Research to date on the native versus non-native English speaker teacher (NEST versus non-NEST) debate has primarily focused on teacher self-perception and performance. A neglected, but essential, viewpoint on this issue comes from English as a second language (ESL) students themselves. This study investigated preferences of adults, specifically immigrant and refugee learners, for NESTs or non-NESTs. A 34-item, 5-point Likert attitudinal survey was given to 102 students (52 immigrants, 50 refugees) enrolled in ESL programs in a large metropolitan area in Texas . After responding to the survey, 32 students volunteered for group interviews to further explain their preferences. Results indicated that adult ESL students have a general preference for NESTs over non-NESTs, but have stronger preferences for NESTs in teaching specific skill areas such as pronunciation and writing. There was not a significant difference between immigrants' and refugees' general preferences for NESTs over non-NESTs based on immigration status.

Mainstream teachers who obtained their English as a second language (ESL) certification by exam only are faced with increasing numbers of English language learners (ELLs) in their classrooms. Decreasing standards for teacher ESL certification and increasing accountability for ELLs has made teachers' role in effectively increasing the language and academic skills of ELLs an area of major concern. This study used a survey and focus group interviews to obtain information regarding ESL-certified fourth- and fifth-grade teachers' perceived preparedness, practices and resources needs related to meeting the academic and language needs of ELLs in general education classrooms. The results indicated that teachers reported differences in their perceived preparedness based on years teaching experience, years of ESL certification, professional development hours, and university ESL courses, but not on certification route. The results also showed that teachers reported differences in their sheltered instruction practices based on the percentage of ELLs, but not on grade, instructional design, or preparedness. The correlation analysis revealed there is a positive correlation between preparedness and sheltered practices. The study revealed that while teachers are using strategies that make content lessons accessible and comprehensible to ELLs, they are often not specifically addressing the academic language development of their students. It is recommended that districts provide teachers with professional development opportunities that specifically address second language acquisition and practical ways to develop academic language across the content areas.

abstract: Learning to read in English is difficult for adult English language learners due to their diverse background, their level of experience with literacy in their first language, and their reason and desire for wanting to learn to read in English. Teachers of adult language learners must consider the educational and language experiences of adults enrolled in English as a Second Language (ESL) classes in order to provide adequate learning opportunities for a diverse student body. Promoting learning opportunities for adult Arabic speakers was an area of interest for me when I first began teaching adult English language learners six years ago. The purpose of my action research study was to provide the adult Arabic speakers in my classroom with strategies they could use in order to read accurately in English. Current research used to guide my study focused on the difficulties Arabic speakers have with the orthographic features of the English language. As I conducted various cycles of action research in an ESL reading class, I developed an intervention to support adult Arabic speakers gain an understanding of the sound spelling system of the English language inclusive of instructional strategies to support accurate word reading. Data was collected to identify the individuals experience in learning to read. I included a pre and post miscue analysis to help identify the common error patterns of the participants of my study. Over an eight-week period, I followed a constructivist approach and facilitated word sorts to help students identify common sound spellings found in the English language. Instructional strategies were included to help the participants decode multisyllabic words by bringing awareness to the syllable types found in the English language. The findings of my study revealed that Arabic speakers benefited from an intervention focused on the sound spellings and syllabication of the English language. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Educational Leadership and Policy Studies 2020

abstract: This dissertation examines the first impressions that occur between Deaf consumers and American Sign Language (ASL)/English interpreters prior to a healthcare appointment. Negative first impressions can lead to a disconnect or loss of trust between Deaf consumers and interpreters and increase the risk for Deaf consumers to receive inadequate healthcare. The recognition of this risk led to an action research study to look at barriers to successful interactions between ASL/English interpreters and Deaf consumers. The mixed methods research design and associated research questions discovered factors and perceptions that contributed to the disconnect and subsequently informed a 10-week intervention with a small group of ASL/English interpreters and Deaf consumers. The factors that influence connection are system related and a lack of a standardized approach to using name badges, missing or incorrect appointment details, and an inconsistent protocol for interpreter behavior when a healthcare provider leaves the room. The intervention allowed the interpreter participants to generate solutions to mitigate these barriers to connection and apply them during the 10 weeks. Deaf consumer feedback was gathered during the intervention period and was used to modify the generated solutions. The generated solutions included re-design of an interpreter referral agency’s name badge, using small talk as a way to learn information about the nature of the healthcare appointment and proactively discuss procedures when a healthcare provider leaves the exam room. These solutions resulted in a positive influence for both interpreters and Deaf consumers and an increase of trust and connection. The findings of this study show new approaches that create a connection between interpreters and Deaf consumers and may lead to more satisfactory healthcare interactions for Deaf consumers. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Leadership and Innovation 2019

