abstract: Public schools across the country are increasingly dealing with children who enter schools speaking a language other than English and Arizona is not the exception. As a result, schools across the country have to adequately ensure this populations’ academic achievement, which is directly impacted by English proficiency and ELLs (English Language Learners) program placement. However, restrictive language policies such as Proposition 203, the four-hour English Language Development (ELD) block, and the exclusion of ELLs from Dual Language Programs (DLPs) in Arizona are not effectively preparing linguistic minority and ethnic student populations for academic achievement and competitiveness in a global economy. For the first part of the analysis, the author examined bilingual education and DLPs policies, access, and practices impacting Latina/o communities by utilizing a case study methodology framework to present the phenomenon of DLPs in a state that by law only supports English only education. The author discussed the case study research design to answer the research questions: (1) Which public k-12 schools are implementing Dual Language Programs (DLPs) in the state of AZ? (2) What are the DLPs’ characteristics? (3) Where are the schools located? (4) What are the stakeholder participants’ perceptions of DLPs and the context in which these DLPs navigate? The author also describe the context of the study, the participants, data, and the data collection process, as well as the analytical techniques she used to make sense of the data and draw findings. The findings suggest that bilingual education programs in the form of DLPs are being implemented in the state of Arizona despite the English only law of Proposition 203, English for the Children. The growing demand for DLPs is increasing the implementation of such programs, however, language minority students that are classified as ELL are excluded from being part of such programs. Moreover, the findings of the study suggest that although bilingual education is being implemented in Arizona through DLPs, language minority education policy is being negatively influenced by Interest Convergence tenets and Racist Nativist ideology in which the interest of the dominant culture are further advanced to the detriment of minority groups’ interest. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Educational Leadership and Policy Studies 2016

abstract: This multilevel, institutional case study used ethnographic methods to explore the intersections of local language policies and emergent bilingual students’ identities in dual language and structured English immersion (SEI) classrooms at one urban elementary school. Using a sociocultural policy approach as means to explore the ways that educational language policies are appropriated and practiced in schools and classrooms and an intersectional literacy identity framework, I engaged in a multilevel qualitative analysis of one school, two fifth-grade classrooms, and four focal emergent bilingual students. At the school and classroom levels, I sought to understand the ways educators practiced and enacted language policies as well as how they conceptualized (bi)literacy for emergent bilingual students. At the student level, I engaged in identity-text writing sessions designed around student interests yet aligned with the opinion/argumentation writing style the students were working on in class at the time of data collection. Additionally, I conducted one-on-one interviews with the participants at each level of analysis (i.e. school-level, classroom-level, and student-level). The primary data analysis sources included participant interviews, classroom observations, and student identity-text artifacts. Findings highlight the dynamic in-school and classroom-level realities of emergent bilingual students in an Arizona educational-language policy context. Specifically, at the school level, there was an ongoing tension between compliance and resistance to state-mandated policies for emergent bilingual students. At the school and classroom levels, there were distinct differences in the ways students across the two classrooms were positioned within the larger school environment as well as variation surrounding how language and culture were positioned as a resource in each classroom context. The role of teachers as language policymakers is also explored through the findings. Analysis of student texts revealed the centrality of intersectional student identities throughout the writing processes. The discussion and conclusions more broadly address implications for educational practice, policy, and future research directions. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Educational Leadership and Policy Studies 2018

