Digital Commons Network^™

Learning Work In The Esl Classroom : An Evaluation Of Textbooks Designed To Teach Esl In The Workplace, Amy Taylor-Henry

Dissertations and Theses

A growing number of American businesses are offering ESL courses at the work site; likewise, more and more textbooks designed specifically for teaching ESL in the Workplace (EWP), are being written and published. The need for an evaluation of these new texts with regard to current teaching methodology, the particularities of EWP, and the social implications of EWP is a vital one. A good EWP text, besides serving as a guide and resource for learners, can also facilitate intercultural understanding, increase awareness of workers' rights and unions, and promote participation in training programs for job flexibility and promotion. Most importantly, …

Strategies In Theodore Dreiser's Trilogy Of Desire To Resolve The Division Between The Material And The Spiritual, Claas Riese

Dissertations and Theses

A study of strategies and attempts in Theodore Dreiser's novels The Financier, The Titan and The Stoic to resolve the conflict between the material and the spiritual. The purpose of this thesis is to demonstrate that conflicts in Dreiser criticism reflect unresolved conflicts between these issues in his "Trilogy". Having outlined and shown the division in the literary criticism of the "Trilogy", in the first chapter of this thesis, I will discuss the three main themes, finance, art and women, which can be seen as strategies to bridge the division between the material and the spiritual. I will attempt to …

Theory And Poetry: John Ashbery's "Self-Portrait In A Convex Mirror", Jeffrey Wayne Timmons

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis examines John Ashbery's poem "Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror" and its revision of the traditional distinction between theory and poetry. Drawing a relationship between the poem's subject and the practices of postmodern theoretical discourse, the thesis posits the poem as an artifact of these changes. Creating a context for the poem, these developments not only inform the climate in which Ashbery's poem takes on significance, but, as well, explain the changing nature of literary study. Historical in its approach to the pressures and impulses within this climate of aesthetic production, the thesis traces the distinction between science and …

"Self Was Forgotten": Attention To Private Consciousness In The Diaries Of Three Mormon Frontier Women, Genevieve Jane Long

Dissertations and Theses

This study discusses diaries by three Mormon women on America's southwestern frontier. These diaries cover a period stretching from 1880-1920. The study explores how these diarists (in a culture that was and remains highly communitarian and which valued, for women, the primary roles of helpmeet and mother), leave the imprint of individual as well as cooperative consciousness in private writings. As authors, diarists display remarkable persistence in maintaining and elaborating on a daily text. Since diaries are a type of private writing engaged in even by women who--because of education, social class, or life circumstances--do little other writing, women's diaries …

Walt Whitman's Poetics Of Labor, David Janssen

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to organize and examine Walt Whitman's poetic representations and discussions of laborers and labor issues in order to argue that form a distinct "poetics" of labor in Leaves of Grass. This poetics of labor reveals that Whitman was attempting to enlarge the audience for American poetry by representing American society at work in poetry. Whitman also used labor as a poetic subject in order to justify the work of the poet in that society. In this sense, Whitman's poetics of labor is comprised of numerous demonstrations of his argument for the labor of poetry …

How Gothic Influences And Eidetic Imagery In Eight Color Plates And Key Poems By William Blake Figuratively Unite Body And Soul By Dramatizing The Visionary Imagination, Honor Penelope Vallor

Dissertations and Theses

A study of Gothic influences and eidetic imagery evident in eight Blake color plates to demonstrate that, when interpreted together with key Blake poems, unity of body and soul can be accomplished by means of the visionary imagination.

On A Women's Language, Tamara Brown

Dissertations and Theses

Assessing the feminist belief that women have a perspective dramatically differing from the patriarchal perspective, and that this viewpoint is, or could be, couched in a language differing from the norm, this researcher addressed the following three questions: (1) is there a definition of a women's language? (2) does a women's language exist? and (3) if a women's language does exist, in what form does it exist? These questions engendered feminist rhetorical criticism on the work of two radical feminists well known for their interest in, and attention to, the issue of a women's language.

The Effectiveness Of Fiction Versus Nonfiction In Teaching Reading To Esl Students, Becky Kay Appley

Dissertations and Theses

In recent years with the growing emphasis upon communicative activities in the classroom, controversy has risen as to which type of reading material is best for teaching reading in the ESL classroom, fiction or nonfiction.

A study was conducted with 31 students of which 15 were taught with non-fiction and 16 were taught with fiction. Both groups were taught the same reading skills. Each group was given three pre-tests and three post-tests in which improvement in overall language proficiency and reading comprehension in the areas of main idea, direct statements and inferences was measured. Also, each group was observed for …

Cheever's Signs : A Semiotic Approach To Thirteen Stories By John Cheever, Laurent Ditmann

Dissertations and Theses

Literary criticism dealing with John Cheever focuses on the social implications of Cheever's description of suburban America. The purpose of this thesis is to propose a new approach to Cheever's short stories, and to apply the concepts developed by French literary critics Jacques Derrida and Roland Barthes to thirteen short stories by Cheever.

