Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education Commons^™

Philly, Delhi And Beyond: What Is A Social Science Studio?, Kushanava Choudhury

Reports (Social Science Studio)

In Spring 2014, six students and one professor took part in a course offered by Urban Studies at U Penn, titled "Social Science Studio: Immigrants Make the City". By focusing on the Italian Market neighborhood, in South Philadelphia, students explored how immigration transforms urban spaces in large American cities. They researched how immigrants are remaking the city economically, politically, socially, and culturally. We approached the field with multiple sets of disciplinary tools to describe what exists on the ground, in order to accommodate multiple ways of seeing.

The "Social Science Studio" concept is simple: Use the design studio format to ...

The Dynamic Ecology Of The Writing Process And Agency: A Corpus-Based Comparative Case Study Of Stancetaking Among Native Speakers And Non-Native Speakers Of English In First-Year Composition Conferences, Kirk Marshall Wilkins

Kirk Marshall Wilkins

While previous research into writing conferences and tutorials has found that sessions with non-native speakers of English (NNSs) differ from those with native speakers of English (NSs), these studies using conversation analysis have tended to approach conferences through more qualitative methodologies. This thesis builds upon and enriches these previous studies by incorporating more of a quantitative analysis through the use of corpus linguistics to systematically analyze the frequency with which particular grammatical devices that express the attitude of the speaker, otherwise known as stance, and power are used and how these frequencies may vary within a specific set of NS ...

A Digital Revitalization: Immigration And The Italian Market, Sean Lynch

Reports (Social Science Studio)

Existing theories of public spaces are outdated because they largely ignore the advent of digital socialization. The revitalization of public spaces such as parks, sidewalks in the new urbanist mold is premised on ideas of public space from the 1950s, before suburban sprawl. However, technology, such as smart phones and social media, have fundamentally changed the way in which all groups now interface with space. This is especially true of immigrants, who exist in multiple spaces, at home and in the new city, at once and maintain these myriad linkages through digital space.

This project presents a critique of proposed ...

Representing "Underrepresented Students," Including Immigrant Students, In An Urban Advanced Placement U.S. Government Class: A Teacher's Inquiry On Challenges And Opportunities In Students' Academic Discourse, Donna Lynn Sharer

Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations

Since the passage of Public Law 107-110, the "No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) (2002)," public schools have been encouraged to increase the number of students participating in Advanced Placement courses, particularly "underrepresented" or "low-income and other disadvantaged students." This policy was seen as a means of increasing academic rigor and college preparation (Section 1702, 2002) for a broader spectrum of students than those who traditionally had access to these courses. More recently, the U.S. Department of Education's focus on "achievement" and closing the "achievement gaps" has included civic learning (Duncan, 2012). Simultaneously, changing U.S. demographics have ...

The Language And Literacy Practices Of English Language Learners (Ells) In A Philadelphia High School: The Hyphenated Experiences Of Immigrant Students In Content Area Classrooms, Lan My Ngo

Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations

This multiple case study results from an ethnographic immersion in a local public high school, focusing on English language learners (ELLs) in content area classrooms. The primary goals were to 1) explore the language and literacy practices of ELLs within this setting, 2) gain an understanding of the complexity and multiplicity of the learners' schooling experiences, and 3) discuss implications pertaining to practice and research. Four focal students, each from a different country and each with different home or first languages, are discussed to provide a nuanced perspective of immigrant and refugee students. Importantly, the theoretical framework of "hyphenated reality ...

Finding Our Rhythm: Contextualizing Second Language Development Through Music-Based Pedagogy, Catrice Barrett

Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations

Each person learning a second or foreign language faces a unique developmental path. Individual learning trajectories have been obscured, however, by the search for “best practices” in second language educational research and praxis (Edge & Richards, 1998). This one-size-fits-all view has been further reinforced by a predominant cognitivist tradition, which orients to cognition mainly through mechanical and input and output processing, or a “mind as machine” metaphor (Boden, 2006). My dissertation aims to offer an alternative to this tradition.

In my dissertation, I introduce a music-based intervention designed to develop students’ pronunciation (speech rhythm) in a U.S. college-level English as ...

‘Narrow-Minded And Oppressive’ Or A ‘Superior Culture’? Implications Of Divergent Representations Of Islam For Pakistani-American Youth, Ameena Ghaffar-Kucher

GSE Publications

Drawing on ethnographic data, this article examines the complex terrain that working-class Pakistani-American youth must negotiate in their daily lives. Specifically, the article illustrates how particular views of Islam and Americanization manifest in particular sites and within educational discourses, and the resulting dissonance that youth experience. On the one hand, schools view Islam as oppressive, problematic and a hindrance to the youths’ academic and professional success. On the other hand, families present Islam as a type of cultural capital that can guide youth and help them navigate their lives by being a ‘good Muslim.’ The result of these fossilized views ...