Language and Literacy Education Commons^™

Social-Emotional Learning In Tesol: What, Why, And How, Luis Javier Pentón Herrera

Journal of English Learner Education

In this article, I advocate for the adoption of SEL in Teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL) as a promising pedagogy for ESOL educators and ELs. For this, I divide the remainder of the manuscript into four sections in addition to the introduction. In the first section—What is SEL? —I provide a brief theoretical description of SEL as it remains a fairly new concept in the ESOL field. In the second section—Why SEL in TESOL? —I elucidate my position of why we (ESOL educators) should embrace SEL pedagogies in our learning spaces using personal vignettes as support. The …

The Effect Of Semantic Neighborhood Density On Vocabulary Learning In Spanish As A Second Language And Spanish As A Heritage Language, Marián Giráldez Elizo

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

This dissertation reviews the results from an online survey created to identify and compare how second language (L2) learners and heritage language (HL) learners of Spanish, enrolled in beginning-level coursework at the college level, acquired and built vocabulary. A total of 451 participants completed the survey. The purpose of the online survey was to serve as a baseline for pedagogical purposes, since it provided information about participants’ language profiles and the way they build vocabulary based on sematic relatedness. Overall, the findings from the survey showed that HL and L2 learners differ in the way they build semantic neighborhoods and, …

Elementary Principals’ Knowledge Of And Expectations For Specialized Literacy Professionals, Abbie Mahaffey, Zora Wolfe, Katia Ciampa

Journal of Organizational & Educational Leadership

Specialized literacy professionals, guided by the International Literacy Association’s (ILA) Standards for the Preparation of Literacy Professionals 2017, fulfill many roles within the elementary school setting to support the literacy development of students. The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to investigate elementary principals’ knowledge of and expectations for the specialized literacy professionals’ roles and responsibilities compared to the ILA Standards. This study included 36 elementary (K-5) principals. Data was collected using an online survey adapted from a survey developed by Bean, et al. (2015) and voluntary follow-up interviews to further explore responses. Findings revealed that elementary principals consider the …

Text-Influenced Expressions Of Understanding: Differences In Kindergartners’ Discourse And Written Retellings Of Traditional And Digital Texts During Buddy Reading, Julie Parrish

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Buddy reading a text is a collaborative act that typically generates discourse that provides researchers with a glimpse of the comprehending taking place. However, in recent years, the infusion of technology in classrooms has resulted in many traditional texts being replaced by digital versions. Thus, this qualitative case study examined the spoken and written discourse of 12 kindergartners (6 dyads) as they buddy read a traditional and digital text.

Drawing upon two distinct lenses—sociocultural and comprehension signifier—video recordings, transcriptions, and written retellings were analyzed. Specifically, process coding and in vivo coding were used to construct categories and uncover sociocultural patterns …

Critical Thinking During A Pandemic, Cheryl Comeau-Kirschner

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

This article explores how a sudden shift to distance learning created unique challenges in a co-requisite course for English language learners. Focusing on critical thinking and advanced ESL composition during the COVID-19 Pandemic required course adjustments and a new way of thinking about how to teach and learn in unprecedented times.

Teaching Reading-Writing Connections Online To Pre-Service Teachers In A Children’S Literature Course, Treavor Bogard

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

This account of transitioning a children’s literature course to remote learning during the Covid-19 pandemic describes the use of digital service learning and instructional scenarios to develop pre-service teachers’ knowledge of teaching writing craft across literary genres.

Keeping Things Going: Reflections On Teaching “Teaching Writing” Online, Emily S. Meixner

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

What does it mean to “keep things going online” in an undergraduate teacher education course on teaching writing? In this article, a teacher educator describes how, in consultation with her students, she adapted a secondary English methods course on teaching writing to teach it online. While highlighting and celebrating what worked, she also reflects on lessons learned and teaching questions that continue to persist.

Looking Forward, Looking Back: Reflections On Values And Pedagogical Choices During Covid-19, Susanna L. Benko

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

In this reflective essay, the author describes teaching a writing pedagogy course for secondary English education students during the Covid-19 pandemic. The author describes two different bodies of literature – ethics of care and high leverage practices -- and reflects how these concepts guided her pedagogical decision making when moving her class online on a short timeline.

