Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education Commons^™

Writing, Researching And Reading Bilingual, Regional Children's Literature, Anna M. Nogar Phd

LAII Events

Do you remember reading or being read children's books? Were they about leyendas y mitos, historias or places you had been near home? ¿Was there a vaivén between languages? In this talk, Dr. Anna M. Nogar will discuss the research involved in creating illustrated, bilingual books with a regional focus for children; how such books are written; and what is involved in their reading for young audiences. Teaching and working with current students in an online undergraduate class on "La vida juvenil bilingüe" in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, Dr. Nogar shares that experience and helps us think about …

Mother Tongue, Please!, Anannya Chakraborty

Teacher India

There is sufficient research to show that mother tongue-based multilingual education (MTB-MLE) can help improve learning levels of students. Anannya Chakraborty discusses the key role of teachers in driving MTB-MLE and the systemic challenges of successfully engaging teachers in such programmes.

Reflections On Language And Identity: Ofelia García's Impact On One Latina's Academic Trajectory And Scholarship, Dina López

Journal of Multilingual Education Research

This essay shares my own personal story of how—as a first-generation Latina academic—working with Ofelia García transformed my sense of self and trajectory as a scholar working with issues of language, identity, and education. Weaving personal anecdotes throughout, I trace the evolution of my thinking and research with a focus on the concepts of heteroglossic language ideologies, dynamic bilingualism, and translanguaging. I conclude the essay by reflecting on the importance and implications of first-generation Latina academics receiving mentorship from senior Latina scholars.

“…4542 Miles From Home…”: Repositioning English Language Learners As Power Brokers And Teachers As Learners In The Study Abroad Context, Kenneth J. Fasching-Varner, Michaela P. Stone, Roberto Mora Mella, Francisco Olave Henriquez, Macarena Yacoman Palma

Teaching and Learning Faculty Research

This article provides an empirical context for the role that bi/multi-lingual children and families may play in supporting pre-service and in-service educators engaging difference through a literacy and language situated study abroad internship in Chile. Drawing on data over a 15-year longitudinal study of the program, the authors examine how students and parents navigate serving the role of teacher, whereas the teacher participants navigate a new role as a learner in a context where they, many for the first time, experience being language and cultural minorities.

Effects Of A Spanish Phonological Awareness Intervention On Latino Preschoolers' Dual Language Emergent Literacy Skills, Xigrid T. Soto

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Young children’s emergent literacy skills, particularly phonological awareness (PA) and alphabet knowledge (AK), are two of the strongest predictors of future reading skill. There is limited research evaluating the effectiveness of emergent literacy interventions on the dual language PA and AK skills of at-risk Latino preschoolers who are Dual Language Learners (DLLs). The bulk of existing interventions are conducted only in English. There is preliminary evidence supporting that DLL Latino children benefit from Spanish PA and AK instruction; however, few studies include preschool-aged children.

This study applied a multiple probe design across units of instruction to evaluate the effects of …

Why Parents Choose Dual Language Immersion Programs, Darice Irby

Education Dissertations and Projects

School choice details a range of programs which offer families alternatives that are available to educate their children. Language immersion is a school choice option that is available for parents seeking to provide their children an innovative environment conducive for learning. This modality of learning uses dual languages to immerse students completely within the subject being taught. This qualitative design study sought to investigate why parents choose to send their child to a dual language immersion school. This study examined parent motivations and decision-making processes for choosing dual language immersion programs. This study also investigated parents’ own school experiences and …

The Effects Of Script Variation, Literacy Skills, And Immersion Experience On Executive Attention: A Comparison Of Matched Monoscriptal And Biscriptal Bilinguals, Sujin Yang, Hwajin Yang, Andree Hartanto

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

To examine script effects, monoscriptal Spanish-English (SE) bilinguals, who use two similar Roman alphabetic systems, were compared to biscriptal Chinese-English (CE) bilinguals, who use logographs and Roman alphabets. On the Attention Network Test, script effects were most evident in global processing efficiency (i.e., inverse efficiency and reaction time) and in the local network of executive control in favor of biscriptal CE bilinguals over matched monoscriptal SE counterparts. Literacy effects were found on the executive control network among Chinese-English bilinguals of high L1-literacy skills over their script- and immersion-matched counterparts, who varied only in low L1 literacy. In a similar vein, …

