Early Childhood Education Commons^™

Classroom Strategies To Increase Kindergarten Readiness Of Preschool Ell Students, Cirissa Afonja

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

Abstract

There are more preschool children in the United States who are English Language Learners than any other age group. This research examines the effects of providing modeling, visuals, and music strategies to English Language Learners in a preschool classroom to increase their literacy, language, and communication skills. The study’s goal was to determine if the specific classroom strategies would improve the participants English language, literacy and communication skills to be kindergarten ready with their same age English speaking peers. The study used language surveys and an assessment to determine which students were English Language Learners, and if they needed …

The Effects Of Code-Mixing On Second Language Development, Aimee K. Spice

Channels: Where Disciplines Meet

Second language development is an important topic of discussion in an increasingly multilingual world. This study aims to examine and detail research on the effects of code-mixing (CM) on second language development, answering how CM facilitates or constrains second language acquisition. Peer-reviewed articles on the topic published between 2013 and 2018 were examined and synthesized. Language learners/multilinguals answered questionnaires about their views on CM and second language acquisition, and a language teacher was interviewed regarding use of L1 in the language classroom and CM as a pedagogical tool. This study found that CM can be a beneficial tool for language …

Portuguese And German Repertoires Perceived By Portuguese Speaking Children In Germany: A Tale Of Two Continua, Sílvia Melo-Pfeifer, Alexandra Fidalgo Schmidt

Journal of Multilingual Education Research

After a theoretical overview of the concept of heritage language (HL) from a plurilingual perspective, we will describe the project “Images on the (teaching of) Portuguese Language abroad”. For this project, several drawings were collected, produced by lusodescendant children living in Germany and attending supplementary Portuguese lessons. We will analyze four tendencies of students’ representations towards Portuguese and German, as well as towards the skills they have developed in those languages. These representations illustrate four profiles of Portuguese Heritage Language (PHL) learners present in the classroom (in terms of motivations, skills, linguistic repertoires, etc.). As conclusions, we will point at: …

Critical Pedagogy In Practice: Reflections Of A K-5 Educator, Kelly Gresalfi

Graduate Student Independent Studies

The author illuminates major theoretical concepts integral to critical pedagogy as they apply to grades k-5 through a selective review of the literature and reflection on how these principles intersect with her personal and teaching experiences. A candid analysis of the author's ongoing journey to put these ideas into practice, including ways in which she has felt successful and areas she continues to find challenging, is offered. Suggestions for ways in which elementary school educators can approach their teaching practices and classroom structures through the lens of critical pedagogy are included. Reactions to the thesis from several of the …

Building Strong Family–School Partnerships: Transitioning From Basic Findings To Possible Practices, Susan M. Sheridan, Lorey Wheeler

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

In the present article, we describe the translational process undergirding a particular aspect of family science: families working in partnership with schools to achieve mutual goals for children’s optimal functioning. In doing so, we illustrate a translational cycle that began with identifying problems of practice and led to the development of a family–school intervention (i.e., conjoint behavioral consultation) in a way that embraced families as partners in goal-setting and problem-solving. We discuss the evolution of the intervention from development to efficacy trials and practice guidelines. Key decision points borne out of practical relevance, empirical investigations, tests of mechanisms and conditions, …

Illegal; Dreamer; Home For Refugees, Ana Herrera

Journal of Multicultural Affairs

A collection of three poems focusing on the critical social issue of immigration in order to educate young children. Each poem consists of a different issue in the wide range of topics of immigration. The topics include: deportation of illegal immigrants, the DREAM Act, and homing refugees in the United States from countries of war.

