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

Educators in the English-medium community colleges in Hong Kong are being challenged to prepare students with diverse language backgrounds to learn through English as a second language. While some researchers advocate the adoption of an ‘English-only policy’ to maximise students’ exposure to their target language, others argue that bilingual learners’ accessibility to both their first language [L1] and second language [L2] as semiotic resources for learning may facilitate their mediation of cognitively-demanding academic tasks, and subsequently their academic discourse development. Adopting a social practice view of learning, this study explores how learners use their bilingual resources to mediate their academic discourse development in a marketing course at the sub-degree level in Hong Kong. A case study was conducted to trace how students use Chinese as their L1 and English as their L2 to make sense of the social practice of marketing in an integrated language and content learning environment. The focus of the study was students’ language use at different stages of a marketing project which required them to work collaboratively to research and analyse the marketing environment of a product, to write up a marketing plan of the product, and to deliver an oral presentation. The main data sources were the spoken and written discourse data collected from a 14-week semester from a project group’s out-of-classroom discussions, written report and oral presentation, which were analysed using Mohan’s (2007) model of social practice analysis – one that considers texts as the instantiation of both the language system and the system of meanings. Interview data on the functions of students’ language choices in the project were also used to triangulate the discourse data. The analysis of the student discourses shows the prominent role of learners’ L1 in mediating their meaning-making, and subsequently their L2 academic discourse development, in the theory-practice dialectic of learning in the marketing project. The findings indicate that the student-participants used both their L1 and L2 to help them perform the project tasks within the larger context of the marketing course. At the project preparation stage, the student-participants were able to use appropriate lexical-grammatical features of their L1 and/or L2 to (i) reconstruct their findings about the marketing practices of the selected company, (ii) reflect on such practices using their disciplinary knowledge, and (iii) scaffold their peers’ second language academic discourse development. Through their constant reflection on their academic practices in both L1 and L2, the student-participants were ultimately able to deploy effective L2 linguistic resources which correspond to the semantic structures of marketing to represent their disciplinary knowledge in both L2 oral and written academic discourses. This study has made contributions to the field of bilingualism and academic discourse socialisation. It helps to generate a deeper understanding of learners’ language use patterns in a marketing project – how bilingual learners use their linguistic resources to make sense of the disciplinary ways of knowing and thinking. The results illustrate the interdependent relationship of content, language and higher level thinking skills in marketing. With a better understanding of the language and cognitive demands of the marketing project, this study helps to draw implications for the pedagogical practices of disciplinary subjects at the sub-degree level and calls for the collaboration of both content and language teachers to derive more effective strategies for fostering students’ academic discourse development by drawing on the linguistic resources of bilingual learners. / published_or_final_version / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Education

The purpose of this dissertation study was two-fold. First, the study explored how personal and professional experiences shaped three Latina bilingual Maestras’ identities. Secondly, this qualitative study further explored how histories framed a meaning of pedagogy for the Maestras. Presented in case studies, there were four themes that emerged across the three case studies: First, taking on the role of advocate; second, becoming a leader through professional development; third, developing critical thinkers using relevant classroom practices; and fourth, reflexivity for critical consciousness. Data were manually coded, themed and analyzed to answer the following research questions: Theoretical lenses framing this dissertation study include figured worlds and situated identities, critical race theory/Latina critical theory and sociocultural theory to analyze the data gathered through interviews, narratives, classroom and field observations, classroom and teacher artifacts, lessons and informal conversations collected over nine months of study as this dissertation study attempted to understand the findings as complex componentes entrelazados (interwoven components). The data were gathered in the classrooms and school campuses of three elementary schools across two school districts in two South Central Texas cities. The results provided six findings and they are 1) Tracing the positioning of Maestras, 2) Identifying opportunities of autoring self, 3) ¿Qué es ser maestra? What does it mean to be a maestra?, 4) Identity, culture and language: Racialized notions, 5) Taking on the role of advocate and finally, 6) Learning from lived experiences. The research revealed how Maestras’ positionings challenged structures of oppression in school and education in general and how opportunities for critical dialogue can support development of a more critical concientización (consciousness) and perspective, viewed through a social justice lens. / text

