Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education Commons^™

The Development Of Language And Identity: A Sociocultural Study Of Five International Graduate Students Living In The U.S., Alexandra Dema

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of this sociocultural study was to analyze the longitudinal process of identity development of international graduate students as their lives unfolded across time and experience in the second languaculture. Furthermore, it was aimed at exploring what role is attributed to second language in this process. The study relied on the mainstream sociocultural perspectives on individual development that originated from Vygotsky’s work and were further elaborated by his followers to address the issues of identity and language development of second language learners. As part of such perspectives, it integrated the unit of perezhivanie into the examination of individual experiences …

Hearing The Silence: Acknowledging The Voice Of My Latina Sisters, Emily Martinez-Vogt

Business Faculty Publications

Latina community college students experience a number of challenges during their transition to college. Findings from a larger study indicated that Latina community college students experienced racism and stereotyping on campus responding with silence. Silence occurred in two ways: (1) Latinas were forced to be silent, and/or (2) Latinas chose to be silent. This article presents the Latina Silence to Resilience Pathway Model illustrating the four phases experienced by Latina community college students beginning with the experience of racism on campus ultimately resulting in personal outcomes. Along the continuum of the model Latinas also often experience an identity transition.

Education, Crystal C. Gray

Eddie Mabry Diversity Award

Education is a spoken word poem that explores many aspects of the African American struggle within (self-knowledge). It starts with an African American college student who is disappointed with the lack of courses about her culture. Most curricula in the United States tend to be from a Eurocentric perspective, leaving out a multitude of information about people of color. All groups of people of color have unique experiences, however, African Americans have the most known (or perhaps I should say, unknown) history. The standard explanation of their existence is often limited to the start of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, when …

Language As The Foundation Of Identity Among Sherpa Youth In Nepal, Joshua H. Ginder

Student Publications

This paper explores how young Sherpas in Nepal use their language as a tool for identifying themselves as uniquely Sherpa in a mutlicultural Nepal. By analyzing the way Sherpas use their language in social settings and at a radio station, the author suggests the Sherpa language is perhaps the only truly unique quality that delineates Sherpas from other Nepalis.

Words Flying On The Wind: Buriat Mongolian Children In A Chinese Bilingual School, Valerie Sartor

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

This study focused on the language socialization experiences non-mainstream Indigenous Buriat youth from the Republic of Buriatia, Russian Federation, encountered as they attended a bilingual school in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, China. They migrated in order to start language studies which would eventually allow them to study alternative Mongolian medicine in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia. Both the Russian Federation and the Republic of China are countries in transition. The Russian educational and economic systems have made dramatic changes after the fall of the Soviet Union in December 1991; currently, the economy and educational opportunities are in decline and there is a widening …

Constructing And Resisting Disability In Mathematics Classrooms: A Case Study Exploring The Impact Of Different Pedagogies, Rachel Lambert

Education Faculty Articles and Research

This study demonstrates the importance of a critical lens on disability in mathematics educational research. This ethnographic and interview study investigated how ability and disability were constructed over 1 year in a middle school mathematics classroom. Children participated in two kinds of mathematical pedagogy that positioned children differently: procedural and discussion-based. These practices shifted over time, as the teacher increasingly focused on memorization of procedures to prepare for state testing. Two Latino/a children with learning disabilities, Ana and Luis, used multiple cultural practices as resources, mixing and remixing their engagement in and identifications with mathematics. Ana, though mastering the procedural …

Wrestling With Expectations: An Examination Of How Asian American College Students Negotiate Personal, Parental, And Societal Expectations, Michelle Samura

Education Faculty Articles and Research

This research draws on a broader study that situates Asian American college students within larger sociohistorical and political contexts. I examined Asian American college students’ experiences and what it means to be “Asian American” in and through these experiences. Two types of expectations emerged from the data: students’ internal expectations—the expectations that they have for themselves as well as their college and postcollege experiences, and external expectations from family and society. The various ways that students negotiate internal and external expectations translate into particular understandings of freedom and possibility they carry into college. I also discuss students’ precollege racial awareness …

The Self-Perception And Campus Experiences Of Traditional Age Female Muslim American Students, Carol Warren Koller

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Religion and spirituality have been found to contribute to the well-being of American university students. Although practiced by a small minority, Islam is the fastest growing faith in the United States, indicating a growing campus presence. The purpose of this study was to identify campus experiences that influenced the identity perception of traditional age Muslim American women. The conceptual framework included theories of identity negotiation, intergroup contact, and religious identity as well as campus climate structures developed to improve diversity. This phenomenological study took place at 2 public 4-year universities in California and included interviews with 6 participants. Interview protocol …

Immigrants, Roma And Sinti Unveil The “National” In Italian Identity, Francesco Melfi

