Empowering Pedagogical Practice Through Autoethnography Within The Context Of Family Literacy Projects, Sarah M. Johnson

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

Family Literacy Projects being used in the high school setting to promote cultural and linguistic identities. The Family Literacy Project is used to bridge the gap between student identities at school and the identities at home. The purpose of this study was for the teacher to reflect in an autoethnographic study of herself in relation to the context of community, pedagogy, and the perceived needs and changes of the project for both students and the school’s culture. Through the autoethnographic study, the focus of the Family Literacy Project is in its importance to the school, community, students, and teachers was …

Benefits Of Advisory & Culturally Responsive Advisory Framework (Craf) Within A Southwestern, Urban, Dual Language Middle School, Mariana Anguelova Castañon

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

In this research report, I examine the benefits of a daily Advisory period at a southwestern, urban, dual-language middle school and explore the impact of the Culturally Responsive Advisory Framework (CRAF), a curriculum I developed as a researcher-practitioner. This work is situated within research on Advisory programs, urban schooling, and dual-language education, while addressing implementation challenges. Grounded in democratic learning theory, CRAF integrates social-emotional learning (SEL), social-cultural learning (SCL), and literacy. To evaluate its impact, I collected qualitative data through anonymous Google Surveys and semi-structured student interviews, supported by quantitative teacher and student surveys. Data were analyzed using open and …

Dungeons And Dragons As Game-Based Learning, Moses Allen

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

This phenomenological qualitative study explored the use of the Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) Role-Playing Game as a Game-Based Learning (GBL) model, measuring middle school student perceptions of engagement, motivation, and skill development through interactive storytelling. The study used a Practitioner Research theoretical framework and Thematic Analysis to identify emergent themes from the collected data. The study included gameplay of D&D after school with a small group of participants grades 6-8. Results indicated that participants reported consistently high levels of motivation and engagement. Participants perceived that D&D gameplay promoted the development of 21st Century Skills and middle school curricula skills, specifically …

Can Web-Based International Standardized Tests Be More Inclusive? A Udl Mixed-Methods Study Of Accented Tasks, Abdelbaset Haridy

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

This dissertation explores the critical, yet understudied, issue of using a variety of accents/dialects within standardized listening assessments. The current study argues for a paradigm shift from dominant accent to the use of a variety of accents in foreign language testing and assessment. The shift is guided by the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL), World Englishes, and Intercultural Communication Theory. Following a mixed-methods design, the study compares student perceptions (N=202) and experts’ (N=64) opinions across two distinct linguistic contexts: English and Arabic. College student participants rated listening samples across nine parameters, including Fluency, Accuracy, Comprehensibility, Intelligibility, and Approachability. …

Deaf Black Youth's Narratives About Identity And Education, Dominic A. Harrison

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

This study is significant in exploring the different ways in which Deaf Black youth construct their identities through the use of narrative inquiry. Educators of Deaf youth should acknowledge how the identity journeys of Deaf Black youth are often affected by the school and home communities. This research employed narrative inquiry to understand how Deaf Black youth construct their identities as Black Deaf individuals. Using Critical Race Theory (CRT) as a theoretical framework with the guidance of Intersectionality and Dis/ability Critical Race Theory (DisCrit) lenses, the study specifically examined four Deaf Black youth’s narratives to highlight how they construct and …

Spanish Language Arts Guerreras Y Guerreros: Narratives Of Figured Worlds On Pedagogy, Lucha, E Identidad, Mishelle L. Jurado

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

This dissertation explores how Spanish Language Arts (SpanLA) teachers in dual language high school programs construct and narrate their identities through pedagogical choices. Using critical narrative inquiry and the theoretical lens of figured worlds (Holland et al., 1998), the study centers the lived experiences of bilingual educators who resist deficit perspectives and reimagine their classrooms as spaces of cultural affirmation, linguistic justice, and transformative pedagogy. Data sources include semi-structured interviews, teacher-selected artifacts, and focus groups. Findings reveal that SpanLA educators enact linguistically and culturally nourishing pedagogies, rooted in ancestral memory, critical consciousness, and a commitment to student agency. These educators …

