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Name: Lauren Roberts Major: Elementary Education Never Heard: The Need for Widespread ASL Education-Increasing Inclusivity in the Classroom Advisor’s Name: Dr. Vicki Hennard Reader’s Name: Dr. Kelli Woodrow All students deserve an equitable, and high-quality education. The best education should show students how to use their strengths and skills to their benefit, and help them grow in the areas they are weaker in. In terms of education for deaf and hard of hearing students, there are gaps that need to be addressed. Students who are deaf can experience isolation, poor academic outcomes, and decreased self-esteem. However, with access to a common language in a general education setting, where deaf and hard of hearing students can co-exist, these educational and social gaps can be closed. I argue that implementing a bilingual program in elementary schools that teaches both DHH (Deaf and Hard of Hearing) and hearing students American Sign Language will dramatically increase the quality of education for all students. The many academic, cognitive, and social benefits of learning sign language are abundant in the literature surrounding this research. Learning sign language is beneficial for one’s reading comprehension and STEM skills and for one’s social and emotional health in the classroom. If students’ academic and social lives can be improved using sign language, inclusivity and acceptance in the classroom will undoubtedly increase. When this inclusivity is prioritized, students will leave their classrooms with a deeper understanding of what it means to be an understanding, empathetic, and kind human being. ABSTRACT Name: Lauren Roberts Major: Elementary Education Never Heard: The Need for Widespread ASL Education-Increasing Inclusivity in the Classroom Advisor’s Name: Dr. Vicki Hennard Reader’s Name: Dr. Kelli Woodrow All students deserve an equitable, and high-quality education. The best education should show students how to use their strengths and skills to

Following the instructional methods of structured literacy is not entirely different from jigsaw puzzle assembly. The author reflects on similarities between effective literacy instruction and experiences assembling jigsaw puzzles. Both involve sequential, cumulative instruction; varying levels of explicitinstruction; and assessment. Motivation, engagement, executive function skills, and strategy use play important parts as well.

There is scant research on preservice English as an additional language or dialect (EAL/D) teachers’ paired practicums in an online context. Underpinned by Cultural Historical Activity Theory, this paper explores how preservice EAL/D teachers exercise their relational agency during online paired practicums. Data were collected from five preservice EAL/D teachers’ weekly journals written during their paired practicums and interviews after they completed their paired practicums. Following the key components of relational agency, the thematic analysis highlights the dialectical relationship between preservice teachers’ relational agency and different types of collaboration, evidenced by the formation of mutual objects, tool mediation, and shared expertise. This paper provides new insight into how preservice teachers’ knowledge, especially related to the affordances of technology, may be expanded and mediated by collaboration.

This study has explored teachers’ self-reported practices of teaching academic writing in Pakistani universities. The English language based developmental literacy courses in Pakistani undergraduate degrees are offered as part of the curricula rather than through specialized language centers. The three-course progression of developmental English literacy in Pakistani undergraduate curricula aims to develop academic writing proficiency besides effective business communication and technical report writing skills. This study has used generic qualitative research methodology (Caelli et al., 2003; Kahlke, 2014; Kostere & Kostere, 2021), snowball sampling for participant recruitment, and a combination of survey and one-to-one semi structured interviews for data collection. The research data were analyzed by using the socio-cognitive approach (Atkinson, 2002; Kecskes, 2020, 2023; Khatib & Shakouri, 2013) as a theoretical and analytical framework. Findings indicate that the instructors of academic writing strive to meet students’ learning expectations, involve learners in learning decisions, employ collaborative learning pedagogies, engage in collegiality, and peer mentoring, and keep a friendly outlook towards students for the latter’s academic interests. The instructors view formative assessment useful for learning, but they seek its implementation in a stress-free manner, and they want the focus of assessment to move from competition for grades to learning. The instructors ideally want to provide corrective feedback individually to each student, but because of the constraints of time, they can only give collective feedback, and delegate the task of feedback to students via peer-assessments. Many instructors do not use any assessment rubrics, but even those who do, cannot explain how their rubric is helpful in achieving the course learning outcomes. Finally, the study offers some policy recommendations, and suggestions for future research.

