<p> Mathematics performance of students in the United States is concerning. When compared to global peers, students in the United States perform at the lower range in areas of mathematics. Even after controlling for variables such as ethnicity, parent educational attainment, and socio-economic status, students in the United States continue to struggle in mathematics. One area that facilitates learning complex mathematics skills is computational fluency. The Mathematics Advisory Panel Report and the Common Core State Standards in Mathematics recommend that students have daily practice to build computational fluency skills. Evidence based interventions that target computational fluency includes incremental rehearsal, cover copy compare, and performance reward. The interventions were implemented with three students who attended a dual language immersion program and analyzed through single-case research design. The results found the interventions effective for two of the three students. Using these interventions as a package can have beneficial results in the computational fluency of students in dual-immersion programs.</p>

Thesis advisor: Hiroshi Nakazato / In Latin America, Indigenous peoples still exhibit markedly lower qualities of life compared to their nonindigenous peers. One of the most direct ways to change this cycle is through reforms to existing and implementation of new systems of education, such as intercultural bilingual education (EIB), to reflect a greater understanding of and sensitivity to Indigenous linguistic and cultural needs. Through an exploration of EIB in Peru, Bolivia, and Guatemala countries, this study determines some of the primary conditions necessary for EIB’s success to be: national and regional stability; governmental support in both legal and fiscal terms; funding and resources; community support and participation; and system design, program adaptation, and flexibility. If these prerequisites are met, EIB can be an effective way to provide an education to Latin America’s Indigenous peoples in such a way that it is adequate according to local, national, and international standards while simultaneously fulfilling the Indigenous groups’ articulated desire and need for an educational system that appropriately respects, preserves, and fosters the distinct languages and cultures existing within a multicultural state. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2012. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: College Honors Program. / Discipline: International Studies Honors Program. / Discipline: International Studies.

<p> The purpose of this qualitative research project is to describe the scaffolding strategies used by a teacher to engage and support students as they work within the continua of biliterate development in the fifth-grade Spanish language immersion classroom. As language immersion programs and dual language schools continue to grow in popularity in Canada and the United States, this study seeks to illuminate and interpret a teacher&rsquo;s work with students in the Spanish Language Immersion Program (SLIP), a research site located in the urban Midwestern United States.</p><p> This instrumental case study employed the lens of Sociocultural Theory to explore the principal research question: How does the teacher scaffold student development of biliteracy within language and content instruction in the immersion school context? The research also explores pre-planned scaffolding versus interactional scaffolding, as well as the tensions and forces within the broader context that the teacher encounters while working with students in this bilingual educational environment. Classroom observations, teacher interviews, administration interviews, and artifacts were analyzed using methods borrowed from Grounded Theory.</p><p> Findings from this study highlight the characteristics of the Community of Practice created by the teacher in this classroom that include a focus upon encouragement, knowledge, organization, and literate habitus. Additionally, two visual models were created to present the data including: &ldquo;Scaffolding Episodes in the Development of Biliteracy,&rdquo; to illustrate the task-oriented support provided by the teacher, and &ldquo;Centripetal versus Centrifugal Forces,&rdquo; to present the forces and tensions that the teacher faced within the historical phases of the Spanish Language Immersion Program.</p><p>

