Language and Literacy Education Commons^™

When My Voice Returns, I Will Be Powerful, Believe Chakenya

Kentucky English Bulletin

No abstract provided.

The Nori Project: A Solution To Food Deserts, Logan Weaver

Kentucky English Bulletin

No abstract provided.

Who Gets The Flag?, John Hensey

Kentucky English Bulletin

No abstract provided.

Perfect The Place To Practice – Love, An Arts Student, Rylie Sudduth

Kentucky English Bulletin

No abstract provided.

Let Down Your Hair: On Hair, Femininity, And Not Having A Care In The World, Riley A. Davis

Kentucky English Bulletin

No abstract provided.

Narrative Empathy And The Value Of Fact Vs. Fiction In The Things They Carried, Anakha Shah

Kentucky English Bulletin

No abstract provided.

On Being Femininely Me, Bella Hynniman

Kentucky English Bulletin

No abstract provided.

The Mangler, Mason Jenkins

Kentucky English Bulletin

No abstract provided.

Utilizing Morphology Instruction To Improve Students’ Reading Proficiency, Michelle Marie Sweigart

Masters Projects

Many adolescent learners face difficulties with reading comprehension as grades progress. Research suggests that this is due to a variety of contributing factors, including deficits in decoding, fluency, and vocabulary, in addition to content-area vocabulary becoming increasingly challenging. While research has shown the vast benefits of utilizing morphology instruction across grade levels to improve vocabulary, especially in secondary education, it is a largely underutilized area for intervention. This project explores the potential benefits of offering adolescents a morphological intervention to make grade-level vocabulary across content areas more accessible. Through the use of explicitly-taught strategies to systematically break down and employ …

Archiving Living Historical Narratives With Youth Participatory Action Research, Leah Panther, Elizabeth Burbridge, Robbie Barber, Rosi Sanchez

Georgia Library Quarterly

As part of an interdisciplinary place-based summer program, the three adults and nine youth explored local communities as a co-researchers, seeking to preserve and sustain their community’s literacies, histories, and stories. Youth co-researchers led the data collection, analysis, and creation of archival resources to capture community literacies, histories, and stories that expanded beyond traditional print-centric resources and archival collections management systems. From our youth co-researchers we learned: (1) prioritizing people as archival sources, (2) living historical narratives lead to critical readings of historical artifacts, and (3) public digital composing practices with historical narratives and historical artifacts. The implications result in …

When Writers Lead The Lesson: Students As Teachers In Elementary Composing Spaces, Lindsey Rowe, Julie Johnson

Publications

The purpose of this article is to describe how teachers implemented student-led minilessons in writing instruction. We use observations from two elementary classrooms to provide examples of student-led instruction focused on digital and translingual composing. Through these examples, we outline three steps teachers can take to support student-led composing instruction: (1) look for innovative student composing practices, (2) yield the floor to students, and (3) lend support as needed. We conclude by discussing how student-led composing instruction positions children as experts and models in the classroom.

Representation Progression In Children's Literature, Meili Caldwell

Kentucky English Bulletin

No abstract provided.

Exploring Early Childhood Teachers’ Experiences In Teaching Multilingual Children In Public Mainstream Schools In Tennessee, Maria Dias

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative study, grounded in a phenomenological perspective, delves into the lived experiences of early childhood teachers who teach multilingual children in mainstream classrooms in Tennessee. Amidst the rising number of multilingual learners in mainstream educational settings and the dearth of adequate teacher training to address their needs, this research illuminates the experiences of these teachers. Furthermore, it seeks to advocate for the integration of translanguaging pedagogy into teacher training programs and state policies. This study employed a qualitative study using the three-in-depth-interview series from a phenomenological perspective (Seidman, 2019). The first interview focused on participants’ overall teaching experiences and …

Can Generative Ai Help Solve Functional Illiteracy?, George Goga

Artificial Intelligence, 2024-25

This two lecture module with an associated student assignment explores how technology can both support and complicate literacy development.

Lecture 1 “An Introduction to Functional Illiteracy and Generative AI” provides a foundational understanding of functional illiteracy, exploring its causes, impacts, and implications for education and society. This lecture sets the stage for understanding the intersection between functional illiteracy and AI, offering a critical perspective on how technology can both support and complicate literacy development.

Lecture 2 “Bridging the Literacy Gap Using Generative AI” focuses on practical strategies for leveraging generative AI technologies to enhance literacy instruction and address disparities in …

Parent Advocacy For Literacy Intervention: A Case Study Of Motivations And Experiences, Meghan Malloy

All Dissertations

While systems of support are used in schools to assist students’ academic growth, parents are not always informed of the support process or the academic goals set for their child (RTI Action Network, n.d.; Troisi, 2014; Weingarten et al., 2020). In the aftermath of the pandemic, students present a wide variety of academic needs (Lewis et al., 2021; Maldonado & De Witte, 2020), underscoring the importance of parent advocacy. In situations where a student needs additional supports, such as literacy intervention, the parent may become the child’s best advocate (Besnoy et al., 2015).

