Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education Commons^™

The Economic Impact And Effects Of Learning A Second Language, Luke Newman

Economics Undergraduate Honors Theses

The modern world has never been more connected than it is now. However, in the United States of America, and many other countries, the growth of their economy is slowed by the reliance on monolingual communication. By implementing policies to invest in the foundation and future of the countries workforce, and increase the use of a second language, not only will the economy reap the benefits, but the workers who are being invested in will also personally benefit as well. The following study aims to investigate the economic impact and effects of learning a second language.

Benefits Of Multicultural Education On Diverse Student Populations, Liliana Moreno

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

This senior capstone proves the benefits of multicultural education that promotes and brings about an inclusive and equitable education to all students, including diverse student populations. Through the use of literature review, interviews of two professors and educators, and surveys of college students, the result findings reveal that incorporating multicultural education approaches in the classrooms promotes inclusiveness that improves students’ learning experiences and academic performance in the classroom. It further fosters empathy among students. It is recommended that educators, school administrators, and pre-service teachers learn what multicultural education is and know how to implement it in the classrooms to benefit …

Benefits Of Culturally Responsive Pedagogy For In-Service Educators, Megan E. Roberts

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

There is a plethora of different teaching styles, all grouped under an umbrella term of pedagogy. This capstone focuses on the advantages in specifically incorporating culturally responsive pedagogy into the classroom. This method of pedagogy provides an inclusive environment in which students are able share their culture, as well as personal experiences to add to the overall academic achievement. By straying away from traditional teaching styles, in service educators are able to create a space for students to embrace their unique differences and incorporate inclusivity into learning. This integral approach provides real life experiences that have a qualitative depth that …

La Ropa Sucia Se Lava En Casa: Adhd In The Latinx Community, Jennifer Arcia

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The focus of this Capstone Project is on attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in the Latinx community, with an emphasis on parent education to spread awareness. This is an important issue for Latinx parents because proper identification and treatment of ADHD are essential for student academic success. An evidence-based argument is offered that Latinx youth are underdiagnosed with ADHD and that is because Latinx parents underutilize ADHD resources available to them. The three primary stakeholder perspectives chosen were parents, students, and teachers because their relevant experience allows them to provide insight into how the Latinx community views ADHD. Three themes emerged from …

An Autoethnography On Teaching Antiracism In The Current Sociopolitical Environment, Taylor M. Jacobson

Teaching & Learning Theses & Dissertations

In the course of American history, students from historically marginalized and underrepresented communities have been left out of the educational conversation. This has created an era of undereducated citizens who have historically used privilege to oppress students from these communities. Teachers must use their privilege to teach antiracist education that specifically encourages students to stand up for the justice needed to make a better world. Although this education is important, politicians, parents, and school board administrators are consistently putting teachers in an awkward position when they work towards implementing antiracist education by enacting policies that force them to stop or …

Teaching Reflection On Collaborative Writing In The Spanish Second And Third-Grade Dli Classroom, Lucía Martín García

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This portfolio was written and compiled by the author while completing the Utah State University Masters in Second Language Teaching (MSLT) program. The documents included are: a discussion of the author’s teaching environment and experience, a teaching philosophy statement of the approaches that inform the author’s teaching practice, a required professional development peer observation of another instructor, a main paper that investigates benefits of and strategies for collaborative writing in the L2 classroom, and a statement of personal goals for the future. In the main paper, the author offers a concise literature review and a reflection on collaborative writing strategies …

Xinachtli: Exploring The Experiences Of Young Resilient Latinas In A Rural And Under-Resourced Community, Deborah Hernandez

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This interpretive phenomenology study aimed to explore the lived experiences of young Latinas in a rural and under-resourced community. The analysis of the messages received by young women in educational institutions, at home, and in science and math classes was necessary due to the underrepresentation of Latinas in STEM fields. Using an interpretive phenomenology lens, the researcher collected journals from seven participants. Additionally, semi-structured interviews were conducted with all seven participants every week for 16 weeks by the Xinachtli facilitator. The data collected from the journals were transcribed in a line-by-line analysis and affirmed using qualitative analysis. The codes were …

Understanding The Factors Affecing Expatriate Teacher Retention In A Cross-Cultural Setting: A Case Study Of An American International Sschool In Panama, Roberto Flores

All Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors that affect expatriate teacher retention. The research aimed to identify the factors that contribute to expatriate teacher adaptation and retention in cross-cultural settings. As the demand for expatriate teachers has increased with the growth of international schools, retaining them has become a persistent challenge. The scarcity of literature on expatriate teacher retention, combined with high turnover rates and an expanding demand for such teachers, highlights the need for further research in this area. Therefore, this study aimed to fill this gap by exploring the factors that impact expatriate teacher retention …

Effects Of One-On-One Support For English Language Learners Through Collaboration, Compassion, And Engagement, Jocelyn Chiquito

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

English language learners (ELLs) make up a huge student population in schools. As this trend continues, there is a need for educators to support these ELL students academically. Given this, one-on-one support for them is crucial for their academic success. The purpose of this capstone research project is to examine how one-on-one support for ELL students through teacher collaboration, compassion, and student engagement. Through the use of a literature review, a survey of four teachers, and an anonymous survey of sixty-two ELL fourth grade students in a fourth-grade class and two third-grade classes, the result findings revealed that one-on-one from …

Mentors Helping Mentees Explore Dei [Poster], Luigi Lopez

Graduation with Distinction Posters

Explores the role peer mentors fill in helping mentees learn about diversity, equity, and inclusion on college campuses.

International Student Survival Guide [Poster], Isaac Lindauer

Graduation with Distinction Posters

Provides advise on working with international students

Creating A Classroom Of Access: Learner Identity And Intercultural Communicative Competence, Kallen Brunson

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This portfolio represents the coursework, readings, writings, classroom observations, teaching experiences, and reflections during my time in the Utah State University Masters in Second Language Teaching program. It is composed of three main components: my teaching philosophy, reflections on a selection of classroom observations of other instructors, and a position paper on World Englishes and pragmatics. Additionally, this portfolio gives background on the professional environment of the author and looks forward to the future.

The main paper consists of a position paper regarding World Englishes and cultivating identity and intercultural communicative competence, supplemented by a paper on incorporating pragmatics into …

Exploring Multiliteracies And Other Approaches To Second Language Teaching, Saralee Dunster

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This teaching portfolio offers a selection from the author’s graduate coursework, teaching experience, and research undertaken while enrolled in the Utah State University Master of Second Language Teaching (MSLT) program. The documents included are a reflection of her pedagogical approach and teaching practice, developed through varying contexts of professional experiences, including teaching English and French as a second language. This portfolio includes: reflections on the author’s teaching environment, a teaching philosophy statement, a professional development peer observation, a reflection paper that demonstrates the author’s experiences teaching with stories within the context of the multiliteracies framework, specifically multimodal fairy tales with …

"Our House There Is Ugly But Still We Happy": An Ethnographic Study With Women Navigating Displacement And Resettlement., Bridget Kearney

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In academic and public discourse, narratives surrounding refugee camps and the conditions within them typically depict experiences of sorrow and hardship. And, although the stories of struggle are certainly a part of the refugee experience, they are not the only part. This dissertation is a critical ethnographic study with a participatory research lens that focuses on the life experiences and storytelling practices of women in a resettled Sudanese family. It investigates the action of storytelling within displaced groups, the link between stories and community, and the importance of materiality and relationships in storytelling. This dissertation finds that storytelling can be …

Understanding Multilingual/Multicultural Immigrant High Schoolers’ Multilayered Identities And Imagined Futures, Mehtap Akay

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

This qualitative dissertation study explored how multilingual/multicultural immigrant high schoolers’ multilayered identities intersected and shaped their experiences and imagined futures. I used intersectionality as a social action theory (Hill-Collins, 2019) as a theoretical lens to examine how multiple aspects of multilingual/multicultural immigrant high schoolers’ identities, such as socioeconomic status (SES), race, ethnicities, immigration, linguistic, social, and cultural backgrounds intersected and affected their perceptions of self, in and out of school experiences, access to resources and support, and imagined futures. While there is an increasing number of studies about schooling experiences and inequities that multilingual/multicultural immigrant high schoolers in U.S. public …

Experienced Nonnative English-Speaking Teachers’ Nonnativeness-Related Challenges, Coping Strategies, And Identity Construction, Roseli Marqueti Matos Franco

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Kamhi-Stein (1999) declares that little is known about nonnative English-speaking teachers (NNEST) who work in ESL settings also known as Inner Circle countries. Twenty years later, Fan and de Jong (2019) have echoed that view by stating that traditionally research on NNESTs focuses on Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) international graduate students and that little is known about professional nonnative English-speaking teachers in English-dominant environments such as the U.S.A. Therefore, to try to help fill this gap in the literature, I investigated the lived experiences of English teachers who speak English as an additional language, often called …

An Ethnographic Case Study Exploring Culturally Responsive Teaching And Learning, James H. Jones Jr.

