14 Matching Results

Results open in a new window/tab.

Influences on Teachers' Decision-Making when Working with Students who have Difficulty Learning to Read (open access)

Influences on Teachers' Decision-Making when Working with Students who have Difficulty Learning to Read

Research shows that having an excellent reading teacher in the classroom is key to preventing reading difficulties. However, teachers often feel unprepared to work with students experiencing reading difficulties. This can be problematic in a school that uses a multi-tiered system of support for students in which the classroom teacher is responsible for core instruction and early reading interventions. This qualitative study examined the influences on elementary teachers' instructional and assessment decisions when teaching reading to students who are experiencing reading difficulties. Data were collected through both survey and interviews and were analyzed using thematic analysis. Five themes were identified that suggest teachers' literacy instructional decisions are influenced by administrators, their knowledge of reading instruction, professional development, their beliefs about using data for instruction, and collaboration. Findings from this study provide evidence that teacher decisions are more heavily influenced by forces when teachers lack a deep understanding of their students or of effective literacy instruction. When this happens, teachers' efficacy is also affected, which research shows can affect student outcomes. Teacher decision-making is supported through professional development on effective literacy instruction and use of data for planning. Teacher efficacy improves with opportunities to work with and learn from colleagues and …
Date: August 2021
Creator: Pettet, Traci H
System: The UNT Digital Library

Saudi Mothers' Experiences Maintaining Their Young Children's Arabic Language and Islamic-Saudi Identity

As more Saudi individuals temporarily settle in the United States to pursue higher education, it becomes increasingly important to understand the impact this experience has on their families. The purpose of this qualitative instrumental case study was to examine Saudi mothers' experiences and motivations after transitioning to life in the United States. The main research question was: What are Saudi mothers' experiences of supporting their children maintaining and developing Arabic language skills and Islamic-Saudi identities while they are learning English and Western culture in U.S. schools? The sub-questions of the study were: Why do Saudi mothers in this study want their children to learn the Arabic language and culture? What are their concerns? What are the challenges Saudi mothers face in socializing their children to develop their Islamic-Saudi identity? What practices do mothers use to help their children preserve their Arabic language and develop the Islamic Saudi-identity while growing up in the United States? This study was conceptually framed within the theories of parenting style and acculturation. Participants in the study were five Saudi mothers pursuing higher education in Texas. Data were collected through three semi-structured interviews and four audio journals with each participant, and a focus group with the …
Date: May 2021
Creator: Albakr, Ashwaq Mohammed
System: The UNT Digital Library

Seeking Method in the Madness: Demystifying Students' Multimodal Digital Composing Processes

The study of writing has moved through process and product movements. The rapid introduction of technology into classroom spaces has provided new platforms and opportunities for students to integrate multiple modes of communication into a single act of composing. While there is an acknowledgment that digital multimodal composition is a highly complex act and set of processes, much of the literature and investigation into this digital turn in composing has largely been product focused versus process focused. This exploratory qualitative case study examined how students compose using digital tools and were driven by questions about what activities in which they engage and what patterns exist in how those activities come together. Using a combination of data sources including screen capture video, think-aloud protocols, and retrospective surveys, eleven process activity categories emerged from analysis including selection, text entry, manipulation, referencing, environment setting, review, contemplation, waiting, breaks, transition, and completion. Process activity categories then informed the inductive determination of four tendencies that impact how process activity comes together during participant acts of composing. Participants displayed as one-dimensional, irresolute, flexible, and perfectionist. Broad patterns related to process activity progression and traditional concepts of print were present in participant composing activity. Viewed together, vague …
Date: May 2021
Creator: Stamm, Brett M.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Participatory Research with Adolescent Emergent Bilinguals: Creating a Third Space to Support Students' Language and Literacy Learning (open access)

Participatory Research with Adolescent Emergent Bilinguals: Creating a Third Space to Support Students' Language and Literacy Learning