Biliteracy Development In A Second Grade Dual Language Classroom, Erika Harumi Aoki

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This case study examines oral language development during structured guided reading instruction in English and Spanish in a second grade dual language classroom. The participants in this study included four focal second grade students identified as balanced emergent bilinguals. The four case studies offer insights into the development of five oral language components: phonological skills, morpho-syntactic skills, vocabulary, syntax and pragmatics in English and Spanish that students undergo as they develop biliteracy. The key findings showed code-switching as the main linguistic behavior students used to build on language skills as well as the need for modeling and offering structured opportunities …

Using Spanish In English-Language Spaces: Identifying Bilingual Composition Students' Translanguaging Practices, Maria Isela Maier

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This Dissertation is a qualitative study that uses ethnographic research methods to examine the translanguaging practices of bilingual students in first-year composition at a university along the U.S.-Mexico border. Specifically, I observe how and why bilingual students employ translanguaging practices, as they are encouraged or invited by their instructors, in contexts where English Standard Language policies exist. The results of this qualitative project demonstrate bilingual students' use of translation as part of their translanguaging practices, as well as a tool that uncovers students' writing processes which also demonstrates their language negotiation. Furthermore, the students' translanguaging practices reveal the rhetorical use …

“Siento Que Siempre Tengo Que Regresar Al Inglés”: Embracing A Translanguaging Stance In A Hispanic-Serving Institution, Sandra I. Musanti, Alyssa G. Cavazos

Bilingual and Literacy Studies Faculty Publications

This chapter centers on our reflections and pedagogical moves as two bilingual educators at a Hispanic-Serving Institution on the borderland region of South Texas, a predominantly bilingual and bicultural community. Specifically, the chapter documents how we embrace a translanguaging pedagogical stance. Translanguaging practices are identity markers and represent the complex ways bilinguals use their linguistic repertoire to communicate across contexts and to negotiate social identities (García & Li Wei, 2014; Martinez-Roldán, 2015). Drawing on García, Johnson, and Seltzer’s (2017) conceptualization of a translanguaging “corriente,” we describe our translanguaging stance and moves as we, respectively, design and teach two undergraduate courses: …

Building Safe Community Spaces For Immigrant Families, One Library At A Time, Max Vazquez Dominguez, Denise Davila, Silvia Nogueron-Liu

Occasional Paper Series

In today’s political climate, supporting the needs of young children from Latinx immigrant families has become increasingly difficult at the community, institutional, state, and federal levels. This essay is about a group of Latinx families who participated in an innovative early literacy program at a county public library branch in the migration setting of the U.S. Southeast known as the New Latino Diaspora (Hamann, Wortham, Murillo, 2015). We describe the program and its role in building a safe and welcoming environment for Latinx students and their families. We include the voices of the librarian and parents who had never before …

The Role Of Bilingual Interactional Contexts In Predicting Interindividual Variability In Executive Functions: A Latent Variable Analysis, Andree Hartanto

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Despite a huge number of studies examining bilingual advantages in executive functions (EFs), the research findings with regards to the relations between bilingualism and EFs are mostly inconsistent and mixed. In order to shed light on these inconsistent findings, the current research aimed to tackle on both conceptual and methodological limitations that are prevalent in previous studies, namely: (a) failure to consider bilingual experiences in assessing bilingual advantages, and (b) task impurity due to substantial influence of non-EFs processes on EFs task performance. Based on Adaptive Control Hypothesis and Control Process Model of Code-switching, a theory-driven multisession study coupled with …

Learning To Read In English: Vocabulary Knowledge, Phonological Awareness In Relation To Oral Reading Fluency In Chinese-English Bilinguals, Michelle (Ruyun) Huo

