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The purpose of the current study was to examine the use of specific English syntactic structures that are important for the development of narrative proficiency in elementary school-age students who are Spanish–English dual language learners (SE DLL) at-risk for language and literacy difficulties (AR-LLD). Specifically, we examined children’s use of 9 sentence structures (simple, coordinating, subordinating, complementing, subject-subject relative, subject-object relative, object-object relative, object-subject relative and participle). Participants were at-risk and selected from a larger randomized control trial study. One hundred and twenty-eight participants’ stories in grades 1-4 were transcribed using DSS transcription criteria and then the stories were coded for syntactic structures. All 128 stories were 100% double-coded by research assistants to maintain interrater reliability. Two research questions were proposed: 1) What is the proportion of complex utterances in oral narratives produced by Spanish-English DLLs who are AR-LLD in grades 1-4? And 2) What types of complex utterances are used in oral narratives produced by Spanish-English DLLs who are AR-LLD across grades 1-4? Descriptive statistics revealed the overall average number of complex clauses per utterance increased across grades and this difference was found to be significant. When exploring the average number of each type of complex clause that were used in stories produced, we found significant differences across grades for coordinate clauses and complement clauses. Multiple linear regression was used to test if grade, total number of utterances, and mean length of utterance in morphemes significantly predicted the average number of coordinate clauses included in an utterance. Grade was discovered to be the only significant predictor and the overall regression analysis was statistically significant. This indicates that the average number of complex clauses increased from first to second grade, from second to third grade and from third to fourth grade for coordinate clauses and complement clauses. Subordinate clauses, participle clauses and the four types of relative clauses did not increase significantly as grade increased.

This portfolio is the result of the approaches to teaching I have learned through coursework, readings, class observations, and reflections during the Master of Second Language Teaching (MSLT) program. It contains my teaching philosophy, developed from my experiences in the elementary Dual Language Immersion (DLI) program and the Utah State University (USU) MSLT program, as well as examples of work produced in the MSLT program, both theoretical and practical. First, the professional environment piece provides context and background for reflections on my teaching experience and pedagogy. Second, the teaching philosophy statement (TPS) describes the main theoretical frameworks and approaches that inform my teaching. Third, are the reflections on class observations, and the fourth component is a paper on pragmatics and forms of address and politeness; here, an annotated lesson plan is included to illustrate how I have explored important topics in second language acquisition (SLA), such as pragmatics. I provide a brief overview of these select topics and offer broader implications for the application of this research in the classroom. Finally, I conclude by looking forward to the future and to my continuing efforts in professional development and improving my teaching, potentially in other contexts, for other ages and proficiency levels.

Core reading instruction and interventions have differential effects based on student characteristics such as cognitive ability and pre-intervention skill level. Evidence for differential effect based on affective characteristics is scant and ambiguous; however, students with problem behavior are more often non-responsive to core reading instruction and intensive reading interventions. In this study, we estimated the range of students’ behavior ratings in which a core reading instruction intervention was effective using a data set including 3,024 students in K-3. Data came from seven independent studies evaluating the Individualized Student Instruction (ISI) Tier 1 reading intervention and were pooled using integrative data analysis. We estimated Johnson-Neyman intervals of student behavior ratings that showed a treatment effect both at the within and between classroom level. ISI was effective in improving reading scores (b=0.51, p=.020, d = 0.08). However, students with very low or very high behavior ratings did not benefit from the approaches (range of behavior rating factor scores: -0.95 – 2.87). At the classroom level, students in classrooms with a higher average of problem behaviors did not benefit from ISI (average classroom behavior rating factor score: 0.05 – 4.25). Results suggest differentiating instruction alone is not enough for students with behavior problems to grow in reading ability.

