The COVID-19 pandemic altered the way the education was conducted around the globe. Educational shutdowns necessitated the need for virtual learning. Schools closed to in person learning in March of 2020 extending through the 2020-2021 school year. English language learners have a unique set of learning requirements. The correlational study was…

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…

Conducted in a large size four-year state university, the purpose of this qualitative study was to learn how faculty of multiple disciplines examined and made meaning of their instructional practices and decisions when teaching ELL students, how they modified their instruction to meet the needs of ELLs, and what they saw as areas of struggle when…

This research examined the effect of English language proficiency on the academic success, and cultural and social adjustments of Chinese international students pursuing higher education degrees at an HBCU in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. The researcher used a qualitative research design for this study to acquire information…

This study investigates the acquisition and maintenance of periphrastic and se-passives in second language (L2), heritage (HS), and (Spanish-dominant) native Spanish speakers (NS) by addressing: (i) How accessible are Spanish periphrastic passives (which also exist in English) and se-passives (unique to Spanish) for L2ers and HSs in production?…

This dissertation examines the acquisitional process of middle se constructions by English- and Korean-speaking L2 learners of Spanish. Although clitic se is well known for its multifunctionality, there is a general tendency in the literature to analyze any use of "se" as a reflexive marker. This tendency is especially prominent in the…

When individuals read a narrative text, they construct a mental representation known as a situational model to comprehend the unfolding story. These models require updates at meaningful changes in the story to reflect current information accurately. Existing research highlights the attentional and working memory demands of these updating…

This mixed methods descriptive case study explored the perceptions of 162 leaders and French immersion (FI) teachers related to their roles and responsibilities for the target-language proficiency (TLP) of FI teachers in an urban school division. To date, no research has explored leaders' and FI teachers' knowledge and understanding of the system…

The academic success and English proficiency of ELL students are receiving more attention as a result of the growing number of ELL students and the demand for accountability and assessment in education. It is widely accepted that ELL students struggle on state standardized tests because they lack the cognitive academic language abilities needed to…

The purpose of this dissertation was to examine the cultural factors influencing the decision-making process of Latino families regarding the acceptance or refusal of special education services. Initiated by the observed disproportionality in Latino students being enrolled in special education programs compared to Anglo-American students, this…

The United States government is perennially in need of employees with proficiency in critical foreign languages to communicate with foreign counterparts and maintain relationships worldwide. In order to fulfill this need, the government devotes significant resources training federal employees to advanced levels of language proficiency through…

There is growing evidence that the COVID-19 pandemic had a large and negative impact on student learning. This dissertation explores the effect of the pandemic on one of the most vulnerable student subgroups: English Learners (ELs). In this work I examine existing disparities among subgroups of ELs, and the different ways the pandemic has impacted…

The first part of this dissertation conducts a large-scale study comparing general and usage-based indices of syntactic complexity in L2 Mandarin writing samples across a wide range of proficiency levels. To do this, the Tool for the Automated Analysis of Syntactic Sophistication and Complexity (TAASSC; Kyle, 2016) was adapted for Mandarin by…

At all educational levels, the number of English learners continues to increase; their academic and linguistic success are growing concerns. The problem is that middle school English learners struggle to reach English proficiency in literacy and language. Closing the achievement gap is a challenge for both English learners and middle school…

During the era of accountability in K-12 schools in the U.S., school leaders' and teachers' responsibilities concerning language proficiency assessments extend beyond test administration and determination of eligibility for services. State and federal accountability systems challenge educators and school leaders to use language assessment results…