The rapid increase of the English Language Learner (ELL) student population in the United States and their continued lack of achievement means that research must focus on examining differences between the types of second language programs that are available in the U.S. to assist ELLs to learn a second language. The lack of research about teachers’ knowledge and perceptions along with professional development practices in second language programs indicates the need to improve teacher training. This dissertation includes two research studies that followed a mixed-methods approach. Study 1 was conducted with 225 Bilingual and English as Second Language (ESL) teachers in a large suburban school district. Study 2 included 335 Dual Language and ESL teachers from forty school districts in Texas. Study 1 examined Bilingual and ESL teachers’ knowledge of research on bilingual programs, instructional issues for ELLs, general instructional strategies, and second language development amongst bilingual/ESL teachers who work in different language programs. Also, the study considered the professional development opportunities provided to teachers of ELLs. In addition, it examined teachers’ perceptions about administrators, program implementation, program features, school and community, and adequate training along with the degree of program satisfaction. Study 2 investigated whether the program of instruction, grade level, years of experience, types of route to certification, and feelings of pre-service teacher preparation made a difference on Dual Language and ESL teachers’ knowledge and perceptions of second language programs. It also focused on the type of professional development that teachers receive and program strengths and challenges. Findings from both studies indicated significant differences in regards to teachers’ knowledge and perceptions based on a number of variables examined. There were similarities and differences in regards to professional development experiences, program strengths and challenges. Findings indicated that a large number of teachers of ELLs are not receiving adequate training and that bilingual and Dual Language teachers know more than ESL teachers about research on bilingual programs and second language development. These findings have policy implications because they provide information about the type of knowledge and training that teachers are receiving and most importantly the deficits.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Literacy, Culture, and Language Education, 2009. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on Jul 14, 2010). Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-12, Section: A, page: 4650. Adviser: Larry Mikulecky.

This study explores Palestinian university teachers' beliefs regarding the concepts of culture and intercultural communicative competence (ICC) and the impact of their perception on classroom teaching practices. The study argues that in the age of globalization, spread of English as a lingua franca, and growing opportunities of intercultural communication, the focus on linguistic competence or literary competence may not be adequate to enable Palestinian university students to use English communicatively and interculturally. Further, the current objectives of teaching English as a foreign language (EFL), which seem to exclude the cultural/intercultural dimension, can be expanded through integrating ICC into English language classes. Using a case study of one of the leading Palestinian Universities, the study explores the aforementioned assumptions and investigates teachers' beliefs regarding the concepts of culture and ICC in the Palestinian university context. Analyzing data from interviews, observations, and documents, the study reveals that EFL Palestinian participants perceived culture as a way of life that comprises a shared system of values, beliefs, ways of thinking, and behaviors. To them, language and culture are interwoven components, and without culture, language acquisition might be difficult to achieve. Additionally, ICC was perceived as the ability to communicate with people from other cultures through gaining cultural knowledge about English /American culture and promoting personality traits. Data analyses disclose that the linguistic competence had the upper hand in classroom teaching practices, and that the target culture(s) was used as a background to assist language learning. However, ICC was absent in EFL Palestinian university classes, and it was perceived, to some extent, as an equivalent to communicative competence. The study concludes with sets of recommendations to local Palestinian English departments, teachers, international textbooks designers, and future research.

The expansion of the Roman Empire had compelled disparate cultures to mingle and assimilate. In relation to education this fact meant that teachers used a variety of curricula to convey an amalgamation of cultural dynamics. Evidence for this phenomenon is found in the content Colloquia, a fourth-century elementary language textbook, which displays aspects Greek and Roman culture through the explicit and implicit instruction of the text. The existence of this mixture education displays the motivations of the author, as well as information about the values of the contemporary culture.

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This case study was conducted in one elementary French-language school in Ontario with 1 administrator, 4 teachers and their culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students. Through the integration of bhabha’s (1994) notion of Third space, multiple literacies theory (Cummins, 2001; Masny 2009) and by drawing on interviews, observations, and students’ work samples, I conceptualise an alter(n)ative literacies framework to address growing diversity in French-language schools. The term alter(n)ative is developed to express the intertwined benefit of expanding traditional notions of literacy to include alternative language practices and the potential alter-ative effect of re-envisioning the resources children bring to their literacy and language development at school. This thesis argues that teachers can critically (re)interprete official policies concerning Frenchlanguage schools in order to effectively foster students’ alter(n)ative literacies development. In doing so, teachers affirm the plurality of students’ multiple identities as a foundation for their participation within evolving cosmopolitan franco-ontarian communities.

This case study was conducted in one elementary French-language school in Ontario with 1 administrator, 4 teachers and their culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students. Through the integration of bhabha’s (1994) notion of Third space, multiple literacies theory (Cummins, 2001; Masny 2009) and by drawing on interviews, observations, and students’ work samples, I conceptualise an alter(n)ative literacies framework to address growing diversity in French-language schools. The term alter(n)ative is developed to express the intertwined benefit of expanding traditional notions of literacy to include alternative language practices and the potential alter-ative effect of re-envisioning the resources children bring to their literacy and language development at school. This thesis argues that teachers can critically (re)interprete official policies concerning Frenchlanguage schools in order to effectively foster students’ alter(n)ative literacies development. In doing so, teachers affirm the plurality of students’ multiple identities as a foundation for their participation within evolving cosmopolitan franco-ontarian communities.

