This dissertation uses poststructural theory and critical discourse analysis to examine school and home discourses and subjectivities for four first-grade, bilingual Latino students. The rationale for the comparative analysis is to reveal sociocultural and sociopolitical influences with respect to classroom literacy learning for culturally and linguistically diverse students. Parent visits to the classroom provided an opportunity for the home subjectivities to be introduced into the classroom culture. When school and home discourses and subjectivities are compared and contrasted, a view of the student as possessing multiple and shifting subject positions comes into focus. Critical discourse analysis was used to reveal the discourses and subjectivities taken up by the students, their parents, and the classroom teacher, as well as revealing the tensions that surfaced as the school and home discourses and subjectivities either collided or colluded. The study's major findings include a conflict between the two school discourses of school reform and progressive literacy pedagogy and the construction of conflicting subject positions for the students and the teacher. During student-teacher interactions, the school reform discourse predominated, fostering the construction of negative and limiting subject positions for the students and the internalization by the students of the beliefs and subjectivities associated with the school reform discourse. During the classroom literacy event of biographical storytelling, the discourse of progressive literacy pedagogy predominated, resulting in a broader range of subject positions for the teacher, the students, and their families. This study shows that a poststructural framework and critical discourse analysis are useful in comparatively analyzing school and home subjectivities and discourses. In particular, critical discourse analysis shows the difficulty of enacting the progressive literacy pedagogy discourse in the context of pressures from the school reform discourse. Through the juxtaposition of school and home discourses and subject positions insights into the possibilities for curricular innovations arise; thus the value in such a comparative analysis for teacher education and classroom practice includes the need to further bring the students' culture and language into the classroom and the need for more classroom opportunities to enact the progressive literacy pedagogy discourse through such events as family visits and family stories. The newfound and broadened curricular space can lead to the taking up of new subject positions by students, their parents, and the classroom teacher.

This ethnographic study focuses on a small group of Iranian young adults, four brothers and recent immigrants living in a small city in New England. I used North American popular texts from a variety of sources as content to assist them in developing English language proficiency. For the purpose of this study, I had a dual role of both facilitator and researcher. I collected data throughout an intensive language course I taught over a summer. In this course, the participants negotiated meanings of signs and texts embedded within broader discourses. These interpretations and negotiations of meanings of texts are the focus of the analysis. Through the sharing of texts and discourses, joint discourses were constructed, which became part of the analysis and findings. In addition, the analysis reflects ways participation structure(s) changed during the course, particularly when participant texts or discourses were related to their sociocultural worlds as opposed to North American texts and discourses. Data was collected for this study using ethnographic field notes, audiotapes of the classes, audiotapes of personal interviews with participants, course materials, handouts, written assignments done by the participants during the course, and reflective evaluations. Analytical tools or constructs---specifically, intertextuality, interdiscoursivity, and identity---were the focus of the analysis of the data (Bloome, et al., 2005). The findings in this study indicate that the use of popular texts as schematically accessible content can be an important strategy for developing language skills of young adults from another culture. The findings also indicate that for meaningful discourse to develop it is important for the participants to be able to make intertextual and interdiscursive connections to their sociocultural backgrounds. When this happens, the findings indicate that the participation structure tended to change to learner-centered as the participants became 'knowledgeable cultural authorities.' When this occurs, interaction increases, and more meaningful texts and discourse(s) are constructed.