Los Organizadores Previos, Una Estrategia De Comprensión Lectora Para Asimilar La Nueva Información De Textos Informativos En El Área De Lengua Castellana. Un Estudio En Básica Primaria En La Institución Educativa Manuela Beltrán De Yopal – Casanare, Sulma Patricia Cárdenas Moyano, Matha Cecilia Ríos Sánchez, Harry Rentería Rodríguez

Maestría en Docencia (Yopal)

La investigación fue de corte cualitativo y tuvo como objetivo general determinar la utilidad de los organizadores previos como estrategia de comprensión lectora para asimilar la nueva información de textos informativos en el área de lengua castellana. Para tal fin, el grupo investigador optó por el nivel de conocimiento descriptivo interpretativo. Se utiliza dos técnicas de recolección de la información: la encuesta para lo cual se diseñó un cuestionario de 27 preguntas y la entrevista semiestructurada, en la cual se utilizó el guion de entrevista aplicado a tres docentes y las notas de campo procedimentales aplicado a 25 estudiantes de …

Leisure Reading Behaviour Of Young Children In Singapore, Shaheen Majid

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

Leisure reading is important for personality development and mental growth of children. Reading habits developed during early childhood are likely to continue rest of the life. The main purpose of this study was to investigate leisure reading habits and preferences of young children in Singapore. A questionnaire was used for data collection and 254 children, aged between 6 to 12 years, participated in this study. It was found that reading was among the top five leisure-time activities of the surveyed children. Mostly mothers, followed by fathers, encouraged children to read books. The major reasons for leisure reading were to learn …

Building Bridges Between Home And School For Latinx Families Of Preschool Children, Gigliana Melzi, Adina Schick, Lauren Scarola

Occasional Paper Series

All children, regardless of their backgrounds, enter the classroom environment with a set of cultural and communal resources known as funds of knowledge (González, Moll, & Amanti, 2005; Moll, Amanti, Neff, & Gonzalez, 1992). Educators can support children’s learning and achievement by incorporating these funds of knowledge – which include, for example, cultural and familial values and traditions, family activities, and home language – into classroom learning experiences. All too often, however, educators fail to take advantage of these resources, and instead draw on mainstream values, traditions, and practices that have historically been embedded into classroom culture and protocol. Even …

Rethinking “Parent Involvement”: Perspectives Of Immigrant And Refugee Parents, Zeynep Isik-Ercan

Occasional Paper Series

I arrived in the U.S. 15 years ago as a master’s student in early childhood education after teaching in elementary schools in Turkey. Becoming a permanent resident in my new country and parenting my two Turkish-American boys fueled my scholarly interest in the experiences of immigrant communities with their children’s early school years, specifically the ways they negotiate cultural and linguistic identities in educational settings. Among many encounters with my children’s teachers, one is particularly memorable.

Shortly after Enis, my older son, began attending the campus preschool at age two, his teacher asked me to speak only English at home …

Building Safe Community Spaces For Immigrant Families, One Library At A Time, Max Vazquez Dominguez, Denise Davila, Silvia Nogueron-Liu

Occasional Paper Series

In today’s political climate, supporting the needs of young children from Latinx immigrant families has become increasingly difficult at the community, institutional, state, and federal levels. This essay is about a group of Latinx families who participated in an innovative early literacy program at a county public library branch in the migration setting of the U.S. Southeast known as the New Latino Diaspora (Hamann, Wortham, Murillo, 2015). We describe the program and its role in building a safe and welcoming environment for Latinx students and their families. We include the voices of the librarian and parents who had never before …

No Room For Silence: The Impact Of The 2016 Presidential Race On A Second-Grade Dual-Language (Spanish-English) Classroom, Sandra L. Osorio

Occasional Paper Series

“¡Quiere sacar a todos los suramericanos! Quiere quedarse con solo los blancos,¹ shouted second grader Salvador² to his classmate Victor. They were supposed to be reading Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin, but somehow the conversation had turned to the then presidential candidate for the Republican Party, Donald Trump. That was how Trump and his rhetoric entered our dual language classroom.

