As our student population becomes more culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD), the field of school psychology continues to have demands to improve upon best-practice procedures in accurately evaluating and identifying students with disabilities, without pathologizing cultural and linguistic differences. Specifically, students in the Armenian…

In this study I explore the history of study abroad as a sojourn for the privileged, notions of whiteness, institutional racism and inequality, and nationality and linguicism, and apply theory from critical applied linguistics and post-colonialism to analyze and interpret data collected from five participants of either a semester or year-long…

Mandarin Chinese verbs are composed of one to four characters that function together as a conceptual unit. However, in modern spoken Chinese, most of these verbs are two-character compounds. This dissertation is focused on adult second language (L2) learners' acquisition of these two-character verb compounds. Specifically, the acquisition of a…

Given the literature review on over and under representation of ELL students in Special Education, this research aimed to study how teachers identify between ELL students who present with language proficiency learning difficulties and students who might exhibit learning disabilities. This qualitative study added to existing literature on…

The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore what elementary teachers recommend and understand in identifying appropriate referral and classroom support placement procedures of English language learners with a suspected disability in the southeastern United States. Incorporating the conceptual frameworks of Bandura (1977) and…

Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) is a framework structure implemented within public education designed to provide students with targeted enrichment or remediation needs interventions. The MTSS process and its implementation directly impact the academic success of students. Using interventions when students are academically or behaviorally…

The disproportionality of culturally and linguistically diverse learners in exceptional education is an ongoing issue (Bernal, 2002; Ford, 2012). One of these special populations is that of English learners (ELs), who are overrepresented in special education programs and underrepresented in gifted and talented programs (Ford, 2012).The extant…

The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of part-time, on-campus employment on Chinese international undergraduate students' integration and development on American campuses. In doing so, I focused on exploring how Chinese undergraduate students learn English, make friends with the domestic students, shape identities in the…

This linguistic ethnography follows three journalism students (Petra, Penelope, and Maria) as they engaged in experiential language learning (EX-LL) via collaboration with community members during their Spanish for Specific Purposes (SSP) internship sites in the fields of journalism and medicine within the local Metro Phoenix community. Data were…

For centuries, languages have been changing and evolving in complex, systematic ways. The study of past stages of a linguistic system and the overarching linguistic patterns characterizing the arc of change over time characterize the field of linguistics known as historical linguistics. Historical linguistics serves to illuminate both the sources…

A qualitative study was conducted to understand how building-level and world language department leaders characterize and respond to underperforming world language teachers, and how such leaders work together as a team to address this problem. Ten such leaders from Long Island, New York were interviewed as matched pairs and their responses were…

Learning Language, Transforming Knowledge investigates the relationships among language shift, urbanization, and social change in the lives of Amdo Tibetan children. Amdo, the easternmost region of greater Tibet, is today incorporated into the Chinese provinces of Qinghai, Sichuan, and Gansu. The homeland of a Tibetic language, also known as Amdo,…

The increasing number of English language learners (ELLs) in U.S. schools have made it so school professionals need to both ensure ELLs' academic success while also developing their English language skills. Accordingly, several issues related to assessment, identification, and disproportionate representation of ELLs in special education services…

The present study investigated first language (L1) and second language (L2) Chinese categorization of tones and segments and use of tones and segments in lexical access. Previous research has shown that English listeners rely more on pitch height than pitch direction when perceiving lexical tones; however, it remains unclear if this superior use…

"Communicate Globally, Teach Locally" observers that the English language has evolved to be the predominant language of business and for communication globally, which allows thousands of NESs to go abroad and work as English teachers in foreign countries. This study assessed how self-efficacy competence of the African American NESs…