Digital Commons Network^™

Women In Religious Leadership Roles, Amanda Wadkins

MSU Graduate Theses

The experiences of women in leadership have been well studied in academia, but there remains a gap in the literature regarding and understanding of the experiences of women who are in religious leadership roles. I examined what challenges these women experience in their roles, and how they make sense of those challenges, using the constant comparative method of data analysis to analyze interviews with 12 women who have leadership roles within their protestant church or nonprofit organization. The results indicate that these individuals experience challenges that are consistent with past research on women in leadership. However, the results also illustrate …

Validating A Predictive Early Kindergarten Dynamic Assessment Of Word Level Reading And Language, Taylor Jordan Cena

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the preliminary psychometrics to revisions to the decoding subtest of the Predictive Early Assessment of Reading and Language (PEARL) dynamic assessment and to further examine the predictive validity of the language subtest of the PEARL. Specific aims were to (a) determine if kindergarten students made gains on the PEARL decoding subtest from pretest to a delayed standard posttest and to a delayed novel posttest, indicating that floor effects were mitigated, (b) to examine if there was variance in the delayed standard posttest and novel posttest scores, (c) to determine if there was …

Other Oceans, Other Skies, Sharlene Lee

MFA in Visual Art

I create immersive installations, performances, and time-based media artworks that delve into stories of belonging, feminism, and language as power. These stories offer a potential for transformation from viewer to participant and a shift in how our world is seen and experienced. Through an exploration of perception and affect, I challenge dominant narratives, prompting a contemplation of contemporary power struggles for control.

In this text, I examine the impact of historical borders and migration on my life while also investigating questions of home, shared values, and rituals that contribute to one’s sense of belonging. I also highlight my commitment to …

Tied Together, Eiko Nishida

Theses and Dissertations

The paper is about a site-specific installation that questions a viewer’s norms and perspectives, through the use of multilingual newspapers as a sculptural material.

The Meaning Of Words: For Richer Or For Poorer, Susan Lutfallah

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The current study operationally defined semantic richness as the depth and breadth of meaning associated with words. It also examined the relationship between known language variables and their relative contribution to semantic richness as a construct. A total of 60,000 subjective word ratings were explicitly collected from adult participants across 39 different countries who identified as speaking English as a first language. These ratings were compared to other known language variables to investigate the individual and collective relationships among them and determined their predictive influence on the collected ratings. It was found that although most variables were significantly related to …

Rewriting Web 2.0 Discourses Of The Local For Socio-Spatial Literacy Theory, Erin Daugherty

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation seeks to provide a framework for engaging with two spatial concepts that have been foundational to theorizing literacy across time but have often been taken for granted as passive backdrops to the social action of literacy practice: the notions of “the local” and “the global.” By interrogating the histories, both past and ongoing, of these two spatial concepts as they are interwoven into the sociocultural paradigm of literacy theory, research, and pedagogy, this project identifies new ways that literacy researchers and educators can attend to spatial concepts so as to promote and encourage literacy research and learning that …

Negotiating Multilingual Writer Identity In The Dissertation: International Perspectives On Language And Writing Practices, A. Brooke Boulton

Education Doctorate Dissertations

Globalization and internationalization of higher education have perpetuated the dominance of English as the language of production and reproduction in doctoral education. English dominance considers the status of English as a lingua franca in academia. Multilingual students for whom English is not the first language must engage in complex language and writing practices to meet university and publication standards, globally. As writing is identity work, students must negotiate thought and writing in two or more languages to achieve meaningful self-expression and to represent authentic, authoritative voices in English. Data representing students from 17 different countries and speaking 14 different languages …

Not Angry But Angy: The Rhetorical Effects Of Non-Standard Language In Memes, Cailin Rhiannon Wile

Online Theses and Dissertations

The use of non-standard language on the internet has long been a topic of controversy, as some believe its prevalence indicates carelessness or a lack of intelligence in the (mostly) younger generations who use it. Non-standard language can refer to spelling or grammar that deviates from preferred language conventions, and is popular in what are called internet “memes.” Though the definition of a “meme” can vary, the term can be used to refer to pieces of culture that are remixed and disseminated by internet users. This thesis identifies patterns of non-standard language in memes to demonstrate that these changes are …