abstract: This study explored the effects of a science, technology, engineering, math, and social studies (STEMSS) professional development (PD) on teachers of language learners’ (TLLs) knowledge, skills, and self-efficacy in teaching content and language in tandem in their classrooms. With the growing population of English learners (ELs) in today’s classrooms, it is essential TLLs have the skills to support language development while teaching content. This study investigated a face-to-face PD that developed skills in supporting ELs’ academic vocabulary development using strategies in content lessons. This research drew upon Shulman’s (2013) Knowledge Growth in Teaching Framework by looking at content, pedagogical, and curricular knowledge with the PD building knowledge and skills in addressing these areas of knowledge through the strategies. In addition, this research drew upon Lucas and Villegas’ (2013) Linguistically Responsive Teacher Education Model that addressed how teachers gain knowledge, skills, and self-efficacy to change pedagogical practices. Title I Kindergarten through high school TLLs voluntarily participated in the PD. A mixed methods approach was used. Quantitative data was collected using a pre, post, and maintenance survey and qualitative data was collected through a lesson analysis, fall and spring observations, snapshot surveys, and focus groups. Results suggested that the STEMSS PD increased knowledge, skills, and self-efficacy in teaching ELs content and language using strategies that support academic vocabulary. The qualitative data supported the survey results in the increase of knowledge and skills immediately following the PD and increased self-efficacy a year following the PD. The results also suggested that the strategies supported through PD, lesson development, and time to implement may better address the needs of TLLs in the classroom. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Leadership and Innovation 2020

Creative writing is a well-established approach to teaching English in the L2 classroom, with the Swedish curriculum including it among its core contents section. There is however a lack of research done on the field, especially when it pertains to learner engagement. As such, this study investigates to what extent engagement in learners can be fostered and facilitated for creative writing. The method used is an analysis of the empirical studies performed on the subject to this date, with the aim of making conclusions based on their findings. Some of the conclusions made from those are that learner engagement can be fostered and facilitated in creative writing, but any exercise should take into concern the learners’ own interests and capabilities. The results also suggest including feedback and revision in every creative writing exercise to extend the time spent on any given project, leading to higher engagement levels in the given exercise. The results of the analysed studies do suggest a clear picture of the advantages of creative writing for engagement, but the lack of research on the subject, both in a Swedish and international context, coupled with creative writing’s central role in the classroom suggests more research needs to be done on the subject.

