ASU Electronic Theses and Dissertations
This collection includes most of the ASU Theses and Dissertations from 2011 to present. ASU Theses and Dissertations are available in downloadable PDF format; however, a small percentage of items are under embargo. Information about the dissertations/theses includes degree information, committee members, an abstract, supporting data or media.
In addition to the electronic theses found in the ASU Digital Repository, ASU Theses and Dissertations can be found in the ASU Library Catalog.
Dissertations and Theses granted by Arizona State University are archived and made available through a joint effort of the ASU Graduate College and the ASU Libraries. For more information or questions about this collection contact or visit the Digital Repository ETD Library Guide or contact the ASU Graduate College at gradformat@asu.edu.
Displaying 71 - 80 of 80
Filtering by
- All Subjects: English as a Second Language
Description
This study explored the effects of a science, technology, engineering, math, and social studies (STEMSS) professional development (PD) on teachers of language learners’ (TLLs) knowledge, skills, and self-efficacy in teaching content and language in tandem in their classrooms. With the growing population of English learners (ELs) in today’s classrooms, it is essential TLLs have the skills to support language development while teaching content. This study investigated a face-to-face PD that developed skills in supporting ELs’ academic vocabulary development using strategies in content lessons.
This research drew upon Shulman’s (2013) Knowledge Growth in Teaching Framework by looking at content, pedagogical, and curricular knowledge with the PD building knowledge and skills in addressing these areas of knowledge through the strategies. In addition, this research drew upon Lucas and Villegas’ (2013) Linguistically Responsive Teacher Education Model that addressed how teachers gain knowledge, skills, and self-efficacy to change pedagogical practices.
Title I Kindergarten through high school TLLs voluntarily participated in the PD. A mixed methods approach was used. Quantitative data was collected using a pre, post, and maintenance survey and qualitative data was collected through a lesson analysis, fall and spring observations, snapshot surveys, and focus groups.
Results suggested that the STEMSS PD increased knowledge, skills, and self-efficacy in teaching ELs content and language using strategies that support academic vocabulary. The qualitative data supported the survey results in the increase of knowledge and skills immediately following the PD and increased self-efficacy a year following the PD. The results also suggested that the strategies supported through PD, lesson development, and time to implement may better address the needs of TLLs in the classroom.
This research drew upon Shulman’s (2013) Knowledge Growth in Teaching Framework by looking at content, pedagogical, and curricular knowledge with the PD building knowledge and skills in addressing these areas of knowledge through the strategies. In addition, this research drew upon Lucas and Villegas’ (2013) Linguistically Responsive Teacher Education Model that addressed how teachers gain knowledge, skills, and self-efficacy to change pedagogical practices.
Title I Kindergarten through high school TLLs voluntarily participated in the PD. A mixed methods approach was used. Quantitative data was collected using a pre, post, and maintenance survey and qualitative data was collected through a lesson analysis, fall and spring observations, snapshot surveys, and focus groups.
Results suggested that the STEMSS PD increased knowledge, skills, and self-efficacy in teaching ELs content and language using strategies that support academic vocabulary. The qualitative data supported the survey results in the increase of knowledge and skills immediately following the PD and increased self-efficacy a year following the PD. The results also suggested that the strategies supported through PD, lesson development, and time to implement may better address the needs of TLLs in the classroom.
