Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education Commons^™

Effective Task-Based Language Teaching And Multiliteracies Approaches In Second Language Learning, Laura Medina

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

This portfolio represents a selection of the author’s graduate coursework, methodological approaches, and professional experiences in teaching Spanish as a second language. It was compiled while participating in the Utah State University Master of Second Language Teaching (MSLT) program. The portfolio includes: reflections on the author’s teaching experiences and professional environment, her teaching philosophy statement, a professional development peer observation, a paper that explores the theory and practice of task-based language teaching (TBLT) in conjunction with using authentic texts in teaching writing in novice-level Spanish, and a consideration of some of the author’s future goals. The paper provides a literature …

Seniors, French, And Conversation Groups: An Investigation Into Seniors Who Pursue French As A Leisure Activity, Alan D. Russette

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The dissertation investigates the motivation to learn French as an additional language later in life and maintain and/or improve one’s proficiency in it through participation in an L2 conversation group in an Anglophone setting. The research study consisted of participation in and observation of weekly French language conversation groups over the course of a 12-month period, a multiple round qualitative interview approach involving twelve participants, and document analysis.

The research study investigates what experiences led these learners to pursue French as a minority language, and why they choose to maintain it though it is not necessary for their daily lives …

An Academic Writing Curriculum And Materials For A1-B2-Level Learners In A Turkish University’S English Language Preparatory Program, Matthew Champlin

MA TESOL Collection

This IPP combines a literature review and a materials development project. The literature review outlines and supports the approach taken throughout the curriculum and the materials that were developed. First, it lays out the nature of Turkish universities’ ELPP’s; then, it deals with the basic philosophy of the curriculum including individualization and standardization, the role of joy in education, the necessity for an integration of skills in teaching academic writing, the use of models, and the necessity and purpose of feedback. In the second half of the literature review, the key features of academic writing are discussed in advance of …

Encouraging Languages Other Than English In First-Year Writing Courses: Experiences From Linguistically Diverse Writers, Alyssa G. Cavazos

Writing and Language Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

First-Year Writing (fyw) courses are ideal writing spaces where students' diverse identities and language resources can flourish for specific rhetorical purposes. While research has focused on multilingual students' language and writing practices, little attention has focused on self-identified multilingual students' perceptions of language difference in fyw. Because fyw courses are an integral space in students' writing experiences and an ideal place to counter English-only ideologies, this article focuses on self-identified multilingual students' perceptions of how they negotiate language practices in academic contexts in higher education and how they perceive the role of languages other than English in fyw. Self-identified multilingual …

New Trends In Second Language Learning And Teaching Through The Lens Of Ict, Networked Learning, And Artificial Intelligence, Jaya Kannan, Pilar Munday

Languages Faculty Publications

In the last few decades, Information and Communications Technology (ICT) applications have been shaping the field of Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL). Mobile Assisted Language Learning (MALL) paved the way for ubiquitous learning. The advent of new technologies in the early 21st century also added a social dimension to ICT that allowed for Networked Learning (NL). Given that language learning is fundamentally a socio-cultural experience, networked learning capabilities have provided the potential for language learning in community settings. This has revitalized the earlier frameworks provided by CALL. NL has empowered language learners today to connect globally, to access Open Educational …

Responding To Linguistic Diversity, Nancy Commins

Nancy L. Commins

Second language learners arrive at every grade level with a variety of experiences and differing academic backgrounds. Responding to their learning needs means accommodating the entire range of students from monolingual English speakers to monolingual speakers of other languages, and a variety of bilingual profiles in between. This article discusses how schools adopt a "blue pathway" mindset for improving instruction for all learners. The blue pathway, which also leads to academic competence, represents best practice for second language learners--strategies and approaches that from the outset account for language proficiency and cultural diversity. Instruction on the blue pathway can be summed …

Latino Language Minority Students In Indiana: Trends, Conditions, And Challenges. Special Report, Bradley Levinson, Katie Bucher, Lauren Harvey, Rebecca Martinez, Becky Perez, Russell Skiba, Bryn Harris, Peter Cowen, Choong-Guen Chung