<p>“Generation Z” multilingual writers are caught up in a globalized/globalizing and superdiverse linguistic and cultural contact zone as well as a neoliberal political and institutional environment. To understand how they inhabit their idiosyncratic literate worlds and practice their differences, I aligned myself with an ethnographic case study approach and investigated four writers’ ecologically situated and distributed literacy practices and experiences on and off the campus of an internationalized U.S. university. Through a conceptual framework I call “affordancescape” (a spatiotemporally stabilized ecological representation of structural, semiotic, experiential, social, bodily, and material relations that enable the human actors to rhetorically act and react) and methodology I name “trans-scape tracing,” I conducted semi-structured interviews and observations, videotaped writing ecologies, analyzed multimodal artifacts. Then, I reconstructed the four writers’ literate worlds that are always emerging and knotworked, rhetorically powerful, and rich in ecological affordances. These literate worlds define, bound, afford, constrain, tie and untie, mediate and remediate these writers’ practices of rhetorical differences.<br></p><p>The following three overarching research questions guided my data collection and analysis:<br></p><p>1.What does it mean to be “different” in the international multilingual students’ own terms? How do they practice self-perceived differences through various literate activities?<br></p><p>2.What are the ecological affordances that enable these students to practice their differences? How are these affordances knotworked? How do their practices of difference position nd reposition themselves?<br></p><p>3.How do we move toward a new understanding of international multilingual students’ practices of difference through literate activities?<br></p><p>Ultimately, I argue it is imperative to (re)examine international multilingual students’ practices of difference through literate activities against the global context characterized by the resurgence of nationalism and growing transnational migration, and the local institutional context characterized by internationalization and neoliberal corporatization, as the global and local trends deeply affect students’ bodily experiences in small and large ways. In Chapter One, I lay out in broad strokes the global and local contexts, the emerging issues, and the current scholarly responses to the issues. In Chapter Two, I introduce the analytical framework that I call “affordancescape.” Chapter Three is dedicated to the description of the research methodology that builds on the approach of ethnographic case study, which I call “trans-scape tracing,” as well as detailed data collection and analysis procedures. Chapter Four through Seven constitute the narratives of individual cases: Janus, Manna, Bohan, and Yang. In Chapter Eight, the last chapter, I revisit the individual cases through a holistic lens and provide suggestions for a new understanding of students’ practices of difference.<br></p><p><br></p>

The prevalence of the English language has enhanced the importance of both understanding and being able to communicate in English in different manners, such as orally. As this has become an important skill to master in school, it was of interest to research upper secondary school teachers’ beliefs and experiences concerning what constitutes pedagogically effective oral production assignments in the classroom, how the participating teachers work to reduce students’ anxiousness towards oral production in English, and how they plan and work towards a classroom climate that enhances students’ motivation towards oral production. It also becomes of interest to compare previous research and concepts to see whether misconceptions and mismatches exist and potentially suggest implications for professional development. To understand teachers’ experiences and beliefs, a qualitative semi-structured study was conducted with five English teachers. The results showed a variety of strategies that the teachers found effective, but one similarity for three out of five teachers was strategies where students work in groups. Regarding how the teachers work to reduce anxiety towards oral production, the results showed that four out of five teachers mentioned that small group tasks reduce anxiety. As to how the teachers plan and work towards a motivating classroom climate, four out of five teachers used strategies that took students’ interest, personal engagement, and/or students’ enjoyment into consideration when aiming for a motivating classroom climate. To research teacher cognition is important since teachers’ beliefs might affect what they do in the classroom and therefore affect students learning experience.

The study aims to investigate how teachers’ intentions with written feedback and students’ perceptions of it correlate. In total, three teachers and nine students from different study programs in an upper secondary school in Sweden participated in this study. The data was collected through semi-structured interviews and was analyzed using qualitative content analysis. It emerged in the analysis that the teachers’ intentions and students’ perceptions correlated to some extent. However, there was a clear difference with regard to how the teachers intended the students to use the written feedback and how the students actually used it. The teachers wanted the students to use it to improve the development of their learning, whereas the students saw it as an evaluation of their results and rarely used it. If the teachers want to make sure that the students work with the feedback, they need to make it a planned activity.

The study aimed to find out and compare what skills and task-types that could be found in two workbooks for the ninth grade in English as a second language in Sweden. The research was conducted using a quantitative content and text analysis in order to compare two workbooks and categorize their tasks into production and interaction skills and task-types. The workbooks were chosen as they were the latest editions at the time. The study showed that both workbooks prioritized production and interaction skills. Both had a low focus on speaking skills but Sparks 9 had more integrated skills in tasks. Wings 9 had a major focus on writing skills and grammar. Both workbooks focused on comparing, problem solving, listing and sorting and ordering task-types. Task-types such as creative tasks and sharing personal experience were low in both workbooks but Sparks 9 had a better overall spread of all task-types in general. The understanding that tasks incorporate much more than simply goals to achieve could potentially be used in a practical teaching environment by adapting tasks to fit students´ different needs.