Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education Commons^™

Ell High School Students Of Mexican Ancestry: A Phenomenological Study Of Language Ideologies, Kristine Sudbeck

The Nebraska Educator: A Student-Led Journal

The formation of languages and dialects is frequently considered a social process (Gal & Irvine, 1995). As such, humans form their own ideologies about particular language varieties, placing values on certain ones in a given context more than others (Greenfield, 2010). The development of a person’s language ideology can be influenced by the profit of distinction, which Pierre Bourdieu (1984) describes as the “noted margin of difference for usefulness and prestige of a particular language” (p. 55). It is through the process of misrecognition (Bourdieu, 1984) that a particular language is “recognized as legitimate and appropriate for discourse in official …

Connecting Multiculturalism, Sustainability, & Teacher Education: A Case For Linking Martin Luther King Streets & The Power Of Place, Charlane Starks

Benerd College Faculty Articles

In "The Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America," Kozol (2005) asked a question that many educators and other education stakeholders still wonder about in regards to the educational progress for many urban school students in the United States, "What do we need to do to alter these realities?" (p. 215). Altering realities requires new questions and creatively connecting educational issues such as multiculturalism, education for a sustainable living, and teacher education in different ways. In this article author Charlane Starks ascribes an urban location to multiculturalism, sustainability, and teacher education to draw attention toward transforming …

Urban School Counselor Preparation Through Service Learning: Development Of Multicultural And Social Justice Awareness (Tsccain), Amy Cook, Laura Hayden

Counseling, School Psychology & Sport Faculty Publication Series

Given the increasing diversity in our nation’s schools and communities, preparing school counseling students to understand and address systemic inequities are instrumental in the development of counseling skills and techniques. This session will provide counselor educators with methods to implement a uniform service-learning approach to teaching school counseling field experience seminars, while incorporating ideas for developing students’ multicultural competency and social justice awareness.

Campus Climate Assessment Report Results, Georgianna Melendez, Office Of Diversity And Inclusion, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Office of Diversity and Inclusion Publications

In 2012, Chancellor J. Keith Motley, through the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, commissioned a campus climate assessment study of the University of Massachusetts Boston. To minimize internal bias, the University contracted with Rankin & Associates (R&A) to facilitate the project. The full report is available here.

This is a presentation by the Office of Diversity and Inclusion reviewing the results of that assessment.

The Role Of Young Hoosier Book Award Nominees In The Classroom: Using Approaches To Multicultural Education As A Lens For Evaluating Literature, Shaylyn Barrie Marks

Open Access Dissertations

This study demonstrates the need for the integration of multiculturalism in the K-12 curriculum as well as provides a heuristic based on the work conducted by Sleeter and Grant (2009) to evaluate literature for level of multiculturalism. In the study, the researcher uses an evaluate heuristic to critically analyze and evaluation ten of the books from the 2011-2012 Young Hoosier Book Award (YHBA) nominee list. The heuristic created for this study is applied to the books appearing on the YHBA nominee list to evaluate each book on an individual basis, but also by association, the types of books that that …

Science Classroom Discourse For Fourth Grade English Language Learners' Scientific Literacy Development, Shu-Wen Lan

Open Access Dissertations

Recent research has shown that the construction of science knowledge involves students' development of science understanding and science language, particularly as it relates to intertextual connections to science terminology and concepts that teachers and students make in science classroom discourse. However, up to now, there is little research exploring this development in upper elementary students, including English Language Learners (ELLs). Through a qualitative case study of a fourth grade science classroom with ELLs, this research project investigated science classroom discourse, using the frameworks of Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) discourse analysis and intertextual analysis, to understand the nature of science classroom …

The Effect On Cumulative Language Acquisition Increase For English Language Learner Students In Kindergarten Through Third Grade Who Attended Multiple Years Of Summer Remediation Programs, Gregory Anthony Baker

Open Access Dissertations

Baker, Gregory A. Ph.D., Purdue University, December 2013. The Effect On Cumulative Language Acquisition Increase For English Language Learner Students In Kindergarten Through Third Grade Who Attended Multiple Years Of Summer Remediation Programs. Major Professor: Marilyn A. Hirth

Already academically at risk, students in the rapidly growing English Language Learner (ELL) student population in the United States face additional challenges due to regression of English language acquisition over the average ten-week agrarian summer break when they return to homes in which Spanish was the primary language spoken. While the influence of summer learning loss has been investigated in different contexts …

Increasing Diversity In The City Schools: Unexplored Paths Of Opportunity, Genevieve Siegel-Hawley, Kimberly M. Bridges, Thomas J. Shields, John V. Moeser, Renee Hill

School of Professional and Continuing Studies Faculty Publications

In its school rezoning and closure process from May 6 - June 3, 2013, the Richmond School Board voted to close 3 schools and change 14 elementary school zones despite opposition that overwhelmingly outweighed support at both public hearings. Though there were a wide range of concerns cited, including the rushed timeline, lack of transparency and absence of clear criteria for closing and rezoning these schools, many stakeholders expressed particular disapproval related to the potential increase in racial isolation that would result from the plan, formally known as Option C.

