Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education Commons^™

La Educación En La Lengua Materna: Una Mirada A La Escuela De Verano En Pacheco Elementary, Elizabeth Tjepkema

World Languages and Cultures

This project focuses on dual immersion elementary education and the importance of native language literacy by observing summer school at Pacheco Elementary. Native language literacy for Spanish-speakers is the foundation for successful second language acquisition and literacy. By having a solid foundation in Spanish literacy, elementary students are able to explore what it means to be fully literate in their own language before moving on to learning English in school. Through the observation of the processes of learning how to read and write in Spanish, I will gain a better understanding of the importance of Spanish literacy for Spanish-speaking children. …

Effects Of The Preparation And Perception Of Middle School Teachers On The Infusion Of Multicultural Education, John Mccraney

College of Education Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation was to determine the difference of how teachers perceive multicultural orientation, multiculturalism and cultural relations, multiculturalism and perceived sense of community, and multiculturalism and sense of responsibility based on gender, experience, and racial identity. The subscales on the Multicultural Emphasis Inventory (MEI) measured the teachers’ perceptions. The sample included middle school teachers in a large urban district in central Arkansas.

A quantitative, non-experimental research used four one-way analyses of variance to determine whether the evidence existed to reject the formulated hypotheses. The independent variables were as follows: gender for Hypotheses 1-4, teacher experiences for Hypotheses …

Early Bilingual Education: An Examination Of Purposely Selected Teacher Viewpoints: South East China And San Francisco Area, Shan Chen

Dissertations, Masters Theses, Capstones, and Culminating Projects

In the coming years, an increasing number of children in urban Chinese areas are taking a second language at an early age. It leads to an argument about whether it is appropriate for children to learn a second language in an early age Some people disagree that idea, because children are not developed enough to receive foreign language learning.

Learning a second language early is disadvantageous for young children because they should first learn to speak the primary language well. Whereas, other people support that children should start learning second language early for three main reasons: children’s talent for language …

The Self-Directedness, Metacognitive Awareness, Self-Efficacy Beliefs, And Grammatical Competence Of College Students Studying Spanish, Juan Guillermo Loaiza

Dissertations

Differential performance is a frequent issue in formal education in general and in second language education in particular. Three variables that may have an effect on college language learners’ performance were identified in the literature on adult education and second language acquisition, namely, self-directed learning, metacognitive awareness, and self-efficacy beliefs. The relationship among those three predictors as well as their relationship with academic performance (in the form of college learners’ grammatical competence in Spanish) was explored using a multiple regression analysis. The statistical analysis showed that none of those three variables predicted learners’ grammatical competence in Spanish. However, participants’ answers …

Increasing Student Achievement In English Language Learners Through Dual Language: A Policy Advocacy Document, Melissa Durrance

Dissertations

English language learners (ELL) represent the fastest growing population of learners in our schools. A substantial and continuing education achievement gap exists between ELLs and English speaking students and an alarmingly disproportionate number of ELL students contribute to the dropout rate. As educators, it is imperative that we provide educational programs to help reduce the achievement gap. All students deserve an education that will enable them to be productive citizens and that will provide them with the skills needed to enter either a career or an institution of continuing education upon graduation. As a solution to the increasing dropout rate …

Can Mhealth Improve Risk Assessment In Underserved Populations? Acceptability Of A Breast Health Questionnaire App In Ethnically Diverse, Older, Low-Income Women., Carolina Bravo, Cristina O’Donoghue, Celia P. Kaplan, Judith Luce, Elissa Ozanne

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Background: Use of mobile health (mHealth) tools has expanded rapidly but little research has been done on its acceptability by low-income, diverse, older patient populations.

Objective: To assess the attitudes of a diverse group of underserved women on the acceptability and usability of mHealth tools in a clinical setting using a breast health questionnaire application (app) at a public hospital mammography clinic.

Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted in a breast-imaging center of an urban safety net institution from July-August 2012. Interviews included pre- and post-questions. Women completed the Athena breast health questionnaire app on an iPad and were asked about …

An Investigation Of Dialect Variation And Spelling: First Graders' Representation Of Final Consonant Clusters, Maegan Rebekah Inzer

Student Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate first grade Mainstream American English (MAE) and African American English (AAE) speakers' representation of final consonant clusters in Consonant-Vowel-Consonant (CVCC) words in spelling tasks with three stimulus conditions: real words- child names the picture, real words- examiner names the picture, and nonwords- examiner names the picture. No significant differences were identified between the groups in spelling CVC words. When spelling CVCC words, the AAE group had significantly more dialect responses (spelling CVCC words as CVC words) compared to the MAE group across all tasks. AAE speakers gave fewer AAE spellings as the …