Cultural Encounters, Conflicts, and Resolutions

This essay picks up a few threads in the ongoing debate on national identity in Italy. Immigration and the intertwining of cultures locally have stretched the contours of the nation state to a breaking point. As a result, the social self has become a sharply contested terrain between those who want to install a symbolic electronic fence around an imagined fatherland and those who want a more inclusive nation at home in a global world. After discussing the views of Amin Maalouf (2000), Alessandro Dal Lago (2009), Abdelmalek Sayad (1999) and Patrick Manning (2005) on national identity and migration in …

Attitudes Toward Using Social Networking Sites In Educational Settings With Underperforming Latino Youth: A Mixed Methods Study, Keith Howard, Margaret Sauceda Curwen, Nicol R. Howard, Anaida Colon-Muñiz

Education Faculty Articles and Research

The researchers examined the online social networking attitudes of underperforming Latino high school students in an alternative education program that uses technology as the prime venue for learning. A sequential explanatory mixed methods study was used to cross-check multiple sources of data explaining students’ levels of comfort with utilizing a social networking site platform as a supplemental communication tool in connection with their schoolwork. Students were found to be significantly less comfortable using social networking sites than other online communication tools in connection with their schoolwork, and females were significantly more uncomfortable than males using such sites in school.

Racial-Ethnic Identity Development In Hispanic Young Adolescent Students : Synthesis Of Literature., Katherine Elizabeth Stemle

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

This paper serves as a meta-analytic analysis of the research published on the development of racial-ethnic identity development in young adolescent Hispanic students. The purpose of the analysis of the peer-reviewed literature is to help support the instruction and development of young adolescent Hispanic students in the classroom. The major emphases of this paper are the definition of racial-ethnic identity, the background and major theories connected to racial-ethnic identity development, the major factors unique to the racial-ethnic identity of Hispanics students, and a list of research based methods teachers can use to help Hispanic students explore and establish a strong …

A Look Into The Latino Experience: The Process Of Identity Formation For Latinos In The United States, Angelica M. Ferreira

CMC Senior Theses

This paper examines the educational acculturation experience of Latinos in the United States (U.S.) and the processes of identity formation. Through the historical Latino experience in the early 20th century, we can see the remaining influences of historical inequality (e.g. exploitation of labor, de jure segregation) through negative perceptions of Latinos. Negative stereotypes and incorrect assumptions presented in society (e.g. media, educational system, and justice system) perpetuate inferiority in comparison to White Americans. In the context of a school environment, Latino children begin to realize they are different. When non-native English speakers enter the classroom, immediate differences in language, cultural …

Not You/Like You, With You: Toward A Praxis Of Love, Learning, And Liberation In Teaching Efl Writing — On Zombies, De-Colonial Feminisms, And Freire In Efl Contact Zones, Jessmaya Morales

MA TESOL Collection

This paper explores EFL writing as a critical contact zone in which identity and subjectivity are found, denied, contested, de/constructed and occupied. The author opens with an account of a dream, utilized as a metaphor to examine EFL learning through the analytical lens of Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed. The paper’s first section is a self-reflexive discussion of Freire’s pedagogy and why his unambiguous analyses of power, subjectivity, and the “banking system of education” are vital to the field of ELT. In the second section, the author discusses subjectivity, identity, and intersectionality as rooted in the work of …

Self-Esteem And Identity: A Case Study Of Two Bilingual Education Students, Julia Gomez Montalvo

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

This qualitative study focused on the self-esteem, sociocultural identity, and academic performance of transitional and dual language students as they moved through their respective programs. A case study was conducted on two randomly selected students, one from the transitional program and one from the dual language program. The two students attend the same school and have participated in their respective programs for 12 years in the same school district. Both students were asked to complete surveys on self-esteem and participate in an interview where they were asked various questions about their self-esteem, sociocultural identity, and academic performance. Data collected from …

Hyphenated Identities As A Challenge To Nation-State School Practice?, Edmund T. Hamann, William England

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

This chapter concludes the edited volume Hyphenated Identities and affords a chance to juxtapose how transnational students negotiate school and identity with how school systems in turn view such students, and then it allows the examination of two different strategies -- situational ethnicity versus the assertion of hyphenated identity -- as a glimpse into the cosmology of transnationally mobile students as they come into adulthood.

