College of Education
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Item Examining the Disproportionate Representation of Bilingual Children in Special Education(2022) Ortiz, Jose A; Cummings, Kelli D; Special Education; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Chapter 2: Nonword repetition has been endorsed as a less biased method of assessment for children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, but there are currently no systematic reviews or meta-analyses on its use with bilingual children. The purpose of this study is to evaluate diagnostic accuracy of nonword repetition in the identification of language impairment (LI) in bilingual children. Using a keyword search of peer-reviewed literature from several large electronic databases, as well as ancestral and forward searches, 13 studies were identified that met the eligibility criteria. Studies were evaluated on the basis of quality of evidence, design characteristics, and reported diagnostic accuracy. A meta-regression analysis, based on study results, was conducted to identify task characteristics that may be associated with better classification accuracy. Diagnostic accuracy across studies ranged from poor to good. Bilingual children with LI performed with more difficulty on nonword repetition tasks than those with typical language. Quasiuniversal tasks, which account for the phonotactic constraints of multiple languages, exhibited better diagnostic accuracy and resulted in less misidentification of children with typical language than language-specific tasks. Evidence suggests that nonword repetition may be a useful tool in the assessment and screening of LI in bilingual children, though it should be used in conjunction with other measures. Quasiuniversal tasks demonstrate the potential to further reduce assessment bias, but extant research is limited. Chapter 3: The disproportionate identification of language-related disorders in schools, including communication disorders and specific learning disability, is an ongoing problem for bilingual children, with evidence of both over- and underrepresentation. Previous research has uncovered distinct identification patterns for emergent and English-proficient bilinguals, as well as differences in identification rates across grades. However, there is limited information about disability identification for different groups of bilinguals across grades. Thus, the purpose of this study is to examine the prevalence and incidence of language-related disorders in emergent and English-proficient bilinguals in elementary school. Using a nationally representative, individual-level, longitudinal data set, this study examined representation in language-related disorder categories, as well as identification rates by year. This study also examined individual- and school-level predictors of disability identification for bilingual children. Results indicate that emergent and English-proficient bilinguals exhibit distinct patterns of language-related disorder identification. Emergent bilinguals experienced a disproportionate increase in disability identification rates in third grade, resulting in significant overrepresentation in subsequent grades. By fifth grade, emergent bilinguals experienced approximately twice the odds of being identified with a language-related disorder, compared to monolinguals. English-proficient bilinguals, on the other hand, were underrepresented in language-related disorder categories in early elementary school grades, but experienced identification rates similar to monolinguals by fifth grade. Outcomes from this study provide insight into patterns of language-related disorder identification for bilinguals that have not been addressed in previous research. The implications for education practice and policy are discussed. Chapter 4: The disproportionate representation of bilingual children in special education is an ongoing issue in US schools, with evidence of both over- and underrepresentation. Identification rates of language-related disorders, including communication disorders and specific learning disability, are particularly relevant for bilingual children given the challenges associated with differentiating language difference from disorder and the possibility of misidentification. School-based speech-language pathologists are well positioned to address the issue, but many do not engage in practices that may reduce disproportionate disability identification. The purpose of this practitioner paper is to provide school-based clinicians with an evidence-based model for addressing disproportionality in bilingual children, with a focus on prevention. This paper provides a review of the literature on the topic and integrates information from relevant studies to provide a clear depiction of the nature of the problem. In addition, this paper describes a model of disproportionality prevention, and provides a set of evidence-based methods that clinicians can employ. Topics include, pre-referral intervention, early identification, parent engagement, and collaboration. By adopting the methods described in this paper, school-based speech-language pathologists can strengthen their ability to meaningfully address many of the issues that contribute to over- and underrepresentation of bilingual children in special