Date of Award:

8-2026

Document Type:

Dissertation

Degree Name:

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department:

School of Teacher Education and Leadership

Committee Chair(s)

Suzanne H. Jones

Committee

Suzanne H. Jones

Committee

LeAnn G. Putney

Committee

Ryan Knowles

Committee

Amanda Taggart

Committee

Amy Piotrowski

Committee

Carly Fox

Abstract

Many students struggle with reading comprehension, and research shows that low literacy skills in a student’s first language can unfortunately lead to lower rates of university program completion, regardless of the language of instruction. When students feel empowered and confident in their ability to achieve their academic goals, they are much more likely to take ownership of their learning. In fact, students who actively demonstrate hopeful thinking and behaviors are consistently more successful in their academic journeys.

My research explores how we can better support these high school students— specifically concurrent enrollment (CE) students—by examining the impact of Reciprocal Teaching.

Reciprocal Teaching is a powerful metacognitive strategy designed to improve reading comprehension. In this study, I investigated the effects of teaching this strategy in Spanish to students who are learning both English and Spanish to determine how it influences both the English reading comprehension skills and Hope for future academic success

By better understanding the relationship between instructional strategies and student mindset, I hope to provide evidence-based insights that will help shape curriculum and instruction in both secondary and post-secondary language courses. Ultimately, this work is about fostering both the academic skills and the sense of hope that every student needs to succeed.

This research was conducted at Utah State University under the guidance of my major professor, Dr. Suzanne H. Jones.

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