Teachers face pressures to meet the needs of an ever-changing diverse population of learners while simultaneously attempting to assist students in meeting state standards. There is a body of research that supports emergent bilinguals' growth in reading and writing. However, those practices do not necessarily reflect classroom instruction nor the needs of the students. The purpose of this study was to examine adolescent emergent bilinguals' perceptions about their learning from research-based literacy practices implemented in a classroom designed as a third space. Data were collected using participatory research and photo-elicitation and were analyzed using inductive analysis. The emergent bilinguals provided their insights about class assignments. Findings revealed that research-based literacy practices support emergent bilinguals' perceptions of learning when they are made accessible to them in distinctive yet extensive ways. For students to uncover which literacy activities they value, teachers need to present them with various opportunities to explore their own learning and encourage them to take ownership of their learning. Educators must consider the unique and individual needs of emergent bilinguals when designing the classroom environment and the lessons based on the standards. Recommendations for practitioners, professional development coordinators, and researchers are presented.
Date: May 2021
Creator: Garcia, Kimberly
System: The UNT Digital Library
Motivating Adolescent Students to Read for Pleasure: Influences on Rural Teachers' Practice (open access)

Motivating Adolescent Students to Read for Pleasure: Influences on Rural Teachers' Practice

The purpose of this descriptive case study was to explore the self-perception of three rural, intermediate, ELA teachers to motivate their students to read for pleasure. The methods utilized in this study included one-on-one interviews, and a focus group discussion, including all three participants and the researcher. The subjects shared teaching strategies from their childhoods that succeeded and failed in motivating them to read. The biographical perspective proposed by Kelchtermans and Vandenberghe allows us to see how the teachers' biographies influenced their instructional beliefs. Through this lens, it was revealed that, in their current classrooms, the teachers in this study utilize strategies they recalled from childhood as motivational. For example, they have confidence in read-alouds, literary freedom of choice, the development of positive student-teacher relationships, and engaging lessons that are significant to the students. Further, they avoid strategies they recollect from childhood that failed to motivate them to read such as teacher-chosen literature and lessons they believed were irrelevant. Findings have the potential to inform teachers, teacher educators, school administrators, and in-service providers of the nature of beliefs and intentions regarding reading motivation that rural, ELA teachers possess.
Date: May 2021
Creator: McDaniel, Lisa G
System: The UNT Digital Library
To Seal or Not to Seal? Equity and Policy Discourses in the Texas Seal of Biliteracy (open access)

To Seal or Not to Seal? Equity and Policy Discourses in the Texas Seal of Biliteracy

Initiated in California in 2011, the Seal of Biliteracy is a distinguishing graduation recognition honoring the academic success of bilingual biliterate high school seniors. The purpose of this study was to illuminate and describe Texas language education policy discourse by critically examining policies including the Seal of Biliteracy and Texas' House Bill 5 Performance Acknowledgment. This study used the discourse of language policy frameworks, global human capital (GHC), and equity heritage (EH). Viewed as a hegemonic discourse adversely affecting current landscapes of dual language education, GHC is demonstrated by a rise in elite bilingualism and neoliberal effects on language education, including an inclination to commodify and marketize language learning. The EH discourse is focused on language programming and support of emergent bilinguals developing multiple linguistic systems simultaneously, for heritage language maintenance and growth in English. This study critically analyzed Texas macro language policies and discourse alongside the school district's micro level implementation of these policies. Using critical policy analysis, this research explored the interpretation and implementation of Texas language policies, and their impact on language minoritized students. Analytical methods also included a critical discourse and content analysis. Findings revealed an enlightened understanding of the Texas context for the biliteracy seal …
Date: August 2021
Creator: DeVaughn, Nichelle
System: The UNT Digital Library

Exploring Enactments of Agency in Children's Literature from School Libraries

The purpose of this study was to analyze student-selected library books for how, if at all, agency is enacted by the characters. This study uses tenets from critical multicultural analysis (CMA) and elements of visual analysis (VA) to guide a critical content analysis of enactments of agency in the most circulated books from three school libraries during the 2019-2020 school year. This study builds on and extends the existing research on agency development in children and demonstrations of agency in children's literature. Data revealed a variety of characters, genre, and contexts within the identified books. Analysis provided evidence that characters in these child-selected books demonstrated enactments of agency in varying ways and degrees across all titles. Following a discussion that is organized around the themes created from the findings, characters are identified as belonging within one of the following agentic groups: activists, survivors, problem solvers, and friends. Implications for practice and research include further study of agency in characters of popular books, how children perceive enactments of agency of the characters, and the need for school librarians and other educators to understand agency development and acknowledging the agency of children as they make choices in the literature they read.
Date: August 2021
Creator: Loomis, Kathryn Barkley
System: The UNT Digital Library
Influences of External Literacy Assessment on Curricular Decisions: A Systems-Based Study of a Local School District (open access)

Influences of External Literacy Assessment on Curricular Decisions: A Systems-Based Study of a Local School District

