College of Education
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The collections in this community comprise faculty research works, as well as graduate theses and dissertations..
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Item CROSS-LINGUISTIC TRANSFER OF SPELLING SKILLS IN SPANISH-SPEAKING ADULT ESL LEARNERS(2016) Bai, Yu; MacSwan, Jeff; Martin-Beltran, Melinda; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Spelling is an important literacy skill, and learning to spell is an important component of learning to write. Learners with strong spelling skills also exhibit greater reading, vocabulary, and orthographic knowledge than those with poor spelling skills (Ehri & Rosenthal, 2007; Ehri & Wilce, 1987; Rankin, Bruning, Timme, & Katkanant, 1993). English, being a deep orthography, has inconsistent sound-to-letter correspondences (Seymour, 2005; Ziegler & Goswami, 2005). This poses a great challenge for learners in gaining spelling fluency and accuracy. The purpose of the present study is to examine cross-linguistic transfer of English vowel spellings in Spanish-speaking adult ESL learners. The research participants were 129 Spanish-speaking adult ESL learners and 104 native English-speaking GED students enrolled in a community college located in the South Atlantic region of the United States. The adult ESL participants were in classes at three different levels of English proficiency: advanced, intermediate, and beginning. An experimental English spelling test was administered to both the native English-speaking and ESL participants. In addition, the adult ESL participants took the standardized spelling tests to rank their spelling skills in both English and Spanish. The data were analyzed using robust regression and Poisson regression procedures, Mann-Whitney test, and descriptive statistics. The study found that both Spanish spelling skills and English proficiency are strong predictors of English spelling skills. Spanish spelling is also a strong predictor of level of L1-influenced transfer. More proficient Spanish spellers made significantly fewer L1-influenced spelling errors than less proficient Spanish spellers. L1-influenced transfer of spelling knowledge from Spanish to English likely occurred in three vowel targets (/ɑɪ/ spelled as ae, ai, or ay, /ɑʊ/ spelled as au, and /eɪ/ spelled as e). The ESL participants and the native English-speaking participants produced highly similar error patterns of English vowel spellings when the errors did not indicate L1-influenced transfer, which implies that the two groups might follow similar trajectories of developing English spelling skills. The findings may help guide future researchers or practitioners to modify and develop instructional spelling intervention to meet the needs of adult ESL learners and help them gain English spelling competence.Item A Case Study on A Cross-Context Asynchronous Online Writing Tutorial: The Mediated Learning Process for U.S.-Based Tutors and L2 Writers in Taiwan(2014) Chen, Pei-Jie; Martin-Beltran, Melinda; Curriculum and Instruction; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Giving students written feedback has been a common practice in L2 writing instruction. Written feedback has been widely studied in second language writing and acquisition research, yet many questions and disputes remain concerning its effectiveness (See Ferris, 2010). While most research on written feedback has adopted the cognitive psychological perspective focusing on its effectiveness (Hyland, 1998, 2000), this study aims at discovering the mediation, mutual growth and engagement between tutors and writers in an asynchronous online writing tutorial. In the tutorial, U.S.-based tutors (teacher candidates in a teacher education program) worked with L2 writers (graduate students) in Taiwan on their English academic writing course assignments (biodata and summary). Data sources included written comments by the teacher candidates, writer's drafts, uptake documents, interview transcripts, self-evaluations, and field observation notes. Oriented by speech act and Vygotskian theoretical framework and using discourse analysis, this qualitative case study identified 12 feedback acts under three categories (direct, indirect, and conversational Feedback Acts) among three focal dyads throughout the tutorial. Findings suggest that the three tutors used feedback acts strategically to guide the L2 writers, particularly using IFA and CFA as mediational tools to provide various metalinguistic explanations, give extended information, and asked thought-provoking questions to stimulate writers' thinking in the tutorial process along with the corrections, suggestions, or requests they made. As writers incorporated more than 70% of the feedback, they found the tutorial process beneficial for their revision and learning of English academic writing. Tutors also learned to accommodate writers' needs, providing feedback within their zone of proximal development and applying concept-based instruction and dynamic assessment. This study contributes to second language writing and learning research, revealing the complexity of tutor-writer interaction and feedback process and providing a window into how written feedback can foster communication and dialogues between tutors and writers. Close examination of discourse in the tutorial context offers insights into the mutual growth and engagement for the participating teacher candidates and L2 writers. This study also has implications for both L2 writing instructors and teacher educators who seek new ways to engage language learners and teacher candidates in their learning processes.Item AN INVESTIGATION OF PERSON-ENVIRONMENT CONGRUENCE(2013) McMurray, Marissa Johnstun; Gottfredson, Gary D.; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)ABSTRACT Title of Dissertation: AN INVESTIGATION OF PERSON-ENVIRONMENT CONGRUENCE Marissa Johnstun McMurray, Doctor of Philosophy, 2012 Dissertation directed by: Professor Gary D. Gottfredson This study tested a hypothesis derived from Holland's (1997) theory of personality and environment that congruence between person and environment would influence satisfaction with doctoral training environments and career certainty. Doctoral students' (N =292) vocational interests were measured using questions from the Interest Item Pool, and they provided ratings of their satisfaction with training and certainty about their career choices. Professors (N = 106) described the doctoral training environments of these students using the