Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education Commons^™

Audacious Translation: Learning The Double Bind To Translate Spivak, Susan R. Adams

Scholarship and Professional Work – Education

In Chapter 12 of An Aesthetic Education in the Era of Globalization (2012), Spivak eludes apprehension, spurns comprehension, and resists neat translation as I, an American educator, feebly reaches and grasps to make sense of what is meant by an aesthetic education as Spivak translates the act of translation. Caught and othered in learning the double bind of translation, I find no answers, only new questions as I grope toward ways to conceptualize and to name this moment for language educators:

• Can and should the convenient genie of English as the language of power and globalization be pushed back into …

Are Your S'S In Effect? Ensuring Culturally Responsive Physical Education Environments, Brian Culp

Faculty Articles

Schools have rapidly becoming a kaleidoscope of ethnicities and cultures represented by demographic changes that have affected America’s schools. As educators in this era of change, a unique opportunity exists to ensure quality physical education for all students. Culturally responsive practices in the classroom can assist in minimizing students' alienation as they attempt to adjust to the different "worlds" often represented in school.

English For Science And Technology In The German Technical Industry - A Needs Analysis, Kristin Hueneburg

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

In light of the recent financial and Euro crisis, many immigrants have arrived on the German employment market with adequate English, but no German language skills, requiring German natives to use content-specific English in their work environment. This thesis seeks to explore the bases for potential curriculum and course design with a focus on English for Science and Technology (EST) in the German technical industry. This needs analysis in the form of an online survey was administered to a maximum variety sample in the German technical industry, which included different sizes and products/services of companies and position variations of employees …

Students' Perceptions Of The Usefulness Of Glossing Sheets In Revision Process, Erin Johnson

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

This research explores student perceptions of the effectiveness of grammar glossing sheets. Research methods included the creation of two surveys that were administered to ninth grade students at an American high school in Kuwait. The first survey sought background information on students' perceptions of their abilities when using grammar and the second asked if the students found the grammar glossing process beneficial to their writing and understanding of grammar. Research findings suggest that students do believe there are benefits to the grammar glossing process. Student response shows that grammar glossing sheets are a practical tool to help students increase their …

The Cultural Discontinuity Hypothesis: An Appalachian American Perspective In Eastern Kentucky, Timothy W. Conner Ii

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

K.M. Tyler et al. (2008) propose a quantitative method to measure differences between school and home experiences had by students of ethnic minority status and how such differences (cultural discontinuity) may affect psychological factors related to student achievement. Although study of cultural discontinuity has been applied to understanding African American, Asian American, Latino American, and Native American student populations, little attention has been given to the ways in which cultural discontinuity may manifest in the Appalachian American population. This study conceptualizes the socio-cultural conditions that would warrant such an investigation, establishing evidence from ten interview subjects of the presence of …

Study Abroad And Identity: The African American Experience, Alicia Ranney

Capstone Collection

Not all students are alike, nor should they be treated as 'one size fits all' in study abroad. Students have different backgrounds, goals, and expectations of what they will gain from an international academic experience. Minority students face different types of challenges in study abroad than their non-minority counterparts.

This paper seeks to answer the question “does study abroad change the identity of African American students?” and examines the challenges of identity and racism and how those two factors may decrease participation rates of African Americans in study abroad. Students from Marygrove College in Detroit, Michigan were surveyed before and …

Organization Of Schooling In Three Countries, Edmund T. Hamann, Saloshna Vandeyar, Juan Sanchez Garcia

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

It has been more than 30 years since Britan and Cohen (1980) assembled a number of leading anthropologists in a joint call for an anthropology of bureaucracies. Their call was a refinement and rearticulation of a more enduring concern in anthropology, illustrated in particular in the work of South Africa-born, British anthropologist Meyer Fortes (1938) who was interested in what McDermott and Raley (2011: 46) have summarized as "the acquisition of kinds of people by social structure."

One starting point for an anthropology of organizations that sees schools as a particular kind of organization meriting direct scrutiny is the anthropology …

Impacts Of Oral Language Proficiency, Television And Internet On Acculturation Of Taiwanese College Students, Huang Yu Lin

Wayne State University Dissertations

The majority of recent cross-cultural research with regard to the media's impact on acculturation has been aimed at Chinese immigrants' acculturation by the media in the United States with relatively little attention to Taiwanese college students' state of change in acculturation by various media sources while acquiring English as a second language. There are significant numbers of studies on assimilation to the host culture by both the ethnic and host media; however, there is a paucity of literature based on the one-dimensional media impact on a particular demographic group which can be easily traced to various types of media affecting …