Children with reading difficulties have problems recognising words accurately and quickly (Müller et al., 2020). The most commonly recommended method to automate word recognition is repeated reading (Hattie, 2009; NICHD, 2000; Therrien, 2004). In repeated reading, students read the same text aloud repeatedly for a defined number of times (Meyer & Felton, 1999) or until they achieve an established improvement in reading accuracy and reading speed (Samuels, 1979). This repeated reading allows readers to better memorise the written image of the words, resulting in an immediate increase in the number of correctly read words and to positive emotions (Chard et al., 2002; Stevens et al., 2017). In the medium term, these lead to higher levels of students’ reading performance and reading motivation, which are frequently reported as positive outcomes of repeated reading interventions when compared with a control group (NICHD, 2000; d = 0.41). However, these effects seem to depend on how well the method of repeated reading fits to a student’s individual reading abilities (Chard et al., 2009; Therrien, 2004). For instance, Fuchs et al. (2021) found that the lowest-performing students profited more from a phonological awareness intervention than from a repeated reading intervention. These differential effects are consistent with a review by Chard et al. (2009), indicating that repeated reading does not improve the reading achievement of all students alike. The question remains whether the effects of repeated reading also depend on the reading material. It is still unclear whether reading continuous texts or whether reading word lists is equally or even more appropriate, and whether the material’s appropriateness depends on students’ prior reading skills. On the one hand, a continuous text could facilitate the reading flow of higher-performing readers by embedding words in context and thus automate word recognition. This assumption is in line with top-down processes in cognitive models of reading comprehension (e.g., Kintsch, 1988), which assume that a reader’s prior knowledge and context can facilitate automatic word recognition by providing expectations about the words that are likely to appear next. Accordingly, Therrien & Kubina (2007) found that context increased both reading speed and word recognition compared to isolated words (N=16). On the other hand, isolated words might improve automatic word recognition by allowing readers to focus on smaller components first. This idea corresponds with bottom-up processes in cognitive reading models (Kintsch, 1988), assuming that reading comprehension depends on the speed of automatic word recognition. If a reader’s automatic word recognition is still very low, context may have less effect because this information is not available in a reader’s working memory. It could thus be helpful for lower-performing readers to focus on isolated words where no propositions need to be formed. Correspondingly, Levy et al. (1997) reported positive effects for reading word lists on reading fluency (N=28). In sum, prior research supports the effectiveness of repeated reading interventions, but effects may depend on the reading material and on students’ reading abilities. This study therefore aims at better understanding the effects and the process of repeated reading by addressing the following research questions: 1. Are there differences after a repeated reading intervention with continuous texts (EG1), word lists (EG2) and a control group (CG) regarding students’ reading achievement and reading motivation? 2. Are there differences during a repeated reading intervention using continuous texts vs. word lists regarding a) the number and development of words read correctly, and b) the average level and development of affect? 3. Are effects of the reading material on students’ a) reading achievement and b) reading motivation mediated by the level and by the progress of a) words read correctly and b) affect during the intervention? 4. Are the effects of the material on reading achievement and reading motivation moderated by students’ initial reading performance? The results will expand both our understanding of how readers develop word recognition skills and how repeated reading interventions should be implemented in classrooms to support children with reading difficulties.

The primary purpose of this study is to test a direct, explicit, systematic word reading and spelling intervention designed for Spanish-English bilingual children with dyslexia. Research into effective interventions for bilingual children with dyslexia is limited (Ijalba et al., 2020; Solari et al., 2022), leaving a significant gap in the literature to inform appropriate practices for Spanish-English bilingual children at risk for low reading proficiency. A word reading and spelling intervention was developed using a scope and sequence based upon shared status of phonemes for Spanish and English in line with literature that suggests an advantage for phonemic awareness of shared sounds in bilingual individuals. A multiple-baseline, multiple-probe single case design will be used to test the efficacy of this intervention for letter naming, phonemic awareness, word reading and word spelling. In addition to visual analyses of graphed participant data, a Bayesian approach will be applied to statistically test for immediacy. Both the frequentist Tau-U and Bayesian rate ratio effect sizes will be used to estimate the magnitude of treatment effects. This study will also test the utility of recurrence quantification analysis of word reading as a process-level measure of intervention outcomes.

When it was first published, the MiniLit (Meeting Initial Needs in Literacy) program was supported by years of research conducted by members of the MultiLit Research Unit and was subsequently evaluated by an independent research team, which confirmed its effectiveness in supporting the literacy skills of young low-progress readers in grades 1 and 2. Since then, the program has been revised to bring it in line with current research and best practice. The revised program, MiniLit Sage, has been designed to support students in the early years of primary school who are struggling with early literacy skills and are falling behind their peers. During the revision process, program trials indicated that struggling students made good progress in their literacy skills when they received Tier 2 instruction in the program within a ‘Response to Intervention’ model. The proposed study will investigate the efficacy of the program with struggling readers aged 5 to 7 years old. Students will be allocated to either an experimental group, which will receive the program for approximately 25 weeks (first phase of instruction), or a waitlist-control group, which will receive instruction in the program after the first phase of instruction has been completed (second phase of instruction).