The Effects Of Oral Conferencing And Written Comments On The Writing And Revisions Of Esl Students, Ann Louise Kirk

Dissertations and Theses

This study looked at the effect of written and oral comments on students' writing. The research hypotheses were that the use of oral comments would improve the overall quality of the students papers, increase the length more, and cause more changes in content than the use of written comments. On the other hand, the use of written comments would cause a greater decrease in grammatical errors in the students' papers than oral comments. The tests used to evaluate these hypotheses were the holistic writing scale used by the Test of Written English (TWE), a word count, a content percentage scale …

Analysis Of Error Type, Source, And Gravity In The Writing Of Arabic Esl Students In U.S.A. Colleges, Fadel Mohammed Na'im Bader

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study is to determine the type, possible source and gravity of errors found in the Test of Written English and Placement Tests compositions written by native speakers of Arabic at college level. The first part of the study is an error analysis designed to reveal the types of errors that are most frequently made by Arab students at college level. The sources of these errors are explained according to Richards' classification of errors as inter- and intralingual (1971). Seven types of errors are identified under interlingual category: articles, prepositions, the copula, embedded questions, pronoun retention, semantic …

The Test Of Written English : A Statistical Analysis Of Validity And Reliability, Christina E. English

Dissertations and Theses

This study examines the use of the Test of Written English (TWE), the essay portion of the TOEFL, as an indicator of academic readiness at Portland State University.

A Contextualized Grammar Proficiency Test Using Informal Spoken English, Sally Wellenbrock Hinrich

Dissertations and Theses

Intensive college-level ESL programs typically focus on building students' academic skills in English. Yet many ESL students leave the intensive programs only to find that they cannot sufficiently comprehend conversations with native English-speaking classmates or understand freshman-level lectures. While the students frequently perceive the problem as relating to the rapid speech tempo used by native speakers, an integral part of the comprehension problem is the pervasive use of modified forms of English, commonly called reductions, contractions, and assimilations.

The present research investigates whether comprehension of certain modified forms of spoken informal English can be used to measure students' level of …

The Effects Of A Course In American Jokes On A Class Of Intermediate Level Esl Students, John Randolph Carruthers

Dissertations and Theses

Teachers of English to speakers of other languages have often incorporated humor in the curriculum, yet a recent computer search revealed that there were no empirical studies which have shown that curricular humor enhances English language learning. The three specific questions of the thesis are: does the use of curricular humor 1) improve memory/recall, 2) improve over-all English proficiency, and 3) result in the subjects' having more positive attitudes towards Americans, and if so, does a more positive attitude correlate with improved memory/proficiency?

Finding A New Voice: The Oregon Writing Community Between The World Wars, Karen Stoner Reyes

Dissertations and Theses

The period of 1919 to 1939 was a significant one for the development of the literature of Oregon and the Pacific Northwest. The literary work produced in the region prior to the first world war was greatly influenced by the "Genteel tradition" of the late nineteenth century. By 1939, however, the literature of Oregon and the region had emerged from the outdated literary standards of the pre-war period and had found a new, realistic, natural voice, strongly regional in nature and rooted in the modern American tradition.

This change came about in large part through the efforts of a small …

A Study Of The Correlation Between The Degree Of Acculturation And Scholastic Achievement And English Gain Of Esl Students, Grades 2-5, Beach School, Portland, Oregon, Rhona R. Blackton

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study is to determine if a correlation exists between the degree of acculturation and achievement in English, reading and math of English as a Second Language (ESL) students in grades 2 to 5. This study is intended to provide insights about the acculturating ESL student, and suggests how educators can best meet students' needs.

Realism In Young Adult Literature : Criteria And Analysis, Maryjo Barnett Chinn

Dissertations and Theses

This paper will study realism in young adult literature, focusing specifically on those books in which young adults accept parenting roles. First, professional literature about realism will be reviewed from a· historical perspective, then criteria for realism will be examined. New criteria will be synthesized and applied to six novels. An annotated bibliography of novels in which young adults accept parenting roles will be presented.