≥I++ Wayward Self, Space, And Language, Mystie Do, Thu Tm Do

Theses and Dissertations

Having crossed different geographical and cultural borders, I can’t seem to position myself beyond society’s forced binaries of race, sexuality, and materiality. My personal diasporic experience drives me to bring together various presences, putting them next to one another, engaging them in dialogues. My works often share multiple space–time possibilities: a digital space, a physical site, a virtual alternity. Occupying these parallel worlds are varied ratios of mixtures of natural ecosystems, my own system of abstraction, and existing technological systems that allow us a level of individual engagement not previously available. I want to invite people to fluctuate between these …

Language Concordance In Medicine And The Need For Medical Schools To Require Taking A Foreign Language As An Intervention Method To Minimize Language Barriers In The U.S., Mary K. Yousif

Honors College Theses

During medical school future student doctors are exposed to a multitude of patients, both natives and non-natives. However, there is no course offering (such as a foreign language or culture class) provided within the curriculum that prepares them for these future interactions. With communication being one of the primary skills used in healthcare, it is imperative to discuss the effects it can cause on a patient if not established. Overall, the goal of this research is to conduct a literary investigation regarding this matter and educate the medical community about the importance of providing effective communication in medicine. This begins …

Language Learning From The Developmental And Neurocognitive Perspective: An Examination Of The Impact Of Music On Second Language Acquisition, Shelby Grimm

Honors College Theses

This literature review aims to analyze the influence of music as a learning tool throughout the process of second language acquisition. Through the compilation and analysis of recent research conducted on the academic, cultural, and linguistic impacts of music on the four modes of language, which include reading, speaking, writing, and listening, this thesis will demonstrate the effects of incorporating music into the second language learning curriculum. Definitions of both music and language, as well as a description of the components of both areas will be included. An examination of the neurocognitive relationship between music and language, as well as …

Kinesthetic Language: A Dialect Of Kinesics, Terrill Suzanne Corletto

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Human communication requires the disciplines regarding physical fitness, codified language, and the performing arts to overlap, and exist symbiotically. Within the realm of artistic performance, the three disciplines working together deliver a deliberate message in a way unique to performing artists. The general tendency to compartmentalize sports, communication, and the performing arts into their pigeonhole categories of Kinesiology, Linguistics, and Theatre Arts is impractical, particularly for performing artists simply because all of the disciplines are mutually dependent in the context of all kinesthetic communications.

The purpose of this paper is to define and discuss several concepts and the ways in …

Student-Centered, Interaction-Based, Community-Driven Language Teaching, Sharon Lyman

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This portfolio is a compilation that highlights some of the author’s accomplished work while in the Master of Second Language Teaching (MSLT) program at Utah State University (USU). Organized into sections that reflect the author’s teaching and research perspectives as a MSLT graduate student and instructor, who taught intensive English reading, writing, and conversation courses for the Intensive English Language Institute (IELI).

In the first section, teaching perspectives, the author describes her desired professional environment, shares her personal teaching philosophy statement, and accounts for her professional development through classroom observations. In the second section, research perspectives, two research papers and …

Feminine And Masculine Linguistic Comparison: Investigating Team Sports Through Notre Dame University Media News Archives, Ellie Lengacher

Honors Projects and Presentations: Undergraduate

This unobtrusive qualitative research was aimed to explore the linguistic differences in media news archives between male and female athletes in sport. Data was collected unobtrusively through Notre Dame University’s athletic online website where media news archives were gathered from the sports of soccer, basketball, and lacrosse in the 2019 year. Open coding was then achieved with the help of varying verbs and adjectives collected. Upon analysis, four patterns emerged from the open coding process. These themes being latent gendered linguistics, a double standard, overemphasizing qualifications of female athletes, and structural disparities. Results concluded that there continues to be major …

The Impact Of Statistical Learning On Language And Social Competency In Asd And Adhd: Divergent Findings, Kaitlyn M.A Parks

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Statistical learning is a process that allows individuals to extract regularities from the environment and plays an important role in language acquisition, speech segmentation, and aspects of social behaviour. Little is known about the contribution of statistical learning impairments on Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) related traits. The current study examined whether impairments in auditory and visual statistical learning are related to ASD and ADHD traits, language, and social competency. Decreased auditory, but not visual statistical learning abilities was related to increased autism traits and visual statistical learning and social competency abilities were mediated by language comprehension. …