The aim of this trial is to investigate the efficacy of LanguageLift, which is a small group language intervention program designed for use with children aged 5 to 7 years old. Good early oral language ability is a factor which consistently predicts later literacy achievement. Proficient reading requires skills in both decoding and language comprehension. While there are many programs available to address the needs of children who struggle with decoding skills, there are fewer designed to address the needs of children with oral language weaknesses who may develop typical reading accuracy and fluency, but who may struggle with comprehension. The program under investigation is designed to fill that gap by supporting children whose poor language skills are a barrier to their ability to effectively participate in literacy (and more general classroom) activities in school. Children will be allocated to either an experimental group which will receive instruction in the program for 60 lessons (approx. 20 weeks), or a control group which will subsequently receive instruction in the program for 60 lessons.

This research will evaluate the efficacy of Reading Mastery Signature Edition (RM) on the reading achievement, reading disability identification, and risk of reading disability for first grade struggling readers. RM has been used in schools since the 1970s, and the 2008 Signature Edition is widely used today. Despite many publications referencing this comprehensive reading intervention, the efficacy of the 2008 Signature Edition has not yet been rigorously tested for students with or at risk for reading disability. This study seeks to fill this gap in research by examining the intervention's efficacy, including whether student response depends on student initial reading skill, cognitive profiles, English learner status, and teacher experience with small-group explicit instruction. Secondary aims include an investigation of the roles played by effective instructional practices, and fidelity and dosage of the intervention, as well as cost and cost-effectiveness analyses. Project Activities: The efficacy of RM on student reading outcomes will be evaluated using a randomized, controlled trial. In addition, the research team will evaluate differential response to intervention to determine which students benefit most and in which settings, as well as the cost and cost-effectiveness of the intervention. Products: The primary product of this project will be evidence of the efficacy of RM and the types of students or settings associated with the greatest impacts. The project also will establish the costs and cost-effectiveness of RM, contribute knowledge regarding other aspects of implementation, and show how teaching practices relate to student outcomes. Dissemination activities will include peer-reviewed publications, presentations, a publicly available final dataset, and additional products for stakeholders such as practitioners and policymakers.

The project aims to identify what research says about what characterizes the topic language use in texts written by elementary school children in Norway. The term language use derives from the Norwegian research project called Developing national standards for the assessment of writing (NORM), and has to do with various linguistic features, such as syntactic and morphological complexity, vocabulary and grammatical skills. We will focus on the representation of these linguistic features in the writing of elementary school children.

Early literacy and numeracy skills are among the most fundamental skills taught in school. However, students do not always achieve a basic level of proficiency at the end of primary school. Differences in literacy and numeracy skills might notably appear as early as in preschool and kindergarten and predict late achievement at least until primary school. However, the mechanisms underlying this relation are not yet understood.

In this project, we enquire into the nature of English instruction in primary education across different European countries. The focus will lie on classroom language and the types of activities being implemented; on authentic vs. pedagogic classroom material and the types of authentic material being used; and on the occurrence of motivational practices.

Recently, there has been a growing interest in irony training studies (Pexman, Reggin, & Lee, 2019). These studies aim to 1) find a protocol to improve irony comprehension among groups that struggle in their irony comprehension and 2) to test theories of irony comprehension by examining what kind of training improves irony comprehension. In this study, the irony training protocol developed in the Language Processing Lab at the University of Calgary will be used (Lee, Sidhu, & Pexman, 2021). The training will consist of teaching of underlying skills that have been shown to be related to irony comprehension in children: 1) knowledge about what irony is and when it is used, and 2) perspective taking abilities. The protocol is translated into Finnish and adjusted for Elementary School setting. The training has only been used for comprehension of spoken irony and this will be the first study to test effects of training on written irony comprehension.

Globally, there is a general acceptance by speech language therapists that speech-language therapy services need transformation to meet the cultural needs of Indigenous peoples. In Aotearoa, there are growing anecdotal reports, by speech language therapists, of Māori children being referred for communication support, but no statistics available to substantiate these observations. It has been shown, however, that some speech-language therapists are ill-equipped to provide speech language therapy services that meet the cultural needs of the Māori child and their family (Faithfull 2015; Newbury et al., 2020). Meechan & Brewer’s 2022 scoping review titled Māori speech-language therapy research in Aotearoa New Zealand: A scoping review, found only 21 publications met their criteria to be included in their review, 12 articles and 9 theses. Of the 21 studies, 10 focused on Developmental Communication or Swallowing. That is, there are only 6 theses and 4 articles available to guide clinical practice for Māori children requiring speech language and communication support. Concluding that “with such a small number of articles and theses across the entire field of speech-language therapy, there is no aspect of speech-language therapy for Māori that is researched to a level sufficient to inform evidence-based practice” (p1). Given the lack of Māori child speech-language therapy research in Aotearoa New Zealand highlighted by Meechan and Brewer (2022), the aim of this scoping review is to search beyond Aotearoa New Zealand to identify the child speech-language therapy evidence-base of Indigenous communities internationally.

