Studies of discourse are prevalent in mathematics education, as are investigations on facilitating change in instructional practices that impact student attitudes toward mathematics. However, the literature has not sufficiently addressed the operationalization of the commognitive framework in the context of Calculus I, nor considered the…

Researchers have demonstrated a much-needed shift in pedagogical practices to incorporate literacy strategies. This dissertation provides additional empirical evidence to expand the body of research by utilizing a comparative readability analysis that examines the academic language of a popular calculus textbook. A sample from the published…

Up until third grade, reading instruction is focused on learning to read, while in fourth grade and up, students begin reading to learn (Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2024; Grunke et al., 2013). This reading with purpose includes increasing critical thinking skills and using newfound reading skills to understand complex subjects such as math and…

Although decades of research attest to the importance of vocabulary teaching and learning, and recent research points to principles of effective vocabulary instruction, the small number of studies on actual classroom practice suggest that teachers continue to use the least effective approaches, often focusing on memorization of definitions.…

This dissertation investigates the potential of sustained use of academic vocabulary in reciprocal dialogue to improve educational equity for fifth-grade students with specific reading disabilities. Students with reading disabilities often struggle with acquiring academic vocabulary, which can hinder their overall academic performance and limit…

The problem addressed by this study was that educators struggle with knowing which authentic literacy instructional practices and strategies were effective for improving student engagement and achievement levels in the middle grades. The purpose of this qualitative exploratory multiple case study was to examine the instructional strategies related…

In this research study, an instructional intervention protocol is described. This intervention was designed to help teachers to engage English Learner students (ELs) in mathematical problem-solving lessons and reasoning through discourse. The "Discursive Mathematics Protocol" (DMP) integrates Polya's classic problem-solving framework and…

High school classroom teachers with English language learners (ELLs) assigned to their classrooms might not be using effective instructional strategies to increase reading comprehension scores of ELLs. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to explore the use of strategies that high school classroom teachers use to teach cognitive…

As online collaboration continues to normalize in the post-pandemic digital age, how students engage online through collaborative learning has grown in importance. Web 2.0 has led to a shift in learner engagement that impacts the ways students interact with class content, and this provides opportunities for more meaningful collaboration and…

This study was focused on adult English language learners (ELLs) that described their experiences with language acquisition in an elementary, middle, or high school in the United States. The problem addressed in this qualitative descriptive study was that public schools were unable to handle the academic inadequacies of ELLs as well as the…

Multilingual college students often struggle with writing and revising for academic purposes. This dissertation explored the effectiveness of a Concept-Based Language Instruction (C-BLI) approach to teaching revision processes to college-level multilingual writers. Although a significant body of research exists on effective feedback on…

In a district where only 5% of ELLs were deemed language proficient, the problem was the need to understand teacher perceptions of best practices to increase English language learner (ELL) achievement in reading and writing. The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine teacher perceptions of best practices to support ELLs in improving…

This phenomenological study research presents an option to use both discourse in the native language and technology as an alternative to improve the understanding of mathematics in secondary education. 13 students whose native language is Spanish attended a high school in a large urban school district in the Southwest of the United States,…

The achievement gap is ever growing in the United States educational system. Low socioeconomic students is one demographic group who is targeted for educators to evaluate teaching and learning. Academic vocabulary is a targeted piece of language that is integrated into all content areas in school that makes content comprehensible. Low…

Individuals with lower proficiency in a second language tend to produce more disfluent speech patterns in the second language. Speech disfluencies refer to interruptions in the forward flow of speech and are distinct from the colloquial use of "fluency," to characterize knowledge of a language. Prior research indicates that some speech…