Creating A National Society For The Enhancement Of Indonesian Citizenry: Furthering The Liberal Arts In Higher Education, Judith Puncochar

Other Presentations

Three processes come to mind when we think about launching a national society for the enhancement of the Indonesian citizenry by furthering the study of Liberal Arts in higher education. The first is Excitement. People who work with the Liberal Arts experience a shared excitement. Students are genuinely excited to hone critical thinking, decision-making, leadership, and speaking skills engendered through classroom study of the Liberal Arts. Lecturers are genuinely interested in learning how to teach with a student-centered Liberal Arts focus. The second process is Cooperation. Humans in all occupations cooperate and learn interactively and collaboratively together. A …

Each One, Teach One: A Blackprint For Mentoring Postsecondary “Twice Exceptional” Student Scholars In “Search Of Education, Elevation And Knowledge”, Selena T. Rodgers, Tiffany Cudjoe

Journal of Research Initiatives

Through the prism of a faculty-student mentoring relationship, this article highlights best practices to gain insight into resources for “twice exceptional” student scholars. Practical application stands at a position of intersecting domains—changing the tapestry of scholarly service and undergraduate research mentoring, and as an Each One, Teach One black-print model for mentoring. The article concludes with recommendations for best practices for post secondary mentors, educators, and counselors invested in developing student scholars in Search of Education, Elevation, and Knowledge.

Culturally Competent Common Core Practices: A Delphi Study, Katherine Sprott

Journal of Research Initiatives

Research has shown that standards and benchmarks lack guidance for diverse learners with regard to the lesson planning and practice. The Common Core Standards (CCSS) for English Language Arts (ELA) and Mathematics, a national state-led crusade, seeks to safeguard rigorous grade level content to prepare all students for college and career readiness. This study identifies five Culturally Competent Common Core Practices that can provide anchors for informing the instructional process in culturally contextualized ways. The Delphi study shows that the educator’s self-awareness fosters the level of cognitive consciousness that facilitates effect interaction with diverse populations.

The Essence Of Participating In A Comprehensive Family Literacy Program, Joshua Robert Cramer

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This is a qualitative inquiry of the phenomenon of participating in a 4-component family literacy program comprised of adult education, child education, parenting classes, and Parent and Child Together Time® (PACT Time). PACT Time was the component of the program where the parent and child learned together. The case selected for this inquiry was the Jefferson County Public Schools Family Literacy Project in Louisville, Kentucky. Informants for this study included 7 immigrant parents, 4 teachers, and 2 principals. The parent participants spoke Spanish as their first language, and 100% were female. The number of informants interviewed for this study totaled …

Performing And Defying Gender: An Exploration Of The Lived Experiences Of Women Higher Education Administrators In Sub-Saharan Africa, Ane Turner Johnson

Title IX Research and Resources

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the life and career paths of women higher education administrators in sub-Saharan Africa. Specifically, the study sought to interpret the women’s experiences and identities, through the framework of intersectionality and gender performance, as ones that contributed to advancement within contexts traditionally barred to women. This research illustrates commonalities among the participants, elucidating the faith, family, and education as common constructs in their experiences and as mechanisms that propelled career trajectories. A major finding of the research is that the participants both preformed gender and defied it through the enactment of gender …

English As A Second Language: Writing Challenges, Self-Assessment, And Interest In For-Credit Esl Courses At Southeastern University, Katherine M. Jones

Selected Honors Theses

Whether Chinese, French, Swahili, Hindi, or English, learning a language requires time and dedication. One of the more challenging languages to learn is English, yet English is becoming more prevalent around the globe. According to a statement by Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Inc. (TESOL), English is now “the most widely taught language in the world” (“Position Statement on English as a Global Language”). Many individuals are striving not only to learn English but also to master it. These individuals include businessmen, doctors, politicians, scholars, athletes, and students. As English is swiftly becoming the international lingua franca …

A Phenomenological Study Of The Lived Experiences Of Undocumented Latino Students To Enroll In And Persist At A Four-Year Public Hispanic-Serving Institution In Texas, Angela C. Stuart-Carruthers

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Undocumented students in the United States are trapped in a myriad of completing federal, state, and local laws that impact their lives daily. While approximately 60,000 undocumented students graduate from high school each year, the college going rate for this population is substantially lower than their documented peers. Since President Obama signed the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals executive order, undocumented students have gained national attention. Despite this new focus on undocumented students few studies have been conducted to gain a deeper understanding of the live experiences of these students.