Everyday Talk: Perpetuating Cultures Of Sexual Violence On College Campuses, Sara Collins

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

While sexual violence on college campuses has always been present, recently, there has been heightened interest in ways that individuals can resist against this problematic and harmful culture. This study employs a communicative perspective grounded in social construction and relationships between power, language, and subjectivity to gain insights into the everyday talk that perpetuates rape culture. Specifically, four focus groups were conducted to understand how college students talk about dating, relationships, and sex. Qualitative analysis of the focus group transcripts revealed how women and men conceptualize the process of dating and critical analysis reveals how the talk about relationships and …

Relationship Between Joint Attention And Language In Multiparous And Uniparous Households, Hannah C. Manis

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The present study was designed to examine differences in the effect of the number of children in the household (also known as “parity”) on the relationship between initiating joint attention (IJA) and language development. We reasoned that infants who are only children (i.e., in uniparous homes), relative to infants who have one or more siblings (i.e., in multiparous homes), would have more opportunity to engage in IJA, and would, therefore, acquire a larger number of object labels. We tested the hypotheses that: 1) there would be a positive correlation between the number of IJA bids and language overall, and 2) …

Why Study Language? Discussing Language And Its Influence On Gender Discrimination, Katelyn Eisenmann

Honors Projects

An applied research project, with the culminating piece being a panel discussion that focused on the ways in which language use and structure contribute to attitudes and perceptions of gender within our society, and the politics that surround concepts of gender.

“Picking My Battles ”: Examining The Experiences Of Gender Non-Binary Identities Within The U.S., Mika Raylen Richards

Theses and Dissertations

As there is limited research on non-binary individuals, researching the non-binary experience was essential to normalizing their existence. The qualitative research focuses on 12 non-binary individuals who were at different stages of being out. A thematic analysis helped in understanding multifaceted responses from the participants. The data showed that non-binary individuals experience invalidation each day. Heteronormative societies and individuals tend to only see a binary within gender identity and shape their language around it, whether it be from their refusal of learning or a lack of knowledge of the problem. This failure to acknowledge non-binary individuals influenced many of their …

Establishing Influence And Authority In Ancient Civilizations And Modern Politics: The Rhetoric Of Oracles And The Oracular Maneuvers Of Political Action Committees, Michel C. Lacrue

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

While most animals communicate in order to convey environmental information such as danger or where food is located, humans have evolved and developed an articulated language for a myriad of uses, and our language is the basis for how we shape and maintain reality. Language can be used to teach, express an attitude or affiliation to a group, and give us a sense of our state of being, but it can also be used to manipulate a narrative in order to gain power over others. This project argues that Political Action Committees (PACs), and the language that they use in …

The Biased Language In Media Commentary At The 2018 Winter Olympic Games, Gabriella Adriana Barattolo

Communication Studies

This paper examines the media commentary at the 2018 Winter Olympic Games. It focuses on the commentary of five sports: Women’s Snowboarding Halfpipe, Men’s Snowboarding Halfpipe, Individual Figure Skating, Pairs Figure Skating, and Curling. The goal of this paper is to study the language choices that the media commentators made and uncover the gender bias within their language. The differences in how the commentators discuss athletes is significant to understand because it reveals the overall gender bias in sports that is still present in our society today.

The Evaluation Of Non-Standard Accented English: An Intergroup Perspective On Language Attitudes, Doris Acheme

ETD Archive

The present study used social identity theory as a framework in examining the evaluation of non-standard accented speakers from India and Nigeria and whose first language is English. Social identity theory explains one’s awareness that he/she is a member of a certain social group and that such group membership is of value to the individual. Accordingly, the study investigated how social identity influences listeners’ perceptions of non-standard accented speakers’ status, solidarity, and dynamism. And also, if Standard American English (SAE), Indian and Nigerian accents are perceived differently by listeners. A 3 (SAE, Indian accented English, and Nigerian accented English) ¿ …

A Jawn By Any Other Name: A Sociolinguistic Analysis Of The Philadelphia Dialect, Ryan Wall

HON499 projects

This paper investigates the history of the Philadelphia dialect and analyzes how trends in immigration, migration, and socioeconomic status have affected it. Drawing upon academic and popular sources, the paper examines how the dialect has changed over time and how it might continue to evolve in the future.

