The problem is that Dominican student immigrants enrolling in Puerto Rican high schools need to be English proficient and the English as second language program (ESL) is not effectively supporting these students to develop English proficiency to graduate from the target high school. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to understand the perceptions of Dominican immigrant ESL students regarding motivators and demotivators in ESL classes to develop English proficiency at the target site. Using Krashen's conceptual framework, students' perceptions of motivators and demotivators regarding ESL classes, and their suggestions for improving the ESL instruction were explored. A qualitative case study design, using purposeful sampling was used to collect data through semi structured one-on-one interviews from 8 ESL students who met the criteria of being a Dominican ESL student and being 18 years or older. Data were analyzed using ATLAS.ti 7. The findings indicated more time and instructional support was needed for ESL students to develop English proficiency and targeted professional development was needed for the ESL teachers. Themes emerging from the findings were that ESL teachers should (a) use motivators and specific instructional strategies, (b) be aware of demotivators, and that (c) additional instructional time was needed to improve students' English proficiency. A white paper with recommendations to improve ESL instruction developed to present to district stakeholders. The adoption of these recommendations will result in social change by strengthening ESL students' English and literacy support, leading to ESL students' academic success, high school graduation and opportunities to attend college or join the workforce.

Colleges and universities typically provide remedial reading coursework for English language learners (ELL) to develop academic reading proficiency. However, a disproportionate number of ELLs fail to exit remedial classes. Prior research has indicated cultural relevance can motivate and stimulate learning; however, the extent to which a culturally relevant classroom curriculum makes a difference in the ELL classroom experience has not been fully explored. This study describes the experience of cultural relevance in an academic reading ELL college class. Moll's funds of knowledge was used as the conceptual framework in a qualitative case study to examine how cultural strengths and knowledge can be embedded into instruction for enhanced learning. Data were collected from one teacher and 10 ELL student interviews, lesson observations, and the course syllabus with instructional materials. The results from an inductive analysis revealed four major themes: cultural relevance, student characteristics, reading English, and social learning, which aligned with the funds of knowledge framework. Further, it was found that a teacher's role can serve as the cultural bridge to enhance ELL's cognition. Recommendations for future research include a larger and more culturally diverse group of participants to (a) explore if a consistency occurred that was informed by cultural experience, and (b) investigate the experience of culturally relevant pedagogy for ELL students. Social change implications include culturally relevant pedagogical practices, a cost effective instructional model, and successful academic English acquisition for ELLs.

Current literature explains that multiculturally incompetent behaviors demonstrated by counselor educators have negatively affected the personal and professional lives of students, clients, counselors, counselor educators, and supervisees. Using the theoretical framework of critical race theory (CRT), this study examined the relationship among race, ethnic identity awareness, and multicultural competence in counselor educators. CRT involves recognizing conscious and unconscious biases, attributed to race, that individuals might experience. Ninety self-identified counselor educators currently employed in Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) counseling programs completed online surveys containing questions concerning racial classification, adapted questions from the Multicultural Counseling Knowledge and Awareness Scale (MCKAS), and questions from the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (MEIM). Linear regressions were used to test the relationships between race and multicultural competence, as well as ethnic identity awareness and multicultural competence. No relationship between the concepts of race and multicultural competence was established at a significant level; however, a significant relationship between ethnic identity awareness and multicultural competence was confirmed, F(1, 88) = 17.287, p = .000. Counselor educators who possessed a higher ethnic understanding of self on the MEIM also demonstrated higher levels of multicultural competence on the MCKAS. Implications for social change include increased incorporation of ethnic identity awareness opportunities for counselor educators and counseling curricula to influence the multicultural knowledge, skills, and awareness of counselor educators in practice.

An increasing number of multicultural students are attending U.S. public schools. At a Title I elementary school in a rural region of the southern United States, multicultural students had not met academic standards as measured by state exams, and state scores had been very low for 5 consecutive years. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to understand the instructional strategies used by Grade 4 teachers in helping multicultural students pass state tests. The conceptual framework was Vygotsky's theory of cognitive and social constructivism and Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences. The foci of research questions were on identifying teachers' instructional strategies and clarifying why those strategies are used. Nine teachers who had taught in multicultural classrooms were selected via purposive sampling and were interviewed individually. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Themes that emerged included the use of educational software, students' learning styles, and differentiation of instruction. Key findings indicated that these Grade 4 teachers incorporated students' background knowledge and interests into lessons and educational resources authored by multicultural authors. The resulting project was a professional development program for Grade 4 teachers of multicultural students that includes a workshop, PowerPoint presentation, an executive summary, and instructional strategies. These findings will help teachers improve their instructional strategies, which will, in turn, enance the learning of these Grade 4 students.

