In this study, I examine the factors that influence school districts’ commitment to implement ESL (English as a Second Language) education in compliance with the federal Bilingual Education Act of 1968. To explain variation in implementation effort, I focus on several features of the local implementation environment, including the role of Latino descriptive representation. Utilizing data on all public school districts in Texas, I employ a Heckman two-stage estimation procedure that accounts for factors that influence school districts’ decisions to implement bilingual education programs as well as factors that affect the amount of resources school districts are willing to allocate towards bilingual education. The results indicate that Latino school board and teacher representation play a positive and statistically significant role in determining: 1) whether school districts implement bilingual education programs; and 2) the level of expenditures and teacher positions allocated towards bilingual education. Thus, policy implementation outcomes translate into substantive representation.

In Korea, English education in kindergartens has dramatically increased in the last 15 years. As a result, almost all Korean kindergarten students are learning English today. The present study aims to understand Korean parents’, kindergarten teachers’, and kindergarten students’ perceptions of early English-language education (EEE). This study is particularly significant because thus far little research has investigated the perceptions of EEE held by the young learners themselves. Ninety-five participants - 30 kindergarten teachers, 33 parents, and 32 five- and six-year old kindergarten students - were recruited from five kindergartens in four cities in Chung-Nam province, Korea. The parents’ and teachers’ perceptions of EEE were examined through questionnaires, whereas the students’ perceptions of learning English were investigated through multiple data collection methods: a questionnaire, an interview session, and a drawing activity. Questionnaire data gathered from the parents and teachers were quantitatively analyzed, and the data gathered from the kindergarten students were analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. The findings revealed that the parent and student groups shared more positive attitudes towards EEE than the teacher group. In addition, many more parents and students believed that English education is necessary at the kindergarten level than the teachers did. Concerning kindergarten students’ perceptions, the three data collection methods in this study showed that many kindergarten children consistently held positive attitudes towards learning English. The students were not only interested in learning English, but they also showed high self-confidence in learning English. / Graduate

Middle school French immersion teachers often report that they have a difficult time engaging their students in second language reading. This research used a constructivist, critical, and pragmatic approach to case study to explore middle school French immersion students’ perceptions of themselves as readers of French and of their experiences with reading in French. The research sought to understand, through thematic cross-case analysis, which themes appear most prominently in student accounts of their experiences with reading in French. Four major themes were identified: choice, assigned work, understanding, and interest. Additionally, the research sought to identify which instructional strategies might be most effective in promoting student engagement in reading in an additional language. The findings suggest a need for highly differentiated instructional models that emphasize teaching students how to assess a text for its appropriateness to their interests and reading level and providing students with ample time for free, independent reading. / Graduate / 0515 / 0282 / 0279 / 0535 / 0727 / 0525 / jwhittin@uvic.ca

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Texas at El Paso, 2008. / Title from title screen. Vita. CD-ROM. Includes bibliographical references. Also available online.

Thesis (M.I.T.)--The Evergreen State College, 2009. / Title from title screen (viewed 7/30/2009). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 113-118).

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1991.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1991. / Also available in print.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2014. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The decision by teachers to use a specific language for teaching in a bilingual context is influenced by a number of factors. These may include learners’ linguistic background, parental preferences on the use of language for teaching and learning, policy stipulations on language use, as well as learners’ cognitive level and their ability to comprehend lessons given in a specific language. Although policy stipulations and parental preference may emphasise the use of one particular language for teaching and learning, research shows that the classroom context and the dilemma teachers face in terms of language comprehension often play a role in the use of more than one language. Teachers often switch codes in a bilingual classroom for different reasons: clarifying subject matter, concept elaboration, encouraging leaners to participate, supporting exploratory talk, ensuring comprehension as well as switching codes as a classroom management strategy. This thesis investigates the frequency and the function of teachers’ code switching (CS) in a bilingual classroom context. The study was conducted in Limpopo Province, South Africa, in the Vhembe District Municipality. Two bilingual primary schools under Sibasa Circuit were chosen for study. A series of lessons were observed in the two schools and teachers’ interactions with learners in the classroom were recorded and then analysed qualitatively, guided by Myers- Scotton’s (1993) Markedness Model which is used to provide an account for different types of CS. This model is used to account for the motivations for every code choice in any discourse. The results of the study show that CS is a common feature in the two schools. The policy stipulations and parents’ preference do not limit teachers’ use of CS in such bilingual primary school classrooms. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: ’n Onderwyser se besluit om ’n spesifieke taal vir onderrig in ’n tweetalige konteks te gebruik word deur ’n reeks faktore beïnvloed. Dit sluit die leerders se taalagtergrond, ouers se taalvoorkeur vir onderrig en leer, amptelike skoolbeleid in verband met taalgebruik, sowel as die leerders se kognitiewe vlak en hul vermoë om klasse te verstaan wat in ’n spesifieke taal aangebied word, in. Hoewel skoolbeleid en ouers se taalvoorkeur die gebruik van een spesifieke taal vir onderrig en leer beklemtoon, toon navorsing dat die konteks van die klaskamer en die dilemma wat onderwysers in die gesig staar in terme van taalbegrip, ’n rol speel in die gebruik van meer as een taal. Onderwysers gebruik dikwels twee tale in ’n tweetalige klaskamer, om verskeie redes: verduideliking van lesmateriaal, uitbreiding van konsepte, aanmoediging van die leerders om deel te neem, ondersteuning van ondersoekende gesprekke, versekering van begrip sowel as kodewisseling as ’n strategie vir die bestuur van die klaskamer. Hierdie tesis ondersoek die frekwensie en die funksie van onderwysers se kodewisseling in die konteks van ’n tweetalige klaskamer. Die studie is in die Vhembe Distriksmunisipaliteit van die Limpopo Provinsie, Suid- Afrika, uitgevoer. Twee tweetalige laerskole wat deel uitmaak van die Sibasa-streek is gekies vir die studie. ’n Reeks klasse is waargeneem in die twee skole en die onderwysers se interaksies met die leerders in die klaskamer is opgeneem en daarna kwalitatief ontleed , gegrond op Myers- Scotton (1993) se Gemarkeerdheidsmodel (“Markedness Model”) wat gebruik word om ’n verklaring te gee vir die verskillende tipes kodewisseling. Hierdie model is gebruik om ’n verantwoording te bied van die redes vir elke kodekeuse in enige diskoers. Die resultate van die studie toon dat kodewisseling ’n algemene verskynsel in die twee skole is. Die skoolbeleid en ouers se taalvoorkeur beperk nie die onderwysers se gebruik van kodewisseling in sulke tweetalige laerskoolklaskamers nie. Onderwysers gebruik om verskeie redes kodewisseling, insluitend uitbreiding, verduideliking, beklemtoning, en teregwysing as ’n dissiplinêre strategie.

