Education Commons^™

Civic Engagement Amid Civil Unrest: Haitian Social Scientists Working At Home, Nadège Nau

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Unlike many of the autoethnographic accounts in world anthropologies discourse, this study employs critical educational ethnography to both address the geopolitics of Haitian anthropology while also spotlighting an understudied group: university faculty. This study addresses: What are the conditions of academic labor for anthropology professors working in Haiti? Moreover, what is the price of being an anthropology professor at the School of Ethnology at the State University of Haiti (UEH), and how do professors add meaningful value to their labor through sacrifice, ingenuity, and civic engagement? Despite professors’ work-related challenges and Haiti’s severe “brain drain” levels, for many professors, their …

Female Identity And Sexuality In Contemporary Indonesian Novels, Zita Rarastesa

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This project focuses on female characters’ identity and sexuality in four contemporary Indonesian novels, selected based on historical settings highly significant to the discussion. First, The Girl from the Coast (2002) by Pramoedya Ananta Toer takes place during Dutch colonialization, and the second, The Dancer (1982) by Ahmad Tohari, during the transition of power from President Soekarno to General Suharto, a period when the Indonesian Communist Party was still active. Durga/Umayi (2004) by Y. B. Mangunwijaya and Saman, a Novel (1998) by Ayu Utami both take place during the New Order era when Suharto was president of Indonesia.

The project’s …

Digital Stories Students Tell: An Exploration Of Doctoral Sla Students’ Beliefs About Storytelling And Educational Technology, Patrick Mannion

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Educational technology (ET) plays a major role in second/foreign (L2) language teaching and learning. Some factors influencing the ways in which teachers employ ET in L2 education are the teachers’ personal beliefs about how teachers and students should use ET to learn target languages. To develop a better understanding of influences on L2 teachers’ ET-related subjective positions, a need exists to explore the ET-related perceptions and beliefs of current and future teacher educators who are, or will be, responsible for the design and implementation of curricula and learning activities in teacher education programs. In these teacher education programs, future teachers …

The Effects Of Augmented Reality (Ar)-Infused Idiom Material On Iranian Students’ Idiom Achievements, Motivation, And Perceptions, Babak Khoshnevisan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Idiomatic competence poses a unique challenge on the second and foreign language learning process (Liontas, 1999). Multiple researchers have explored the perceptions and beliefs of language learners regarding idioms (Kömür & Çimen, 2009; Liontas, 2002a; Liontas, 2007). Other scholars have studied the role of technology in learning idioms (Amer, 2014; