For too long, the debate about Ebonics has been about the validity of the language and not about how the perception of the language impacts those that speak it. Ebonics has been considered inappropriate and inadequate as a language in institutions of higher education since the moment Black people in the United States were allowed access. However,…

This study fills a gap in the literature by exploring how Teochew graduates experience language maintenance while enrolled in higher education. Teochew is both an identity and less commonly spoken language that falls within the Chinese umbrella, and little is known about the Teochew population in the U.S as Asian American data is seldom…

Recent studies have projected that by the end of this century between half and up to 95% of the linguistic diversity in the world will disappear or become severely endangered. In the last four decades, the Latin American region, home to more than 500 Indigenous languages, has introduced intercultural bilingual education policies aimed at…

Generally, the academic disciplines of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematic (STEM) is viewed as a gender-specific field of study, dominated primarily by white males. Similarly, women, immigrant minorities, people of color, and Hispanics have been underrepresented in these fields. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to…

This qualitative study explores K-12 classroom teachers' perceptions and experiences in meeting the needs of language learners, specifically English language learners (ELLs) and dual-language learners (DLLs). Addressing two main research questions, it investigated how teachers' preservice learning and development prepared them for instructing…

The purpose of the present study was to examine a model of well-being for Immigrant Language-Minority (ILM) undergraduate students focusing on stereotype threat, sense of belonging, academic self-efficacy, self-regulation, positive affect, negative affect, academic satisfaction, and life satisfaction. Five hundred and two (N = 502) undergraduate…

Within the context of postsecondary education, this study explores translation as a model activity for developing a translanguaging approach to remedial writing instruction for linguistically minoritized (LM) learners. Using qualitative methods grounded in discourse analysis and translation studies, bi/multilingual participants (N=5) enrolled in…

This dissertation investigates shifts in the languages ideologies of four Latina English-Spanish dual language teacher candidates (DLTCs) over four quarters in a Teacher Education Program (TEP) and bilingual endorsement. The goal was to determine whether any ideological shifts aligned with the goals of Dual Language Bilingual Education (DLBE) or…

Through counter-storytelling which is a method of telling the stories of people whose stories are not often told, this qualitative study sought to examine ways in which Hmong youth and their families experience and interpret the use of English in their lives and the ways it affects their use and maintenance of the Hmong language. It also sought to…

The growing number of language minority students graduating from a U.S. high school and entering college has motivated many studies. These students are often referred to as "Generation 1.5", a term that loosely indicates they arrived in this country at an early age and had most of their education in U.S. K-12 settings. The studies that…

As English language learner (ELL) students are at risk of dropping out of higher education, colleges and universities must make greater efforts to retain them. This study assessed the training quality of English as a second language (ESL) instructors in higher educational institutions in New York City to help ELL students in academics, language…

Nations throughout the world have increasingly looked at teacher education policy as a vehicle for reform of both the educational system and the society at large, and teacher quality is often positively associated with the quality of the overall educational system. Although such reforms often target pre-service teacher education, little is known…

This study explores the effects of a Two-Way Bilingual Immersion (TWBI) program on language majority and minority students. The fundamental hypothesis was that the process of receiving instruction in two languages (English and Spanish) throughout elementary school (i.e., attendance at a TWBI school) would help the native Spanish-speaking students…

In this dissertation, the denaturalization of migrants in the US and Italy as represented in newspaper crime reports was identified and compared to the opposing naturalization of Italian crime organizations in Italy and Wall Street/corporate criminals in the US. This was accomplished through careful, multidisciplinary, scientific analysis of over…

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of four instructional methods--context clues, definition, elaboration technique, or word parts and word families--on the vocabulary growth and acquisition of adults enrolled in a community college developmental reading course. The study investigated whether performance in any or all of the four…