Rozprawy doktorskie na temat „Language and education Vanuatu”

In spite of growing numbers in high schools and colleges, US-resident adolescent bilingual learners, sometimes termed "English as a second language" (ESL) or "Generation 1.5," are not succeeding academically in proportion to their monolingual English-speaking peers. This achievement gap is evident in their writing as they enter college. Depending on the elementary and secondary schools they have attended, bilingual learners may have received no extra English learning support (often termed "immersion"), ESL support classes, or bilingual education. In addition, depending on school and community resources, bilingual learners have varying knowledge of their first language (L1): some may only speak it, others may have basic L1 literacy, others may have studied their L1 as a school subject, while others may have studied in the medium of their L1, either in their family's home country or in a bilingual education program in the US. The purpose of this study is to determine which kind of English learning support and which kind of L1 education are more likely to prepare bilingual learners to write English successfully at college.

This study uses three sources of data: a survey on language background, a writing sample, and an optional interview. Twenty-nine college undergraduate bilingual learners participated. Their survey responses develop a profile of the varied kinds of English and L1 education they received. Each participant's communication course placement composition, written as she was applying to college, is analyzed with 12 different measures: six for surface features, four for discourse/rhetorical features, and two for coherence. The writing analysis scores are correlated with the survey data and enriched with interview excerpts to discover which forms of English and L1 education correlate with high or low writing analysis scores.

The results for this group of participants show that bilingual education and ESL support correlate most often with highly-rated communication placement compositions. Moreover, formal education in the L1 explains the writing analysis scores more accurately than the kind of language learning education the participants received. Interview data suggests that bilingual education and formal L1 education may assist students' English composition skills by helping them develop metalinguistic awareness.

As the population of English Language Learners (ELLs) continues to grow in schools, so does the concern for their lack of academic progress and the possible inequitable representation of this culturally and linguistically diverse population in special education (Artiles, Rueda, Salazar, & Higareda, 2005; Guiberson, 2009; Mac Swan & Rolstad, 2006; Rinaldi & Samson, 2008). Of particular concern is the increase of ELLs with an eligibility of Specific Learning Disability (SLD), especially when examined at the local level (Klinger, Artiles, & Barletta, 2006). To understand this phenomenon at the local level, this mixed-method study examined ELLs with SLD in a large California urban school district by targeting English language development (ELD) at the macro and micro level. The researcher accomplished this focus by examining the relationship between English language proficiency levels, grade levels, and type of learning disorder among kindergarten through twelfth grade ELLs with SLD. The researcher analyzed cumulative educational records of three eighth grade ELLs with SLD, including Individualized Educational Programs (IEPs), to examine how ELD needs have been addressed. The results of the quantitative portion of this study revealed greater distribution patterns of ELLs with SLD in sixth through ninth grades. The researcher also found ELLs with SLD to be primarily represented in the early stages of ELD (beginning, early intermediate, and intermediate) and identified with an auditory processing disorder. Results of the case studies also revealed that after nine years of ELD instruction, the students had not reclassified as English proficient and documented evidence of ELD instruction and support was minimal.

The purpose of this non-experimental quantitative study was to explore the practices of speech-language pathologists in conducting bilingual assessments with interpreters. Data were obtained regarding the assessment tools and practices used by speech-language pathologists, the frequency with which they work with interpreters, and the procedures they employ prior to, during, and at the conclusion of assessments of English language learners (ELLs). Also explored were the skills and proficiencies that speech-language pathologists believe interpreters need in order to be effective in interpreting for assessments.

Data for the study were obtained from surveys completed by a sample of speech-language pathologists working in a large, diverse public school district in the mid-Atlantic region. The survey consisted of rating scales, forced choice questions, and open ended questions. Results were reported via descriptive statistics and through description of participants' responses to open-ended questions.

Results of the study indicated that the participants engaged in best practices in bilingual assessment as defined by the American Speech-Language Hearing Association (2004a, 1999) to a greater extent than has been previously reported in the literature. However, considerable variation existed among participants regarding adherence to best practices, including the decision regarding whether or not to work with an interpreter when assessing ELLs. Study results indicated that participants continue to rely heavily on the use of formal measures standardized on monolingual, English-speaking children when assessing ELLs. Participants were also found to employ identical assessment procedures (assessing first in English without an interpreter, and then bringing in an interpreter for a subsequent testing session) regardless of the English language proficiency of the child. Participants in large measure valued the skills and proficiencies cited in the literature as desirable for interpreters to have, yet they did not express confidence that their interpreters possess these skills.

The implications of the findings are discussed and recommendations are offered for clinical practice, the school districts, graduate schools, and professional development training aimed at improving bilingual assessment practices. Finally, suggestions are offered for future research on bilingual assessment.

There were dual purposes of this exploratory, case study. The first purpose was to investigate and describe the teaching strategies of six Head Start teachers within one program in Oregon whose dual language learners had shown gains of at least three levels in receptive and expressive English language development, as determined by their assessment ratings in Teaching Strategies GOLD Assessment System. The second purpose was to identify what, if any, professional development strategies and resources have been beneficial to those teachers in promoting English language development for children who are dual language learners.

This qualitative study utilized three data collection methods: interviews, observations and review of artifacts. The one-on-one interviews with the purposive sample of teachers occurred during the first phase. The interview questions were designed to learn about teaching strategies utilized by Head Start teachers to promote English language development for children who are dual language learners as well as teachers' relevant professional development resources and opportunities. During the second phase of the study, the Classroom Assessment of Supports for Emergent Bilingual Acquisition (CASEBA) instrument was used to conduct classroom observations in each of the six teachers' classrooms. Furthermore, a review of relevant artifacts was conducted during the observations.