Boricua En La Luna: An Ethnographic Case Study On The Spatializations Of Puerto Ricans In New Mexico, Neritza Díaz Cruz

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

This ethnographic case study investigates the spatializations of Puerto Ricans in New Mexico, a state where the community is small, dispersed, and often invisible. The purpose of this study is to examine how Puerto Rican identity is shaped, expressed, and contested across New Mexican spaces. Drawing from critical spatial theory, this study investigates how broader structures such as language ideologies become spatialized in the everyday lives of five Puerto Rican adults living in the Albuquerque area. Data was gathered through interviews, observations, and participatory mapping. Thematic analysis was used to interpret the data with a focus on how lived, perceived, …

Vocabulary Learning Strategies Among Saudi Efl Military Cadets: Patterns And Preferences, Fahad Aldosari

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

This study investigates the vocabulary learning strategies (VLSs) of 126 Saudi military EFL cadets, an underexplored group in second language acquisition research. Using an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design, a questionnaire identified the most and least used strategies, followed by interviews with 10 participants for deeper insights. Findings show cadets frequently use bilingual dictionaries, vocabulary lists, and group work, while cognitive strategies like written repetition and note-taking are underutilized. No significant differences in VLS use were found between Level 1 and Level 2 cadets, suggesting stable strategy preferences. Additionally, emerging strategies such as gamified learning and collaborative storytelling indicate a shift …

The Role-Space Of Italian Sign Language Educational Interpreters: An Ethnographic Case Study Of Interpreters At The Istituto Comprensivo Di Cossato, Martin A. Crudo

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

This dissertation explores the role-space of educational interpreters at IC Cossato, an Italian public school known for its Bilingualism Project promoting LIS-Italian bilingualism and biliteracy (Rivisto, 2016; Teruggi, 2003). Role-space theory (Lee, 2023; Llewellyn-Jones & Lee, 2013, 2014) conceptualizes interpreters’ roles as dynamic and co-constructed with interlocutors along three axes: Presentation of Self, Interaction Management, and Participant Alignment. Through ethnographic interviews (Spradley, 2016), observations and field notes (Emerson et al. 2011; Glesne, 2016), and policy artifacts (Hornberger & Johnson, 2011), I investigate how three interpreters in IC Cossato’s elementary school perceive and enact their roles, often diverging from their …

Rootless - The Body Remembers What The Mind Has Forgotten, Helena Omana-Zapata

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

In repurposing academic spaces for healing, this project is meant to culminate in an artefact that aligns with decolonial educational practices, focusing on accessibility. In doing so, this project braids multimodality, re-represented history, and testimonio of various genres: personal narrative, Latinx story and resistance, critical examination of history and reproductions of information to depict my experience of detaching from cultural identity through assimilation and acculturation in the United States in education. In what I have called the process of leaving me rootless, I no longer had access to the places, people, identity, or language that established belonging. However, through …

Saudi University-Based Language Instructors’ Professional Identity: A Narrative Study, Husam Alharbi

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

Language instructors’ professional identity involves a multitude of factors and characteristics that explain practices, meanings, and values, particularly pedagogical ones, that contribute to the identification of identity(s) (Block, 2007; Beauchamp & Thomas, 2009; Beijaard et al., 2004; Miller, 2009; Varghese et al., 2005). Guided by narrative approach (Clandinin, 2015; Clandinin & Connelly, 2000; Connelly & Clandinin, 1988, 1990; Oliver, 1998; Riessman, 2008) and communities of practice (CoP) principles (Wenger, 1998), this study employed eight narrative prompts to answer two research questions: (1) how do Saudi university-based EFL language instructors construct their professional identity without their entitled academic privileges and/or accommodations?; …

Language Use Of Emergent Bilingual Latino/A Students In A Music Class Setting, Karen G. Granados Dumais

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

This study investigated the way in which emergent bilingual students utilize their linguistic repertoire in order to achieve new learning. Previous research has suggested that bilingual students learn differently than their monolingual counterparts due to their varying linguistic repertoires. Research has also suggested that translanguaging and culturally relevant teaching are valuable frameworks to adopt in the classroom, as they result in a better academic experience for all students.