ContributorsGuerrero, Karen Ann Linsley (Author) / Rotheram-Fuller, Erin (Thesis advisor) / Jimenez-Silva, Margarita (Committee member) / Lambson, Dawn (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2020
Description
Special education identification processes related to English language learners (ELs) in the United States have puzzled the field for decades. The phenomenon of referrals, the first step toward identification, is complex since it requires deciphering the root cause of students’ learning struggles—e.g., second language (L2) factors, the possibility of a learning disability (LD), or the combination of multiple other influences. To investigate the various influences contributing to learning difficulties, I centered this study on three potential sources, individual, institutional, and interpersonal. I aimed to answer, how did sociocultural influences mediate a teacher’s understanding of ELs’ competence? How did sociocultural influences mediate whether a teacher referred ELs to special education services? Using a cultural-historical theoretical approach, I sought deeper theoretical and empirical understandings into how institutional factors (e.g., tiered intervention contexts, policies), combined with other influences, mediated ELs’ referral decisions. I used a multiple parallel case study design following two fifth-grade ELs who faced the possibility of a referral. Interested in the interpersonal domain (e.g., interactions and communication among people), I zoomed in to a local process, student-teacher conferences to examine how classroom processes shaped teachers’ thoughts of students’ competence, and ultimately, referral decisions. I video-recorded teacher-student conference sessions over 14 weeks, and audio-recorded viewing sessions of the recorded conferences to understand teacher and student interpretations of learning competence. To understand how other dimensions (individual and institutional) contributed to teachers’ overall views about the student competence, I interviewed parents and school personnel, wrote observational field notes, and examined archival documents related to student learning over the entire fifth-grade year. I used inductive and iterative qualitative analytical approaches to craft the findings. My findings reaffirmed the complexity involved in finalizing ELs’ referral decisions. I found cultural factors intertwined with structural forces, driving students’ special education candidacies in divergent directions: one evaluated (LD); the other, retained. I also found the referral decisions were based on narrow understandings of learning and behaviors, lack of attention to students’ L2 needs, and faulty and overpowering structural forces which undermined teacher’s professional opinions about the referrals. These findings have implications for research, practice, and policy.
ContributorsAlvarado, Sarah Lopez (Author) / Artiles, Alfredo J. (Thesis advisor) / Graham, Steve (Committee member) / Martinez, Danny C. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2020
Description
This study explored the science learning experiences of elementary English Language Learners (ELLs) in a fourth-grade mainstream science classroom in an urban setting. Informed by ethnographic research and case study design, this study interrogated the celebrated and marginalized practices within common classroom procedures and what science-related identities the focal ELLs developed within classroom interactions through the lens of identity as position. Additionally, this study examined how the focal ELLs perceived themselves as science learners and how they affiliated with what scientists do and school science. Data collection lasted for two months and included video recordings of science instruction and classroom interactions, interviews with the focal ELLs, and students’ artifacts. Findings revealed that “doing science” in this fourth-grade science classroom was narrowly defined, as the celebrated practices involved mainly following the classroom behavioral codes and telling the right answer to the teacher’s questions. Findings also showed that the three focal ELLs complied with the celebrated practices to various degrees and were positioned marginally or negatively by the teacher and peers. The marginal and negative positioning affected the focal ELLs’ opportunities to engage meaningfully in classroom learning activities. Finally, findings regarding the focal ELLs’ perceptions of themselves as science learners showed the various ways in which they used their experiences inside and outside the classroom to construct their understanding of and relations with scientists and the science subject. This study provided implications for student science identity research and practice for supporting ELLs in the mainstream science classroom.