This study investigated the validity of measures that were hypothesized to account for significant variance in English reading ability. During kindergarten, 63 bilingual Hispanic children completed letter identification, English and Spanish phonological awareness, rapid automatized naming, and sentence repetition static assessment tasks. They also completed a dynamic assessment nonsense-word decoding task that yielded pretest to posttest gain score, response to decoding strategy, and temporally related working memory information. One week prior to kindergarten, information was gathered regarding socioeconomic status, preschool attendance, English and Spanish language dominance, and language ability. At the end of first grade, the same children completed word identification, decoding, and reading fluency tasks designed to represent the narrow view of reading. Reliability, content relevancy, construct validity, and predictive evidence of validity were examined. The letter identification task, the English-only and Spanish-only tasks, and a composite of the participants' best English and Spanish scores accounted for significant variance in first-grade word-level reading. However, the Spanish and BLS static measures did not account for significant, unique variance over and above English-only static measures, and the English-only static measures did not account for significant, unique variance over and above the letter identification static measure. The dynamic assessment measure pertaining to the response to reading strategy instruction accounted for equivalent variance in first-grade word-level reading when compared to a combination of letter identification and BLS static measures. The dynamic assessment measure yielded the highest classification accuracy, with sensitivity and specificity at or above 80% for all three formative criterion reading measures, including 100% sensitivity for two out of the three first-grade measures. The dynamic assessment of reading strategy surfaced as a parsimonious, valid means of predicting first-grade word-level reading ability for Hispanic, bilingual children. When compared to multiple English, Spanish, and BLS static measures, the dynamic measure accounted for equivalent variance in the majority of first-grade reading measures and had superior classification accuracy.

As the Latino portion of the United States population continues to grow each year, more and more children in the United States leave their Spanish-speaking homes and enter English immersion schools. Throughout their lives, these children are likely to shift language preferences from their home language, to the language of the community. However, maintaining development in their first language would be a benefit to them in multiple ways. Identifying factors within bilingual homes that influence English and Spanish language development in preschool-aged children will help researchers and practitioners encourage families to cultivate the optimal learning environment. This study endeavored to identify some specific social, linguistic, and literacy-related factors within the home that predict Spanish and English language development in 4-year-old children from low-income, predominantly Spanish-speaking families. Extant data from the Bilingual Early Language and Literacy Support Project (BELLS) were analyzed. Data were collected in participants' homes using various measures of the home and family environment. Results indicated children may begin to repress their first language in order to focus on learning a second language as early as 48 months. Maternal use of unique words, in Spanish, was a strong predictor of children's English expressive vocabulary, indicating that continuing to provide a rich language environment in the home language facilitates English language development. Furthermore, current measures of literacy and learning environments may be missing important behaviors present in Latino families that are distinctly different from behaviors in Caucasian families, thus making such measures inapt to predict language-related outcomes in Latino homes.

This study examined the relationships among ethnic identity, cultural identity, experiences of discrimination, their interactions, and their effects on various psychosocial outcomes (self-esteem, depression, sense of school membership, social functioning, substance abuse, substance related problems, delinquent behaviors, and grade point average [GPA]). Data were collected twice over a 2-year period. Change across time was observed in male adolescents' experiences of discrimination. Affirmation and belonging to Navajo culture was the strongest protective predictor at Time 1, but at Time 2 less consistent patterns of association emerged. Also at Time 2, experiences of discrimination emerged as a powerful negative predictor of psychosocial functioning for boys only. Finally, there were very few longitudinal links between ethnic identity, discrimination experiences, and psychosocial functioning, suggesting that more complex and sophisticated analyses and designs may be necessary to more clearly delineate the longitudinal implications of ethnic identity development.

Strategies for Improving Instruction for English Language Learners and Culturally Diverse Student Populations. Turanza D. Jackson, 2014: Applied Dissertation, Nova Southeastern University, Abraham S. Fischler School of Education. ERIC Descriptors: English (Second Language), Multicultural Education, Cultural Awareness, English Language Learners This applied dissertation was designed to determine effective strategies that promote academic success for high school students of diverse cultural populations, particularly students learning English. Many ineffective strategies used by teachers in English-language classrooms also lack the culturally accepting element. Students from various sociocultural and linguistically diverse backgrounds are experiencing limited academic engagement because of educators’ deficiency in cultural perspectives. The problem addressed was the need to improve educational opportunities and academic engagement for English language learner (ELL) students and the diverse needs of students from various cultural backgrounds. A qualitative research design was conducted by examining the instructional methods and leadership practices of participating faculty and staff at a high school servicing ELL students and culturally diverse student populations. This research design focused on understanding strategies for improved performance of ELL students and diverse student populations in the teaching and learning environment with particular interest on how faculty were engaged in using specific strategies. Through the collection of interview, documentation, and observational data, detailed conceptual theory was developed. A constant comparative analysis of the data revealed 5 themes that support existing theories in the literature: student engagement, classroom strategies, environmental conditions, teacher–student relationships, and challenges that impede performance. This study resulted in 3 main conclusions. First, a strong relationship exists between students’ increased classroom engagement and improved student performance. Next, student engagement is influenced by 4 main practices selected by teachers: grouping, relevant topics, collaboration, and differentiation. Finally, 3 factors that greatly affect student performance are relationship dynamics, cultural perceptions, and external challenges.

The purpose of this study was to examine script effects of the Chinese Language on Chinese ESL/EFL students· reading strategies, in comparison to those employed by ESL students from alphabetic orthographic backgrounds.

The purpose of this research was to examine the usefulness of David A. Kolb's Learning Styles Inventory (LSI) as a tool for categorization and analysis of systematic differences between American and International students. The research addressed five primary questions: 1. Are the learning styles of the International students tested different from those established by Kolb in previous studies of American students? 2. Do the learning styles of the International students tested differ among the various groups? 3. Are there differences among the groups of International students tested that can be related to gender? 4. Do the learning styles of the International students tested show any variation according to age? And if present, does that pattern differ in any way from patterns identified for American subjects tested? 5. Are the learning styles of the International students tested similar or dissimilar from the norms established by Kolb for American students in various fields of academic study?