As the Hispanic population in the United States continues to grow, Spanish teachers are increasingly responsible for incorporating heritage language (HL) research and practice into their curriculum design. However, many language teacher preparation programs in the country are not tailored to equip future HL educators, focusing instead on second…

This dissertation explored the perspectives of stakeholders within a university-level Spanish Heritage Language (SHL) program in Arizona, focusing on their language ideologies and critical language education efforts. The study, rooted in Critical Language Awareness (CLA) and Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy (CSP) frameworks, challenges deficit-based…

This dissertation investigates the initial and ongoing motivations of language revitalization practitioners. This study extends our understandings of language revitalization from the programmatic and sociological levels to the level of the individual practitioner. It also extends theory in L2 motivation into a largely unstudied language learning…

This multiple case study investigates the professional identities of three dual language immersion (DLI) teachers after they graduate from a teacher education program (TEP) that emphasizes DLI pedagogies. I use the communities of practice framework (Wenger, 1998), the portraiture methodology (Lawrence-Lightfoot, 1983, 1994; Lawrence-Lightfoot…

This qualitative study explored the dynamic aspects of American Indian language integration in education along with language revitalization efforts. Due to the special government to government relationship between the Tribes and the federal government, formal Native American education began with forced assimilation and language loss was linked to…

Given the loss of heritage languages due to assimilation of the dominant English language in U.S. society within three generations of migration to the U.S. (Wiley & Valdes, 2000), it is of paramount importance to examine how we can maintain and enhance heritage languages. Humor is a pragmatic tool which one can utilize to increase…

This case study of a teacher of Arabic-speaking heritage language learners (HLL) reported the experiences and pedagogical practices of a teacher to better understand the reasons for her success in preparing young HLL. The teacher's experiences informed findings regarding ways to improve HL teaching for Arabic-speaking students. This research study…

The growth and wide use of the mobile app not only brought significant changes in our social and economic life but also provided promising opportunities in the field of education. The importance of the educational app has been recognized, as is seen by the efforts of educators and app developers in exploring its potential in the field of teaching…

Based on the finding that teachers' literacy beliefs affect their instructional practices, recent studies on literacy beliefs present an increasing interest in heritage language (HL) because of the rapid increase in heritage learners' enrollment. However, less is known about Korean language teachers' literacy beliefs and practices in college…

This study investigates teacher attitudes about language and education. The purpose of the study is to help program designers develop professional development efforts that successfully address some of the major identified challenges teachers face when transitioning into Mother Tongue Based Multi-Lingual Education (MTBMLE), including negative…

Having orally proficient Spanish speaking heritage learners in a class alongside monolingual English speakers who are learning Spanish as a second language is quite the challenge: the heritage learners' ability to converse can be intimidating to the non heritage learner, but at the same time, the non heritage learner's ability to grasp the grammar…

This dissertation explores complex positionings of Chinese heritage language (CHL) learners amid several intersecting discourses, including those around globalization, identity development and language policies. Using critical, qualitative methods, the study combines textual and site-based analyses, linking the language development experiences of…

This summary of a dissertation reports results of a study of teachers providing bilingual education at a Navajo border town school. History, demography and geography, socioeconomics, and politics all affect cultural knowledge to be taught and teachers must study these subjects. However, teaching Navajo language and culture in a bordertown school…