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 “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 Going to the Source: A Case Study of Four Faculty and Their Approaches to Writing Instruction(2015) Callow, Megan; O'Flahavan, John; Malen, Betty; Curriculum and Instruction; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This dissertation examines four college professors’ approaches to writing instruction in the disciplines of history and engineering. An investigation of writing instruction in two disparate disciplinary contexts contributes to our understanding of how instructors approach writing instruction in the disciplines, and which factors encourage and inhibit writing instruction. This study proposes and assesses the validity of a guiding conceptual framework, which posits that the primary factors influencing faculty’s approaches to writing instruction are academic biography, disciplinary identity, and educational ideology. The study employs a qualitative case study methodology, and data sources include in-depth interviews, field observations, and analysis of documents such as syllabi and writing prompts. This dissertation is founded on a premise that the instructor is an under-studied but essential player in the Writing in the Disciplines movement. The study reveals more about the nature of discipline-based writing instruction, and proposes a conceptual framework for future research on instructional approaches to disciplinary writing.Item Third Grade Students' Writing Attitudes, Self-Efficacy Beliefs, and Achievement(2012) Williams, Heather Michelle; Wigfield, Allan; Human Development; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)In order to become successful members of society in the United States, students must be able to write effectively. However, many students are unwilling or unable to write by the time they leave high school. Two major factors linked to writing performance include writing attitudes and self-efficacy beliefs. The first objective of this research is an investigation of the effectiveness of an intervention designed to improve writing attitudes, self-efficacy beliefs, and achievement. The second objective is an examination of the relation between those constructs. Participants were given the Writing Attitude Survey, a writing skills self-efficacy scale, and a short writing assessment. Further, 50% of the participants participated in an intervention designed to increase positive writing attitudes, self-efficacy beliefs, and achievement. The study found a significant positive relation between writing self-efficacy and attitudes. The intervention was found to have no effect on the self-efficacy, attitudes, or performance of participants.Item AN INVESTIGATION OF STUDENTS' EXPERIENCES WITH A WEB-BASED, DATA-DRIVEN WRITING ASSISTANCE ENVIRONMENT FOR IMPROVING KOREAN EFL WRITERS' ACCURACY WITH ENGLISH GRAMMAR AND VOCABULARY(2010) Lim, Mi-Sun; Oxford, Rebecca L.; Curriculum and Instruction; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Computer-assisted language learning (CALL) has played an increasingly important role in writing instruction and research. While research has been conducted on English as a second language (ESL) learners and the benefits of using web-based writing assistance programs in writing instruction, insufficient research has been done on English as a foreign language (EFL) students. This study is an empirical investigation of students' experiences with a web-based, data-driven writing assistance environment (e4writing) designed by the researcher to help Korean EFL writers with their grammar and vocabulary. This study investigated Korean university students' perceived difficulties with English grammar and vocabulary as they wrote in English. It also explored their perceptions of e4writing as used in a writing course to enhance English grammar and vocabulary. This study investigated 12 participants' perceptions and "academic profiles" (learning styles, confidence, motivation, and other factors) when they were enrolled in a 16-week course called Teaching Methods for English Composition. To gain a more specific and personal view, the study also included detailed case studies of four of the study participants. The major sources of data for the analyses include interviews, reflective journals, questionnaires, samples of the students' writing before and after their use of e4writing and the researcher's reflective notes. The study revealed that most of the students had difficulty with grammar and vocabulary in English writing. They positively perceived e4writing, as it provided individualized help on their problems with grammar and lexis. Overall, the students showed improvement in accuracy from the pretest to the posttest, and observations suggested that e4writing was probably related to this improvement; however, strong claims about e4writing as a cause of improvement cannot be made without a control group. The students felt e4writing was more beneficial for improving grammatical accuracy than for vocabulary accuracy. The students recommended that some features of e4writing be written in Korean to help students understand grammar and vocabulary explanations.Item A grounded theory of deaf middle school students' revision of their own writing(2010) Yuknis, Christina; Hultgren, Francine; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This study used a grounded theory methodology to examine the experiences of deaf middle school students attending a program for deaf children in a public school to answer the following question: How do deaf children in middle school construct meaningful texts? The students were in one of two self-contained classes taught by a teacher of the deaf. The eight students and two teachers were each interviewed at least once. Classroom observations of the students engaged in writing an essay were conducted, and writing samples from each student were provided by the teachers. All of the data were analyzed, and a grounded theory that describes the experiences of the deaf students emerged. The theory consists of one core category and four key categories, which encompass three parts of writing: Knowing, Experiencing, and Doing. The core category, which captures the essence of what revision is to the students, is Living in Language and is the sole category in Knowing. Three key categories fall under the Experiencing heading: Interacting with the Text, Interacting with Instruction, and Interacting with Self as Reviser. The final key category is the sole category in Doing: Fixing Wrongs. This research contributes to the literature by illustrating how deaf students who are in one middle school understand, experience, and approach revision tasks. A significant understanding is that the students in this study are not given many opportunities to construct meaningful texts independently in their classes. Despite the lack of control over their own texts, the students have developed strategies to successfully “play the game” of writing in school. In addition, recommendations for future research and ways to improve instruction are offered. The greatest implication for instruction is that teachers need to step back and consider how instruction impacts the students. Students especially need to be empowered to control their own writing and develop