of the gradual release model of instruction in which direct strategies for translating word problems into equations with unknowns were modeled prior to students doing similar problems on their own. In these situations, students showed some success in solving similar problems. However, post-assessment results indicated that none of the six students were able to successfully solve open response …

Black Female Graduate Students' Experiences Of Racial Microaggressions At A Southern University, Kendra Elizabeth Shoge

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Researchers have found that microaggressions can cause psychological distress, frustration, avoidance, confusion, resentment, hopelessness, and fear. Previous studies from Southern universities have addressed the adjustment experiences of Black women in graduate programs, obstacles faced by Black women in higher education and strategies to overcome those obstacles, and factors associated with Black student motivation and achievement. Discrimination and racism are factors identified in those studies, however, there is little research on the experiences of Black women in graduate programs and the impact of racial microaggressions on them.

The purpose of this study was to examine Black female graduate students’ experiences of …

Positioning Of English Language Learners And Its Power On Classroom Learning Opportunities And Interactions, Hawraa Nafea Hameed Alzouwain

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this qualitative study, the researcher investigated four aspects of positioning used by teacher and ESL students in a mid-south state of the United States. This study was based on the Positioning Theory of Davies and Harré (1990). The study aimed to explore various types of positioning used by the participants and how they impacted social interactions among the students and between them and their teacher. The researcher used four questions to outline the scope of the research, focused on: 1) how ELLs’ different positioning in the ESL classroom promoted or limited their learning opportunities; 2) how the ELL teacher …

Teacher Diversity Issues Among Hispanics And English Language Learners (Ells): Perspectives Of Administrators And Teachers In A Mid-South Town, Samantha Juncia Julien

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Although the English Language Learner (ELL) student population is steadily increasing, the American teaching workforce remains mainly white and monolingual. This sector has yet to reflect the change in ELLs and teachers of color, who will be able to adequately provide culturally responsive instruction to these students. There is an urgent need to recruit and train teachers in culturally responsive pedagogy with the purpose of providing educational, cultural and social supports for the growing ELL population in the country (Farahnaz, 2012). Because of this, the American educational system is revamping some of its earlier pedagogical approaches, including the introduction of …

Master’S-Level Counseling Students’ Experience Of Expressive Arts Techniques In A Cacrep Multicultural Counseling Course, Cameron Houin

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Counseling governing bodies have defined what should be prioritized in multicultural counseling courses, including students’ multicultural knowledge and awareness; however, best practice regarding how to teach these multicultural concepts has largely been left up to the counselor educator. Counselor educators have begun implementing expressive arts techniques in the classroom, but very little literature exists related to using such techniques in a multicultural course in a manner that positively influence counseling students’ multicultural competency.

The purpose of this study was to explore master’s-level counseling students’ experience of expressive arts techniques utilized during their multicultural counseling course. Ten student participants took part …

Assessment And Support For Basic Computer Skills At Community College Hispanic Serving Institutions In California, Jason Wayne Hough

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This cross-sectional survey study was conducted to determine if California community colleges designated as Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) assess incoming students for basic computer skills, provide learning support for these skills, as well as assess the attitude of administrators towards basic computer skills of incoming students. Prior published research documented the false assumption in higher education incoming students are “digital natives”, capable of effectively using technology expected on college campuses; however, there was no research focused on community colleges designated as HSIs. The study adds to the body of literature about the assessment of and support for basic computer skills …

Russian University Efl Students’ Perceptions Of A Two-Week Online Academic Writing Course, Nataliia Borozdina

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This case study analyzes Russian university EFL students’ perceptions of a two-week online academic writing course. The researcher investigated 13 students’ attitudes towards an online academic English writing class offered at Kursk State University, Kursk’s oldest higher education institution, founded in 1934. In 1994 it was transformed into Kursk State Pedagogical University, and in 2003 it became Kursk State University. Along with the two-week online course assignments, the students completed pre- and post-questionnaires, reflections about the course, and participated in individual and group interviews. The findings of the study indicate that all of the participants had positive perceptions about the …

Undergraduate Students’ Perceptions Of Their International Teaching Assistants (Itas) And Perceptions Of Themselves In A Course(S) Instructed By An Ita, Nadia Hanayeen