Adapting School-Based Substance Use Prevention Curriculum Through Cultural Grounding: A Review And Exemplar Of Adaptation Processes For Rural Schools, Margaret Colby, Michael L. Hecht, Michelle Miller-Day, Janice L. Krieger, Amy K. Syvertsen, John W. Graham, Jonathan Pettigrew

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

A central challenge facing twenty-first century community-based researchers and prevention scientists is curriculum adaptation processes. While early prevention efforts sought to develop effective programs, taking programs to scale implies that they will be adapted, especially as programs are implemented with populations other than those with whom they were developed or tested. The principle of cultural grounding, which argues that health message adaptation should be informed by knowledge of the target population and by cultural insiders, provides a theoretical rational for cultural regrounding and presents an illustrative case of methods used to reground the keepin’ it REAL substance use prevention curriculum …

Antonio Gramsci: Life And Impact On Critical Pedagogy, Arturo Rodriguez, Matthew David Smith

Literacy, Language, and Culture Faculty Publications and Presentations

Antonio Gramsci was born in the province of Cagliarli, Sardinia on 22 January 1891. One of seven children, his formative years was spent roaming the hills of Sardinia. Antonio's political understanding was heavily influenced by the Socialism of his brother Gennaro and the imprisonment of his father, Francesco, from 1898-1904. Francesco's imprisonment caused Antonio to curtail his formal education and take up employment. This continued for several years until Francesco was released, allowing young Antonio to return to formal studies.

Teaching English In The Philippines: A Diary Study Of A Novice Esl Teacher, Jeffrey Lee Svoboda

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

"In this diary study, the writer explores the similarities and differences between teaching English at the college level in the Philippines and the United States while completing internships in the summers of 2011 and 2012. His students were in their first or second year of university classes and were working towards a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education, a Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education, or an AB in English. As part of the critical ethnography, the diarist considers cultural influences that affect the language learning. He includes three lessons he designed and taught as well as his impressions of …

Increasing The Cultural Competence Of Assessment Professionals Via Online Training, Jennifer L. Schroeder, Maximino Plata, Harry Fullwood, Melanie Price, Jennifer Dyer

Faculty Publications

The preponderance of literature suggests that culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) learners demonstrate unexpected underachievement in academic areas, mainly due to educators’ inability to differentiate between students’ cultural attributes rather than demonstrable cognitive dysfunction. Thirty assessment practitioners participated in a study to investigate the effectiveness of teaching cultural information and culturally-relevant assessment practices via an online teaching platform. The Munroe Multicultural Attitude Scale Questionnaire (MASQUE) and short-answer tests were used to obtain participants’ pre- and post- training attitudes and knowledge regarding cultural diversity. Results indicated that online training improved attitudes toward multicultural issues in education. A number of suggestions for …

Organizing Against The Neo-Liberal Privatization Of Education In South Los Angeles: Reflections On The Transformative Potential Of Grassroots Research, Miguel Zavala

Education Faculty Articles and Research

This auto/ethnographic study narrates how members of the Association of Raza Educators (ARE), a grassroots teacher-led organization, came together in undertaking action-research within what eventually became a stalled campaign to defend South Los Angeles Elementary from corporate takeover. Most of the work within the campaign involved action-research, including what I term organic popular education. In this paper I analyze the ways in which action-research functions as public pedagogy, further arguing for studies conducted from the vantage point of people immersed in grassroots organizations.

Exhibit Curriculum For Condition: My Place Our Longing (Lesson 2 Of 2), Sarah Aponte, Dania Diag

Open Educational Resources

Exhibit curriculum for the CUNY Dominican Studies Institute exhibit, Condition: My Place Our Longing.

The exhibit highlights the work of two young Dominican immigrant artists living in New York: Julianny Ariza and Leslie Jiménez and showcases original pieces produced between 2011 and 2012 that explore the subject of living in between two worlds, and other conditions of living.

Facilitating Transfer For Adult Learners Through Cross-Cultural E-Learning, Min Zhang

Graduate Research Papers

Benefiting from globalization and technology advancement, e-leaming is increasingly being used by work organizations for improving the skills of knowledge workers. However, most workplace e-leaming is too theoretical to impact on-the-job and ultimately fails to serve the organizations' quest for success. The purpose of this literature review is to investigate the variables that affect transfer of learning, and to provide feasible strategies to enhance transfer of learning for international adult learners in cross-cultural online learning environments. By conducting a critical review of purposefully selected peer reviewed journal articles, this review highlights the relationship between cultural differences and learning style preferences …

Culturally Responsive Methodologies At Work In Education Settings, Mere Berryman, Suzanne Soohoo, Ann Nevin, Te Arani Barrett, Therese Ford, Debora Joy Nodelman, Norma Valenzuela, Anna Wilson

Education Faculty Articles and Research

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe culturally responsive methodology as a way to develop researchers. The aim is to illuminate the dimensions of culturally responsive methodology such as cultural and epistemological pluralism, deconstruction of Western colonial traditions of research, and primacy of relationships within culturally responsive dialogic encounters. An overarching question is: “How can we maintain the original integrity of both participants and researchers and their respective cultures and co-construct at the same time something new?”