How do adult basic education curricula in the US impact the education of low-income female immigrants? How do personal accounts of Latina immigrant learners reveal agentive development while learning English as a Second Language (ESL) through a critical pedagogy approach? Utilizing a narrative inquiry approach, this study centered on nine self-identified Mexicana/Latina/Hispanic participants who have learned English as a Second Language (ESL) through critical pedagogy in the U.S. Southwest. The goal of this narrative inquiry was to explore the journey of these women into learning English and using it with a sense of agency and ownership to interact with ‘native speakers’ in public spaces, their experiences of systemic oppression in their new contexts, and parental engagement in their children’s schools. Critical views of gender and subject positions that conflict with access to ESL learning were included as well as the self-developed strategies these women utilize to face sociocultural power differentials and resistance to immigrant and gender stereotypes. The findings from this research indicate an ESL to labor pipeline that curtail the women’s educational aspirations, their language ownership possibilities, and their parental involvement in schools. This study contributes to the field of ESL and adult Literacy, specifically critical pedagogy-based ESL curricula models in formal/informal learning settings with further implications for adult literacy policies at the state and national levels.

Drawn on the theoretical principles of sociocultural theory and constructivism, the aim of this multiple case study was to explore and understand the experiences of interpreting students, interpreter graduates, and pre-certified working interpreters after receiving ASL mentoring for at least 3 months to a year and to learn about the roles and impacts that ASL mentoring had on those groups of people as ASL mentees. Graduated from their respective 4-year universities for a bachelor’s degree related to the field of interpreting, participants included one interpreting student and one interpreter graduate, both of whom were from southern California, and one pre-certified working interpreter who was from Oregon. To triangulate (Maxwell, 2013) data across participants, methods included as follows: one-time virtual Zoom meetings, initial email interviews, follow-up emails, and artifacts. Data processing and analysis included a first cycle of process coding, a second cycle of pattern coding, and an in-vivo coding.

Widening participation in higher education has led to the global expansion of universities, increased student and program diversity, and greater provision of flexible pathways into university. Critical to supporting a growing student body is helping all students develop their ability to communicate confidently and effectively in their academic communities. This research employs a collaborative benchmarking framework to explore academic literacy instruction in pathway or ‘enabling’ programs across nine Australian universities. While prevailing assumptions hold that such programs are overly diverse, the findings demonstrate that these programs have developed remarkably similar approaches; in particular, the investigation found that the programs all drew on established academic literacy models and reflected an emerging disciplinary coherence across the enabling education sector, despite the lack of a formal curriculum and standards framework.Kindly check and confirm the processed Article title is correct.This is correct.

A lack of representation of diverse families in children’s books can affirm insecurities and contribute to a sense of “otherness”. This study reports on the representation of family diversity in award-listed Australian children’s picture books. A critical theoretical framework was employed to analyse both texts and images. This study found a lack of diverse family structures in children’s books, especially LGBTIQA+, foster, step and blended families. This paper argues that to ensure inclusive and equitable literacy learning opportunities for all, educators need to go beyond award-listed books when selecting books for early literacy environments.

The increased globalization of STEM fields and the resulting needed multilingualism provide ample reason to infuse language classrooms with responsive and immersive technologies. Furthermore, technology has proven to be a powerful resource to motivate students, regardless of the field. Early results show that the use of immersive technology positively affects both motivation and retention, and that students desire these types of technology and resources in more of their courses.

Dual language classrooms provide instruction for language learners to use their first language (L1) as well as their second language (L2) to learn academic content. The goal of the study was to impact the decision-making among educational leaders who may be challenged by the dual language classroom due to the logistics and financial demands such a program possesses for school district leaders. A single-subject AB quasi-experimental study explored the impact of one monolingual mathematic classroom and making it into a dual language classroom providing a Spanish interpreter during whole group math instruction time. The model that was delivered replicates what has been studied, but in the context of the researcher’s community where dual language classrooms have never been tested. The researcher studied the way three developing English language learners were affected by the dual language element and how these students performed on assessments compared to the monolingual classroom English learners. The research was guided using James Cummin’s Common Underlying Proficiency (CUP) Theory. This study also aimed at exploring and reporting the English language learners’ (ELL) experiences and bringing into the discussion the children’s lens probably for the first time as well as the teachers. The study showed no significant difference in aMath FastBridge scores between the dual language classroom and monolingual classroom. The researcher recommends conducting this study for at least an entire semester, having the researcher observing the monolingual classrooms at random for the purpose of providing feedback regarding implementation, utilizing the services of the interpreter during small group instruction, and writing a grant to cover the costs associated to the dual language materials.