National and state-based assessments have been a common practice for the past several decades. These assessments often come with high-stake consequences for students and schools, which tends towards the creation of a test-centric environment where educators prioritize test-based instruction to prepare students to be successful on those assessments. The over-arching purpose of this qualitative study was to explore how mandated high-stakes testing influences educators specifically within a complex system by first seeking to identify ways educators at different levels within the system—the classroom, campus, and district levels—perceive these testing influences. This study is based on complexity theory with a particular focus on complex adaptive systems (CAS) and frameworks from human systems dynamics (HSD), which helped to identify key tensions within a complex learning ecology. This study used thematic analysis of interview data from the classroom, campus, and district levels. Analysis also included mapping the emergent themes and patterns onto a CAS model for each level. Findings revealed a tension between a complicated, linear approach and a complex approach to curricular and instructional decisions that is moving those decisions ever closer to standardization. This study includes implications and recommendations for balancing these tensions for a healthy, complex learning ecology.
Date: August 2021
Creator: Larson, Tiffany R
System: The UNT Digital Library
New Teacher PBL Planning and Implementation (open access)

New Teacher PBL Planning and Implementation

This study investigated novice science and mathematics teachers' beliefs about planning and implementation of project-based instruction. Data for this qualitative study included two focus groups and a questionnaire. Items in the questionnaire were designed using preliminary findings from the analysis of the two focus groups, and from predefined items from the National Survey of Project Based Learning and High School Reform. The questionnaire was administered to 138 novice secondary mathematics and science teachers certified in their respective content areas. The respondent rate was 70% (n = 96). Of the 96 respondents only 28 participants utilized project-based instruction. Data analysis revealed that the 28 participants held two specific beliefs about project-based instruction. First, participants believed that the implementation and enactment of PBL: (a) made student learning more personalized by specifically meeting the individual interests or needs of students; (b) promoted students' international or cross-cultural understanding; (c) promoted students' civic engagement and contributions to the community or world; and (d) impacted high-achieving students ability levels. Second, participants believed that the implementation and enactment of PBL: (a) made teaching and learning more varied, challenging, or fun; (b) taught skills beyond academic content; and (c) taught academic content knowledge and skills more effectively. These …
Date: August 2021
Creator: Harris, Marlon Karel
System: The UNT Digital Library
English Learner Instructional Programs in Texas Charter Schools: Perspectives of Instructional Leaders in Their Selection of Bilingual/ESL Programs (open access)

English Learner Instructional Programs in Texas Charter Schools: Perspectives of Instructional Leaders in Their Selection of Bilingual/ESL Programs

There are 184 active charter school districts in Texas, which use public tax dollars like traditional school districts, providing educational opportunities to over 350,000 Texas students. Charter schools accept state and federal funds and often operate with less oversight than their neighboring local public schools, yet they have the autonomy to accomplish the mission(s) set forth by the charter school operator. Although there have been numerous studies looking at the effectiveness of charter schools in terms of student achievement, very little research has been on the programs that charter schools implement to address the needs of their English learner populations. This study examined charter school leaders' perceptions in the selection of the EL instructional programs that are offered to their English Learners. Interviews of district bilingual/ESL directors of Texas charter schools, or their equivalents, were conducted. Using a constructivist grounded theory design, this study explored the factors and decisions of instructional leaders in implementing a particular second language program, with special attention to the ideologies informing these decisions. Themes emerged from the data and were be explored. The findings of this study are vital in helping other charter school operators better understand the challenges and potential pitfalls faced by current …
Date: December 2021
Creator: Navarrete, Jesús Leopoldo
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Examination of Black and Latino/a/x Students' and Responsive STEM Teachers' Perceptions of Teacher Cultural Consciousness and Culturally Responsive Instructional Practices (open access)

The Examination of Black and Latino/a/x Students' and Responsive STEM Teachers' Perceptions of Teacher Cultural Consciousness and Culturally Responsive Instructional Practices