This scoping review procedure will cover the aims, scope, and search parameters used in the search for empirical articles on the role of decoding skills on literacy development in English as a second / foreign / additional language.

This document is an addendum to the preregistration document submitted to OSF on June 11, 2020. The link to the original reregistration is osf.io/4sfnu. This document details prospective changes to the analyses as described in the analysis section of this document. Given the relatively unchanged National Assessment of Educational Practice (NAEP) scores over the past two decades it is fair to ask whether anything can be done to improve reading comprehension in the U.S., especially for Spanish-English bilingual students who score significantly lower than their monolingual English peers. Prevention is one key (McCardle et al., 2001; Snow et al., 1998), with convincing evidence that early identification and intervention can reduce the number of children with significant reading problems (Linan-Thompson et al., 2006; McMaster et al., 2005). Because Head Start preschools and 73% of public schools offer kindergarten screening (Shields et al., 2016), accurate early identification is a promising approach for identifying children who need tailored instruction early in schooling. The problem is that the best combination of predictors for later reading comprehension has not yet been identified for either monolingual or bilingual children for several reasons. First, most longitudinal studies focus on word reading rather than testing a more comprehensive set of predictors including oral language (vocabulary, grammar, higher-level oral language), cognitive (verbal and nonverbal IQ, working memory), and home literacy predictors. Second, studies focused on reading comprehension often enroll students in early elementary grades when reading comprehension can only be assessed with simple texts versus the more complex texts that older students must read. Third, studies investigating reading comprehension in intermediate and middle school grades (e.g. Cain et al., 2004; Deacon et al., 2014; Kim & Wagner, 2015; Mancilla-Martinez & Lesaux, 2010; Veenendaal et al., 2016;) or in high school (e.g. Mancilla-Martinez et al., 2011; Reynolds & Turek, 2012) typically focus on a small set of predictors within a single construct such as morphology; however, research shows that reading comprehension is a complex skill involving multiple constructs (e.g. LARRC & Logan, 2017; Ortiz et al., 2012). To identify the best early indicators of later reading comprehension we must sample a broad range of constructs when children are young. We plan to report results for two parallel studies. The first study reports planned analyses for our monolingual English participant group. The second study reports planned analyses for our Spanish-English bilingual group. We cannot test between-group differences or directly compare performance between these two groups because the same measures were not given to children in each grade. In preschool, the bilingual group spoke only Spanish; thus, measures were administered in Spanish. Similarly, in kindergarten we cannot assume that the English language skills of children in the bilingual group are comparable to those children in the monolingual English group, even if children were assessed in English.

This is an interview study investigating teachers' perceptions of what constitutes suitable PD programs for differentiated reading interventions.

We are completing an investigation of the factors that contribute to reading comprehension outcomes in a sample of 6th grade children, recruited in three states in the United States, from monolingual and dual-language groups. This is part of a wider longitudinal project. The present pre-registration focuses on the second of two studies of the data collected from the 6th grade children.

