An Urban High School’S Response To A Demographic Shift, Tristian Cox

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Abstract

With the increasing numbers of Latino English Learners in United States, school educators are tasked with how to better service this population of students. New immigration destination schools are being affected by challenges that come with this increasing population of students. High schools that are experiencing demographic shifts from being predominantly African American to Latino are not prepared to meet the needs of these students. Moreover, additional challenges that arise with this group of students involve addressing their socio emotional and acculturation needs. This qualitative study examined how key personnel in an urban high school responded to a swift …

Nursing Faculties’ Perceptions Of Teaching Students Who Speak English As Second Language, Natalia S. Ruiz Muniz

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Nursing students who speak English as a second language (ESL) often struggle due to language barriers, the complexity of the medical vocabulary, and the knowledge base that they must develop in a short time. These struggles may be due in part to the preparation of nursing educators to meet the specific needs of the ESL student population. The purpose of this qualitative research study was to develop a greater understanding of nurse educators' perceptions when teaching ESL nursing students. The conceptual framework used was Cummins' framework for the development of language proficiency. Four research questions guided this basic qualitative research …

English As A Second Language Teachers' Perspectives Of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy For Saudi University Students, Maysa Safi

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractFor many years, the integration of English language into Saudi Arabia's culture, education, and curriculum were not of importance. A gap in literature exists regarding this phenomenon of localizing regional teaching practices, or pedagogy, to better meet Saudi students' learning needs while adhering to the social, political, and cultural constraints of Saudi society. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore the perspectives of university-level English as a second language (ESL) teachers who have taught in Saudi Arabia concerning the use of culturally relevant pedagogy to provide students with effective and engaging instruction. The conceptual framework was based …

How Much Is Enough To Learn? Exploring The Effects Of An Abbreviated Implementation Of The National Writing Project’S College, Career And Community Writers Program (C3wp) On English Learners’ Argumentative Writing Growth, Samantha J. Manzo, Kelsey Decamillis, Sarah Lorenz

Language Arts Journal of Michigan

Without doubt, explicit instruction is essential as English learners develop important academic skills such as argument writing. Less clear is the extent to which students need to receive such explicit instruction and engage in practice in order to benefit from it. The National Writing Project’s College, Career, and Community Writing Program (C3WP) provides teachers with resources and assessments for the explicit instruction of argument writing. Prior research on C3WP has indicated that in order to see student growth, teachers must implement at least four short cycles in an academic year. The four cycles can seem ambitious and difficult for teachers …

Three Ways To Help Esl Content Linger Beyond The “El Course” In Teacher Preparation Programs, Melanie Gonzalez

Journal of English Learner Education

Like many other states, our teacher preparation program arrived at this compartmentalized, “single-experience” ESL-focused course model as a result of local, state, and federal policies in the United States that have increasingly placed ELs into mainstream classrooms rather than into language and literacy development courses (de Jong, 2014). TESOL faculty might have questioned: how can everything related to effective ESL teaching be covered in one semester? The fact of the matter is that the onus on this work largely rests upon teacher candidates’ shoulders after they depart the ESL-focused course. What follows are three practices that largely have arisen …

A Phenomenology: Teachers Lived Experiences With Workplace English As A Second Language (Esl) Programs, Odilia Lineth Mitre Marciaga

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative phenomenological study was designed to understand in-depth teachers lived experiences with workplace ESL programs. This study provides strategies and recommendations to improve the overall logistics of workplace ESL programs which can benefit the employer, the students, the institution, and the teachers. Strengthening the partnership and communication of all the parties can strengthen the program as whole as well. Data collection of the methodological process included in-depth face-to-face interviews with seventeen teachers during the summer of 2019.The data was managed and analyzed through initial and axial coding from which main themes emerged. Six key findings emerged from themes as …

All About The American Flap, Kristin Lems

Faculty Publications

In this column, I am going to talk about the American flap, a phonological feature of the American English dialect. Those of us with backgrounds in ESL/EFL learn about this in our master’s programs, but I have found that even teachers who have taken a course in linguistics may not be aware of the flap and its important implications for listening, reading, and spelling in English (Lems, Miller, & Soro, 2017)

The Relationship Between English Language Learners’ Mathematics Problem Solving Strategies And The Mathematics Register, Sarah Reeves Frederickson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This case study followed three Hispanic and three Marshallese students’ participation in a seventh grade pre-algebra unit over the course of four weeks. Pre-assessment items indicated that the students had difficulty with aspects of the mathematics register. Their teacher employed an interpretation of the gradual release model of instruction in which direct strategies for translating word problems into equations with unknowns were modeled prior to students doing similar problems on their own. In these situations, students showed some success in solving similar problems. However, post-assessment results indicated that none of the six students were able to successfully solve open response …