abstract: ABSTRACT A hallmark of Arizona schools is the choice of parents in program and school for their child under the Open Enrollment laws. Among the choices for parents at some schools is Dual Language education, a form of enrichment wherein students learn the content of the Arizona State Standards through the medium of their primary language and a second language. The schools of this study use English and Spanish as the two languages. After 13 years of existence, changes in enrollment patterns have been noticed. Some parents whose older children attended Dual Language classes have chosen to dis-enroll their families from the program, so that their younger children are in English Only classes. At the same time that these trends in enrollment began, so too did strict enactment, enforcement, and monitoring of Arizona's Structured English Immersion program, the Department of Education's response to the voter approved Proposition 203--English for the Children--in November 2000. This study asks the following research question of de-selecting parents involved with Dual Language programs in Phoenix, Arizona: What are the rationale that influence parents to de-select Dual Language instruction in Arizona public schools in 2010 after having selected Dual Language for their older child(ren)? The study uses a Latino Critical Race Theory (LatCrit) Conceptual Framework to analyze interviews of 10 parents and 2 administrators from Dual Language programs in Phoenix, Arizona. There are three general findings of the study: 1) Parents sought asymmetrical measures of program design if their children were struggling in one language more than another, and chose to de-select when these asymmetrical measures were not enacted, 2) the de-selection process was generally not the result of family decision making, but rather reactionary to a situation, and 3) legislative mandates resulted in de-selection of the program. The LatCrit perspective showed most strongly in the third of these, wherein the de-selection was not necessarily a result of parent de-selection of the program, but rather the state's de-selection of willing participants in a language learning option. The hopes of the study are to hear the voices of parents who have to negotiate language policies and make programmatic choice decisions for their children. I also hope to provide information that Dual Language schools can use to understand the motivations and perspectives of the parents that will enable them to strengthen their programs and advocate for equality in opportunity for enrichment language programs for all children at their schools. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ed.D. Educational Administration and Supervision 2011

Linguistic barriers in education?: the influence of the language in school desertionThe present work has as its objective to evaluate the effect of having a native language different than Spanish over the probability of abandoning basic schooling. For that purpose a proportional risk duration model (Cox) and an accelerated fail time model are used, using information from 2008 and 2009 ENAHO, as well as 2007 Censo Escolar. In both models we find a positive effect over the probability of leaving primary studies when having Quechua as a native language.  The results, for the case of the Quechua speakers, can show part of the effectiveness of the intercultural and bilingual education program (programa de Educación Intercultural Bilingüe or EIB in Spanish) for the reduction of inequality in the process of human capital accumulation / El presente trabajo tiene como objetivo evaluar el efecto de contar con una lengua materna distinta del castellano sobre la probabilidad de abandonar los estudios básicos en el Perú (en el nivel de primaria o secundaria). Para ello se emplea un modelo de duración de riesgo proporcional (Cox) y un modelo de tiempo de falla acelerado, utilizando información de la ENAHO 2008 y 2009, así como del Censo Escolar 2008. En ambos modelos se encuentra un efecto positivo sobre la probabilidad de abandonar los estudios durante la primaria cuando se tiene al quechua como lengua materna. Los resultados encontrados, para el caso de la población quechua, echan luces sobre la efectividad del programa de educación intercultural bilingüe (EIB) para la reducción de brechas en la acumulación de capital humano.