Educational Methods Commons^™

Implementing A Culturally And Linguistically Responsive Phonics Curriculum That Incorporates Music To Meet The Needs Of English Language Learners In The Response To Intervention Process, Danielle Miller

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of the Sing, Spell, Read, Write (SSRW) phonics curriculum that uses explicit and systematic methods and incorporates music to teach literacy skills implemented as a tier-two reading intervention in the Response to Intervention process to meet the cultural and linguistic needs of English Language Learners. A sequential explanatory mixed methods design will be used to explore the research questions. Using a quantitative quasi-experimental comparison method, the researcher gathered archived data relating to ELLs reading achievement using the reading portion of the Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests and the STAR Reading assessment. The …

A Logistic Regression Analysis Of Student Experience Factors For The Enhancement Of Developmental Post-Secondary Retention Initiatives, Michael Shenkle

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

In response to stagnant undergraduate completion rates and growing demands for post-secondary accountability, institutions are actively pursuing effective, broadly applicable methods for promoting student success. One notable scarcity in existing research is found in the tailoring of broad academic interventions to better meet the specific needs of students from known risk populations. The purpose of this correlational study was to investigate possible predictive relationships among three specific pre-matriculation characteristics (gender, ethnicity and secondary school type) and subsequent academic year retention for residential undergraduate students that completed a developmental education course at a private, liberal arts university. A logistic regression was …

English Proficiency / Fluent English Proficient Students, Susan R. Adams

Scholarship and Professional Work – Education

K-12 students whose first language is not English are identified upon enrollment in U.S. schools through a home language survey and are immediately assessed to determine whether English as a second language (ESL) services are required. Students who do not pass this initial screening assessment are classified as English Language Learners (ELLs), or as limited English proficiency (LEP) students, and are identified to receive school-provided English language development (ELD) and accommodations. Students who pass the initial screener or who demonstrate English proficiency two years in a row on state-mandated annual assessments are deemed fluent or fully English proficient (FEP) students …

Are Your S'S In Effect? Ensuring Culturally Responsive Physical Education Environments, Brian Culp

Faculty Articles

Schools have rapidly becoming a kaleidoscope of ethnicities and cultures represented by demographic changes that have affected America’s schools. As educators in this era of change, a unique opportunity exists to ensure quality physical education for all students. Culturally responsive practices in the classroom can assist in minimizing students' alienation as they attempt to adjust to the different "worlds" often represented in school.

Increasing The Cultural Competence Of Assessment Professionals Via Online Training, Jennifer L. Schroeder, Maximino Plata, Harry Fullwood, Melanie Price, Jennifer Dyer

Faculty Publications

The preponderance of literature suggests that culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) learners demonstrate unexpected underachievement in academic areas, mainly due to educators’ inability to differentiate between students’ cultural attributes rather than demonstrable cognitive dysfunction. Thirty assessment practitioners participated in a study to investigate the effectiveness of teaching cultural information and culturally-relevant assessment practices via an online teaching platform. The Munroe Multicultural Attitude Scale Questionnaire (MASQUE) and short-answer tests were used to obtain participants’ pre- and post- training attitudes and knowledge regarding cultural diversity. Results indicated that online training improved attitudes toward multicultural issues in education. A number of suggestions for …

Web 2.0 For Language Learning: Benefits And Challenges For Educators, Tian Luo

STEMPS Faculty Publications

This literature review study explores 44 empirical research studies that report on the integration of Web 2.0 tools into language learning and evaluate the actual impact of using those Web 2.0 tools in language learning. In particular, this review aims to identify the specific Web 2.0 tools integrated in the educational settings, theoretical underpinnings that are commonly used to frame the research, methodologies and data analysis techniques that scholars employ to analyze their research data, the benefits and challenges scholars spotted in their research findings, the pedagogical implications in using Web 2.0 for language learning and future research directions that …

New Dwc Syllabus Using Nonwestern Sources, Aubrey Moore

Education Student Scholarship

This project presents a new, annotated syllabus for the Development of Western Civilization (DWC) curriculum at Providence College. The syllabus follows most of the same topics discussed in 3rd semester DWC, but instead uses almost all nonwestern sources for reading material. The purpose of the project was to gain a better understanding of western civilization while providing an alternative to how people learn about the society they live in, to better understand other societies, and help to put historical events into a broader context.