While regional efforts to promote school diversity—a central theme of …

Review Of 2013 Aall Diversity Symposium, Affirmative Action, Banned Books, And Mexican American Studies: The Current State Of Diversity And Education In America, Michele Lucero

Faculty Publications

The Diversity Symposium offered an overview of how affirmative action and multi-cultural studies affect diversity in the professional world. The Symposium began with Ulysses N. Jaen, Ave Maria School of Law Library’s Head of Public Services, discussing how the need for diversity continues to be an element that the legal profession and library schools struggle with – with low numbers of diverse individuals within the profession. We have resources such as mentoring, scholarships, affirmative action, and ethnic studies, which help raise awareness but are not the definitive solution. Many people have differing viewpoints and ideas on what diversity is, with …

History Makers Series: Herman Brenner White, Herman Brenner White

Speaker Series

Physicist Herman Brenner White was born in Tuskegee, Alabama on September 28, 1948. He attended Macon County public schools and developed a great interest in science at an early age. Growing up so close to the Tuskegee Institute, White was able to talk to the professors there about science. In 1966, he graduated from the Tuskegee Institute High School. He decided to attend Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana for his undergraduate studies where he obtained his B.A. degree in physics in 1970. During graduate school at Michigan State University. White split his time at Michigan State's Cyclotron Laboratory in East …

Developing English And Spanish Literacy In A One-Way Spanish Immersion Program, Lindsay Hollingsworth

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This quantitative, causal-comparative study examined the possible cause and effect relationship between educational programming, specifically one-way Spanish immersion and traditional English-only, and native English-speaking fifth graders' vocabulary and reading comprehension. Archival data was used to examine students' reading achievement as measured by the Iowa Assessment. Between-subjects multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) determined that no significant differences existed between the reading scores of students in the immersion and traditional program. Additionally, a one group pretest-posttest design was used to assess the growth of Spanish listening and speaking skills by students enrolled in the one-way Spanish immersion program using Language Assessment Skills …

University Of Massachusetts Boston: Campus Climate Project Final Report, September 2013, Rankin & Associates, Consulting

Office of Diversity and Inclusion Publications

The University of Massachusetts Boston is dedicated to fostering a caring university community that provides leadership for constructive participation in a diverse, multicultural world. The University has a long history of supporting initiatives that foster an inclusive living, learning, and working environment. The University’s mission statement offers the commitment of the institution to supporting an inclusive environment. The University also includes diversity and inclusion among its seven core values indicating its importance.

UMass Boston’s long term commitment to diversity and inclusion is evident in the curriculum, in research, and in the commitment to community engagement and participation. As an example, …

My Teaching And Administrative Experience In The Middle East: A Cultural Perspective, Agustin E. Francisco

MA TESOL Collection

This paper explores the evolution of my experience in Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) culminating in my current employment as an administrator and instructor in Saudi Arabia. It focuses on TEFL as my passion for more than 20 years and highlights the impact that my various TEFL roles have had on my teaching strategies throughout my academic professional career various institutions. This paper emphasizes that despite the teacher's vast experience in designing courses, training teachers and teaching at all levels, new cultural contexts, students' expectations as well as the dynamics of divergent administrator/teacher/student cultural perspectives (especially when the …

Fearless: Raksmeymony Yin, Raksmeymony Yin

SURGE

This summer, Raksmeymony Yin ’14, otherwise known as Rex, fearlessly taught from his own lesson plans, graded students’ papers, and organized brand new curriculums as one of twelve interns at the Breakthrough Collaborative in Philadelphia. During the nine-week program, Rex worked long hours in and outside of the classroom, effecting change by investing in the education of dozens of middle school students.

