<p> The purpose of this qualitative case study is to investigate the characteristics of a sustained dual language campus as well as the contributions made by the schools building principal. The exploration of the principals driving emphasis in the school may give insight into how to continue to sustain a progressive dual language program, and the understandings a principal must have when leading a dual language school. </p><p> In-depth interviews were conducted to collect data from various teachers of at least five years of experience at the dual language campus as well as the building principal of said campus. A total of six teachers and one principal were interviewed once individually, then the teachers were broken into two focus groups of three members. The questions for the interviews were framed under a culturally relevant pedagogy model, then the responses were analyzed to form a new model of sustainability.</p><p> The results of this study indicate that building principals must critically reflect on some cultural aspects of the school, specifically: a reflection of cultural consciousness, a belief that dual language education is an equitable practice, and advocacy for students and high achievement are necessary. Leaders of dual language campus&rsquo; must validate the student&rsquo;s cultural wealth; this includes their role in the school, community, home and how language plays an important role in the functioning of the sustainability. Finally, principals should understand that the process of reflection and re-evaluation is constant and should continue as such.</p><p>

M.Ed. / The main objective of the study was to determine the reading preferences of English Second Language children. The study looked into the arguments of the two groups of critics who, on the one hand, stressed the importance of the cultural schema and on the other hand stated that children should be allowed to explore avenues other then their own environment. Children from two different social environments were observed and interviewed with the hope of gaining more insight into the reading habits and preferences ofblack children. The aspects that were strongly considered were the multicultural society that the children in South Africa are a part of and the influence that this multiculturalism has on the reading of the children. Also looked at was whether the exposure to other cultures and the fact that the children go to integrated schools and stay in multicultural communities has any impact far as reading patterns are concerned. The preferences of children who live and school in the black area was also looked at and a comparison was made between the two groups of children. The children were interviewed and the results showed that how they articulate reading preferences and how they are not limited by their own cultural background as far as accessing material of other cultures is concerned. The results also showed that young readers are not inhibited by their social background in what they like reading and regarding what their needs are. In conclusion, the suggestion is that listening to the young readers talk and observing them, would make the people who are concerned with the education of the child, namely parents, teachers and librarians, as well as researchers more aware of how to guide the children appropriately through their reading and not prescribe material that the children do not identify with, notwithstanding their cultural background.

<p> The attainment of a college degree has long been a part of the American dream. For the English learner, however, reaching this goal is a task fraught with difficulty. Yet, as the participants in this study demonstrate, it is possible.</p><p> In this qualitative, phenomenological study of seven current community college students who graduated from a Southern California high school, not yet proficient in the English language, the researcher sought to identify the factors that both encouraged and discouraged their decision to pursue higher education.</p><p> This study collected original data on factors within the school setting, peers, family and personal characteristics that supported or discouraged the participant continuing their education past high school. To identify facets most significant in each of the three areas, the data is viewed through the lens of Bronfenbrenner&rsquo;s Ecological Systems Theory.</p><p> The English &ndash;only policy is viewed through the lens of the Critical Race Theory and student experiences highlight the restrictive nature an English only policy places on our state&rsquo;s English learner population.</p><p> Conclusions derived from this study point to the importance of adult and peer relationships in the adolescent&rsquo;s life, and the significance seemly small acts can have on the English learner&rsquo;s decision to continue on to higher education.</p><p> To support the English learner population, recommendations of primary language support upon entrance into the California school system, and the establishment of a bilingual single subject English credential for secondary English teachers is suggested.</p><p> Further recommendations include a standard practice for reviewing the English learner&rsquo;s language proficiency quarterly, research into what allowed the adolescent to reject negative perceptions of the peers may build upon the body of research into strategies to support the English learner. </p><p> Last, this study was limited to current community college students in the Southern California region. Research into English learners who went into a four-year university may develop findings that support or contradict this study and broaden the research base into school, peer, and family factors that encourage English learners decision to continue on to higher education. </p><p>

<p> This dissertation emerged at the intersection of collaboration, immigration issues, and language practices. Third-grade students started the school year with much difficulty to engage in academic content and language learning, mainly due to a lack of self-regulation which greatly affected the classroom dynamics. Drawing from Freire (1970, 1993), I believe in the importance of the process of conscientization, which is the critical understanding of the context around us and growing in awareness through reflection and transformative action, and the notion of critical literacy as the "reading of the word and the world" (Freire &amp; Macedo, 1987). The purpose of the study was to set conditions for students to engage in language learning in a collaborative participatory democracy classroom environment. The following general question guided but did not limit my study: How can I, as a teacher-researcher, and my third-grade students work so students become biliterate through collaboration and translanguaging practices? Participatory Action Research (PAR)/Research As Praxis (RAP) philosophy was both the methodology of the study and a fundamental part of my pedagogy. Two transformations: responsibility `<i>conciencia </i>' (consciousness) and language events progressed in three stages: the beginning-of-the-year stage; the settling-in-and-soaking-in stage; and the common-motto-and-`<i>mismo-barco</i>' (in the same boat) stage. As a result, both students and I were transformed. Students advanced in behavioral and emotional self-awareness, guiding dialogue, making group decisions, and solving conflicts. In their process of becoming biliterate, students stopped making translations and overcame the fear of speaking in English. They started using English and translanguaging practices as an authentic type of communication using their whole linguistic repertoire. I stood up for a symmetrical students-teacher relationship by democratically promoting participation without guiding and consciously balancing power relations permitting a more student-led classroom assembly time and conflicts solved by students. Some lessons I learned were: overcoming an initial na&iuml;ve thinking about participation, transforming to create the conditions for student participation in conflict resolution and decision-making, how I released myself from being the power figure and educated to make a good use of the power to participate democratically in conflict resolution and decision-making, the process of civic education, and biliteracy and translanguaging.</p><p>