Students classified as English language learners (ELLs), many of whom are also Hispanic/Latine´/x, are at times excluded from opportunities to engage in engineering design experiences due to the emphasis on learning English. In dual language bilingual education, however, language policies that allow for the use and development of more than one language afford opportunities for ELLs that are not available in monolingual environments. We draw on a multilingual learning ecology theoretical framework to analyze data gathered from a two-year ethnographic study. During approximately 200 hours of field work, we gathered multiple forms of data through ethnographic methods, to include field notes from participant observation, interviews, photographs, and audio and video recordings. We show that participants enacted a multilingual learning ecology in which there was a space for both English and Spanish, but also hybrid language practices. Translanguaging, by either groups or individuals, mediated engineering design activities. The multilingual learning ecology also allowed students, many of whom were classified as ELLs, to agentively stretch their repertoire to engage in engineering biliteracy practices. These included identifying problems, proposing engineering solutions, building and testing a model, and communicating their findings.

Drawing on empirical data from qualitative research I conducted with eight Vietnamese American youth in the Fall of 2020, this paper forwards transtrauma, a new framework for conceptualizing and understanding the lived experiences of Vietnamese American youth. The concept of transtrauma goes beyond the pathologizing of individual trauma, to examine how structures of domination inflict and extend trauma in marginalized communities, such as that of Vietnamese American communities. Transtrauma transcends the overt and linear focus on trauma as a single experience and the examination of how institutionalized violence by nation states shapes the experiences of Vietnamese Americans. This conceptualization interrogate the United States role in shaping the trauma of Vietnamese Americans. The workshop showcases the importance of storytelling and the Arts as a way to guide Vietnamese American high school-age youth to collectively share their stories of their parents and grandparents’ journey from Vietnam to the United States. These collective stories highlight the transtrauma that Vietnamese Americans continue to experience.

Across the United States, a genre of romance novels is sold centering on a “sheikh” character and set in fantasy desert kingdoms modeled off the “Middle East.” The covers feature primarily White Western women in the arms of sheikh characters against backdrops including sand dunes and Bedouin tents with titles referring to sheikhs, sultans, deserts, virgins, and brides. This study uses a decolonial feminist framework to engage in a critical visual discourse analysis of the cover images and contents of these so-called “desert romance” novels (Jarmakani, 2015), alongside pláticas with Muslim women, to understand what this imagery teaches about gender, race, and sexuality, how the imagery acts pedagogically, and with what implications. Through the visuals, titles, and contents, these novels act as a form of public and cultural pedagogy conveying and asserting particular ideas about Muslims, Arabs, and Muslim majority countries with very real impacts and implications.

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to uncover and understand international graduate students’ experiences with microaggressions that stem from native speaker fallacy; microaggressions are the subtle discriminatory behaviors executed toward marginalized groups and native speaker fallacy is the false belief that only some “native” English speakers are effective teachers and users of the language. Put simply, this research aimed at unveiling the subtle language-based discriminations that international graduate students experience in their day-to-day lives in U.S. educational settings. To collect data for the study, the Critical Incident Technique (CIT) was utilized. CIT is a method that allows the researcher to systematically obtain rich and rare qualitative data from participants by encouraging them to reflect and report on “critical incidents” that they have experienced. Data was collected through online demographic survey, in-depth focus groups, and structured written reflections. Analyses of the data show that despite having had experienced language-based microaggressions and having had had emotional responses to them, the majority of the participants were unaware if they had the right as humans to feel violated due to those critical incidents. Eight themes, namely Gatekeeping English, Invisible Hierarchy, Sounding ‘Different’, Othering, Alienation, Implicit Bias with Name and Color, Department vs Critical Experiences, and Nonaccountability were identified in the data that show the deep-rootedness of native speaker fallacy in U.S. educational settings. I provide elaborate suggestions on how individuals and institutions can respond to microaggressions stemming from native speaker fallacy.