education.Item INFANT LANGUAGE LEARNING & COOPERATIVE COMMUNICATION: THE INFLUENCE OF CONTINGENT RESPONSIVENESS AND SES(2018) Renzi, Doireann Tomas; Bolger, Donald J; Human Development; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Early language development relates to a child’s later language ability, cognitive development, and academic achievement. Parent input has long been studied as a predictor of infant language acquisition, and consequently, as a predictor of the differences in early language attainment associated with the documented ‘word gap’ between children from high and low Socio-Economic Status (SES) backgrounds. This dissertation sought to investigate the specific mechanisms of early parent-infant interactions that facilitate infant language learning, and whether SES differences are evident in those mechanisms at 10 months. Specifically, cooperative communication: the conversation-like back and forth between parents and infants, and parents’ contextualized responsiveness: use of responses that contingently elaborate on the infant’s attentional focus, were examined. These relationships were also examined in terms of infant language outcomes at 18 months. Controlling for infant communication and parent input, SES was significantly correlated with parents’ responses to infant vocalizations, in particular when they were paired with a gesture or other behavior, and to parents’ use of object labels in their interactions with their infants. These noted differences suggest that input differences associated with the ‘word gap’ are evident in development as early as 10 months old. Children who were exposed to more contextualized responses overall and in particular those that contained a question, a label, or that responded to infant behavioral communication had better language performance at 18 months, even controlling for child communication and total parent input. Importantly, these components of contextualized responsiveness had a larger effect than SES on language outcomes, such as child word types and scores on the standardized Mullen Scales of Early Learning. This suggests that while SES is related to some positive components of responsiveness (labels and responses to vocalizations), the relationship between SES and language outcomes is often mediated, in full or in part, by parents’ use of specific contextualized responses. Together, the findings present contextualized responsiveness as a promising foundation for interventions aimed at diminishing and preventing the word gap and that, for parents from all SES backgrounds, their use of specific contextualized responses elaborating on their infant’s attentional focus facilitates optimal infant language learning.Item BUILDING BLOCK OF THE WORLD, BUILDING BLOCK OF YOUR IDENTITY: MULTILINGUAL LITERACY SOCIALIZATION OF HERITAGE LANGUAGE LEARNERS(2017) Tigert, Johanna; Martin-Beltran, Melinda; Curriculum and Instruction; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This study investigates multilingual literacy socialization of Finnish heritage language learners (HLLs) in homes and a Finnish heritage language (HL) school in the United States. Participants included eighteen parents, fifteen students, and three Finnish HL teachers. Five HLLs aged 5 to 11 were chosen as focal cases. This study used ethnographic and microethnographic methods, with language socialization as the major theoretical lens and new literacies as a complementary theory. The study conceptualizes language and literacy socialization in an HL context as manifesting in three processes: family and classroom language policies, translanguaging practices, and language and literacy practices across languages and media. Additionally, the study considers HLLs’ construction of multilingual identities. Field notes and videos of language and literacy events in the two contexts, literacy-related artifacts, vocabulary and reading assessments in English and Finnish, and background survey and interview data were considered to understand participants’ language and literacy practices. The study demonstrates that parents and teachers engaged in similar socialization strategies: setting strict Finnish-only policies, curbing students’ translanguaging, and engaging children in traditional, print-based literacies in Finnish. Contextual factors, such as students’ English-medium schoolwork and non-Finnish parents’ lack of Finnish proficiency restricted these efforts. HLLs influenced these socialization processes by renegotiating family and HL classroom language policies, translanguaging in their interactions, and engaging in literacy practices, especially digital literacies, that promoted English at the expense of the HL. Such influences often ran counter to the parents’ and teachers’ efforts. Findings also indicated that learners constructed fluid, multilingual identities within different contexts and situations. The study contributes to socialization research and HL education research by examining a less commonly taught HL, Finnish in the United States. The study corroborates recent scholarship on language socialization, which has begun to uncover children’s strong influence and agency in socialization processes. The study also highlights the importance of digital literacies in young HLLs’ lives. The need for teacher education and P-12 