This case study explores the relationship between teachers' language knowledge and their grammar teaching practices within the context of a bilingual school for the deaf in Sweden, a country that has demonstrated success in educating deaf children bilingually in written Swedish and Sweden's signed language. The study's participants were two Swedish language teachers and their 17 elementary school students; both participants were identified as high quality teachers and models of the school's approach to the bilingual education of deaf children. Teacher Language Awareness was selected as the theoretical construct through which to explore the relationship between teacher knowledge and practice because of its focus on knowledge-in-action, or the sites where knowledge intersects with practice. The study's main data sources were classroom observation and stimulated recall interviews. Data were analyzed sequentially using a start list of codes derived from a review of the relevant literature. Two portraits of the teachers' grammatical Teacher Language Awareness emerged from my analysis of the data. Suggested pedagogical applications for these portraits in teacher education programs are presented.

Justification of the problem. A significant percentage of the children attending school in the Richgrove School District are identified as migrant students. Migratory children often were two or more grades below grade level in reading, spoke little or no English, tended to withdraw from the school environment, had poor self-concepts, lacked nutritionally balanced meals, and had few, if any, previous health records. The present study is an outgrowth of the Richgrove School District's effort to develop and provide an educational program designed to meet the needs of migratory children residing within its attendance boundaries. The problem. The problem was to examine student achievement in "pull-out" instruction classes in reading and in English as a second language, student self-image improvement, food and health services, and 2 community involvement for migrants. Delimits of the study. The study was limited to those aspects of the Richgrove School District's migrant education program during the 1970-71 school year. Hypothesis. It was the hypothesis of this study that migrant education programs can be designed to improve student achievement in reading and English as a second language classes, improve the self image of the student and improve food and health services for migrant children. Method of procedure. The procedure followed in this study was to describe the development, implementation, and observed results of the Richgrove School District's 1970-71 migrant education program. The effectiveness of the migrant education program was determined by student achievement, teacher and student ratings, observed results, records of food and health services provided, and an evaluation of nutritional and health services by a medical doctor. Findings. Migrant pupils in the Language Comprehension Improvement classes who were enrolled for pre-test and post-test evaluations of reading achievement gains in grades two through eight, as measured by the California Achievement Test, averaged more than one month's gain for each month in class . The English as a Second Language pre-class and post-class ratings revealed that children in the English as a Second Language classes learned to speak English at an accelerated rate. Teacher and student opinion indicated that children in the E.S.L. classes learned to speak English more quickly and took part in classroom activities sooner than previous migrant children who did not have the benefit of supplemental instruction. The food and nutritional services provided 11,612 free lunches to migrant students. Migrant families had the option of purchasing reduced priced lunches for their children at a cost of 10 cents per meal. The findings indicated that the food services were available for all migrant children. The findings revealed that health services were improved for migrant children. Fluoride "brush-in" treatment was provided for 96 migrant children. In addition, 85 dental examinations and treatments were conducted as well as complete physical examinations for 76 migrant children. Migrant families were assisted by the school district in obtaining glasses, shoes, and clothing for their children. Observations, student ratings, and teacher opinions indicated that migrant pupils experienced opportunities that aided the improvement of self-image and that migrant children seemed to develop a better self-concept. The related services which included cross-age tutors, recreational programs, learning experience field trips, summer school, and migrant parent involvement were deemed by the findings to have a positive influence on the school experiences offered migratory children. Implications . The project findings revealed that migrant education programs can be designed to increase achievement in reading and English as a second language, offer opportunities to improve self image, and offer increased nutritional and health services for migrant children. The findings of this study may be used to help improve educational services provided migratory children by other school districts or states.

This study was grounded on the assumption that the native culture of a sojourner is the main parameter through which he functions whether in his country or abroad. With this in mind, the educational perceptions of 123 male Saudi graduates from American or Saudi universities were identified and compared for the main purposes and goals of higher education, reasons for students to attend university, and acceptance of staff teaching students of the opposite sex. Furthermore, graduates' level of satisfaction with their higher education, and the views of graduates from American universities regarding the effect of their education on their perceptions and values in general, were assessed. / Their perceptions of the two groups were very similar for most items with only a few items displaying any significant difference. This reflected an "individual centered" ideology for Saudi graduates from American universities, and the "role of the national" by graduates from Saudi universities. / "Enhancing one's religion" as a main purpose and goal of higher education, and a reason for students to attend university showed significant difference across groups with Saudi university graduates rating it higher than graduates from American universities. Graduates from Saudi universities did not perceive it acceptable for staff to teach students of the opposite sex in both countries, while American university graduates considered it more acceptable in American universities. / Religion as a main purpose and goal of higher education, and a reason to attend university showed significant difference across groups with graduates from Saudi universities giving it a significantly higher rating. / Saudi graduates from both countries were highly satisfied with their education, with considerable difference in their satisfaction with the development of their technical skills and religious knowledge, and enhancing their understand of other cultures and religious beliefs. Graduates from American universities stated their education had a very positive effect on their concept of education and values in general through learning a new methods and skills, and becoming more tolerant and understanding of other cultures. Perceptual differences were explained using respondents' comments and original culture. / The results verified Schumann's Theory of Social Distance (1976) when extended to adopting a second culture. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 56-01, Section: A, page: 0118. / Major Professor: Frederick Jenks. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1994.