There is increasing importance of the English language for educational excellence and career success in the UAE. The early years is a sensitive period for language acquisition, and preschool age is the best time to learn English as a foreign language (EFL). Stories are a main vehicle used in early childhood education (ECE) to engage children in language learning. Although previous studies have found dramatic storytelling to be particularly effective in developing children’s emergent literacy in English as a native language, little is known about the effect of dramatic storytelling on developing young children’s emergent literacy in EFL. Also, there is little empirical research that examines “how” the potential effect of dramatic storytelling on acquisition of emergent literacy in EFL can be realized. To address the research gap, this study was intended to develop and validate a dramatic storytelling approach to EFL teaching in the UAE kindergartens. The two research questions were: (1) How can a dramatic storytelling approach for teaching EFL be tailored to UAE kindergarten settings? (2) To what extent does the dramatic storytelling approach improve emergent literacy in EFL among UAE kindergarten students? Adopting a combination of quasi-experiment and action research design, this study developed, implemented, and evaluated an intervention model that provided the kindergarteners with intensive experiences with dramatic storytelling. The samples were a total of 200 children from 10 classes of three kindergartens in Al Ain, Abu Dhabi. A total of 107 children from five of the 10 classes received intervention (intensive dramatic storytelling), and 93 children from the other five classes served as comparison group. The intervention program covered four English dramatic stories that were taught in 16 sessions in eight weeks. The dramatic storytelling sessions were characteristic of use of print copy of storybook, multimodality, dramatization, mediation, and scaffolding

This study explores the complex leadership tasks high school Kenyan teachers provide in their communities, giving a detailed look at how these educators balance their responsibilities as both classroom teachers and community leaders. Historically, Kenyan communities are frequently viewed through a deficit lens, and this study sets out how the cultural wealth of the dynamic teacher and learner communities cross the boundaries between local communities and educational institutions. To enable a new type of bridging school and the community, this study reveals the interconnectedness of school and community through the interplay of teachers moving fluidly in both spaces and influencing both. High school teachers in Kenya have leadership duties that go well beyond the confines of the classroom, making them invaluable contributors to the community. These teachers have a special opportunity to create connections between the educational setting and the larger community where they have leadership responsibilities. Examining teachers in these roles demands a recognition of the community's dual function as a knowledge creator and consumer. Essentially, the goal of this research is to shed light on the significant—yet frequently overlooked—part that Kenyan high school teachers play in bridging the gap between the academic world and the diverse communities in which they work. It emphasizes the necessity of instructional approaches that promote a comprehensive strategy where school and surrounding communities have opportunities for collaboration.

American Sign Language (ASL), like many different signed languages, has a systematic way of using pointing signs for multiple types of nominal reference. Possibly the most basic function of pointing is to indicate, direct and modulate reference to physical objects located in proximal and distal areas called exophoric demonstratives. This study aims to investigate ASL exophoric demonstratives and how ASL fits within the different typological systems of demonstratives that have been documented (Diessel & Coventry, 2020). Several research questions focus on how signers direct attention to proximal and distal referents in ASL using an elicitation task. The two studies (adult and children) recorded a combined 866 demonstrative tokens and suggest that ASL has a one-demonstrative system using a pointing sign as the primary demonstrative. However, the primary ASL demonstrative is modulated with variation in handshape, movement, and eye gaze to signal the location of the referent.

A student’s ability to read fluently is an extremely vital skill, necessary to allow them to succeed both in an academic setting and in everyday life. To guide those developing readers in increasing their independent reading fluency, abilities educators must have the correct instructional methods and tools that are developmentally appropriate to provide meaningful instruction. This quantitative action research project explores the use of decodable readers versus leveled text for students who are still developing the phonemic skills and recognition needed to read fluently. A decodable reader allows a student to explicitly practice one phonemic skill to mastery before adding in another concept. This sequential approach is more suitable for primary aged readers, who are still struggling to read fluently at grade level. Throughout the experiment, one group that consisted of developing readers worked with decodable readers to help increase reading fluency, while the other group of students that are closer to grade level for reading fluency, utilized leveled text. There was an increase in reading fluency for both groups, but the research and data collected clearly shows that the use of decodable readers allowed for a quicker and more substantial increase in words per minute for students.