Reader's Theater For Deaf Students: A Tool For Developing Literacy Skills, Caroline Suggs

Undergraduate University Honors Capstones

Reader's theater is a method used in classrooms to encourage the development of literacy skills. Research has shown that the use of reader's theater in a classroom is linked to increased fluency, increased comprehension of text, and positive attitudes towards reading. Because research also shows that Deaf people are often delayed regarding literacy in English, a unit employing this method serves to bridge the gap between expected and actual levels of English literacy among deaf students. Intended for use with Deaf middle school students who sign, this unit of reader's theater is a plausible option in a bilingual approach since …

Elementary Teacher Candidates' Images Of Mathematics, Diverse Students, And Teaching: An Exploratory Study With Implications For Culturally Responsive Mathematics Education, Bernd Richard Ferner

Dissertations and Theses

Children from many culturally diverse backgrounds do not achieve in mathematics at the same rates as their counterparts from the dominant White, European-American culture (Gay, 2010). This so-called achievement gap is an artifact of an educational system that continues to fail to provide equal learning opportunities to culturally diverse children (Ladson-Billings, 2006; Nieto & Bode, 2011). Teachers who employ culturally responsive teaching (Gay, 2010) may help to close this opportunity gap and hence, the achievement gap. This study investigated, "How do elementary teacher candidates perceive teaching mathematics in a multicultural environment"; Using a critical constructivism research paradigm, this qualitative instrumental …

Black English And Culture Meet The Mainstream Classroom, Giselle Robitaille

MA TESOL Collection

Learning English can often be a critical factor in people’s lives, and the choice to disengage from learning out of sheer frustration can have devastating psychological and social effects for people who need to acquire English in order to be able to fulfill academic, personal and professional goals. While I was not able to find statistics on a global level, it is easy to believe that English language learners do disengage frequently. This is most obvious in the United States where the Standard English (SE) model of teaching black children has resulted in a high level of disengagement with learning …

Finding Their Way: Teacher Journeys Toward Culturally Responsive Pedagogy, Krista Keogh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Hawley & Nieto (2010) indicate that students’ race and ethnicity influence teaching and learning in two important ways: how students respond to instruction and curriculum, and teachers' assumptions about how students learn and how much students are capable of learning. Research has indicated that the most significant factor in student success is the classroom teacher (Goldhaber & Brewer, 1997; Gordon, Kane, & Staiger, 2006; Jordan, Mendro, & Weerasinghe, 1997; Marzano, 2007; Nye, Konstantopolous, & Hedges, 2004; Rivkin, Hanushek, &Kain, 2002; Rockoff, 2004; Rowan, Correnti, & Miller, 2002). Teacher professional development regarding culturally responsive pedagogy has been promoted to help teachers …

Has Safeer Improved Sacm's Work And Helped Saudi Students In The Usa Resolve Their Needs Quickly, Faisal M. Alzomily

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This study examined efficiency of the Safeer by gathering and analyzing the perception of 131 Saudi students from Bowling Green, KY. The purpose of the study was to ensure that the system is able to perform its function as the bridge between different institutions and Saudi students studying in the US who require assistance in processing their academic requirements. A self-administered survey using five scale points was employed. Results were summarized using descriptive statistics at 95% confidence level. The result confirmed the hypothesis that the use of the Safeer program provides quality service delivery within SACM, which in turn benefits …

Grammar Enhanced Biliteracy: Naskapi Language Structures For Facilitating Reading In Naskapi, William Joseph Jancewicz

Theses and Dissertations

The Naskapi language is the language of instruction in the early primary grades of the school in the Naskapi community. Only recently have Naskapi-speaking teachers received formal instruction in pedagogy, with a cohort of Naskapi teachers following courses for their Bachelor of Education degree towards careers teaching in the Naskapi language in their local school. These adults are highly motivated to become literate in their mother tongue in order to teach or prepare curriculum materials in the Naskapi language. This thesis explores how basic grammatical structures can be mastered, and provides insight into the form that pedagogical grammatical instruction should …

Using Oral Reading To Self To Improve Oral Fluency Of English Language Learners, Suwanna Klomjit

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purposes of this study were to study the effect of oral reading-to-self on adult English Language Learners' oral fluency and their perception toward oral reading-to-self. This experimental study used a pretest-posttest design. The participants (N = 63) were recruited and randomly assigned to a control group (n = 30) and an experimental group (n = 33). The speaking test: Klomjit Lincoln Measure of Spoken English (KLMSE), developed by the researcher, was administered as both pre and posttest. The treatment was an assignment to read out loud-to-self. The Evaluation of Using Oral Reading to Improve Oral Fluency, a quantitative scale …

Teachers' Perceptions Toward Implementing English As A Foreign Language At Kindergarten: What Can We Learn From The Case Of Kuwaiti Kindergarten Teachers?, Kawthar M. Habeeb

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The teaching of English as a foreign language has a promising outlook in the nation of Kuwait. Recent policy reflects language development theories that see early childhood as an especially good period for the learning of a foreign language. Thus, English is now taught at 30 public kindergartens in Kuwait. However, the program apparently was implemented quickly, with little consideration for how teachers and other stakeholders would respond to it. This paper explores that program in the context of the perceptions and views of teachers affected by it.