Given the relatively unchanged National Assessment of Educational Practice (NAEP) scores over the past two decades it is fair to ask whether anything can be done to improve reading comprehension in the U.S., especially for Spanish-English bilingual students who score significantly lower than their monolingual English peers. Prevention is one key (McCardle et al., 2001; Snow et al., 1998), with convincing evidence that early identification and intervention can reduce the number of children with significant reading problems (Linan-Thompson et al., 2006; McMaster et al., 2005). Because Head Start preschools and 73% of public schools offer kindergarten screening (Shields et al., 2016), accurate early identification is a promising approach for identifying children who need tailored instruction early in schooling. The problem is that the best combination of predictors for later reading comprehension has not yet been identified for either monolingual or bilingual children for several reasons. First, most longitudinal studies focus on word reading rather than testing a more comprehensive set of predictors including oral language (vocabulary, grammar, higher-level oral language), cognitive (verbal and nonverbal IQ, working memory), and home literacy predictors. Second, studies focused on reading comprehension often enroll students in early elementary grades when reading comprehension can only be assessed with simple texts versus the more complex texts that older students must read. Third, studies investigating reading comprehension in intermediate and middle school grades (e.g. Cain et al., 2004; Deacon et al., 2014; Kim & Wagner, 2015; Mancilla-Martinez & Lesaux, 2010; Veenendaal et al., 2016;) or in high school (e.g. Mancilla-Martinez et al., 2011; Reynolds & Turek, 2012) typically focus on a small set of predictors within a single construct such as morphology; however, research shows that reading comprehension is a complex skill involving multiple constructs (e.g. LARRC & Logan, 2017; Ortiz et al., 2012). To identify the best early indicators of later reading comprehension we must sample a broad range of constructs when children are young. We plan to report results for two parallel studies. The first study reports planned analyses for our monolingual English participant group. The second study reports planned analyses for our Spanish-English bilingual group. We cannot test between-group differences or directly compare performance between these two groups because the same measures were not given to children in each grade. In preschool, the bilingual group spoke only Spanish; thus, measures were administered in Spanish. Similarly, in kindergarten we cannot assume that the English language skills of children in the bilingual group are comparable to those children in the monolingual English group, even if children were assessed in English.

The aims of this pre-registered study are to establish the unique contributions which decoding and phonological awareness have on spelling in Grade 3 isiXhosa first language readers, as well as to determine whether the strength of these relationships differ by spelling ability. This pre-registered study acts as a replication of a non-pre-registered initial study where the same research questions were examined in a smaller sample of Grade 3 readers. For the preregistered study, we use secondary data from the Volkswagen Literacy Legacy Intervention Project. Data were collected from Grade 3 isiXhosa-speaking children attending five isiXhosa medium of instruction schools, in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. Participants completed phonological awareness tasks which included syllable and phoneme isolation and elision, real word spelling tasks as a measure of encoding and a one minute oral reading fluency task as a measure of decoding. The research questions of our preregistered study are: 1. What are the unique contributions of decoding and phonological awareness to spelling in Grade 3 isiXhosa readers? 2. To what extent does overall spelling ability affect the strength of the relationship between decoding and spelling, and phonological awareness and spelling?

This research is aimed to produce a list of words that can be classified according to their signification and frequency of oral use in Frech Québécois.

There is limited evidence on what effective mentoring and monitoring practices exist that support a sustained shift in pedagogical practice. Using qualitative data from Zambian education personnel from the school to provincial level, we aim to employ a thematic analysis to uncover the existing teacher support systems in the Eastern & Southern province of Zambia and how they can be adapted or leveraged to improve future models of the Zambian “Catch Up” program.

Morphological skills are integral to the development of literacy. Educators and speech-language pathologists (SLP) share the responsibility for effective early reading instruction. The combined expertise of the SLP and educator in the classroom is ideal for producing desired language and literacy outcomes for students with and without language and literacy deficits, suggesting SLP-educator collaboration may be an essential ingredient for morphological interventions implemented in a classroom setting. This study will explore the literature to describe morphological interventions and SLP-educator collaborative practices with the specificity required to inform real world practice.

Digital technologies have brought about a remarkable shift in early childhood learning. Among different technological devices, touchscreens have attracted special interest among young children given their intuitiveness and interactive features. However, the existing empirical findings regarding the effect of this technology on young children’s learning are not consistent. Touchscreen technologies have been also postulated to have the potential for transforming learning experiences. However, there is a dearth of research explicating if the transformative potentials of touchscreens are benefited in early learning and examining the factors/conditions contributing to the improvement of young children's learning with touchscreens. To address these gaps in the literature, the present research was performed using an integrated format, consisting of an already published systematic review on the effect of touchscreens on early learning and a meta-analysis/systematic review. This research targeted four relevant objectives: 1) to provide comprehensive up-to-date evidence of the pooled effect of touchscreen technology on early childhood learning, 2) to investigate the effect of factors/conditions acting as potential moderators on young children's learning with touchscreens, 3) to provide an up-to-date systematic review of how touchscreens are integrated into early childhood education based on the SAMR framework, and 4) to explore if the touchscreen integration levels (i.e., transformative and enhancement levels of SAMR) vary the effect of learning with these devices. The meta-analysis estimated the overall effect of touchscreen devices on the learning performance of 2- to 8-year-old children and examined the moderators of this effect, based on 59 effect sizes derived from 57 empirical articles. The overall analysis was indicative of a significant touchscreen learning effect (d=0.48), demonstrating the beneficial effect of learning with touchscreens for young children. Furthermore, the moderator analysis revealed that learning domain, adult’s feedback, and technology integration level significantly moderated the impact of touchscreens on early learning outcomes. Research implications give different stakeholders, such as instructional designers, educators, and teachers, insights into the impact of touchscreens on early learning under different conditions to benefit from these educational tools for improving early learning.

