Andres Vazquez-Lopez Receives Arnold Grant for Student-Faculty Research

2016 Jan 7

Andres Vazquez-Lopez of Lancaster, Pa., is one of two students to receive an Arnold Grant for a student-faculty research project during Summer 2015. Vazquez-Lopez, a graduate of JP McCaskey High School, is pursuing a bachelor of science in chemistry.

This Arnold Grant enabled three LVC students to work with each other and Dr. Kathleen Tacelosky, chair of Department of Languages and professor of Spanish, to plan and carry out a readers' and writers' workshop to support linguistic development of transnational students. The results of on-going longitudinal research with Mexican transnational students has shown that students have trouble maintaining the reading and writing skills they gained while attending school in the United States. The research also shows that community-based projects are appropriate ways to help them meet their linguistic goals (Tacelosky, 2013).

The LVC students tested the reading and writing skills before and after the three-week workshop in July and August 2015. After returning from Mexico, the students analyzed the data and results to produce a paper during which will result in the submission of a proposal to present their findings at a regional conference.