Early Childhood Education Commons^™

Our Stories, Our Voices: The Lived Experiences Of Black Families With Young Children During Covid-19, Devalin Jackson

Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to explore the lived experiences of Black families raising young children during shelter in place orders and distance learning due to Covid-19. The study was conducted virtually through Zoom and Google form due to county shelter in place orders. Participants were recruited from the school in which the researcher worked. Through the use of virtual interviews, the five participants highlighted themes of reconnections, isolations, empowerment, family values and conversations. The families shared experiences of resilience and hope and brought thoughts of how these experiences could be highlighted in instructional and curriculum designs; especially during …

Immigration Picture Books By #Ownvoices Authors, Sanjuana C. Rodriguez, Karina Gonzalez, Carolina Rojas

Georgia Journal of Literacy

Reviews of Latinx immigration picture books

Seeking Calm Among The Chaos: A Letter From The Editor, Shannon Tovey

Georgia Journal of Literacy

A letter from the Editor of the Georgia Journal of Literacy

Ambiguous Loss, Boundary Ambiguity, And English Learning: How Immigrants' Functionality Is Impacted By Language Proficiency, Shakir Ali

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Capstones

Due to conflicts in different parts of the world or the prospect of a better life, there are tremendous numbers of immigrants around the world. This study investigates the effect of language learning by immigrants on the level of boundary ambiguity they experience as a result of being separated from extended family. Through the lens of acculturation theory (Schumann, 1976), the study examines if learning a new language helps the immigrant to function within the culture of the host country. In addition, the study relies on the Contextual Model of Family Stress to ascertain if individual, family, or community resources …

Family Engagement During Covid-19, Mark Nagasawa

Straus Institute for Thriving Children & Families

This is an infographic summarizing findings from a survey conducted in May 2020 (n=3355) about how the COVID-19 was affecting early childhood educators in New York. Unsurprisingly, the survey responses reflected respondents' multimodal creativity and professional commitment to connecting with children's families. Responses also suggested some underlying tensions, such as school-centric notions of family engagement (i.e., more academically focused) vs. family-centric perspectives (i.e., offering emotional and material support to families). Ultimately the survey's contribution lies in shedding some light on important, difficult-to-resolve issues that must be debated as the world moves towards "post" pandemic life (e.g., services, supports, and accessibility …

Supporting Public School Students' Education And Adaptation To U.S. Schools While Celebrating Bilingualism, Allison Crosbie

Purdue Journal of Service-Learning and International Engagement

In this paper, the author discusses her experience with the service-learning program Ayuda y Aprende while taking Spanish 301 at Purdue University. Ayuda y Aprende is a service-learning program through the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, in which advanced Spanish students work with Lafayette and West Lafayette elementary school children of Spanish-speaking families to help them adjust to the English language and American school culture, as well as improve their Spanish. During the weekly visits, university students work with children individually and in groups to assist them with school tasks such as classwork and homework. There was also time for …

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 …

Social And Emotional Development To Foster Academic Growth In English Language Learning Preschoolers, Donna Mangone

Graduate Teacher Education

The fastest growing population of students entering preschool classrooms are English language learners (Winsler et al., 2014). Not only is the population of English language learners growing (Winsler et al., 2014), but there is a steady increase in the academic achievement gap. Further, the growth of ELL students corresponds with the gap. Related to both is social and emotional development. Social and emotional skills provide the apparatus for all learning. The early childhood educator is well-versed in teaching these skills. Therefore, an early childhood educator teaching social and emotional development to English language learners provides opportunities to remedy the academic …

Phil The Phytoplankton, Kylie Kihm, Lexi Frankiewich

World Languages and Cultures

This project, a bilingual children's book, “Phil the Phytoplankton” and “Felipe el fitoplancton” educates young readers on the importance of phytoplankton in our world. The book emphasizes the fact that such small organisms, invisible to the naked eye unless gathered in immense quantities, are responsible for providing the earth with approximately 50% of the oxygen essential for human life. As defined by Cal Poly, sustainability is “the ability of the natural and social systems to survive and thrive together to meet current and future needs.” This book encourages a symbiotic relationship as a young girl, initially afraid of the unknown, …

Kinesthetic Language: A Dialect Of Kinesics, Terrill Suzanne Corletto

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Human communication requires the disciplines regarding physical fitness, codified language, and the performing arts to overlap, and exist symbiotically. Within the realm of artistic performance, the three disciplines working together deliver a deliberate message in a way unique to performing artists. The general tendency to compartmentalize sports, communication, and the performing arts into their pigeonhole categories of Kinesiology, Linguistics, and Theatre Arts is impractical, particularly for performing artists simply because all of the disciplines are mutually dependent in the context of all kinesthetic communications.