Far too often, the voices of students of color, their experiences, and their lives are not validated in the classroom. When Salvador and Victor’s conversation about Trump erupted, the teacher and I—the teacher …

Intersectionality And Possibility In The Lives Of Latina/O/X Children Of Immigrants: Imagining Pedagogies Beyond The Politics Of Hate, Ramon Antonio Martinez

Occasional Paper Series

I first met Alma¹ when she was five years old and a kindergarten student in a multi-age Spanish-English dual language classroom in southern California. Alma is the child of immigrants from the Mexican state of Oaxaca. Somewhat shy and soft spoken, she nonetheless had many friends and seemed eager to engage with her peers in class. In interviews with me over the first few years of a longitudinal study that I was conducting at her school, she spent a great deal of time sharing the details of her rich literate life. Among other things, Alma loved poetry. In addition …

La Sección De Preescolar Del Colegio Espíritu Santo En Villavicencio Un Lugar Para Desarrollar La Conciencia Global De Una Manera Divertida., Ximena Gafaro Mrs, Diana Carolina Zapata Miss, Adriana Marcela Pardo Mrs

ICOT 18 - International Conference on Thinking - Cultivating Mindsets for Global Citizens

LA PINEJA Reggiana es la sección de preescolar del Colegio Espíritu Santo; una institución en Villavicencio Meta, Colombia con 38 años de fundada que atiende una población de 800 estudiantes desde preescolar a grado 11. Está ubicada en una granja en un entorno natural exuberante de 72.000 yardas cuadradas, a 15 minutos de la ciudad. Desde 2011, ha desarrollado un proyecto pedagógico inspirado en la Propuesta Pedagógica de Reggio Emilia , utilizando el Pensamiento Visible para promover las habilidades de pensamiento crítico y creativo. Este Jardín Infantil está ofreciendo un entorno natural para la indagación que promueve proyectos que desarrollan …

The Heart Of K'E: Transforming Dine Special Education And Unsettling The Colonial Logics Of Disability, Sandra Yellowhorse

American Studies ETDs

This paper takes up the roles of ideology and spatiality as they impact Diné students and learners in understanding conceptions of normativity, neuro-diversity and bodily variance. I am concerned with how the movement and creation of Indigenous schools and their praxis still maintain and often times produce settler colonial ideologies of being, personhood, difference and ability. I illustrate the challenges that Diné planners and educators face in entrenching cultural knowledge and language into their educational initiatives, while some of the problematic manifestations and expressions of normativity present themselves through state polices, federal law and mainstream curriculum.

I focus on the …

El Poder De Los Padres: Volunteering In A Multicultural Parent-Child Group That Supports Language Development And Literacy Skills, Olivia Musser, Connor P. Stark-Haws, Theresa Estrem

Huskies Showcase

Award for "Best Our Husky Compact Reflection" Engage as a Member of a Diverse and Multicultural World."

Abstract

The Greater St. Cloud Area Multicultural Parent-Child Group (El Poder de los Padres) provides intensive intervention to parents and children in the greater St. Cloud area through weekly 2-hour sessions during the academic year. Sessions include songs, activities, and crafts that facilitate the development of language and literacy skills in preschool-aged children. In addition, there is a parent education component, in which parents discuss a relevant language and/or literacy topic each week. St. Cloud State University graduate students from the Communication Sciences …

Linguistic Interactions Of Spanish Speaking Mexican American Families, Adelfio J. Garcia

Dissertations

This study explored the bilingual linguistic interactions in Mexican families and their impact on children’s language and literacy development. This qualitative study gathered data using different methods, namely, interviews, direct observations, participant observation, and physical artifacts to examine parents’ perceptions of their own educational path in comparison to their children’s educational path in an American school system, together with their daily linguistic interactions in various social contexts, and the features, themes and roles of linguistic interactions participants. Study results assisted in gaining deeper understanding of daily conversations happening in different social contexts and their impact on the language and literacy …

Immigrants And Educational Institutions: Family And Student Perspectives Toward School And Education, Paul Naso, Kimberly Joyce-Bernard, Marcelo Juica, Frank Rothwell

Lesley University Community of Scholars Day

The purpose of this session is to bring together insights from three research studies (one completed and two ongoing) concerned with documenting the experiences of immigrant populations as they interact with U.S. educational institutions. The session is an opportunity to consider the common and distinct aspects of three qualitative research studies: an inquiry into native Spanish-speaking parents’ experiences regarding their children education; a narrative analysis of Francophone African-born adult family members’ accounts of their children’s language and literacy development at home and in early childhood programs; and a study to identify the obstacles and challenges of undocumented students enrolled in …

