Browsing by Subject "Bilingual education"
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Item Academia Cuauhtli : bilingual/bicultural teacher expertise in a cultural and linguistic revitalization project(2020-05-12) Bell, Randy Clinton; De Lissovoy, Noah, 1968-; Palmer, Deborah K., 1969-; Salinas, Cinthia; Valenzuela, Angela; Abril-Gonzalez, PatriciaIn this dissertation I considered the work of bilingual/bicultural teachers as they worked collaboratively to design and implement a linguistic and cultural revitalization program called Academia Cuauhtli. I engaged Critical Ethnography along with decolonial theory in order to make sense of the linguistic, curricular and pedagogical priorities and enactments of two focal research partners. I further situated my study around established and emerging theories of translanguaging and raciolinguistic ideologies as I sought insights into the linguistic, pedagogical and curricular priorities and becomings of bilingual/bicultural teachers. Interrelated findings situate the teachers values, beliefs and teaching within Academia Cuauhtli as a unique epistemological space in which teachers and community members make sense of current sociopolitical and geohistorical influences in their lives. Furthermore, findings suggest that Academia Cuauhtli serves as a unique cultural and linguistic space in which bilingual/bicultural teachers are able to support intergenerational learning, sustaining language practices and dialogic relationality. Implications are included regarding language policy, dual language education, Ethnic Studies, teacher education and research design.Item Academic achievement outcomes of Latino English-language learners in Texas: a longitudinal analysis(2015-12) Ren, Han; Cawthon, Stephanie W.; Pituch, Keenan A; Svinicki, Marilla D; Keith, Timothy Z; Lopez, Molly ATexas has one of the highest populations of English Language Learners (ELLs) in the U.S., with a complex system for ELL identification, program placement, and high- stakes assessment. Spanish-speaking Latino ELLs represent a large proportion of this population in this state. The long-term academic achievement of ELLs identified in elementary grades and educated in different program placements is not well known. Prior research presents support for Bilingual Education models as most promising for future student achievement. Using strict sampling criteria and analysis of variance (ANOVA) procedures, this study compared student achievement during secondary years, as measured by high-stakes assessments, of demographically similar Latino former-ELLs, long-term ELLs, and non-ELLs who received a variety of language service programming during elementary school. This study examined data from a cohort of 18,188 students enrolled in all 10 major urban school districts in Texas from 3rd to 9th grades, between the 2003-2004 and 2009-2010 school years. Math and reading high-stakes test scores during students’ 7th and 9th grade years were used as outcome variables. Key findings show that ELLs who did not receive any language programming have significantly higher achievement outcomes than ELLs who received English as a Second Language (ESL), Bilingual Education, or equal years of ESL and Bilingual. These students performed on par with their non-ELL peers in both math and reading. Results also show achievement differences between former-ELLs who were able to achieve English language proficiency by the start of middle school, and long-term ELLs who remained ELL through secondary education. Former-ELLs had favorable outcomes, with math achievement scores that were higher than non-ELLs, whereas long-term ELLs performed significantly lower than both former- ELLs and non-ELLs at all study points. Interactions between programming received and ELL-type, as well as the effects of immigration status and district of enrollment were explored. Results were unexpected and highlight the need for further longitudinal research on existing ELL populations across the state of Texas. Implications of this study support current educational policies that shift away from prolonged Bilingual Education toward ESL and mainstream-English only programming for ELLs. Additional policy implications and directions for future research are discussed.Item Aprendiendo ciencias : the construction of a community of practice in a fourth grade bilingual classroom(2013-12) Avila, María-Antonieta; Fránquiz, María E.This was a qualitative case study focusing on one fourth-grade bilingual teacher and her students. Using theoretical and methodological tools from Communities of Practice and Sociocultural Learning research, I discuss how the teacher and her students co-constructed a community of practice during science. Additionally, this study provides first hand accounts of students' various oral, written, and visually represented stances related to complex issues in science, to describe how the teacher developed her students' linguistic and cultural resources through science. I used participant observation, video and audio recordings, and student classroom artifacts to document social interactions to understand what practices assisted in the co-construction of a community of practice in this particular fourth-grade bilingual classroom. Data analyses revealed that the teacher and her students engaged in practices that fostered the science identity of the bilingual fourth-graders. Further analyses revealed that through the integration of literacy practices with science, the students acquired ways to write, talk, and read, adopting scientific discourse. Important connections between home and school were present as a component of this