Methods For Teaching Hispanic English Language Learners, Johannah M. Strohman

Senior Honors Theses

With the increase of diversity in American schools and the growing importance of English around the world, teaching English as a second language has become an essential aspect to education. It is difficult to have students of different cultural backgrounds in the classroom who are not proficient in English. A teacher cannot expect these students to succeed in an English only classroom setting. It is important that there be specialized teachers to address the needs of these students in order to reach all students where they are and help them accomplish all that they need to in order to succeed. …

An Investigation Of English Learners' Acquisition Of Academic Language To Obtain Reading Comprehension Skills, Mishka Barnes

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This collective case study explored how third-grader English learners (ELs) acquire academic language to learn reading comprehension skills in a classroom setting. Many ELs have acquired basic interpersonal communication skills, but have not mastered cognitive academic language proficiency, or academic language. The researcher selected six third-grade ELs who functioned as developing and expanding learners. Although many of these students can read text and use problem-solving strategies to blend words and read fluently, they may experience difficulties understanding academic language. Data was collected through observation, interviews with the ELs two mainstream teachers, document anlysis, and field notes. Using open coding, the …

Movement In Learning: Revitalizing The Classroom, Marcus Van

MA TESOL Collection

Movement is a vital part of our every day lives, and it is also important for a healthy brain. The following paper examines the shift from movement based learning to a more restrictive rote format, which often has adverse effects on learning. This work discusses the ways in which teachers are under pressure to “teach to the test” instead of creating student-centered classrooms. Some of the side effects of a test-centered approach are low self-esteem (from not meeting strict academic requirements) and behavioral problems in students.

Adding more movement to lessons can provide variation and relief from the rote-only system. …

Narrative Inquiry In The Language Classroom: An Incubator Of Identity And Growth Exploration, Olga Culver

MA TESOL Collection

The paper examines narrative inquiry within the precepts of socio-cultural and ecological theories. The work touches upon constructivist learning ideologies and examines social approaches to learning with an emphasis on biographical narratives. The author makes a case for self-discovery, holistic learning, and creating collaborative learning environments. The study also presents a methodology with practical applications for implementing a narrative praxis in a second language learning environment.

Enhancing Instruction For English Learners In Response To Intervention Systems: The Pluss Model, Amanda K. Sanford, Julie Esparza Brown, Maranda Turner

Education Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper proposes a model of effective instruction and intervention for English Learners (ELs) within a Response to Intervention (RTI) framework. First, we review literature on effective instruction for ELs and how RTI can address the needs of these students. Then, we describe the PLUSS model, which integrates research on effective instruction for ELs, tiered models of support, and teacher practices. The model includes the following elements: Pre-teaching critical vocabulary; Language modeling and opportunities to use academic language; Using visuals and graphic organizers; Systematic and explicit instruction; and Strategic use of native language and teaching for transfer. Finally, we provide …

Transformative Multicultural Science Curriculum: A Case Study Of Middle School Robotics, Mary Katheryn Grimes

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Multicultural Science has been a topic of research and discourse over the past several years. However, most of the literature concerning this topic (or paradigm) has centered on programs in tribal or Indigenous schools. Under the framework of instructional congruence, this case study explored how elementary and middle school students in a culturally diverse charter school responded to a Multicultural Science program. Furthermore, this research sought to better understand the dynamics of teaching and learning strategies used within the paradigm of Multicultural Science. The school's Robotics class, a class typically stereotyped as fitting within the misconceptions associated with the Western …

Effects Of Teacher-Led Reading Teaching Activities And Student Independent Reading On Fourth Grade Ell Student Reading Comprehension, Siping Liu

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This dissertation study examines the effects of four teacher-led reading activities recommended by the reading teaching policy and student independent reading activity on the development of English language learners (ELL) reading proficiency at fourth grade in U.S. elementary schools. In this study, I first introduce the significance of studying the relationship between ELL reading development and the reading teaching activities recommended for ELL students' reading development and discuss the potential conflicts of the ideas underlying these teaching activities with some assumptions underlying the second language theories. With such an introduction as a base, I raise some research questions for my …

How Porous Are The Walls That Separate Us?: Transformative Service-Learning, Women’S Incarceration, And The Unsettled Self, Coralynn V. Davis, Carol Wayne White