With the growth in the adult student population over the past few decades, better serving this student population has become a focus of many institutions (Altbach, 1999; Witt, Wattenbarger, Gollattscheck, & Suppiger, 1994; Cohen & Brawer, 1996). In addition, studies show that introductory English courses function as gatekeepers to persistence towards a degree (e.g., Sommers & Saltz, 2004; Michaud, 2011). Given the importance of English composition to adult learners’ success, the purpose of this study was to explore and understand how adult learners in an introductory English composition course experience and understand the classroom. The study was designed under the conceptual framework of andragogy, which upholds a model of adult learning (Knowles, 1984; Knowles, Holton, & Swanson, 2005), as a lens through which to examine data. A hermeneutic phenomenological methodology, in keeping with a constructivist stance, allowed for a deep exploration of the phenomenon as a lived experience that adhered to the tenets of van Manen’s (1990) research approach. A community college campus site served as the site of data collection, and one course, ENG 111, English Composition I, figured as the course considered the shared phenomenon. Nine adult learners, defined as those students aged 25 and above, participated in two semi-structured interviews, one at the start of each term and one at its completion. The interviews solicited their individual understandings of their experience, allowing for a rich collection of narratives. Using thematic coding in keeping with van Manen’s (1990) methodological approach of interpreting of spoken narratives as text, the narratives yielded individual themes, which were then compared across cases to generate larger themes that represented the shared understandings of all participants. These overarching themes were: (1) Applying background experiences to learning attitudes and approaches, (2) Navigating outside responsibility conflicts, (3) Appreciating supportive and equitable interpersonal relationships, and (4) Experiencing greater confidence in academic writing. While the study design sought to elicit deeper understandings of a particular phenomenon and so cannot be generalizable (Creswell, 2007), the findings nevertheless suggest conclusions and recommendations that provide useful direction and insight to this student population and future research, which close this study.

As a American born Cape Verdean educator, I took a special interest in the educational experience of Cape Verdean students, particularly on the elementary school level. During my classroom discussions, conversation with fellow bilingual teachers, parents and other students I discovered that most elementary students know very little about their culture or heritage. After extensive research, including a visit to the Cape Verde Islands I discovered that there was no curriculum on the Cape Verdean culture in the American School system. The purpose of my thesis was to present a rationale for such a curriculum, research all of the essential components of the Cape Verdean culture, and then to actually construct the curriculum. The curriculum is comprised of nine lessons. These lessons are composed of the following: A visual introduction to the Cape Verdean people and life; The Environment of the Cape Verde Islands; A Historical Timeline of Cape Verdean Island; Emigration to America; Crioulo: the Cape Verdean language; Music of the Cape Verdean People; Food in Cape Verdean Life; Cape Verdean Currency; and Folk Tales of the Cape Verdean People. Hopefully this curriculum will be used by elementary teachers to expand the consciousness of all students regarding the Cape Verdean people and their culture. The culture and heritage of the African-American is closely linked to that of the Cape Verdean. The physical characteristics, mannerisms, idiosyncrasies, medicine, diet, and superstitions of both ethnic groups are similar. Since African-Americans and Cape Verdeans are linked in culture and heritage, a curriculum focused on Cape Verdean culture should prove to be a valuable tool for both groups.

This study examined the academic progress of limited English proficient students who have been mainstreamed from the bilingual program. The study population consisted of thirty fourth grade students from the Hoboken, New Jersey School District who have previously participated in the bilingual program from Kindergarten to third grade. It included an analysis of identification process, their tenure in the bilingual program, and their present mainstream academic status. The study focused on the follow-up aspects (not often undertaken by bilingual programs) evaluating success and failure factors for mainstreamed bilingual students. Subjects examined included student achievement and assimilation, using a comparative base on non-bilingual program English-speaking students. Both reading and mathematics achievement data on the target population were analyzed for skill deficiencies using the Comprehensive Test for Basic Skills (CTBS) data base. A review of factors affecting students' progress was assessed via surveys of personnel who work with limited English proficient students. These interviews included parents, teachers, and administrators. Factors derived from these interviews, review of literature, and empirical observations combined to facilitate the development of a mainstreaming model. The mainstream model was designed to facilitate parents, teachers, and administrators with baseline data in organizing an effective mainstream criterion. The following are three major conclusions which were derived from this study: (1) Multiple criteria for entry and exiting bilingual students should allow for a more effective assessment of the limited English proficient students. (2) Program goals and objectives must be identified to maintain proper direction in the bilingual curriculum. (3) The development of a mainstream model.