community of practice. Finally, I found that the work of doing science within this particular classroom was accomplished by drawing upon linguistic resources in both English and Spanish. Engaging in the work of doing science bilingually became an essential characteristic of the co-construction of the community of practice. Implications for bilingual education and elementary science education include acknowledging the importance of utilizing all available linguistic resources to gain content-area knowledge and develop academic biliteracies. Implications for elementary teacher preparation call for training that focuses on the integration of content-area literacies, bilingualism, and home-school connections that value knowledge from home as a starting point for the study of science.Item Becoming an activist Chicana teacher: a story of identity making of a Mexican American bilingual educator in Texas(2009-08) Jackson, Linda Dolores Guardia; Urrieta, Luis; Valenzuela, AngelaThis person-centered ethnography focused on the ways one exemplary veteran Mexican American bilingual educator’s (MABE’s) cultural resources and professional experiences influenced her teaching practices. The study examined her life history and classroom practices to explore the trajectory of her identity making. The framework utilized in this research included a sociohistorical/sociocultural lens and Chicana/Latina feminist theories. Specifically, my research investigated the multiple spaces where a MABE navigated between an additive bilingual education model and a subtractive one. The study relied primarily on data collected from oral life history interviews augmented by participant observations at a school in a large, central Texas district. The participant, a first grade teacher with 28 years of classroom experience in the same district, was interviewed over a four-year span. Further, classroom observations occurred during a full school year. Additional interviews with educators who worked with the participant at critical moments in her professional life provided not only triangulation of information, but also a multiplicity of perspectives and foci on the educational landscapes wherein she operated. Narrative analysis of the data involved the decoding and deconstruction of a MABE’s active participation in the processes of performing and (re)presenting her identity production including being silenced and speaking up. The findings revealed a dialectic and dialogic process between personal experiences, early schooling, impositions of policies, and daily-lived classroom experience while constantly navigating and negotiating the challenges of educating culturally and linguistically diverse students. A primary finding revealed the construct of autobiographical consciousness as a MABE’s critical awareness of the historical legacy, lived experiences, and the contexts in which she teaches. The study documented silencing through marginalization, as well as establishing voice through agency to understand construction and reconstruction of identities.Item Bilingual education : a history of family and community involvement in schools(2016-12) Herrera, Christopher Lee; Callahan, Rebecca M.The demographics in today’s schools are undergoing large transformations and it is imperative for schools to keep up with this change. In the face of accountability, schools with high minority or ELL populations are not faring as well as others thus they are subject to school reforms that intend to transform the school into one that produces comparable results to higher performing schools. In this review of the literature, I highlight key elements that schools can adopt, specifically those with high minority or ELL populations, to better meet the needs of at-risk students. I elaborate on bilingual education and the relationship it has on academic achievement for ELL and monolingual students. I also elaborate briefly on the importance of community schools as a school improvement strategy and more formally on the important role that the development of strong community-school relationships have on at-risk students. In the third section of the review, I focus heavily on parental involvement and engagement and the role that this has on academic achievement and overall school reform. The findings highlighted in the literature review are promising further intensifying the necessity to consider these strategies as a means for promising school reform. Implications for practice are included at the conclusion of this literature review.Item Bilingual elementary teachers : examining pedagogy and literacy practices(2014-12) Garza, Irene Valles; Salinas, Cinthia; Fránquiz, María E.This study is significant because U.S. schools are continuously being transformed due to the increasing numbers of linguistically and culturally diverse students, in particular Latina/o youths. Therefore, this qualitative dissertation study explored and described ways three Latina Tejana Maestras utilized Culturally Responsive Pedagogy (CRP) during literacy learning as they integrated students’ knowledge about their social and cultural environment, including their native language repertoire, while developing and implementing instruction. This study used sociocultural and borderlands theoretical construct to explore and describe ways the Maestras enacted and sustained CRP during literacy events. The sociocultural perspective is a fitting lens because it takes into account how knowledge is constructed in and through social interaction. Borderlands is also a fitting lens because it takes into account the Tejana Maestras borderlands identity of straddling simultaneous worlds — two