While cultural and ethnic diversity has been widely accepted and encouraged in the English classroom, training teachers in addressing religious beliefs and values has not been widely addressed. As a significant percentage of students and teachers alike identify with deeply-rooted beliefs, this thesis attempts to answer the important question of how we might incorporate such beliefs in a manner that promotes thoughtful dialogue and critical reflection for both teachers and students alike. This thesis includes a personal exploration of both spiritual and academic identities, and offers suggestions for how the two may converge rather than diverge in the classroom, which is found in Chapter 2. Chapter 3 reviews relevant literature about incorporating religious beliefs and values into pedagogical practices in both composition and TESL. Chapter 4 is a critical reflection on the author’s experience teaching at a small village school in rural Ghana as a novice ESL teacher. Chapter 5 offers example lessons for utilizing religious discourse in the English classroom, while also sharing the author’s experiences teaching such material in ENGL 112, a college-level course designed for multilingual learners. Lastly, this thesis concludes with the author’s final reflections and recommendations for further research in Chapter 6.
","abstract_html":"<p>While cultural and ethnic diversity has been widely accepted and encouraged in the English classroom, training teachers in addressing religious beliefs and values has not been widely addressed. As a significant percentage of students and teachers alike identify with deeply-rooted beliefs, this thesis attempts to answer the important question of how we might incorporate such beliefs in a manner that promotes thoughtful dialogue and critical reflection for both teachers and students alike. This thesis includes a personal exploration of both spiritual and academic identities, and offers suggestions for how the two may converge rather than diverge in the classroom, which is found in Chapter 2. Chapter 3 reviews relevant literature about incorporating religious beliefs and values into pedagogical practices in both composition and TESL. Chapter 4 is a critical reflection on the author’s experience teaching at a small village school in rural Ghana as a novice ESL teacher. Chapter 5 offers example lessons for utilizing religious discourse in the English classroom, while also sharing the author’s experiences teaching such material in ENGL 112, a college-level course designed for multilingual learners. Lastly, this thesis concludes with the author’s final reflections and recommendations for further research in Chapter 6.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Cumpston, Carli T."],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Arts (MA) in English: Teaching English as a Second Language","degree_level":"Thesis: EWU Only","degree_discipline":"English","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2017,"date_issued":"2017-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2017-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:13:29Z","subjects":["Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education","Sociology of Religion"],"languages":[],"rights":["Access perpetually restricted to EWU users with an active EWU NetID"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://dc.ewu.edu/theses/455","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Cumpston, Carli T."]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["English"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis: EWU Only"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Arts (MA) in English: Teaching English as a Second Language"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education","Sociology of Religion"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Access perpetually restricted to EWU users with an active EWU NetID"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://dc.ewu.edu/theses/455"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["While cultural and ethnic diversity has been widely accepted and encouraged in the English classroom, training teachers in addressing religious beliefs and values has not been widely addressed. As a significant percentage of students and teachers alike identify with deeply-rooted beliefs, this thesis attempts to answer the important question of how we might incorporate such beliefs in a manner that promotes thoughtful dialogue and critical reflection for both teachers and students alike. This thesis includes a personal exploration of both spiritual and academic identities, and offers suggestions for how the two may converge rather than diverge in the classroom, which is found in Chapter 2. Chapter 3 reviews relevant literature about incorporating religious beliefs and values into pedagogical practices in both composition and TESL. Chapter 4 is a critical reflection on the author’s experience teaching at a small village school in rural Ghana as a novice ESL teacher. Chapter 5 offers example lessons for utilizing religious discourse in the English classroom, while also sharing the author’s experiences teaching such material in ENGL 112, a college-level course designed for multilingual learners. Lastly, this thesis concludes with the author’s final reflections and recommendations for further research in Chapter 6.
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