Online Language Arts Instruction In An Elementary Methods Course: Successes And Challenges, Charlotte A. Mundy-Henderson, Callie Martin

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

This paper describes the successes and challenges of an assistant professor and her students as they were forced to pivot mid-semester from a traditional face-to-face Elementary Language Arts Methods course to a completely online course due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. Increased communication, identifying and sharing valuable resources, and adopting a more flexible attitude when it comes to writing instruction were among the successes of this now online course. While ensuring that online field experiences were meaningful was one of the biggest challenges. Takeaways were that increased communication and flexibility are vital parts of online learning, especially when in an unexpected …

Socially Distant But Digitally Connected: How One Online Literacy Teacher Educator Responded To The Covid-19 Pandemic, Robert A. Griffin

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

In this perspectives piece, the author, a literacy education teacher educator, discusses his struggles several years earlier to adapt and transfer a conceptually dense face-to-face course to an online format—a struggle with which many of his colleagues who were faced with transferring their courses to an online format in light of the COVID-19 and institutional closings could identify. He describes how he organized his online course, including the design of the modules and assignments along a scaffolded, simple-to-complex structure. The challenges during this pandemic are especially pronounced for teacher educators who have less experience with online teaching. The author envisions …

Experiential Learning In The Covid-19 Era: Challenges And Opportunities For Esol Teacher Educators, Carolina Pelaez-Morales

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

Spring 2020, or the COVID-19 pivot, will be forever remembered as the semester that took educators by surprise. The challenges educators faced were numerous and they varied extensively depending on different variables like student level, subject, institutional support, among others. This article chronicles the journey of a Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) educator teaching a TESOL methodologies course that used experiential learning in the form of classroom observations and reflections. Through vignettes of her experiences and those of her students, as they navigated the challenges of completing field-work during the COVID-19 pandemic, the educator discusses areas of …

Building Online Writing Community Through Other-Oriented Lenses In An Era Of Crisis, Kristin A.K. Sovis

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

This narrative describes how an undergraduate writing teacher educator’s personal response to the COVID-19 pandemic influenced her approach to working with writing methods students. The piece outlines her process for supporting students’ social-emotional and academic needs as the classroom community’s work shifted from face-to-face class meetings and K-5 clinical placements to the online space. Important to this process is building on the course's previously covered course content to re-imagine with students the approaches, routines, and procedures for the now online-only writing community.

Embracing The Pivot In A Graduate Course: Stitching A New Garment, Cathy Fleischer

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

When an experienced writing teacher educator navigates teaching a National Writing Project-inspired, COVID-impacted graduate course with a group of experienced after-school teachers, she learns what the term “during this time” can mean.

Tell Your Story… Share Hope, Nicole Sieben

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

This manuscript emphasizes the practice of storytelling in writing teacher education, particularly how it applies to encouraging graduate methods students and undergraduate college students to tell their stories amidst a pandemic that upended their semesters and for many, their lives. In this piece, a writing instructor examines the effectiveness of inviting students to provide feedback on their level of comfort with the change of instructional mode from face-to-face to remote instruction and with their level of concern/comfort in the current life circumstances. By way of example, the piece shares a specific poetry writing assignment that engaged students in storying their …

Blended Learning Showing Gains, Jessica Lynn Becker

Graduate Teacher Education

In light of what is known about how children learn and the use of technology in society, blended learning is proving to be an effective teaching strategy to improve student academic achievement. Blended learning is a combination of digital technology with face-to-face direct instruction. The purpose of blended learning instruction is to combine the benefits of face-to-face direct instruction with the personalization and collaboration of digital technology. Blended learning comes in many different models that meet the many needs of teachers and school districts. It has succeeded in improving student academic achievement in different subject areas by allowing students to …

Persona Development As A Research Tool, 21cleo Research Team

21CLEO Research Project Blog Posts

In order to make our description of working-learners who participate in employer-supported educational activities more vivid, we have taken a unique approach to better represent why characteristics of a particular learning opportunity may or may not align with working-learners' needs. This approach involves creating personas from interview data we've gathered in three areas: mandated courses and training, basic education, and degree or certificate attaining courses/programs.

