The present study analyzed the writing of emergent bilingual second grade students enrolled in a two-way dual language bilingual education program. Writing samples were analyzed holistically and cross-linguistic strategies were documented that support the claims that the process of developing biliteracy is dynamic and singular. In addition, Spanish language arts classes were observed and teacher interviews were conducted in order to contextualize the emergent bilinguals’ writing process. A preference for English was documented during classroom observations as well as in the writing samples collected. Of the 16 emergent bilingual second graders, only four Spanish-dominant students chose to write in both languages. The teacher’s stated concerns over the Spanish proficiency of her English-dominant students led her to alter her instruction during Spanish language arts, deferring to English. The implications of this shift to English for the developing biliteracy of emergent bilinguals are discussed. / text

My study investigated the effects of two 50/50 and two 90/10 two-way dual language programs on the reading achievement of 76 English Language Learners (ELLs) from the end of third grade to the end of fourth grade. My study used both quantitative and qualitative data. Quantitative instruments included the Spanish Reading Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) and the Reading Proficiency Test in English (RPTE) scores. Qualitative instruments included structured interviews with the two-way dual language program coordinators/administrators. The quantitative results of my study showed there were no statistically significant differences between the two groups on the Spanish Reading TAKS by the end of fourth grade. The 50/50 students did make statistically significant gain scores on the Spanish TAKS from the end of third grade to the end of fourth grade, but the 90/10 students did not make statistically significant gains. Both groups were performing above the State averages on scale score and passing rate on the Spanish Reading TAKS. On the RPTE, the results of my study showed there were no statistically significant differences between the two groups by the end of fourth grade. Both the 50/50 and the 90/10 students made significant gain scores on the RPTE from third grade to fourth grade. The 50/50 students made a greater gain on the RPTE than then 90/10 students did. Both groups of dual language ELLs had higher percentages of students in the advanced high rating than the State on the RPTE. The qualitative results showed that several elements were necessary to implement and maintain these two-way dual language programs. These elements included: planning, resources, parental support, qualified teachers, and supportive administrators.

This is a longitudinal study that examines children's perspectives on the development of biliteracy. The theories of children as they learn through two languages reflect a crucial source of knowledge that has received little attention in the research. This study is concerned with the ways in which children learn to read and write in two languages for academic and social purposes as they encounter discourse laden with ideological contradictions.Using a case study design, the study draws on theoretical frameworks from the fields of language socialization, biliteracy, dual language education, and middle school literacy. By showing that children hold sophisticated notions of biliteracy, transforming the ways that language, oral and written become defined and perceived, the research presented here demonstrates that biliteracy is a complex phenomenon that includes meaning-making in two languages and cultures.The study triangulates ethnographic data from interviews with students, families and teachers, participant observation in classrooms, literacy instruction, other school domains, and document and archival analysis. These data indicate that there are multiple paths to biliteracy and that home and school literacy practices can mediate the effects of low income status on literacy development. Additional findings indicate that curriculum and instruction that consistently support minority language literacy promote the development of additive biliteracy in both language majority and language minority students.

This ethnographic case study is situated in a suburban elementary school’s third grade Two-Way 50:50 Dual Language immersion model in Central Texas. Interviews, surveys and observations were conducted to examine the students’ use of the two languages targeted in the Dual Language Immersion program, English and Spanish. Drawing on the notion of “investment” (Norton, 2000) and Bourdieu’s theory of “cultural and linguistic capital” (Bourdieu, 1986), this research studies the language use of six students representing the two language groups in the program. In the data analysis, the researcher finds that the notion of investment is consistent in all the participants, although the aspect that they choose to invest in varies and is represented in their culture, language and identity. / text

The United States is experiencing an increase in young students developing literacy in English and Spanish. Schools providing dual-language English/Spanish instruction need technically adequate tools to assess reading skills in the languages of instruction, and interpretation of results needs to acknowledge the complexity of cross-linguistic learning. Although passage reading fluency in English strongly predicts overall reading proficiency in English in the primary grades and there is some indication that passage reading fluency in Spanish provides equivalent information regarding Spanish reading skills, rarely have the two been examined simultaneously and within a dual-language instructional context. The current study examined predictive and concurrent validity of passage reading fluency in English and Spanish within third grade within a dual-language instructional environment. Using a state assessment of reading as the criterion measure, a correlational design was used to investigate the relation between passage reading fluency in English and Spanish and performance on the statewide assessment of reading in English. Findings indicate that within a dual-language context, passage reading fluency in English is the stronger predictor of performance on the state assessment in English, regardless of the student's home language. Spanish reading fluency is also strongly related to English reading fluency but did not explain additional variance in predicting performance on the statewide large-scale assessment of reading in English beyond what English fluency explained. Results are consistent with the idea that same language assessments are more predictive of reading performance than cross-language assessments are, but the benefits of formative assessment in the language of instruction remain.