educators to recognize HLLs as part of linguistic diversity in schools, and ways for parents and teachers of HLLs to support HL maintenance while recognizing HLLs’ multilingual, multinational identities are discussed.Item Content-based instruction in the context of Chinese immersion: An exploration of corrective feedback(2016) Yao, Qin; MacSwan, Jeff; Curriculum and Instruction; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Immersion education encourages students to learn a new language by actually using the language, and has become a popular form of foreign language instruction since the 1970s. Recent observations of immersion classrooms have shown a high frequency of teachers’ oral corrective feedback (CF). From an interactionist perspective of second language (L2) acquisition that finds a solid foundation for the benefit of conversational interaction in L2 learning, CF as a form of interaction is argued to give L2 learners learning opportunities that attend to the communicative content and linguistic information. This study aims to fill a gap in the literature on immersion—the lack of studies examining CF in Chinese immersion settings, by studying learning opportunities brought about by oral CF in Chinese immersion classrooms. Classroom observations, video-tapings, stimulated recalls, and interviews in four Chinese immersion classrooms revealed that the Chinese immersion teachers explicitly or implicitly corrected students’ errors most of the time, and used eight types of CF strategies to treat their errors, among which the elicitation and recast were used more frequently. In addition, teachers and students were found to engage in negotiations through CF in different interactional contexts (content, language, communication and management), and contexts focusing on content and language allowed more CF and more modified output. Furthermore, the results revealed that students tended to notice the CF in content-focused interactions (compared to other three types of interactional contexts), and that their perception accuracy is influenced by the type of CF and the recipient of the CF. Based on the interaction approach to second language acquisition, the findings of this study contribute to the field by constructing a deeper understanding of intricacies of CF in the context of Chinese immersion teaching. In particular, the study has emphasized the positive role of interactional feedback in second language learning, re-conceptualized output immediately following the CF as learner response to feedback, and revealed the facilitative role of modified output in advancing the engagement of the learner internal mechanism. Moreover, the study has implications for immersion education, specifically concerning CF strategies, pedagogies that balance content and language instruction, immersion program administration, and teacher education.Item Re-Positioning Latino Heritage Language Learners: The Case of one adolescent's experiences in two different pedagogical spaces.(2015) Merrills, Kayra Zurany; Martin-Beltran, Melinda; Curriculum and Instruction; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)To improve the education of heritage language learners, more research is necessary to understand alternative educational practices and learning contexts that tap into and further develop heritage language learners' bilingual competence. This inquiry investigates how one Latino heritage language learner (HLL), Yolanda, experienced distinct opportunities to use and develop her heritage language as she participated in a bilingual extra-curricular program and in a world language classroom. Drawing upon Positioning Theory (Davies & Harré, 1999; Harré & Moghaddam, 2003; Harré & van Langenhove, 1999), this study explored how her positioning promoted languaging and language use. Drawing from sociocultural theory, this study applied the concept of languaging to understand language learning (Swain, 2002, 2005, 2006; Swain et al, 2009). I use the term languaging to describe metalinguistic discourse in which students explain or discuss a linguistic problem to others or the moments when learners talk aloud to themselves to mediate understanding of language (Swain, 2006). This study provides an analysis of how the HLL's different positionings influenced the amount of languaging and the type of language (Spanish, English or both) she decided to use. This single-case study incorporated both qualitative and quantitative methodologies with exploratory purposes. Methods of data collection included observations, field notes, audio-recording, video-recording, and student interviews. Data analysis was guided by interactional ethnography, conversation analysis and grounded theory. I also used Dedoose software to code transcripts and identify the co-occurrence of languaging and positioning. This study found that a bilingual extra-curricular program afforded Yolanda positionings that promoted a higher quality and quantity of opportunities for languaging and use of linguistic multicompetence due to collaborative opportunities with linguistically diverse students. This study contributes to research on HLLs by focusing on classroom practices that promote languaging and use of linguistic multicompetence. This study has implications for teachers and teacher education by providing a rich