I took an ethnographic approach while conducting a case study. I collected data in my elementary music classroom in the form of observations, audio recordings, and document analysis in order to help …

A Phenomenological Exploration Of Language Shift Of Ikalanga In Botswana: Implications For Language Revitalization, Annah Sephene Macha

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

This study explores the phenomenon of language shift among the Bakalanga community in Botswana, focusing on the gradual displacement of the iKalanga language by dominant languages such as Setswana and English that hold official status for education and broader communication. iKalanga faces significant challenges, as minority languages face extinction globally, the Bakalanga’s experience reflects broader trends where dominant languages supplant indigenous ones in education and wider communication. This research employed a phenomenological approach to investigate how the Bakalanga transmit knowledge amidst this language shift. Data was collected through focus groups, life history narratives, documents, and individual interviews, and analyzed using …

A Multiple Case Study Of Asl Mentoring For The Field Of Interpreting, Andy Lim

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

Drawn on the theoretical principles of sociocultural theory and constructivism, the aim of this multiple case study was to explore and understand the experiences of interpreting students, interpreter graduates, and pre-certified working interpreters after receiving ASL mentoring for at least 3 months to a year and to learn about the roles and impacts that ASL mentoring had on those groups of people as ASL mentees. Graduated from their respective 4-year universities for a bachelor’s degree related to the field of interpreting, participants included one interpreting student and one interpreter graduate, both of whom were from southern California, and one pre-certified …

The Wyandot Of Anderdon Nation: Meaning-Making, Constructing, And Affirming Their Tribal Identities Through Archiving Historical Documents, Elizabeth Ann Berton Reilly

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

This qualitative study examines how the Wyandot of Anderdon Nation makes meaning, constructs, and affirms their tribal identity. This tribe is a non-federally recognized community in Michigan.

This study employed an Etuaptmumk/Two-Eyed Seeing framework, combining Critical Indigenous Research Methodology with a narrative one. I investigated how they preserve their language and culture and what that means to them. This led to an exploration into mixed-race Indigenous identities, how archiving and genealogical and tribal historical knowledge tie into creating and affirming personal identity.

This study demonstrated that there are many ways to be Wyandot and that each interviewee makes meaning, constructs, …

Teachers-As-Designer In Culturally Revitalizing And Sustaining Indigenous Education, Joshua Colin Krause

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

Despite centuries of colonial attempts to assimilate and eradicate Indigenous ways of life and tongues through the institutions of schooling, communities, students, and teacher-designers are embracing culturally sustaining and revitalizing pedagogies to design curricula from community-driven outcomes backward. Sustaining and revitalizing curricula are place and people-specific and cannot be bought off the shelf, and research in original curriculum design points to the complexities that teacher-designers contend with as they seek community input and put pen to paper to design teaching and learning that is rooted in student identity, holistic wellness, and academic preparedness toward community ends. Research into expert teacher-designers' …

Leadership And Service: Kenyan Teachers Bringing Community Cultural Wealth Into Practice, Peter Njagi Mwangi

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

This study explores the complex leadership tasks high school Kenyan teachers provide in their communities, giving a detailed look at how these educators balance their responsibilities as both classroom teachers and community leaders. Historically, Kenyan communities are frequently viewed through a deficit lens, and this study sets out how the cultural wealth of the dynamic teacher and learner communities cross the boundaries between local communities and educational institutions. To enable a new type of bridging school and the community, this study reveals the interconnectedness of school and community through the interplay of teachers moving fluidly in both spaces and influencing …

Sociolinguistics Of Saudi Vision 2030: Paradigm Shift Through English Faculty’S Perspectives Of Translanguaging At A Saudi University., Naif Masrahi

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

Many educational systems around the world insist on applying an English Only Policy (EOP) when teaching the English language at universities without addressing their contextual needs. In Saudi Arabia, this problem leads to reduced satisfaction among faculty regarding students’ English level (Alharbi & Alqefari, 2022; Alkhairy, 2013; Alqahtani, 2020; Alsaawi, 2019; Alshammari, 2022; Altale & Alta’ani, 2019; Alzahrani, 2019; Elyas & Picard, 2010). However, the new educational transformation promised by Saudi Vision 2030 (2016) supports the Arabic language as a mother tongue for Saudis, English as an important language, and the teaching of critical thinking to respond to current global …

