Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education Commons^™

Ojos Claros, Roberto E. Bahruth

Literacy, Language, and Culture Faculty Publications and Presentations

Seis noches seguidas doña Clara soñó agua, soñó cielo, soñó luz. Fue así como Pati anunció, no sólo su nacimiento sino el color de sus ojos y la claridad de su alma. Y fue así, que unos meses después Pati naciera con ojos azules y claros en un mundo lleno de ojos sin luz. Desde pequeña esta niña fue especial y mágica. A su lado las personas no podían evitar sentirse en paz. Muchos empezaron a visitar la casa de doña Clara sólo para verse reflejados en la claridad azul de la pequeña. Sus ojos nunca dejaban de sonreír ni …

Mágico Encuentro, Roberto E. Bahruth

Literacy, Language, and Culture Faculty Publications and Presentations

Cuando aprendemos a caminar detenidamente, sin apuro, la vida nos revela algunos de sus secretos, esos que siempre han estado frente a nosotros y que en nuestra prisa, no vemos o no queremos ver. En mi más reciente visita a Guatemala fui dispuesto a no deterner los días en mis manos, sino dejarlos fluir mientras me dejaba envolver por el ritmo y luz de este país y su gente . Y fue así, como por primera vez, me entregué a esa canción, tan familiar, del viento jugando con los árboles. Muy pronto descubrí cómo un sin fin de colibrís llegaban …

Sms : Sortez Vos Téléphones Portable, Véronique Olivier

World Languages and Cultures Faculty Articles and Research

Mobile phones and SMS technology can be a tool to help students learn French in class, through the use of some creative teaching strategies.

Integrating Second Life Into A Chinese Language Teacher Training Program: A Pilot Study, Hsiu-Jen Cheng, Hong Zhan, Andy Tsai

Publications

Second Life (SL), a 3-D Multi-User Virtual Environment, has been found beneficial to foreign language education because of its immersive and interactive environments. This cross-continental study explored feasibilities of using Second Life to provide field experiences to pre-service Mandarin teachers in a program of Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language in Taiwan. This study also investigated pre-service teachers‘ insights of teaching Chinese in such a virtual environment, as well as the difficulties these teachers encountered when integrating Second Life in teaching Chinese. The study found that the more teaching experience the pre-service teachers gained in teaching Chinese in Second Life, …

Teaching Spanish To Beginning Spanish Students, Amy Baldini

World Languages and Cultures

During my time in college and studying abroad, I have developed a passion for languages.  As a result, I plan on teaching Spanish in High School.  Therefore, my senior project will involve tutoring beginning-level Cal Poly students in Spanish and evaluating the difficulties that students encounter while learning a second language.  I will tutor for a minimum of 30 hours and complete a write-up which summarizes my experience.  In this write up, I discuss the tutoring sessions and the different obstacles and successes I encounter.  I will also discuss what tutors must consider when tutoring students.  I will outline my …

First Generation Hispanic High School Students Going To College: Experiences That Support Decisions And College Going Pathways, Norma Ibarra-Cantú

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

In this study I examined the question: How do first generation Hispanic high school students decide to attend college? To understand how the students made college decisions and what supported their pursuit of college aspirations, I interviewed six Hispanic high school students from five different high schools in a south Texas-Mexico border town. Student participants were the first generation in their immediate family to graduate from high school and to consider going to college. I conducted qualitative open-ended interviews with each of the participants and used inductive multilayered analyses to identify how students made decisions to attend college and how …

Gesture As An Act Of Meaning-Making: An Eco-Social Perspective Of A Sheltered-English Second Grade Classroom, Alessandro A. Rosborough

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of this sociocultural study was to investigate gesture as a mediational tool for meaning-making in learning and teaching a second language. Gesture was observed between a teacher and her immigrant students in a second grade elementary classroom designed specifically for second language learners of English. This study provides an innovative investigation in the role gesture plays as a meditational tool for meaning-making by using a SCT framework at an elementary context level.