Position Classification Inventory (PCI). Additional classifications of the training environments were accomplished using the Environmental Assessment Technique (EAT) and the Dictionary of Holland Occupation Codes-Third Edition (DHOC). Traditional congruence indexes revealed only small correlations of P-E congruence with satisfaction of training environment and no significant correlations of P-E congruence with career certainty. Congruence indexes based on environmental measurement using the PCI were not better predictors of satisfaction or career certainty than were indexes based on the EAT or DHOC. In addition to tests using traditional congruence indexes, hierarchical linear models tested for interactions of interests and environmental characteristics in the prediction of satisfaction and career certainty. Results indicate that students with high Realistic or Social vocational interests whose doctoral training programs had high Realistic or Social (respectively) demands were more satisfied with their training environment then similar students who were in incongruent departments. This outcome occurred when either the PCI or the EAT was used as the measure of the environment, but no significant person-environment interactions were found for the prediction of career certainty. Supplementary analyses examined other potential predictors of student's satisfaction with their training department. The number of years in the doctoral program was negatively correlated with satisfaction, and having fellowships was positively correlated with satisfaction with the doctoral training program. Three student characteristics were significantly correlated with career certainty. The number of years that a student had been in a doctoral department and the number of milestones they had reached in their program were negatively correlated career certainty, while having a fellowship was positively correlated with career certainty.Item The acculturation of adult African refugee language learners in Israel: an ethnographic study(2012) Blake III, Charles Carlos; Lin, Jing; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The number of refugees from Africa seeking asylum in Israel has recently skyrocketed, raising issues as to how to integrate them into Israeli society. Education is one of the mediums being used to encourage the cultural integration and inclusion of the refugees into Israeli society; very little is known, however, about how Africans are acculturating or whether language education is helping with this process. In particular, I use Berry's model of acculturation and Ogbu's cultural model as lenses through which the acculturation of refugees can be understood. In order to provide an answer to these questions, I conducted an ethnographic study examining the acculturation of adult African refugees participating in a language program in Tel Aviv. I utilized criterion-based sampling to select 8 student participants for this study. Data collection consisted of interviews with student-participants, interviews with teacher participants and document review. Data analysis entailed the coding and categorization of data elicited from data collection. Results suggest that participants exhibited the characteristics of immigrants employing a separation/segregation acculturation strategy according to Berry's model. Most participants also have the characteristics of what Ogbu calls involuntary migrants. Instead of facilitating host country cultural understanding or participation, higher language proficiency was associated with more negative perceptions of Israelis and Israeli society.Item THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BEST ONLINE INSTRUCTIONAL PRACTICES AND UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT PERCEPTIONS OF INSTRUCTOR CREDIBILITY AT A LARGE, FOUR-YEAR, PUBLIC, OPEN UNIVERSITY(2013) Knapp, Amanda Marie; Herschbach, Dennis; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BEST ONLINE INSTRUCTIONAL PRACTICES AND UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT PERCEPTIONS OF INSTRUCTOR CREDIBILITY AT A LARGE, FOUR-YEAR, PUBLIC, OPEN UNIVERSITY Amanda Marie Knapp, Doctor of Philosophy, 2013 Dissertation directed by: Professor Dennis Herschbach Department of Teaching, Learning, Policy and Leadership Numerous scholars have pointed to positive associations between student perceptions of instructor credibility and student outcomes (i.e., cognitive learning, higher motivation, and increased willingness to participate in and out of class); however, their work has primarily considered traditional-aged students in the traditional classroom setting. Given the significant growth in distance education enrollments at post-secondary institutions across the United States (U.S.), the lens through which instructor credibility has traditionally been examined is broadened by this study. Drawing upon the work of McCroskey and Teven (1999), this mixed-methods research study explored the relationship between best online instructional practices and undergraduate student perceptions of instructor credibility as defined on three dimensions: competence, caring, and trustworthiness. Emphasis was placed on the six best online instructional practices that McCollum & Abdul-Hamid (2011) determined to be associated with student success (higher pass rates and lower withdrawal rates). Based on data obtained from an online survey instrument in which 67 responses were collected from undergraduate students (82 percent adults, 47 percent minorities, and 70 percent female) enrolled in multiple sections of a fully online upper-level course from within the communication field of study along with data from 16 synchronous online interviews, it was concluded that there is a significant and positive relationship between four of the six best online instructional practices (continuous involvement and feedback from faculty (immediacy/presence), incorporate learning modules (targeted and logically placed), draw from experiences and introduce students to cultures and subcultures to add relevance, and provide opportunities for collaborative learning) and student perceptions of instructor credibility on at least one of three dimensions of credibility. The best online instructional practice of continuous involvement and feedback from faculty (immediacy/presence), however, proved to be most meaningful with respect to student perceptions of instructor credibility, as the relationship between the two were consistently strongest across all three dimensions (competence, caring, and trustworthiness).