Seven conclusions emerged from the study. First, home language support in the classrooms contributed to English language development. Second, teachers' use of pictures, gestures and other visual cues promoted children's comprehension of English. Third, culturally responsive curriculum was not necessary for promoting enhanced language outcomes. Fourth, a supportive social/emotional environment in the classroom contributed to progress in expressive language development. Next, singing songs with gestures and high quality teachers' talk in English also contributed to expressive language development. Lastly, professional development, formal and informal, is beneficial and needed for preschool teachers.

Five recommendations emerged from the study. Policy recommendations are for college teacher preparation programs to require coursework pertaining to dual language learning and for programs to actively recruit bilingual teachers. Practice recommendations are for programs to implement a Planned Language Approach, set up peer mentoring and training opportunities, and for teachers to plan individual and small group read alouds.

The blended learning model, which combines the traditional face-to-face learning method with an online application such as a learning management system (LMS), became popular and more practical for both teachers and learners in foreign and second language education because of its effective methodology for course delivery and socialization opportunities with technology-enhanced learning activities in both online and offline environments. Although the effectiveness of blended language learning models and benefits of student achievement and autonomous learning with an LMS have been explored, prior research resulted in conflicting data on blended instruction identifying the inconsistent findings in student achievement. Some researchers found that students in blended learning improved their language skills and had higher achievement than participants in exclusively face-to-face or online learning, while some researchers found there to be no statistically important differences in achievement when the blended model was used compared to a face-to-face setting. The specific problem is that the low language achievement of students seems to be related to lack of autonomous language learning skills, but their perceptions of the blended language courses regarding language achievement and autonomous learning skill have not been previously identified and analyzed. The purpose of this qualitative case study is to investigate student perceptions of course effectiveness factors for language proficiency as well as learner autonomy in a blended Korean language course to improve language achievement, especially in listening and reading comprehension skills. American students who attended intermediate and advanced blended Korean language courses applied with the LMS, SAKAI in 2014, 2015, and 2016 at the Osan Language Training Detachment (LTD), Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center (DLIFLC) in Korea, were invited to participate in the anonymous, open-ended online survey. Data from 10 of the participants were analyzed and evaluated. This study found the blended Korean language course was effective for language learning and achievement, but only 50% of participants stated it was effective for the improvement of autonomous learning skills. The other responses said those skills were dependent on various elements of the blended course such as activities, curriculum, teacher, and student’s motivation and learning styles. The factors students found to be effective and ineffective as well as suggestions offered to improve the blended language course were discussed. Although the focus was on one Osan LTD teaching Korean language courses at DLIFLC, the findings could be able to improve language achievement and autonomous learning for future learner success as well as curriculum design in other foreign language courses in DLIFLC or other institutions.

Internet Memes transverse and sometimes transcend cyberspace on the back of impossibly cute LOLcats speaking mangled English and the snarky remarks of Image Macro characters always on the lookout for someone to undermine. No longer the abstract notion of a cultural gene that Dawkins (2006) introduced in the late 1970s, memes have now become synonymous with a particular brand of vernacular language that internet users engage by posting, sharing and remixing digital content as they communicate jokes, emotions and opinions.

For the purpose of this research the language of Internet Memes is understood as visual, succinct and capable of inviting active engagement by users who encounter digital content online that exhibits said characteristics. Internet Memes were explored through an Arts-Based Educational Research framework by first identifying the conventions that shape them and then interrogating these conventions during two distinct research phases. In the first phase the researcher, as a doctoral student in art and visual culture education, engaged class readings and assignments by generating digital content that not only responded to the academic topics at hand but did so through forms associated with Internet Memes like Image Macros and Animated GIFs. In the second phase the researcher became a meme literacy facilitator as learners in three different age-groups were led in the reading, writing and remixing of memes during a month-long summer art camp where they were also exposed to other art-making processes such as illustration, acting and sculpture. Each group of learners engaged age-appropriate meme types: 1) the youngest group, 6 and 7 year-olds, wrote Emoji Stories and Separated at Birth memes; 2) the middle group, 8-10 year-olds, worked with Image Macros and Perception memes, 3) while the oldest group, 11-13 year-olds, generated Image Macros and Animated GIFs.

The digital content emerging from both research phases was collected as data and analyzed through a hybrid of Memetics, Actor-Network Theory, Object Oriented Ontology, Remix Theory and Glitch Studies as the researcher shifted shapes yet again and became a Research Jockey sampling freely from each field of study. A case is made for Internet Memes to be understood as an actor-network where meme collectives, individual cybernauts, software and source material are all actants interrelating and making each other enact collective agencies through shared authorships. Additionally specific educational contexts are identified where the language of Internet Memes can serve to incorporate technology, storytelling, visual thinking and remix practices into art and visual culture education.

Finally, the document reporting on the research expands on the hermeneutics of Internet Memes and the phenomenological experiences they elicit that are otherwise absent from traditional scholarly prose. Chapter by chapter the dissertation was crafted as a journey from the academic to the whimsical, from the lecture hall to the image board (where Internet Memes were born), from the written word to the remixed image as a visual language that is equal parts form and content that emerges and culminates in a concluding chapter composed almost entirely of popular Internet Meme types.

An online component can be found at http://memeducation.org/