The purpose of this research is to explore the academic and social experiences of English learners (ELs) in a Spanish immersion program. The researcher is specifically interested in learning about both the English and Spanish language acquisition of these ELs, as well as their social interactions as this pertains to their academic development. The participants were a sample of 12 Spanish native speakers who were working towards acquiring both social and academic English. Additionally, the researcher interviewed five other students who were in the Spanish immersion program, but who were not included in the ESOL class. These 17 students represented a wide range of English language proficiencies, ranging from emergent to advanced, and were in the ninth grade during the period of data collection. The researcher also interviewed five of these students' teachers, so as to gain a better understanding of the experiences of these heritage speakers. Data were collected over the course of the 2009-2010 school year through observations, interviews, sociograms, and ongoing assessments. These assessments were collected from several sources, including an English language assessment that was administered by the ESOL coordinator, an ongoing school-wide assessment of lexile scores, and an English and Spanish informal reading inventory. The findings of this study were divided into two meta themes of the academic and social experiences of the student participants. In investigating these students' academic experiences, the researcher found that the 22 participants placed a considerable emphasis on language development, particularly in the maintenance of the Spanish native speakers' heritage language. A sizeable need existed, however, for instruction that was better differentiated to the wide range xv of proficiencies that these students demonstrated in both English and Spanish. Through the analysis of the participants' social experiences, the researcher also discovered that a strong sense of community existed amongst the participants in the ESOL and immersion programs. This interconnectedness, however, led to an insular behavior amongst the Spanish native speakers, which further exacerbated the racial tension that existed at Greenwood High. Greenwood as a whole would greatly benefit from the fostering of intercultural sensitivity amongst this multicultural and multilingual student body.

This thesis contributes to the literature on language revitalization, a hopeful branch of research that counters the foreboding conclusions of language shift studies. It is based on data collected in May, 1998, at Cumberland House, an Aboriginal community in northeastern Saskatchewan. Fifty-five community members participated in six focus groups organized by the following criteria: administrators, school board trustees, elders, parents, students and teachers. These research participants expressed their vision, expectations, and needs related to an Aboriginal Language Immersion Pilot Program proposed by the Northern Lights School Division. Community members envisioned an education that contributes to their children's Cree and Anglo-Canadian bicultural competence. They expected the Cree immersion program in the provincial school would develop their children's Cree and English bilingual fluency. They needed training, administrative support, materials and ongoing communication between school and community. Factors that instill a sense of optimism about this language revitalization effort, include the role and status of the school, and the strong bonds of kinship and friendship in this community context. The process and content of the research project records the development and product of a research relationship between Aboriginal people. It attests to the value of community involvement in language planning and illustrates the beneficial attributes of community-based participatory action research. Overall, the thesis informs the topic of decolonization at the personal, community, and institutional level.

This thesis contributes to the literature on language revitalization, a hopeful branch of research that counters the foreboding conclusions of language shift studies. It is based on data collected in May, 1998, at Cumberland House, an Aboriginal community in northeastern Saskatchewan. Fifty-five community members participated in six focus groups organized by the following criteria: administrators, school board trustees, elders, parents, students and teachers. These research participants expressed their vision, expectations, and needs related to an Aboriginal Language Immersion Pilot Program proposed by the Northern Lights School Division. Community members envisioned an education that contributes to their children's Cree and Anglo-Canadian bicultural competence. They expected the Cree immersion program in the provincial school would develop their children's Cree and English bilingual fluency. They needed training, administrative support, materials and ongoing communication between school and community. Factors that instill a sense of optimism about this language revitalization effort, include the role and status of the school, and the strong bonds of kinship and friendship in this community context. The process and content of the research project records the development and product of a research relationship between Aboriginal people. It attests to the value of community involvement in language planning and illustrates the beneficial attributes of community-based participatory action research. Overall, the thesis informs the topic of decolonization at the personal, community, and institutional level.

The purpose of this study is to explore the beliefs of students, teachers and parents regarding new students’ experiences in a Sheltered Immersion/Newcomers Program in a K-8 school district to provide recommendations and implications for other schools who are or wish to develop similar programs. The participants were given opportunities to reflect and dialogue about their experiences in this type of bilingual program through the implementation of Participatory Action Research (PAR). The research questions inquire about how language learners make sense of their experience of becoming bilingual and the factors that encourage or inhibit their engagement.