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The University of Arkansas is a large, diverse public university. International teaching assistants (ITAs) represent 20% of the total graduate teaching assistants at the University of Arkansas. In the Fall semester of 2015, the University of Arkansas ranked 9th among U.S. universities based on the number of ITAs instructing undergraduate classes. Combining quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis methods, this study investigated domestic undergraduate students’ perceptions of their ITAs and of themselves in courses instructed by ITAs. The descriptive quantitative findings showed that the two most significant challenges facing ITAs are American students’ perceptions of their pedagogical skills and …

The Role Of Writing Center Tutorials Of Esl Students: Exploring Tutors, Tutees, And Instructors’ Perceptions, Ibrahim Mostafa Hassan Mazen

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of the writing center tutorials. Based on the assumptions of the constructivist theory, this research tried to present a cognitive framework for better tutoring at the writing center and suggested better accommodations for ESL tutees. this exploratory study investigated the role of the writing center tutorials offered to ESL students through the perceptions of tutors, ESL tutees, and university instructors.

Methods. Eighty nine international /ESL students and 23 tutors were selected. They were given a survey to respond to. Afterwards ten out of the 89 students and ten out of …

The Role Of Dialect Words In Children’S Social Decisions, Madison Rose Myers-Burg

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Recent research suggests that young children are capable of distinguishing between phonetically dissimilar spoken accents, yet have difficulty distinguishing between phonetically similar accents (Wagner, Clopper, & Pate, 2013). The present study aimed to determine whether the presence of dialect-specific vocabulary enhances young children’s ability to categorize speakers. Participants completed four training trials in which they were familiarized with photos of two children: one of whom used American English labels for test objects and one of whom used British English labels. After training trials, participants completed eight test trials in which they were asked to infer which target child would use …

Activating Schemata In Esl Writing, Uyen Dang

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

My research aims at exploring the contribution of various types of schemata to leaners’ text comprehension and text production, especially ESL (English as a Second Language) writing, to better understand how ESL learners, especially Vietnamese graduate students, use diverse resources in schema activation to facilitate their processes of learning to write in the academic setting. To better understand these processes, the researcher synthesized previous studies together with conducting interviews with four Vietnamese graduate students and analyzing their writing samples to investigate the relationships among types of schemata: formal, content, and rhetorical schemata, which can be significant in ESL writing and …

An Empirical Study On Teachers' And Students' Perception Of Project Based Learning, Della Rae Adams

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research focused on the perceptions of Project Based Learning in an English as a Foreign Language context in one private Guatemalan school. The research examined the perceptions of teachers and students on Project Based Learning by implementing a four-week project in one classroom. This research also examined the difference between the girls’ and boys’ perceptions of Project Based Learning. The participants included one teacher and 18 students aged between 15 and 16. Mixed method was used to derive quantitative and qualitative data from surveys, an interview, and observational data. The results concluded that the teacher had a positive experience …

Students’ Perceptions About Gamified Methods In English As A Second Language Acquisition, Se He Hwang

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative research study will examine whether game-based learning is effective for helping to learn English as a second language (ESL) in the United States. This study will ask participants, particularly adult second language learners, about their perceptions of high levels of stress and anxiety when learning English. The study will also investigate whether game-play motivated students learn English in class. Data collected in this study will be based on interviews, questionnaires, and observations of the classrooms and game play, and the results demonstrated that participants’ interest in the game created active involvement in game-play in class.

The Effect Of An Adult Esl Project-Based Literacy Training On Teacher Practice, Rachel Lynn Gerner

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This case study evaluates the effectiveness of a project-based learning professional development training conducted at a literacy center for nine ESL teachers who are working in a workforce literacy environment. The researcher investigated principles of andragogy in the training and examined whether participants implemented the content of the training in their teaching environments via observation, self-reported answers on a questionnaire, individual interviews, and a focus group. There was no direct follow-up after six weeks of the training. The findings of the study indicate that none of the teachers implemented project-based learning in their teaching environment directly following the professional development …

The Perceptions Of Efl Teachers About Their Pre-Service Preparation In Iraqi-Kurdistan, Nawzar Haji

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The booming economy in Iraqi-Kurdistan during the last decade attracted hundreds of international companies to the region. The young Kurdish workforce seeks secure jobs that are well paid in such companies. Therefore, they need to be proficient in English. Besides, in general the Kurdish young generation has a positive attitude towards English and consider it the language of science, business, economy, tourism and prestige. Hassan (2014) states that Kurdish-speaking people generally have a positive opinion about learning the English language and believe that having a degree in English means better chances to get a job.

Therefore, the Kurdistan Regional Government’s …