<p> The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the college-related self-efficacy of 12th Grade English learners enrolled in a public charter school in Southern California. College-related self-efficacy is defined as a student's belief that they can attend college. This qualitative exploratory study was designed to explore the beliefs and attitudes that current English language learners (ELL) have regarding the possibility of attending college. A cross sectional data collection approach was utilized to explore college-related self-efficacy during English Learner's senior year. The senior class studied was the first to experience a high-school pathway designed to culminate in English language learners having both the academic skills and having completed the coursework to make them college-ready and competitive during the admissions process. </p><p> The findings of this study support the following conclusions. Explicit adult investment in ELL success impacts how students describe their college-related self-efficacy. Language acquisition impacts the ability to communicate both academic and social-emotional growth. According to ELL students, personal efficacy and college-related self-efficacy share descriptive traits. Students perceive their college-related self-efficacy as a choice impacted by both external and internal input. As default experts for ELLs, teachers are in a position to impact college-related self-efficacy. College-related self-efficacy is impacted by factors outside the school campus and outside the school-day. English learners need additional time outside of their senior year to understand college applications and the college experience. Students view additional opportunities to practice language as a key component of social immersion and acculturation. Explicit attention to belief in ELL student potential is an avenue of improving college-related self-efficacy.</p>

<p> In education today, Latino populations are growing, but Telles and Ortiz (2013) claim they account for the lowest academic levels and the highest levels of dropouts. Latino <i>transfronterizo</i> (literally border crossing) students and their parents in this study have high academic aspirations in spite of challenges of poverty, second language acquisition, and other difficulties which arise from U.S.-Mexico border contexts. Through dissecting the events of the 1990s and early 2000s, the progression of northern migration from Mexico and the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 influenced anti-immigrant sentiment along the border and enactment of laws and policies to limit circumnavigating the international line. Misidentification as illegal immigrants creates borderland perceptions that Latinos are suspects and often results in discriminatory treatment from postcolonial dominant culture. This culture is reflected and perpetuated in schools where home language surveys identify native Spanish speakers to segregate them into Structured English Immersion programs for students with Limited English Proficiency. Ethnographic research from January of 2013 to August of 2015 included over 300 observations and 14 semi-structured interviews with seven <i>transfronterizo</i> students and nine parents revealed language disconnects between school and home. Relationships between teachers and students/parents did not exist and trust was lacking. Latino parents wanted to help students with school, but English only requirements limited their assistance. Through the use of Furman&rsquo;s ethic of community and Yosso&rsquo;s community cultural wealth, educational leaders could create communal process at schools to build the capacity of teachers and parents to create relationships and shared cultural competencies. </p>

<p> English learners are expected to acquire academic language and content simultaneously. Long Term English Learners (LTELs), a growing English Learner subgroup, struggle academically and do not have the necessary academic vocabulary proficiency to achieve academic success in our current educational system. </p><p> This mixed-methods study examined the implementation of Academic Vocabulary Instructional protocols in the upper grades in a small urban elementary school district. Semistructured interviews, focus group, observation protocol, and data analysis methods were used as primary methods for data collection. Overall, four key themes emerged in this study. First, all 4th- and 5th-grade teachers implemented the new Academic Vocabulary Toolkit and protocol to address the academic language needs of English learner students. Second, teachers consistently used the academic vocabulary and grammatical frames. Third, teachers regularly modeled the use of an academic register. Finally, there was an increase in the use of grammatical sentence frames and academic vocabulary by students across the content areas. Language Acquisition and Sociocultural Theory in Language conceptual frameworks were used.</p>

<p> This qualitative interpretive study explored how former newcomer English Language Learners (ELLs) in Boston Public Schools (BPS) made sense of their transmigration experiences through a digital storytelling project. The study fills a gap on transmigration experiences in the context of English-only learning environments, with a particular orientation toward the value of students&rsquo; home languages, and in turn, cultures within an urban school setting. The immigrant student population in BPS continues to increase and teachers must be able to understand and plan for newcomers&rsquo; specific needs. To this end, my conceptual framework drew on four areas: general educators and their urban students, with sections on teachers&rsquo; habitus and the hidden curriculum; cultural relevance in urban education; identity, including social identity theory and transnational identity; and school adjustment, with sections on student voice and social integration. Set in a community center in Boston and drawing on ethnographic methods, the study explored participants&rsquo; unique educational experiences in moving from Haiti to different academic programs in BPS. </p><p> The overarching research question was: How do former newcomer ELLs make sense of their transmigration experiences through a digital storytelling project? I used a combination of methods&mdash;interviews, participant observations, photography, and digital storytelling&mdash;to gather and analyze artifacts. Data analysis highlighted issues related to the process of conducting the digital storytelling project, as well as issues emerging from the participants&rsquo; narratives of transmigration. Analysis of the research process revealed a distinction between how teacher preparation and teacher preparedness might be understood for educators working with newcomer ELLs. Analysis of participant narratives suggests that language holds central importance to the transmigration and social integration experiences of newcomers. Furthermore, digital storytelling, as a pedagogical process, may serve as an effective tool for working with newcomer ELLs, both as a means to facilitate meaning making and to give significance to their transmigration experiences. It may also serve as an effective means to support language development. Adding to the body of immigration literature on how newcomers fare, the study&rsquo;s implications include the role of language in social integration, ways of understanding teacher preparation and preparedness, and the utility of digital storytelling.</p>