Design/methodology/approach – Five case study narratives are described in order for readers to understand the range and types of studies …

Computer-Based Oral Exams In Italian Language Studies, Christopher P. Newhouse, Martin G. Cooper

Research outputs 2013

In this paper we report on one component of a three-year study into the use of digital technologies for summative performance assessment in senior secondary courses in Western Australia. One of the courses was Italian Studies, which had an oral communication outcome externally assessed with an oral performance for which students travelled to a central location and undertook an interview with two assessors. Apart from the logistical difficulties for both students and the organising body, this method did not leave an enduring record of the process, and raised questions about the reliability of the assessment. Over the three years of …

Speaking Silence Fluently: Encouraging Student Understanding Of Counterhegemonic Strategies In African American Literature, Kathleen S. Decker

Masters Theses

This thesis suggests that while mainstream multicultural education claims to promote both diversity and equality, it fails to adequately address, let alone improve, the living conditions of minority students. It further suggests that when teachers help students read through the lenses of critical multiculturalism and critical whiteness studies, students can better see that both canonical and non-canonical African American authors deliberately employ nuanced strategies to resist white supremacy. Specifically through the use of purposeful and discreet silences, these authors serve to promote new and actively counterhegemonic ways of thinking in the classroom.

Each chapter pairs two texts--one canonical and one …

Multicultural Education For Preservice Teachers: An Exploration Of The Effectiveness Of Multicultural Education In Preparing Preservice Teachers To Teach In Culturally And Linguistically Diverse Classrooms., Janelle Maureen Penney

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

At a time when public school populations are becoming more diverse, teachers are becoming less diverse and often don’t have the multicultural education necessary to teach in diverse schools. This study examined the effectiveness of multicultural education at a university in the Pacific Northwest at preparing teachers to teach in culturally and linguistically diverse schools. The study utilized a two‐phase design to collect data that will assist education programs to develop multicultural education components that better prepare preservice teachers to teach in diverse schools. The first phase of the study explored the effectiveness of the current education program by examining …

Cross Cultural Pragmatics: A Study Of Apology Speech Acts By Turkish Speakers, American English Speakers And Advance Nonnative Speakers Of English In Turkey, Mehmet Aydin

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The study aims to identify and compare apology strategies used in Turkish, American English, and advanced non-native speakers of English in Turkey. In order to identify and compare the norms of apologizing in Turkish, English, and non-native English speakers in Turkey, apologies given to the same situations from these three different groups of participants were analyzed. The results from the Native Speakers of Turkish (NST) and Native Speakers of English (NSE) groups were used to identify the norms of apologies in these languages. Then, NNSE participants' responses were compared to the norms to be able to identify transfers from L1 …

The Development Of An International Medical Education Program With An Emphasis On English For Specific Purposes, Qian Chen

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Medical international programs are becoming a new trend across China. With this trend comes the difficulty of implementing and designing an international medical program to meet the educational, cultural, and social needs of the students and teachers within a given context. The present case study researched the factors that contributed to successful international medical programs and through a survey and interviews, found both strengths and needs of a specific international medical program in the College of Medicine at Shihezi University. Specific recommendations are then given in order to assist the program and school with the design and implementation of their …

Measuring Success For English Language Learners From A Multi-Dimensional Perspective, Randy Haley

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

This research study used a sequential mixed methods design to examine the perceptions and assumptions of educators working with ELL students in Southwest Minnesota. The study employed a conceptual lens based in critical education research with the intention that the results can be used to transform ELL education and promote equality for ELL students. The study is grounded in a multi-dimensional perspective for measuring success which incorporates four main constructs: parental involvement, quality instruction, school climate and student's sense of belonging. The participants in the study included building administrators and ELL teachers working in K-12 public schools in Southwest Minnesota. …

Exhibit Curriculum For Condition: My Place Our Longing (Lesson 1 Of 2), Sarah Aponte, Dania Diaz

Open Educational Resources

Exhibit curriculum for the CUNY Dominican Studies Institute exhibit, Condition: My Place Our Longing.

