Today, the power of discourse is incontestable. Within the field of language policy and planning (LPP), language policy (LP) has been conceptualized in various ways. One paradigmshifting conceptualization is viewing LP as "discourse." The discursive power of language policies is quite real as it can be contested in official state…

This study reviews the effect of comprehension and perceived text difficulty in promoting reading enjoyment and interest to read more among novice learners practicing extensive and pleasure reading. Sixty-seven college students in their first semester of Spanish were asked to read a children-like story picture book in Spanish and were then given…

According to the National Education Association, one out of every four children in the U.S. public education system will be an English Learner (EL) by 2025, with at least half of these students likely being Spanish-speaking EL students. As school populations become more ethnically, racially, and linguistically diverse, current and future music…

Background: Upper elementary grade students encounter increasingly complex texts with abundant morphologically complex words. Despite the positive effects of morphology-based vocabulary instruction, emergent bilinguals with limited word reading skills may need additional support. Methods: This study investigated the effects of morphological…

In two visual world eye-tracking experiments, this dissertation examines the role of literacy on predictive processing during spoken language comprehension. Previous studies have shown that comprehenders can use morphosyntactic cues available in the input to generate predictions about upcoming information. Recent key findings also suggest that…

The current diagnostic criteria for the autism spectrum disorder (ASD) include the possibility to specify concomitant language difficulties. Purpose: Our main aim was to explore whether children with ASD-Level 1 (ASD-L1) present difficulties in the acquisition of structural language, as little work has been done in this regard so far. As a…

This paper investigates crosslingual content scoring, a scenario where scoring models trained on learner data in one language are applied to data in a different language. We analyze data in five different languages (Chinese, English, French, German and Spanish) collected for three prompts of the established English ASAP content scoring dataset. We…

Critical thinking stands out as one of the most important cognitive abilities needed for effective adaptation to a knowledge-based society in the 21st century. Despite its significance, there remains a lack of consensus regarding the conceptual and methodological frameworks for measuring it. This study aimed to design and validate a comprehensive…

This brief describes kindergarten entry assessments for Spanish-English bilingual students in the United States, exploring the evidence base, policy and recommendations, and considerations for implementation for policymakers. A kindergarten entry assessment (KEA) aims to provide valid and reliable information on children's learning and development…

What started as a social media based movement, the viral hashtag #blackgirlmagic has transcended into a way of being, and seeing Black girls and women. The essence and prevalence of #blackgirlmagic continues to defy all odds and perceptions in sports, society, and other social spaces where Black girls have been rendered invisible, including in the…

While the challenges that educators faced during the COVID-19 pandemic are widely acknowledged, there is little scholarship that highlights the positive lessons. This manuscript documents the experiences of an individual dual language bilingual education elementary teacher that was a part of a longitudinal qualitative study of United States…

The state of Delaware has a Dual Language Immersion program serving students from different backgrounds and varying socioeconomic statuses with a wide range of diverse needs. The state has ever-increasing difficulty finding qualified teachers who also speak the target language of the program, in this case, Spanish. As a result, districts within…

By 12 months of age, infants exhibit behavioral sensitivity to sound symbolism (e.g. sound-shape correspondences) when they hear universally sound symbolic pseudowords (e.g. "bouba," "kiki"). Here, we investigated whether infant's sensitivity to sound-shape correspondences is affected when they hear language-specific sound…

Shifting demographics in K-12 schools have increased Spanish-speaking Multi-Language Learners' (MLLs') enrollment across the United States. While literacy variations between MLLs and proficient English speakers have been studied predominantly with upper elementary students, there remains a need for more exploration among early elementary…

This study analyzes how raciolinguistic ideologies shape children's identity construction within two American preschool classrooms. Specifically, I attend to the ways three-, four-, and five- year-old Dominant American English-speaking children adopted white listening subject positions and shaped peer interactions in the classroom. Ethnographic…