languages, two cultures. Sociocultural theory and Borderlands theoretical lenses were complemented by CRP, a teaching approach that not only fits the school culture to the students’ culture, but uses the students’ culture as the basis for students to understand themselves and guiding them to becoming academically successful. The two questions used to guide this dissertation were: What culturally responsive pedagogical knowledge and practices do Tejana Maestras enact in bilingual classrooms? Second: How do Tejana Maestras acquire knowledge about the culture, language, and background experience of their students when planning and implementing instruction? The research revealed three themes, a) the presence of Building a Bilingual Classroom Community (BBCC) that was continuously evolving, and seamlessly functioning, as a system was clearly evident in each of the three classrooms, b) the Tejana Maestras notion of agents of change that guided their pedagogical literacy practices, and c) the notion of centering Mexican American students’ values, beliefs, and norms into the pedagogy and curriculum responsive to emergent bilinguals was recognizable. Six findings developed from the data; a) Tejana Maestras foster cultural awareness, b) embrace Latina/o bilingualism, c) employ a menu of culturally responsive literacy practices, d) learn from their students e) are conscious of their identity, and f) teaching philosophy. Due to U.S. schools being transformed by the increasing numbers of linguistically and culturally diverse students, the study demonstrated that it is important to conduct research about Tejana Maestras to learn the ways they are effectively meeting the needs of bilingual students by using CRP to promote academic success.Item A case study of mobile internet technology in bilingual elementary classrooms(2013-12) Wivagg, Jennifer; Liu, Min, Ed.D.Research about the use of mobile Internet technology in education is increasing, but gaps remain in the literature. This study used a case study approach to understand how teachers in a bilingual English Language Learner (ELL) classroom used iPod touch devices in a Texas public elementary school. Unlike many other studies investigating the use of mobile Internet technology in education by motivated educators and researchers, this research focuses on an initiative where apprehensive teachers were mandated to integrate mobile Internet technology. It also has a relatively rare focus on the implementation process rather than learning outcomes. Research questions were designed to explore how teachers implemented the iPod touch devices, whether the implementation encouraged informal learning, and what implementation challenges arose. Data sources consisted of qualitative interviews with students, teachers, and a school administrator as well as classroom observations and an analysis of student artifacts. Data showed that many activities resulting from the implementation of the iPod touch initiative included elements of constructivist learning and encouraged student interaction. Another finding was that giving students full-time possession of the devices did lead to students using the device outside of school, but that most of their activities involved practicing what they had learned in the classroom and not true informal learning. Overcoming teachers’ hesitancy and lack of familiarity with technology were found to be major obstacles early in the program, but findings suggested that training, support, and student enthusiasm overcame teachers’ initial reluctance. Implications of this research are that efforts to integrate mobile Internet technology with elementary-level ELLs need an active focus on informal learning to leverage the potential the devices offer. Also, successful implementation requires more than just the availability of the technology; it also requires training and support for teachers to increase their familiarity with the technology and to provide them with ideas that allow them to use the technology most effectively.Item Constructing a figured world of bilingual education : authoring dreamers and changers with mentor texts, supplemental mentor texts and libritos(2022-05-09) Lewis, Brenda Ayala; Fránquiz, María E.; Salinas, Cinthia; Worthy, Mary J.; Celedón-Pattichis, Sylvia; Toribio, Jacqueline A.; Leija Lara, María G.This qualitative case study investigated how mentor texts can be utilized as a pedagogical approach in bilingual instruction to cultivate biliteracy development in bilingual classrooms. Bilingual scholars must heed the call to action for more qualitative studies that present bilingual teachers’ contributions in the development of biliteracy, bilingualism, and biculturalism via mentor texts as tools for recognizing and affirming biliterate identities, responding to texts by taking a stance, and the re-cognizing of social issues to create alternative figured worlds. Utilizing figured worlds and the continua of biliteracy framework, investigation findings expand upon how emergent bilinguals can draw from all points of the biliteracy continua and dispels the notion that one mentor text is sufficient in students’ making connections between protagonist’s lived experiences and their own. This study emphasizes the need to create libritos for each mentor text to support reflective written responses, and supported students authoring of self as dreamers and changers. Supplemental mentor texts were necessary for student development of voice via in-depth study to contextualize the time-period when the protagonists faced unfair situations. Mentor texts, supplemental mentor texts, and libritos were all necessary in authoring new