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 HUMAN FLOURISHING: VALUES AND VIRTUES(2023) Chung, Eun Ae; Lin, Jing; Klees, Steven; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)In the quest to understand what human flourishing is, while ancient philosophers have all pointed to virtues as a vital component, today, they have been notably left out of the conversation. The purpose of this study is to explore the possible ways the virtues of Justice, Humanity and Transcendence could be potentially understood through the analysis of individuals’ values. The variations of these understandings are examined by country and world regions. Furthermore, to provide more context, the study seeks to determine the relationships between these virtues and individual sociodemographic factors, such as sex, education level and socioeconomic status, as well as country level factors, such as GDP per capita, the average years of schooling at the country level, and gender inequality. Finally, the study also examines the relationship between the virtues and subjective well-being (happiness and life satisfaction), which is claimed to be an important component of human flourishing. In doing so, the overarching goal of this research is to contribute to the growing dialogue on human flourishing and make a case for how human flourishing could be understood in various ways, depending on individual values and context. This exploratory quantitative research study highlights patterns and trends of values in relation to the three virtues as well as exceptions. Furthermore, the findings of the study show the importance of acknowledging differing definitions of human flourishing as well as including context and environment of individuals when discussing an important topic as human flourishing.Item De Facto Bilingual Education: The Role of Home Language Support in the Academic Achievement of Dual Language Learners(2020) Guzman, Natalia; MacSwan, Jeff; Curriculum and Instruction; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Despite a clear finding that immigrant children in bilingual education programs outperform children in English-only instruction, little is known about the underlying causes of this effect and the variability in the results. This study seeks to understand cases in which bilingual students with emerging English skills appear to experience success or rapid academic gains in English-only classrooms in the apparent absence of home language support in school. Using a sample of 2,428 Spanish-speaking bilingual students in 438 schools from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2010-11 (ECLS-K:2011), multilevel models are employed to integrate multiple sources of data from parent interviews, self-administered teacher surveys, school administrator questionnaires, and one-on-one student assessments. Drawing from research on family language policy, which focuses on how bilingual families manage and use languages, and on theories of bilingual education, this study shows that the academic support that parents provide using the home language gives bilingual children background knowledge or a network of contextual clues that helps them navigate English-only classrooms. This background knowledge gained through parental support in the home language allows bilingual learners with the lowest level of English proficiency to score higher in mathematics in English-only environments during the kindergarten year in the same way as home language support contributes to children’s success in bilingual and dual language programs. This finding is an empirical verification of what has been called “de facto” bilingual education, a situation in which an emergent English learner succeeds in an English-only classroom due to parental academic support in the home language. In addition, this study shows that the parents’ preference for a home language does not jeopardize the English language attainment of young children upon entry to kindergarten. These findings are of great significance to educators, policymakers, and researchers who strive for equitable educational practices that support the inclusion of all students in the classroom, as they provide a context for understanding oft-reported immigrant successes in English-only classrooms as “de facto” bilingual education provided by parents at home.Item “DOING RESEARCH HELPS!”: NEWCOMER LATINX HIGH SCHOOLERS’ RESEARCH & WRITING CONCEPTIONS(2020) Montoya-Ávila, Angélica; Martin-Beltrán, Melinda; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Drawing on critical pedagogy and sociocultural theories (SCT) of learning and literacy, this dissertation explored the relationship between recently arrived (or newcomer) Latinx immigrant students’ writing conceptions and their involvement in an afterschool program based on participatory action research (PAR). The study had a “two-tiered design” (Brown, 2010). In the first tier, a group of immigrant high schoolers (n = 15) and I worked together, as coresearchers, in PAR projects focused on students’ and teachers’ experiences at a newcomer school. Simultaneously, I conducted a qualitative critical inquiry on the writing conceptions and PAR experiences of four focal, Latinx, newcomer, youth coresearchers. The critical inquiry constituted the second study tier and the primary focus of my dissertation. For my dissertation study, I collected data from participant observation of the program sessions, literacy artifacts, and two rounds of semi-structured