Using sociocultural theory, particularly the Vygotskian tradition, this study views gesture as a part of image in thinking. This SCT framework views second language learning in …

A Critical Analysis Of The Identification, Placement, And Assessment Policies For Achieving Educational Parity Of Bilingual Learners, Lilia Rocio Estrada

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

This study analyzed the process of proper identification, placement, and assessment of Bilingual Learners (BLs) by investigating the perceptions of members in the Texas Language Proficiency Assessment Committee (LPAC). The findings focused on LPAC perceptions of their decisions to identify, place, and assess BLs as well as how these compared among members with different positions. Also, the LPAC members’ perceptions from schools that followed a dual language education program were compared to those schools that followed a transitional bilingual education program. It was found that majority of LPAC members lacked the confidence in assessing BLs, LPAC members holding higher positions …

Integrating Digital Technologies In The German Language Classroom: A Critical Study Of The Technology-Integration Experiences Of Three Secondary German Teachers, Stephen Van Orden

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

German language teachers are gaining increased access to smart classrooms and digital technologies that offer teachers and students greater access to authentic cultural and language materials and enable more student target language communication. Teaching with technology changes the teaching and learning environment in many ways. Little is known about how integrating technology into the daily German-language-teaching curriculum changes the implicit power structures embedded in all classroom interactions. Because of the central, decision-making role of the teacher, this study uses a critical theory of technology lens to examine the daily technology integration experiences of three secondary German language teachers. This study …

A Protection Post-Mortem On The "Death" Of Multiculturalism In Germany, Erin Mooney

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Noticeably absent from the recent pronouncements of the “death” of multiculturalism in Germany, including Chancellor Angela Merkel’s own conclusion that the policy had “utterly failed,” has been any interest to seriously examine, let alone address, the reasons for such a failure.

Finding My Way Into Opposition: Joel And Jon, Michael C. Vocino

Technical Services Faculty Publications

Short story about homophobia and gay life in the 1970s.

“Better Multiculturalism” Through Technology: Dora The Explorer And The Training Of The Preschool Viewer(S), Drew Chappell

Theatre Faculty Articles and Research

No abstract provided.

The Relationship Of Personality Traits To Satisfaction With The Team: A Study Of Interdisciplinary Teacher Teams In Rhode Island Middle Schools, Michele D. Humbyrd, Robert K. Gable

Teacher Education

Shared practice in schools has emerged; teachers are moving from isolation to team collaboration where personality traits could be related to quality interactions. Team personality traits and team satisfaction were examined. A survey and interview approach was used for N = 244 full-time teachers from N = 49 interdisciplinary teams at N = 7 middle schools. Descriptive, correlational, multiple regression analyses and coded themes about team members’ personalities and interactions were employed. No significant relationships were found between the BFI traits and Satisfaction with the Team. Team-level analysis indicated a significant negative correlation between Satisfaction with theTeam and Extraversion and …

Closing The Gap

Closing the Gap Newsletter

Newsletter of the College of Education

El Fin De La Xenofobia: El Plurilingüismo, George Wendell James, Jr.

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Teaching foreign languages starting from primary school has been a topic of discussion in the European Union for the past twenty years. The European Union unanimously decided in a recent proposal The White Book that every student who attends a public school in the European Union must be proficient in at least three languages. This mandate was formed to prepare Western Europe for a growing global market and to increase understanding of different cultures. In Andalucía (Southern Spain), despite methods taken to prepare its students for the future, still lags behind the majority of the countries in the European Union

Análisis De “Proyecto Mirlo”: Aprendiendo A Acoger Al “Desconocido”, Abigail Bissette

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

During the fall and early winter of this year, I volunteered with a program called, “Proyecto Mirlo,” which is a small part of a larger organization, “Caritas,” whose focus is providing support to marginalized groups of people in Spanish society. Proyecto Mirlo is a subsection that provides free language classes for immigrants, as well as food and, in extreme cases, financial help. In my volunteer work, I taught basic Spanish classes to an eighteen-year-old immigrant from Senegal. As my student grew in his language proficiency, I grew in my teaching proficiency, especially on the discovery of teaching resources that I …

