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Discourses Of Developmental English Education: Reframing Policy Debates, Aaron R. Tolbert May 2017

Discourses Of Developmental English Education: Reframing Policy Debates, Aaron R. Tolbert

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

According to the National Educational Longitudinal Study, an estimated 28% of academically underprepared students who take developmental courses (preparatory, not credit-bearing) graduate within 8.5 years (Attewell, Lavin, Domina, & Levey, 2006), far below the national average graduation rate of near 60% of students for all postsecondary institutions (USDE, 2016). Given these statistics, some conclude that developmental education itself contributes to the low graduation rate of developmental students (Bailey, Jaggars, & Jenkins, 2015). Indeed, the causes of this attainment gap are the focus of vigorous debates by scholars from numerous disciplines, defining whether the problems exist within the organizational structure and …


Text Based Analysis In The Undergraduate Classroom, Katelyn Antolik Jan 2017

Text Based Analysis In The Undergraduate Classroom, Katelyn Antolik

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This project compromises of both a written and technical portion. I have created an interactive web source for teaches in the undergraduate literature classroom to encourage a dynamic experience with literary text in order to promote active engagement in literature for students at any level of technological experience. Students or teachers are able to input outside texts that utilize graphs, charts, and interactive web tools in order to promote learning skills transferable to both academic and non-academic career paths. By utilizing “The Story of an Hour”, I explore the uses of this software in order to demonstrate the potential of …


Sicilians In Detroit: How Do They Speak?, Giovanna Brunetti Jan 2017

Sicilians In Detroit: How Do They Speak?, Giovanna Brunetti

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The present study focuses on the linguistic analysis of the varieties of the Sicilian dialect spoken in the city of Detroit, Michigan. The city has witnessed, starting from the early 19th century, a steady process of immigration and settlement involving speakers mainly arriving from the two Sicilian coastal towns of Terrasini and Cinisi. The varieties they speak appear to have never been the subject of systematic observation. The present study, thus, focuses on the preservation, attrition and/or loss of the phonological features of the Sicilian dialect spoken by a community of Sicilian immigrants of different generations living in Detroit. Native …