Worldwide, an influx of immigration, has increased the heterogeneity of our classrooms. In light of today’s heightened teacher accountability, standards and high-stakes assessment, traditional ways of teaching need to change in order to effectively serve the needs of our culturally and linguistically diverse students. Therefore, a qualitative-interpretive study was conducted with ten science teachers working in six private, international schools based in Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, and Belgium with a focus on teacher perceptions, beliefs, teaching practices, and instructional resources used to teach science to English Language Learners (ELLs). Emphasis was placed on the specific teaching modalities and resources that science teachers use to support ELLs in their classrooms. It also addressed the needs of teachers to effectively teach science to ELLs. In response to the research questions, the thematic analysis revealed that the teachers working in these schools had a good awareness of ELL needs in science and wanted to make a difference for these learners. They perceived ELLs as quiet, but hardworking and motivated students. To some degree, the teachers used all seven modalities of teaching: reading, writing, speaking, listening, doing, interpreting, and representing, with or without the use of technology, and considered multimodality to be the most effective way to make science accessible to ELLs. Though not exhaustive, this research offers a set of pedagogical tools and resources for pre-service and in-service teachers to meet the needs of their ELLs in science. Furthermore, based on the teacher responses, the research identifies five key areas which are necessary for science literacy development of culturally and linguistically diverse students. These include: (i) teachers’ positive mindset and awareness towards ELLs in science; (ii) school leadership and administrative support for ELLs; (iii) time, multimodality, and specialized professional development (PD) to scaffold science for ELLs; (iv) the provision of realistic opportunities to collaborate with the ELL or English Language Development (ELD) teacher; and (v) co-teaching science with an ELL/ELD teacher. I would hereby like to share the findings of this thesis and make these accessible to fellow science teachers in the hope that they will refer and/or utilize the proposed strategies and resources in their daily practice.

An increase in English Language Learners (ELLs) in public schools across the nation is forcing stakeholders to reexamine how teachers are being prepared to effectively teach culturally and linguistically diverse students. It is unclear to what extent inservice teachers feel prepared to work with ELLs and what factors impact their feelings of preparedness. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between teachers’ self-efficacy for teaching ELLs, general teaching self-efficacy, and multicultural attitudes. The study also explored whether teachers’ self-efficacy for teaching ELLs could be explained by variables that include years of teaching experience, highest degree earned, perception of preparedness for teaching ELLs, and actual preparation for teaching ELLs. Two hundred twenty-three elementary teachers working in the Clark County School District in Las Vegas, Nevada, participated in this study. Data was collected using an online survey, which included two validated surveys, the Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy Scale (TSES; Tschannen-Moran & Woolfolk Hoy, 2001) and the Teacher Multicultural Attitude Survey (TMAS; Ponterotto, Baluch, Greig, & Rivera, 1998). A modified version of the TSES was included to measure teachers’ self-efficacy for teaching ELLs. Factor analysis was performed on the modified instrument. Three factors emerged from the factor analysis: self-efficacy in ELL classroom management, self-efficacy in ELL student motivation, and self-efficacy in ELL methods and strategies. Factor analysis, structural equation modeling, and path analysis were used in data analysis. Teachers’ self-efficacy for teaching ELLs and general teaching self-efficacy were found to be strongly correlated. However, multicultural attitude was not found to moderate this correlation. Of the four demographic and background variables, only perception of preparedness for teaching ELLs was found to be a statistically significant predictor. This study highlights important factors that need to be considered when preparing teachers to teach ELLs. The results of this study may help administrators understand how to prepare and support both preservice and inservice teachers to improve the learning outcomes for ELLs and, in turn, close the achievement gap between ELLs and their non-ELL counterparts.