España Y El Buen Ciudadano: El Debate Educativo, Thomas Mcafee

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

During the spring of 2010 I volunteered in the Colegio Cristo de la Yedra as an English language tutor. My original plan was to work in a human rights organization, but this fell through and I therefore decided to help students learn English. While volunteering at this school, I taught four English classes every week, with students whose levels ranged from beginner to intermediate. During the first week, one of my students told me that he did not like the football team Barcelona F.C. because he thought it was just a tool of the Catalan government and that it promoted …

Una Investigación De La Cultura Y La Identidad Mapuche En La Escuela Municipal G-539 Chapod, Jessica A. Howard

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Durante una estadía de tres semanas en la localidad rural de Chapod se realizaron observaciones y entrevistas con alumnos, padres y profesores de la Escuela Municipal G-539 Chapod, además de entrevistas con estudiantes en práctica de la Universidad Católica de Temuco, realicé una investigación sobre la cultura e identidad Mapuche en este establecimiento educacional. Encontré que aunque los estudiantes dicen ser Mapuches, ellos no tienen una cultura ni identidad Mapuche y, por tanto, la cultura e identidad Mapuche no permanecen  en la escuela de Chapod. Este establecimiento educacional está incorporando algunos elementos de la cultura Mapuche, pero a mi manera …

Educational Outcomes Of English Language Learners In Massachusetts: A Focus On Latino/A Students, Faye Karp, Miren Uriarte

Gastón Institute Publications

This report analyzes trends in enrollment and outcomes for English Language Learner stu- dents (ELLs), a growing population in Massachusetts, in the post–Question 2 policy envi- ronment. Where possible, the report presents data on Latino students of Limited English Proficiency (LEP).

Few LEP students, and few of the native Spanish speakers among them, reach the highest level of English language proficiency as measured by the Massachusetts English Proficiency Assessment (MEPA).Though some improvements have been seen in terms of Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) performance and graduation rates, the rates remain low and the persistence of large gaps between LEPs and …

The State Of Latinos And Education In Massachusetts: 2010, Billie Gastic, Melissa Colón, Andrew Flannery Aguilar

Gastón Institute Publications

Schools are critical public institutions for Latino youth in the Commonwealth, who make up 15% of the public school enrollment in the state. Sadly, despite leading the nation in student achievement, Massachusetts is still leaving its Latino students behind. This is evident from several indicators of Latino students’ academic success. School attendance is a significant concern since Latino students lose an average of more than two and a half weeks of school each year due to absences. Latino students are also frequently disciplined for behavioral is- sues at school. Latinos account for 23% of the incidents that result in disciplinary …

Assessing The Impact Of Short-Term Study Abroad, Susan Carley, R. Keith Tudor

Journal of Global Initiatives: Policy, Pedagogy, Perspective

Participation in short-term study abroad programs has dramatically increased in recent years. Little empirical research exists on learning outcomes associated with short-duration study tours, however. This study examines the impact of a study tour on the perceptions of American college students following a 2-week tour of Mexico. Based on measures of pre- and posttrip perceptions of the host country, students were found to have significantly changed following a brief overseas stay. Pretrip perceptions were also compared with the perceptions of a control group of students who did not participate in study abroad to determine the influence self selection bias might …

Toward An Action-Oriented Approach To Global Citizenship: Tools For The Young Global Citizen, Siena Fleischer Ma, Manager Of Administration – Latin America And Europe, Vikas Budakoti Ma, Manager Of Administration – Asia & The Pacific

Fostering Multicultural Competence and Global Justice: an SIT Symposium

We have reached a point in the evolution of global citizenship where the call to action is no longer critical, it is imperative. Sustainable change is the cornerstone of the effort to bring communities together to prioritize needs and implement intelligent growth. Development must be transformative, not palliative. Those who engage in education abroad have the unique and promising opportunity to address global issues and become active participants in the development process. Younger citizens often choose to pursue opportunities both small and large that contribute to safeguarding dignity while advancing growth. Students are often better positioned and more effective than …

Navigating Tensions In The Process Of Change: An English Educator’S Dilemma Management In The Revision And Implementation Of A Diversity-Infused Methods Course, Mileidis Gort, Wendy J. Glenn