possibilities. Implications suggest that children’s literature promote students seeing themselves represented in the text. Expanding upon the notion of Latinidad demands critical discussion, analysis, and evaluation of protagonists and lived experiences along with the examination of diverse perspectives. As mediating tools, mentor texts, can be used for planning integrated units of study to cultivate critical thinking and writing about social (in)justice. Libritos and mentor texts offer powerful tools for biliteracy development. Adding a sixth condition to Dorfman and Cappelli’s criteria for mentor texts is recommended, since writing responses add to students’ developing understandings about craft, genre, content, style, technique, modalities, etc. A study of curriculum that creates opportunities for social issues to be utilized as a springboard for bilingual student examination of socio-historical and sociocultural contexts contribute to learning more about responsible citizenry. This can begin an examination of student roles as consumers of text and challenge the dominant narratives of marginalized populations using counternarratives.Item Defining bilingualism : the language ideologies and linguistic practices of bilingual teachers from the U.S.-Mexico border(2015-05) Zúñiga, Christian Ellen; Palmer, Deborah K., 1969-; Callahan, Rebecca M; Maloch, Anna E; Martínez, Ramón A; Martínez-Roldan, Carmen MThis study examines how three heritage bilingual teachers from the Texas U.S.-Mexico border articulate their understanding of bilingualism and how they embody those understandings in their classroom language practices and policies. All three teachers were assigned to a “one way” dual language classroom in first or third grade. I draw on theoretical frameworks related to language policy, language ideology, and borderland and postcolonial perspectives of languaging. Key findings suggest that the teachers defined bilingualism around ideas of adequacy that ranged across contexts, interpretation of second language acquisition theories, and an ability to meet the demands of academic language. Additionally, the teachers’ articulated and embodied ideologies drew on a spectrum of language practices and language ideologies that co-existed in the same classroom. Finally, the teachers’ practices and policies were situated within larger, pervasive schooling structures, like standardized assessment. The findings have implications for how bilingualism is understood and supported for language minority students, particularly in the areas of teacher education, language and assessment policy, and theory describing the relationship between language and identity.Item Dual language bilingual education program implementation : teacher language ideologies and local language policy(2015-05) Henderson, Kathryn Isabel; Palmer, Deborah K., 1969-; Callahan, Rebecca M.; Martínez, Ramón; Dukerich, Janet; Fitzsimmons-Doolan, ShannonIn this dissertation, I investigated the top-down implementation process of a dual language bilingual education (DLBE) program in over 60 schools in a large urban school district in Texas to identify language ideologies and issues of language policy and policy implementation according to local participating educators. Drawing on a language policy framework and research in linguistic anthropology to define language ideologies, I employed a multi-method approach (survey (n=323 educators), interview (n=20 DLBE teachers) and observation (n=3 DLBE teachers)) to measure and better understand language ideology and its significance for local language policy. Analysis revealed ideological tension and multiplicity, within and across educators, within single statements and overtime. For example, during interviews most teachers expressed additive views towards bilingualism, but subtractive views towards non-standard variations of each language. Similarly, several teachers articulated additive ideologies towards bilingualism while articulating the relative greater importance of English language acquisition. These ideological tensions operated in distinct ways at the classroom level. One teacher strictly followed the DLBE policy in her classroom to support bilingual/biliteracy development, but she also discouraged certain students and families from participating in the program because of their non-standard language practices. This dissertation complicates traditional understandings of the role of language ideologies within language policy implementation. Much research in our field discusses bilingual programs and program implementation in dichotomous terms (i.e. subtractive/additive). In contrast, I demonstrate how the multiplicity and complexity of language ideologies must be considered when trying to discuss the ideological struggle involved in implementing pluralist bilingual programs within an English dominant society. I present four potential models to conceptualize and analyze ideological tension as well as a discussion on the relationship between language ideologies and local language policy. Implications for teacher education, DLBE policy and future research are considered.Item Entre broma y broma la verdad se asoma : the mobilization of third-grade emergent bilinguals’ cultural capital around sites of humor(2020-04-23) Ingram, Mitchell Dean; Salinas, Cinthia; Palmer, Deborah; Abril-González, Paty; Dávila, Denise; Flores, TraceyTo say that humor is a universal form of interactive communication is only partially correct. In this dissertation, I argue that it is actually a site where individuals are able to exchange cultural capital, display shared knowledge, form affiliative bonds and disaffiliative