Semester of Graduation
Fall 2025
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Instructional Technology
Committee Chair/First Advisor
Dr. Tiffany Roman
Second Advisor
Dr. Dabae Lee
Third Advisor
Dr. Laurie Dias
Abstract
Teachers of Multilingual Learners (MLs) must support students with varying English proficiency as they work toward meaningful academic progress. One promising support is live digital feedback, which can be multimodal—written, typed, drawn, or audiovisual—and serves as an added scaffold as MLs work within their zone of proximal development (ZPD). This qualitative case study examined ML student and teacher perceptions of live teacher and peer digital feedback in one-to-one (1:1) classrooms, grounded in sociocultural theory, effective feedback, and multimodality. The research questions focused on the types of feedback provided by teachers and peers and how ML students—both recipients and peer helpers—and their teachers perceived this support in terms of timing, mode of delivery, relevance, clarity, preferences, and its impact on learning and engagement. Perceptions were gathered from five middle school teachers and 18 ML students through classroom observations, artifact analysis, interviews, and questionnaires. Data analysis involved iterative rounds of open and focused coding. Findings showed that live digital feedback can promote efficient, equitable, and empowered teaching and learning; that teachers and students experienced platform limitations and learning curves; and that ESOL strategies supported lower-level learners. Overall, this study demonstrates that live, multimodal digital feedback can scaffold learning and empower MLs in 1:1 settings while offering practical guidance for schools seeking strategies for ML populations.