<p> Elementary Spanish language immersion programs have become more popular in the educational field in the United States to support the academic achievement of minority students. The final goal of immersion programs is to develop proficiency in the home language and dominant language, identified as first language (L1) and second language (L2), to impact the understanding of academic concepts. </p><p> This study explores teachers&rsquo; perspectives of U.S.-born ELL Hispanic students&rsquo; academic achievement and educational growth in a Spanish language immersion program. Ultimately, the study aimed to identify processes that educational leaders could incorporate into instructional models to improve as many Hispanic students&rsquo; experiences and outcomes as possible. Research questions explored include: 1) What are teachers&rsquo; perspectives of U.S.-born ELL Hispanic students&rsquo; academic achievements in a Spanish language immersion program? 2) What are the trends, such as social, behavioral, and cultural, that teachers perceive about the academic growth of U.S.-born ELL Hispanic students in a Spanish language immersion program? and 3) What do teachers perceive to be the processes that educators can incorporate in the Spanish language immersion program to improve the academic achievement of U.S.-born ELL Hispanic students? </p><p> A semi-structured interview and focus groups were used to approach the participating teachers (n=10) from one elementary school, identified as the pseudonym a Midwestern Spanish Language Immersion Program (MSLIP), that provides 80% of instruction in Spanish and about 20% in English for ELLs. Data analyzed for this study included secondary sources composed of information such as standardized test scores, behavior incident reports, attendance, age, parents&rsquo; ethnicity and school background, and years of schooling at MSLIP. </p><p> Major findings from this study showed that teachers at MSLIP perceive that U.S.-born ELL Hispanic students benefit from learning academics in their home language as students had better comprehension of content. However, MSLIP teachers recognized that having a 50/50 bilingual immersion model would facilitate a balanced program to succeed academically in the United States. Recommendations for further research includes among others: developing strategies to overcome the educational trends to perform in the subject content in both languages, English and Spanish; and research how the &ldquo;deficit perspective&rdquo; is affecting the teachers&rsquo; practices in urban settings since this is a distractor for teachers improving their professional practices.</p>

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Educational Psychology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

published_or_final_version / English Studies / Master / Master of Arts

<p> This qualitative research highlights the voices and lived experiences of adolescent Japanese sojourner students and their mothers residing in the Midwest. The central goals of this research are to understand what adolescent Japanese sojourner students&rsquo; school experiences in the U.S. are like&mdash;particularly in areas with small Japanese populations&mdash;and how their experiences in the U.S. shape their current identities as cultural and linguistic minority students. This research also aims to learn how the students&rsquo; sojourning experiences influenced their mindsets as future returnee students. I conducted an in-depth case study with a phenomenographic approach as the theoretical framework to deeply investigate the lives of adolescent Japanese sojourner students. The findings of this research revealed that the Japanese sojourner students&mdash;who were also considered cultural and linguistic minority students&mdash;encountered various difficulties and challenges at their local schools due to cultural differences and the language barrier; these issues often prevented the students from establishing friendships and expressing themselves at their local schools. At the same time, I found that several sojourner students and mothers valued the students&rsquo; local school experiences for the opportunity to learn authentic English and cultivate cultural awareness. The research findings suggest that the Japanese students&rsquo; sojourning experiences impacted their identity development&mdash;namely, identity negotiation and maintenance. Additionally, I extracted six prominent findings that are specific to sojourner residents in areas with small Japanese populations that are likely apply to any sojourner living in any area of the United States with a small Japanese population.</p>

<p> This qualitative study was designed to explore the perceptions that adult Spanish-speaking English as a Second Language learners have on their language learning. Half of the participants have experienced getting stuck on a learning plateau, while the others continued to make progress. </p><p> The rationale arises from the researcher&rsquo;s desire to help students who struggle learning English. It was the researcher&rsquo;s assumption that adding critical reflection to one&rsquo;s learning would help language learners make progress again. The participants were purposefully selected and consisted of 18 Spanish speakers who were studying in an intermediate-level English as a Second Language course in a noncredit program at a community college. </p><p> Data collection methods included in-depth interviews with 18 participants as the primary method, focus groups, and document analysis. All participants had been enrolled in an intermediate-level ESL course at the time of the data collection. The research questions guided the coding and organization of the data. Two analytic categories formed the basis of the analysis and interpretation: (a) Progress is dependent upon extent to which acculturation facilitates language acquisition, and (b) Progress is dependent upon the extent to which participants engage in Self-Directed Learning. </p><p> The research revealed that English language learners perceive the language to be the largest barrier in their acculturation to the United States. The research also showed that the majority of participants seek out others to help them when they have difficulty and that they reported taking classes as helping them the most to learn the language. </p><p> Recommendations offered to learners are to begin the learning of English sooner rather than later to lessen the shock with which the language confronts them. This aids in faster acculturation. Another recommendation is for learners to engage in self-directed learning with a purpose. Engaging with a purpose allows learners to reflect on their learning and develop ways to that they can interact more with others who speak the language.</p>

