Theses and Dissertations from UMD
Permanent URI for this communityhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2
New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a give thesis/dissertation in DRUM
More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.
Browse
7 results
Search Results
Item "Leveling the Playing Field": Rounds in ESOL Pre-Service Teacher Education(2022) Hall, Wyatt; Peercy, Megan M; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Many pre-service teachers (PSTs) face a common dilemma when completing their internships: they seek to display their own strengths and competencies in teaching while also adhering to the guidance of their mentor teachers and avoiding instructional risks. The underlying structure of the internship promotes a hierarchy which positions mentoring teachers as experts who evaluate their mentees and pre-service teachers who depend on their mentoring teachers’ approval to become licensed teachers. Research into innovative internship structures, such as rounds, can offer insights on how this hierarchy can be flattened in ways that benefit both the pre-service teachers and their mentoring teachers. In this study, I use qualitative case study methods to explore two PSTs and their mentoring teachers’ participation together in a novel form of professional development centered on peer observations called rounds. I further explored how their participation in rounds enhanced the PSTs’ instructional practice in their internships. I facilitated four instances of rounds with the group, observed and interviewed the PSTs four times during their internship, and interviewed each participant once the internship was complete. I analyzed these data through the lens of communities of practice to examine how the PSTs and mentoring teachers worked together around the joint enterprise of inquiring into their teaching of multilingual learners. I also drew on the constructs of boundary crossing and boundary objects to conceptualize how teachers carried aspects of our rounds into other communities of practice at the school and into the PSTs’ instruction. Findings revealed that several aspects of the rounds contributed to a flattening of the hierarchy of status between the PSTs and the mentoring teachers during the rounds. However, changes in the hierarchy during the rest of the internship were more tenuous due to rounds’ difficulty in addressing certain intractable criteria for status as a full teacher in school settings. Observing the PSTs’ internships before, during, and after rounds illustrated how rounds could function as sites of exposure to and experimentation related to persistent instructional problems. The PSTs generated knowledge during rounds that they incorporated back into their internships with unanticipated results that reinforced the iterative and ongoing nature of teacher learning. To break down the barriers of isolation within internships and to challenge the status quo of mentor-PST power dynamics, teacher preparation programs must explore internship structures that move away from evaluation and into collaborative inquiry across experience levels.Item ELEMENTARY TEACHERS’ KNOWLEDGE, PRACTICES, AND PERCEPTIONS OF TEACHING ENGLISH LEARNERS(2017) Adams, Wauchilue D.; McLaughlin, Margaret J.; Fagan, Drew S.; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)For decades, the academic achievement of English Learners (ELs) has consistently fallen below that of non-ELs on standardized achievement tests. The purpose of this inquiry was to examine the continuous achievement gap between ELs and non-ELs and to understand how the knowledge, practices, and perceptions applied when teaching ELs can impact the academic progress of ELs in elementary schools. This study focused specifically on teachers in Title I schools, because nearly half of the elementary ELs in the district attended a Title I school. Bay Shore Public Schools served as the site for this this study. During the data collection process, the researcher sent an electronic survey to the 50 intermediate teachers (Grades 3, 4, and 5) working at the four Title I elementary schools in the district. This effort resulted in a 50% response rate. The survey included 14 questions and 79 indicators that examined the following: teachers’ knowledge about the federal and state laws, policies, and assessments; specific instructional strategies and practices employed when teaching ELs; specific instructional materials used during instruction; available supports for ELs; and perceptions about the instruction of ELs. The survey revealed that (a) the majority of the respondents had little-to-no knowledge of the laws and regulations that governed their work; (b) most respondents used only 11 out of 20 recommended instructional strategies daily; and (c) the use of specific materials and suggested supports during instruction varied in frequency. The data also revealed that the demographic characteristics of the respondents did not seem to impact their responses, specifically in terms of their perceptions. The findings resulted in a number of recommendations for future studies, particularly for relatively small districts that may be considered low-incidence and have teachers with little-to-no first-hand experience teaching ELs. Based on the results of this study, future research studies should utilize case studies to examine the actual interactions between ELs and their non-EL peers and between ELs and their teachers. Researchers might also apply positioning theory to examine how the interactions change from situation to situation and the impact on the resulting academic outcomes for ELs. Additionally, future inquiries might involve the examination of local policies and practices to identify the types and degree of communication between ESOL teachers and classroom teachers that facilitates understanding ELs’ performance on ACCESS and what the outcomes mean.Item A Qualitative Investigation of Collaboration Between General Education and Instructional Support Teachers(2013) Jorisch, Renee; Rosenfield, Sylvia; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)General education students often receive instruction from multiple school staff, such as reading specialists and English Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) teachers. This study's purpose was to explore how instructional support teachers and general education teachers collaborate in order to align instruction, and employed grounded theory methodology to code and analyze teacher interviews in a public school system. Research questions included perceptions of how these two types of school professionals work together, along with perceptions about school level collaboration and administrative support. Results show that factors from the district to the intrapersonal level, along with different modes of communication, cumulatively affect the interactions between these two types of school professionals. Subsequently, the nature of these interactions has an effect on both teachers and students. This study has implications for school interventions, professional development, and future research on collaboration in schools.Item U.S. SCHOOLING: PERCEPTIONS OF INSTITUTIONAL SUPPORT & BIO-ECOLOGICAL CHALLENGES FOR CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS(2013) Gonzalez, Maritza E.; Lin, Jing; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The purpose of this study was to understand the factors shaping the language learning and schooling experiences of nine fourth-grade elementary school students