stances, and employ metalinguistic skills. The following presentation shares findings that emerged after spending an academic year observing and participating with 23 emergent bilingual students whose first language was Spanish. In this qualitative case study, I employed ethnographic methods to understand how humor phenomenologically functioned within their 3rd grade school settings. I drew from a panoply of research in bilingual education, humor studies, linguistic anthropology, and sociolinguistics to approach and make sense of the subject matter. I allowed the diverse data to inform how I established and analyzed the categories in order to answer the following research questions: (1) In what ways do minoritized emergent bilinguals mobilize their cultural capitals around spaces of humor? (2) How does humor function as a site for emergent bilinguals’ agentic affordances within structural constraints? To answer these queries, I drew on the theoretical framework of community cultural wealth (Yosso, 2005), which examines the “array of knowledge, skills, abilities, and contacts possessed and utilized by communities of color” (p. 77). As the students interactional episodes of humor developed throughout one year and I performed situated interpretations and analyses of the events, I found that most cases were able to fit beneath the umbrella of three meta-themes: resilience, resistance, and resonance. This dissertation sought to add to extant research that foregrounds minoritized students’ agency vis-à-vis an education system that historically does not prioritize nor acknowledge the wealth of linguistic ability and cultural knowledge that these students possess. Furthermore, by viewing humor as a locus of engagement, I hope to further a solutions-seeking agenda that is rooted and grounded in the assets of these students. As humor reveals itself as a phenomenon that is multi-pronged enough to accomplish a multiplicity of functions simultaneously, it proves the adage true: Entre broma y broma, la verdad se asoma [Many a true word is spoken in jest].Item Gifted, bilingual, Mexican/Mexican-American students : using community cultural wealth as a strategy for negotiating paradoxes(2013-08) Beam-Conroy, Teddi Michele; Fránquiz, María E.This qualitative dissertation study examined the ways that nine gifted, bilingual Mexican/Mexican-American students negotiated paradoxes in their academic, linguistic, and cultural identities in a public high school in a large, south central Texas city. One theoretical lens, Critical Race Theory/Latino Critical Race Theory (CRT/LatCrit) was combined with phenomenological research methods to privilege the students' perspectives during the data collection process. An additional theoretical lens, the concept of Figured Worlds, was used to contextualize the setting, Chase High School. Both CRT/LatCrit and Figured Worlds were used to analyze interview, classroom and field observation, participant, school, and district artifacts, federal, state and local data collected over ten months of study. The investigation revealed that the participants braided the domains of community cultural wealth -- aspirational, navigational, linguistic, social, resistance, and familial capital -- into practices that grounded them in their bilingual, bicultural Mexican/Mexican-American identities as successful students.Item In school but not of it : the making of Kuna-language education(2011-05) Price, Kayla Marie; Strong, Pauline Turner, 1953-; Sherzer, Joel; Keating, Elizabeth; Foley, Douglas; Woodbury, AnthonyThis research concerns a Kuna-Spanish bilingual elementary school in Panama City, founded for Kuna children by Kuna teachers. Based on ethnographic and linguistic fieldwork, this research investigates the socio-cultural context for the emergence of the school and the ways that students, teachers and parents, together with Kuna elders, navigate the path of indigenous schooling. The process of negotiating linguistic and cultural meanings in Kuna-language education includes both "traditionalized" Kuna forms of learning and informal education in and around the home. These various foundations of Kuna knowledge, from the use of Kuna oral history to eating Kuna food in the home, are incorporated into the curriculum in various ways, highlighting the potential of schooling as a place of knowledge production for indigenous peoples that is culturally inclusive. At the same time, the manner in which Kuna identity is indexed in the school is uneven. It is liberating in some moments while very restrictive in others, reflecting similar patterns, often in relation to state-sponsored notions of "multiculturalism" in the Kuna community and in the broader context of Panamanian society. In order to fully explore the complexities of the school and its workings, this research explores the Kuna experience in Panama City, where more than half of the Kuna population currently resides. This dissertation is a contribution to the fields of linguistic anthropology and the anthropology of education, analyzing the case of an urban Kuna school that employs both Western and indigenous pedagogy and content, with specific implications for studies of language socialization, bilingual education and educational politics for indigenous peoples.Item Interactive read alouds : developing literacy in bilingual second grade classrooms(2017-05) Leija Lara, María Guadalupe; Salinas, Cinthia; Fránquiz, María E.The qualitative case study investigated how a Latino bilingual teacher incorporated students' linguistic, cultural, and experiences of the Latina/o community through interactive read alouds during an Immigration Project