description of an academic space that re-positions a heritage language learner as a multilingual expert and learner.Item Teacher Talk in Early Head Start Classrooms(2014) Strausbaugh, Kristine-Marie Beck; Dreher, Mariam J.; Curriculum and Instruction; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This study investigated the oral language of Early Head Start teachers who work in preschool centers. Specifically, this study analyzed the amount, richness, and the sophistication of the oral language input offered by five Early Head Start teachers to their students. This study also analyzed the quality and quantity of the conversational supports teachers offered their students during encounters with sophisticated vocabulary. Each teacher was observed on four occasions. Each occasion occurred on separate day, on a different day of the week, and at a different time across the timeframe of a morning for a total of 4 hours. The teachers were selected from Early Head Start centers because they work with low-income students who are 0-36 months of age. Teachers of this age group were chosen because research indicates that children obtain much of their knowledge of the various facets of human language during their first three years of life. Research also indicates that the principal effect of socio-economic status on oral language development occurs prior to 36 months of age. The results indicated differences in the amount, richness, and sophistication of the vocabulary used by these teachers. The amount of speech generated by teachers over the morning differed greatly. This difference between the teachers in the number of words used ranged from 9,655 to 23,155 words over the 4 hours of observations. Differences in the richness of teacher language were also evident. The mean number of words used per utterance during individual observations varied from 3.67 words/utterance to 6.44 words/utterance. In addition, large differences were found in the number of sophisticated words used by teachers. Differences in sophisticated word use as large as 307 words/hour were found when the teachers' speech was analyzed over the course of 4 hours of observations in each classroom. The results also indicate that these five Early Head Start teachers differed greatly in their use of three types of conversational supports. These differences occurred both within and between classrooms with no pattern related to time of day. In addition, teachers used Instructive Supports - the most supportive type of conversational support that can be used in relation to sophisticated vocabulary - the least in their classroom conversations. The results of this study suggest a need for further research into the impact of teacher vocabulary use on children ages 0-36 months.Item PEDAGOGICAL PRACTICES IN THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE IN SECONDARY PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN PARKER COUNTY(2011) Wilson, Peggy Lynn; McCaleb, Joseph L.; Curriculum and Instruction; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)State and local learning standards consistently call for student proficiency in standard English usage and grammar. NCTE standards for secondary teachers (grades 7-12) include expectations for English language knowledge, including English grammar. High stakes tests, as well, both for teacher candidates and secondary students, include assessments of grammatical knowledge and proficiency. However, there have been few studies of ELA teachers' attitudes toward or practices in grammar instruction over the past 30 to 40 years (see Godley [2007] and Smagorinsky [2011]), an absence not surprising given NCTE perspectives and research (e.g., Braddock, Lloyd-Jones, and Schoer [1963], Hillocks [1986], and Weaver [1996]) that question the efficacy of teaching grammar as a means for improving writing ability. After the close of the first quarter of the 2008-2009 school year, I surveyed 369 English/language arts teachers from a large, highly-diverse, semi-urban mid-Atlantic public school system to determine their attitudes toward and practices in the teaching of grammar. Results based on 91 completed surveys from teachers in grades 7-12 indicate that nearly 85% of Parker County English/language arts teachers who responded include grammar and language study -- and about half are regularly doing so. Just over half include it one or two days per week, and half give it less than one-quarter of their (average) 81-minute period. Common practices include selected-response grammar exercises, sentence combining and transformation, and use of students' own writing as material for review or editing, all with an "emphasis on standard American English." Nearly 72% believe students who are proficient in standard English will have greater opportunity for success in higher education or the workplace, but only 36% welcome all students' dialects/language as valid in the classroom -- and only 15% would like students to acknowledge and respect language diversity. Although the findings indicate little direct association between teachers' attitudes and practices regarding grammar instruction, they nonetheless raise serious questions about attitudes toward students' personal dialect and language and the decisions teachers make regarding grammar instruction in their classrooms.