Language and Literacy Education Commons^™

Goodnight Gorilla: How Do Second Language Learners’ American Sign Language Narrative Renditions Change After Viewing An Asl Model?, Jennifer Beal Dr., Jessica Scott, Terynce Butts

Journal of Interpretation

We investigated the effects of a single viewing of an American Sign Language (ASL) model on university second language learners’ ASL narrative renditions. Spoken English was the first language of all participants and they had varied lengths of signing experience, ranging from 1 to 26 years. Participants completed a receptive measure of ASL. Then they rendered a wordless picture book in ASL. Afterwards, they watched a native-signing adult model of the story in ASL, and then told the story again. We investigated their inclusion of specific details and how they expressed them, including their use of constructed action (CA), depicting …

Using Texts As Mirrors: The Power Of Readers Seeing Themselves, Amy J. Heineke, Aimee Papola-Ellis, Joseph Elliott

Education: School of Education Faculty Publications and Other Works

In schools across the country and world, students enter classrooms with rich diversity in backgrounds, identities, and experiences. They speak hundreds of different languages, come from countries around the world, espouse nuanced cultural and gender identities, and have an array of abilities and interests. But texts in school and classroom collections continue to reflect the so-called mainstream with primarily White, English-dominant, cis-gendered characters without disabilities. Efforts have emerged on social media to encourage resources with relevance to children's lives, but teachers often struggle to make the case for their use in instruction. In this article, we provide a framework for …

Request Strategies Used By English Language Learners: Student-Professor Email Communication, Padam Chauhan

Communication and Theater Association of Minnesota Journal

Recently, email communication between students and professors in the U.S. higher educational institutions where English is the medium of instruction has become increasingly popular. However, ESL students in these educational institutions encounter numerous challenges to write email to their professors because of their unfamiliarity with email etiquette in English, inadequate English language proficiency, and lack of understanding of socio-cultural norms and values. Also, writing emails to professors requires higher pragmatic competence and critical language awareness of how email correspondence takes place in academic setting. Email requests written by ESL students are often seen as inappropriate or informal by their professors, …

Curriculum Is A Map, Not A Gps: Culturally Responsive Reading Instruction In Urban Schools, Danielle Hay

Masters Projects

With the literacy achievement gap growing, particularly in urban schools, many teachers are missing the training, tools, and support necessary to best meet the needs of their students beyond the curriculum given. This project argues the importance of sustainable teacher improvement through reflective, collaborative professional development and the support of a literacy coach. To attain the highest impact on student achievement, teachers must have a deep understanding of their students as well as evaluate their current teaching practices to identify where students may need additional support and what classroom practices may need to be adjusted. By providing students with a …

Media And Information Literacy (Mil) Competencies Of Language And Communication Students, Janet S. Tibaldo

Journal of Media Literacy Education

This descriptive study aims at identifying the level of media and information literacy (MIL) competencies of Language and Communication students in the Philippines using UNESCO’s Access, Evaluation and Creation components. A self-report survey of a small sample of university students was conducted and findings show that respondents have an intermediate MIL competency along the three components. But most participants struggled to recognize the concept of metadata and indexing and the practice of creating arguments using evidence and drawing conclusions from information. They also struggle with the application of international standards and requirements for new knowledge creation in an ethical manner. …

A Brief Introduction To Chinese Dual Immersion And Chinese Bridge Programs In Utah, Alex Yuan

Chinese Language Teaching Methodology and Technology

This research, through in-depth interviews of ten participants, studied and analyzed, from political, economic and cultural perspectives, the Chinese dual immersion and Chinese bridge programs and the growing “Chinese learning heat” in Utah in a global context.

Analysis Of Educational Eportfolio Use And Discussion On Its Implementation In Chinese Teaching, Peng Zhang, Rui Yang

Chinese Language Teaching Methodology and Technology

Numerous studies have explored e-portfolio implementation research in-depth; it has grown in popularity and become widespread. This study conducted a comprehensive review of the current secondary literature on the use of e-portfolios in education in order to narrow down the considerable volume of research, develop new knowledge, and further offer implications in Chinese teaching. This study synthesized the secondary articles from 2011 to 2021 and analyzed the retrieved data using the SWOT framework. A keyword search for e-portfolio and reviews generated 636 review articles. These papers were then scrutinized to see whether they fit the criteria, and 12 review articles …

