Matching Items (3)
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- All Subjects: Adult Education
- Creators: Markos, Amy
Description
Learning to read in English is difficult for adult English language learners due to their diverse background, their level of experience with literacy in their first language, and their reason and desire for wanting to learn to read in English. Teachers of adult language learners must consider the educational and language experiences of adults enrolled in English as a Second Language (ESL) classes in order to provide adequate learning opportunities for a diverse student body. Promoting learning opportunities for adult Arabic speakers was an area of interest for me when I first began teaching adult English language learners six years ago. The purpose of my action research study was to provide the adult Arabic speakers in my classroom with strategies they could use in order to read accurately in English. Current research used to guide my study focused on the difficulties Arabic speakers have with the orthographic features of the English language. As I conducted various cycles of action research in an ESL reading class, I developed an intervention to support adult Arabic speakers gain an understanding of the sound spelling system of the English language inclusive of instructional strategies to support accurate word reading. Data was collected to identify the individuals experience in learning to read. I included a pre and post miscue analysis to help identify the common error patterns of the participants of my study. Over an eight-week period, I followed a constructivist approach and facilitated word sorts to help students identify common sound spellings found in the English language. Instructional strategies were included to help the participants decode multisyllabic words by bringing awareness to the syllable types found in the English language. The findings of my study revealed that Arabic speakers benefited from an intervention focused on the sound spellings and syllabication of the English language.
ContributorsKeller, Rachel Dawn (Author) / Marsh, Josephine P (Thesis advisor) / Koro, Mirka (Committee member) / Markos, Amy (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2020
Description
This action research study, informed by qualitative critical bricolage methods explored immigrant-origin adult learners’ lived experiences around education. It examined a California community college’s practices and campus climate that hinder adult immigrant learners’ equitable access to and success in postsecondary education. In an attempt to humanize and decolonize the “traditional” research processes, six immigrant-origin adult students on the Central Coast of California participated as co-researchers in a cycle of Critical Participatory Action Research (CPAR), which served as the innovation within the overall action research. The CPAR innovation aimed to raise immigrant-origin adult learners’ critical consciousness through their five-month-long participation in art-based autoethnographic inquiries and praxis. Through the exploration of their community cultural wealth, the goal of the CPAR innovation was to empower immigrant-origin adult learners to build local capacity for solutions. The CPAR team initiated collective action to improve campus climate and services by sharing their stories through an on-campus exhibit. The study revealed tremendous strengths and resilience of the participants and their communities. The study also found systemic barriers as well as personal and situational factors that affected their educational journeys. The barriers included past traumas, family and work responsibilities, as well as biases and inequitable practices in the education system. Recommendations for educational institutions include (a) training educators on trauma-informed approaches; (b) implementing culturally and linguistically responsive and contextualized instruction and knowledge assessment; (c) making support programs inclusive, adult-focused and stigma-free; (d) valuing students’ aspirational, familial, and social capital; and (e) expanding distance learning opportunities through improving technology access and academic support for online students. Study findings suggest that critical consciousness develops in a complex way and that collective efficacy and opportunity structures support student agency toward equitable academic access and success.
ContributorsOates, Sachiko Ozaki (Author) / Markos, Amy (Thesis advisor) / Hesse, Maria (Committee member) / Byrne, Roxane (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023
Description
The aim of this study was to explore how counselors of a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) focused out-of-school time (OST) program understood ways to support students’ social-emotional learning (SEL) and STEM identity development, as well as the impact on counselors’ awareness of their own SEL and STEM identity. To do this, I developed the STEM-Social Emotional Learning for Facilitators (STEM-SELF) intervention. The STEM-SELF intervention focused on 1) implementing a series of workshops; 2) engaging counselors in a cycle of praxis as they created and implemented experiences for students; and 3) engaging counselors in reflection on the learning gained within the program context and in their own personal context. For the intervention, I used a professional learning community (PLC) to engage counselors in cycles of praxis and designed learning activities based on Knowles’ (1980) principles of adult learning. The content counselors learned focused on STEM identity theory, the SEL framework developed by the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), and modification of the Ways of Being model. The design was a primarily qualitative action research study and data collection and analysis happened in stages that aligned with the stages of implementation of the STEM-SELF intervention. Data included counselors' reflective journals and one-on-one interviews; the analysis was based on a reflexive thematic analysis approach. The study concluded that counselors gained confidence in facilitating SEL and STEM identity development activities and their understanding of SEL and STEM identity became more refined. Counselors also reflected that their learning was directly applicable to their contexts outside of the OST program. Additionally, counselors' awareness of their own SEL increased, and their conception of what made someone a “STEM person” changed.
ContributorsBettis, Megan M. (Author) / Markos, Amy (Thesis advisor) / Gomes, Aldrin (Committee member) / Henderson, Bryan (Committee member) / Jimenez-Silva, Margarita (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023