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Second language (L2) acquisition has received increasing interest due to the large number of people immigrating or learning an L2 (e.g., Statistics Canada, 2016). Word reading fluency has been found to be a strong predictor of text reading fluency and comprehension (Fuchs, Fuchs, Hosp & Jenkins, 2001). For people learning to read in L2, skills such as oral reading fluency serve as an indicator of overall reading competence in their L2. The current study examined oral reading fluency in relation to vocabulary knowledge, rapid naming (RAN) and phonological awareness in English and Mandarin in Chinese-English bilinguals. Participants included 40 Chinese-English …

Perception Of American–English Vowels By Early And Late Spanish–English Bilinguals, Miriam Baigorri, Luca Campanelli, Erika S. Levy

Publications and Research

Increasing numbers of Hispanic immigrants are entering the US and learning American–English (AE) as a second–language (L2). Previous studies investigating the relationship between AE and Spanish vowels have revealed an advantage for early L2 learners for their accuracy of L2 vowel perception. Replicating and extending such previous research, this study examined the patterns with which early and late Spanish–English bilingual adults assimilated naturally-produced AE vowels to their native vowel-inventory and the accuracy with which they discriminated the vowels. Twelve early Spanish–English bilingual, 12 late Spanish–English bilingual, and 10 monolingual listeners performed perceptual-assimilation and categorical-discrimination tasks involving AE /i,ɪ,ɛ,ʌ,æ,ɑ,o/. Early bilinguals …

Promoting Student Success: Bilingual Education Best Practices And Research Flaws, Lillian Fassero

Senior Honors Theses

This paper first determines the benefits which bilingual education offers and then compares transitional, dual-language, and heritage language maintenance programs. After exploring the outcomes, contexts, and practical implications of the various bilingual programs, this paper explores the oversight in most bilingual studies, which assess students’ syntax and semantics while neglecting their understanding of pragmatics and discourse structures (Maxwell-Reid, 2011). Incorporating information from recent studies which question traditional understandings of bilingualism and argue that biliteracy requires more than grammatical and vocabulary instruction, this paper proposes modifications in current research strategies and suggests best practices for transitional, dual-language, and heritage maintenance programs.

Language Proficiency And Academic Success Of Bilingual Hispanic Nursing Students, Cristina Dominguez

Nursing Theses and Dissertations

The United States (U.S.) experienced recent growth in its minority population. This requires an increase of culturally diverse healthcare providers. English as a second language (ESL) students face challenges such as overcoming their inability to write, comprehend, and communicate in a language different from their native tongue. The study explored the role of language proficiency on academic success among bilingual nursing students on the U.S. and Mexico border.

Cummins Language Proficiency Model guided the study, which aimed to answer whether the dimensions of language proficiency or language acculturation predicted self - assessed language proficiency and academic success. The relationship between …

An Emergent Bilingual Child's Multimodal Choices In Sociodramatic Play, Alain Bengochea, Sabrina F. Sembiante, Mileidis Gort

Educational & Clinical Studies Faculty Research

In this case study, situated in a preschool classroom within an early childhood Spanish/English dual language programme, we examine how an emergent bilingual child engages with multimodal resources to participate in sociodramatic play discourses. Guided by sociocultural and critical discourse perspectives on multimodality, we analysed ways in which Anthony, a four-year-old emergent bilingual child, engaged in meaning-making during play through verbal, visual and actional modes and in conjunction with additional subcategories in his transmodal repertoire (e.g. translanguaging, sentence types, actual versus signified use of artefacts). Our results revealed differences in the ways Anthony engaged his verbal modes (e.g. monolingual languaging …

A Playful Context Enhances Bilingual And Monolingual Preschoolers’ Mastery Motivation And Private Speech, Jeremy Sawyer

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Children’s private speech (audible self-talk) has been studied primarily as a cognitive tool for thinking, planning and self-regulation. This study investigated whether private speech may also function as a tool for motivation. Vygotskian and self-determination theory suggest that children can develop to become agentic and inspired, or conversely disengaged and alienated, based largely on their social conditions of development. Thus, it is important to investigate children’s motivational processes in social and educational contexts that are central to child development. U.S. preschool enrollment is expanding, accompanied by a decline in play-based pedagogy and growth of didactic, teacher-centered approaches. To illuminate the …