ContributorsQiao, Xue (Author) / Moses, Lindsey (Thesis advisor) / Bernstein, Katherine (Committee member) / Jimenez-Silva, Margarita (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021
Description
This interpretive dissertation study draws upon a sociocultural framework to understand what happened when a seventh-grade teacher introduced drama-based pedagogy into her English Language Arts (ELA) classroom to aid emergent bilinguals’ participation and positioning within the classroom network of practice. The classroom teacher had little training in best practices for supporting emergent bilinguals and no training in drama-based pedagogical approaches for teaching and learning before she participated in this study. I trained the classroom teacher in these practices and provided guidance and feedback during the implementation of drama-based pedagogy. The following research question guided this investigation: What happens when drama-based pedagogy is introduced into a seventh-grade ELA class to support emergent bilinguals? Twenty-seven students from an urban middle school in the southwestern United States participated in this study. According to the state’s English language proficiency exam, three students were identified as English language learners. All three had attended schools in the United States since kindergarten. I conducted classroom observations and interviews with the student and teacher participants to gather data on how emergent bilinguals participated and were positioned during drama-based lessons. Then I analyzed the data corpus using multiple forms of coding, social network analysis, and multimodal interaction analysis. My findings describe the emergent bilinguals’ multimodal classroom interactions with their peers and the teacher during drama-based pedagogy. I present excerpts from interview, reflection meeting, and multimodal transcripts to support my analysis of participation and positioning. Based on my findings, I generated five assertions: (1) emergent bilinguals increased their access to academic resources within the peer academic network after engaging in drama-based pedagogy; (2) emergent bilinguals demonstrated moments of resistance and adaptation during drama-based pedagogy; (3) emergent bilinguals' participation during drama-based pedagogy fluctuated between moments of maintaining and becoming certain kinds of students; (4) incorporating drama-based pedagogy into the seventh-grade ELA class required the teacher to preserve time for more traditional ELA practices while also re-envisioning classroom instruction; and (5) students sometimes misinterpreted teacher facilitation as requirements which limited student agency during drama-based pedagogy. The dissertation concludes with implications for research and practice and outlines potential directions for future research.
ContributorsTroxel Deeg, Megan (Author) / Farrand, Kathleen M. (Thesis advisor) / Moses, Lindsey (Thesis advisor) / Bernstein, Katie (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021
Description
The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between writing motivation and performance for students in grades three to five, and whether scores differed based on students’ language status, gender, or grade level. Three student language groups were included: (1) emergent bilingual students currently receiving services for English language development (ELD); (2) reclassified bilingual students who had exited ELD programs; and (3) native English-speaking students. The district administered a performance measure and a motivational measure to participating students (N = 1126). Intrinsic and self-regulatory motivation scores were significantly higher for emergent bilingual students (intrinsic M = 2.07; self-regulatory M = 2.48) and reclassified bilingual students (M = 1.99; M = 2.71) than their native English-speaking peers (M = 1.67; M = 2.30). On extrinsic motivation for writing, reclassified bilingual students (M = 2.69) scored significantly higher than both emergent bilingual students (M = 2.49) and native English speaking student (M = 2.57). Fourth and fifth graders scored significantly higher than third graders on extrinsic (M = 2.68, 2.74, 2.31, respectively) and self-regulatory motivation (M = 2.53, 2.59, 2.21 respectively), while only fourth graders scored significantly higher than third graders on intrinsic motivation (M = 1.90, M = 1.76). The only significant difference by gender was found on extrinsic motivation, where girls (M = 2.67) scored higher than boys (M = 2.53). On the district writing test, native English speaking students (M = 5.15) scored significantly higher than both reclassified (M = 4.95) and emergent bilingual students (M = 3.94). Reclassified bilingual students scored significantly higher than emergent bilingual students. In terms of grade, gender, and performance, fifth graders (M = 5.58) scored significantly higher than fourth (M = 4.56) and third graders (M = 4.31), and girls (M = 5.07) scored significantly higher than boys (M¬ = 4.64). Finally, after accounting for significant variance in district writing scores according to language status, gender, and grade (R2 = .22), the motivational incentives for writing significantly predicted an additional 1% of the variance. Findings are discussed according to the Writer(s)-Within-Community model (Graham, 2018).
