Congratulations to the 35 students from our BBE program who shared yesterday, Monday Feb 18, their Integrative Projects (IP) from 9am-5pm! It was a very successful event. At the end of the day, we recognized the top presentations. We aimed to choose three to five students and chose eight instead for this recognition. Here are their names in alphabetical order with the title and a shorter abstract of their projects. We feel very proud of all 35 students and know that you will take the inquiry stance that guided your project to your future work with bilingual learners:
1) Paulina Castro
La Pequeña Tejedora : Weaving Her Path In A New Culture
This qualitative study explored the relationship and the role that drawing and oral language have to facilitate second language acquisition, positioning the child as an agent in control of her language learning. The analysis of different sets of data showed that the importance of drawing was only one of many aspects facilitating the student’s integration process to the new culture.
2) Xiaonan Chu
The Tailor-made Pathways in Multicultural Chinese as a Foreign Language
In this self-study inquiry, the in-depth reflections and professional training led me to rethink my teaching philosophy, and seeking the pathway to be an individually and culturally responsive teacher. I developed cultural empathy, self-knowledge, and critical perspectives together with the students, scaffolding each one’s unique pathway in a multicultural classroom.
3) Yuhui Gong
A Peek under the Iceberg: A Case Study of Mandarin Learning Experience of Heritage Language Learners from 3 Sub-groups
This case study was conducted with four university focal heritage learners from three different language backgrounds focusing on the factors that the participants identified as influencing their Mandarin learning and the unique challenges that led to learning anxiety. Analysis of interviews highlight the role of identity, immigration histories, and family influences.
4) Rui Li
A Chinese Dialect Speaker’s Language Experience in the Mandarin-English Dual Language Program
My Inquiry Project centers on how a second-grade Cantonese-speaking student perceives his experience in the Chinese-English dual language program. In my paper, the child’s language use in different contexts, factors, and issues associated with the language use, and the implications for educators will be addressed.
5) Yin Lin
Separate But Equal: A Case of Language Equity
This study explores new lenses of dual language education in a Chinese-English setting for emergent bilinguals. The study challenges an existing popular view of translanguaging in bilingual education. Data analysis revealed the benefits of separation of language learning contrary to the beliefs of the challenged perspective of translanguaging that promotes the mixed use of language. By challenging this perspective, this study further reveals that separation of language is essential to attempt to balance the inequities of languages for students.
6) Karla Salamea
The Perfect Match: Understanding a Heritage Speaker in an Immersion Program
This case study explores the way a trilingual student perceives and experiences their heritage language in an immersion program and how these experiences form their identity in a classroom. Culture, language, and identity will be analyzed and will help unfold the
answer to the research question and will frame the three main findings of this case study.
7) Liu Wang
Student Questions and Teacher Responses in Chinese Language Classes in High School in New York City
The study investigates the nature and types of student questions and the teacher’s response strategies in two Chinese language classes in a highly selective public high school. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used. The findings shed light on students’ needs indicated by questions as well as strategies towards supporting higher-order language application wonderment questions.
8) Wenting Yang
Classroom Management as a System: Strategies Used by Bilingual Teachers and their Effects on Students
This study investigated classroom management strategies used by bilingual teachers in a Mandarin-English immersion kindergarten classroom and their effects on teachers’ teaching and students’ learning engagement. Findings suggest that classroom management is a complex system including various strategies that facilitate teaching and learning, rather than a set of techniques.
Prof. Carmen M. Martínez-Roldán
Prof. Patricia Martínez-Alvarez
Prof. Sharon Chang