This study is designed to understand teacher learning and efficacy for teaching in Ontario’s linguistically, culturally and racially diverse classrooms. The knowledge gained from this study can be used to promote quality culturally and linguistically inclusive pedagogy in Canada’s multilingual schools. Over 20% of Canada’s population is foreign-born and recent reports claim that by 2036 more than 30% of the population would have a mother tongue other than English (Statistics Canada, 2017). Minority students include Canadian born learners (from Indigenous and immigrant families), foreign-born immigrant students, and refugees. These students succeed in academics when teachers make instruction relevant throughout the curriculum (Cummins & Early, 2015). Teacher efficacy beliefs (Bandura, 1997), or teachers’ confidence in their ability to perform specific tasks, is a way of understanding teachers’ pedagogical capabilities. However, there is a gap in knowing how efficacious teachers are to support minority students and how teacher education programs help teachers develop skills and knowledge for multilingual students. The study will address this notable gap by measuring teacher efficacy to teach in multilingual school contexts, exploring levels of efficacy of novice and experienced teachers to teach in such contexts, and identifying ways in which teachers incorporate culturally and linguistically inclusive pedagogy in elementary and secondary classrooms.

The current scoping review aims to improve the scientific knowledge on oral reading fluency assessment for Latin-based languages, while facilitating the creation of an objective, valid and affordable in-class reading fluency assessment tool that provides sufficient diagnostic insights to optimize personalized learning to read trajectories in the Netherlands.

In this paper, the author discusses her experience with the service-learning program Ayuda y Aprende while taking Spanish 301 at Purdue University. Ayuda y Aprende is a service-learning program through the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, in which advanced Spanish students work with Lafayette and West Lafayette elementary school children of Spanish-speaking families to help them adjust to the English language and American school culture, as well as improve their Spanish. During the weekly visits, university students work with children individually and in groups to assist them with school tasks such as classwork and homework. There was also time for the university students to get to know more about their students, such as their different cultural traditions and their experience so far learning multiple languages and adjusting to a different culture. Throughout the visits, the Purdue students expanded their own Spanish vocabulary by learning new words from the children, which is significantly useful in advanced Spanish courses where a wide knowledge of vocabulary is expected. This program also allowed Purdue students to obtain a real-world experience of how children feel when living in an area with a culture vastly different from those of their prior communities. The author had the ability to discuss future career goals with the children, while also encouraging and celebrating their ability to learn and speak multiple languages. Overall, this program is a wonderful opportunity to connect Purdue Spanish students with their local bilingual community and allow children of the local community to feel welcomed and supported in their educational environment and proud of their bilingualism and cultures.

Outdoor classrooms are valuable learning environments that are adaptable in the face of differing terrain, climate, geography, weather and changing educational requirements. They can be used to teach all subjects, engage students in personal development goals and organizational priorities, and promote community involvement. How can educators harness the vast potential of outdoor classrooms as a learning tool? Understanding their functionalities is one means. This research employs an online questionnaire and optional follow-up interviews with various types of educators throughout Windsor-Essex County to help participants understand the functionalities of their own outdoor classrooms. Results showed that educators had different interpretations of what constitutes the features of their outdoor classroom, but one certainty was that they were using each other’s outdoor classrooms as well as public green spaces for learning. They indicated more than 100 reasons for taking their students into the outdoor classroom. Benefits/perceived benefits of time spent in the outdoor classroom for educators and students (perceived) included feeling calmer and more peaceful, increased physical activity, and better student-teacher rapport. Students were also perceived to better understand the topic. Educators were keen to discuss the amount of space, the transmission of sound and the diversity of texture as topics of functionality. This research has the capacity to benefit educators and administrators who work at schools, school boards, pre- and in-service teacher education programs, museums, and a variety of organizations (such as environmental, historic, faith-based and youth development) that use outdoor classrooms.