Using a multiple case study design, the …

Improving Academic Attitudes And Motivation Using Literacy Learning In A Rural Literacy Intervention Classroom, Dannie Wilson

All Dissertations

This qualitative study focuses on the importance of reading picture books aloud to improve students' social skills capacity by utilizing literacy and social skills in a rural setting. It is designed to address a problem of practice: the need for striving third, fourth, and fifth-grade students to gain and maintain motivation and positive attitudes toward learning. An overarching research question guided this study: “How does teaching interpersonal skills affect literacy learning attitudes and motivation in a rural fringe school?” The goal was to investigate strategies through improvement science. A short Plan-Do-Study-Act cycle was used as the structure for the research …

Combined Academic And Behavioral Supports For Struggling Readers With Emotional/Behavioral Disorders, Danika Helen Lang

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

The present study aims to examine the effects of a combination of academic and behavioral supports on students with emotional/behavioral disorders (EBD) who are also struggling readers. A multiple baseline across participants single case design was used to measure the impact of an evidence-based systematic phonics program, in combination with instruction in self-monitoring and self-evaluation via goal setting, on students’ word identification/decoding skills, oral reading fluency, and on-task behavior. Curriculum-based progress monitoring measures in nonsense word fluency and oral reading fluency were used to assess participants’ progress in reading. Momentary time sampling was the behavior recording method used to measure …

Teachers’ Self-Reported Practices Of Teaching Academic Writing In Pakistani Universities, Hafiz Yar

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

This study has explored teachers’ self-reported practices of teaching academic writing in Pakistani universities. The English language based developmental literacy courses in Pakistani undergraduate degrees are offered as part of the curricula rather than through specialized language centers. The three-course progression of developmental English literacy in Pakistani undergraduate curricula aims to develop academic writing proficiency besides effective business communication and technical report writing skills.

This study has used generic qualitative research methodology (Caelli et al., 2003; Kahlke, 2014; Kostere & Kostere, 2021), snowball sampling for participant recruitment, and a combination of survey and one-to-one semi structured interviews for data collection. …

Cultivating Cross-Cultural Connections Through Language Learning Circles In Early Childhood Programs, Joy Lee Hernandez, Abha Gupta

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

Spanish is the second most common language among US children aged 5–17, with 26.8% speaking it at home. To foster cultural understanding and promote positive relationships, it's crucial to introduce young children to different languages and cultures. Preschool language education can cultivate respect and empathy, building more inclusive communities. Culturally responsive education equips children with skills to value diversity, creating a harmonious cultural climate. This article highlights the importance of learning another language (e.g., Spanish) and introduces Language Learning Circles (LCC) for preschoolers. Research indicates ages 3–6 are optimal for language acquisition, emphasizing the need for early exposure to enhance …

Sociocultural Environment And Agency In Identity Construction Of English Language Teachers, Bharat Prasad Neupane , Phd

The Qualitative Report

Identity is an emerging field in educational research focusing on how teacher education programs, training, reflective practices, and short-term interventions impact the identity negotiation of teachers (Gautam, 2018). However, this study reports how different levels of sociocultural environments influence teachers and what initiatives they take for professional development and identity construction. Drawing on Wenger’s (1998) notion of communities of practice and Norton’s (2013) investing, this study sought to uncover the interchange of the development of learning communities and teachers by investigating the life history of four secondary-level English language teachers derived through informal conversations and in-depth interviews. Teachers’ life stories …

Effective Vocabulary Instructions In Kindergarten Through Third Grade, Allison Ericksen

Masters Projects

This project proposal explains the lack of research and emphasis put on vocabulary instruction in kindergarten through third grade. There is a vocabulary gap between students who come from low SES and high SES that puts students at a disadvantage when it comes to reading, since 60% of comprehension is tied to vocabulary (Stahl and Nagy, 2005). However, the gap is often not addressed until later grades when it starts to be more necessary to comprehend what they read in order to learn. Teaching vocabulary in the younger grades will help prevent the gap from growing too large for those …

Effects Of Flipped Explicit Reading Instruction On College Efl Trainees’ Reading Comprehension Proficiency, Getu Dagne Yalew, Abiy Yigzaw Filate

Journal of Educational Technology Development and Exchange (JETDE)

The flipped classroom, a contemporary model, and explicit reading instruction, a widely recognized conventional approach, both offer unique benefits and have their own place in education. This study aimed to investigate the effects of Flipped Explicit Reading Comprehension Instruction (FERCI) on college EFL trainees’ Reading Comprehension Proficiency (RCP) and its impact on course achievement test scores. Conducted at Injibara College of Teachers Education in Ethiopia, the study involved 53 participants from October 7 to February 6, 2023, utilizing a quasi-experimental pre-test-post-test non-equivalent group design. The participants were assigned into experimental (N=28) and control (N=25) groups. The experimental group received the …