The purpose of this study was to first identify and describe the literary response behaviors exhibited by pre-schoolers in a literature rich setting. Next, the study examined these response behaviors as indicative of the characteristics of theorist Michael Benton's 'secondary world' of literary response (1983) and of psychologist D. W. Winnicott's 'third area' of play (1971). Finally, the study considered the possibilities inherent in these secondary worlds for the creation and exploration of meaning on the part of pre-schoolers. This study utilized ethnographic methods of participant observation, in-depth interviewing, informal conversations, field notes and videotaping. Validity was established and checked through trianglization using the adults in the setting and two outside readers. The findings of this study are culture specific. This ethnographic study offers ways of thinking about, considering and discussing how young children use their experiences of interacting with books and responding to books to create meaning for their lives. Response behaviors were identified, described and organized into three general categories: (1) Individual/dyadic response behaviors involving one child/book(s), two children/book(s) and a child/adult/book(s), (2) Communal response behaviors involving several children/book(s) or several children/adult/book(s), and (3) Guided/directed response behaviors which always involved several children, an adult and book(s), and, in addition, had a specific goal or objective. Response behaviors in each of these categories covered a broad range of activities and formed an integral part of the living and learning experiences of the pre-schoolers in this day care setting. Both physically and humanly this setting was an organized and supportive environment which expected and encouraged interactions with and response to books. Within this setting, reliable and trustworthy relationships were formed which both allowed and encouraged the creation of secondary worlds. Such secondary worlds were intermediate between inner psychic reality and outer shared reality, were dependent upon individual contributions and provided place and opportunity for the creation of meaning. The pre-schoolers used these secondary worlds to explore self identity, emotions, competency development and to expand and integrate their ways of being in the world.

The purpose of this study was to determine if the focus correction strategy of the Cumulative Writing Folder Program had a positive effect on students' overall writing skills and on the major writing areas of mechanics, style, content and organization. A pre and post exploratory study was used in this research with a sample of 22 grade 7 urban middle school students. The study looked for significant differences between high and low repetitions of focus correction areas (FCAs) and their effect on achievement. Writing samples were assessed with holistic and primary trait scoring. The important findings of this study are that: (1) The Cumulative Writing Folder Program works and produces significant increases in students' writing skills overall and for all variables studied: mechanics, style, content and organization (p $<$.001). It especially works as a way to focus teachers' attention on writing and as a means for teachers and administrators to provide a set of strategies that everyone can use. (2) A balance of FCAs should be used. An overemphasis on mechanics may actually decrease students' mechanical skills. (3) The frequency of FCAs may not be as important as the focusing of the correction itself. These results are all the more meaningful because they were achieved in an inner city middle school with minority students. They reinforce the notions that an atmosphere of literacy can be created, good writing can be taught, and classroom practices make a difference. Further research must be done to determine if the positive results were due to frequency of writing, consistency of approach, the management system, oral reading, or using past papers to teach new skills which are the other major components of this program, or to the atmosphere of literacy at the study school, and to find out what number of Focus Correction Area repetitions works best. Additionally a study should be done to examine which individual focus correction areas have the greatest effect on writing performance. When research responds to these issues, American schools will produce more effective writers and the teaching of writing will be close to reaching its potential.

The purpose of this study was to investigate level of spelling development in three types of spellers. First, two broad groups of spellers with average to above average intelligence were identified from an overall sample of 446 eleven to thirteen year old subjects based on K-TEA Spelling Test scores: high scores designated normal spellers, or the control group; low scores designated unexpected poor spellers, or the UPS group. Second, thirty-eight subjects in the control group and thirty-seven subjects in the UPS group were administered four word pronunciation, four spelling identification, and four spelling from recall tests. Scores on one of the word pronunciation tests (the Woodcock-Johnson) were used to divide the UPS group into two subgroups: above-mean scores designated dysgraphic spellers; below-mean scores designated dyslexic spellers. Mean scores by group for correct scores and error scores were analyzed by one way analyses of variance and follow-up Duncan's Multiple Range Tests to determine if and where significant differences occurred across groups. Prior to data collection, nine hypotheses were made based on Frith's (1986) three-phase model of reading and writing acquisition whereby children were hypothesized to develop through logographic, alphabetic, and orthographic phases of development, each phase marking a stage of normal development for normal spellers or a point of arrest for UPS spellers. Frith hypothesized an arrest at the logographic stage for dyslexic spellers; at the alphabetic stage for dysgraphic spellers. Data strongly support Frith's three-phase developmental model. Results from measures chosen to reflect functioning at different developmental levels tend to support that normal spellers have mastery of all three levels of development; that dysgraphic spellers have developed beginning level orthographic strategies; and that dyslexic spellers have developed beginning level alphabetic strategies. However, since both dysgraphics and dyslexics, unlike normals, seemed to show upper level skill loss in unfamiliar situations, a tentative alternative explanation to Frith's Developmental Arrest Theory is offered: that point of arrest for both dyslexic and dysgraphic spellers is at the logographic phase, with dysgraphics reaching higher developmental skill levels than dyslexics because of advanced verbal ability and compensatory strategies.

