A central question in racial and ethnic politics is whether bureaucratic representation benefits minorities. The theory of bureaucratic representation suggests that passive representation—representatives sharing characteristics of the represented—can lead to active representation—acting in a manner that represents the interests of the represented group. A growing body of empirical research has found that bureaucratic representation leads to improved policy outcomes for minorities. Most of the evidence for active representation, though, comes from representation by street-level bureaucrats. We do not know the impact of representation by upper-level bureaucrats, however. In this dissertation, I examine the impact of school superintendents on the generation and distribution of resources to English language learner programs. In particular, I investigate whether the presence of Latino superintendents leads to greater resources for these programs. Additionally, I also explore the impact of these programs on the Latino dropout rate. Using data from the Texas Education Agency, U.S. Census, and National Association of Latino Elected Officials, I find that upper-level bureaucrats do actively represent the needs of represented groups. Specifically, Latino superintendents distribute more resources, in the form of teachers, to English language learner (ELL) programs. Additionally, Latino superintendents are more likely to distribute resources to bilingual programs relative to English as a second language programs. In regard to the impact of different types of ELL programs, I do not find evidence that program type predicts Latino dropout rates. However, I do find that serving the needs of limited English proficient students, regardless of program type, helps to decrease the Latino dropout rate.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Melbourne, Dept. of Learning & Educational Development, 2006. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references.

The thesis is contextualized in the theory and research surrounding bilingualism and second language learning. In particular it concerns attitude to language as a key construct in the explication of language policy within a country. Three chapters provide the background to the research of the thesis. The first two chapters concern the history of the language situation and of bilingual education in Malaysia and consider how Bahasa Malaysia has recently been accorded increasing status in order to foster national unity and integration. The third chapter reviews attitude theory and measurement as it relates to language, with consideration of the world-wide research into language attitudes. The thesis proceeds to report two investigations carried out at four Teacher's Colleges in Malaysia. The investigations aimed to identify the major dimensions of language attitudes using a questionnaire approach. In both investigations, a factor analysis revealed five very similar dimensions: (i) a general instrumental and integrative orientation towards the English language, (ii) parental encouragement towards the English language, (iii) students' anxiety, boredom and nervousness in learning the English language, (iv) students' attitudes towards the home xiv country, its values, culture and language and, (v) students' attitudes towards foreigners. The study also examined the relationship between these five factors and selected variables such as gender, age, ethnic and home language, college and religious affiliation and parental educational background. The variety of inter-relationship help to validate the factor scales and provide an innovative scenario of differences in attitude amongst various groups of Malaysian trainee-teachers.

No description available.

No description available.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Open University. BLDSC no. DX184567.

The object of this research was to discover whether the related concepts of "practical certainty" (Dewey) and "going on" (Wittgenstein) might shed light on the nature of successful intercultural communication and how it is accomplished. The inquiry is significant because much of the research in the field to date is product- not process-oriented and involves models difficult to translate into practical life. The methodology involved the assumption that utility is a more suitable research goal than truth. Student-teacher interactions were taped in two kinds of class conferences at the University of New Hampshire, (1) foreign students being taught by an American, and (2) American students being taught by a Chinese woman. Participants were also interviewed. The concepts "practical certainty" and "going on" were found to shed new light on how successful intercultural communication is actually "done."

In this current era of rapid demographic shifts and high stakes school reform, studies that explore the academic and social responses of students to critical language pedagogies are very much needed as resources for education policymakers and teachers. Through a combined ethnographic and systemic functional linguistic approach, this study explores the textual and classroom process of 5th-grade Puerto Rican students engaged in a SFL-based curricular unit on literature. Three interrelated questions guide the research: how SFL-based pedagogy supports students in developing an understanding of how to write literature and to accomplish social and political goals; and on a wider level, how institutional policies and practices constrain and facilitate teachers in developing such pedagogies. To address these issues, the dissertation draws on a critical sociocultural theory of language and literacy that sees language as a semiotic process and text as a web of previous texts and contexts woven together for a specific communicative purpose. To analyze ethnographic and classroom data, the study draws on concepts from Bloome and Egan Robertson (1993), Dyson (1997, 2003), and Keene and Zimmermann (1997). The comparative SFL analysis of literary source texts and students' writing is based on the work of Eggins (2004), Halliday and Matthiesen (2004), and Thompson (1996). Analysis of the data reveals that students in this SFL-based curricular unit learned in very different ways to interweave patterns of meaning from literary source texts into their literary and other academic writing. Furthermore, the students' access to a wide variety of literature and scaffolding activities afforded them different entry points into literature that resonated most strongly for each of them (Dyson, 2003). On an ethnographic level, a history of school-university-partnerships and school reform initiatives in the research site facilitated teachers' implementation of critical language-based curricula. Implications of this study for K–12 practitioners and researchers are discussed at length. They include the importance of the explicit use of intertextuality in heightening students' awareness of language as a pliable repertoire of choices and the crucial role school-university alliances need to play in supporting teachers and students in urban school classrooms.

The objective of this dissertation is to determine how and to what extent the factors involved in primary stress assignment in nouns interact in the Spanish and English interlanguages. Both transfer and developmental factors are studied. The former include: L1 stress rule application in the L2 and L1 cognate stress transfer to the L2. The developmental factors considered are: L2 stress rule application and knowledge of the L2 marked stress. The analysis is based on Harris and Hayes's theoretical descriptions for the Spanish and English stress systems, respectively, and on Dresher and Kaye's parametric model. The sample consisted of 58 University of Massachusetts' students of Spanish: 30 beginners and 28 from the intermediate level; and 64 Simón Bolívar University's students of English: 32 from each level. The general hypothesis, according to which in the Spanish and English interlanguages' stress assignment of nouns, transfer and developmental factors interact in such a way that the former are more decisive at the beginning levels and the latter, at the intermediate, was proven. It was also found that in the first stages, learners rely on phonological rather than morphological information in finding out the second language stress system. In the light of the Theory of Principles and Parameters, the results of this study show that L2 learners can reset their parameter values: from the unmarked to the marked setting and vice versa. Finally, it is concluded that language idiosyncratic properties which lie outside the core grammar, such as: language specific conditions, prespecified metrical information in the lexicon, morphological considerations, etc. require systematic and intensive instruction and practice, since they constitute the main sources of error.

<p>The under-preparation in math at the high school and college levels, as well as the low participation of ethnically and linguistically diverse individuals in STEM fields are concerning because their preparation for work in these areas is essential for the U.S. to remain competitive in the innovative knowledge economy. While there is now a substantial body of research on this group of students, there remain unresolved questions around the role of linguistic factors, affective variables, and prior achievement. In light of this concern, the purpose of the study was two-fold. One was to examine the moderating role of first language (L1) proficiency on the effects of language minority (LM) status in English reading. The second was to investigate the mediating roles of English reading and math achievement in the relationship between such interaction and math self-efficacy. The study was a secondary analysis of the Education Longitudinal Study (ELS 2002, n =16,110). Using a multilevel SEM analysis the study did not find support for the moderating role of L1 proficiency. However, English reading and math achievement mediated the relationship between LM status and math self-efficacy. These findings provide further knowledge for the development of targeted interventions that aim at increasing the preparation and participation of linguistically and ethnically diverse students in STEM fields. </p>