Thesis advisor: C. Patrick Proctor / Traditionally strict language separation policies in dual language bilingual education (DLBE) programs reflect parallel monolingualism and have been criticized as failing to recognize the sociolinguistic realities of bilingual students (García & Lin, 2017). To leverage bilingual learners’ full linguistic repertoires as resources, this study explored how Sánchez, García, and Solorza’s (2018) translanguaging allocation policy could be strategically and purposefully designed in a third grade Mandarin/English DLBE classroom where the majority of the students were English-dominant speakers. Taking the form of participatory design research (Bang & Vossoughi, 2016), I (as a researcher) and a Mandarin teacher worked together to co-design translanguaging documentation, translanguaging rings, and translanguaging transformation spaces across different content areas – Chinese Language Arts, Science, and Social Studies. During the process, we also engaged in equitable forms of dialogue and listening to openly discuss, negotiate, and develop our translanguaging co-stance in iterative ways. Data collection included classroom and design meeting recordings, observational field notes, and teacher and students’ artifacts and interviews throughout the school year of 2018-19. Inductive and deductive coding were adopted for data analysis. Findings revealed that translanguaging pedagogies took many shapes based on contextual factors, such as the different pedagogical purposes and curricular demands across content areas. Students were able to develop deeper content understandings, build cross-linguistic connections, and develop their bi/multilingual identities and critical consciousness in those flexible bilingual spaces. Findings also demonstrated that the ideological (re)negotiation between the researcher and the teacher was a bumpy and discursive journey, replete with tensions, confusions, and difficult conversations. Overall, it was a balancing act to create translanguaging spaces while maintaining the language-minoritized (Mandarin) space and privileging students’ use of Mandarin given the societal dominance of English. This study provides implications for new theoretical and pedagogical understandings of translanguaging, and suggests that researcher-teacher collaboration provides a promising way to generate evidence-based, practitioner-informed, and context-appropriate knowledge for DLBE curricular and pedagogical improvements. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2020. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum and Instruction.

No description available.

Despite language differences, English Language Learners (ELLs) in U.S. public schools are assessed by the same standardized tests of English Language Arts (ELA) skills as are their English-speaking peers. ELLs have routinely performed poorly on the New York State ELA standardized assessment. ELLs are a significant portion of the population in New York City public schools; therefore, their continued poor performance puts some of these schools at risk for closure. Guided by Thomas's and Collier's framework for understanding Dual Language Immersion programs, the purpose of this quantitative quasi-experimental, archival study was to determine if significant differences in ELA standardized assessment scores exist for ELLs attending an English as a New Language (ENL) program when compared to those attending a Dual Language (DL) program. A mixed-model ANOVA (N = 24 ELLs tested in 2014, 2015, and 2016) indicated that scores increased significantly during the 3-year period, but there were no significant differences in scores for the ENL program students compared to the DL program students. An ANCOVA (N = 366 ELLs tested in 2016 evenly distributed in each program) showed that, when controlling student disability status, DL program students scored significantly higher than ENL program students. These findings formed the basis of a professional development curriculum designed to guide educators and administrators in the implementation of effective DL programs and teaching strategies to support ELLs' achievement. When supported with research-based programs in their schools, ELLs can achieve more academically, thereby fostering social change over time as more ELLs enter the workforce uniquely qualified to succeed in a diverse, global economy.

No description available.

In the 2010-2011 school year, there were almost a quarter of a million English language learners (ELLs) enrolled in Florida public schools (Florida Department of Education, 2011), most of whom were placed in mainstream schools with segregated language remediation. Dual language education (DLE) programs offer developmental opportunities in two languages that mainstream schools cannot. The purpose of this research was to identify parental attitudes toward immersion programs and define the reasons that parents enroll their children in DLEs. Sixty participants completed a questionnaire sent home from their student's DLE. The study data included biographical information, statements depicting the reasons for enrollment rated by a Likert scale, and an area for comments. Overall, the study found that survey participants rated their child's comfort communicating with Spanish speakers (4.75 out of 5) to be the most important reason for enrollment. A difference was found in responses depending on the ethnic/language group of surveyed participants. Primarily, Spanish speakers responded more positively to the statements regarding bilingual education than any other ethnic/language group. All parents conclusively believe the dual immersion program has been a success for their children.