<p> The largest refugee group entering the United States in recent years is from Burma. Refugee students face a daunting set of challenges, from language and cultural differences to living in poverty, in becoming successful in their new homes. To be successful in schools and gain cultural and social capital, refugee students must learn and internalize the specific norms of their classrooms. In middle school, students are particularly reliant upon their peers for support, making peer interactions especially important. In multicultural settings, students have ample opportunities for intercultural interactions, which can help refugee students navigate their new settings and become more successful. Unfortunately, there has been little research on the experiences of Burmese refugee students in classrooms in the United States. </p><p> I used a qualitative, transcendental phenomenological approach to study how three female Burmese refugee students experienced multicultural middle school classrooms in the United States, especially their intercultural interactions, through interviews, observations, and stimulated recall. </p><p> The participants reported wanting to understand what they were learning, stay on task, and be kind to other students. Those traits developed from their experiences in their countries of origin and combined to create a picture of what a good student should be. In observations, students acted out their ideas of what it meant to be a good student. Their intercultural interactions in class reaffirmed their identities as good students. </p><p> Implications based on the findings include setting up intentional intercultural interactions with a diverse group of students in classrooms with multicultural approaches and that researchers examine the experiences of various groups of marginalized students while accounting for the context in which they learn and acknowledging a multifaceted view of adolescent identity development. </p>

<p> Federal Program Monitoring (FPM) is California&rsquo;s current education compliance monitoring process. Roughly 120 local educational agencies (LEAs) each year are selected to receive a FPM review&mdash;half on-site and half online. Through FPM, the California Department of Education (CDE) reviews a variety of categorical programs, including the English learner (EL) program, for compliance with state and federal mandates. LEAs found to be non-compliant (NC) in one or more categorical programs are required to resolve the NC findings within certain timelines or, potentially, face state fiscal sanctions. </p><p> This comparative case study explored the responses to FPM by district leaders from two urban school districts selected via a purposive sampling approach. In particular, this study investigated whether LEAs leverage FPM to improve the provision of services to English learners and, in particular, English language development (ELD) instruction. </p><p> My conceptual framework posits that the different responses by district leaders to the various forms of education accountability regimes I identify can be explained, in part, to their position on various conceptions that, ultimately, influence their willingness and their capacity&mdash;integrity serving as a mitigating factor. These responses that can be grouped into three categories: leveraged compliance, contrived compliance, or non-compliance. </p><p> As predicted by my conceptual framework, I found contrasting findings across the two districts for predictable reasons, or, theoretical replication. The Puente Verde USD had a high level of willingness to be responsive to FPM. In comparison, Windy Hills USD&rsquo;s ideological stance on ELD&mdash;incongruent with the CDE&rsquo;s&mdash;coupled with their integrity to do what they felt was the right thing, inhibited their willingness to be as responsive to FPM. Additionally, whilst both LEAs had relatively high levels of capacity to implement EL programs, Windy Hills&rsquo; lower absorptive capacity constrained further capacity building. </p><p> Although compliance monitoring, like FPM, is often seen as a bureaucratic exercise, some LEAs are able to seize the opportunity to leverage it to improve services, while others, even when possessing relatively high levels of capacity may not. Oftentimes, compliance with FPM is seen as a simple bimodal response. What this study found is that it is much more nuanced.</p>

Elucidating the knowledge base of those who teach adult learners in ESL (English as a Second Language) programs, this research is a qualitative study incorporating multiple data collection techniques and involving practitioners with various backgrounds from different program settings. Although educational opportunities targeting adult ESL students play an essential role in equal and extensive participation in society and academia, the status of teachers who assist these learners achieve their goals is rather marginalized, often because the students themselves are marginalized and ESL teaching is considered an undertaking that does not require special preparation. One way to enhance the professionalization of those involved in ESL is through an explication that the task of providing instruction to ESL learners is indeed an endeavor filled with complexity and requiring a strong knowledge base. This study was an attempt to contribute to this effort in fostering such professional recognition. Data were collected via a series of focused interviews, consecutive classroom observations, and a stimulated recall procedure with each of 10 teacher participants. Analysis of the data revealed that ESL teachers possessed an intricate knowledge base with multiple categories of knowledge that they called upon to deliver instruction effectively and efficiently, particularly through the management of student responses and the management of learning. The interconnection among the seemingly discrete knowledge categories further highlighted the complexity and difficulty involved in the provision of instruction to adult ESL learners. By comparing the teacher participants’ instructional effectiveness and various backgrounds, the study also illuminated the impact of ESL teachers’ professional preparation and language learning experience. Implications derived from the findings are offered for theorists and researchers, and for practitioners and administrators of programs that serve adult ESL learners. / text