My experiences at SWIM and READ have led me through many challenges and earned me many successes and have helped me to gain a variety of hard skills and soft skills while letting me improve upon some that I already had. Here, I got the opportunities to work on a book project called “20 Stories of Hope” and to spend a year teaching a young child literacy skills, both of which have given me valuable chances to both find and pursue new passions and to develop my career pathway towards teaching.

An account of my CEL experiences as a volunteer creative writing teacher for the London nonprofit organization, Arts 4 All Kids, and as an educator for the before and after school program from the YMCA. These experiences have allowed me to explore teaching in a classroom setting, planning/delivering activities and assignments, behaviour and classroom management, working with children with special needs, and working with children from struggling families.

Partnerships for 21st Century learning support curricular reforms for global, cross-disciplinary competencies that will leverage and benefit education technologies. However, this research partnership with a literacy program developer occasioned an opportunity to study curriculum making in the 21st century that did not make assumptions about technologies and competencies. The integrated thesis based on this project pushes boundaries on how assessment and curriculum making are conceptualized by exploring broader questions of inquiry and participation through literacy and assessment practices in six junior elementary classrooms in Ontario, Canada, over a two-year period. Chapter 1 provides the background and purpose of the study in inviting teachers to re-design the literacy program with the students and pedagogical resources in their classrooms. Chapter 2 details the methodology of video inquiry, making contributions to narrative, collaborative, multimodal, and sociomaterial approaches to researching practice. Chapter 3 explores the participation of space, time, and material in curriculum making through the concept of spatial topology. Chapter 4 extends this consideration of relational space to literacy and assessment practices. This paper challenges and adds complexity to the discourse on 21st Century learning regarding cross-disciplinary competencies, by showing how closed and open questions in assessment and literacy practices perform disciplinary spaces for making meaning. While Chapters 3 and 4 focus more on intentionality and materiality in curricular design and enactment, Chapter 5 studies the immateriality of affect in curriculum making, and how agencies of the unintended effect emergent practices. The integrated work has implications for curriculum makers to attend to and participate with more than human actors in practices of curriculum making, and the role of inquiry and improvisation in making space for disciplinary practices.

Multimodal picture books are a critical component of children’s literacy development, and in a multicultural province such as Ontario, it is vital that literacy development include cultural literacy. The demographics of the province’s classrooms are increasingly diverse; however, minoritized cultures are underrepresented among teachers, and there are sparse training mandates related to cultural inclusion. Thus, Ontario’s culturally diverse student body is encountering a number of barriers related to gender, ethnicity, perceived race, sexual identity, ability, class, and other social markers. To provide teachers with the tools needed to support their students, the current study utilizes a theoretical framework derived from anti-oppressive practices to identify where students encounter barriers. The work examines the strengths and limitations of the traditional canon of children’s multimodal picture books and explores the ways in which more inclusive works can support a culturally inclusive learning environment. Based on this, a culturally responsive selection process is outlined. The study employs a multiliteracies framework to propose classroom activities and assessment models that promote and assess literacy development. Transformative teaching approaches are also recommended to help teachers broaden their understanding of culture. Additionally, recommendations are made regarding mandated cultural training for pre-service and in-service teachers, as well as curriculum reform.

This critical case study (Grosvenor & Pataki, 2017; Merriam, 2009) examines how taking up diversity and plurality within in situ literacy and language arts courses in a Bachelor of Education program created a critical discursive space within mainstream teacher education. Data in this research included interviews with teacher candidates and course assignments. Findings suggest that teacher candidates learned to seek and value diverse students’ funds of knowledge, grappled with inclusive practices, and developed equity-oriented pedagogy within in situ teacher education coursework. Through this project we contribute to the rising recognition that in situ teacher education through a lens of diversity can generate curriculum drawing from the literacies and lifeworld experiences of all learners (Grant & Agosto, 2008; Moll, 2014).