In 1987, as a matter of utmost urgency and importance, Negara Brunei Darussalam called for a new system of education that emphasized nationalistic commitment: “Languages for Bruneians”. With the era of globalization, the Brunei Ministry of education argued that new patterns of communication were necessary and implemented a bilingual policy where children are taught in Malay until the fourth year of primary school when the medium of instruction changes to English. While the new policy supports Bruneians’ proficiency in two languages, rumour has been magnified through recent established research findings that a large percentage of pupils are underachieving in science. The main focus of this study is the effect of language transfer, from Malay to English as the medium of instruction, on the development of children’s conceptual understanding in science. Two clusters of science concepts, evaporation and condensation and living and non-living, provide the science context through which children’s understanding is explored. The theoretical framework that includes viewing and examining children’s conceptual understanding from conceptual development and epistemological and ontological perspectives of conceptual change informs the analysis of this study. The research design employed a cross sectional case study method involving the administration of interviews to a total of 255 children aged between 6 and 12 years of age. The interviews about the concepts of evaporation and condensation involved two phases. For the first phase, 60 children from each primary level of 1, 3 and 4 (total n = 180) were interviewed. Fourteen months later, 18 children from the same sample were selected based on their fluency in the first interviews and revisited for more detailed interviews. / For the concepts of living and non-living, 75 children were chosen from a wider range of primary levels, fifteen from each level of Primary 1, 3, 4, 5 and 6. Each participant in this study was asked 2 types of questions; forced-response and semi-structured. For the forced-response questions, scores were entered into the Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS) computer software based on a 5- point scale. For the semi-structured questions, analysis involved initial grouping of responses before entry into the software and quantitative manipulation. The data from the semi-structured interviews also were analysed qualitatively with systematic searches for themes and evidence that supported and disconfirmed the quantitative results. As this study produced qualitative as well as quantitative data, rigour was determined by two sets of parallel criteria. Ensuring rigour for the quantitative data involved the criteria of validity and reliability. Within the qualitative paradigm, the criteria that evolved in response to the quality of the research were credibility, transferability, dependability and confirmability. The results indicated a steady progress of conceptual understanding when the pupils’ explanations about the concepts of evaporation and condensation were in Malay. However, the pattern of development of understanding did not reach projected patterns i n Primary 4 when only English responses were analysed. The findings show that the change in language of instruction significantly hampered communication about and possibly conceptual understanding of the cluster of concepts associated with evaporation and condensation. / Similarly, the findings about children’s conceptual understanding of living and non-living suggested that the expected patterns of development were not realised. Closer qualitative inspection of the data revealed that the idiosyncratic nature of the bilingual system perpetuated particular misconceptions specifically related to the nature of the Malay and English languages in both clusters of concepts. The primary conclusion of the study was that the change in language of instruction from Malay to English in Brunei primary schools had a significant, detrimental impact on the children’s expressed understanding of the concepts associated with evaporation and condensation and living and non-living.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2003. / Supervisors: Douglas Foley and Pauline Turner Strong. Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Available also from UMI Company.

Research about the use of mobile Internet technology in education is increasing, but gaps remain in the literature. This study used a case study approach to understand how teachers in a bilingual English Language Learner (ELL) classroom used iPod touch devices in a Texas public elementary school. Unlike many other studies investigating the use of mobile Internet technology in education by motivated educators and researchers, this research focuses on an initiative where apprehensive teachers were mandated to integrate mobile Internet technology. It also has a relatively rare focus on the implementation process rather than learning outcomes. Research questions were designed to explore how teachers implemented the iPod touch devices, whether the implementation encouraged informal learning, and what implementation challenges arose. Data sources consisted of qualitative interviews with students, teachers, and a school administrator as well as classroom observations and an analysis of student artifacts. Data showed that many activities resulting from the implementation of the iPod touch initiative included elements of constructivist learning and encouraged student interaction. Another finding was that giving students full-time possession of the devices did lead to students using the device outside of school, but that most of their activities involved practicing what they had learned in the classroom and not true informal learning. Overcoming teachers’ hesitancy and lack of familiarity with technology were found to be major obstacles early in the program, but findings suggested that training, support, and student enthusiasm overcame teachers’ initial reluctance. Implications of this research are that efforts to integrate mobile Internet technology with elementary-level ELLs need an active focus on informal learning to leverage the potential the devices offer. Also, successful implementation requires more than just the availability of the technology; it also requires training and support for teachers to increase their familiarity with the technology and to provide them with ideas that allow them to use the technology most effectively. / text

The study investigated the role of identity investment in the context of an English/Mandarin transitional bilingual education (TBE) program in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Fifteen students from Grades 1 to 3 and one teacher in the program participated in my research. Students were individually interviewed about how they viewed their identities along a continuum ranging from “Canadian” to “Chinese-Canadian” to “Chinese”. Students’ scores on bilingual vocabulary and reading measures were analyzed together with data provided by parents on language use and literacy practices at home. The research revealed that students manifested a range of identity configurations depending on language use at home and these identity configurations were related to students’ performance on the bilingual language and literacy measures. The findings, although tentative due to the small sample size, suggest that teachers should focus on affirming students’ bilingual and bicultural identities as a means of encouraging the development of bilingual proficiency.

