This phenomenological study explores how undergraduate students, who are learners of Spanish as a foreign language, perceived an experience of service-learning and the impact it had on their intercultural competence. Participants were undergraduate students at a public university in the United States who completed a Hispanic culture course. The…

Background: Online health information is underutilized among Hispanics with low English proficiency in the U.S. This study examines the association between a unique measure of general English literacy, language use, and online health information seeking among Hispanic adults. Methods: Data for Hispanics ages 25-65 (N?=?700) come from the 2012/2014…

We test children's distributive and collective sentence interpretations and the variables that predict them. In our first experiment, we establish that adult English collective sentences with "the" or "some" in the subject are categorically collective in their interpretations. We further demonstrate that children's collective…

Background or Context: Although many scholars have evaluated how Hispanic-serving institutions (HSIs) "serve" and can better "serve" Latinx students and their communities, scant research has integrated artificial intelligence (AI) technology within this evaluation of diversity and "servingness." With institutions of…

This dissertation investigates the impact of cross-modal binding on word reading skills among English Language Learners (ELLs). Using Baddeley's updated working memory model, which includes the Episodic Buffer, this study examines how the ability to bind visual and phonological information in memory influences the reading development of ELL…

Parent advocacy has led to improved educational access and outcomes for students with disabilities. Extant research indicates that parents are more likely to participate in individual advocacy than systemic advocacy. Due to the preponderance of individual advocacy, limited research has focused on systemic advocacy. Thus, the purpose of this study…

Purpose: Best practices recommend promoting the use of the home language and allowing caregivers to choose the language(s) that they want to use with their child who is deaf or hard of hearing (DHH). We examined whether Spanish-speaking caregivers of children who are DHH receive professional recommendations on oral bilingualism that follow best…

With much focus on English development in United States schools and research, less is known about how bilinguals develop literacy in their home languages without sustained formal instruction. This qualitative study of reading strategies addressed that gap. It examined how young bilinguals used English literacy knowledge gained through formal…

This study examines the effects of English Learner (EL) status on subsequent Special Education (SPED) placement. Through a research-practice partnership, we link student demographic data and initial English proficiency assessment data across seven cohorts of test takers and observe EL and SPED programmatic participation for these students over 7…

This qualitative research study used the case study method of one-on-one interviews to collect and examine the experiences of former English learners (ELs) who were unable to finish high school in southeastern Louisiana. This study aimed to identify specific factors that, using Everett Lee's theory, pushed or pulled these ELs from school and…

In recent years, there has been a massive expansion of dual language education (DLE) programs across the United States. Many of these programs are located in relatively affluent areas with large numbers of white professional families. Yet, most Latinx students attend high-poverty schools. In this article, we use the School District of Philadelphia…

Introduction: The increasing use of online parenting resources offers the opportunity to improve the parenting role through Personal Learning Environments (PLEs). However, there is no evidence concerning the effectiveness of the learning process that takes place in a PLE space. Method: We evaluated the "Positive Parent" program through…

The current study examined self-reported first language (Spanish) language reading and writing ability and behavior and relationships with digit span and stroop task performance. A battery of assessments and questionnaires was administered to 81 sequential Spanish-English bilingual university students in the U.S., for whom the sole language of…

Purpose: The purpose of this investigation was to compare the efficiency of dialogic reading strategies (DRS) provided bilingually (Spanish and English) and solely in English on the acquisition of vocabulary by young school-aged dual-language learners (DLLs) with developmental language disorders (DLD). Method: Five participants (N = 5) between the…

The main objective of this study was to explore the benefits of the use of educational audio-visual materials in facilitating learning for students with hearing loss. The study analysed whether students with hearing loss had a visual learning preference when they watched an audio-visual and if the images present contributed to the retention of…