This thesis explores the complexity of identities and the everyday negotiations, as well as struggles that shape the lives of British Chinese pupils in England. It focuses on the links between heritage language education, ‘cultures’ and ethnicity. It analyses the ways in which values related to identities, bi/multilingualism and British Chinese pupils’ positions in multicultural British society, are accommodated, negotiated or resisted. In particular, this research looks at British Chinese pupils with limited Chinese language skills, most of whom are from the ‘second/third generation’ within the British Chinese ‘community’. A qualitative approach is employed to understand the experiences of these pupils by exploring their accounts of experiences in mainstream schooling and in (not) learning Chinese, and their perceptions of their positioning as British Chinese in relational, contextual and socially constructed terms. Identity will be understood as a fluid process involving multiple identifications in line with a poststructuralist view, but also as an active process negotiated by social actors under structural forces. Thus, this conception of identity will move away from essentialist accounts of fixed Chinese/British identities and conceive of the individual as having an active and reflexive role in identity construction. The concepts of ‘hybridity’ (Bhabha, 1994) and ‘Orientalism’ (Said, 1978) are used to highlight how the British Chinese pupils are both able to negotiate flexibly their identities but also are confined by certain essentialised, dominant discourses. This thesis argues that there is an emergent British Chinese identity in which young people recognise their flexible and complex, hybridised British Chinese identities, including the possibility of being both British and Chinese. The research contributes to on-going debates on British Chinese young people. The thesis highlights how the new visibility of the British Chinese population brings both risks and opportunities when creating new spaces to allow for the complex and flexible nature of their diverse and shifting identities.

<p> This quasi-experimental mixed-methods study investigated how integrating language arts and visual arts with history instruction affected high school English as a Second Language (ESL) student achievement and integrative thinking ability. This study had three objectives: (a) to collaboratively develop and implement a curriculum that integrated language arts and visual arts with history; (b) to measure that curriculum&rsquo;s impact on student achievement and integrative thinking ability; and, (c) to explain that impact. Two integrated units of instruction were developed by a team of four high school teachers representing three disciplines: history, English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL), and visual arts. The integrated instruction, which in this study was the intervention, was then implemented in the ESOL teachers&rsquo; classes. The comparison group consisted of students in other sections of the same ESOL teachers&rsquo; classes. The researcher collected, processed, and analyzed work samples, focus group interviews, grade data, state standardized test (SST) scores, World-Class Instructional Design and Assessment (WIDA) scores, and participants&rsquo; scores on the Evaluation of the Potential for Creativity (EPoC) assessment for measuring integrative thinking. The null hypothesis of the primary question is: There is no significant difference in performance on the EPoC instrument between the comparison and intervention groups. In addition to EPoC, other student achievement data was analyzed. Students in the integration group performed better on the instruments measuring other achievement data in English and history, but not significantly. However, the entire sample performed much better than the rest of the district and state. Collaboration may have contributed to the participants&rsquo; relatively high achievement. This study may inform school leaders and guide curriculum design at the site, as well as lead to larger studies to determine the effects of implementation of integrated curricula on secondary students.</p><p>

<p> This dissertation is an inquiry into the social experiences of first year international graduate students, and how those social experiences inform their academic writing development. Drawing from the sociocognitive perspective (Atkinson, 2002; Lantolf, 2000), this study recognizes that the university is social in nature, and language learning occurs in the mind, body, and world (Atkinson et al., 2007). The international graduate students in this study were recruited from the first quarter academic writing class in fall 2014 (n=113), and were surveyed at four time points throughout the academic year. The dissertation focuses on four students, Luiza from Brazil, Camila from Chile, Q from Korea, and Kira from China as illustrative examples of the social environments that students have as well as trajectories of writing development. The focal students participated in three interviews throughout the year and written texts were also collected at three time points (at the end of the fall, winter, and spring quarters). Findings from the students&rsquo; social environments suggest that students tend to gravitate towards co-nationals in social settings. In terms of receiving writing support, students in the study relied primarily of colleagues and friends, followed by professors. Writing tutors and family members were sought out the least for writing support. Peers tended to be more accessible and approachable than professors, while professors were rated as more helpful than peers. In terms of the writing development of the students, this study focuses on clausal, phrasal, and lexical complexity. Findings from the textual analysis portion suggest that the writing of the focal students became more complex based on these measurements. In particular, students generally scored higher on the number of modifiers per noun phrase measure throughout the year, suggesting that their noun phrases were becoming more complex, although there were some deviations to this pattern. Also, students used more words from the academic word list and field specific jargon throughout the year. The implications of this study are relevant to writing professors, STEM professors, international student services, and the university as a whole.</p><p>