Limited evidence supports how multimodal pedagogy considers how modes, as constructed by teachers and children, vary across disciplines. This literature gap is potentially problematic for connections arising between facilitation of modes by educators to semiotic demands placed on children. Literature identifies multimodal pedagogy as a way to expand on traditional notions of literacy to assist children in representing meaning through modal constructions. Research focusing on spaces across curriculum available for explicit teaching of semiotics through multimodal pedagogy, and consequences when these spaces are and are not capitalized upon, is needed; it is hoped the study makes its contributions here. The study’s goal was to create new knowledge about types of semiotic demands placed on children in classroom curricula (Doyle, 1992) and recommendations for educators to strengthen pedagogies supporting children’s meaning making to promote inclusive classrooms. This descriptive multiple case study (Baxter & Jack, 2008; Yin, 2009, 2012) included two separate cases of a grade 1 and 5 teacher participant and their students. Methods of a modal checklist, photographs, ethnographic methods, audio-recordings, and interviews examined semiotic demands and multimodal instruction within classroom curricula. Data were analysed by multimodal analysis (Jewitt, 2009). A curriculum document analysis (Bowen, 2009) was also conducted. The study found educators instrumental in constructing classroom curricula. They exercised their agency within an ecological context (e.g., Biesta, Priestley, & Robinson, 2015) to interpret and enact institutional and programmatic (Doyle, 1992) curricula. The study identified classroom curricula as fluid. Educators selected and used a variety of modes and resources to enact classroom curricula. Pedagogical supports for children to meet semiotic demands of the curricula were not commensurate. Supports were either not sufficiently explicit or focused on a specific mode. The study recommendations advocate all levels of curricula to explicitly support multimodal literacy and commensurate multimodal pedagogy. They suggest educators identify semiotic demands and ensure pedagogies and assessment practices provided to children match demands. The study recommends curricula contextualize modal affordances and constraints across disciplines, provide children with metalanguage to acquire and express situated knowledge of multimodality, and illustrations of how to construct and convey meaning leveraging multimodal resources.

Language delays associated with hearing loss during infancy may have a negative impact on academic development throughout childhood. Early intervention provided by the Moog Center for Deaf Education prior to 36 months of age was quantified, and associations with later outcomes were examined for 50 students who are DHH representing Moog Center alumni. The objective was to determine whether the amount of early intervention (referred to hereafter as dose of early intervention received at the Moog Center during the time children were 0-36 months of age) contributed uniquely to outcomes in preschool (4–6 years) and in elementary school (8–14 years). Analysis of language and reading outcomes concluded that greater doses of early intervention were beneficial, even when other contributing factors such as degree of hearing loss, nonverbal intelligence, and age at first intervention were taken into account. Those children with poor aided speech perception scores in preschool exhibited the most benefit from early intensive intervention. Average language scores were within the expected range in comparison with hearing peers in preschool and remained within expectation when assessed an average of four years later in elementary school. The intensity of early intervention provided at the Moog Center contributed significantly to long-term development of language and literacy over and above the benefits associated with the age at which intervention was delivered.

The purpose of this study was to document demographics, characteristics, and long-term outcomes of teenagers and young adults who are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH) and who all attended the Moog Center for Deaf Education for preschool and/or a portion of elementary school. Data were obtained via an online survey that was designed to assess educational, personal, and professional outcomes of individuals who were currently in high school and beyond. Survey questions were about the lives of these individuals after leaving the Moog Center. Participants included 108 individuals who were DHH, ranging from 15 to 32 years of age. Results indicate this group of individuals obtained high levels of achievement in terms of educational attainment, employment experience, social involvement, and communication competence, which demonstrates what is possible for individuals who are DHH.

Guo & Schneider (2016) explored different approaches to identifying grammatical impairments in 128 children developing typically (TL) and those with language impairments (LI) between the ages of 6 and 8. The measures that they explored included: calculating the finite verb morphology composite (FVMC), the number of errors per C-unit (Errors/CU), and the percent of grammatical C-units (PGCUs) in narrative samples. They found that all three outcome measures provided acceptable diagnostic accuracy when applied to six-year-olds, but PCGUs were found to be the most accurate tool with eight-year-olds. The purpose of the current study was to analyze the narrative samples of 260 typically developing children ages 4-7 to determine typical scores for the previously listed grammatical measures at each age level. This knowledge may provide more information on the performance of typical children and how to accurately identify students with LI. This study extends the literature by testing whether the findings remain the same with addition data from children aged 6-7 and whether the findings extend to children aged 4 and 5 years. The participants in this study included 260 children aged 4-7. They were selected as part of the normative sample for the Test of Narrative Language-2. The children were asked to produce stories in three varying contexts: a story retell after a model story, sequenced pictures for another story retell, and produce a story based on a picture after a model. These stories were transcribed using Systematic Analysis of Language Transcripts (SALT). The transcriptions were double coded for grammaticality by two separate research assistants. Reliability was calculated by a graduate research assistant. The utterances were designated as grammatical or ungrammatical. Ungrammatical utterances were coded for the type of grammatical error present based on the model used by Guo & Schneider (2016).