Enhancing Grammar Learning With A Multimedia Instructional Module: Design And Teaching Of “Shì…De” Construction For Cfl Learners, Shenglan Zhang

Chinese Language Teaching Methodology and Technology

This pilot study examined the effectiveness and students’ perceptions of a multimedia module on intermediate Chinese-as-a-Foreign-Language (CFL) learners’ understanding and use of the “shì…de” construction. The module was designed based on the First Principles of Instruction (Morrill, 2002) and the Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning (Mayer, 2009; 2014). It provided a systematic and comprehensive approach to teaching the “shì…de” construction, one of the most challenging grammar points in CFL. Twenty-two CFL learners participated in this mixed-methods pilot study. Data were collected using pre- and post-tests, a survey, think-alouds, and semi-structured interviews. Findings show that after using the module, …

The Spirit Murdering Of Black Kindergarteners By The Lock And Load Literacy Routine, Amber Lawson

Michigan Reading Journal

No abstract provided.

Great Lakes Great Books: A New Season, Lynette Marten Suckow

Michigan Reading Journal

Five book reviews from the Great Lakes Great Books list for the 2022-2023 school year.

Using Crossover And Traditional Picturebooks To Discuss Emotions, William P. Bintz, Shabnam Moini Chaghervand

Michigan Reading Journal

This article describes how literature, particularly crossover picturebooks, can be used to provide teachers and their students with a helpful perspective on the complex nature of problems, especially human problems with physical and mental health. We begin with an example of a picturebook that provides a unique perspective on the value of problems; namely, problems as unexpected gifts that can promote understanding, the first step in wellness. Next, we introduce crossover literature as an innovative genre for better understanding complex and controversial problems. Then, we share specific examples of crossover picturebooks, along with research-based instructional strategies, that teachers can use …

Taking Up The Work: Snapshots Of Disciplinary Literacy Instruction, Part I, Laura Gabrion, Jenelle Williams

Michigan Reading Journal

This article is part of a series devoted to unpacking disciplinary literacy instructional practices for educators at all levels. Here, we explore the role of disciplinary literacy instruction at all levels, in light of recent changes to Michigan's teacher certification grade bands. This article provides suggestions for getting started with addressing disciplinary literacy in instruction, as well as practical examples of what this might look like within English Language Arts classrooms.

Infographic: Language And Cognitive Skills In The Early Years, Zoe Kaskamanidis

Teacher infographics

Results from the 2021 Australian Early Development Census (AEDC) collection cycle show that of all early childhood developmental domains, children’s language and cognitive skills have seen the most significant shift. Find out more in today’s infographic.

Motivating Students To Participate In The German As A Foreign Language Classroom, Joanna Walton

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

This details how to motivate students in the German as a foreign language class to participate and engage in the learning process. Increasing motivation in students is a struggle with which all teachers are familiar, but teachers of foreign languages have a particular challenge because of the intimidation students feel when faced with producing assignments and content in a new language. This topic is also of interest to foreign language educators because student retention is becoming a serious problem, leading many school districts to cut smaller language programs like French and German. Maintaining an engaging classroom environment, where students participate …

Scenario Specification Structuring Effective Collaborative Communication, James Lipuma, Cristo Leon, Kamiya Patel

STEM for Success Resources

Dr. James Lipuma, a faculty member in the Humanities and Social Sciences department, Cristo Leon (PhD. Graduate Student) director of research at NJIT College of Science and Liberal Arts, and Kamiya Patel CEO-President at Lyra have a new article entitled “Scenario specification structuring effective collaborative communication”.

From Writer To Teacher: The Gradual Release Of Responsibility In An Early Childhood Education Writing Course For Pre-Service Teachers, Denise N. Morgan, Danielle G. Gruhler, Kristen I. Evans

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

Teaching students to become confident, capable writers is imperative in today’s world. Growing attention has been paid to the amount and kinds of writing students are experiencing in schools with an urgent plea for more time and attention given to writing instruction (Nagin, 2003; National Commission on Writing, 2003). Yet, few teachers feel well prepared to teach writing.