The Acquisition Of Obligatory-Do, Bernadette Maresh-Ericksen

Dissertations and Theses

The auxiliary verb obligatory-do is used in forming questions, negative and emphatic sentences. Currently there is no test or norms established for the acquisition of obligatory-do. The purpose of this study was to establish age trends, via elicited imitation for the acquisition of obligatory-do according to the sentence type in which it expressively occurs i.e., negative sentences, emphatic sentences, interrogative reversals and wh-questions. This study addressed the following question: At what ages do children expressively demonstrate, via elicited imitation, the auxiliary verb obligatory-do in negative sentences, emphatic sentences, interrogative reversals and wh-questions? A secondary question was: In what manner does …

Age And The Comprehension Of Spatial Adjectives, Barbara Ann Cassidy

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study was to determine the significance of chronological age on the comprehension of spatial adjectives in children. Specifically, the investigation set out to determine the age levels at which children comprehend the polar forms of various spatial adjectives and to determine the difference in age levels of comprehension of unmarked versus marked adjective forms. Seventy children between the ages of two years, +/-2 months and eight years, + 2 months, selected on the basis of chronological age, normal receptive vocabulary recognition and normal hearing, participated as subjects.

Stephen Crane's Ironic Vision, Michael J. O'Bryant

Dissertations and Theses

Stephen crane's major irony in his art is produced by contrasting his characters' illusions with reality. In Maggie that reality is an environmental indifference that is very much like the deterministic environment of the Naturalistic Novelists. Maggie's perceptions and expectations contrast with this reality, seeming very ironic. In The Red Badge of Courage, "The Open Boat," and "The Blue Hotel,” each character's illusion is contrasted with a reality that is absolutely indifferent. It is in these works (as well as in his letters and poetry) that Crane affirms man's need to embrace those illusions which enable him to face reality. …

Educational, Sociocultural, And Phonological Obstacles For The Japanese Learner Of English, David Howard Waterbury

Dissertations and Theses

Every Japanese high school student studies English for at least six years. However, the results of this study, especially in speaking, are poor. In the present study, educational, sociocultural, and linguistic obstacles to learning for the Japanese student are considered.

An educational system oriented toward passing college and university entrance examinations has distorted English curriculum. Furthermore, English teachers in Japan lack proficiency in the language. The teaching staffs and materials of language schools are poorly regulated.

Concern with relative status, group identification, and loss of face acts as a deterrent to learning. For many learners the wrong type of motivation …

Choice And Success: The Evolution Of A Modern Hero, Laurence W. Ranstead

Dissertations and Theses

The phenomenon of modern fantasy is the result of a tradition that originated with romance. It is a tradition that has experienced continual redefinement and utilization over the years. This is evidenced by the rediscovery of certain characteristics of the Medieval Romance and the development of others by the Romantics, William Blake, William Wordsworth, and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. These characteristics are identifiable in the works of such later writers as Charles Dickens, William Morris, H.G. Wells, G.B. Shaw, C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkein. The concern of these succeeding authors is the same as that of the Romantics, i.e., the nature …

The Influence Of Ben Jonson On The Poetry Of Yeats, Wayne Kenneth Chapman

Dissertations and Theses

What this thesis attempts to do is to render as full a picture as possible of Yeats's interest in Ben Jonson, using to the fullest advantage the many hints that come from Yeats and secondary oriticism. Specifically, the focus of this paper is on the process by which Yeats was able, like Eliot, Pound and others, to found a tough, new poetic style with reference to this seventeenth-century period of Jonson. Yeats's reading of "Jonson and the others," which took place at the turn of this century, triggered a whole series of discoveries by Yeats which anticipated the aesthetic beliefs …

William Dunbar: An Analysis Of His Poetic Development, G. David Beebe

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis examines the work of William Dunbar, a sixteenth century Scottish poet, in order to demonstrate that he is not, as he is often styled, a Scottish Chaucerian. It makes an analysis of the chronological occurrence of forms and themes in his poetry which indicates that his work can be divided into three periods: (1) an initial period in which his work deals with traditional matter and forms; (2) a second period in which he develops a distinctly personal poetic voice; and (3) a final period in which he perfects this personal voice and then relinquishes it for a …

A Theory Of The Perception Of Character, Donna C. Brown

Dissertations and Theses

In this thesis, the critical term "character" is defined from a reader's perspective as a process involving three elements: (1) syntactical character, the printed words that delimit character in the order in which they occur; (2) spatial character, these printed words organized in the reader's mind into a pattern. These two together are called grammatical character; and (3) a mental image that results from reading these printed words.

Thomas Hardy : A Study; Suffering, Human Will, And Grace In The Major Novels, Russell E. Borland

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis concentrates on human relations and the potential for man’s beatitude in Hardy’s major novels through an exploration of suffering, human will, evolutionary meliorism, and Grace, discussed in separate chapters. Chapter I is devoted to an introduction of the major elements of what is here called Hardy’s vision. Relying largely on Florence Emily Hardy’s The Life of Thomas Hardy and on references to some of the novels, a compilation of impressions is arranged into what seems to represent accurately the basic nature of the world and human relations in Hardy’s novels. The emphasis and the thrust of the vision …