Schooling, National Affinity(Ies), And Transnational Students In Mexico, Edmund T. Hamann, Víctor Zúñiga

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

An examination of responses by 346 students from Nuevo León and Zacatecas, Mexico, who had previously attended schools in the United States, found that 37% asserted a hyphenated identity as "Mexican-American," while an additional 5% identified as "American." Put another way, 42% did not identify singularly as "Mexican." Those who insisted on a hyphenated identity were not a random segment of the larger sample, but rather had distinct profiles in terms of gender, time in the United States, and more. This chapter describes these students, broaches implications of their hyphenated identities for their schooling, and considers how this example may …

Tracking Identity: Academic Performance And Ethnic Identity Among Ecuadorian Immigrant Teenagers In Madrid, Jennifer Lucko

Education | Faculty Scholarship

This article examines Ecuadorian students' attempts to contest immigrant stereotypes and redefine their social identities in Madrid, Spain. I argue that academic tracking plays a pivotal role in the trajectory of students' emergent ethnic identity. To illustrate this process, I focus on students who abandon their academic and professional ambitions as they are tracked into low‐achieving classrooms, and in the process participate in social and cultural practices that reify dominant stereotypes of Latino immigrants.[academic tracking, identity, immigration, ethnicity, Spain]

Beyond The Language Program Model: The Importance Of Student Identity For The English Language Learner, Arthi Rao

College of Education Theses and Dissertations

This ethnographic dissertation study focuses on life in fourth grade classrooms, examining how sociocultural experiences and influences in the local learning environment impact native Spanish-speaking English language learners’ (ELL) identities, and subsequently how students perceive their schooling experience and language practices. Connections are made between their learning and experiences that occur in their classrooms and schools at large, specifically through language of instruction and schooling practices, and how ELLs identify themselves as individuals and members of society. This qualitative research looks at ELLs in transitional bilingual and dual language classroom contexts through the frameworks of sociocultural theory and language as …

Relationship To Place: Positioning Aboriginal Knowledge And Perspectives In Classroom Pedagogies, Neil Harrison, Maxine Greenfield

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

This project is based on research conducted with 12 schools in New South Wales, Australia. It examines how each school incorporates Aboriginal perspectives in its Kindergarten to Year 6 program with a view to identifying quality practice. As we inter- viewed teachers in these schools, it became clear that there is considerable confusion over the difference between Aboriginal perspectives and Aboriginal knowledge with both concepts being used interchangeably to teach syllabus content and information about Aboriginal people. We endeavour to clarify these concepts and to suggest how teachers might incorporate Aboriginal knowledge in their programs, without recreating some of the …

Exploring Writing Of English Language Learners In Middle School: A Mixed Methods Study, Robin L. Danzak

Communication Disorders Faculty Publications

The study's purpose was to assess, through mixed methods, written linguistic features of 20 Spanish-speaking English language learners (ELLs) in middle school. Students came from Mexico, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic. Participants wrote two expository and two narrative formal texts, each in Spanish and English, for a total of eight writing samples each. Additionally, students developed 10 journal entries in their language of choice, and 6 randomly selected, focal participants were interviewed for the qualitative analysis. The quantitative analysis involved scoring formal texts at the lexical, syntactic, and discourse levels. Scores were analyzed using Friedman's 2-way ANOVA by ranks, …

“Everything She Knew": Race, Nation, Language, And Identity In Philip Pullman’S The Broken Bridge, Ebony Elizabeth Thomas

Teacher Education Faculty Publications

A decade before his international acclaim for the His Dark Materials fantasy series, Pullman authored The Broken Bridge, a coming-of-age tale featuring Ginny, an Afro-British teenaged girl living in postmodern coastal Wales. The Broken Bridge delves into dilemmas of racial identity, ideologies of language and location, and aspects of non-Western religion that are not often touched upon in young adult literature. Pullman’s deft characterization prevents Ginny from becoming a caricature; instead, he presents the story of a very real sixteen-year-old girl with resentments, fears, and doubts. Ultimately, The Broken Bridge serves as a metaphor for the irreconcilability between an …

Multicultural Education : A Book Of Readings, Gary Partington (Ed.)

Research outputs pre 2011

The problem of obtaining texts with material relevant to the core course in Aboriginal and Multicultural Education in the W.A. College led me to suggest a book of readings selected by those teaching the course. Obviously this was a trap for the unwary, for the diversity of recommendations that I received meant that unless the book was to be of mammoth proportions, some lecturers were bound to be disappointed. This was compounded by difficulties in tracking down authors to obtain their permission in time to publish.

Even so, it is anticipated that the collection of readings finally assembled will contribute …

American Cultural Values : A Look At One's Own Cultural Identity, Judith Day, Jane Farrell

MA TESOL Collection

This paper is presented in two sections. Part A sets out a 16-lesson course for American ESL teachers in which people will look at personal and cultural values, with the goal of achieving an objective insight into the values of their culture and developing ways of incorporating this awareness in the ESL classroom. Should this course be used by non-American teachers there is another course outline (see Alternative Course Outline for Non-native Speakers of English) that has been developed. Part B is an articulation of some major values pertinent to American society. Areas covered are success, time, work, individualism, equality, …