Si Solo Nos Dan Esta Oportunidad: Stories Of Transnational Students In An Intercultural Secondary Program In Santa Fe De La Laguna, Michoacán, México., Minea Armijo, Minea Armijo Romero

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

The research aimed to explore the long-term effects of intercultural bilingual programs on Indigenous bilingual students residing in transnational communities. Employing a phenomenological research design, this qualitative study incorporated interviews, focus groups, classroom observations, and artifact analysis. Specifically, it investigated an intercultural education program at the secondary level and its influence on transnational students, their families, and the teachers at the Preparatoria Indígena Intercultural de Santa Fe de la Laguna in Michoacán, México. This research contributes to the growing field of bilingual education research in México by examining the interconnections between transnationalism and Bilingual Intercultural models of education, thus proposing …

“That Felt Weird”: International Graduate Students’ Emerging Critical Awareness Of Their Experiences With Microaggression, Romaisha Rahman

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to uncover and understand international graduate students’ experiences with microaggressions that stem from native speaker fallacy; microaggressions are the subtle discriminatory behaviors executed toward marginalized groups and native speaker fallacy is the false belief that only some “native” English speakers are effective teachers and users of the language. Put simply, this research aimed at unveiling the subtle language-based discriminations that international graduate students experience in their day-to-day lives in U.S. educational settings. To collect data for the study, the Critical Incident Technique (CIT) was utilized. CIT is a method that allows the …

Pragmatic Elements In Efl Learners’ Request E-Mails To Teachers: A Study Of Learners’ Communicative Success, Hamzah Ahmad A. Kuriri

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

Language is a tool for communication. People use it when they converse with each other. One way to comprehend what is being said is based on understating the intended meanings of the conversation, or what is called the underlined meanings (pragmatics). Pragmatic studies how different meanings are conveyed, depending on the utterances provided. A case study to investigate the phenomenon of pragmatics is selected as the methodology to specifically examine English as a foreign language (EFL) instructors’ perceptions of EFL students’ e-mails sent to their instructors. Qualitative methods are used to examine data for a period of almost three months …

Reading As A Social Practice: Using Retrospective Miscue Analysis To Understand Kichwa-Spanish Bilinguals’ Meaning Construction, Sandra Leonor Cabrera Moreno

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

Meaning construction is a complex concept that encapsulates language and thought as a whole system in which sense and meaning have a unique relationship highly marked by the social and cultural environment of the reader. Hence, Kichwa-Spanish bilinguals’ reading practices in the Southern Andes of Ecuador cannot be discussed as two separate processes but as an integrated structure embedded in a speech community. This perspective of the bilingual mind is founded on Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory of learning in which language is a psychological tool that shapes and is shaped by our modes of thinking. This unification is a complex process …

Writer Identity Construction Of Thai Efl Students: A Phenomenological Study, Kittika Limpariwatthana

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

ABSTRACT

This empirical study uncovered Thai English as a Foreign Language (EFL) writer identity construction and revealed how Thai culture plays a role in the development using a sociocultural perspective. Data collection for analysis includes interviews with nine Thai college students, a group interview, English writing essays, and artifacts they provided throughout a 15-week English writing course. The focus of this study was to gain insight into the phenomenon of identity construction among EFL writers from perceptions of their lived experiences.

Based on the description of identity development, the research findings focus on two different ways the participants perceived their …

Creating Counter-Hegemonic Spaces In A Spanish Language Arts Classroom, Mercedes Valenzuela

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

This qualitative case study used practitioner research methods to address the question: How does a Mexican American teacher create counter-hegemonic spaces in a Spanish Language Arts classroom utilizing critical race and borderlands theories? The research focused on how I as a teacher-built trust and respect through place—here, the classroom, classroom activities, and discussions—thereby creating a place for students to express their thoughts and feelings and to build relationships with the teacher and their classmates for learning to occur. This study also analyzed how using critical race and borderlands theories influences and shapes Mexican American students’ educational experiences beyond a …

How Hearing Parents With Deaf Or Hard Of Hearing Children Construct Deafness Through Their Early Intervention Experience, Bettie T. Petersen

