Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education Commons^™

Moving At The Speed Of Trust, Sun Ho Lee

Masters Theses

Moving at the Speed of Trust is a workbook of strategies — practices, definitions, and techniques — to nurture community-building in support of inbetweeners who live between power structures and cultures and are often left out. Inbetweeners are those individuals whose lives are in transition through recent immigration or forced translocation from Asia to America.

These strategies revolve around threads of trust: kin, giggles, vulnerability, and shared experience. With these threads, we can question power. We can preserve stories, expand the ways we connect, shift perspectives on what is “standard,” and cultivate a community rooted in understanding. To understand each …

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 …

Language Brokering In Immigrant Families, Jessica Manuel

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

This capstone project focuses on children's language brokering in immigrant families. A practice engaged in by many immigrant youth who interpret and translate oral and written language for their own family. Typically, these language events occur as part of everyday life and involve the need for communication. In this case the brokers that we will be focusing on are children and adolescents with parents whose primary language is Spanish. Many of these children are a reliable source for their parents to communicate and understand a primary language in a country where they migrated to.

Using A Social Support Group To Educate And Empower Immigrant Latina Women, Diana N. Rendon

Department of Occupational Therapy Entry-Level Capstone Projects

The purpose of this capstone project was to promote mental health education and access to vulnerable South Florida Latina Women. The original intent was to establish a program providing families with mental health education, including information about common mental illnesses, signs and symptoms, community resources, and the impacts on occupations. This capstone experience was conducted with the Magnolias Women's Support Group at Caridad Center, located in Palm Beach County, Florida. The focus areas of this capstone were advocacy, policy and program development, and administration. Furthermore, this capstone project was intended to promote health literacy for underserved populations, especially immigrant women.

How Can A Non-Profit Empower Community Through Childcare?: An Analysis On The Impacts Childcare And Workforce Development Has On The Lives Of Immigrant Families, Jose Molina

Stevenson Center for Community and Economic Development—Student Research

No abstract provided.

Engaging The Disengaged: The Zone Of Proximal Distance Between Deliberately Silenced Educators And Preferably Unheard Latino Immigrant Parents, Jose Antonio Velazquez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The five Latino parents in the three ethnographic case studies presented in this document were experienced with stepping into third space zones of discomfort as undocumented immigrants unwelcome to the United States. They could have chosen to remain silent and invisible. Instead, they entered third space visibility that amplified their presence and voice as immigration reform activists. They recognized and accepted the risks of amplified outspoken visibility: possible deportation and family separation. They also acknowledged the risks of silent submission and invisibility: vulnerability to exploitation and generational disempowerment. They created disruptive third space forms of civic engagement that synergistically produced …

Nos/Otrxs Que Fuimos Separados: Recovering Testimonios Of Separation And Resistance, Marcela Rodriguez-Campo

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In the U.S. xenophobia has been on the rise and current immigration policies have increased the occurrence of family separation. Experiences with family separation profoundly impact children and have a detrimental effect on their development and educational outcomes. However, limited research has been conducted exploring the long-term impacts of family separation on education, particularly as it relates to Latinx tender-age children (below the age of twelve). In the current political climate, Latinx children are precariously positioned to live under the constant threat of family separation due to anti-immigrant policies and xenophobic school climates. This hostile environment can have devastating effects …

Everyone Matters: Eliminating Dehumanizing Practices In Physical Education, Brian Culp

Faculty and Research Publications

Recently, discussions regarding how to create a positive school climate where all can be successful has come to the forefront. Healthy schools support student learning, well-being, time, space to be active, and opportunities for social and emotional growth. However, a host of numerous trends suggest that the school climate is becoming increasingly hostile towards students who are from immigrant, LBGTQ, and ethnic minority groups. What is often seen as disrespectful behavior toward these students is in fact actions that can be more accurately defined as dehumanization. This article overviews the practice of dehumanization, the implications for learning, and introduces proactive …

The Experiences Of Undocumented Students In College: Dreams And Aspirations In Their Own Words, Marcelo Juica