ContributorsCamping, April (Author) / Harris, Karen R. (Thesis advisor) / Graham, Steve (Thesis advisor) / Kaveh, Yalda (Committee member) / Marley, Scott (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021
Description
This dissertation explores the professionalization of students enrolled in second language teacher education (SLTE) and their perceptions of the characteristics and obligations of a professional second language teacher (SLT). The sociocognitive approach forms the theoretical foundation, which sees humans as life-long learners and teachers, who adapt by progressively aligning with others and their ecosocial environment. Professionalization is seen as the socialization process of progressive alignment that involves the development of skills, knowledge, identities, norms, and values within a professional community of practice. An SLTE course was observed in an etic ethnographic tradition, all course materials were collected, and semi-structured interviews that focused on SLT professionalism were conducted with 13 participants. Data were analyzed using the lenses of language socialization and membership categorization analysis (MCA) to make visible target phenomena related to professionalization. Language socialization revealed instances of professionalization that took place during the SLTE course or that resulted from processes during the semi-structured interviews, which were illuminated by positive or negative affiliation. MCA revealed participant perceptions about the obligations and characteristics of a professional SLT, from which six themes emerged, which include interacting with students, methods and materials, teacher attributes, student attributes, and the concepts of schools and schooling, which broadly represent the synchronic and diachronic sociocultural contexts for SLTE respectively. The use of computer-assisted language learning (CALL) received further attention. 100% of participants expressed some willingness to use these tools, but 23% had an initial reactionary response that rejected CALL in favor of more traditional methods. Additionally, 54% of responses included unsolicited mentions of the Covid-19 pandemic in a misinterpretation of CALL. Interventions for those with a misinterpretation are suggested to orient CALL appropriately in the context of the pandemic and for 21st century language learning and teaching. Course materials were quantitatively analyzed using semantic similarity indices in an exploratory process with negligible results. Possible modifications are discussed that might result in a useful proxy statistic for professionalization. Further implications are discussed in relation to SLTE curriculum and professionalization along with perspectives about building rapport when using semi-structured interviews as a research method.
ContributorsWinans, Michael David (Author) / Matsuda, Aya (Thesis advisor) / Smith, Byran (Committee member) / James, Mark (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022
Standing our sacred ground: one school community's struggle to negotiate restrictive language policy
Description
This is a qualitative case study using ethnographic methods of how one school community has been able to negotiate Arizona's restrictive English only language policies. Drawing from classroom and school-wide observations, extensive interviews, and document collection, this case study explores three key questions in relation to this school's negotiation process: 1) What characterizes the curriculum for English learners (ELs) and bilingual students at the case study school? 2) How do key actors, processes, and cultural practices at the case study school support the negotiation of Proposition 203 and House Bill 2064? and 3) What are the perspectives of key school community stakeholders in relation to the curriculum supporting bilingualism and the policy negotiation process? Findings show that by sharing certain key beliefs and practices, the school community has been able to work together, at times through struggle and perseverance, to negotiate for what they believe to be most important in school. They do so by sharing such key beliefs as the importance of seeing the whole child and teaching in ways that are real and meaningful. They also negotiate by engaging in a set of shared practices, which include: the use of Spanish campus-wide both for instruction and for the life and operation of the school, the cultivation of relationships amongst all school community members, and key curricular practices. These practices include providing a variety of learning experiences, especially those based upon the Arts, as well as a curriculum that focuses on providing opportunities to examine real world issues in an integrated and in-depth manner, to learn by integrating students' language, families, and experiences into the curriculum, and has a final goal of creating students who are critical thinkers, self-advocates, and agents within their own lives. All of these beliefs and practices contribute to a strong sense of community. It is this sense of community and the shared beliefs and practices, along with the increased agency this interconnectedness creates for all stakeholders, which has facilitated the successful use of parent waivers. These parent waivers have enabled parents to continue choosing alternative language education programs to those mandated by the state, namely integrated content and English instruction within the mainstream K-4 classroom and the Spanish/English dual language program option at the 5-8 grade levels.