Primary School Pupils’ Perceptions On Narrative Model Essays In An Esl Classroom, Kanniappan Jamuna

Student Works (2020-2029)

Writing problems faced by Malaysian primary school pupils have led the teachers to find a way to help them in their writing ability. One of the strategies teachers have had is to use model essays in the writing classroom. This study examines the use of narrative model essays in a writing classroom in a school in Selangor. This study aims to identify the aspects of language which second language learners notice in reference to narrative model essays and gather insights regarding pupils’ perceptions on the use of narrative model essays in their narrative essay writing. The theoretical framework that underlines …

Post-Program English Language Learners: Successful Learners Or Struggling Learners?, Tianna Bankhead

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Theses and Other Student Research

As an educator in the field of English Language Development, I have chosen to explore the experience of four participants that have exited their ELL program within the last 1 - 2 years in Lincoln Public Schools. I wanted to capture the first-hand experience of secondary students by exploring where they are finding successes since being formally considered proficient in English and where they are struggling. I interviewed these students and explored their academic world as well as the social world within the school setting. At the conclusion of the study, I found that students are academically achieving success in …

Effective Methods Of Alphabet Instruction For Preschool, Kelsey Throne

Master's Theses & Capstone Projects

When children complete preschool with strong alphabet knowledge, there is a higher likelihood that they will read at a level of proficiency or above by third grade. Third-grade reading proficiency is highly predictive of school success factors, including continued reading fluency and high school graduation rates. This literature review compares two different teaching strategies to determine the most effective way to teach the alphabet to preschool students. When considering the pace in which the alphabet is taught, some classrooms teach a letter a week whereas other classrooms teach one letter a day. Multiple studies were analyzed to determine the best …

Pembangunan Modul Pedagogi Komunikasi Nonverbal Al-Quran Dalam Pengajaran Bahasa Arab, Othman Mohd Ala-Uddin

Student Works (2020-2029)

Kajian ini bertujuan membangunkan Modul Pedagogi Komunikasi Nonverbal al-Quran (MPKNVQ) berasaskan model ADDIE yang telah diubahsuai. Objektif kajian ialah untuk (i) mengenal pasti komunikasi non-verbal al-Quran untuk pengajaran dan pembelajaran Bahasa Arab, (ii) Mengenal pasti reka bentuk MPKNVQ yang dibangunkan untuk pengajaran BA, (iii) membangunkan MPKNVQ (iv) menilai keberkesanan MPKNVQ dari aspek sikap, motivasi dan pencapaian pelajar terhadap pengajaran dan pembelajaran BA. Kajian ini adalah kajian rekebentuk dan pembangunan yang melibatkan 3 fasa utama iaitu (a) fasa analisis keperluan berdasarkan kajian literatur dan analisis dokumen. Ayat-ayat Quran telah dianalisis dan disaring berdasarkan 10 saluran nonverbal untuk pengajaran yang dinyatakan oleh …

Effectiveness Of English Drama Activity To Enhance Speaking Skills And Motivation Among Private College Diploma Students, Zulkifli Zulaikha

Student Works (2020-2029)

This study reports on the effectiveness of using drama activity in ESL classroom to improve students’ speaking skills and motivation. This study addresses two major questions. The first evaluates the impact of drama activity on students’ intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. The second question analyses the impact of drama activity on the development of students’ speaking skills. A quasi-experiment was carried out on a total number of ten private college diploma students. They were put into pairs and different topics were given to the learners to be discussed in pairs. A descriptive statistical analysis was used which takes into account both …

Exploration Of Critical Literacy With An English Graphic Novel Among Year Four Pupils, Unnikrishnan Preena Nair

Student Works (2020-2029)

To be critically literate is considered one of the crucial objectives in an era in which we have instant and unrestricted access to a variety of information. Individuals should be able to reflect, evaluate and critique whatever information received instead of being passive recipients. However, current research in the field suggest that even tertiary level learners in different countries of the world lack the ability to read in between the lines and to think critically. Therefore, developing learners who are critically literate is a major concern in the current educational research. Employing the dimensions of disrupting the commonplace and interrogating …

The Use Of Songs To Develop Indigenous Form Three Students’ Motivation To Learn English Language, Muniandy Saraswathy

Student Works (2020-2029)

Low motivation to learn English is common among second language learners who have limited exposure to the language. Hence, this study explored the intentional use of popular English songs in a rural secondary school of the indigenous people in Peninsula Malaysia and its influence on the Form 3 students’ learning motivation. The focus was on 34 indigenous Form 3 students who have been identified as students with limited English proficiency. These students were selected using a homogenous sampling and convenience sampling methods. Data were collected using multiple methods of classroom observation and semi-structured interview with the students. The teaching and …

Direct And Indirect Written Corrective Feedback On The Use Of Past Tense Amongst Esl Learners, Tuck Mun Tang

Student Works (2020-2029)