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The purpose of this research was to explore and understand the current development of an Intercultural Bilingual Education (IBE) program in a rural Mapuche-Lafkenche community (reservation) school in the south of Chile, and especially its impact on ethnic identity construction processes among its indigenous students. By using an ethnographic field research method and a cultural studies theoretical framework, I intended my work to explore the processes of recovery of Mapuche ancestral knowledge (Kimün) and its incorporation into the school IBE program, through indigenous traditional community educators (Kimches), hired as teachers. I gave special attention to the Kimches' role, which, by linking the indigenous knowledge, culture and Mapudungún language of the community with the school, created culturally-relevant instructional environments in the IBE classrooms, while simultaneously developing spaces for resistance and cultural production through counter-hegemonic narratives to the official knowledge of the school, thus enabling a space in the classroom for the emergence and validation of Mapuche students' identities as hybrid and negotiated constructs blending their Mapuche, Chilean and Global persona. This work also explores the main issues concerning the school's community within the larger historical and socio-political context of the Mapuche people in Chile and their interactions with the two main social agents historically involved in indigenous education: the State and the Church. Important consideration was given to place current IBE programs in the context of today's cultural and linguistic revitalization projects which move parallel to demands for land rights, political autonomy and nationhood proposed by Mapuche political and intellectual leaders. Finally, I explored the complex variables and issues both within and without the Mapuche communities, which oppose and make difficult the development of IBE programs in schools. Being a Chilean by birth, but not Mapuche, I gave important consideration to the complexities of the construction and politics of representation of the "Indigenous Other." This story is, in many ways, another complex story of the resistance and resilience of indigenous people in Latin America, and their long struggle for cultural and linguistic rights. / text

<p> This particularistic qualitative case study design examined reading strategies, approaches, and resources teachers of ELL students in kindergarten through third grade use to support reading development and promote the home to school connection regarding literacy proficiency. The purpose of this study was to examine strategies, resources, and approaches used to support home-to-school partnerships focused on reading development of K-3 ELLs in the X Public School District. Data analysis resulted in six emergent themes consisting of 22 teacher interviews. The first finding in this study that was revealed through teacher interviews identified guided reading, visual aides, reader&rsquo;s theater, and modeling/oral reading fluency as strategies that contribute to ELLs reading proficiency. In the second finding, teachers identified inviting parents to volunteer in the classroom, sending home a reading log that helps track the students&rsquo; reading at home, and inviting parent participation in extracurricular activities as approaches to encourage partnerships regarding reading development of ELLs. The results of this study provided recommendations for educational leaders to provide teachers specific professional development to encourage parent participation to focus on increasing students&rsquo; reading development that is tailored to the students&rsquo; and caregivers&rsquo; language needs. For future research, it is recommended that the study be replicated using different school districts to determine if similar findings were consistent across different districts.</p>

Once considered a minority, Hispanics today are becoming a growing majority of the U.S. population. In fact, Hispanics have become the nation's largest minority group. The growth of the Hispanic market has numerous implications for marketing and communication decisions. Hispanics residing in the U.S. consume products and services on a daily basis. They buy groceries, appliances, event tickets and interact constantly with companies and their messages. Not only is it crucial for U.S. marketers to recognize how valuable this market is to them, but Hispanics are a multifaceted market that must be well understood to ensure a good foundation is built prior to developing communications strategies. More specifically, marketers need to be aware of how Hispanics, often bilingual, process language and how this impacts the effectiveness of communications messages. This report will take you through an analysis of why the U.S. Hispanic market is valuable and how this particular segment should be approached when it comes to the language factor. / text

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This ethnographic case study examines the experiences of five Aboriginal/Native American women faculty working in universities in Canada and the United States. By using interview, observation and document analysis the author has sought to understand the cultural negotiations of the participants. The hiring of Aboriginal faculty raises new questions about faculty roles and experiences, in much the same manner that the hiring of women and other visible minority faculty raised questions about the structures and culture of the university. These women have successfully attained status positions as tenured and tenure-track faculty. While some of their experience may be explained by their gender, their experiences as Aboriginal women are unique. These women actively work to decolonize the very structures of the university. They reconceptualize the tradition bound roles of researcher, committee member, and teacher. By doing so they make themselves hyper-visible to the lateral oppression of other Aboriginal faculty, and they are vulnerable to the structural oppression that binds a colonial organization. By telling their stories here, these women leave trail-markers for other Aboriginal people who may seek an academic path.

The focus of this study was the perceptions of preservice teachers regarding the major contributing factors in their construction of identity as readers. I wanted to explore their lives as readers and what factors, such as parental and family interactions, the telling of reading of stories, and the role of a children's literature course, influenced their reading. Qualitative methods of research and case study were used in the study. The research questions that guided the study were: (1) What are the preservice teachers' perceptions of themselves as readers? (2) How have their identities as readers evolved and what factors do preservice teachers identify as influencing them as readers? (3) What is the influence of the LRC 480 children's literature course on their identities as readers? (4) What are preservice teachers' understandings of the role of children's literature in literacy development at home and in school? The findings of the study demonstrated the positive influence of several factors in the lives of the preservice teachers, such as, the importance of family involvement in reading, early reading activities, the reading and telling of oral histories, traditions and family stories, and exposure to children's literature including multicultural literature, and the LRC 480 children's literature course. The preservice teachers grew as readers during the children's literature course. They discovered new insights into the reading process and have constructed positive attitudes toward reading. In addition, they have constructed beliefs about reading and the teaching of literature to children as a result of their literacy experiences during their lifetime and the children's literature course.