Differentiating Language Difference And Language Disorder: Information For Teachers Working With English Language Learners In The Schools, Raul F. Prezas Phd, Ccc-Slp, Ahyea A. Jo Phd

Journal of Human Services: Training, Research, and Practice

In an era of growing numbers of linguistically and culturally diverse students in the U.S. schools, classroom teachers are in the position of taking the initial role in identifying and assessing bilingual students' language proficiency and development. Oftentimes, teachers and other school personnel face challenges related to adequately meeting the language needs of children who are English Language Learners (ELLs). In many cases, children are often over- or under-identified for language-related support services and assessments. School teachers may benefit from this overview of tips and suggestions related to making important decisions related to the language needs of bilingual children. A …

Understanding Translanguaging And Identity Among Korean Bilingual Adults, Nancy Ryoo

Doctoral Dissertations

This qualitative study, conducted at a Northern California university, explored how six Korean bilingual adults expressed their unique identities while utilizing both Korean and English in their daily and academic lives. The six study participants shared their journeys as bilingual adults who migrated to the United States from South Korea to attend graduate school. Several will return to South Korea at the conclusion of their graduate studies. Research data included narratives from in-depth personal interviews as well as focus group discussions.

This qualitative study postulated that translanguaging is commonly observed within bilingual/multilingual populations and can be utilized as a source …

Transcribing Arts And Identities: A Case Study On Literacies At Guadalupe Middle School, R. Joseph RodríGuez

Journal of Pedagogy, Pluralism, and Practice

Through single-case study research at a middle school site, students whose first language is Spanish gain instruction in an English language arts classroom using literary works with guided, close reading. Moreover, students’ background, cultural, and prior knowledge are consulted by the teacher as literature comes to life via socially responsible biliteracies, which value students’ identities and cultural and linguistic wealth in the presence of bilingual literary narratives. Through a teacher’s literary lesson planning that complements students’ social interests, students are able to communicate their developing and bridging biliteracies, increase critical literacy awareness, and practice bilingual abilities through interactive instructional lessons …

Ii International Colloquium On Languages, Cultures, Identity, In School And Society, International Colloquium

Proceedings of the International Colloquium on Languages, Cultures, Identity in School and Society

The influx of immigrants in countries worldwide, coupled with the challenges associated to the schooling of their children in host countries' schools, makes it more necessary than ever to broaden our knowledge of the linguistic, ethnic, and cultural realities derived from this phenomenon. This is the rationale for the present Colloquium, which revolves around the following topics:

• Individual, school, and societal bilingualism/multilingualism-related issues
• Multi/Transculturalism-related issues in families, schools, and society
• Impact of bi/multilingualism on individuals' and societies' language, culture, and identity
• Impact of multi/transculturalism on individuals' and societies' language, culture, and identity
• Language ideologies, policies, and practices
• Promotion, maintenance, and …

Literacies Of Bilingual Youth: A Profile Of Bilingual Academic, Social, And Txt Literacies, Michelle A. Mcsweeney

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation identifies three types of language skills that urban Spanish/English bilingual youth possess (academic, social, and texting language), and reports on their relationship while documenting and analyzing the features of text messaging among this population. The participants in this study are Spanish-dominant bilingual young adults enrolled in a high school completion program in New York City. They are in the process of developing both Spanish and English academic literacy skills, and it is well known that they tend to perform below the grade they are enrolled in. For this reason, they are often referred to as being “language-less” (DeCapua …

L2 Effect On Bilingual Spanish/English Encoding Of Motion Events: Does Manner Salience Transfer?, Heidi E. Parker

Open Access Dissertations

This study explores the potential effect of a second language (L2) on first language (L1) encoding of motion events. The domain of interest is MANNER and the goal is to investigate if the degree of manner salience can be restructured under the effect of a L2. Slobin (2004, 2006) proposes an expansion of Talmy’s (1985, 1991, 2000) binary typology and observes that the degree of manner saliencevaries cross-linguistically. The two languages investigated in this study, Spanish and English, are at divergent points along the cline of manner salience. In addition, Slobin (1996b) suggests dividing MANNER into tier one (T1) …