<p> Gender, physiological states, self-regulation, and writing achievement in relation to student writing self-efficacy were examined using a mixed-method approach. Student writing self-efficacy, physiological states, and self-regulation were investigated through surveys and student interviews. Male and female students were selected from two northeast Georgia suburban high schools. Student achievement was measured from the Georgia Milestones test given to 11th grade Language Arts students. A 3 x 2 ANOVA was conducted to research the significance of gender, physiological states, self-regulation, and achievement with writing. Students were given two surveys on self-regulation and writing self-efficacy. </p><p> Findings revealed certain physiological states, such as how a student feels when writing, and self-regulation, how a student copes with these physiological states and how the student adjusts to overcome these obstacles significantly interact with one another. However, writing self-efficacy did not make a significant difference on writing achievement. Writing self-efficacy, physiological states, self-regulation, and writing achievement were gender neutral, meaning gender did not have a significant interaction or make a difference on the results of the surveys or achievement in writing through the Georgia Milestones. </p><p> This research was conducted so that findings could be of value to educators when teaching writing and help them understand the intrinsic value of writing, as well as to make educators aware of the physiological states students experience when writing, to help them better understand how students self-regulate when writing, and to demonstrate how this may play a role in writing achievement.</p>

<p> This thesis presents findings from an ethnographic study of adult English Language Learners (ELLs) who are support staff employees in a large metropolitan hospital and are taking integrated English as a Second Language (ESL) classes at their work site. This research is rooted in a theoretical framework that intersects studies on discourse (Fairclough, 1995; Gee, 2008), language socialization (Burdelski &amp; Cook, 2012; Flowerdew, 2013; Vickers, 2007), and agency and identity development (Norton, 1997, 2006, 2010; van Lier, 2008) to discuss the experience of adult ELLs who enter an English-dominant healthcare workplace. The teacher-researcher used ethnographic methods to examine: (a) the support staff employee discourse as determined by language and behaviors; (b) the impact of the workplace ESL classes on socializing employees into this discourse; (c) how support staff employees develop agency and second-language identities in their work environment. Data included field notes from work observations of six support staff employees from three departments&mdash;Housekeeping, Food Service, and Patient Care Services&mdash;all of whom participate in the ESL classes, and audio-recorded interviews with these six employees and three support staff supervisors. Relevant literature in the fields of workplace education and language socialization at work is reviewed and discussed. A description of the hospital&rsquo;s support staff discourse is described in the findings, along with areas of language socialization that are developed by participating in workplace ESL classes and how this leads to increased agency and identity development at work. Data analysis exhibits that learning English through an integrated workplace education program provides employees a community of practice in which to develop the language skills and confidence they need to advocate for themselves and others at work. By qualitatively examining how healthcare support staff can be better incorporated into the workplace and develop professionally, this study has implications for training and education programs for a growing immigrant healthcare worker population. </p>

<p> <b>Purpose:</b> The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to identify and describe effective instructional strategies for English language arts and mathematics perceived by expert fourth and fifth grade elementary teachers in southern California to reduce the achievement gap in high poverty and high English language learner (ELL) elementary schools. </p><p> <b>Methodology:</b> The researcher selected a qualitative research design to describe the instructional strategies used by teachers in three southern California school districts. Through in-depth, semi-structured, open-ended interviews, the researcher provided an examination of the instructional strategies used to address the needs of high poverty and high ELL elementary schools. Teachers were identified from three criteria: (a) teaching at a school with a Latino population of 50% or more, (b) population of 80% or more in poverty, and (c) currently teaching fourth or fifth grade. Data collected using NVivo software to determine patterns and categories. </p><p> <b>Findings:</b> Based on the responses from the study participants, four major findings were established for both Research Questions 1 and 2. </p><p> <b>Conclusions:</b> The major finding from Research Questions 1 and 2 were summarized as four conclusions: (a) collaboration is the number one tool teachers need to prepare students; (b) teachers need training on a collaborative style for teaching small groups, the management, and different teaching strategies and organizational patterns to make small group instruction effective in a large group setting; (c) teachers do not have the technology skills and knowledge necessary to maximize the impact of technology as an instructional tool; and (d) teachers do not have the technology skill and knowledge to maximize the impact of technology as an instructional tool for mathematics or mathematics using manipulatives. </p><p> <b>Recommendations:</b> Six recommendations are: (a) larger sample across the United States focusing on ELLs from different origins; (b) similar study with a teacher of a different origin from the ELLs, (c) similar study of secondary teachers&rsquo; effective instructional strategies, (d) observational study in collaboration to evaluate effectiveness in supporting ELLs, (e) similar study with special education students, and (f) study of English only students comparing differences and similarities between ELLs and effective instructional strategies.</p><p>

<p> English second language (ESL) learners have been present in the United States public schools for decades. While the identification and procedures for entering students into an ESL program have improved throughout the years, there still seems to be a lack of understanding of academic backgrounds and program support for these students with unique educational backgrounds and languages. Instructional techniques for ESL students have varied widely, but there has not been a common consensus on which technique to utilize with secondary ESL students. Placement of ESL students has proved to be a difficult task in districts with limited options and often times the best placement for the ESL student is not an option. This mixed-methods study was designed to evaluate the English Second Language classroom placement at the secondary level in a Midwest public school. The evaluation was done using ACCESS English fluency testing scores and teacher, counselor, and administrator perspectives gathered through interviews, surveys, and a focus group.</p><p>

"September 2004." / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 222-231) / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / Abstracts in English and Chinese.