“Without Boundaries, Something Great Might Just Be Created”: Examining Preservice Teachers’ Radical Imagination Through Becoming Writers And Teachers Of Writing, Erica Holyoke, Susan Tily

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

This study investigates how preservice teachers (PTs) created and enacted innovative views of writing instruction through course experiences in a field-based writing methods course as writers and teachers working with early elementary authors. Theoretically, we drew on radical imagination (Sailors, 2018) to interpret PT’s narratives and experiences in the course. We used constant comparative data analysis across sources, which included field notes, observations, and course artifacts. The findings explore interrelationships between being a writer, establishing a writing identity, and teaching and envisioning writing instruction through liberating perspectives through writing for social change. The implications of this work argue for integrated, …

Freewriting With Multilingual Learners, Tori Lands

Wellspring: A Practitioner-Oriented Journal of Literacy and Language Education

In this article, an ESOL teacher shares their experience implementing "Free Write Friday" with multilingual learners in a rural district in Maine. This simple but effective activity is laid out for fellow educators. Through this instructional approach, students had the space to write in English or their home language, fostering translanguaging and deeper connections between students and teachers. Benefits of implementing freewriting included increased collaboration, motivation, and cross-cultural connections.

Empathy And Readers – The Questions And Connections That Help Us Relate With Our Maturing Readers, Justin M. Stygles

Wellspring: A Practitioner-Oriented Journal of Literacy and Language Education

What motivates a reader? It may not be "interest" as commonly known, but affect. Affect can be considered a reader's thoughts about themselves including self-perception. When we know our students through through empathy, that is, because we've been in their shoes, we can create the foundation for stronger relationships and purposes for conferring.

A Phenomenological Exploration Of Language Shift Of Ikalanga In Botswana: Implications For Language Revitalization, Annah Sephene Macha

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

This study explores the phenomenon of language shift among the Bakalanga community in Botswana, focusing on the gradual displacement of the iKalanga language by dominant languages such as Setswana and English that hold official status for education and broader communication. iKalanga faces significant challenges, as minority languages face extinction globally, the Bakalanga’s experience reflects broader trends where dominant languages supplant indigenous ones in education and wider communication. This research employed a phenomenological approach to investigate how the Bakalanga transmit knowledge amidst this language shift. Data was collected through focus groups, life history narratives, documents, and individual interviews, and analyzed using …

Empowering Female Voices In The Ela Classroom, Jacqueline Gurliaccio Vance

Dissertations

This study aims to understand how women’s voices can be empowered in a high school English Language Arts (ELA) class. Through the use of female authors and female protagonists in the classroom texts, this study seeks to understand if implementing female-driven texts enhances female students’ literary experiences, empowers the personal identities of female students, and shapes female students’ perspectives of themselves and their peers. This case study includes female students in twelfth grade AP Literature class.

Can Vocabulary And Grammar Hold The Doorway For College Reading Success? The Case Of Arabic Learners Of English, Zainab A. Allaith

International Journal for Research in Education

Reading is an important skill for college success. This study investigated cognitive predictors of English reading comprehension success among college students whose first language is Arabic. Knowledge of vocabulary/grammar emerged as the strongest predictor of reading success, followed by silent reading fluency, and then decoding skill. However, metacognitive awareness of reading strategies did not statistically significantly contribute to the model. Findings suggest that Arabic speakers draw on their vocabulary and grammar knowledge when tackling an English reading comprehension task, skills that are language specific to L2. Implications include the recommendation for placing the development of college students’ language reservoir at …

Thai Americans: A Poem Collection Featuring "Bilingual หมา Standard Poodle" And "Last Name กู Too Long", Simon Boonsripaisal, Ravadee Boonsripaisal

Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement

This is a co-authored poem collection focusing on Thai American life. In Bilingual หมา Standard Poodle, interactions and observations are made between a Thai American family and their supportive standard poodle named Pumpkin. This poem interjects on the disaggregated Southeast Asian American experience with inclusion of a pet companion. In Last Name กู Too Long, a Thai American graduate student discusses with their mother the challenges of gaining employment. This poem brings attention to hiring bias in the screening and interview process.

Unpacking The Science Of Reading Research, Greta Rollo, Kellie Picker

Literacy and numeracy

The science of reading (SoR) is a term used for a body of evidence encompassing multi-disciplinary research from education, cognitive psychology, linguistics, and neuroscience. This evidence points to six key constructs that contribute to proficient reading: oral language, phonological awareness including phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and reading comprehension. Research around these constructs provides researchers and teachers with an evidence base of the knowledge, skills and strategies involved in competent reading and describes how reading develops in both typical and atypical readers. This paper synthesises evidence reviews conducted by ACER researchers that unpack the science of reading. The aim of …