The current study investigated the effectiveness of mindfulness training in reducing stress and increasing academic performance among Uzbek English language students. The researcher partnered with four English faculty at Tashkent State Pedagogical University (TSPU) to conduct a quasi-experimental study using a convenience sample of sixty 2nd year students studying English as a foreign language. One group of students (n = 30) received mindfulness training while the acted as an active control group (n = 30) and received study skills training. Both groups received 20-minutes training in their English classes, four days a week, for 4-weeks. All participants completed pre- and post-intervention questionnaires, which measured perceived stress using the Perceived Stress Scale-10 and mindfulness using the Mindfulness Attention Awareness Scale and the Five Factor Mindfulness Questionnaire. Academic performance was measured using a reading comprehension test and a 5-minute paired speaking assessment. Results showed no significant difference between the groups on any post-intervention measure. Further analyses indicated both groups experienced a statistically significant decrease in stress from pre- to post-intervention (Z = -2.692, p <.01) with a moderate effect size (r = .348). While no significant correlation was found between stress and either reading or speaking scores, results showed a moderate negative correlation between stress and mindfulness at pre-intervention (r = -.45) and post-intervention (r = -.51), statistically significant at the p < .001 level for both. Additional qualitative questions indicated participants’ main sources of stress were academic work and social relationships. Students reported experiencing emotional symptoms of stress more often than other symptoms. Participants in the mindfulness group reported the training to be beneficial in reducing their stress, indicating this was a socially valid treatment. This is a significant contribution to the fi

This study aims to investigate how pre-service EFL teachers’ individual innovativeness levels affect their TPACK development during an educational technology course. Employing a quasi-experimental research design, the participants were 59 pre-service EFL teachers. The course followed the Diffusion of Innovation Theory steps. Analyzing the data, TPACK and individual innovativeness scales were implemented as pre- and post-tests. The results showed a significant increase in participants' TPACK, while their individual innovativeness did not exhibit a significant change during the course. Although there was a notable difference in pre-service teachers' initial TPACK levels based on their innovativeness, this difference was no longer significant in the end. Education for TPACK development is critical in bridging the initial knowledge gap arising from differing innovativeness levels.

Reading difficulties have been associated with limited academic success and related social-emotional outcomes including anxiety and low motivation. Recent research on the educational impact of the COVID-19 pandemic indicates that children with poor reading skills were disproportionally disadvantaged. This growing number of students experiencing reading difficulties will require effective implementation of strategies to prevent long-term disadvantage, including in the challenging context of secondary schools where teachers are unfamiliar with reading instruction and constrained by timetabling of subjects and teachers. This research examined whether a Direct Instruction programme could be implemented with fidelity in the real world of a secondary school over a sustained period. Reading progress was monitored using a standardised assessment. Programme implementation was monitored via interviews with staff, classroom observations, and field notes. These data revealed that, whilst fidelity of programme implementation was challenging, programme delivery and student ability and confidence in reading improved over the three years.

This is an autoethnographic case study about the value of storytelling through digital family narratives in composition studies and critical culturally sustaining/revitalizing pedagogy. Using the Diné Educational Philosophy, Sa’ah Naaghai Bik’éh Hozhoo, and the four learning areas Nitsáhákees (Thinking), Nahat’á (Planning), Iiná (Living), and Siihasin (Reflection), as my conceptual framework, I create an assignment prompt for an all Diné composition classroom that asks students to collect family stories as a way to explore their cultural and academic identities, and to create digital family narratives to be housed on a website. I also complete the assignment myself and reflect on my choices in creating and completing the assignment, using Western academic scholarship and my own experiences as a Diné woman to validate my decisions in completing and creating the assignment. I argue for the centering of storytelling and cultural/personal identities/experiences in the composition classroom and pedagogical practice.

