Dissertation introductions (DIs) have received on-going attention because they are considered to be the most challenging and difficult part of an academic text for graduate students, particularly for non-native English speakers (NNES). However, research that has investigated DIs written by native English speakers (NES) and by NNES, particularly…

We examined the influence of language and socioeconomic factors on academic achievement in the Basque Autonomous Community (BAC): a multilingual society with a recent history of language revitalisation. We analysed scores obtained by Grade 4 and Grade 10 students on a diagnostic mathematics test administered in either Basque or Spanish in the BAC.…

This study investigated levels of communicative anxiety (CA) among three generations of Korean immigrants (i.e., first, 1.5, and second generation) in Australia. A survey asking about their levels of CA in Korean (i.e., heritage language) and in English (i.e., majority language) was completed by 137 Korean immigrants. Some of the survey…

Research suggests that mathematics achievement is associated with future socioeconomic success and opens the possibility of social mobility for many individuals. However, disparities in mathematics achievement indicators expose inequitable opportunities and inconsistent access to appropriate educational models for a broad range of students. This…

Data literacy is crucial for adolescents to access and navigate data in today's technology-driven world. Researchers emphasize the need for K-12 students to attain data literacy. However, few available instructions have incorporated validated assessments. Therefore, I developed and implemented the Data literacy Assessment for Middle graders…

Until children can produce letters quickly and accurately, it is assumed that handwriting disrupts and limits the quality of their text. This investigation is the largest study to date (2596 girls, 2354 boys) assessing the association between handwriting fluency and writing quality. We tested whether handwriting fluency made a statistically unique…

This teaching tip describes a translanguaging read-aloud protocol. In a translanguaging read-aloud, teachers and students interact with a text (either a bilingual text or a monolingual one) in multiple languages. Teachers plan explanations, questions, and other interactions in multiple languages to amplify and clarify the text. Teachers can adapt…

This study investigated second language learners' processing of ambiguous words (e.g., "bank": [1] a financial institution, [2] an edge of a river/lake) and whether these learners are able to activate the secondary meaning as quickly as they do with the dominant meaning. English L2 and L1 participants used a window paradigm to perform a…

This study is a comprehensive analysis to conceptualize the transparent borders between second language L2 learners and the imaginary image of the novel mentally interactive settings they emerged in. As this novel experience of L2 learners entails a sort of sociocultural shift through shifting language, it requires learners to shift identity as…

Background: Previous work suggests that children can teach themselves new written words via reading aloud texts independently (i.e., orthographic learning via self-teaching). In self-teaching in Chinese, regular phonetic radicals and transparent semantic radicals facilitate orthographic learning. The present study examined the roles of phonetic…

Many stakeholders tend to believe that native English-speaking teachers are more qualified and legitimized in teaching English only in English in the EFL context. Considering the theoretical importance of language ideology in understanding pedagogical practices, this study takes the approach that the proactive adaptations of the English-only…

As a novice, learning computer programming is challenging. It requires learners to be inquisitive and acquire skills to analyze problems to get to solutions critically. Unfortunately, students drop out of programming courses because students think that programming is difficult to understand. The student's understanding of the problem definition is…

This dissertation contributes new data to the debate on the source and manner of transfer in third language (L3) acquisition. The "L1 Status Factor" (L1SF, e.g., Hermas, 2010; Leung, 2002; Lozano-Pozo, 2003) maintains that the transfer source is the native language (L1), whereas the "L2 Status Factor" (L2SF, Bardel & Falk,…

The purpose of this research was to gain understanding and awareness of the perspectives of Black teachers who were raised in Africana Vernacular English (AVE)-speaking households and how they used their upbringing to navigate home and school settings. The specific linguistic and cultural needs of AVE speakers are not being adequately accommodated…

The mechanisms underlying native (L1) and non-native (L2) sentence processing have been widely debated. One account of potential L1/L2 differences is that L2 sentence processing underuses syntactic information and relies heavily on semantic and surface cues. Recently, an alternative account has been proposed, which argues that the source of L1/L2…