The focus of this research is on implementing a professional development intervention aimed at improving the teaching practice of teachers teaching English as a subject at a rural high school in Lesotho. The study presents the way in which I as the principal researcher and my English teacher colleague facilitated learning, using innovative methods in our English classes in a way that promoted learner-centredness. In this study improvement of the teaching practice of teachers of English was intended to reduce the overuse of mother tongue in English classes to promote the teaching of English through English (Cook, 2005) and to improve learners’ proficiency in English as a subject. The study was conducted using an action research design. Action research was used as a professional development process with a view to improving educational practice; it enabled me as the facilitator of the professional development intervention and my colleague to rethink our approaches to facilitating learning of English in order to innovate our teaching. A mix of qualitative and quantitative approaches was used for collecting and analysing both qualitative and quantitative data in one study. These approaches were used to promote an in-depth understanding of the research problem under investigation. Open-ended interviews, observations, observation sheets, reflective journals and a questionnaire were used as data collection procedures that created a convergence of viewpoints, methods and conclusions. The conceptual and theoretical framework that guided the study emerged from the literature review. Findings of the study revealed that the innovative methods implemented in the English classes at a rural high school have contributed to the improvement in professional development and the teaching practice of teachers of English. Although learners preferred the use of both English and mother tongue in their English classes, findings of the study have revealed that there was an improvement in learners’ proficiency in English as a subject which was facilitated using English. The study recommends that the whole brain thinking model, multiple intelligences and action research as a constructivist approach be utilised daily in English classes and in all learning areas in Lesotho high schools as a basis for transformation and facilitation of learning that promotes learner-centredness. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2017. / Humanities Education / MEd / Unrestricted

During the last decades, a shifting paradigm has occurred in the classroom in connection to the technological evolution. Due to digitalization a student in Sweden can discuss with a counterpart on the other side of the globe. The aim of this study is to examine how the role of telecollaboration has been researched in a primary school context. The study will include several methods that could benefit the use of virtual exchange projects. This investigation will briefly explain the terminology and history behind telecollaboration and how it can be used in a modern classroom environment. An explanation on how the findings have been explored will be included in the methodology component. Thereafter, the study will present the research from the chosen articles connected to the aim and research question. The presented research will further be compared and connected to each other. In the following component, the data found will be connected back to the theoretical hypothesis mentioned in the introduction as well as the Swedish syllabus for English education in the primary school. The implications from investigating this subject were due to the lack of thoroughly conducted research on younger participants, the outcome rendered inadequate. An evidence on the insufficiency was that hardly any prior investigations used control groups to validate their findings.

This thesis examines the acquisition of the aspectual properties of the Spanish se in transitive constructions by L2 learners of Spanish. Based on a parameterized distinction of the telic features in English and Spanish, this study investigates whether second language (L2) learners are able to reset the aspectual value of the English parameter to that of Spanish in their interlanguage grammar. Results indicate that L2 learners' responses to a picture interpretation task vary according to proficiency levels. Low-intermediate and intermediate learners did not differentiate between telic and atelic constructions whereas advanced learners successfully acquired the telic properties of the transitive se constructions. Results were interpreted in the light of current theories of second language acquisition and the mental representation of aspect in interlanguage.

Based on the relevant research that highlights the impact of pairing fiction and nonfiction texts around a specific theme or a topic for enhanced motivation and reading comprehension for English learners (ELs), this article describes ways to combine texts of various genres to promote ELs’ language and literacy development. A middle school example of a lesson on chocolate exemplifies how pairing a number of fiction and nonfiction texts supports differentiation and multiple opportunities for writing.

Nonword repetition (NWR) has demonstrated significant potential as a less-biased language assessment measure for dual language learners (DLLs). However, there are currently no available guidelines for the use of NWR in a clinical setting. The purpose of this preliminary study is to develop initial recommendations for the clinical use of NWR tasks by determining the diagnostic accuracy and optimal cut-off scores for two NWR tasks and scoring methods, and to evaluate the clinical feasibility of NWR as an assessment measure. Participants included 23 DLL students with and without language disorder between the ages of 6 and 8. Spanish and English NWR tasks were administered in school classrooms and scored by percent phonemes correct (PPC) and number of whole words correct. Optimal cut-off scores resulting in the best sensitivity and specificity were calculated for each task and scoring method. Diagnostic accuracy was then compared for each task, combination of tasks, and scoring method. English PPC, Spanish PPC, and combined whole word scores yielded acceptable levels of sensitivity and specificity. Combined PPC scores resulted in excellent specificity, but inadequate sensitivity. Whole word scores for the tasks individually did not approach acceptable diagnostic accuracy. The current findings suggest that NWR can be feasibly implemented in the clinical setting and yield accurate results. English-Spanish whole word scores show potential as an accurate assessment measure for DLL children but should be investigated further. English-Spanish PPC scores appear to be appropriate for ruling out a language disorder, but are insufficient for ruling one in. These results provide preliminary support for the use of NWR tasks in the clinical assessment of DLLs as well as initial recommendations for their administration and interpretation.