Faculty Journal Articles

In this article, we refine a politics of thinking from the margins by exploring a pedagogical model that advances transformative notions of service learning as social justice teaching. Drawing on a recent course we taught involving both incarcerated women and traditional college students, we contend that when communication among differentiated and stratified parties occurs, one possible result is not just a view of the other but also a transformation of the self and other. More specifically, we suggest that an engaged feminist praxis of teaching incarcerated women together with college students helps illuminate the porous nature of fixed markers that …

Goal Setting And Student Achievement: A Longitudinal Study, Aleidine Kramer Moeller, Janine M. Theiler, Chaorong Wu

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

The connection between goals and student motivation has been widely investigated in the research literature, but the relationship of goal setting and student achievement at the classroom level has remained largely unexplored. This article reports the findings of a 5-year quasi-experimental study examining goal setting and student achievement in the high school Spanish language classroom. The implementation of LinguaFolio, a portfolio that focuses on student self-assessment, goal setting, and collection of evidence of language achievement, was introduced into 23 high schools with a total of 1,273 students. By using a hierarchical linear model, researchers were able to analyze the relationship …

The Maze Task: Training Methods For Second Language Learning, Elizabeth Enkin

Spanish Language and Literature Papers

The maze task was created for psycholinguistic experimental testing (Forster et al., 2009). However, this paper explores the merits of this task as a language training program for beginning Spanish learners. The attributes of providing ample comprehensible input and immediate corrective feedback allow the maze task to be considered as a potential supplemental pedagogical tool. Moreover, transfer effects to implicit and explicit measures as well as students’ perception of such a task are examined.

The maze task is a psycholinguistic technique used in experimental testing that records reaction times as subjects read (and comprehend) sentences. The task asks subjects to …

Indigenous Studies In All Schools, Grace Sarra

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

Cherbourg State School is approximately 300 km northwest of Brisbane. It is situated in an Aboriginal community at Cherbourg with approximately 250 students. At the Cherbourg State School, the aim was to generate good academic outcomes for all students from kindergarten to Year 7 and to nurture a strong and positive sense of what it means to be Aboriginal in today’s society. In this paper, I will discuss modernism and postmodernism in indigenous studies and how this has impacted on the design and development of the Indigenous Studies Programme at the Cherbourg State School. The programme was designed to provide …

Creating Conditions For Transforming Practicing K-12 Mainstream Teachers Of English Language Learners, Susan R. Adams, Kathryn Brooks

Scholarship and Professional Work – Education

Critical incident reflection journal writing provides a rich source for identifying high impact components of Project Alianza, a graduate course for mainstream secondary teachers funded by a US Department of Education Title III Professional Development grant. In this narrative pilot study featuring one strand of existing data, the co-authors, who are also co-instructors and co-researchers, begin the first rounds of analysis to identify emerging key conditions and contributing factors featured within specialized graduate courses for encouraging dispositional change and professional efficacy toward English language learners (ELLs) in practicing K-12 mainstream educators. Using Mezirow’s adult transformational learning theory (1991), Kegan’s stage …

English Learner Oral Language Production In Middle School Academic Classes, Kathryn Brooks

Scholarship and Professional Work – Education

Because of current federal and state educational policies, oral language development is an often overlooked aspect of language and literacy use and development of English Learning (EL) students in K-12 schools in the United States. This article describes a study in which a researcher used an ecobehavioral approach to investigate the conditional probability that young adolescent EL students would produce language in content area classes as they engaged in four different instructional grouping configurations: whole class, small group, one-to-one, and individual instruction. Significant differences emerged between instructional grouping configurations in terms of EL student production of oral academic language. Overall, …

Sms : Sortez Vos Téléphones Portable, Véronique Olivier

World Languages and Cultures Faculty Articles and Research

Mobile phones and SMS technology can be a tool to help students learn French in class, through the use of some creative teaching strategies.

Ethics, Equity, And English-Language Learners: A Decision-Making Framework, Shelly Chabon, Julie Esparza Brown, Christina E. Gildersleeve-Neumann

Education Faculty Publications and Presentations

This articles addresses challenges related to clinical decision-making in intervention with English-language learners and their families.