and a Día de los Muertos Project. Given the large and growing demographics of this nation and the challenge of recruiting and retaining teachers of color in bilingual education, the significance of this study lies in the depth examination of the contributions of a Latino teacher in his bilingual second grade classroom. The theoretical framework guiding this study drew from CRT and LatCrit (Solórzano & Delgado, 2001) theories, and the continua of biliteracy (Hornberger & Link, 2012). The theoretical framework focuses on the lived experiences of Communities of Color and positions them as having valuable linguistic and cultural knowledge that educators can draw from to further develop students' bilingualism, biliteracy, and biculturalism. Qualitative research methods included classroom observations, field notes, semistructured interviews, audio and video recordings, and collection of student and teacher produced artifacts. Findings suggest that the Latino teacher negotiated conflicting language ideologies about the use of code switching in oral and written form during the teaching of language arts. In addition, through the Immigration Project, students and the teacher were able to make text-to-life connections that drew from their personal and community’s linguistic, cultural, and experiential knowledge. During the Día de los Muertos Project, findings revealed that Latinos are a diverse ethnic group with dynamic cultural practices. It’s important to note that when literacy intersects with national origins, religion, and cultural experiences, students and families respond in varied ways.Item Language ideologies in a bilingual fourth grade classroom : a research proposal and reflections(2013-12) Kehoe, Shannon Kimberly; Palmer, Deborah K., 1969-In order to illustrate, I begin this report with an account of some of my experiences as a bilingual teacher, instructing curriculum designed to elicit student reflections their language ideologies and engaging praxis. The data includes student responses to a writing prompt and interview which elicited their language ideologies. Some of the student comments were striking due to their recognition of the higher status of English. The student-collected data aided me in evaluating my curriculum and instruction and inform my future practice. My report ends with a proposal to investigate these issues more deeply by conducting a study on student language ideologies.Item Math identities information : Latin@ students tell their math stories(2015-05) Adams, Melissa; Empson, Susan B.Bilingual fourth graders’ math stories were collected to explore their math identities. Students expressed identities of powerfulness and powerlessness and identified the key resources they need in order to feel like successful mathematicians. These resources included collaboration, manipulatives, their native language, and the support of family. Implications and suggestions for educators are discussed.Item Performing the advocate bilingual teacher : drama-based interventions for future story-making(2016-05) Caldas Chumbes, Blanca Gabriela; Palmer, Deborah K., 1969-; Faltis, Christian J; De Lissovoy, Noah; Urrieta, Luis; Jones, OmiThis doctoral project focuses on exploring how critical drama-based pedagogical techniques in the development of future bilingual teachers can prepare them to become leaders and advocates inside and outside the classroom. This research examines the use of Boal’s Theater of the Oppressed techniques in the bilingual teacher preparation classroom as future teachers reenact real life experiences of experienced Bilingual teachers to examine social justice issues. as a way to provide a stage for future bilingual teachers to develop their assertiveness and stance in their practice. In this yearlong study, the participants—a cohort of pre-service bilingual teachers—engage in the re-imagining of the oral narratives of experienced bilingual teachers by physically reenacting their stories and providing alternative endings. My research aims to study the outcomes of pedagogical practices for the preparation of future Bilingual teachers that have the potential to empower themselves to not only think critically about the issues that surround Bilingual education, but also motivates them to engage in leadership and advocacy inside and outside the classroom. At the same time, this research examines translanguaging practices among bilingual pre-service teachers and how such practices shape both their identities as bilingual beings and bilingual professionals through reenactments. In order to complete this work I use a methodology bricolage, which combines performance ethnography, critical discourse analysis, and participatory action research.Item Power and caring embodied through bilingual preservice teachers' choice of participant structures(2016-05) Wall, Dorothy Jeanne; Palmer, Deborah K., 1969-; Rodríguez, Haydeé M; Callahan, Rebecca M; Martínez, Ramón A; Menchaca, MarthaPower and Caring Embodied through Bilingual Preservice Teachers’ Choice of Participant Structures is a qualitative multicase study about the ways in which three Mexican-origin preservice teachers drew from their pedagogical philosophies of authentic cariño to make sense of their choice of participant structures in bilingual student teaching contexts. This dissertation project drew from a larger study investigating seven Latin@ preservice teachers’ choice of participant structures in one-way and two-way dual language pre-kinder and kindergarten classrooms from the same bilingual education cohort at a large public Texas university in a medium-sized city. Guided by a critical framework that weaves