Privileged Leadership: Teaching English Learners With Fixed Mindsets, Alexandra Lituchy

Lesley University Community of Scholars Day

Research was conducted over a hundred hours at a nearby public school to observe the growth or fixed mindset language of English learners as compared to native English speakers in the second grade. Observations were also made of the English learner’s teacher’s mindset language. Existing research proves that any student with a fixed mindset have poorer academic performances. Yet, very little research has been done on if the same is true for English learners specifically. Based on the research conducted, English learners are more likely to use fixed mindset language than native English speakers. English learners also demonstrate a fixed …

Identifying And Addressing The Educational Needs Of Primary Elementary Latino Males, Sandra Vilas

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this qualitative study is to understand and describe the strategies and practices that exemplary teachers use to address the educational needs of Latino male students from kindergarten through third grade.

Methodology: The researcher selected a qualitative research design to describe and understand the instructional strategies and practices used by district Teachers of the Year from 2011 - 2016 in three counties in Southern California. Through in-depth semi-structured open-ended interviews, the researcher provided a detailed examination of the instructional practices and strategies exemplary primary teachers use to address the educational needs of primary Latino males. The district …

Mexican-Origin Parents’ Stress And Satisfaction: The Role Of Emotional Support, Tierney K. Popp, Melissa Y. Delgado, Lorey Wheeler

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

Guided by a process model of parenting and the integrative model, this study examined sources of emotional support (i.e., partner, maternal, paternal) as related to stress and satisfaction resulting from the parenting role in a sample of Mexican-origin young adult parents who participated in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) during Wave IV. Participants were male and female parents (26–35 years of age; 59% female; N = 737) who had children and a partner. Results from structural equation modeling revealed support from mothers as salient; high levels of maternal support were associated with high levels …

Implications Of Parents’ Work Travel On Youth Adjustment, Lorey Wheeler, Anisa M. Zvonkovic, Andrea R. Swenson, Caitlin Faas, Shelby Borowski, Ruth Nutting

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

Guided by ecological, work–family spillover and crossover frameworks, this study examined mechanisms linking parental work travel (i.e. nights per year) to youth adjustment (i.e. externalizing and internalizing behaviors) through youth’s perceptions of parenting (i.e. knowledge, solicitation) with traveler and youth gender as moderators in a sample of 78 children in 44 two-parent families residing in the United States. The findings from multilevel analyses suggested that mothers’ travel nights predicted lower levels of maternal knowledge, with variation by traveler and youth gender. Mothers’ and fathers’ work travel and perceived parenting were predictors of youth’s externalizing behaviors, whereas only fathers’ work travel …

Video-Based Approach To Engaging Parents Into A Preventive Parenting Intervention For Divorcing Families: Results Of A Randomized Controlled Trial, Emily B. Winslow, Sanford Braver, Robert Cialdini, Irwin Sandler, Jennifer Betkowski, Jenn-Yun Tein, Lisa Hita, Mona Bapat, Lorey Wheeler, Monique Lopez

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

The public health impact of evidence-based, preventive parenting interventions has been severely constrained by low rates of participation when interventions are delivered under natural conditions. It is critical that prevention scientists develop effective and feasible parent engagement methods. This study tested video-based methods for engaging parents into an evidence-based program for divorcing parents. Three alternative versions of a video were created to test the incremental effectiveness of different theory-based engagement strategies based on social influence and health behavior models. A randomized controlled trial was conducted to compare the three experimental videos versus two control conditions, an information-only brochure and an …

Exploratory Application Of A Sensory Activity Schedule In Head Start Preschool, Marian Perez, Elaine Wong, Michelle Perryman

Student Research Posters

Objective: The objective of this research is to determine whether the implementation of sensory activity schedule in a preschool classroom can increase the on-task behaviors of the students.