A review of the existing curriculum points towards deficiencies, and investigation of …

L1 Influence On L2 Intonation In Russian Speakers Of English, Christiane Fleur Crosby

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis investigates the development of intonation in questions and L1 influence. It is a longitudinal study using data from classroom interaction over six ten-week terms. The data was from video recordings at the National Labsite for Adult ESOL at Portland State University.Yes-no/and wh-/questions from one Russian speaking learner of English were analyzed over time and by language support level. Both acoustic and perceptual analysis was done. The yes-no/questions showed a clear pattern of target-like boundary tones more often without language support than with language support. A much smaller percentage of wh-/questions were target-like. The influence of L1 on L2 …

Pedagogy Of Post 9/11 United States: Muslim American Students' Experiences, Teachers' Pedagogies, And Textbooks' Analysis, Randa Nabil Elbih

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

The events and aftermath of 9/11 continue to cause life changes for many Americans, particularly Muslim American students who have experienced socio-cultural and pedagogic exclusion, harassment and discrimination due to ignorance and misunderstandings. Teachers must inform their students about 9/11 and the War on Terror to eliminate misunderstandings and intolerance towards a vulnerable population. In spite of its importance, many schools have not implemented the topic as part of their curricula. It is not even included as part of social studies state standards. Recent editions of US history textbooks include some information about 9/11 and the War on Terror that …

The Challenges Of Faculty-Led Study Abroad In Cuba, Amy S. Orf

Faculty Works

Recent changes in U.S. travel regulations now allow for short-term study abroad in Cuba. However, planning and leading Faculty-Led Study Abroad programs in Cuba present certain challenges not encountered in other programs. In this presentation I discuss current U.S. regulations regarding educational travel to Cuba, as well as the particular challenges that I faced in leading two successful Faculty-Led Study Abroad programs in Cuba, including recruiting, budget and finances, travel arrangements, on-site logistics, and safety.

I Don't Want To Save Your Children, Katherine M. Patterson

SURGE

A few weeks ago, the moment that I’ve been dreaming of for almost half of a year finally arrived. I started the Heston Summer Experience as an intern in Gettysburg. An embarrassing amount of my winter break was devoted to writing and rewriting my applications. After receiving an invitation for an interview, I convened my roommates to help me choose an outfit and ask me practice questions, which is not something I do…ever. Getting my acceptance letter in the mail was the ultimate highlight of a long and difficult year. When I was home for the first few weeks of …

Multiculturalism In The Schools, Tina Bianchi

The Review: A Journal of Undergraduate Student Research

In lieu of an abstract, below is the essay's first paragraph.

As an agent of societal and individual growth, schools play an important role in the community, and multiculturalism plays an important role in the schools. Many researchers agree that there is a need to include multicultural values and concepts in the classroom in order to benefit all students. Many researchers in the past few years have addressed the following issues regarding multicultural education and this literature review will focus on these same questions:

• What is multicultural education?
• How can multiculturalism be promoted in the classroom?
• Who should be exposed …

Engaging Elementary English Learner Student's Families And Backgrounds Within A Standards-Based Curriculum, Micaela Craig, Alyssa Carano, Criselda Lopez, Tanika Finch

2013 Projects

The Keck Summer Collaborative Research Program provides opportunities for Linfield College students and faculty to conduct research on issues related to the Pacific Northwest, and to bring the research findings back into the classroom within the subsequent academic year. Students partner with faculty to conduct research and present their work to other students, Linfield staff and faculty, and community members during a series of brown bag lunches. Micaela Craig, Alyssa Carano, Criselda Lopez, and Tanika Finch conducted research with Kena Avila and gave this presentation during the summer of 2013.

Humor In The Classroom: A Series Of Three Workshop Plans, Roger Ramirez

MA TESOL Collection

This materials development project explores the role, use and forms of humor in the classroom. This IPP is a collection of a series of three workshop plans for ELT teacher trainers located in Latin America. The workshop plans are preceded by a rationale that explains the relevancy of the topic, the author’s personal belief statement, and an exploration of final key learnings from developing this project. Each workshop plan is followed by a reflection on aspects that went well along with suggestions for further improvement and a revised version of the workshop plan.

A Foreign Affair: A Phenomenological Study Of Barriers To Adult Liberian Refugees' Success In The American College Classroom, Carla White Ellis

English as a Second Language Faculty Publications & Research

Liberia has survived a fourteen-year civil war. Within this time, many Liberians were forced to flee their countries and seek refuge. The United States and Liberia have held a long-standing friendly relationship; hence, there are thousands of Liberian refugees living within the United States. The educational issues of refugees worldwide is lacking in research. Consequently, the purpose of this dissertation is to gain an understanding of the lived experiences of adult Liberian refugees matriculating within American college classrooms. Through phenomenological methodology, the lived experiences of ten Liberian refugees enrolled within American college classrooms produced valuable results. Three major themes were …