A Dialectical Relational Analysis Of Tesol Quarterly 2006 Special Issue On Race: Discourse, Race, And White Supremacist Ideology, Ginger A. Looney

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

Although the field of TESOL is not racially neutral this dialectical relational analysis examined (1) what discourses did the authors use to deploy race in the articles in the 2006 TESOL Quarterly Special Issue on Race (TQSIR)? and (2) how do these discourses work to either conform to, or resist white supremacist ideology? Analysis of the texts identified four key discourse: racialization, whiteness, emotional labor of racism, and sonic and optic negation of racism. These discourses were examined in the domains of scholarship, curriculum, teachers, and students. In 21 instances, these four discourses work to resist white supremacist ideology. …

Comstock House Tour Script Adaptation For Non-Native Speakers Of English, Aura Lee Mohror

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

This project seeks to increase the accessibility of a historic site to non-native speakers of English. The ultimate goal of this project is twofold: to draw in more attendees from a currently non-museum-attending population to a particular historical site and to provide non-native speakers of English with an understandable local history and language learning experience. The Comstock House in Moorhead, MN is exploring ways to increase its attendance by reaching out to new Americans and immigrants. A focus group composed of students in Moorhead´s adult ESL courses participated in a tour experience after which they provided feedback regarding the content …

Using Phonics To Increase Reading Comprehension In English Language Learners, Lindsay Piekutowski

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

Abstract

This paper discusses the implications phonics has on reading comprehension in the older English Language Learner. The subjects for this study were in the same Language Arts class in the Sheltered-Instruction Observation Protocol classroom, and they ranged from 15-20 years old. They were all in the same class because they were all Level III or IV with their language proficiency based on the WIDA ACCESS score in Speaking, Listening, Reading, and Writing. The study used Lexile scores from the Reading Inventory test used in the READ 180 classroom as the summative assessment of reading comprehension abilities. The focus for …

Promoting Pro-Environmental Behavior Through Engaging Cultural Diversity In The English As A Second Language Classroom, Pia T. Adler

MA TESOL Collection

Recent scientific environmental data are pushing people throughout the world to recognize and take action on the dire circumstances that the human race and all other species are currently confronting. This paper explores the factors that can influence and potentially empower people to re-examine their place in the natural world, and to orient their behavior in a pro-environmental direction. The premise of this project is that the topic of the humans’ relationship to nature is relevant and particularly well suited for the culturally diverse audience that is found in the English as a Second Language classroom. By using tools like …

Teaching English To Refugees Through Storytelling, Emily Camplejohn

Senior Honors Theses

Many refugees are trying to learn English while assimilating to a new culture. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has identified several needs and goals of refugees including competence in the language of the receiving culture and participation in a new, welcoming community. Storytelling, expressing or receiving a narrative through oral or written communication, can be implemented for teaching English to refugees with these goals and can link academic learning with real life experiences. In addition to using storytelling as a meaningful way to interact with language, storytelling also fosters a community within the classroom. The teacher is …

What Can We Learn From Adult Esl Students’ Responses To Children’S Literature?, Monique C. Stone

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

Some teachers face frequently changing populations of students, making it difficult to gain cultural knowledge that is important to support student learning. The aim of this study was to explore how adult language-learner students in intensive English programs (IEPs) respond to children’s picture books portraying their home countries or cultures. Reader response theory (Rosenblatt, 1995) and cultural scaffolding (Gay, 2002; i.e., the use of student culture to support student learning) are the initial frameworks upon which the study was developed. The study was qualitative in nature and driven by a desire for the researcher to gain more cultural knowledge about …

An Evaluation Of A Title One Elementary School's English For Speakers Of Other Languages Program, Kim L.P. Rigby

Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Enrolled at many public schools in the United States are students who primarily speak languages other than English and lack proficiency in the English language. These students are required to show language proficiency on end-of-year English-only state assessments. One public elementary school utilizes a support program to assist second language learners in acquiring a level of language skills necessary for proficiency on state assessments. My evaluation of this school’s program utilized mixed methods to determine the viability of support services provided to second language learners. The findings of my evaluation revealed some weaknesses within the provided services and indicated …

Project On Designing Activities For Teaching Grammar, Sunny Hyon

Q2S Enhancing Pedagogy

This document outlines a project for a course in second language acquisition taken by undergraduates who intend to be high school or university teachers/professors. The project asks the undergraduates to design a sequence of activities for teaching English language learners (ELLs) a particular English grammatical construction, and to connect those activities to reading or writing assignments in their future classrooms. The students also must explain how their activities will facilitate ELLs' grammatical learning, drawing on research on language acquisition presented in the course.