The exhibit highlights the work of two young Dominican immigrant artists living in New York: Julianny Ariza and Leslie Jiménez and showcases original pieces produced between 2011 and 2012 that explore the subject of living in between two worlds, and other conditions of living.

The Development Of A Model Of Culturally Responsive Science And Mathematics Teaching, Cecilia M. Hernandez, Amanda Morales, Gail Shroyer

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

This qualitative theoretical study was conducted in response to the current need for an inclusive and comprehensive model to guide the preparation and assessment of teacher candidates for culturally responsive teaching. The process of developing a model of culturally responsive teaching involved three steps: a comprehensive review of the literature; a synthesis of the literature into thematic categories to capture the dispositions and behaviors of culturally responsive teaching; and the piloting of these thematic categories with teacher candidates to validate the usefulness of the categories and to generate specific exemplars of behavior to represent each category. The model of culturally …

Arabic Rhetoric: Main Idea, Development, Parallelism, And Word Repetition, Melissa Van De Wege

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

This thesis contributes to the body of research on Arabic rhetoric. It specifically unites research on the elements of Arabic rhetoric of: main idea, development in body paragraphs, parallelism, and word repetition. It examines the rhetorical tendencies of native Arabic-speaking students from Saudi Arabia and one way these elements of Arabic rhetoric are reflected in essays as a whole written in English by Arabic-speaking students. This thesis also addresses the issue of whether or not Arabic rhetoric may be characterized by making multiple arguments or one argument. This study found one way that the four elements are connected together and …

Poetry In Translation To Teach Esl Composition At The College Level, Peter M. Lacey

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

"This thesis records the L1 to English poetry translations and subsequent self- reflections on the translation process by college level ESL composition students. It analyzes and codes the characteristics of their writing as well as the experiences and information reported in their reflective essays about the translation process. Poetry translation is discussed as a way to Honor the L1 and corresponding culture and as a way to facilitate writing skill development in ESL composition students. The final chapter makes recommendations for future poetry translation assignments in college level ESL composition courses"--Document.

Diversity And Equity...Community Building Strategies In Public Libraries For Multicultural Communities, Rajeswari Chelliah

Research outputs 2013

The research project focused on the community building potential in the public library due to increasing diversity in multicultural groups. Diversity in Australia and the world at large, is challenged by groups with backgrounds of traditionally embedded mind-sets, civil unrest, war, intolerance and poverty, and who live within the socio-cultural framework of the host culture. Building cohesion and integration among the residents is vital for all nations. The exploratory research project investigated the current level of public library services to Multicultural groups to obtain library staff views. The views of Multicultural individuals about their local public library experiences and information …

The Relationship Between Musical Ability And The Perception And Production Of L2 Prosodic Features, Jun Akiyoshi

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Studies in L2 acquisition have indicated that musically trained individuals are apt to demonstrate better L2 pronunciation skills. As for music, it was recently clarified that some amusiacs demonstrate selective impairment in L1 prosody discrimination. The purpose of this study was to investigate a relationship between amusical L2 learners and their perception and production of L2 prosody. To investigate this, 24 native-Japanese learners of English either in EFL (n=22) or ESL context (n=2) were examined in terms of their musical ability and L2 intonation perception and production. The musical test indicated that there was one amusiac and 10 low-level musical …

Supporting Minority Students Through Mentoring: Best Practices For Formal Mentoring Programs, Elizabeth Stockslager

Master's Theses

Approaches such as universal education, state and national standards, and reform acts have sought to ensure that all students in America receive the same level of education. However, education systems are limited by institutionalized racism. An analysis of the education system through the lens of Critical Race Theory highlights the need to look outside of the traditional school setting, while Culturally Relevant Pedagogy gives insights for understanding the best practices in meeting the needs of minority students. This research considers how mentoring provides support and success for minority students by working with students outside of the school structure. Using the …

Strategy Use Of Russian Pre-Service Tefl University Students: Using A Strategy Inventory For Program Effectiveness Evaluation, Alla Zareva, Anna Fomina

English Faculty Publications

The focus of the present study is on identifying categories of learning strategies that are mostly used by Russian university students in an English Linguistics Program with a TEFL concentration. The more specific goal of the study is to offer a model of evaluation of the effectiveness of TEFL-oriented programs in terms of the language learning strategies their students use and recognize as pedagogically applicable to their EFL environment. To this end, two groups of students were compared on their self-reported frequency of strategy use -- 1st year students (n = 23), who had just entered the program, and 4th …