In this special issue on writing methods courses, we discuss the evolution of our writing methods course for early childhood preservice teachers (PK-5). Specifically, we examine the current pedagogical practices within the course to support preservice teachers’ experiential learning. This piece examines …

Learning About Teaching Writing: The Use Of Roles To Support Preservice Teachers Pedagogical Knowledge And Practices, Kristine Pytash, Denise N. Morgan, Elizabeth Testa

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

If teacher educators are fortunate to be able to teach a writing methods class, they encounter challenges in designing field experiences that support what preservice teachers are learning in their course. In this article, we described how we developed a unique field placement where the preservice teachers worked in teams and rotated roles each week. We found that these taking on these roles provided preservice teachers with unique lenses to learning about writing, students, and general teaching pedagogies.

Imagining The Possible: Reflections On Teaching A Writing Methods Course For Pre-Service Undergraduate Secondary English/Language Arts Teachers, Emily S. Meixner

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

What's possible in a teaching writing methods class? In this essay, the author provides a descriptive portrait of the undergraduate secondary writing methods course she teaches, focusing on five specific learning outcomes: teacher writing identities, knowledge of writer's craft, grammatical awareness and an understanding of linguistic justice/injustice, writing workshop methodology, and genre-based unit and lesson planning. Course readings, assignments, and work samples are included.

The Development Of Discourse Markers In Narrations Written By Spanish Heritage Language Learners: A Case For Explicit And Implicit Instruction, Mark Cisneros

Spanish and Portuguese ETDs

This Dissertation attempted to determine the types and number of discourse markers (DMs) used in narrations written by Spanish Heritage Language (SHL) learners and if they benefitted from the following pedagogical intervention (i.e., Explicit Instruction + Input Flood + Textual Enhancement) regarding the use of DMs. It also calculated the syntactic complexity, morphosyntactic accuracy, and fluency of their narrations. For this study, 39 SHL learners served as participants: 19 in an Experimental group and 20 in a Control group. All participants wrote two narrations of two short, silent films: a pre-test narration and an immediate post-test narration. Before completing the …

Implementation Of Ell Professional Development And Teaching Strategies: A School Improvement Plan, Korney Carlson

Master's Theses & Capstone Projects

Research findings show that educators who have learned more about ELL instructional strategies provide better instruction to ELL students and will improve their testing scores. Data has shown that many districts are seeing an influx in ELL students. Past studies have also documented that vocabulary development and literacy strategies are key components to guide ELL students to a better education. With research findings in mind, a school improvement plan was created to add professional development opportunities to benefit ELL student achievement. This plan implements a professional development opportunity focused on ELL instructional strategies to assist educators in providing improved instruction …

Effective Literacy Differentiated Instruction, Lauren Kahl

Master's Theses & Capstone Projects

This school improvement plan details the importance of using literacy differentiated instruction within the classroom to instruct the vast array of students’ needs. This plan details different types of differentiated instruction and shares research of the success rates of differentiated instruction across various grade levels. It also highlights key components needed to make differentiation successful within the classroom, as well as obstacles in implementing differentiated instruction. The purpose of this school improvement plan is to display the need for using literacy differentiated instruction to improve students’ literacy rates, as well as to tailor instruction to match students’ individual needs.

Computer-Aided Response-To-Intervention For Reading Comprehension Based On Recommender System, Ming-Chi Liu, Wei-Yang Lin, Chia-Ling Tsai

Publications and Research

In 2019, New York State Education Department announced 54.6% of all students in grades 3 to 8 not meeting the standard of reading proficiency. Motivated by the need for a more efficient intervention model, we propose a recommender system to leverage the technology in machine learning to recommend suitable reading materials for effective intervention. The recommendation is based on the student's prior reading comprehension assessments and also assessments of other students at the same grade level using collaborative filtering. No other prior academic or demographic information of students is available. Two main challenges are lack of explicit ratings of reading …

Implementation Of Second Chance Reading, Peyton Paddock

Master's Theses & Capstone Projects

Students will struggle with reading, and it is harder on them when they have a reading disability. Providing support to these students can be critical in developing their reading comprehension and fluency skills. Second Chance Reading (SCR) is a great method of helping students receive the supports needed. Students with disabilities receive supports and accommodations. However, this does not mean that what they are receiving is what they need to be successful. A student reading faster but struggling to understand is just as bothersome as a student reading slower and struggling to understand. SCR helps students break down their reading …

Maximizing Literacy Instructional Potency In A Classical Education Charter School, Rebecca Thompson