This dissertation describes the design, implementation and assessment of a staff development project to develop a cooperative whole language approach. The foundation for this staff development project for elementary school was the recognition that language development is crucial to a child's ability to succeed in the school environment. The educational objectives of this project were to motivate and encourage students of low income, African American families to write imaginatively and productively, and to teach writing to those same students to help them develop their own stylistic competence. These objectives necessitated the organization of three components. First, a staff development program focused on a whole language approach so teachers could share cooperative learning strategies for improving selected aspects of writing instruction. Second, a language experience approach in which the language, experience, and feelings of minority students could be used to advance motivation, accuracy, and pride. Third, the creation of a positive school climate to help students overcome difficulties in communicating in standard English by developing a "school way of communicating" without forcing the student to conclude that the way the family converses at home is wrong. Cooperative learning staff development sessions, predicated on a whole language approach, combined five underlying principles: (a) Distributed Leadership; (b) Heterogeneous Grouping; (c) Positive Interdependence; (d) Social Skills Acquisition; and (e) Group Autonomy. These prompted the preparation of writing activities for the African American students in all aspects of the curriculum. Ongoing monitoring of students' progress and completed tasks were compiled in both a group and individual portfolios. Basic to the success of this project was overcoming six beliefs: (a) a single set of subcultural customs shape the behavior of African American members of our society; (b) language programs should involve only instruction in using standard English; (c) all African American children are apathetic and their classes are seldom exciting; (d) discipline is a unique problem in the African American classroom; (e) African American learners cannot become involved in inductive, inquiry centered learning; and, (f) staff development sessions are not required for teaching English to the African American child. The proposed goal of this effective staff development project was not to change, but, to add a new dialect to an existing one by using a child centered, whole language, cooperative learning approach. By mixing the students' own experiences and the presentation of new experiences, a new dimension was introduced. The students were meeting established norms of success and were eager to accept additional challenges. Class improvement was clearly visible in a low income, urban elementary school.

Master of Arts / Department of Modern Languages / Amy L. Hubbell / This portfolio presents demonstrably proven effective guidelines for classroom activities in accordance with the widely accepted, communicative approach to teaching foreign languages. Stemming from the author's own personal experience with eighth-grade French students, these examples are based on the standard principles of Communicative Language Teaching. As graphically and comprehensively illustrated in this portfolio with student-friendly, image- and table-enhanced templates, the author identifies and explains how structured input and output activities might be developed to encompass the four components of teaching a language: namely, listening; reading; writing; and speaking. Beyond the objective of showing the usefulness of this teaching/learning method through examples of structured activities, the author augments the portfolio with valuable associated teacher's materials including a current professional teaching CV, a philosophy of teaching statement, a working syllabus, a classroom management plan, and a rationale for the activities included -- all of which are applicable to typical classroom environment situations. These carefully constructed worksheets and visuals are amply and appropriately interspersed throughout the sectional contents of the portfolio, thereby adding to the understanding of the textual descriptions of recommended teacher and student activities. In this manner, the author has documented a tested and practical set of working materials designed to promote the facility, ease and enthusiasm of learning languages from both the teacher and student points-of-view and needs. The compartmentalized contents of this portfolio, organized into 13 sections as listed in the table of contents, comprise a wide range of actual classroom activities that evolved from the author's daily teaching experiences. The portfolio instructions and examples also incorporate the well-founded and well-known teaching techniques documented in the professional literature as cited throughout the narrative text. For this purpose then, this portfolio delivers a complete and thorough description of possible teacher and student activities in various foreign language classroom scenarios.