For decades, a considerable amount of attention has been given to written corrective feedback (WCF) in the field of second language acquisition (SLA). In the early development of WCF, Truscott (1996) raised a few theoretical issues which led studies on WCF to be carried by researchers opposing his claims. He claimed that 1) a simple transfer of information cannot be expected to be beneficial due to the well-established SLA insights about the complex and gradual nature of the process of acquisition, 2) if WCF approach is employed at a time that is not consistent with the natural order, it could …

Use Of Virtual Learning Environment On Malay Language Vocabulary Acquisition Among Primary School Remedial Pupils, Hock Ching Tang

Student Works (2020-2029)

Virtual Learning Environment has been introduced in the educational field as a tool to enhance student‟s learning and to help the students by including computers and the internet in the learning process. This study investigates the effect of Virtual Learning Environment towards the acquisition of Malay language vocabulary among remedial pupils. Three participants of Year Four went through the intervention where Frog Virtual Learning Environment was integrated into 40 lessons of Malay language vocabulary session. Their Malay language semantic skills and syntax skills were measured twice: during the baseline phase before the intervention and during maintenance phase after the intervention. …

Web Annotation In English Language Arts: Online Dialogue As A Platform To Support Student Comprehension Of Texts, Jonathan B. Allred

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study explores how web annotation—through a process of online reading, writing in the margins, and replying to others’ comments—influences student dialogue in ways that research suggests are associated with improved comprehension. Viewing data through a dialogic lens, and using a qualitative, multiple case study design to observe two high school English Language Arts teachers and their students, this inquiry was guided by the following research questions: (a) How do English Language Arts teachers use web annotation to support student comprehension of texts? (b) To what extent, if any, does web annotation appear to support student comprehension of texts? and …

Making Summer Learning Equitable For Students In A Rural, Title I School District: Turning On The Faucet Of Resources, Kathrina M. O'Connell

The Interactive Journal of Global Leadership and Learning

This research explores summer learning loss and the effect of summer resources on students’ literacy growth. Using the faucet theory, this mixed methods sequential explanatory study was designed to provide equitable resources and educational support for students in grades five through eight in a rural, socioeconomically disadvantaged school district. Transportation, breakfast, lunch, books, and a literacy-focused enrichment program were coordinated and provided for all participants in an effort to reduce learning loss during summer break. The pragmatic approach to inquiry incorporated both quantitative (e.g., literacy outputs, registration, and attendance data) and qualitative data (e.g., parent open-ended question responses). Convenience sampling …

Mothers Of Children With Dyslexia Share The Protection, “In-Betweenness,” And The Battle Of Living With A Reading Disability: A Feminist Autoethnography, Christine Woodcock

The Qualitative Report

In order to shed personalized light upon some of the confusions surrounding dyslexia, this study draws upon critical disability studies to share the stories of mothers of children with dyslexia. This feminist autoethnography shares the voice of the researcher alongside interviews with 5 participants, all mothers of children with dyslexia, who were in their 40s, and ethnically and socioeconomically diverse. Using interpretative phenomenological analysis, results illustrated that the children inhabited an “in-betweenness” in their disability, in the ways dyslexia was less visual and therefore misunderstood. Likewise, the children presented a great deal of resistance in their learning, which was later …

Place-Based Education: People, Places, And Spaces For Interdisciplinary Literacy Learning, Melissa Reed, Courtney (Weber) Klassen

The Reading Professor

Abstract

Place-based education (PBE) encourages teachers to create authentic learning communities of real-world experts outside of the regular classroom setting. Literacy strategies were used to support understanding of content. This article will explore the results of teacher action research in creating interdisciplinary literacy opportunities in the real world using a PBE model. What impact does PBE have on motivation and interest of learning in this interdisciplinary setting? The advantages and challenges are examined through the use of interviews, exit slips, and antidotal records during a summer camp experience with students in grades 4-6. The findings from a research project involving …

Using Technology To Support The Writing Of Adolescents With Disabilities, Lauren Gibbons

The Reading Professor

Abstract

Adolescent students with disabilities can benefit from technology based interventions for writing instruction, but with so many different tools available, it can be difficult to determine how best to spend classroom time. Students with disabilities struggle with composition knowledge when compared to their typically developing peers (Bouck, Meyer, Satsangi, Savage, & Hunley, 2015; Englert, Zhao, Dunsmore, Collings, & Wolbers, 2007; Evmenova et al., 2016; Smith & Okolo, 2010). This article examines the benefits of using technology to support struggling student writers. The article seeks to connect research supporting technological tools with decisions made by classroom teachers. Four effective practices …