This study adds to the conversation about the increasing language diversity in U.S. schools (Paris & Alim, 2014). In the South Florida district discussed here, ELLs represent 16.9% of the total student enrollment (Miami Dade, 2020), and there is a popular narrative about the value of bilingualism in this community. Despite that, Valencia and Lynch (2019), Mackinney (2016), and Lanier (2014) indicated: even though the bilingual political and economic value in South Florida is noticeable, HLs are relegated to a secondary place and with no prestige inside local school settings. As Garcia and Wei (2014) observed: "language practices cannot be developed except through the students' existing knowledge" (p. 80), so it seemed crucial to understand and discuss teachers' beliefs towards emergent bilinguals' HL in this multilingual context. To explore these perceptions, I studied teachers' beliefs towards learners' heritage languages as one more component toward understanding teachers' thought processes and classroom choices in multilingual settings. Therefore, I conducted mixed-method research, using quantitative and qualitative data collection techniques to garner a deep reflection of the beliefs and ideologies of local teachers regarding students' HLs. The data analysis indicated that teachers valued bilingualism in general and understood, in theory, the advantages of students' developing HL literacy simultaneously with English. However, HLs were primarily not used or valued inside classrooms for instructional purposes. Despite serving a multilingual community of students and being multilingual, teachers held what I named an ideological tolerance tendency towards HL inside schools. They believed they should exclusively use English during "academic time," and many educators were unsure or indicated that they believed they were helping learners when creating an English-only classroom. Another concerning result was that some teachers relied on Spanish circumstantial translatio

International literature highlights that a perennial challenge for initial teacher educators is to guide Pre-Service Teachers (PSTs) to develop a comprehensive understanding of the relationship between theory and practice. Whilst there is a growing body of research that examines the relationship and/or the gap between theory and practice in teacher education, there remains a paucity of research that examines this phenomenon in the teaching of English and literacy units in higher education. This pilot study examined how PSTs from two Australian universities made connections and/or links (nexus) between their academic knowledge (theory) and professional experience (praxis) for the teaching of English and literacy in the early years (birth to eight years of age). This article reports on the study’s findings and offers propositions for future and ongoing research in this field.

This study intended to investigate pre-service teachers' and teacher educators' perceptions of technological pedagogical knowledge and professional identity development. The research was conducted with 152 English Language Teaching (ELT) pre-service teachers and 73 teacher educators from various universities in Iraqi Kurdistan. Using a mixed-method, the data for this study was collected through semi-structured interviews as well as a Technology, Pedagogy, and Content Knowledge survey questionnaire. Thematic analysis and SPSS 24 were employed for analyzing the interview responses and survey data, respectively. From this data, both pre-service teachers and teacher educators perceived a high rate of proficiency in their pedagogical content knowledge as well as familiarity with simple traditional technologies, while they lacked some knowledge of professional technologies. Participants also mostly agreed that pedagogical technologies are effective and affect their professional identity development. However, there were a few participants who believed these technologies were not more effective for their teaching practice and professional identity development. The implications of the study are stated, and some suggestions for further studies in this regard are provided.

Chinese-speaking students enroll in Australian tertiary institutions in large numbers. Success for these international students is heavily dependent upon their mastering the conventions of academic writing in English. How best to ensure such mastery among EAL learners has been a matter of debate among tertiary educators and language specialists, with competing theories and methods proposed. This paper reports on an attempt to improve English academic writing through intensive lexical instruction, a method proposed by Ackermann & Chen (2013), Boers et al. (2016), Lewis (1993), Selivan (2018), Wray (2005, 2018) and others. Nine Chinese-speaking tertiary students were offered training in recognising and employing those lexical constructions commonly found in relevant technical and academic genres. The project employed a mixed methods case study approach to describe students’ performance and their perceptions and responses to the teaching they underwent. While gains in performance were evident in some cases, the outcomes of the teaching were inconsistent and equivocal overall. We conclude that this raises questions about the efficacy of purely lexical methods and underscores the challenge involved in teaching complex genres at tertiary level. These findings have implications for those teaching Chinese-speaking students, particularly in EAL contexts.