The following case study provides answers to two questions, "How do English Learners and Spanish Learners negotiate meaning in an alternative dual language environment?" (Who are they? What do they do and how do they interact together?) and "How do English Learners and Spanish Learners perceive the dual language program and working together with peers?" (How do they perceive their peer interaction and the challenges, frustrations, and rewards they may have encountered?) This study focuses on the language interaction of three dyads of English Learners and Spanish Learners from a rural middle school in Northern California who met once a week to participate in an alternative dual language program. Methodically triangulating data from student journals, interviews, and taped interactions and analysis, three stages emerged during the alternative dual language program: (1) Language Apprehension, (2) Language Initiation, and (3) Language Acquisition. Within these stages, a number of corresponding themes unfolded from the analysis of journal entries, interviews, taped interactions, and field notes. These themes include Confidence, Language Practice, Frustrations and Misunderstandings, Strategies, and Perceived Language Acquisition. The stages and themes from triangulated data reveal examples of how three different dyads of students negotiate meaning in similar yet different respects depending on their personality, willingness to learn, confidence level, and the strategies they use to move language forward. The study also reveals how the alternative dual language program being studied provided newcomers a chance to associate with mainstream students on a school campus and to engage in authentic language communication and/or language practice; the importance of assigning students to intact pairs (dyads) allowing students to "affectively" build trust, increase confidence, and perceive language acquisition through social cognition; how an alternative dual language program can be implemented in middle or high school campuses that have a plethora of second language learners; and, how such language interaction can foster cross-cultural and multicultural education.

Two-Way Immersion (TWI) programs offer settings and goals that foster multilingual and multicultural communities; however, communities are complex and fluid, and have aspects that may or may not promote equitable education and learning. This research analyzes the actions and interactions of a group of first grade students to address how community develops during the first semester of implementation of a TWI program. Theoretical notions of figured worlds and communities of practice frame the analysis of ethnographic data to provide insight into the complex social and pedagogical dynamics of this setting 1) through conversations with teachers, 2) through observations of teacher-student interactions during teacher-centered activities, and 3) through observations of students interacting with less teacher presence. Findings describe the teachers’ discourses about their students, which centered on issues of equity and dismantling language status hierarchies. The findings also describe practices that the teachers themselves frame as promoting unified, equitable communities; however, analysis was mixed in finding that certain practices appeared to promote unity within the classroom and others appeared to reinforce divisions among students. Key findings also confirm the results of other researchers regarding the positioning of initially bilingual students in TWI as “dual language experts.” This study notes some ramifications of teaching practices and aspects of the specific 50-50 TWI model for the entire community of learners, which, while elevating balanced bilinguals may marginalize English learners and Spanish learners. / text

abstract: This is a qualitative case study using ethnographic methods of how one school community has been able to negotiate Arizona's restrictive English only language policies. Drawing from classroom and school-wide observations, extensive interviews, and document collection, this case study explores three key questions in relation to this school's negotiation process: 1) What characterizes the curriculum for English learners (ELs) and bilingual students at the case study school? 2) How do key actors, processes, and cultural practices at the case study school support the negotiation of Proposition 203 and House Bill 2064? and 3) What are the perspectives of key school community stakeholders in relation to the curriculum supporting bilingualism and the policy negotiation process? Findings show that by sharing certain key beliefs and practices, the school community has been able to work together, at times through struggle and perseverance, to negotiate for what they believe to be most important in school. They do so by sharing such key beliefs as the importance of seeing the whole child and teaching in ways that are real and meaningful. They also negotiate by engaging in a set of shared practices, which include: the use of Spanish campus-wide both for instruction and for the life and operation of the school, the cultivation of relationships amongst all school community members, and key curricular practices. These practices include providing a variety of learning experiences, especially those based upon the Arts, as well as a curriculum that focuses on providing opportunities to examine real world issues in an integrated and in-depth manner, to learn by integrating students' language, families, and experiences into the curriculum, and has a final goal of creating students who are critical thinkers, self-advocates, and agents within their own lives. All of these beliefs and practices contribute to a strong sense of community. It is this sense of community and the shared beliefs and practices, along with the increased agency this interconnectedness creates for all stakeholders, which has facilitated the successful use of parent waivers. These parent waivers have enabled parents to continue choosing alternative language education programs to those mandated by the state, namely integrated content and English instruction within the mainstream K-4 classroom and the Spanish/English dual language program option at the 5-8 grade levels. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Curriculum and Instruction 2012