Educational Studies Dissertations

This qualitative study examined the lived experiences of seven undocumented immigrant college students living in Massachusetts as they negotiated the sociocultural, socioeconomic, and institutional challenges of their college experience. Three research questions guided this study: (1) What role do undocumented college students believe sociocultural factors play in influencing an immigrant student’s successful college experience? (2) What were the various ways undocumented college students reported institutional and economic factors that affected their college experiences? (3) How did the students develop resilience to overcome social and systemic setbacks while pursuing higher education? A narrative methodology was used, and the participants were selected …

Transcultural And Translinguistic Latinx Discourses: Challenging Raciolinguistic Discourses In A School Community - Towards A Frame Of Resistance, Madjiguene Salma Bah Fall

Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative case study grounded in ethnographic methods examined how transcultural and translinguistic students responded to ideological discourses in their school community. I explored the discourses of social power and hierarchical structures and ideological discourses present in the students' experiences, and investigated how they accepted or rejected the ideologies exhibited in these discourses. This research was motivated by three questions: (1) What are the discourses of social power and hierarchical structures present in the experiences of middle-school Latinx transcultural and translinguistic students in their school community? (2) What ideological discourses are enacted in these experiences? (3) How do these students …

Building Partnerships With E2l Families In Multicultural Classrooms, Ashley Nanlall

Honours Bachelor of Early Childhood Leadership (HBECL) Capstone Research Posters

This research revolved around investigating educators’ perspectives on communication and relationship building between themselves and English as second language families. This qualitative study followed a narrative research design, incorporating semi-structured interviews, to uncover educators’ opinions and experiences of their interactions and communication with these families, and to report on the challenges and difficulties that were present. The participants of this study consisted of 5, currently employed, Registered Early Childhood Educators across Ontario. Data analysis revealed 4 prominent themes in relation to educators’ perspectives: factors impacting professional practice; how feelings and personal reflections influence professional outlook; respect for inclusion and cultural …

Cariño In The Clase: Understanding How Teachers And Staff In San José Navigate Caring, Protecting, And Empowering Undocumented Latinx High School Students In The Trump Era, Nancy Haro

Master's Theses

Latinx students in low-income public schools face structural oppression that limits their educational and career opportunities. Those opportunities are further limited when we consider how many of those students might be undocumented. The current political climate is replete with anti-immigrant sentiment and has already created further difficulty for undocumented students with the recession of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). Public high school teachers and staff play an important role in the lives of these students, for they interact in a space in which preparation for adulthood is the goal. However, these spaces do not exist in a vacuum but …

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 …

“It’S Ok. She Doesn’T Even Speak English”: Narratives Of Language, Culture, And Identity Negotiation By Immigrant High School Students, Lydiah Kananu Kiramba, James Alan Oloo

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

This study employs narrative inquiry to explore the experiences of two female, first-generation immigrant- and refugee-background students from West Africa. Using interview as conversation for guiding open-ended research questions and Yosso’s community cultural wealth (CCW) framework, we present participant narratives that speak to both similar and divergent experiences, which demonstrate a deep understanding of complex social issues presenting both tensions and opportunities for African immigrant and refugee student educational success in the United States. The study draws implications for rephrasing normative thinking about emerging multilingual students of African descent and developing a culturally responsive pedagogy for all students.

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 …

Neighbors Link's Parent-Child Together Program: Supporting Immigrant Parents' Integration To Promote School Readiness Among Their Emergent Bilingual Children, Carola Otero Bracco, Judie Eisenberg

Journal of Multilingual Education Research

The authors of this article describe Neighbors Link, a multi-service community and worker center in suburban Westchester County, NY. This organization created Parent-Child Together in the belief that supporting immigrant parents' integration and social inclusion, in activities that also engage long-term community residents, would improve school readiness outcomes for preschool children. A key assumption in the program design is that immigrant parents are best supported when teaching respects their home language and incorporates their home culture and customs. Among the program's positive results has been greater acceptance of the assets and strengths that immigrants bring to the community. The …

Zycie W Ameryce: Life In America (Poster), Brett A. Cotter

Summer Research Program

Poster complementing author's summer research project exploring the history of the Polish-American community of Worcester, Massachusetts centered on the parish of Our Lady of Czestochowa and how its members responded to the forces of Americanization. Research in area archives such as the Worcester Historical Museum, the Worcester Public Library, and at Our Lady of Czestochowa’s rectory and its parish school of Saint Mary’s, as well as oral history interviews with past and longtime members of the community test the assumption that the story of Worcester’s Polish community is one of loss and decline. On the contrary, Polish-American efforts to preserve …