The Complex Nature Of Bilinguals' Language Usage Modulates Task-Switching Outcomes, Hwajin Yang, Andree Hartanto, Sujin Yang

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

In view of inconsistent findings regarding bilingual advantages in executive functions (EF), we reviewed the literature to determine whether bilinguals' different language usage causes measureable changes in the shifting aspects of EF. By drawing on the theoretical framework of the adaptive control hypothesis-which postulates a critical link between bilinguals' varying demands on language control and adaptive cognitive control (Green and Abutalebi, 2013), we examined three factors that characterize bilinguals' language-switching experience: (a) the interactional context of conversational exchanges, (b) frequency of language switching, and (c) typology of code-switching. We also examined whether methodological variations in previous task-switching studies modulate task-specific …

Organizational Assimilation Through Heritage Language Programming: Reconciling Justice And Bilingualism, Ricardo José Pedroarias

LMU Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to analyze the effectiveness of a heritage language Spanish program from the standpoint of organizational, curricular, and cocurricular practices. In this study, heritage language study was defined as having an emphasis on maintaining cultural awareness and language needs (Beaudrie, 2009) through cultural mediation, in which the experiences and identity of students are developed as areas of strength in the educational experience (Bennett, 2003; Gollnick & Chinn, 2004; Lovelace & Wheeler, 2006). The setting for this mixed-methodology study was an all-male Catholic secondary school. The participants in this study numbered 78 students in the …

Language Assessment Of Bilingual Children, Or "The Line Forms To The Right!", Olga Romero

Thought and Practice: (1987-1991) the Journal of the Graduate School of Bank Street College of Education

Discusses the complexity of language assessment for bilingual children and the implications the right assessment has for success in the classroom.

Prospects For Improving Bilingual Education: An Analysis Of Conditions Surrounding Bilingual Education Programs In U.S. Public Schools, Jennifer A. Gorman

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Bilingual education is a subject of debate in education. Some claim that bilingual education programs are detrimental to students, but decades of research supports the benefits of bilingualism and bilingual education for both English Language Learners and monolingual English speakers. The U.S. does not have bilingual education programs in proportion to the needs that these programs could meet for students in public schools. If bilingualism is beneficial, then why do we not have more bilingual education programs? Research extensively covers the internal components of bilingual education programs but only touches on the effect of the external conditions necessary for program …

Interpreter-Assisted Speech-Language Intervention In Poland: Needs, Possibilities And Prospects (Współpraca Polskiego Logopedy Z Tłumaczem – Potrzeby, Możliwości I Perspektywy), Katarzyna Gaweł, Henriette Langdon, Katarzyna Węsierska

Faculty Publications

Due to the constantly evolving global demographic situation, speech-language therapists (SLTs, also: speech-language pathologists – SLPs) have to deal with an increasing workload of bilingual/multilingual clients. This article presents results of a survey conducted among Polish SLTs aimed at investigating their views with regards to the possibility of collaboration with an interpreter during therapeutic intervention. The original version of the questionnaire (Gaweł & Węsierska, 2014) used in this survey was filled out by 206 respondents from different areas across Poland. The following issues were addressed in the study: the SLTs’ views on the incidence of bilingualism in Poland, their self-evaluation …

La Lengua Del Oyente: Some Effects Of Listener Language On Spanish-Speaking Preschoolers’ Verbal Behavior, Gerardo Castillo Ii

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Bilingual children represent a large population of preschool and school-aged children in the United States. Challenges may arise when the verbal community in which a child spends most of his or her time does not reinforce his or her primary language. Previous research has shown that children adjust their language to match the language of their listener (Genesee, Boivin, & Nicoladis, 1996). It is possible that having a native-language communication partner at school would improve child engagement, as measured by child mean length of utterance and quantity of child initiations. The purpose of this study is to examine whether listener …