<p> An estimated 44% of secondary school English Learners (ELs) are immigrants. Some arrive in the United States with a rigorous academic education and often excel beyond most native-born students while others arrive without any formal education or having missed years of schooling. This second subpopulation of ELs is called students with interrupted or limited formal education or SLIFE. These learners have to work harder than their native English-speaking peers and even harder than their more literate EL peers to meet the same accountability goals because these students need learn a new language, develop literacy skills in the new language, and also master content area standards simultaneously. The problem that was addressed was that teachers&rsquo; low expectations and subsequent differential treatment of SLIFE may contribute to the lower graduation rates and achievement gap and between SLIFE, other ELs, and mainstream English-speaking students. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to examine high school content teachers&rsquo; perceptions of and expectations for their students who are classified as SLIFE. Participants are high school teachers in one school district in the Southeastern United States. Data were gathered through face-to-face interviews. The findings showed the difficulties faced by teachers trying to support SLIFE students in mainstream content area courses, but also revealed the willingness these teachers demonstrate to do whatever it takes to help all of their students. The data expressed a deep desire these teachers feel to be better equipped. Research is needed to determine what supports, research, and training experiences and efficacy are needed for planning and delivering instruction to their SLIFE students with the goal of both academic success and a positive acculturation experience. Further research is also needed to determine what, if any, institutional barriers exist and what can be done to remove them so that the teachers&rsquo; efforts will be facilitated, not hindered.</p><p>

The efficacy of corrective feedback (CF) on writing for second language (L2) development has been much studied in applied linguistics since Truscott’s (1996) polemic against written CF. However, no clear picture of its effectiveness has emerged yet as empirical studies have reported conflicting findings. The majority of these studies are short-term studies focusing on the role of teacher-centered written CF from the cognitive perspective, and therefore the long-term developmental process, oral CF, and the role of the learner and learner affect in the feedback process have been under-explored. In addition, previous research has focused on English learners, and little is known about the impact of CF in writing on learners of non-European languages. In an attempt to address these research gaps, the present study, using sociocultural theory as its theoretical framework, investigated the long-term impact of Vygotskyan dialogic CF, an operationalization of CF as mediation in the learner’s zone of proximal development (Aljaafreh & Lantolf, 1994), on L2 Japanese writers’ linguistic and affective outcomes. To carry out this investigation, a year-long mixed-methods case study was conducted. Participants were two American undergraduate Japanese as a foreign language learners who were asked to produce personal writing and then participate in a face-to-face writing conference to receive dialogic CF from the researcher. Data included the two learners’ writing samples, interviews, audio-recordings of the writing conferences, and researcher field notes. Learners’ linguistic outcome was analyzed quantitatively using accuracy rates in writing and also qualitatively using genetic method (Vygotsky, 1978) to trace changes in the learner’s responsiveness to dialogic CF. Learners’ affective outcome was qualitatively analyzed using the interview data. The findings with respect to linguistic outcomes obtained from longitudinal data revealed the ‘wave-like’ characteristic of the nature of the L2 developmental process, which questions the common data interpretation equating the lack of short-term accuracy improvement with inefficacy of CF. The findings from the interview analysis showed that positive emotions were frequently engendered and the two learners frequently exercised their agency during dialogic CF writing conferences, which suggests that feedback process in L2 writing is not only a cognitive process but also an affective process.

<p> Research affirmed that instructional strategies that promote English Language Learners&rsquo; (ELLs) Academic Language Proficiency (ALP) are essential in the primary grades for ELLs to succeed in school. This quantitative causal-comparative study relied on the premise of Vygotsky&rsquo;s sociocultural theory and addressed to what extent Balanced Math instruction affected ELLs&rsquo; math performance in Grade 1 and Grade 2, as measured by STAR Math. This study examined the extent differences existed on STAR Math Scores and Student Growth Percentiles of ELLs in Grade 1 and Grade 2 based on exposure to Balanced Math instruction in a rural school district located in the Pacific Northwest. The Mann-Whitney <i> U</i> test examined the extent there were significant differences, <i> p</i> &lt; .05 of the dependent variable, Student Growth Percentile, based on exposure to Balanced Math instruction. The results of the Mann-Whitney <i> U</i> were not statistically significant, <i>U</i> = 1034.50, <i> p</i> = .062, and the null hypothesis could not be rejected. ANOVA assessed if there were significant differences based on the alpha level <i>p</i> &lt; .05 of the dependent variable, STAR Math Scaled Scores, based on exposure to Balanced Math instruction. The results of the ANOVA were not statistically significant, <i>F</i> (1,114) = 0.12, <i>p</i> = .729, &eegr;²_p = 0.00, and the null hypothesis could not be rejected. This study concluded there were no significant differences between ELLs who received Balanced Math instruction and ELLs who did not receive Balanced Math instruction.</p><p>