ContributorsNewcomer, Sarah (Author) / Matsuda, Aya (Thesis advisor) / Mccarty, Teresa L. (Committee member) / Martinez-Roldán, Carmen (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
ABSTRACTIn the context of English as a foreign language (EFL) education at Saudi
universities, intrinsic motivation plays a crucial role in the second language (L2) learning
process. Drawing on the theoretical framework of Self-Determination Theory (SDT), this
thesis investigates how learner autonomy can be enhanced to promote intrinsic motivation
among Saudi EFL learners. This thesis offers a literature review to explore the significance
and application of intrinsic motivation proposed by the identified empirical studies in this
context. It begins by providing a general overview of motivation and the relationship
between learner autonomy and intrinsic motivation based on SDT. After that, it explores
the identified studies in this context by providing an in-depth analysis of each study. To
comprehensively review the existing literature, a methodical search strategy was
employed. The Arizona State University Library and the Education Resources Information
Center (ERIC) were utilized. The focus was on empirical studies that emphasized intrinsic
motivation in the context of EFL students in Saudi Arabian universities and how to promote
it, with particular attention to the principles of SDT regarding learner autonomy. It further
suggests that enhancing autonomy, as viewed through the lens of SDT, could provide the
necessary conditions for intrinsic motivation to thrive in the context of EFL in Saudi
Arabia. A justification for this review was the evident gap in the literature as there are only
five identified studies that met the criteria of selection in this context. This thesis contends
that integrating SDT's view of learner autonomy with a balanced approach to structured
and choice-based learning may effectively bridge the gap identified in the current research
on intrinsic motivation. Although the studies at hand present a valuable addition to intrinsic
motivation within the EFL context in Saudi universities, they fall short in some respects.
ii
Therefore, this thesis advocates for an educational model that applies SDT-based
autonomous learning strategies into the curriculum to enrich the intrinsic motivation of
Saudi EFL students. Several recommendations regarding how to promote intrinsic
motivation are presented.
ContributorsBin Mohicen, Abdulaziz (Author) / James, Mark (Thesis advisor) / Prior, Matthew T (Committee member) / Matsuda, Aya (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023
Description
The study aims to explore the use of L1 Bahasa Indonesia in the L2 English writing process specifically within the demographic of Indonesian students currently studying in U.S universities. In the second language writing field research related to L1 in L2, even though there have been studies with many Asian demographics like Chinese, Korean, and Japan. However, there seems to be little studies have been conducted with Indonesian demographics. Moreover, research within this particular topic is mostly conducted quantitatively by looking at how much L1 is used during the L2 composing process by incorporating Think-Aloud protocols. In addition to that, it can be seen that Think Aloud Protocols have also predominantly been used to investigate the issue of L1 in L2. Even though Think-Aloud as a method has been proven to be useful, it can also be argued that such a method is too intrusive for the participants. Therefore, this current study is conducted with qualitative descriptive without Think-Aloud Protocols looking at ten participants from ten different universities in the U.S. studying non-English majors. The data were gathered from questionnaires, writing tasks that occur simultaneously with writing observation, as well as stimulated recall interviews to enable triangulation. The findings from the data analysis suggest there are similar patterns that can be found on participants with some unique difference. For example, the instruction to think aloud is not given by the researcher yet some participants practiced thinking aloud naturally during their writing process. Furthermore, L1 use are found to be a complex as accessing linguistics repertoire, recalling memory or start the first sentence/paragraph. While some L1 use effects include sense making, looking for ideas and time efficiency. Therefore, each participant's interaction with their L1 and the effects of L1 use in L2 are discussed.
ContributorsSutrisno, Dwi Budidarma (Author) / Matsuda, Paul (Thesis advisor) / Goggin, Peter (Committee member) / Webb, Patricia (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023
Description
This study examines the impact of High-Immersion Virtual Reality (HiVR) as a tool for teaching English L2 pragmatics to international students enrolled in an Intensive English Program at a US university. This research focuses on integrating HiVR into explicit L2 pragmatics instructional treatments. A quasi-experimental design was employed to assess the pragmatic performance of students in both experimental (HiVR) and control groups across four pragmatics tasks during an eight-week intermediate level course. The findings show a significant advantage for the experimental group, suggesting that HiVR practice enhances learning outcomes in L2 pragmatics. Qualitative feedback revealed participants' enjoyment and perceived realism of VR practice, highlighting the potential of HiVR for simulating real-life conversational scenarios. This study contributes to the field of Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) by demonstrating the efficacy of HiVR in improving L2 pragmatic competence.
ContributorsGracia, Emilia (Author) / Smith, David Bryan (Thesis advisor) / Prior, Matthew (Committee member) / Gonzalez-Lloret, Marta (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2024