Methods: Three students were recruited to participate in a quantitative multiple single subject design with qualitative follow-up study. The participants performed sensorimotor activities before circle time and were monitored for frequency of their off-task behavior using a time sampling frequency data collection. Afterwards, the head teacher was interviewed to discuss the experience.

Results: Off-task behavior decreased from baseline on all three children, which supports the efficacy of sensory activity schedule in reducing …

Ideas In Dialogue: Leveraging The Power Of Child-Led Storytelling In The Multicultural Preschool Classroom, Erin E. Flynn

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

An investigation into the interactive features of small group, child-led storytelling in preschool classrooms serving lower socioeconomic status (SES), multilingual children shows both the affordances and constraints of positioning children to author their own experiences in the classroom. In story circles, children told stories which included canonical instantiations of story and culturally-shaped features. Through their stories, the children advanced ideas, built connections, and evaluated ways of telling stories as they continued ideas like threads from story to story. Child-led storytelling did not disrupt the dynamics of power through which some ways of using language are privileged while others are marginalized. …

Healing Self And Community: Living Pluralism In The Anishinaabe Paradigm, Andrea A. Fitzpatrick

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Abstract: Healing Self and Community: Living Pluralism in The Anishinaabe

This thesis is a study of pluralism through Anishinaabe writers Winona LaDuke, Basil Johnston, Lynn Anderson, and others, focusing on their perceptions and pedagogies and how those perceptions inform pluralistic living. Anishinaabe methodology tends to be innately interconnected, and pluralistic. As such, it can enlighten, heal self-identity structures, and perceptions of the biosphere. I will contextualize how it is necessary to investigate the stories we learn and those we tell, how it is vital to understand where they come from. Included is analysis of how pluralism shows up in mine …

Context-Focused Grammar Teaching: A Comparison Between English Present Perfect And Past Tenses And Affects On Korean English Learning, Seungheui (Ellie) Lee

Despite massive amounts of time Korean English Learners (KLL) study English grammar, they continue to have problems becoming proficient in verb tenses, especially the present perfect. This study examines this problem through a linguistic comparative analysis of Korean and English present perfect and past tenses. Two possible reasons for KLL difficulty with verb tenses could be mode of instruction and L1 interference.

Not “One China,” Not “One Culture”: Multicultural Exploration Of Differences And Similarities Between Mainland China And Taiwan, Philip J. Ward, Michelle Loo

This study focuses on the outwardly similar cultures of Taiwan and mainland China and the subtle differences within them. The study was conducted as part of the requirements of doctoral program in Instructional Design and Development at a public university in the southeastern United States. Using a qualitative case study approach, the study demonstrates that there are cultural similarities between mainland China and Taiwan, however instructors should also be aware of the differences when developing relationships with students and developing course content. A mini-workshop was developed for the study to help teach instructors about the two cultures. However, the mini-workshop …

Connecting North And South: Engaging Latin American English Learners, Kenyan Intercultural Communications And American Undergraduate Students Through Reciprocal Service Learning, Laureen Fregeau, Ukaiko A. Bitrus-Ojiambo, Suhana Chikatla, William Cornejo

Reciprocal Service Learning through videoconferencing is an efficient tool for connecting native English speakers of various world Englishes and ELs in other nations for the benefit of all. The authors of this study recognize the reciprocal nature of teaching and learning and the social justice of equalizing power structures through the inclusion of participants and researchers from both North and South as members of a project and research team. Through participant observation and document review the authors examine the experiences of educators and learners in the phenomenon of reciprocal service learning through videoconferencing focused on cultural competence and English language …

Employing Word Study With Spanish-Speaking Els, Timothy Rodriquez

Phonics Instruction has had a controversial history. How to teach phonics to Spanish-speaking ELs is also controversial. Understanding the differences between Spanish and English and how phonics instruction occurs in each language would be insightful. Also, knowing how the nature of the two languages affects instruction would be beneficial. Furthermore, exploiting similarities between English and Spanish and examining differences will bolster instruction. This paper will discuss the reasons for word study and how it may be utilized to teach spelling and decoding to Spanish-speaking ELLs.