Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Second term'

Purpose. The purpose of this study was to understand and, using an assets lens, systematically describe the essence of the experiences of long-term English learners when acquiring proficiency in English.

Methodology. A phenomenological design was used to explore the experiences of long-term English learners when acquiring proficiency in English. The researcher interviewed a purposeful sampling of 5 adults who identified themselves to be long-term English learners as students. Patton’s (2002) steps in phenomenological analysis including epoche, phenomenological reduction, bracketing, textural portrayal, and structural synthesis were used to analyze the data. Lincoln and Guba’s (1985) process for validity and reliability were utilized to establish alternative constructs of credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability. Findings. Fifteen formulated meanings were constructed from the significant statements, and 5 themes emerged. The 5 themes were explained and supported with the significant statements from the interviews. Finally, the essence of the experiences of long-term English learners when acquiring proficiency in English was described.

Conclusions. The results of the study support the key themes associated with critical developmental assets that impacted the acquisition of English of LTELs. The key themes included family communication preferences and challenges, parental involvement in helping youth succeed in school, experiencing high expectations, developing achievement motivation, and engaging in learning. The findings of this phenomenological study offer districts support to implement programs that empower parents how to become effective advocates in their children’s education.

Recommendations. This study was conducted with adults who identified themselves as LTELs. Further phenomenological research could be conducted to research the types and levels of parental involvement and the effects parental involvement has on the assets of achievement motivation and learning engagement. Additionally, a study could identify if Hispanic parents view their parental responsibilities and participation in the schooling of their children differently from mainstream America. Finally, future research could survey the developmental assets of ELs in middle school. As students become reclassified in middle school, research would identify the combination of assets in those students reclassified as compared with students who did not meet reclassification criteria within the same year.

This phenomenological study includes exploration of the instructional experiences and the schooling factors that have been in place both assisting and failing academically six long-term English learners who attend a comprehensive urban high school in Los Angeles. Long-term English learners have attended schools in the United States (U.S.) for more than six years and are not yet fully proficient in English. Qualitative and quantitative data sources, include demographic questionnaire, one-on-one focused interviews, classroom observations using English learner Shadow Study Protocol (Soto, 2012), academic transcript analysis, and a focus group, were analyzed using descriptive content analysis and Critical Sociocultural Theory (Handsfield, 2012; Lewis, Enciso, & Moje, 2007). The researcher identified two instructional experiences-lessons not engaging students in social interactions or learner-centered activities, and instruction did not help students gain proficiency in the English language-that hindered these students' advancement-and three schooling factors-enrollment in Structured English Immersion (SEI) programs throughout schooling, lack of knowledge about the reclassification process and low academic literacy skills and lack of understanding of how to succeed. To remedy this situation as it impacts numerous students, Legislators should pass laws that support bilingual education and schools should offer English learners the opportunity to develop their native language to be successful in developing bilingualism.

Educational psychology is concerned with increasing the efficacy of teaching and learning while questioning why students from under-represented groups persistently under-perform their peers academically. Students most at risk for poor academic outcomes and most at risk for dropping out of school are American-born students of Mexican origin. Native or second generation-plus Hispanics have the highest high school dropout rate of any U.S. born racial or ethnic group. The purpose of this study was to answer the research question, “How do native Hispanic male long-term English language learners describe the experience of schooling within the educational context of one public school system?” Examined were long-term English language learners’ salient psychological experiences of schooling within the independent and interconnecting contexts of one public school system. The four elements of setting based on Bronfenbrenner’s ecological structure of the educational environment were examined; roles and relationships, activities, place, and time. In addition, the valence of each participant’s experiences was examined. Three educational contexts were defined in this study: the English language development classroom (micro-system); the mainstream classroom (micro-system); and the school campus (meso-system). The body of empirical research relating to Hispanic students, English language learners, and long-term English language learners addresses the poor academic achievement of these students by focusing on isolated factors and is replete with quantitative studies. This study adds to the body of research through the application of generic qualitative inquiry methods. During the course of a single one-on-one in-depth interview with the researcher, participants revealed a world of reflections, thoughts, feelings, and beliefs about the outward experience of schooling from their perspective as a long-term English language learner. A self-selecting sample of eight participants originated from a population of native U.S. born, second-generation, male, long-term English language learners within the research site. Participants ranged in age from 18-22 years and had been enrolled in the English language development program between 6.5 and 12 years. Data were analyzed through the application of theoretical thematic analysis within- and across-educational contexts. Findings were presented as five overarching themes representative of the school experience of participants: denunciation of the identity/label of English language learner; the ascendancy of relationships; racial/ethnic and linguistic social stratification; ELD as the 21st century “Mexican” school, and school characteristics. Through the analysis and discussion of participants’ experiences in school, there appears to be an opportunity for psychological and educational practitioners to apply these research findings to improve the educational experiences of Hispanic long-term English language learners as well as all English language learners at all proficiency levels within the public school system.

English learners are expected to acquire academic language and content simultaneously. Long Term English Learners (LTELs), a growing English Learner subgroup, struggle academically and do not have the necessary academic vocabulary proficiency to achieve academic success in our current educational system.