Metaphor And Ideology In Economic Discourse, Brian Derhen

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Despite the presence of metaphors in American political discourse, little scholarly attention has been paid to the functioning of economic metaphors. This study addresses this shortcoming by examining the use of economic metaphors in contentious argument, while paying attention to how metaphor's linguistic variability derives from the rhetorical nature of discourse, and how the context of conflicting ideologies facilitates clashes between larger political metaphors. After establishing the ubiquity of metaphor in economic policy discourse, this study elaborates on an understanding of a fractured political discourse with an historical model that traces this fracture back to four dominant ideological positions. Finally, …

Embodied Composition: The Creation Of Enriched Interactional Experiences Through Music Composition, Aaron Bilney Geringer

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Music is a form of embodied interaction through which people can synchronize their motor, sensory, and emotive systems. Anthropologists and developmental psychologists suggest that elements of music provide the groundwork for verbal interaction and interpersonal relationships (Aiello, 1996; Dissanayake, 2000; Mithen, 2006). When people interact with each other through music, the bases of community are formed. Phenomenological descriptions of individual’s experience of music and the role music plays in interpersonal interaction have been documented. However, there is little literature describing the embodied experiences of music composers as the architects of embodied interactions through music. Through this study, I address this …

Meaning In Motion, Kara Hendrickson

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis essay and accompanying exhibition examine the capacity of interactive art to stage situations for participants to explore embodiment. In presenting the four-part interactive suite "Body Language" by Nathaniel Stern, the exhibition invites viewers to engage with digital projections that track and respond to movement by producing animated text and spoken utterances. Through the juxtaposition of motion performed by the viewer’s physical body with computer-generated words and speech, "Body Language" explores the complex ways in which the body and language depend upon each other to create and communicate meaning. This essay also proposes that the gallery uses its power …

The Power Fantastic: How Genre Expectations Mediate Authority, Angela Rose Cox

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation reconciles academic and popular uses of the term genre, concluding that genre is a transmedial, mutable, associative, recognized system regulated through tacit understandings of prestige and power in a given Social space. The study employs a digital humanities method (dependent on digitally facilitated data analysis), conducting descriptive discourse analysis on collected online discussions from fan spaces concerning the fantasy genre and matters related to fantasy. In this way, I construct an image of the fantasy genre, and genre in general, as a multimodal space in which material freely passes between traditional and new media and participants actively negotiate …

Music And Language Development: Traits Of Nursery Rhymes And Their Impact On Children's Language Development, Ashley Lauren Gonzalez

Music

From birth--possibly even before birth--the amount and array of external stimuli profoundly affect a child’s cognitive and linguistic development. In addition to verbal communication from parent to child, singing proves to be an integral aid to a child’s development of speech and language, allegedly due to repetitions of words and rhythms. Nursery rhymes are, from infancy, among the most commonly presented forms of musical stimulus for children. The repetitive nature of the nursery rhymes undoubtedly supports language and speech development, but various characteristics of nursery rhymes, specifically pitch interval, meter, phrase length, contour, and harmony, also contribute substantially to the …

Toddlers And Technology: An Examination Of How The Digital Surround May Be Related To Prototypic Vocabulary Development And Social Interactions During Play, Hannah Biarnesen Hutcheson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study sought to examine how the digital technology that surrounds young children may be related to prototypic vocabulary development and Social interactions during play. Twenty-six families in the Northwest Arkansas region with children between 15-36 months of age participated in the study. Thirteen children attended a campus preschool, six children attended a grant-funded local preschool, and seven children, all from the Northwest Arkansas area, were part of an earlier home-based study. The materials for the study included a developmental-technology use questionnaire and the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories. Archival videotaped play sessions with the seven home-based children utilized a “Little …

"I Warn You Ming, Stay Away From My Friends!”: The Language Of Superhero Mythology In Flash Gordon, R. James Buehner

ETD Archive

The Flash Gordon (Stephani, 1936) serial is a profoundly important, indeed seminal superhero film that has not been granted the critical attention that it deserves within modern film scholarship. Its position at the beginning of the genre of the modern screen superhero is examined through its evident thematically mythic implications and its culturally centered historical aspects. The serial Flash Gordon is treated and analyzed as a self-standing text that provides clues to the ontological and genealogical foundation and conventions of the screen superhero that is dominant in the media landscape today. This analysis is conducted through the Freudian – Jungian …