The purpose of this paper is to define and discuss several concepts and the ways in …

Enhancing Accessibility, Diversity, And Literacy Of Heritage Language Maintenance In Our Community: A Proposal For Public Libraries With A Focus On The Korean Community, Sooyoung Yang

Master's Projects and Capstones

In contrast to the U.S. emphasis on producing English monolinguals, the needs of world language fluency and education have become more evident than ever as society becomes more globalized and potential bilinguals and even multilinguals are transformed to important human resources. However, even now, linguistically diverse communities often experience significant heritage language loss after immigrating to the U.S. due to the still long-held undervaluation of heritage languages and the push for rapid assimilation to the new society. Research has revealed the many benefits and advantages of heritage language development and maintenance, but unfortunately, the formal education system in the U.S. …

Letter From The Editor

Georgia Journal of Literacy

A Letter from the Editor

About The Authors

Georgia Journal of Literacy

Read this to learn more about this issue's authors.

A Library Without Books: The Importance Of Language Representation In Public Libraries, Caelyn Armshaw

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

The focus of this project is to assess the degree of access to Spanish-language books in the Omaha Public Library system. After constructing a map of all Omaha Public Libraries using Global Information System (GIS) and analyzing the population around those areas, I cross-referenced individual library catalogs to compare raw numbers of English-language books to non-English and specifically Spanish-language books. The ultimate finding of this project is that even though approximately 10% of Omaha citizens included in the census speak Spanish as their primary language, Spanish-language books make up only 2% of the total books across all Omaha Public Libraries. …

Intercultural Competence Among Early Childhood Educators, Sara Fanous

Human Development and Family Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

The purpose of this study was to assess and develop intercultural competence among birth through kindergarten teachers. Intercultural competence is an integral part of creating a welcoming environment for all students in a classroom. It is not only the acknowledgement of individual differences, but the acceptance and celebration of what makes each person an individual and member of a cultural group. This project assessed the intercultural competence of 24 birth through kindergarten teachers and staff at a child development center in the mid-south. Participants completed the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) as pre- and post-assessments. In between assessments, our team conducted …

Early Language And Literacy Skills Of Spanish-Speaking Dual Language Learners, Alejandro Rodriguez, Marc Goodrich, Maggie Harms, Lisa Fitton

UCARE: Research Products

The purpose of this study is to examine the early language measures that are the best predictors of English reading achievement and to determine whether assessing DLLs’ Spanish language skills contributes to the prediction of English reading achievement. Preschool and kindergarten often represent DLLs’ first significant exposure to English, and development of English language proficiency is strongly linked to English reading achievement (Storch & Whitehurst, 2002). Because DLLs may not be exposed to English consistently prior to preschool or kindergarten, they often enter kindergarten with lower levels of English proficiency than their monolingual peers. This makes it difficult to identify …

Fathers’ Perceived Co-Parenting And Children’S Academic Readiness Among Chinese Preschoolers: Longitudinal Pathways Through Parenting And Behavioral Regulation, Lixin Ren, Rebecca Y.M. Cheung, Courtney Boise, Xuan Li, Jieqiong Fan

Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families, and Schools: Faculty Publications

Co-parenting quality has frequently been linked to young children’s social–emotional functioning, but limited research has focused on the relationship between co-parenting and children’s early academic skills, or the underlying mechanisms through which co-parenting influences children’s development. Using data collected from urban China, the present study examined how fathers’ perceptions of co-parenting quality was related to their preschool-aged children’s academic readiness (i.e., receptive vocabulary, reading, early math; N = 336), and whether father’s parenting practices and children’s behavioral regulation mediated the link between co-parenting quality and child outcomes. Findings suggested that the relation between co-parenting quality and children’s academic readiness was …

Supporting English Learners Through Practice-Based Research, Catherine Lammert, Erica B. Steinitz Holyoke

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

Learning to use critical practice-based research as part of teaching is an important goal for preservice teachers, especially for those who plan to teach English learners in linguistically diverse settings. In this study, we examine the experiences of preservice teachers who were introduced to a framework for enacting iterative, transformative action research, and used the framework to study their own teaching in a one-on-one writing partnership with young English learners. Using an established self-efficacy survey instrument, as well as qualitative measures such as course artifacts and observations of teaching, we conducted a mixed-methods study to examine the impact of research …

Identity Development Within Adolescents And How Educators And Parents Can Positively Affect This Development, Charlotte Heim, Ryan Brudelie, Paige Block

Empowering Research for Educators

No abstract provided.

The Use Of Constructivism In Agricultural And Physical Education, Brittani Oyster, Jesse Bobbit

Empowering Research for Educators

No abstract provided.