School cultures, curriculum, and instruction are too often created through a monocultural lens, which excludes Black and Latino/a/x students both socially and academically, and perpetuates the false notion that these students are inherently less capable of achieving academic success when compared to their White counterparts. This is visible across all content areas, but especially in secondary science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) classes, which means that our Black and Latino/a/x students are continually denied preparation for the critical, high demand careers in the STEM field. Just as critical, with the dominance of White teachers in the classroom, out Black and Latino/a/x students often do not have access to teachers who share their lived experiences or who understand the nuances of their home cultures. However, teachers and school instructional leaders can change course by focusing their efforts to develop a rich cultural consciousness, and by focusing on the utilization of culturally responsive pedagogy (CRP) and related instructional strategies with great intentionality in the classroom. This mixed method, single site, exploratory case study was conducted to examine Black and Latino/a/x students' perceptions of their culturally responsive STEM teachers' cultural consciousness, and culturally responsive STEM teachers' perceptions of culturally responsive practices and their …
Date: December 2021
Creator: Norris, Margaret Louise
System: The UNT Digital Library
Perceptions of Charter School Administrators and Teachers about Factors Accounting for Academic Effectiveness (open access)

Perceptions of Charter School Administrators and Teachers about Factors Accounting for Academic Effectiveness

This qualitative case study examines academic performance effectiveness (or lack of effectiveness) of a charter school based on the perceptions of the administrator and teachers. This study explores what they perceived to be effective/ineffective, the reasons for this effectiveness/ineffectiveness, and the solutions to any identified challenges/problems at their charter school as they relate to students' academic performance. The participants in the study were from one charter school in a charter school system in North Central Texas. The study utilized surveys and interviews as sources of data that revealed administrator and teacher perception of what they considered to be the strengths and weaknesses of the school, factors accounting for the strengths and weaknesses, and possible solutions to the weaknesses of their charter school as related to students' academic performance. Five perceived strengths were identified to be instruction, curriculum, personnel, mission statement, and parent involvement. Likewise, three perceived weaknesses were identified to be instruction, curriculum, and parent involvement. Recommendations of the study for practitioners included recruitment and employment of preservice teachers from colleges and universities, partnering with alternative certification programs, creating a program of professional development, creating professional learning communities, creating a parent committee, and partnering with local agencies and community businesses. …
Date: December 2021
Creator: Hunter, Adrienne M
System: The UNT Digital Library

Continuing the Work of Our Ancestors: Black Radical Leadership and Disruptive Pedagogies in Affirming the Well-being of Black Students

Using Black feminist thought and BlackCrit/critical race theory frameworks, this qualitative study examined Black educators' practices in addressing the behavior of their students in an urban school district. It utilized counternarratives and storytelling to explore the cultural dynamics at play between Black educators and their Black students. The Black educators in this study operated under several behavior systems, including positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS), socio-emotional learning (SEL), restorative practices (RPs), and zero tolerance policies (ZTPs). Such systems have been implemented based on research that they have the capacity to train Black students to make appropriate decisions regarding their behavior. These systems are also reinforced under the notion that they create learning spaces which promote academic achievement. Due to their own experiences and understanding about how institutional practices and disciplinary interventions result disproportionately in oppression and violence against Black students, these educators disrupted these practices and utilized cultural approaches that centered Black-ness. In doing so, they were able to address behavior and affirm Black students' well-being. The cultural approaches conceptualized as disruptive pedagogies include aspects of othermothering, otherfathering, critical caring, sermonizing, womanist caring, and Black masculine caring. An analysis of the stories and counternarratives illustrated that Black principals, counselors, and …
Date: May 2021
Creator: Foster, Marquita Delorse
System: The UNT Digital Library

Impact of Instructional Technology on Student Motivation and Vocabulary Knowledge

This study examined the influence of instructional technology on Spanish as a Foreign Language (SFL) vocabulary acquisition and the intrinsic motivation language learners present while learning vocabulary in a second language. A quasi-experimental design helped determine the impact of the instructional technology intervention using Quia and Quizlet to learn vocabulary over direct instruction. A nonrandom convenience sample of (N = 47) participants was divided into the experimental group (n = 25) and control group (n = 22). Data was collected from face-to-face interactions. Participants were secondary Spanish two students, ages 14–17, and from a north Texas public school. I taught 10 lessons over 10 days during a 30–45-minute instructional technology or direct instruction activity independently. The findings revealed whether the strategies, (a) instructional technology or (b) direct instruction, have a significant impact on Spanish vocabulary acquisition and student intrinsic motivation. The study's findings were derived from independent t-tests, which indicated that using instructional technology did not impact vocabulary acquisition over participants learning through a direct instruction method. Student intrinsic motivation was also not impacted. The analysis determined no significant impact between instructional strategies or the student's intrinsic motivation while learning vocabulary in a second language. While this study provides practical …
Date: August 2021
Creator: Perez, Araceli
System: The UNT Digital Library