Teaching and Learning Articles and Papers

In response to growing concerns among faculty regarding the lack of attention to the bilingual student population in our pre-service teacher education program, the authors engaged in a shared self-study of the process of revising and implementing a secondary English methods course with explicit attention to the special needs of bilingual/bicultural learners. The paper describes how the second author, an English educator, with support from the first author, a mentor/colleague in bilingual education, identified and negotiated tensions and dilemmas that arose in a process of curricular transformation toward culturally and linguistically responsive teacher education practice. The study highlights several points …

Ethics, Equity, And English-Language Learners: A Decision-Making Framework, Shelly Chabon, Julie Esparza Brown, Christina E. Gildersleeve-Neumann

Education Faculty Publications and Presentations

This articles addresses challenges related to clinical decision-making in intervention with English-language learners and their families.

The Global Project: Observing Geographic Literacy Obtained By Study Abroad Learning, Erin Joy Greunke

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

One of the major debates regarding studying abroad concerns criticism that it lacks measurable and demonstrable learning outcomes and is usually viewed as less rigorous than other university courses (McKeown 2009). As one Western Kentucky University (WKU) faculty member noted when responding to the Faculty Attitudes Survey deployed for this project, all too often “too many study abroad experiences [are] little more than glorified fieldtrips.....” (Anonymous WKU Faculty Member, 2009, Appendix IV). While this may be the case, upon their return to the United States, students often say their study abroad experience proved life changing. The primary purpose of this …

Effects Of Narrative Video Script Advance Organizer Strategies Used To Introduce Video In The Foreign Language Classroom, Philip D. Ambard

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study compared participant comprehension of content in foreign language videos using 2 different advance organizer (AO) strategies. The students were 50 college students enrolled in 3 sections of an intermediate-level Spanish course at the United States Air Force Academy.

In the collaborative group reading condition (AOg), students read a target language narrative video script aloud in small groups. Students then watched the video corresponding to the script they had read and took a 10-question English only multiple choice test. In the quiet individual reading condition (AOq), students read the same narrative video script quietly before watching the same video …

Interaction And Language Development Of Ell Students In Mainstream Classrooms, Beth A. Ralston

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

English Language Learners make up more than half of the student population in the Clark County School District in Las Vegas, Nevada ("Nevada Report Card", 2008-09). This is a compelling enough number to motivate teachers, principals, and schools as a whole to reflect on the practices and programs set in place to meet the needs of these students. This study looks specifically at two classrooms in CCSD, observing the teachers' practices and strategies for effectively meeting the needs of their English Language Learners that are a part of their mainstream classrooms. Pervasive strategies that stood out during the course of …

A Preliminary Study On Effects Of Graphic Organizers On Reading Comprehension, Trang Phan

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

This study investigates whether Graphic Organizers (GOs) are effective for various groups of undergraduate students at the University of Texas-Pan American on their reading comprehension. Thirty-five research participants were classified into groups by their language background (NSE, G 1.5 and ESLLs); levels of reading proficiency (low, middle, high); and levels of graphic skills (low, middle, high). The findings are based on between- and within-group comparisons of mean scores in the pretest and the posttest taken by the students. The GO tasks scores helped to consider correlations between students’ levels of graphic skills and their reading comprehension performance. Results revealed GOs …

Preservation Ethics In The Case Of Nebraska's Nationally Registered Historic Properties, Darren Michael Adams

Department of Geography: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This dissertation focuses on the National Register of Historic Places and considers the geographical implications of valuing particular historic sites over others. Certain historical sites will either gain or lose desirability from one era to the next, this dissertation identifies and explains three unique preservation ethical eras, and it maps the sites which were selected during those eras. These eras are the Settlement Era (1966–1975), the Commercial Architecture Era (1976–1991), and the Progressive Planning Era (1992–2010). The findings show that transformations in the program included an early phase when state authorities listed historical resources pertaining to the settlement of the …

Literacy For Life, Sr. St. John Delaney, Caitlin Gordon

Cornerstone 2 Reports : Community Outreach and Empowerment Through Service Learning and Volunteerism

No abstract provided.