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

This dissertation explores how hearing parents with deaf/hard of hearing children come to understand deafness. This mixed methods study used an online survey and multiple case studies (volunteers from survey). Participants were asked about early intervention experiences and beliefs about deafness. The survey had 74 respondents and five families participated in the interviews. Survey participants’ beliefs about deafness were primarily medical, focusing on the perceived barriers caused by deafness and the remediation of those barriers through spoken language options. A small number of respondents adopted a cultural perspective of deafness and focused on remediation of barriers through involvement in the …

An Application Of Tajfel’S Social Identity Theory To Understand Gamer As A Social Identity Among Saudi College-Level Students, Mohammad M. Assiri

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

Understanding the social identity construction of Saudi college-level students who self-identify as gamers in Saudi Arabia is essential when designing a student-centered education. Although support exists within the literature for exploring what it means to be a gamer from the perspective of gamers, a review of the literature revealed a gap in this regard in the context of Saudi Arabia. Therefore, this grounded theory study explored self-identification as a gamer in Saudi Arabia using Tajfel's (1981) three tenets of self-identification with a group. A social identity framework was used to understand the characteristics of Saudi gamers, their positive or negative …

Middle School Students Communicating Computational Thinking: A Systemic Functional Linguistics-Case Study Of Bilingual, Collaborative Teaching/Learning Of Computer Programming In Python, Jose Antonio Lecea Yanguas

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

This dissertation presents the first Systemic Functional Linguistics-based analysis of the teaching/learning of computational thinking through computer programming and comprehensive analysis of discourse of a whole computer programming course at any educational level. The current educational research raises questions about the nature of authentic computational

vii

thinking teaching/learning environments and how they happen moment-to-moment. In one such environment, I examined the discourse of a facilitator, three students, and their Language Arts teacher in an introductory middle school after-school course (approximately 30 hours) in spring 2017 as students created a video in Python.

Methodologically, I show how a Systemic Functional Linguistics-based …

“We Are So Much Alike, But Nobody Wants To Admit It”: Reactions To A Critical Bernalillo Nuevomexicano Language And Culture Curriculum, Joseph Moreno

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

This study gauges how adult Bernalillo Nuevomexicanos reacted to a critical curriculum that addresses how race, class, power, and identity influence Nuevomexicano language use, and an understanding of history and culture, with emphasis on the Bernalillo Matachines Dance, Las Fiestas de San Lorenzo and associated customs. In addition, the study aims to discover what elements they find positive, negative, and what they would revise about the curriculum. This study is an attempt to create agency through the creation of a critical curriculum unit by a community researcher, teaching the pilot unit to a group of community members, and gauging their …

Saudi Efl Female Teachers' Beliefs: A Single Case Study, Eman Saleh Bosaad

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

SAUDI EFL FEMALE TEACHERS’ BELIEFS: A SINGLE CASE STUDY

By

Eman Bosaad

B.S., in Biology, King Faisal University, 2005

B.S., Linguistics, University of New Mexico, 2014

M.A. in Language Literacy and Sociocultural Studies, University of New Mexico, 2016

PhD in Language Literacy and Sociocultural Studies, University of New Mexico, 2021

ABSTRACT

We are facing a huge linguistic and cultural change as a result of the spread of English language in KSA. It has been an important criterion to succeed in education or to obtain an opportunity in the Saudi job market (Al- Jarf, 2008; Al-Seghayer, 2014a; Al-Seghayer, 2014b; Rahman, 2013). …

The Bluff River Trail: A Community Land Ethic, Kelly F. Davis

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

The Bluff River Trail (BRT) is a future 10+ mile trail along the San Juan River corridor in the 4-Corners region of the Southwestern United States. By asking, what is the land ethic of the Bluff Community? this qualitative study identifies behaviors and beliefs, or land ethics, between seven Bluff residents and the San Juan River corridor. A land ethic contributes to the social re/production of space; therefore, third space theory contextualizes intersecting and contradicting spatialities evidenced in data. Data collection consisted of semi-structured interviews, questionnaires and focus groups. I used a qualitative content analysis pulling from grounded theory to …