This research project presents three phenomenological studies: (1) teachers’ experience of working with underachieving students in South Africa, (2) teachers’ experience of working with underachieving students in Russia, and (3) teachers’ experience of working with underachieving students in the United States. It also involves a comparative study of teachers’ experience of working with underachieving students in the three countries. All teacher participants in these studies were recommended as expert teachers who displayed qualities of teacher professionalism such as (1) commitment to learners; (2) the ability to make decisions in complex and ill-defined contexts; (3) reflective practice; and (4) a body of specialized knowledge (Ingersoll, 2003). The first three studies employed an existential phenomenological research methodology for studying experience. This methodology gave an opportunity to identify the thematic structure of teachers’ experience for each country and to provide a non-dualistic description of the experience of teachers working with underachieving students. A comparison of the three thematic structures provided an opportunity to describe invariant themes of that experience. Similarities identified in the thematic descriptions of teachers’ experience allowed the introduction of the concept culture of the classroom which included the following characteristics: (1) holistic approach to students; (2) creating a safe place for learning and taking time to establish a relationship with students; (3) teachers’ focus on students learning; (4) helping students become independent self-reliant individuals; (4) teachers’ involvement in students’ lives; (5) teachers and students growing and changing together; and (6) teacher knowledge in their respective disciplines and high sense of teacher efficacy. Similarities in the lived experience identified among the three groups of participants can be explained by teachers’ expertise and mastery of the art and science of mediated learning described by Feuerstein (Feuerstein, Rand, Hoffman, & Miller, 1980). The focus of existential phenomenology on the experience as it is lived by an individual allowed the identification of invariant themes of working with underachieving students across different cultures.

This thesis discusses language use by sixth grade students in the English-German bilingual program in Winnipeg, Manitoba. This bilingual program started out as a heritage language program in the early 1980s, and continues to be well attended. This project looked at the way in which students used both English and German with a fluently bilingual interviewer in an out-of-classroom setting. The study started with the following research questions: 1. How do children currently being educated in the English-German bilingual program in Winnipeg, Manitoba use German (the second language or L2) and English in out-of-classroom contexts? 2. What kind of borrowing tendencies do sixth grade students share? 3. What do these tendencies tell us about children’s bilingual language use and their communication strategies? It is often assumed that use of L1 when speaking L2 is a sign of laziness or a sign of low language proficiency. However, based on a thorough linguistic analysis of two interviews as case studies, it became clear that borrowing is used for far more diverse purposes than the simple filling of lexical gaps. After an examination that included cultural vs. core borrowing, structural transference, and discourse-related borrowing, the data suggests that depending on the proficiency of the speaker, borrowing is an extremely important communication tool that not only allows the speaker to become more proficient in their L2, but also a more highly developed bilingual.

Airports have increased in size with the popularization of air travel and the emergence of new technology, which in turn has created less than ideal facility configurations for users wayfinding purposes. For that reason, the primary tool used to move the traveling public through airport facilities is signage, which should employ a concise and comprehensible system of directional, identification, regulatory and informational messages (Erhart 2001) to help all airport users navigate the maze-like facilities. With the intent of successfully directing the majority of airport users to their desired destinations, airport planners have implemented bilingual signage in several airports across the United States. The majority of these systems utilize Spanish as a secondary language: a reflection of the changes in population of American communities and the addition of new travel routes to Mexico, Central, and South America from several airlines. Whereas the importance of having bilingual signage systems is apparent, there is little information concerning how the Spanish speaking user views these bilingual systems and whether they are useful. The purpose of this thesis is to shed light on this issue by conferring with the user on the usability of several features of bilingual (English-Spanish) signage systems, and involve them in the design process with the goal to develop a useful system. As a result of this thesis, recommendations for improving the design of English-Spanish signage systems will be provided.

With the dynamics of the growing population of native Spanish-speaking students in America’s public schools, two-way dual language immersion programs are increasing in number. A series of observations and interviews in a dual language program by the researcher led to the identification of the use of visuals as a prevalent component integrated in instruction. This dominant instructional strategy led to questions of how visuals might affect student performance. Previous studies had not focused specifically on questions with a visual prompt and questions without a visual prompt. The purpose of this study was to answer several questions focused on differences in student performance on nonvisual and visual questions. The research questions used to achieve this purpose included a comparison of Mathematics TAKS Test scaled scores for students in a two-way dual language immersion program and students enrolled in a monolingual educational program, an analysis comparing these two groups of students on nonvisual and various categories of visual questions, an analysis of the performance of both groups of students based on the comparison of nonvisual questions to subsets of visual questions, and an analysis of an interaction effect and main effects of question type and group based on educational setting. A quasi-experimental design with static-group comparison was used for the purposes of this study. Data were collected from the Texas Education Agency [TEA] for all students who took the Spring 2009 version of the Grade 3 or Grade 4 Mathematics TAKS Test in English or Spanish. Data from a total of 6,904 students were used in the study. Data were analyzed based on descriptive statistics and ANOVAs. A statistically significant difference was found in overall scaled score comparisons between the two groups of students on the Spanish version of the Grade 4 Test. Major findings of the study included a higher performance shown on most subsets of visual questions compared to nonvisual questions for both groups of students involved in this study. Two-way dual language immersion students scored higher than students in a monolingual English program on most subsets of visual questions, but no interaction effect occurred between question type and group.

Thesis (B.A.) Magna Cum Laude --Butler University, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 37-43).

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

Thesis (M. Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 122-134).