initially classified as English Language Learners (ELLs) when they first enrolled in school in the Mid-Atlantic region. While a growing body of research exists on factors shaping the language learning and schooling experiences of children of immigrants, and particularly in middle and high school levels, few studies have focused on the language learning and schooling experiences of students particularly at the elementary level. Three research questions guided this study: How do students originally classified as ELLs understand their English language learning experiences and schooling? What school factors contributed to students' ELL classification/ESOL placement/maintenance? How do the home and school environment interaction influence students' language learning and schooling experiences? In this qualitative study, I used a case study design and employed the use of ethnographic techniques for data collection. The cases were nine fourth grade students attending one elementary school (Maravilla) in a Mid-Atlantic state. Additionally, they met the following criteria: 1) from Spanish speaking household; 2) classified ELL when they began school; and 3) Salvadoran or Mexican heritage. Students' respective parent(s), teachers (fourth grade classroom and ESOL), the principal and parent liaison served as secondary participants. Several conclusions were drawn from this study about the nine participants' language learning and schooling experiences, most who continued with an ELL classification beyond the fourth grade: 1) several macro factors including immigration and state education policies shape the experiences of the participant's language learning and schooling experiences; 2) home environments foster the transmission of various funds of knowledge but also present several social, cultural and economic challenges which hindered participants' language learning and schooling experiences; 3) school environments prescribe state mandates addressing ELL students, but various factors limit the services provided and supports perceived; and 4) home-school collaborations are sustained by, but primarily limited to, a bilingual parent liaison at Maravilla. Language barriers, parents' formal schooling, immigration policies, and racial tensions are among several factors limiting partnerships between home and school as well as limiting access to information pertaining to participants' language learning and schooling experiences.Item SURVIVING AND THRIVING: A NARRATIVE INQUIRY INTO THE LIVES OF FIVE FILIPINA TEACHERS IN A U.S. URBAN SCHOOL DISTRICT(2011) Nones-Austria, Maria Dolores; HUGHES, SHERICK; Curriculum and Instruction; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This study centers five Filipina non-native English speaking (NNES) teachers, who teach English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL). It explores how we construct our identities as persons and as teachers who are surviving and thriving in one U.S. public urban school district. This study emphasizes the meanings of our experiences as language learners and as ESOL teachers in relation to our identity construction, and highlights the effects of cultural, linguistic and interpersonal elements on our identity transformation. The specific purpose of this study is to seek alternatives to (1) develop and enrich our understanding of the diverse learning and teaching journeys of Filipina NNES ESOL teachers that Mid-Atlantic Public Schools (MAPS) hired between 2005 and 2006, (2) understand and co-construct our identities as supported and marginalized, (3) look at other Filipina NNES ESOL teachers to juxtapose their experiences to my own, as a person with an insider/outsider perspective, and (4) to use our narratives to inform MAPS and other U.S. school district's efforts to recruit, support and retain Filipino teachers as well as other international teachers. Through narrative life history interviews, email follow-up interviews, informal conversations, and questionnaires, the study explored Filipina NNES ESOL teachers' experiences of becoming and being ESOL teachers in MAPS. The study hopes to encourage local and state policy makers and curriculum developers to design professional development plans for Filipino teachers, and to encourage researchers to do further research on the lived experiences of other K-12 international teachers; which may include groups such as Chinese, Taiwanese, Korean, Hispanic, Indians, Nigerians, Jamaicans, etc. through additional qualitative research designs like case study, portraiture and ethnography.Item Constructing a Model of ESOL Content-Based Instruction with Native Language Support: Self-Reflective Action Research Grounded in Cultural-Historical Activity Theory(2010) Walstein, Irina M.; Oxford, Rebecca; Martin-Beltran, Melinda; Curriculum and Instruction; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)noItem The Light Cast by Someone Else's Lamp: Beginning ESOL Teachers(2004-08-13) Motha, Mary Natasha Suhanthie; Price, Jeremy N.; Curriculum and Instruction; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This study was an in-depth exploration of the year-long journey of four first-year ESOL teachers who were women. The researcher asked about meanings of knowledge, pedagogy, and identity in the context of becoming a language teacher and sought to understand how beginning teachers' ideologies interact with their contexts. The teachers' naming and shaping of their own transformative pedagogies were complicated by the ways in which power and privilege manifested themselves in their schools and the ways in which ESOL students, language learning, and pedagogy came to be institutionally constructed. The teachers chose to neither adhere rigidly to their liberatory ideologies nor to submit to socializing influences. Rather, an ethic of caring towards students compelled them to find ways to integrate their commitments to social justice with sustainable pedagogies that supported students' long-term needs. This study was a critical feminist ethnography. Data sources included transcriptions of afternoon tea gatherings held every two or three weeks over the school year, classroom observations, interviews, and school and student artifacts. Part I explores the development of the teachers' meanings of English language teaching in a world in which English dominates politically. The ways in which Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) has been interpreted are problematized, and the connections between grammar and social power are examined. Part II considers the teachers' negotiation of their roles in the shaping of their students' identities and positionalities, seeking to enrich understandings of how various dimensions of difference, particularly race, gender, and ethnicity, interact with a category that permeates all others in the realm of English language teaching, that is linguistic minority status. Part III examines the role the four teachers played in the discursive constructions of their professional identities and the ways in which they supported each others' critical consideration of socializing institutional forces. Two central constructs, becoming and belonging, underpinned the teachers' pedagogical processes and identity construction. These two constructs posed a challenge to traditionally accepted understandings of three intertwined themes: pedagogy, identity, and transformation. The theoretical implications of this dissertation include a need for a redefinition of the ways in which power, identity, and transformation are conceptualized.