Bryn Harris

This Special Report surveys existing conditions for Latino [superscript 1] language minority students in Indiana's schools and identifies the most significant problems and challenges for improving their learning. The report opens with an overview of recent demographic shifts in Indiana's K-12 student population, and makes an important distinction between Indiana's long-standing and newcomer Latino populations; the latter account for the dramatic increase in the language minority population. The report then considers the culturally competent psychological assessment of ELL students. School psychologists, especially, bear the responsibility of balancing formal with informal assessments that take into account the unique cultural characteristics of …

Guided Discovery Grammar Instruction: A Review Of The Literature With Original Teaching Materials, Marcella Caprario

MA TESOL Collection

Although grammar instruction is a hotly debated facet of language teaching, a review of Second Language Acquisition, Foreign Language Instruction, and Educational Psychology literature reveals that inductive explicit grammar instruction is a viable method, which can generate positive learning outcomes. Studies have shown that learners tend to learn grammar more accurately and faster through explicit instruction. By utilizing inductive techniques, teachers can create a student-centered classroom that encourages critical thinking and problem solving, in addition to language study. With these principles in mind, I have created a series of guided discovery grammar worksheets, accompanied by the procedure and teaching notes …

Is Spanish Pragmatic Instruction Necessary In The L2 Classroom If Latin American Speakers Of Spanish Take On American English Pragmatic Norms Once Prolonged Exposure In The United States Occurs? A Study On Refusal Strategies, Jeremy W. Bachelor, Lydia Hernandez

Faculty Scholarship – Spanish

As educators of foreign and second languages debate the most efficient methods of implementing pragmatic instruction in the L2 classroom, is it possible that Spanish pragmatic instruction is not necessary if American Spanish pragmatic norms are no different than American English norms? The present investigation studies the pragmatic norms in refusal strategies of speakers of Latin American Spanish who have had little exposure to English, speakers of Latin American Spanish who have spent over two years in the United States, and native speakers of American English. The study found that the Spanish speakers who had spent over two years in …

Framework And Rationale For Developing A Single Language Exploratory Program For Students In Grades 1 – 3, Amy Bentley

MA TESOL Collection

This materials development project provides middle and high school language teachers, in a public school setting, the rationale and curriculum for implementing an introductory language program to elementary aged children in their school. This paper explores the author’s school community and the interest in providing an introductory language program for elementary aged students in the school district. The author, a second language teacher in the school, is also an advocate for introducing this type of programming, with the hopes that it will create enthusiasm and motivation for further language study in the students’ middle and high school years. The project …

Teaching English To Children With Adhd, Natalia Turketi

MA TESOL Collection

The focus of this paper is primarily put on enhancing the ESL teaching process and making foreign language learning successful and manageable for every student. The paper explores the process of teaching English to children who experience difficulties in learning languages due to their attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder problems. The author considers the process of second language acquisition for children with ADHD in terms of input and output speech issues, motivation problems and learning preferences. The ESL methodologies that can be applied effectively in addressing such learners’ needs and the rationale of their choice are then argued for. Examples …

Creating Powerful High Schools For Immigrant And English Language Learning Populations: Using Past And Present Ideas In Today's Schooling Paradigm, Reynaldo Reyes, Leena Her

Leena N. Her

The high-stakes testing climate and the growing immigrant and English language-learning population have changed the face of teaching and learning in today's high schools. In this chapter, the authors emphasize the impact of a new paradigm of schooling based on high-stakes testing on Asian and Latin American students, as they represent the largest combined immigrant and ELL student populations. They discuss the research on high schools that have worked with significant numbers of immigrant and ELL students, and what can be learned from the ideas and programs that such schools have implemented. The authors argue that high schools in today's …

A Pilot Study On A Holistic Model Incorporating A Psycholinguistic Approach Accelerating Second Language Acquisition, Julie C. Catton

Dissertations, Masters Theses, Capstones, and Culminating Projects

Students learning a second language commonly confront insurmountable obstacles in the language acquisition process, due to the ineffectiveness of traditional, grammar-first methods. This creates detrimental effects on the learner and his or her self-esteem. Existing literature contains information about problems created by traditional approaches, the effectiveness of a natural approach and key elements necessary to establish it. The purpose of this study is to examine the failings of traditional methods and to review some important natural ways that remedy these failings, yet have their own shortcomings. This study reports efforts to improve natural approaches through on-going research at La Catalina …