interviews with the focal newcomer Latinx high schoolers (NLHSs) and with two teachers who were familiar with the focal students’ writing. I analyzed the collected data inductively and deductively (Creswell, 2014). The study resulted in three main findings. First, the focal youth perceived PAR as an opportunity for conscientization and for challenging dialogue. Second, through the PAR process, the focal youth shifted from conceiving writing as a reproductive activity to view it as a tool for personal and social transformation. Third, the PAR process influenced the youth’s writing conceptions by being youth-centered, offering novel writing opportunities, and promoting dialogic talks. My research findings indicate that NLHSs’ conceptions of writing and research are tied to their learning experiences in their home countries and in the US. Their conceptions are therefore different from those of non-immigrant students. My investigation makes important contributions to educational theory, research, and practice. It demonstrates the effectiveness of employing both SCT and critical pedagogy (as a composite theoretical lens) to examine students’ conceptions of writing and research. It highlights the importance of studying NLHSs’ unique learning experiences and perspectives. It details research-based practices that help immigrant students develop their writing and facilitate their adaptation to a new country.Item Humor and Friendship Quality in Middle Childhood(2014) Wimsatt, Maureen Ann; Rubin, Kenneth H.; Human Development; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Both humor and friendship facilitate socio-emotional development in middle childhood, but scholars have not studied the relation between the two constructs. Specifically, researchers have not explored the relation between affiliative, aggressive and/or self-defeating spontaneous conversational humor and positive and negative friendship quality in middle childhood. Scholars theorize that affiliative spontaneous conversational humor contributes to positive friendship quality while aggressive and self-defeating spontaneous conversational humor contribute to negative friendship quality (Klein & Kuiper, 2006). Moreover, friends' social behaviors are often interdependent and "work together" to influence each child's perception of friendship (Bukowski, Motzoi, & Meyer, 2009); therefore, it is also expected that dyadic spontaneous conversational humor is associated with friendship quality in middle childhood and that dyad-level variables (i.e., behavioral similarity of dyad, duration of friendship) are related to the dyadic nature of children's spontaneous conversational humor production. Participants were 250 fifth graders (125 dyads; M age = 10.33 years, SD = .54) from the Washington DC metropolitan area. Affiliative, aggressive, and self-defeating spontaneous conversational humor data were coded from videotaped discussion between mutually nominated, same-sex best friends. Positive and negative friendship quality data were collected via survey report. An Actor Partner Interdependence Model (APIM) was used to explore relations between actor and partner spontaneous conversational humor and actor-rated friendship quality in middle childhood (Kenny, Kashy, & Cook, 2006). Finally, multiple regression analyses were used to test the direct effects of dyad-level variables on dyadic spontaneous conversational humor. APIM analyses revealed significant positive relations between actor affiliative spontaneous conversational humor and actor-rated absence of conflict and betrayal; actor self-defeating spontaneous conversational humor and both actor-rated intimate disclosure and total positive friendship quality; and partner self-defeating spontaneous conversational humor and actor-rated companionship. Actor affiliative and actor aggressive spontaneous conversational humor production were negatively and positively associated with actor-rated negative interactions, respectively. Five dyadic actor-partner interactions were significantly related to positive and negative friendship quality. Multiple regression analyses indicated that friendship duration was negatively associated with dyadic aggressive spontaneous conversational humor, meaning that the longer best friends reported knowing each other, the less they used interrelated aggressive spontaneous conversational humor.Item THE ROLE OF SELF-DETERMINATION ON QUALITY OF LIFE, STUDENT ENGAGEMENT, AND ENVISIONING A CAREER/LIFE GOAL OR FUTURE FOR STUDENTS PARTICIPATING IN A BEST PRACTICES TRANSITION INTERVENTION(2012) Ferguson, Terri Kay; Fabian, Ellen; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Self-determination has been identified as a major predictive factor for positive postsecondary outcomes for students with disabilities. The purpose of this study was to determine the role of self-determination in productive student engagement, perceived quality of life, and the ability to envision a career/life goal or future for students with multiple disabilities participating in a promising practices transition intervention. Results indicated significant results in the areas of student engagement and quality of life indicating the importance of self-determination on these factors. The results indicated a negative correlation between two of the self-determination subscales and envisioning a career/life goal which was an interesting and contradictory finding to the existing literature. Implications and recommendations are discussed.