metacognition of their own work. Future research can be done to test the theory using a broader scope of participants in other settings. It could also examine the writing process from the teachers’ perspectives to provide information about what informs their instruction of writing and revising.Item Illustrated Conversations: A Phenomenological Study of Listening to the Voices of Kindergartners(2009) Dean, Michele Ann; Hultgren, Francine; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This study explores the voices of kindergartners engaged in illustrated conversations. Max van Manen's methodology for hermeneutic phenomenological research provides a framework for the study, and the philosophical writings of Heidegger, Noddings, Bakhtin, van Manen, and Palmer guide the interpretations of how we come to be with young children through dialogue. Illustrated conversations, a process whereby the child writes his/her thoughts and drawings in a journal and then engages meaning-making with the teacher during a tape recorded dialogue, creates spaces for a teacher and student to have personal conversations about their lifeworlds. Using their own voices as the essential pathway winding through the experience, the study explores how the sixteen kindergarten children sense the spirit of home, explored the freedom to imagine their own ideas, acknowledged their identity, and developed relationships with others by engaging in illustrated conversation. Their wondrous voices echo their sense of home and family as they defined, and redefined, their identity through friendships with the researcher and peers. The silent conversations bring forth further meaning, uncovering how space and time with young children help them better hear their own voices and the voices of others. True listening becomes a part of pedagogy. Canvassed drawings and written thoughts, springboards for ideas, propel the conversations forward while also revealing how without voice, the meaning of the pictures and thoughts fell silent in the seeking of self. Children's voices--heard in dialogue, paused or silenced in between, and engraved on paper--connect pathways leading to self-identity. Truly listening to young children is a reflective experience that illuminates the voices and languages of young children. This study uncovers how listening to and reflecting upon the stories young children choose to tell in tactful and reciprocal conversation is pedagogy worth exploring. The study suggests that illustrated conversations can support teachers in balancing the new curriculum mandates being required in kindergarten classrooms with engaging and meaningful interactions that uncover the cognitive, language, and social/emotional development of children. Through illustrated conversation, teachers are able to hear and support the hundred languages of children.Item Listening to Adolescent Heartsongs: Phenomenological Possibilities in Teaching Writing(2007-05-29) Hartshorn, Mary Ann M; Hultgren, Francine H; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)ABSTRACT Title of Dissertation: LISTENING TO ADOLESCENT HEARTSONGS: PHENOMENOLOGICAL POSSIBILITIES IN TEACHING WRITING Mary Ann McKenzie Hartshorn Doctor of Philosophy, 2007 Dissertation directed by: Professor Francine Hultgren Department of Education Policy and Leadership College of Education University of Maryland This hermeneutic phenomenological inquiry, is called by the question: What is the lived experience of high school students who share something they have written from the heart? The metaphor of the human heart opens my understanding of the experiences of thirty-two students who write and share their writings in sophomore English class. My understanding of this experience deepens during after-school conversations with twelve of those students. Text, offering words for hermeneutic pondering, was compiled from conversations, journals, student writings and sharing activities. All voices were taped and transcribed to provide a visual remembrance of these lived experiences. The methodology underpinning this human science inquiry, is identified by Max van Manen (2003) as one that "involves description, interpretation, and self-reflective or critical analysis" (p. 4). Through my students' heartfelt words, I see them write their way to self-discovery. The importance of "lived space" (van Manen, 2002, p. 102) is brought forward, and lets me understand that students need to feel at "home" in school if they are to be successful. As we create a sacred space together, my students and I experience safety and freedom. In this space we find our "i-dentities" and hear our heartsongs. When sharing those songs, students announce their fears of failure, death and the swift passage of time; their memories; their longing for communication and disappointment in not connecting. We dwell together in the unique, sacredness of each other, opening a listening space where relationality "allows us to transcend ourselves" (p. 105). It is here that we celebrate more similarities than differences. The valued end of any class should include a place where students feel comfortable with themselves and others. Curriculum should be relevant to each student, providing an opportunity for self discovery and acceptance. Writing of a personal nature must be included across the curriculum so students learn to value themselves, fellow human beings, and the universe.Item "Showing Them Who I Am": Identity, Place and Performance in Seventh Grade Literacy Discussions(2006-05-15) Smith, Ann Marie; Koziol, Stephen; Curriculum and Instruction; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)In this study, I explored the ways that a seventh grade teacher and her students interpreted literacy discussions in a multicultural school in Virginia. I examined influences of school culture and place on literacy learning and discussions, along with how teachers and students interpreted school culture and place. I used ethnographic methods to study the teachers, students and school culture. Data sources included observations of language arts and reading classes from November 2003 through May 2005. I also interviewed students and teachers and collected instructional materials and state curriculum guides. The language arts teacher structured group discussions and other literacy activities for efficiency; however, whole class discussions included open, analytical discussions about texts. Through modeling and literacy discussions, the teacher demonstrated her belief that writers must consider audience to produce effective texts. The teacher did not perceive that place affected literacy discussions; however, the teacher believed students' home lives or lack of reading experiences could inhibit students ability to analyze texts in discussions. The students perceived place and community as disconnected from school and literacy discussions. Although this study pointed out possibilities for critique through literacy discussions, research is needed on how teachers and administrators encourage a spirit of resistance to hegemonic conditions that exist in schools and society. The theoretical implications of this dissertation include a need for literacy researchers to investigate place and school culture as part of teachers' and students' constructions of identity and literacy learning.