This mixed-methods study examined the implementation of Academic Vocabulary Instructional protocols in the upper grades in a small urban elementary school district. Semistructured interviews, focus group, observation protocol, and data analysis methods were used as primary methods for data collection. Overall, four key themes emerged in this study. First, all 4th- and 5th-grade teachers implemented the new Academic Vocabulary Toolkit and protocol to address the academic language needs of English learner students. Second, teachers consistently used the academic vocabulary and grammatical frames. Third, teachers regularly modeled the use of an academic register. Finally, there was an increase in the use of grammatical sentence frames and academic vocabulary by students across the content areas. Language Acquisition and Sociocultural Theory in Language conceptual frameworks were used.

Providing students at risk of becoming long-term English learners (LTELs) with the instruction and support they need to reclassify as fluent English proficient before entering high school increases their access to grade-level or advanced placement curriculum that will satisfy college entrance requirements and, presumably, postsecondary academic success. The purpose of this study is to determine whether the support provided through College Success Path by the Students First Unified School District (a pseudonym) to its seventhand eighthgradersat risk of becoming LTELs has the potential to lead to university matriculation.

Descriptive (mean, median, mode, and standard deviation) and inferential (independent measure t-test) statistical analyses of student learning outcomes revealed nonsignificant results at the .05 level.

Notable findings emerged after looking at score distributions and frequencies (cross-tabulations) for the District Writing Assessments and California Standardized Tests, English Language Arts learning outcomes. The treatment group experienced greater numbers of students moving from lower proficiency levels to higher proficiency levels in terms of the posttests than the control group did.

Descriptive and inferential statistical analyses of identified student learning outcomes did not yield significant results at the .05 level. Cross-tabulations conducted to analyze score distributions on the same student learning outcomes revealed results in favor of the treatment group. However, A-G completion rates and academic GPA data revealed results in favor of the control group.

The reality regarding the English learner (EL) population in California is changing as the number of LTELs increases in our public schools. In light of current state legislation, providing equal educational opportunities for ELs, especially LTELs, is vital to their success. This relates to the theoretical foundation of this study because it hearkens back to Paulo Freire's idea of actively participating in one's current reality and working to transform rather than conform to the world around them.

This qualitative single-case study examined the experiences of a post-secondary first-year English composition instructor teaching long-term English learners at an urban, public university in the northeast United States by exploring the instructor’s literacy ideologies and the effects of those ideologies on the instructional practices of the instructor within the English learners’ classroom. The study used in-depth phenomenological interviews, classroom observations, a student diversity survey, and artifacts to achieve its purpose. The results of this study support three thematic findings: (a) Although the instructor was unsure as to what qualifies students to be classified as English learners, she teaches them in the same way she does native English-speaking students; (b) The instructor felt that her job was to help students learn “the game” of how to write academic text; and (c) The instructor used a variety of instructional practices but lacked professional training and resources.

This qualitative design based research study examined the Connected Learning theoretical framework coupled with academic language scaffolds for Long Term English Learners (LTELs) in a secondary public school setting. The participants of this study were students that have been in the United States for more than six years and have yet to be reclassified as fluent in English, thus they are labeled as LTELs. The setting for this design-based research study was one ninth grade sheltered English class and one 12th grade sheltered English class in an urban high school in Northern California. There were two implementations of this design based curriculum and each cycle lasted four days. The first implementation took place in October of 2016 and the second implementation took place during November of 2016. Students created and shared media across digital platforms using paragraph and sentence frames. As a result of this design based curriculum several students were able to create video letters to the next president of the United States on an iPad and share them on a digital platform. The design and implementation of a connected learning environment included three design principles and three learning principles and can be a successful system in other classrooms structured to serve LTELs if enough time is provided to enact all components of the design.

At the time of the doctoral defense, the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 1: Manuscript. Paper 3: Manuscript.

The purpose of this descriptive survey study was to (a) investigate the impact of ELL Shadowing on teachers' awareness of the academic language abilities and needs of Long-Term English Language Learners; (b) assess teacher-perceived proficiency in implementing Frayer Model and Think-Pair-Share Charting instructional strategies with English learners following specially designed professional development; (c) assess teacher self-efficacy to effectively address the academic language needs of English learners following specially designed professional development; and (d) investigate the academic language performance of Long-Term English Language Learners as a result of the Frayer Model and Think-Pair-Share Charting strategy implementation.

This study used an original survey created by the researcher consisting of 13 structured and 2 semi-structured questions that was administered after professional development on ELL Shadowing, the Frayer Model, and Think-Pair-Share Charting. The survey's 15 questions examined teacher self-efficacy in using the 2 instructional strategies to meet the needs of Long-Term English Language Learners, how ELL Shadowing impacted teachers' perspectives of English learners, and the impact of the 2 instructional strategies on English learners' performance following professional development.

The findings from this study indicated that: (a) the majority of teacher participants saw the benefit in ELL Shadowing increasing awareness of the academic needs of Long-Term English Language Learners and that these students often remain passively silent in the classroom; (b) teachers are slightly more comfortable using the Frayer Model than Think-Pair-Share Charting; (c) the majority of teacher participants saw the benefit in using the Frayer Model and Think-Pair-Share Charting to increase student talk, accountability, and Academic Language Development; and (d) in addition to professional development workshops, some teachers need ongoing support and coaching for full implementation of instructional strategies.

It was concluded that: (a) ELL Shadowing increases awareness of Long-Term English Language Learners; (b) English learner professional development can increase teacher efficacy for supporting English learners; (c) The Frayer Model and Think-Pair-Share Charting, when used in conjunction, increase academic language development for English learners; and (d) Effective professional development requires a systems approach in order to build teacher capacity and sustainability.