Master's Theses & Capstone Projects

Variable research spans several decades on how emergent readers should be taught. Literacy experts and governmental reports document evidence-based reading acquisition. Yet, a wide gap remains between the state of research and a professional understanding and application of how teachers should maximize daily literacy instruction in elementary classrooms. Teaching students how to crack the alphabetic code is crucial and forms the foundation for further reading acquisition as students mature. Robust scientific consensus overwhelmingly supports utilizing explicit, systematic phonics instruction in the initial stages of learning to read. Therefore, educators must prioritize strong foundational phonics skills in grades K-2 to help …

Improving Reading Skills: A School Improvement Project, Riley Mars

Master's Theses & Capstone Projects

Reading proficiency in American schools has been a topic of conversation for over a quarter of a century. Although much focus and funding has been put towards this topic, many students are still not able to read proficiently. As students progress through their academic careers, lack of reading proficiency becomes more detrimental and more difficult to remedy. This school improvement plan was created to restructure MTSS in a newly formed upper elementary building serving 4th and 5th grade. This restructuring will clearly define the roles of each Tier, ensure data-based decisions are being made, and support students with research-based interventions.

Increasing Phonemic Awareness Instruction: A School Improvement Plan, Becca Gaffney

Master's Theses & Capstone Projects

Research findings show phonological awareness is one of the most important skills and predictors of future reading success. Studies have also shown the link between phonemic awareness to reading abilities and the lack of pre-service and in-service teacher knowledge of basic language constructs. While looking at the research findings, a school improvement plan was created to include a supplemental phonemic awareness program to increase student knowledge and skills. It also increased teacher knowledge through a training and additional professional developments based on teacher needs. This project will add to previously collected data which compares proficiency in Lambert Elementary students to …

El Metadiscurso En La Escritura Académica: Singularidades E Investigaciones En Lengua Española, David Sánchez-Jiménez

Publications and Research

Dentro de la disciplina lingüística de la Pragmática, el estudio del metadiscurso ha sido uno de los temas más investigados en el mundo anglosajón en las últimas décadas. Este fenómeno se refiere al componente del discurso que sirve para hablar del discurso sin añadir significado proposicional. El metadiscurso facilita la comunicación y juega un rol central en el discurso para transmitir las ideas del autor y hacer partícipes a los lectores de estas ideas en su texto de manera efectiva, guiando al lector en la debida interpretación del texto, aumentando su legibilidad y permitiendo construir una relación más cercana con …

Multicultural Women's Literature, Various, Carrie Lewis Miller

All Resources

Openly licensed anthology focused on the theme of the Multicultural Women's Literature. Contains: American Indian Stories by Zikala-Sa (Gertrude Bonnin); Diaries of Court Ladies of Old Japan by Izumi Shikibu et al.; The Diwan of Zeb-un-Nissa by Zeb-un-Nissa; Hawaii’s Story by Hawaii’s Queen, Liliuokalani; Kamala: a story of Hindu life by Krupabai Satthianadhan; Life Among the Piutes: Their Wrongs and Claims by Sarah Winnemucca Hopkins; Life of Harriet Beecher Stowe by Harriet Beecher Stowe; Memoirs of an Arabian Princess by Emily Ruete (Salamah bint Saïd; Sayyida Salme, Princess of Zanzibar and Oman); Nightmare Tales by H.P. Blavatsky; Ratanbai: a sketch …

Home-Shared Reading Influences On Phonological Awareness Abilities Of Primary Students Who Experienced An Interruption Of Classroom Literacy Instruction Due To A Catastrophic Event, Alisa Maxine White

Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative study was conducted to explore emergent literacy and phonological awareness abilities of primary students who experienced an interruption of classroom literacy instruction due to a catastrophic event. Participants included four primary students and their parents. The students participated in home-shared reading regularly and missed the last nine weeks of classroom instruction during their pre-kindergarten or kindergarten school year due to a catastrophic event. The participants were observed during home-shared reading. Three research questions were used to explain the study: 1) When children are read to at home and miss the last nine weeks of school, what phonological behaviors …

Effective Reading Practices For Inclusive Classrooms, Andrew Block

Graduate Teacher Education

This paper examined research on what are best practices for teaching reading comprehension to students in an inclusive classroom. This topic is explored through research findings from multiple quantitative and qualitative studies which examined the effectiveness of structured reading instruction, explicitly taught reading strategies, student autonomy, and discussion and collaboration as best practices for improving reading comprehension skills. While research showed a variety of effective practices and strategies to increase reading comprehension among all students, the research also suggested the need for content area teachers to receive on-going professional development to consistently implement evidence-based practices throughout the course of the …