Mainstream First-Grade Teachers' Understanding Of Strategies For Accommodating The Needs Of English Language Learners, Clare Hite, Linda Evans

Linda S. Evans

In this time of high stakes testing, teachers' working with English Language Learners (ELLs) becomes a high-stakes teaching act. Nationally, mandated testing is increasing in the schools even as school demographics are changing. The growing numbers of language-minority students come with varying levels of English proficiency, from little or none to fluent bilingualism. Teachers find it difficult to bring all their native-English-speaking children along to an acceptable level of performance in literacy and content-area subjects; ELLs present an even greater challenge, particularly for the elementary mainstream classroom teachers who are the primary language teachers for most young ELLs, yet typically …

Integrating Writing Within The Foreign Language Classroom: Shifting Dynamics, Not The Task, Patricia Ann Evans

MA TESOL Collection

This classroom based research project considers the following questions: Why should my foreign language students write? From Pedagogy to Purpose; what happens when students use technology with their writing; what transitions take place with regard to the role as teacher when integrating writing into the Spanish language classroom? This project follows the shift from writing , disconnected activities to writing. How a student-centered writing process and technology support the shift away from the perception that good writing is voiceless and mechanical. It traces the shift from learning to write to writing to learn. The project studies the shift that occurs …

Language And Cultural Learning Through Student Generated Photography, David M. Cosgrove

MA TESOL Collection

This paper examines and discusses the unique teaching context and the inherent problems faced by foreign English teachers in the Japanese University System. It contains a personal account of the process the author went through to develop a new and interesting curriculum to overcome these problems. This curriculum is based on student-generated photographs of their lives and is an effective method of both language learning and culture learning. Included in the paper is a step-by-step course description of twenty-four lesson plans based on the photographs.

The Moorish Influence On Spanish Language, Civilization, And Culture, Tommy Genoris Erwin

MA TESOL Collection

This project examines the vast contributions made by Moors to the Spanish language, civilization and culture. The project will also try to clarify as to whom the Moors were, where they came from, and the specific contributions that they made during lengthy rule of Spain. This project is divided into five major sections. The introduction explains why this topic was chosen and the audience for whom the information is intended. The second section explores the background, achievements and contributions that were made by the Moors during their 800 (eight hundred) year domination of Spain. The third section addresses more specifically, …

Spanish For School Nurses: A Specialized Program For Use In Teaching Basic Spanish To Nurses Who Work In A Multicultural Environment, William Earl Wood Jr.

MA TESOL Collection

During the past twenty years, there has been a great influx of Spanish speaking people into the United States, especially the state of North Carolina. This increase of Spanish speakers has had an impact on all areas of society: employment, housing, health care, transportation, and education. This project focuses on language training for a specialized group who has a daily need to communicate in this new environment: school nurses. It examines materials that are currently available to teach nurses the Spanish language. It discusses the language requirements that nurses use to function in a multicultural environment. It looks at some …

Elements Of A Successful Transitional Bilingual Program, Phillip J. Vasquez

All Graduate Projects

The issues related to bilingualism, and more specifically, to bilingual education have become part of the national rhetoric in the news media recently. Of primary concern is the question of whether bilingual education helps or hinders second language acquisition. This project focuses on the issue of bilingual education as an additive in second language acquisition in order to identify the most effective components of the bilingual education programs. The results of this project are compiled into a teachers handbook for meeting the challenge of effectively teaching the language minority student.

Inservice Lessons On Effective Sheltering Techniques For Mainstream Teachers, Lani H. Lynch

All Graduate Projects

The purpose of this project was·to draw together evidence of successful English as a Second Language programs and sheltered classrooms. With those examples, I composed a series of teacher inservice lessons. The lessons were designed to show teachers why sheltering techniques are essential in every classroom, what those strategies are, and how to incorporate them into their own classrooms.

Bilingual Language Arts Posters For The Classroom: A Reflection Of The Students' Culture And Needs, Mary Beth Doerr, Andrea Muñoz

All Graduate Projects

This project was designed to meet the needs of classrooms that are currently bilingual in some capacity and finding that current monolingual visual aids are not reaching all students. Bilingual visual aids in the form of posters will be created in order to meet those needs for the Spanish speaking population prevalent in the local schools. This paper describes the process of research and design for those visual aids.