A Washington State Elementary Teachers’ Guide To Bilingual Education, Maria G. Garcia-Bautista

All Graduate Projects

The purpose of this project was to create an elementary teacher's manual which explained the history and laws of bilingual education, first and second language development theories and approaches, bilingual education models and what research says about the various models. Proponents of English only/ Sheltered Instruction programs argue that immigrants and their descendents should assimilate to the customs and cultural norms of the United States as expeditiously as possible. Those same proponents believe that acquiring English is a prerequisite for success in education. Without a doubt English language proficiency can lead to immeasurable success. In this manual Two-Way Dual Language …

A Teacher’S Guide For Increased Parent Involvement In Low Socioeconomic And Highly Diverse Areas., Alyssa Katheryn Newby

All Graduate Projects

Secondary research was performed to obtain an overview of parent involvement in schools with low socioeconomic status and ethnically diverse populations. Within the project, different ethnicities' typical values and perceptions of appropriate involvement in a child's education were presented. These perceptions often contradict educators' perceptions of parent involvement, which generally takes on a white, middle class perspective. The purpose of the project is to better inform educators about the variety of ethnicities. As a result, this project addressed challenges to parent involvement and suggested possible solutions/interventions to bridge the gap between educators and families.

Impact Of Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol On Students Spanish Vocabulary Development, Janelle J. Hoff

All Graduate Projects

The purpose of this research project was to determine if the use of the Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP) model would impact native Spanish speaking first grade student's Spanish vocabulary. To accomplish this purpose, a review of selected literature was accomplished. Additionally, essential data was obtained and analyzed from which related generalizations, conclusions, and recommendations were formed. Forty-one native Spanish speaking students in a bilingual Spanish classroom attending the Marlow School District participated in this study. These students were both male and female children between the ages of six and seven years old. In the treatment group the teacher instructed …

Creating Inclusive Learning Communities For Ell Students: Transforming School Principals' Perspectives, Kathryn Brooks, Susan R. Adams, Trish Morita-Mullaney

Scholarship and Professional Work – Education

School-level administrators are often concerned about tertiary supports for English language learners (ELLs), such as translating signs and school documents or offering Spanish classes for their teachers. Although modeling and learning the heritage language(s) of the ESL population can be helpful, its focus on language differences can limit our considerations of broader systemic challenges that impact the success of ELLs in our schools. This article shares the dialogues that school administrators are having about ELL students and discusses the use of social justice and equity focused professional learning communities as a way to transform this discourse to address the broader …

Lessons From The Culturally Diverse Classroom: Intellectual Challenges And Opportunities Of Teaching In The American University, M Laura Barberan Reinares

Publications and Research

University education in the United States has become an increasingly global environment. In the classrooms of a modern university students and teachers from literally all corners of the world come together and reshape the face of higher education. Without a doubt the multicultural classroom of the 21st century necessitates fresh pedagogical approaches to university instruction that questions both established student and teacher models. This article then ad- dresses intercultural relationships within a multicultural university classroom setting and the resulting changes for the conceptualization of student and teacher roles. While the essay raises interdisciplinary and multicultural issues we wish to encourage …

Redes Sociales Y Unas Innovaciones En La Comunicación Global, Pilar Munday

Languages Faculty Publications

Ning es una herramienta útil para formar redes sociales entre estudiantes: tanto los estudiantes de español como segundo idioma como hispanohablantes que quieran contactarse con ellos. Ning ofrece una multi- plicidad de componentes para lograr la formación de una red social. Ning es fácil de usar y se puede implementar con poco entrenamiento porque nuestros estudiantes ya usan otras redes sociales como MySpace y Facebook.

Dual Language Education In The Elementary Grades: What Are Some Constraints Or Limitations Of Dual Language In Kindergarten Through Fifth Grade., Anna Alvarez

All Graduate Projects

This study examined the dual language model of bilingual education available to students at Pioneer Elementary in Sunnyside, Washington. There are a variety of bilingual education, Spanish and English, programs currently used throughout the United States. The effectiveness of student's academic success is based on the bilingual education program they participate in, which has been a long-standing debated topic. Recently new and innovative bilingual education programs such as dual-language models have been introduced and implemented into many classrooms. There is significant scholarly debate regarding the efficacy of dual language education programs. It is possible that the debate is centered on …

Second Language Teaching Strategies For Teaching The Human Body To Fourth Graders, Maria L. Vela

All Graduate Projects

In a country filled with pressure for high academic achievement at the state and federal levels, it is necessary to implement "best practice" teaching strategies for student success. "Best practice" teaching strategies are strategies that are research based and have proven to be essential in increasing academic achievement. Among using "best practices," there are a variety of programs that focus on teaching second language learners English, one of them being dual language. Dual language is an additive bilingual program in which the second language is taught through the content areas as the native language continues to be developed. However, the …