Framed by Tinto’s (1993) Theory of Student Departure and Latino …

Stakeholders' Perceptions Of Parental Involvement And Home-School Connections In A South Texas Border Town, Cynthia A. Lopez

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

Latinos have a high amount of individuals residing in poverty, and, yet, are still the fastest growing minority group in the nation (Gandara & Contreras, 2009; National Council of La Raza, 2014). For some families, living in poverty and the need to earn a living prevents parents from being actively involved in their children’s education (Moreno & Gaytan, 2013). Therefore, the need to form alliances with parents is critical. Partnerships with parents must be formed to better understand the necessities of these children. Consequently, educators should convey to parents the significance of forming links between the home and school. Moreover, …

Wmu International News Fall 2014, Haenicke Institute

WMU International News

• WMU helps grow education in the Dominican Republic
• Japanese teachers of English learn U.S. methods at WMU
• For the girls: Senegalese Fulbright Fellow seeks gender equity in homeland schools
• Senior research project helps Dominican Republic banana industry go green
• Advancing education and development goal for three Pakistani doctoral candidates in political science

The Journey Of Chinese Students From English 106 Maintstream Composition Courses To The Purdue Writing Lab: An Institutional Needs Analysis Of Chinese Students, Aylin Baris Atilgan

Open Access Dissertations

According to the Purdue University International Students and Scholars Enrollment & Statistical Report 10-year Enrollment Trends (2014), over the past ten years there has been an 85% growth in the number of international students matriculating at Purdue. As stated in the Purdue University Fall 2014 International Student and Scholar Enrollment & Statistical Report (2013), Purdue University now enrolls 9,080 international students representing 123 countries. This being the case, Purdue University is among the first five top institutions in the nation hosting international students (Open Doors Report-Institute of International Education, 2014). In recent years, Chinese students make up the largest international …

Boys, Books, And Boredom: A Case Of Three High School Boys And Their Encounters With Literacy, Loukia K. Sarroub, Todd Pernicek

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

We examine the literacy gender gap through the documented experiences of three representative high schools boys and their teacher—how they view themselves as students, their dispositions toward schooling and education, and their engagement with literacy— as a way to further understand how literacy teachers can better work with them. We offer a case study analysis of the boys’ struggles with academic reading in high school reading classes aimed at addressing the needs of young people who read far below grade level in school. We highlight the multifaceted, complex nature of “struggle” or “reluctance” toward academic reading and argue that no …

The Effect Of Morphological Strategies Training For English Language Learners, Qizhen Deng, Guy Trainin

Research and Evaluation in Education, Technology, Art, and Design

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of morphological strategies training for English language learners from an Intensive English Program with different English proficiency levels. A secondary goal was to investigate how the training influences their cognitive load during morphological analysis tasks. Findings from 22 participants revealed that morphological strategies training positively affects the morphological awareness of ELLs and reduces the cognitive load of ELLs for all types of morphological tasks regardless of their English proficiency level: sentence completion, analogy, break down words, and meaning guess.

[Note: Download button links to pdf version; PowerPoint slide version attached …

Raising Their Children, Janelle R. Thompson

Student Publications

This personal essay depicts the story of an after school program established in the heart of a low-income neighborhood. It details the struggle the local children face in their failing schools district, and shows how the program, known as Little Wise Child, has been instrumental in making a positive difference in their lives.

El Bilinguismo Espanol-Ingles Y La Nueva Politica Educativa En Espana: Analisis Ideologico-Linguistico, Vi­Ctor M. Meirino Guede

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The global integration of the labor market, in particular integration at the European level, has produced a tendency towards the integration of educational demands for school populations. An important part of this integration is the formation of a space of transnational linguistic communication, based on the establishment of English as a lingua franca. Within this context, linguistic competency in English is seen not only as a cultural resource, but above all as an economic opportunity--or even a prerequisite. This is why many countries have proposed educational policies that attempt to provide a higher level of linguistic competence in English for …

Exploring Literacy And Technology With Middle School English Teachers: Articulating Understandings Of Knowledge And Teaching Practices, Benjamin A. Boche

Open Access Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate five middle school English teachers' understandings of literacy and technology. In particular, how do they define literacy, view literacy and technology learning and teaching, and how do they use (or not use) technology to enact their views of literacy in their classrooms. This narrative inquiry qualitative study consisted of three open-ended interviews, written literacy narratives, and multiple classroom observations with each participant as well as the collection of various teacher documents, such as lesson plans, presentation notes, rubrics, and student handouts. Narrative methods were used in the data analysis. ^ Findings were …

Unwrapping The Comfort Of Sameness With Spanish Immersion Elementary School, Christin N. Taylor

English Faculty Publications

I watched my 6-year-old hover around the periphery of the table, unable to find somewhere to sit. The cafeteria was a cacophony of little voices, Spanish and English, tumbling over each other, her classmates sitting close and waiting to be dismissed to homeroom.