The study investigated the role of identity investment in the context of an English/Mandarin transitional bilingual education (TBE) program in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Fifteen students from Grades 1 to 3 and one teacher in the program participated in my research. Students were individually interviewed about how they viewed their identities along a continuum ranging from “Canadian” to “Chinese-Canadian” to “Chinese”. Students’ scores on bilingual vocabulary and reading measures were analyzed together with data provided by parents on language use and literacy practices at home. The research revealed that students manifested a range of identity configurations depending on language use at home and these identity configurations were related to students’ performance on the bilingual language and literacy measures. The findings, although tentative due to the small sample size, suggest that teachers should focus on affirming students’ bilingual and bicultural identities as a means of encouraging the development of bilingual proficiency.

Doctor of Education / Department of Educational Leadership / Kakali Bhattacharya / Bilingual education has a long history in the United States, although the support for bilingual education through, which students preserve their culture and heritage language, has not been consistent throughout the years. While there is clear evidence that aligns students’ academic, emotional, and economic successes are aligned when they learn English through their native language, there is a paucity of research regarding bilingual principals as leaders of dual-language programs. This study explores issues of challenges and essential support structures within dual-language programs. The results may be used to improve leadership in bilingual programs. The purpose of this ethnographic case study was to explore the lived experiences of two Latinas who taught in Spanish within dual-language programs that were run by monolingual principals. This qualitative study was informed by two different sampling procedures, purposeful and criterion-based. The participants selected needed to be Latina (self-identified), Spanish dual-language teachers who worked with a monolingual principal as their leader within Midwestern U.S. schools, during the 2012-2013 school year. Narrative inquiry grounded the study in order to elicit stories that would represent the experiences of the teachers as they negotiated their path when their leader was monolingual and they taught in Spanish. Findings indicate that teachers who taught in Spanish within an Anglo-majority educational context, experienced palpable manifestations of inequity and discriminations. The participants had strong self-worth, self-confidence, and self-awareness, which led them to persevere through the instances of judgment and imbalance. The finding also demonstrate that the participants developed coping mechanisms to empower themselves, and established newly-found and increased resourcefulness as an attempt to provide the students with the education they deserved. The participants relied on alternative resources, long hours of research and re-planning, creativity, and resolve to function in an environment that was set out to demean them. The study raised implications about the amount of support teachers in bilingual programs who teach in Spanish receive while led by monolingual principals. Another implication is that there is marginalization of certain languages that are not English. Lastly, this study raised implications regarding ways in which bilingual programs can become more just and egalitarian.

abstract: ABSTRACT This study of the policies of the U.S. public school system focuses on state and federal funding to examine how budget cuts, the teacher shortage crisis, and large classroom sizes are interrelated. A qualitative method of approaching these issues and a meta-analysis of the findings, combined with my personal experience as a high school English teacher in the public school system points to a ripple effect where one problem is the result of the one before it. Solutions suggested in this study are made with the intention to support all U.S. public school students with an emphasis on students with special needs, English language learners, and students from low-income families. My findings show that marginalized students in U.S. public schools are experiencing a form of education injustice. This study highlights the burden placed upon the states to fund education and asserts that qualified professionals are increasingly difficult to recruit while teacher attrition rates continue to grow. The changing teacher-to-student ratio means students enjoy one-on-on time with teachers less often due to overcrowded classrooms. The interrelationship of these issues requires a multifaceted approach to solving them, beginning with a demand for more federal funding which will allow previously cut programs to be reinstated, incentives to recruit and retain highly qualified teachers which will reduce classroom sizes, and implementation of new programs targeted to ensure the success of students with special needs, English language learners, and students from low-income families. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Social Justice and Human Rights 2018