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

With the continued transformation of the cultural landscape of America and the recognition of the importance of our diverse communities, schools and educational leaders across the country must transform and grow to be reflective of this diverse world. Because it has been demonstrated that principals have a profound impact on instruction and student learning, facilitating the implementation of culturally relevant pedagogies can play a critical role in developing and sustaining effective urban schools. However, there is an undertheorized tension between the inequality regimes of managerialism and the goals of culturally responsive school leadership, highlighting that the undergirding theories of action …

Experiencing Transition: Bilingual Teachers' Voices In A Dual Language Program, Beatriz Garcia Soria

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative study is to gain insight into the experience of bilingual teachers undergoing a change of bilingual education program, from a TBE model to a DLBE model . This study documents the ways the bilingual teachers experienced changes in their language ideologies, their teaching practices, and the support, or lack thereof, from the administration and the community. This study contributes to the existing literature on bilingual teachers and bilingual education by centering the voices of the teachers during the process of change of bilingual education models. The study also adds to the literature because of the …

Exploration Of The Lived Experiences Of Native American Science Teachers Of The Great Plains: A Narrative Inquiry, Uma Ganesan

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Theses and Other Student Research

The complicated history of the education of Native American children through U.S. government-sponsored practices has led to the elimination of the Native children’s sense of Indian identity, culture, and language (Noel, 2002). In addition, increased emphasis on standardization and high-stakes accountability under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 has resulted in less culturally responsive educational efforts and more Indigenous students left behind in school systems (Castagno & Brayboy, 2008). This has led to Indigenous students being underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields where they account for only 3% of STEM workers (Fry, Kennedy, & Funk, …

Mission Statements And The Online Presence Of Children's Choruses: A Content Analysis, Emily Dell'orfano

Honors Scholar Theses

The language used in an organization’s mission statement implies the values held by that organization. Common music education values have been top-tier education, musical excellence, and the cultivation of high-achieving, well-rounded individuals. However, during the post-2020 rise in attention to social justice, organizations have either extended or reworded their mission statements to reflect a greater pursuit of equity, inclusion, and accessibility. In recent literature there have been discussions of a conflict between the values of arts organizations, as standards of elite musical excellence is inherently in conflict with community accessibility due to the socioeconomic factors that determine a student’s access …

Strategies To Aid Multilingual Learners In Academic Language Acquisition In Elementary Science And Mathematics Classes, Mikayla Grumbacher, Sophia Sladic

James Madison Undergraduate Research Journal (JMURJ)

This qualitative inquiry research study surveys academic language acquisition strategies for teachers of multilingual learners in elementary science and mathematics classes. We paired readings of recent peer-reviewed journal articles with video observations of three elementary school teachers and an interview with a Director of English as a Second Language for a county in Virginia. Thematic analysis helped us identify similar strategies across the different studies, classroom observations, and interview. Our findings suggest that utilizing sensory and interactive supports are especially helpful strategies for teachers seeking to help multilingual learners in academic language acquisition.

Ways To Increase Retention Rates Among American Indian/Alaskan Native Students At Community Colleges, Sarah R. Wheeler

Masters Projects

American Indians/Alaskan Natives (AI/AN) pursue higher education disproportionately compared to other populations. Literature indicates that a sense of belonging significantly impacts AI/AN students' persistence rates at community colleges. Sense of belonging and support from community colleges and families directly influence student success in higher education. AI/AN students are grounded in their community and have desires to build their cultural capital. Obtaining a degree will strengthen their community and, ultimately, their nation. It is essential for AI/AN students and parents to feel equipped with resources and ways community colleges support marginalized students. Creating a student and parent orientation, access to a …

Advocating For Equity In Teaching And Learning, Marrielle Myers

KSU Distinguished Course Repository

Learners in this course will use a critical lens to examine the challenges and opportunities that students, teachers, families, and leaders in urban contexts face related to opportunity gaps, classroom management, assessment, special education, gifted education, and retention. Learners will complete field-based assignments and will think analytically about and develop a research-based advocacy plan to advocate for change regarding a critical issue in urban schools.