How Do Immigrant Students Develop Social Confidence And Make Friends In Secondary School? A Retrospective Study, Shyanna Albrecht, Gina Ko

The Qualitative Report

This paper pertains to a retrospective study of immigrant students’ experience of making friends and gaining social confidence in secondary school. In the study, 17 undergraduate students participated in either a one-to-one semi-structured interview or focus group. Questions were asked to understand their experiences in making friends and gaining social confidence when they came to Canada between grades five to nine. Thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006) was used to analyse the data. This method was useful in looking for commonalities in meaning in participants’ responses. In total, seven themes and 20 subthemes were discovered, which are discussed in detail. …

Zycie W Ameryce: Life In America, Brett A. Cotter

Summer Research Program

My project explores the history of the Polish-American community of Worcester, Massachusetts centered on the parish of Our Lady of Czestochowa and how its members responded to the forces of Americanization. Like many ethnic groups new to America, Polish-Americans and Polish immigrants in the twentieth century had to adapt in a world that demanded conformity in exchange for social mobility and departure from tradition and community. Over eight weeks, I conducted research in area archives such as the Worcester Historical Museum, the Worcester Public Library, and at Our Lady of Czestochowa’s rectory and its parish school of Saint Mary’s, as …

On Growing Up Finnish In The Midwest: A Family Oral History Project, Ingrid Ruth Nixon

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study explores what oral history interviews with my mother reveal about the familial and community dynamics that influenced Finnish-American children growing up on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula between 1930 and 1950. Close to four hours of oral history interviews were conducted with Viola Nixon, who is second and third-generation Finnish-American on her father’s and mother’s sides, respectively. After conducting a narrative analysis of the interviews, five themes emerged as significant to community function: family, language, education, work and church. I grouped some of these themes together to create three stories informed by materials drawn from the interviews, a cookbook, and …

Neighbors Link's Parent-Child Together Program: Supporting Immigrant Parents' Integration To Promote School Readiness Among Their Emergent Bilingual Children, Carola Otero Bracco, Judith Eisenberg

Publications and Research

The authors of this article describe Neighbors Link, a multi-service community and worker center in suburban Westchester County, NY. This organization created Parent-Child Together in the belief that supporting immigrant parents' integration and social inclusion, in activities that also engage long-term community residents, would improve school readiness outcomes for preschool children. A key assumption in the program design is that immigrant parents are best supported when teaching respects their home language and incorporates their home culture and customs. Among the program's positive results has been greater acceptance of the assets and strengths that immigrants bring to the community. The community, …

Parental Support For Newcomer Children’S Education In A Smaller Centre, Xuemei Li, Antoinette Doyle, Maureen Lymburner, Needal Yasin Ghadi

Comparative and International Education / Éducation Comparée et Internationale

This study explored the issues around parental support for newcomer children’s transition to school in a smaller urban centre in Atlantic Canada where newcomer support is relatively limited. Data were drawn from semi-structured interviews with 11 newcomer parents, five children, and one settlement worker. The findings revealed newcomer parents’ difficulties in understanding the school system, limited engagement with the school community, isolation from other parents, and barriers to understanding and connecting with other parents. Among these newcomers, refugee parents are particularly challenged. We conclude that newcomer children’s parental involvement need to be viewed multi-dimensionally, and that the creation of a …

Perceptions Of Emergency Preparedness Among Immigrant Hispanics Living In Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Rebekah Doyle

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Tornadoes are occurring with increased frequency in Oklahoma. Emergency preparedness planning is essential to decreasing individuals' risks of injury or death from a tornado. Research on immigrant Hispanics' knowledge and perceptions of emergency preparedness is limited. The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions and lived experiences of immigrant Hispanics who had experienced a tornado or other crisis weather conditions in Oklahoma during spring of 2013. The research questions explored their perceived risk for injury and knowledge of tornado preparedness planning. The health belief model provided the theoretical underpinnings for this qualitative phenomenological study. Semi structured interviews were …

Latina Immigrant Mothers' Counterstories Of Education: Challenging Deficit Myths, Nancy Aileen Mcnee

Doctoral Dissertations

Despite major gains in working-class Latin@ immigrant graduation rates and college attendance in recent years, most educators and administrators still perceive Latin@ students with deficit mindsets. Majoritarian storytelling perpetuates deficit myths about working-class Latin@ immigrant students and their families not valuing education. This study joins a growing body of research that uses counterstories to challenge deficit mentalities in education toward working-class Latin@ immigrant students and their families.