together sociocultural literature on multilingual learning environments, LatCrit theory, and pedagogy as authentic cariño viewed through a lens of power as caring relations, the goals of this project were two-fold: 1) to explore the types of participant structures that bilingual preservice teachers were implementing during their student teaching semester and 2) to investigate their sensemaking process around those decisions of which participant structures to implement. Findings revealed that the three maestr@s implemented a variety of participant structures in their one-way dual language student teaching placements, and that they made sense of these choices guided by their pedagogical philosophies of authentic cariño that they had constructed through their life experiences. Additionally, their mentor teachers’ choice of participant structures and degree of alignment with the maestr@s’ philosophies, the supportive space of the post-observation conference, and the maestr@s’ perceived competencies with classroom management intersected with the participant structures that they chose. These findings provide a more nuanced understanding of the complexity of factors that bilingual preservice teachers consider when selecting the ways that their students may actively participate during a lesson, but also that their identities, past experiences, and pedagogical philosophies really do matter. This work has important implications for teacher preparation in bilingual and ESL contexts, teaching, and policy in supporting the use of empowering participant structures for emergent bilingual students.Item Profiles of elementary-age English language learners with reading-related learning disabilities (LD) identified as speech and language impaired prior to, at, or after identification as LD(2011-05) McGhee, Belinda Maria Despujols; Ortiz, Alba A.; Wilkinson, Cheryl Y.; Robertson, Phyllis M.; Sorrels, Audrey M.; Worthy, Mary J.; Smith, ShannaThis study examined the characteristics of 14 English Language Learners classified as having learning disabilities (LD) who were also identified as having speech and language impairments (SI) prior to, at, or after initial identification as LD. Data were collected under the auspices of a longitudinal study, Bilingual Exceptional Students: Effective Practices for Oral Language and Reading Instruction, conducted by multicultural special education faculty at the University of Texas at Austin between 1999 and 2002. Participants were served in bilingual education and bilingual special education programs in a large, central Texas school District. Archival data from students’ cumulative, bilingual and special education records were analyzed to profile student characteristics at the point of their initial LD and SI eligibility determinations. A clinical judgment panel comprised of bilingual special education experts analyzed student data and made independent eligibility recommendations for each participant. These recommendations were compared to the multidisciplinary teams (MDTs’) eligibility decisions. Findings revealed that MDTs based eligibility primary on the presence of an IQ-achievement discrepancy and did not adequately consider factors, other than the presence of LD that could explain student difficulties. When data other than the IQ-achievement discrepancy were considered, the clinical judgment panel classified 4 participants as LD and 9 as having disabilities other than LD; the panel felt that data for one student were insufficient to make an eligibility recommendation. Findings related to identification of SI for this population were limited because students were assessed using a Spanish translation of an English speech and language assessment developed by the district. Test results corroborated parents’ and teachers’ concerns that these students had significant communication problems. Implications for improving practices related to early intervention, referral, assessment, and eligibility determinations for ELLs are presented and suggestions for future research are delineated.Item “She was born speaking English and Spanish!” co-constructing identities and exploring children’s bilingual language practices in a two-way immersion program in central Texas(2016-05) Mateus, Suzanne García; Palmer, Deborah K., 1969-; Cervantes-Soon, Claudia G., 1974-; Martinez, Ramon A; Adair, Jennifer K; Toribio, Almeida J; Maloch, Elizabeth AThis ethnographic and longitudinal study examined how the language practices of emergent bilingual students in a two-way immersion classroom, dual language (TWDL) program contributed to the co-construction of their and each others’ identities. I drew from theoretical frameworks related to the concept of identity specifically: sociocultural linguistics, figured worlds, and positioning theory. Key findings suggest that the strategies teachers used to promote language learning played a role in the ways students were positioned. Additionally, a critical curriculum opened up spaces in the classroom where children could draw from their linguistic repertoire despite the strict separation of the language of instruction in TWDL programs. Finally, when teachers modeled flexible bilingualism they promoted the use of both Spanish and English, at times simultaneously, and the academic content became the focus. As a result, students engaged in deeper conversations about social inequities experienced by minoritized language communities. The findings have implications for our 1st and 2nd generation Latino immigrant students learning alongside language-majority students, particularly in the areas of teacher education, research, and language policy in TWDL programs.