Motivating Students Positively Through Restorative Justice Discipline, Peyton Dejong, Emily Trupe, Eric Zwingel

Empowering Research for Educators

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of discipline formats on student development and analyze if the practice of restorative justice can decrease the school to prison pipeline. Does criminalizing every discrepancy against the law create better law-abiding citizens? Is the zero-tolerance policy change an effective mechanism for school discipline? Do restorative justice practices reduce the school to prison pipeline? To investigate this, the infraction rates at various high schools have been observed in regard to their discipline practices to analyze the number of incidences that students incur and how they were managed.

Lessons From The Field: A Collection Of Findings From Teacher Candidate Field Experiences, Tony Durr

Empowering Research for Educators

No abstract provided.

Culture Moderates The Relationship Between Family Obligation Values And The Outcomes Of Korean And European American College Students, Haein Oh, Toni Falbo, Kejin Lee

Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families, and Schools: Faculty Publications

Family obligation values have been described as an important element of collectivistic cultures that are related to the development of positive emotional well-being and motivation in high school and college students. The present study tested the hypothesis that culture moderates the relationship between family obligation values and the outcomes of Korean (n = 249) and European American (n = 251) college students. The results provided support for this hypothesis. Specifically, for Koreans, family obligation values were significantly and positively correlated with descriptions of parents as being more supportive of the self-determination of their children, which was found to …

Heritage Language Maintenance: Research Review And Reflection Of One Family Case, Josiah Chan

ECTESOL Review

Heritage Language maintenance provides learner tangible benefits in academic achievement, language acquisition, and career opportunity. Intangibly, it enhances the learner’s self-esteem and cultural identity. The case here reflects the Mandarin Chinese learning experience of three children who were born in the United States of a migrant family from Hong Kong where the Cantonese Chinese dialect language is more predominant. The learning effort was complicated by the parents’ native Cantonese Chinese dialect. The parents and children strived to balance the learning dynamics between Mandarin and Cantonese. The results of the study indicate that successful heritage language maintenance can be achieved with …

Syntactic Accidents In The Spontaneous Speech Of English And Armenian Speakers, Karen Velyan

ECTESOL Review

Fragmented syntax or a break of the flow of surface syntax is well known to be an indispensable part of spontaneous spoken language. Interruptions in the flow of speech may be triggered by pragmatic reasons, changes in syntactic planning and performance errors, which results in syntactic fragments. Syntactic accidents may take different forms in the actual flow of speech. This study presents a cross-linguistic comparative analysis of the cases of syntax in the speech of low socioeconomic status speakers of English and Armenian. Based on data from informal interviews with native speakers, the analysis presents a variety of syntactic accidents, …

The Reflective Approach To Teaching Culture Within The Efl Classroom, Lucia Schiopu

ECTESOL Review

This article examines the reflective approach in the teaching of culture in the EFL classroom, which is not just a mere gathering of information, but is the creation and construction of discourses that break or maintain cultural stereotypes. This is also an approach where meaning is constructed that is shaped by the quality and depth of cultural sensitivity and awareness. Teaching and learning a culture reflectively does not necessarily mean that the learner is taught to behave in accordance with specific social norms but to introduce an acceptable and appropriate conduct for the use of language in terms of intelligibility, …

From The Editor, Laureen Fregeau

ECTESOL Review

No abstract provided.

Prism Intro Student's Book With Online Workbook Listening And Speaking, And Reading And Writing, Robert Leier, Laureen Fregeau

ECTESOL Review

Prism Intro books use American English along with international and American topics to teach reading, writing, listening and speaking in English. Videos and American college life sections keep student interest.

Student-Directed Esol Family Literacy Program Design, Laureen Fregeau, Robert D. Leier

ECTESOL Review

ESOL Family Literacy programs for Hispanic immigrants have proliferated over past decades to serve the increasing population of ELs needing services. Several factors can disrupt or prevent participation in ESOL Family Literacy programs designed to enhance the academic success of Latin American adult and child immigrants. This qualitative case study set in the Deep South examined a student-directed design process to gain understanding of what would constitute an ideal program for the participating ELs, their families and their community. Emergent categories identified areas of design importance including site locations, time and frequency of class scheduling, curricular design, instructional materials, instructor …

The Benefits Of Implementing Cognitively-Demanding And Context-Embedded Language Translation In The El Classroom, Timothy Rodriquez

ECTESOL Review

The role of the first language in English Learner (EL) programs has been a historically controversial one. In addition, how the first language should be used is not without controversy. This article examines the role of translation in the EL classroom and how teachers should employ it. One approach, concurrent translation, may be considered to be cognitively-undemanding and context-reduced. The author argues that purposeful translation should be cognitively-demanding and context-embedded.