Serving The Needs Of International Students: A Qualitative Study, Mandi Goodsett, Michael Baumgartner

Michael Schwartz Library Publications

This study attempts to discover the barriers that international music students encounter when using the library and conducting research at North American academic institutions. To these ends we implemented multiple semi-structured interviews. Most studies that have been conducted about international students and information literacy employ a survey, but other qualitative means of study reveal important insights into the needs of this population. In-depth qualitative research that explores the experiences of international music students has the potential to cultivate better understanding of this phenomenon so that music librarians and faculty can more effectively serve this distinct population.

Online Learning Through Libguides For English Language Learners: A Case Study And Best Practices, Megan Hodge

VCU Libraries Faculty and Staff Publications

Many of the international students in the U.S. first experience American education through English language programs, so the cultural norms taught by these programs are vital to the academic success of these students: without them, students struggle to recognize plagiarism in their writing, find reliable sources, and more, resulting in lower grades and honor code sanctions including expulsion. Librarians are uniquely equipped to meet this instructional need. This chapter introduces best practices for making the most of these opportunities for significant impact via Springshare's LibGuides platform.

The Alignment Of Esl Materials To Wida And State Standards, Jenna Marie Quanbeck

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

This project analyzed the various 2^nd grade English language (EL) materials that were available in a rural elementary school to determine how those materials aligned to Minnesota (MN) state academic standards and the WIDA English Language Development standards. First, the various bodies of literature available on alignment and current recommendations for determining alignment between course content and state academic standards were reviewed. Then, the researcher developed and implemented a checklist-based process for determining alignment. This paper presents the literature review, the checklists, and the results of the analysis. The materials were found to be aligned to standards. The researcher …

In Translation: An Examination Of Esl Policy On Paper As It Relates To The Realities Of Implementation, Grace M. Cuevas

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

This honors research project explores the features of Title III requirements as they relate to the actual experience of students and their families. This paper synthesizes my experience researching English as a Second Language (ESL) specific supports and policy to inform my time spent accompanying an upper-level administrator for the Harrisonburg City Public School (HCPS) system, and interviewing professionals at an area school. In this paper I outline the results of interviews with 13 service providers. Interviews examined the “letter of the law” and the subsequent “spirit of the law” through application of a social work lens to the different …

Watch & Learn - A Teacher's Guidebook For Film-Based Esl Course, Xiaoxue Zhu

Master's Projects and Capstones

Educators in the 21st century are continuously discovering more engaging teaching tools to facilitate language learners. In today's increasingly developing visual world, film stands out from other traditional materials for its unique features, such as the visuality and authenticity. With appropriately designed activities, film could be a valuable resource in teaching English as a second language (TESOL) setting, and also a perfect tool for inspiring cross-cultural communication and promoting critical thinking skills.

However, research has shown that ESL teachers feel reluctant to use film as a significant component in their classrooms even though they have recognized and affirmed the benefit …

Conversational Movement Dynamics And Nonverbal Indicators Of Second Language Development: A Microgenetic Approach, Kristine Marie Bragg

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This dissertation study extends on current understandings of gesture and embodied interaction with the eco-social environment in second language development (SLD) while introducing new aspects of movement analysis through dynamical modeling. To understand the role of embodiment during learning activities, a second language learning task has been selected. Dyads consisting of a non-native English-speaking student and a native English-speaking tutor were video recorded during writing consultations centered on class assignments provided by the student. Cross-recurrence quantification analysis was used to measure interactional movement synchrony between the members of each dyad. Results indicate that students with varied English proficiency levels synchronize …

Expanding Capacity To Serve Multilingual Learners: A University-School District Partnership, Beth Clark-Gareca, Kim Fontana

Excelsior: Leadership in Teaching and Learning

In a time of new teacher certification requirements in New York, school districts are grappling with how to meet the regulatory expectations imposed by Commissioner’s Regulations Part 154. One way that schools are solving staffing challenges is by forging new collaborations with university partners to expand their collective capacities to serve Multilingual learners (MLLs). In this article, we document a partnership between SUNY New Paltz’s Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) program and the Pawling Central School District during the 2017-18 academic year. We describe the partners’ distinct roles in the university-district collaboration, and discuss the logistical considerations …