PURPOSE: We report findings from a survey of elementary teachers regarding reading instruction. The purpose was to examine teachers' beliefs about how children in the first 7 years of schooling develop reading comprehension skills and to characterize the self-reported practices and strategies they use to support children to comprehend connected text. METHOD: A web-based survey was used to collect data from 284 Australian elementary teachers about their beliefs and practices regarding reading comprehension instruction. Selected Likert-scale items were aggregated to determine the degree to which participants held "child-centered" or "content-centered" views of reading instruction. RESULTS: Australian elementary school teachers hold a wide range of beliefs about reading instruction, some of which are in direct opposition to each other. Our findings indicate low consensus about what elements of instructional practice are useful in classrooms or how time should be apportioned to different tasks. Commercial programs had significant penetration in schools, and many participants reported using multiple commercial programs, with varying degrees of pedagogical harmony. Participants indicated that their most common source of knowledge about reading instruction was their own personal research, with few nominating university teacher education as a primary source of knowledge or expertise. CONCLUSIONS: Little agreement exists within the Australian elementary teacher community regarding the ways that reading skills can and should be taught. There is significant room for teacher practice to have improved theoretical underpinnings and to develop a consistent repertoire of classroom practices aligned with these.

The ability to accurately and automatically spell words shows a deep understanding of phonemes, graphemes, phonological context, morphology, and an understanding of language of origin. One approach to spelling instruction is through the explicit teaching of grapheme-phoneme correspondences. This 2023 study focused on the impact of orthographic mapping on student spelling performance of third grade students. Students completed a spelling pre-assessment. Then, students received orthographic mapping spelling instruction using sound boxes. At the conclusion of the study, students completed a spelling post-assessment. Student data was analyzed to gauge the effectiveness of orthographic mapping as a method of spelling instruction.

Student engagement in the classroom can be a struggle for many teachers. Research shows that student engagement can be impacted by student self-efficacy in the classroom, and student engagement increases when participating in small group discussions and inquiry-based activities. This qualitative study aimed to understand the impact using student-generated questions in small group discussions had on student self-efficacy in the high school English/language arts classroom. A survey was created and given to 21 twelfth-grade student participants prior to and after using student-generated questions in three separate small group discussions in an elective English/language arts class. Qualitative data were also collected from student response journals completed after each small group discussion that used student-generated questions. Results indicate that student self-efficacy can change in a six-week period, both positively and negatively. However, the results of this study cannot be directly correlated between the use of student-generated questions in small-group discussion and changes in student self-efficacy in English/language arts.

The goal of the current study was to ascertain pre-service English language teachers’ impressions of the impact of thematic speaking tasks on the development of their intercultural competence in an online Spoken English course. Moreover, the effect of certain demographic variables on pre-service teachers’ cultural intelligence (CQ) was also investigated. The findings revealed a significant difference between the CQ of students with and without overseas experience. Pre-service teachers who could speak languages other than their mother tongue and English had significantly higher CQ scores than students who could not speak other languages. However, there was not a significant difference between males' and females’ overall CQ. The results showed an increase in CQ scores when the pre- and post-questionnaire averages were compared, but it was not statistically significant. Semi-structured interviews revealed speaking tasks were effective in exposing pre-service teachers to various cultural perspectives, practices, and products.

Only 35% of fourth graders in the United States can read at the proficient level, and only 34% of eighth graders can read proficiently (National Assessment of Educational Progress [NAEP], 2022). The purpose of this study was to determine how preservice teachers (PSTs) describe their experience of the methodology of teaching reading in their literacy courses. In addition, what specific strategies for teaching reading do PSTs describe as the focus for their teaching reading preparation, and how do PSTs describe the potential of the strategies learned in their coursework to help them teach reading in their future positions? This study utilized a qualitative hermeneutic phenomenological approach to analyze and interpret six PSTs’ experiences in their literacy methods courses. I analyzed transcripts from the six semi-structured interviews I conducted with PSTs who have completed all the required literacy courses in their teacher preparation program. My analysis revealed that the PSTs in this study were unable to describe specific methods for teaching reading. In addition, the PSTs also did not consider themselves ready to teach reading effectively. Thus, I recommend that teacher educators consider changing how they teach PSTs to teach reading. In addition, preservice teacher educators should include the science of reading (SOR) in their preservice teaching programs.