<p> Learning English as a foreign language (EFL), a highly valued skill in the Chilean marketplace, is an arduous and complex personal endeavor requiring high student motivation. Reflecting this challenge is the heightened anxiety among EFL students, whose work has been associated with historically meager results. Blended learning, the fusion of face-to-face and online content delivery and assessment, offers a promising solution to EFL learner reticence. Evidence suggests that an active online teacher presence in a blended EFL course can enhance student engagement. The purpose of this study was to discover the perceptions of EFL instructional specialists concerning (a) student involvement and engagement in online portions of blended courses, (b) marginal teacher presence in the online portions of blended courses, and (c) ways to improve student involvement in the online portions of the blended courses. Results of a systematic qualitative analysis, employing constant comparative data analysis of individual interviews with a sample of 10 voluntary EFL instructional specialists, indicated teachers need to take part in design of blended EFL courses to address these issues. The findings, coupled with theoretical frameworks of social-constructivism, transactional distance, diffusion of innovation, and universal design for instruction, served as the background for a proposed teacher training project resulting from this study. The study can contribute to positive social change by inviting EFL teachers to become more involved in blended course design, increasing their sense of ownership, sharing best practices for blended EFL teaching and learning, and creating conditions for more successful upward social mobility opportunities for Chilean university students who have acquired certifiable English language skills.</p>

<p> The English Language Learners (ELL) student population continues to increase in American schools. Schools have the obligation and privilege to serve this population, but challenges exist to help ELLs become proficient in all subjects. The need for educators to use research-based best practices is critical to help best serve ELLs and to increase academic achievement. The researchers conducted a mixed-methods study in order to identify the research-based practices proven to increase the academic achievement of ELLs. The researchers found that Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP) was a research-based framework proven to help ELLs academically. ELL Directors of middle Tennessee districts having statistically significant gains with ELLs believed that the top best practices to use with ELLs were activating prior knowledge and building background, comprehensible input, academic vocabulary, explicit instruction and differentiated instruction. Teachers within Southeastern School District (SSD) believed the top five practices to use with ELLs were activating prior knowledge and building background, differentiated instruction, scaffolding instruction, teaching academic vocabulary, and continual review of vocabulary and content. The study also found the instructional models that work best with the varying levels of ELLs. The instructional model best used with newcomers was pullout, and for active ELLs, either pullout or push-in. Push-in or Structured English Immersion was most effective with Transitional 1 and Structured English Immersion for Transitional 2 ELL students. Educational stakeholders can use the findings of this study in order to promote the academic achievement of ELLs.</p>

<p> Current population trends have revealed a huge influx of non-native English speaking students in the mainstream classroom across the United States. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore what mainstream teachers are doing to meet the academic needs of English Learners (ELs) in their classrooms on a daily basis. The researcher used semi-structured open-ended interview questions in order to gather data to answer five research questions; 1) How do teachers use data to plan for differentiated instruction? 2) How do teachers describe their experiences with differentiated instruction methods in planning reading lessons? 3) What processes do teachers go through when differentiating process, content and product during differentiated instruction? 4) What training do teachers receive to help them become effective at teaching EL students? 5) What challenges do teachers have when using differentiated instruction? Participants of the study were purposefully selected from a title one school in the Southeastern, United States with a high population of ELs. In order to be eligible to participate within the study teachers were required to teach either the third, fourth or fifth grade and have had at least 80% of their EL students meet expectations on the state mandated test in reading. The data analysis revealed six themes; 1) Collaboration 2) A huge inventory of research bases instructional strategies 3) Data-driven instruction 4) Well trained 5) Rigor 6) Learning community (7) Courage and Resilience Findings also suggested that differentiation of choice as well as interest is essential for creating an environment to meet the academic needs of ELs. Further perceptions included; using differentiation in the mainstream classroom was time- consuming, difficult to plan for, and often was met with a lack of resources. Even though, participants identified these challenges they felt that differentiated instruction was the only way to meet the academic needs of ELs. Recommendations for further study included broadening the research study to include classroom observations as well as teachers who are new to teaching ELs in the mainstream classroom setting. Further recommendations for qualitative studies included EL student perceptions of their successes and failures when participating differentiated instruction in the mainstream classroom.</p>