To provide quality education to all students, including ELLs, teachers need professional development designed and enacted according to best practice. However, a common problem for professional development is that teachers' practices often do not change. Implemented through the partnership collaboration with university, education, and public school faculty, the professional development designed in this study focused on educating teachers about needed content and engaging them in ways that would increase the likelihood they would enact such practices in their classrooms (Desimone, 2009; Opfer & Pedder, 2011; Penuel et al., 2007). The professional development program comprised six courses that adhered to the Utah State Office of Education's standards for the education of the teachers of ELLs. The study examined the teachers' beliefs and their classroom practices. A total of 197 teachers were surveyed on their beliefs toward teaching ELLs, and a subset of 23 teachers' classroom practices were videotaped. Factor analyses were conducted on the pre- and post-survey. The videos were coded using a protocol based on the SIOP model (Echevarria et al., 2013), and latent variables were created to measure the change of the survey score and practice score. The analysis revealed that teachers' beliefs or knowledge in particular changed from when they began the course of second language acquisition to the time they completed it. In addition, teachers' practice changed from the time they started the professional development program to the time they completed it. However, even though teachers' beliefs and practices changed, there was no correlation found between the belief change and the practice change. This study adds to the literature that educating teachers about second language learning and research-based practices (Baker et al., 2014) using professional development that attends to teachers' practices as well as their beliefs (Desimone, 2009; Opfer & Pedder, 2011; Penuel et al., 2007) resulted in positive changes in teacher's beliefs and practices for teaching ELLs. Future research should add a variable of teacher's beliefs about the context of their teaching practice into the study for this can be a confounding variable that affects the correlation between the change of beliefs and the change of practices.

English is a global language that surrounds us almost wherever in the world we are. The school has an important role when it comes to introducing the language to young learners. Using teaching materials such as workbooks has been a common teaching method for a long time. This thesis examines three popular workbooks from different Swedish publishers, Learn English, Magic! and Happy. Through a content analysis, verbal interaction activities within these workbooks were examined based on Becker and Roos’s (2016) model of creative speaking. Additionally, interviews were conducted as a way to give insight to how these workbooks can be used in the classroom. This study shows that pupils are provided with support and guidance in most of the interactive activities within these workbooks. However, activity types as well as in what manner the pupils were requested to interact differed when the workbooks were compared to each other. The activity types that occurred were reading dialogues, sharing information and expressing opinions in English. The teachers reported to work with the activities in full class or pairs. / <p>Engelska</p>

In a world where we are increasingly connected to one another, the English language surrounds us here in Sweden. Children today grow up in an environment where they are exposed to the English language and the Swedish language simultaneously through various media and activities. The informal learning that children gain through their activities has received more and more attention in recent years. The English that pupils learn outside of school has become known as extramural English. Thus, it is of interest to investigate the perspectives of English teachers in Sweden regarding extramural English and to what extent they incorporate it into their teaching. This study briefly explains extramural English as a phenomenon, discuss relevant theories and delve into previous research on the subject. The methods that are used for this investigation is a combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches. The target group for the research methods are English teachers with varying backgrounds. The results suggest that the majority of the participants perceive extramural activities as a valuable asset. However, the results further indicate that the teachers have a greater reluctance to integrate it into their teaching, and rather recognise it as a complementary tool to education. The study draws attention to the strengths of pupils' extramural activities, how motivation is a key factor in second language learning, as well as the complications in implementing these activities into teaching. The discussion further highlights the syllabus' connection to the results of the study.