In the theoretical and epistemological frameworks of Vygotsky’s cognitive theory and French intellectuals’ written legacy (Cixous, Deleuze, Derrida, Foucault, Kristeva, and Lyotard), the research explores philosophical, psychological, and educational migrations of a second language (L2) learner among cultures and languages in her comprehension and further nativization of an L2 through her comprehension and nativization of the culture of the language. The role of Canadian culture in Canada’s second/additional language education (SLE) is the research focus. In this research, the concept of Canadian culture is interpreted narrowly as literature, music, arts, and history of its people, and broadly as creations of its people. The dissertation consists of 3 parts: Pre-Theory, Theory, and Post-Theory. The Pre-Theory part is built according to the conventional thesis design: introduction, theoretical framework, literature review, research question, methodology, credibility, and significance. Narrative inquiry (Connelly & Clandinin, 2006) as the initial methodology of the research unfolds in innovative ways as literary-philosophical essays in the Theory part, and later as a music-poetry work in the Post-Theory part. The Theory part is a conceptual philosophy-arts piece of writing that develops based on the principle “writing as a method of knowing”. The Post-Theory part is the researcher’s music-poetry work “I-Migrations: Psychedelic Story” that is a practical epitome of her research theory. Based on her own way of learning English, first, as a foreign language (FL) in Russia, and then as an L2 in Canada, the researcher theoretically substantiates her postulate of the underestimated role of Canadian culture, in terms of literature, music, arts, and history in Canada’s SLE and proposes to make Canadian culture an integral part of Canada’s SLE curricula. This research fulfils the gaps in the literature on an older L2 learner’s experience across a lifetime and the inclusion of arts and culture alongside of language learning in SLE. Keywords: second language, second language culture, writing, second language writing, second language education

A focal concern amid Canadian French immersion students upon completion of their secondary school studies is a shared belief and feeling that they are limited in their ability to communicate with francophone communities (Howard, 2007; Schaffer, 2013; The Globe and Mail, Friesen, 2013). Furthermore, it has been widely discussed that French immersion students are finding themselves in the midst of language identity crisis, unable to find a place among either of the dominant monolingual groups (Roy, 2010). This case study examined the potential persistence of language identity crisis in three French immersion students who extended their French as a second language education by pursuing post-secondary education in a French immersion program at a large bilingual university. The study reveals the linguistic identity construction of these students by clarifying how each participant positioned (Davies & Harré, 1990) herself towards Francophone language and culture. It exposes the factors which influenced the linguistic positioning of the participants and comments on patterns in the factors which affected their linguistic identity in particular.

The aim of this study is to investigate the opinions teachers teaching English in grades 4-6 have on Extramural English in school, the advantages and disadvantages Extramural English brings, and how they teach to support the acquisition of English for students. The study is based on the following questions: Which teaching methods supports students' language acquisition of English according to teachers in grades 4-6? Which connections do teachers see between students' Extramural English and their attitude to, and knowledge of, English? Do teachers let students' Extramural English interests take place in the classroom, and in which ways? Results from interviews with five teachers from four different schools, and questionnaire responses from 122 teachers, has been used to create the basis for the study. Results show that participating teachers find students attitude to English, as a language as well as subject in school, to be mainly positive. From the teacher’s perspective the students positive attitude reflects on student’s production of English. Many of the teachers express that they include elements of Extramural English when they teach. The study may be of interest from a didactic perspective as it provides insight to how teachers view, and use, Extramural English while teaching. / Syftet med den här studien är att undersöka hur lärare som undervisar i engelska i årskurs 4-6 ser på fritidsengelska i skolan, eventuella fördelar och nackdelar som fritidsengelska innebär, men också hur man undervisar för att främja förvärvandet av engelska hos eleverna. Studien utgår från följande frågeställningar: Vilka undervisningsmetoder främjar elevers språkförvärvande av engelska enligt lärare i årskurs 4-6? Vad ser lärare för kopplingar mellan elevers fritidsengelska och deras inställning till, och kunskaper i, engelska? Låter lärare elevernas fritidsengelska ta plats i klassrummet, och i så fall hur? Resultat från intervjuer med fem lärare från fyra grundskolor, samt enkätsvar från 122 lärare, har använts för att skapa underlag till studien. Av resultaten framgår det att medverkande lärare anser att elevers inställning till engelska, både som språk och som skolämne, är huvudsakligen positiv. Ur lärarnas perspektiv reflekteras elevernas positiva inställning i deras produktion av engelska. Majoriteten av lärarna uttrycker även att de inkluderar fritidsengelska element i sin undervisning. Studien kan vara av intresse ur ett didaktiskt perspektiv då den ger en inblick i hur lärare idag ser på, och använder sig av, fritidsengelska i sin undervisning.