This qualitative study involved individual, focus group, and member checking interviews with four Latin@ immigrant mothers in the San Francisco Bay Area. The goal of the study was to learn about the following …

The Portrayal Of Immigrants In Children's And Young Adults' American Trade Books During Two Peak United States Immigration Eras (1880-1930 And 1980-2010s), Rina Roula Bousalis

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Although immigrants are an integral part of the nation's founding and history, it is unclear how they have been historically portrayed in children's and young adults' American trade books, especially at the turn of the 20th century. This study offers a critical and comparative analysis focusing on the historical evolution, depiction of immigrants, and authors' perspectives of selected trade books written during two peak United States immigration eras (1880-1930 and 1980-2010s).

Utilizing a discourse analysis approach, this study examined how first-generation immigrants were portrayed in selected trade books and how various themes and representations may have affected students and …

College Graduation: It's A Big Deal, Raksmeymony Yin

SURGE

College graduation is a big deal for everyone. It’s especially important to me as a graduate of the Philadelphia public schools, as a child of a low-income family, and as a first-generation Cambodian immigrant.

A Case Study In How French Teachers Understand Purpose In Educating Immigrant Students, Dana Doggett

Senior Theses

The purpose of the study was to comprehend how two French teachers understood their roles in teaching immigrant students. To achieve this goal, I observed classes at a middle school in Pau, France over the course of three months. I recorded extensive field notes and conducted two in-depth interviews with both of the teachers I observed. After returning to the United States, I coded my notes, identifying and analyzing patterns in the data. Among other conclusions, I discovered that these teachers emphasized students’ individual identities, including their diverse national and cultural backgrounds, while at the same time pushing the students …

National Identity Perceptions And The Experiences Of 1.5 Generation Youth With English Learning And First Language Loss, Olena Yuzefova

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

With the increasing number of immigrant youth, often referred to as the 1.5 generation, settling in Canada every year, it is important to understand the experiences and national identity perceptions of this immigrant generation. This qualitative case study investigates national identity perceptions and the experiences of 1.5 generation youth with English language learning and first language maintenance. A focus group was held with five high school students to understand their current experiences of being 1.5 generation. In addition, seven individual interviews were conducted with college/university students who were asked to reflect on their past and current experiences. The findings indicate …

Reflecting On The Past; Shaping The Future Of Student Affairs, Michael J. Stebleton, Marina B. Aleixo

Michael J. Stebleton

The purpose of this essay is to offer several reflections on the content of the Envisioning Student Affairs document co-published by ACPA and NASPA. The metaphor of a public art exhibit with five reflective questions is used to inspire educators to think critically about serving students. As the demographics of students pursuing higher education changes, we urge a recommitment to historically underserved student populations. This call to service invokes a social justice philosophy when we serve historically marginalized student groups, including immigrants, students of color, and first-generation learners. Doing so will engage students and reenergize our commitment to the profession.

A Hierarchical Examination Of The Immigrant Achievement Gap: The Additional Explanatory Power Of Nationality And Educational Selectivity Over Traditional Explorations Of Race And Socioeconomic Status, Kathryn A. Simms

Theses and Dissertations in Early Childhood Education

This study compared immigrant and nonimmigrant educational achievement (i.e., the immigrant gap) in math and reading by reexamining the explanatory power of race and socio-economic status (SES)—two variables, perhaps, most commonly considered in educational research and policy formation. Four research questions were explored through growth curve modeling, factor analysis, and regression analysis based on a sample of participants in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Cohort of 1998 (ECLS-K) from kindergarten to eighth grade (N = 6,861). Findings indicated that immigrant students who had been in the United States since at least their preschool years had lower math and reading …