Doctor of Education / Department of Educational Leadership / Kakali Bhattacharya / Bilingual education has a long history in the United States, although the support for bilingual education through, which students preserve their culture and heritage language, has not been consistent throughout the years. While there is clear evidence that aligns students’ academic, emotional, and economic successes are aligned when they learn English through their native language, there is a paucity of research regarding bilingual principals as leaders of dual-language programs. This study explores issues of challenges and essential support structures within dual-language programs. The results may be used to improve leadership in bilingual programs. The purpose of this ethnographic case study was to explore the lived experiences of two Latinas who taught in Spanish within dual-language programs that were run by monolingual principals. This qualitative study was informed by two different sampling procedures, purposeful and criterion-based. The participants selected needed to be Latina (self-identified), Spanish dual-language teachers who worked with a monolingual principal as their leader within Midwestern U.S. schools, during the 2012-2013 school year. Narrative inquiry grounded the study in order to elicit stories that would represent the experiences of the teachers as they negotiated their path when their leader was monolingual and they taught in Spanish. Findings indicate that teachers who taught in Spanish within an Anglo-majority educational context, experienced palpable manifestations of inequity and discriminations. The participants had strong self-worth, self-confidence, and self-awareness, which led them to persevere through the instances of judgment and imbalance. The finding also demonstrate that the participants developed coping mechanisms to empower themselves, and established newly-found and increased resourcefulness as an attempt to provide the students with the education they deserved. The participants relied on alternative resources, long hours of research and re-planning, creativity, and resolve to function in an environment that was set out to demean them. The study raised implications about the amount of support teachers in bilingual programs who teach in Spanish receive while led by monolingual principals. Another implication is that there is marginalization of certain languages that are not English. Lastly, this study raised implications regarding ways in which bilingual programs can become more just and egalitarian.

In this dissertation, I investigated the top-down implementation process of a dual language bilingual education (DLBE) program in over 60 schools in a large urban school district in Texas to identify language ideologies and issues of language policy and policy implementation according to local participating educators. Drawing on a language policy framework and research in linguistic anthropology to define language ideologies, I employed a multi-method approach (survey (n=323 educators), interview (n=20 DLBE teachers) and observation (n=3 DLBE teachers)) to measure and better understand language ideology and its significance for local language policy. Analysis revealed ideological tension and multiplicity, within and across educators, within single statements and overtime. For example, during interviews most teachers expressed additive views towards bilingualism, but subtractive views towards non-standard variations of each language. Similarly, several teachers articulated additive ideologies towards bilingualism while articulating the relative greater importance of English language acquisition. These ideological tensions operated in distinct ways at the classroom level. One teacher strictly followed the DLBE policy in her classroom to support bilingual/biliteracy development, but she also discouraged certain students and families from participating in the program because of their non-standard language practices. This dissertation complicates traditional understandings of the role of language ideologies within language policy implementation. Much research in our field discusses bilingual programs and program implementation in dichotomous terms (i.e. subtractive/additive). In contrast, I demonstrate how the multiplicity and complexity of language ideologies must be considered when trying to discuss the ideological struggle involved in implementing pluralist bilingual programs within an English dominant society. I present four potential models to conceptualize and analyze ideological tension as well as a discussion on the relationship between language ideologies and local language policy. Implications for teacher education, DLBE policy and future research are considered. / text

This research examines the bilingual and biliterate trajectories of graduates of a K-5 dual language immersion program who are now young adults. Their experiences as emergent bilinguals within the setting of their elementary school was foundational for their long-term academic outcomes and their deep metapragmatic awareness of simultaneous linguistic experiences. This study explores where these students are now, what happened since they left this particular dual language program, and how their language practices and ideologies have shifted over time and shaped their current practices and ideologies surrounding language and literacy across time and space. Using qualitative methodology, this study draws on frameworks of New Literacy Studies, communities of practice, language ideologies, capital, and language-as-resource to highlight how bilingualism and biliteracy are complex phenomena, and how the multiple, complex, and competing forces at play ultimately shape language and literacy. This study examines the fluidity of how resources for learning are transformed across multiple landscapes and how important insights arise concerning how retrospective analysis of previous learning environments have shaped students' current lived experiences. Findings illustrate the dynamic nature of bilingualism not through discreet domains of language use in bounded contexts, but fluidly moving across fields in remarkable ways. Additional findings underscore the mobilities of language and literacy and how ideologies are neither static nor fixed, but continuously evolving in fluid and dynamic processes.

<p>The purpose of this mixed-methods study is to explore leadership characteristics dual language school principals possess to effectively lead a dual language program. The research seeks to identify specific leadership characteristics and qualities necessary for a principal to effectively lead a dual language school compared to the leadership characteristics required to lead a traditional/monolingual school. The researcher examined the perceptions of leadership responsibilities with dual language teachers in an urban school district in southern Washington. This research study was compared with a similar study completed with monolingual teachers in an urban school district in western Wisconsin. The researcher used an electronic survey, via Qualtrics, to gather demographic information and determine the rank order perceptions of the 21 leadership responsibilities according to dual language teachers. A total of 17 teachers participated in the research study. The highest rated leadership responsibility among the dual language teachers was Communication and the lowest rated leadership responsibility was Contingent Rewards. The researcher also implemented a collective case study design to accumulate and analyze data regarding the leadership characteristics of two dual language school principals, via semi-structured interviews. A recommendation from this study is that several of the 21 leadership responsibilities are more applicable to increasing student achievement in dual language classrooms compared to monolingual classrooms. </p>

This study is framed in Bourdieu’s theory of capital, which asserts that the choices we make are usually designed to help us become better off economically; that economic capital is, to some degree, exchangeable with other types of capital (e.g., social and cultural); and that other types of capital can be exchanged for economic capital. The purpose of this study was to understand which forms of capital native English-speaking and native Spanish-speaking families believed they would acquire by choosing to participate in or not participate in Spanish dual language immersion. In this study I interviewed four native Spanish-speaking students who did not participate in dual language immersion, and their parents, and four native English-speaking students who did participate in dual language immersion, and their parents. I also conducted a focus group with the teachers of both the native Spanish and native English-speaking students. I found that the native English-speaking families perceived that they were able to use the dual language immersion program to gain many forms of capital. By contrast, the native Spanish-speaking families also perceived that they gained capital by not participating in the program, but not as much as if they had participated in dual language immersion. I suggest some ways to make participation in dual language immersion more equitable for all families.