I couldn’t help but notice how different Noelle looked from most of the children, with her liquid blond hair and saucerlike blue eyes. [excerpt]

Poetry & Prints: Impressions From Detroit & Brazil, Marion Jackson Ph.D., Thomas L. Pyrzewski

The Mid-America Print Council Conference

This panel presentation will discuss how one good idea developed into the blueprint for a high-quality arts program for Detroit area youth that can be used year after year.

Eight Detroit arts organizations are collaborating to offer a 9-week summer program of workshops presenting high-quality instruction in visual arts and poetry for Detroit youth – introducing students to a variety of media and techniques, focusing particularly on poetry, screen printing, and letterpress printing. As part of the summer program, students will learn about a fascinating artistic tradition of the Northeast of Brazil known as literatura de cordel (“stories on a …

Critical Discomfort And Deep Engagement Needed For Transformation. A Response To "Respect Differences? Challenging The Common Guidelines In Social Justice Education", Rick Ayers

Democracy & Education

This essay seeks to engage the discussion about how to successfully conduct social justice and critical pedagogy classes for teacher candidates. Because the identity and consciousness of teachers is such a crucial factor in equity education, teacher-educators seek to challenge and transform hegemonic assumptions. The essay seeks to engage some of the main points of Sensoy and DiAngelo and to extend the conversation to other considerations and issues that arise in the work to develop educators committed to equity and justice.

Deliberative Democracy In English-Language Education: Cultural And Linguistic Inclusion In The School Community, Tonda Liggett

Democracy & Education

One of the most notable aspects of democracy in schooling lies in the challenge of schools to prepare individuals with the skills to participate and deliberate with others who have varying beliefs and worldviews. Deliberation and dialogue are seen as core components for academic achievement and cross-cultural connections between English language learners (ELLs) and native English speakers. I analyze the notion of deliberative democracy in English language education as a way to promote a certain type of education that would foster ELL inclusion as well as expand the perspectives of native English speakers. I argue that this type of education …

Racial And Ethnic Disparities In Time To Cure Of Incontinence Present At Nursing Home Admission, Donna Z. Bliss, Olga Gurvich, Kay Savik, Lynn Eberly, Susan Harms, Jean F. Wyman

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Abstract

As many as half of older people that are admitted to nursing homes (NHs) are incontinent of urine and/or feces. Not much is known about the rate of cure of incontinence present at NH admission, but available reports suggest the rate is low. There have been racial and ethnic disparities in incontinence treatment, but the role of disparities in the cure of incontinence is understudied. Using the Peters-Belson method and multilevel predictors, our findings showed that there were disparities in the time to cure of incontinence for Hispanic NH admissions. A significantly smaller proportion of older Hispanic admissions were …

Resisting Pressure From Peers To Engage In Sexual Behavior: What Communication Strategies Do Early Adolescent Latino Girls Use?, Anne E. Norris, Jonathan Pettigrew, Michelle Miller-Day, Michael L. Hecht, Janet Hutchison, Kristi Campoe

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

A content analysis of early adolescent = 12.02 years) Latino girls’ (n = 44) responses to open-ended questions embedded in an electronic survey was conducted to explore strategies girls may use to resist peer pressure with respect to sexual behavior. Analysis yielded 341 codable response units, 74% of which were consistent with the REAL typology (i.e., refuse, explain, avoid, leave) previously identified in adolescent substance use research. However, strategies reflecting a lack of resistance (11%) and inconsistency with communication competence (e.g., aggression) were also noted (15%). Frequency of particular strategies varied depending on the situation described in the open-ended …

Public Education And Teacher Understanding Of Dakota And Lakota Culture, Kiley Theede, Maggie Looft

Journal of Undergraduate Research at Minnesota State University, Mankato

This project was designed to collect and to share information in order to better prepare teachers of Native students. This study involved five in-depth, in-person interviews with Dakota and Lakota elders between 40 and 70 years old. Elders provided reflections on experiences of past generations, on their own educational experiences, on the preferred learning methods of Native students, and on their visions for teachers‟ practices and influences on Native children. Through grounded theory, data analysis was conducted to identify themes. Stories and comments from elders were organized around those themes. Future studies might include use of the videotaped interviews in …

Change In Cultural Competency Among Students During An Intentional Human Relations, Camille Mcnabb, Samantha Tupy

Journal of Undergraduate Research at Minnesota State University, Mankato

This study measured changes in the intercultural competency of undergraduate students in a course, Human Relations in a Multicultural Society. The hypothesis for this study was that the intentional, cross-cultural experiences in the course will have an impact on the cultural competency of each student. This course is taught each semester at a Midwestern public university. The study included 70 undergraduate students between 18 and 35 years old who voluntarily enrolled in the course and represented students in academic majors such elementary education, sports management, social work, mass communications, journalism, and pre- professional studies (e.g., mortuary science, veterinary medicine, therapy). …