Reading As A Social Practice: Using Retrospective Miscue Analysis To Understand Kichwa-Spanish Bilinguals’ Meaning Construction, Sandra Leonor Cabrera Moreno

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

Meaning construction is a complex concept that encapsulates language and thought as a whole system in which sense and meaning have a unique relationship highly marked by the social and cultural environment of the reader. Hence, Kichwa-Spanish bilinguals’ reading practices in the Southern Andes of Ecuador cannot be discussed as two separate processes but as an integrated structure embedded in a speech community. This perspective of the bilingual mind is founded on Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory of learning in which language is a psychological tool that shapes and is shaped by our modes of thinking. This unification is a complex process …

Selling Graduation: Higher Education And The Loaning Of Liberation, Annie Pocklington, Elizabeth J. Flanagan, Christopher Bodenheimer Knaus

Essays in Education

While the costs to attend college continue to rise exponentially, a bachelor’s degree is held up as required for economic stability within the U.S. and across the globe. With drastic disparities in earning potentials after graduation reduced by racism, sexism, classism, heterosexism, ableism, and related structural disparities, the value of a degree continues to be questioned, especially for historically marginalized communities. As the loan industrial complex continues to profit off of students, President Biden has offered $10,000 in student loan relief for some borrowers, though this action has been blocked by federal courts and is currently on hold. Whether Biden’s …

Book Review: Equity Does Not Mean Equal In Culturally Responsive Teaching, Christina Gabaldon

Journal of Educational Research and Practice

The ideas, tools, and example lessons found in the book will appeal to teachers, administrators, and pre-service teachers. The book stresses the importance of equity for all students in the classroom setting. The examples are applicable whether the instructor is in the hybrid, virtual, or face-to-face classroom setting. Dr. Stembridge’s purpose for writing the book is to communicate why culturally responsive education is the framework for equity, why equity and pedagogy should be the central focus of schools, and to describe specific elements found within culturally responsive education. The book continues along the lines of Geneva Gay’s research (2000) that …

Korean Dual Language Immersion Programs: Perspectives Of Parents, Students And Teachers As Stakeholders, Bridgett Stafford, Nicole Rivera

Symposium of Student Scholars

While dual language immersion (DLI) programs are relatively new in the United States, they have been heavily researched. However, the majority of the research focuses on Spanish and Mandarin programs. Korean, as a less commonly taught language (LCTL) and a language with a different typography as English has not been thoroughly researched. Being a LCTL, there are possible cultural and social factors that influence the program. There are also concerns that because Korean has a different typography as English, it would take more time to learn and maintain, causing differing results from programs that share the English typography. Despite Korean …

Teaching About The Global Refugee Crisis, Melissa Kafer

Honors Projects

Around the world, there are more than 30 million refugees (UNHCR, 2023) facing language barriers, cultural differences, prejudice, racism, and xenophobia. The number of admitted refugees in 2022 has more than doubled since 2021 (Duffin, 2022), and yet, many Americans do not know or understand the global refugee crisis. There are misconceptions in America that cause lack of empathy, bias, and prejudice towards refugees. Through the creation of four lesson plans, this research project aims to discover Americans’ misunderstandings regarding refugees and teach them about the crisis to remedy the misconceptions. This study includes a literature review detailing appropriate teaching …

The Case Of La Escuela Smart Academy: How Legislation And Incentives Can Aid The Transition From Bicultural To Bilingual Education, Fidelina Valverde-Rivera

Honors Projects

As the Latinx population in the United States continues to rise, La Escuela SMART Academy — a bicultural school in Toledo, Ohio — serves as just one example of how educational systems are seeking to cater to their respective needs. Previous research provides us with information explaining why bilingual education is valuable and worthy of promotion — including cognitive, cultural, linguistic, and economic benefits — as well as best practices. Using this information, I create a set of conditions that, when met, have the best potential of yielding an effective bilingual institution. In order to determine where La Escuela SMART …

My Journey: Teaching English As A Foreign Language In Spain, Bailey Marks

Honors Projects

This project focuses on the student's journey of teaching English as a foreign language in Spain. A Service-Learning course that is offered to students studying abroad allows them the opportunity to give back to their host community by teaching English classes at a local community center. These classes are super important for the community as nowadays, Spain is one of the European countries with the lowest English proficiency. In order to give a voice to the students participating in these English classes, I interviewed a pool of the students about their individual experiences learning English. Some topics that were discussed …