The Howl - Fall 2018, Kristyna Karbanova, Jerusa Cadorin Rovai, Eun Jin Jung, Hyun Jin Cho, Daner Xu, Reo Taniguchi, Saori Ishio, Momoka Ando, Gloria Kang, Yu Koide, Taki Migdady, Apple Tsai, Hide Iwata

The Howl

The Howl is a magazine that is planned, researched, written, photographed and designed by Otterbein University’s ESL and international students. The magazine serves to give them a safe space in which to use their voice to share their cultures, experiences and lives. If you are interested in submitting to the Howl, please e-mail your writing or photography to [email protected]. Enjoy Otterbein ESL’s contribution to the Otterbein community’s literary scene.

Thinking Outside The Box: Incorporating Critical Thinking Strategies In Esl Reading & Writing Instruction, Johanna Carranza

Master's Projects and Capstones

ABSTRACT

ESL students in the United States avail the resources of community college to achieve their goal of academic excellence. However, many community colleges struggle to prepare their students for mainstream four-year institutions. Aside from reading, writing, and speaking, learning a second language requires the development of critical thinking skills which are not emphasized enough for many ESL students in contemporary American academia.

As such, there are two major problems that this project aims to address. The first is that English as a Second Language (ESL) and English instructors have different expectations for ESL students. ESL instructors do not focus …

Focusing On The "Learning" For The English Language Learner, Taneka L. Tate

Theses and Dissertations from 2018

Educators are faced with the challenge of teaching an ever-changing student population. The classrooms are filled with students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds and cultures. English Language Learners account for 12% of our student population (Garcia, Jensen, & Scribner, 2009). Providing English Language Learners with effective instruction that integrates both content area knowledge and English language acquisition is necessary. English Language Learners are relying on educators to teach them what they need to know in order to be successful in all academic areas in schools. The purpose of this study was to examine the systemic approach of SIOP as …

The Howl - Spring 2018, Gwendolyn Derosa, Hide Iwata, Ayat Al Jbour, Rongrong Yan, Vivian Chen, Miki Kimura, Kristyna Karbanova, Yujin Kim, Yunan Huang

The Howl

The Howl is a magazine that is planned, researched, written, photographed and designed by Otterbein University’s ESL and international students. The magazine serves to give them a safe space in which to use their voice to share their cultures, experiences and lives. If you are interested in submitting to the Howl, please e-mail your writing or photography to [email protected]. Enjoy Otterbein ESL’s contribution to the Otterbein community’s literary scene.

Advocating For Integration: Acculturation In A Non-Profit Serving Immigrants Organization, Daniel Calderon

SPACE: Student Perspectives About Civic Engagement

This paper presents acculturation practices in a non-profit, serving immigrants organization in a Midwestern city in the United States. Although the programs and services offered at this organization become pertinent vis-à-vis the welfare of the immigrants, their expected outcomes seem to foment the Americanization of the organization’s clients.

Through a critical examination, certain services and practices within this organization respond to a unidirectional process of acculturation, in which the immigrants turn out to be the ones who have to acquire certain sociocultural and linguistic repertoires for them to adapt and fit in the U.S. mainstream society.

The utilization of the …

Effective Characteristics Of Rural English Learner Programs, Sarah Huseby

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine specific characteristics of English learner programs in a rural areas in order to determine possible factors that promoted higher English language proficiency growth for English learners. The subjects in this study were English learner teachers and administrators from five micropolitan school districts in a rural Midwestern state. The school districts in this study were identified and recruited based on two specific criteria: a mircopolitan community and a student population of English language learners. The study utilized both survey and archival data. The survey was administered to all EL teachers and administrators …

“I’M Not A Traditional Teacher Anymore”: Ecuadoran Teacher Perspectives Regarding A Us Professional Development Program, Gail Boone Cappaert

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

In this dissertation, the retrospective perspectives of five Ecuadoran English teachers regarding their experience in a seven-month professional development program in the US were investigated. Attention was given to how they believed the program impacted their identity, self-efficacy and how they perceived the program functioned as a community of practice (CoP). Data were collected through interviews using stimulated recall based on classrooms observation notes and memos in the teacher participants' Ecuadoran schools. Findings included that the Ecuadoran teachers felt they were positively impacted by the program. They perceived themselves as more legitimate speakers of English and more effective educators; however, …