Gomez-Pereira, Diana
(2018)
DEVELOPING ACADEMIC WRITING AND CULTURAL IDENTITY FOR SPANISH HERITAGE LANGUAGE LEARNERS (HLLS) THROUGH WRITING TEXTS IN SPANISH.
Doctoral Dissertation, University of Pittsburgh.
(Unpublished)
Abstract
The present study investigated the implementation of a genre-based approach to the instruction of academic writing in a High school Spanish class to heritage language learners (HLLs). The intervention explicitly taught students the ways of meaning in the genre of biographies. In addition, discussions around the theme of identity were explored in this class. Analyses of students’ writing assessment tools revealed that students’ writing performance developed in terms of the genre-specific features from the pre-test to the post-test. Moreover, findings of this study showed that unpacking the ways of meaning in a particular genre positively influenced the quality of writing in the target language that HLLs produced. The class also provided a space for HLLs to unravel their multiple identities through classroom discussions.
Through interviews, video-recordings of the classes, and short written responses, the process with the genre approach was described. The effect of the genre-based intervention was documented, and it helped strengthen students’ academic literacy in Spanish. In addition, students showed some discomfort when discussing their multiple identities during the classes. The present study demonstrated that explicit instruction in a particular genre positively influenced the quality of students’ academic writing in that genre. Future research on genre-based instruction and the implementation on different levels in heritage language classes is needed.
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Details
| Item Type: |
University of Pittsburgh ETD
|
| Status: |
Unpublished |
| Creators/Authors: |
| Creators | Email | Pitt Username | ORCID  |
|---|
| Gomez-Pereira, Diana | dpg21@pitt.edu | dpg21 | |
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| ETD Committee: |
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| Date: |
24 September 2018 |
| Date Type: |
Publication |
| Defense Date: |
25 June 2018 |
| Approval Date: |
24 September 2018 |
| Submission Date: |
28 August 2018 |
| Access Restriction: |
No restriction; Release the ETD for access worldwide immediately. |
| Number of Pages: |
126 |
| Institution: |
University of Pittsburgh |
| Schools and Programs: |
School of Education > Instruction and Learning |
| Degree: |
EdD - Doctor of Education |
| Thesis Type: |
Doctoral Dissertation |
| Refereed: |
Yes |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: |
Spanish Heritage language learners, systemic functional linguistics, genre approach |
| Date Deposited: |
24 Sep 2018 17:52 |
| Last Modified: |
24 Sep 2018 17:52 |
| URI: |
http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/id/eprint/35279 |
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