Though attention to academic language is a key component of the Teacher Performance Assessment and the new Common Core Standards, little has been researched regarding how pre-service teachers build academic language knowledge and integrate it into their practice teaching experience. This study focuses on the construction and delivery of academic language knowledge to pre-service teachers in a one year immersion teacher preparation program. It studies the pre-service teachers' use of academic language knowledge in their planning, teaching, and assessment throughout a practicum and clinical experience, as well as their use of academic language knowledge as part of reflective practice. Through analysis of classroom observation notes, interviews, and artifacts, the data show that after receiving instruction on academic language concepts in the areas of content-area terminology and language use, reading, and writing, pre-service teachers consciously integrated an attention to the terminology and language use of their content area into their practicum experience. However, faced with understanding themselves as teachers while navigating their mentor teacher's expectations, learning the curriculum they are teaching, and developing classroom management skills, etc., attention to academic language instruction in reading and writing was limited. Recognition that content-area terminology and language use is key to accessing content, though, influenced reflection on how content knowledge is accessed. This conscious understanding of the role terminology and language use plays in accessing content knowledge opened the door for a deeper reflection on the role academic language plays in the classroom. And, during their post-practicum clinical experience, these pre-service teachers were able to more knowledgeably reflect on how to integrate specific content-area reading and writing instruction into curriculum. These conclusions suggest that an introduction to academic language concepts and practices can reveal "blind spots" that enable pre-service teachers to better address content-area literacy in their future practice. They also suggest that more focus in academic language instruction in teacher education programs could help pre-service teachers more efficiently learn the complexities of their new role.

<p>In our ever more international world, the English language plays an important role. This is</p><p>also reflected in its prominent position as a core subject in the Swedish school system. It is</p><p>therefore important that English teachers offer students an environment in which they have</p><p>the best possible opportunities to be successful in reaching the goals specified in the</p><p>syllabuses. One variable in a successful foreign language classroom is the teacher's usage</p><p>ofthe target language.</p><p>This study is about English teachers' views on the issue of target language usage in the</p><p>classroom, versus usage of the mother tongue. In this study, at Upper Secondary level, the</p><p>interviews show that the teachers are, more or less, in agreement that the target language</p><p>should be used all the time in the classroom. There are, however, occasions in which the</p><p>interviewed teachers do not work according to their own beliefs and methods and revert to</p><p>using Swedish. The main such occasions can briefly be said to be: explanation of grammar,</p><p>non-subject related "mentor's issues" and classroom management issues. In addition, this</p><p>study argues that the governing documents, previous research, as well as well-known</p><p>theories on the subject support a high usage of the target language by the teacher.</p>

In our ever more international world, the English language plays an important role. This is also reflected in its prominent position as a core subject in the Swedish school system. It is therefore important that English teachers offer students an environment in which they have the best possible opportunities to be successful in reaching the goals specified in the syllabuses. One variable in a successful foreign language classroom is the teacher's usage ofthe target language. This study is about English teachers' views on the issue of target language usage in the classroom, versus usage of the mother tongue. In this study, at Upper Secondary level, the interviews show that the teachers are, more or less, in agreement that the target language should be used all the time in the classroom. There are, however, occasions in which the interviewed teachers do not work according to their own beliefs and methods and revert to using Swedish. The main such occasions can briefly be said to be: explanation of grammar, non-subject related "mentor's issues" and classroom management issues. In addition, this study argues that the governing documents, previous research, as well as well-known theories on the subject support a high usage of the target language by the teacher.

The purpose of this study was to determine the English language skills of minority language children (experimental group) in a early total French Immersion program by comparing them with those of English-speaking children in French Immersion (English control group), and with those of minority language children in a regular English program (minority control group). Ten grade one children comprised each of the three groups of children. Listening comprehension of English was assessed using two standardized tests of English comprehension (the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test and the Token Test for Children). English speaking skills were assessed using the Clark-Madison Test of Oral Language (a standardized test) and a ten to fifteen minute language sample. English metalinguistic skills were assessed with a phoneme deletion task used by Rosner & Simon (1971) and with two tasks used by Pratt, Tunmer & Bowey (1984): a morpheme correction task and a word order correction task. Questionnaires were used to assess attitudes towards the minority language and culture and to determine the children's home and language background. It was hypothesized that the English language skills of the experimental group would be at least as good as those of the English control group and the minority control group. The results supported the hypotheses. The experimental group did as well as the English control group on all of the measures of English comprehension and production tested. The minority control group scored lower than the English control group on all measures of English comprehension and production. They scored lower than the experimental group on the comprehension of complex commands and on the Clark-Madison Test of Oral Language. The three groups scored similarly on all of the metalinguistic tasks except on the morpheme correction task, where the minority control group scored lower than the English control group. Results support the suitability of early total French Immersion for minority language children who have their first language and culture valued and maintained. / Medicine, Faculty of / Audiology and Speech Sciences, School of / Graduate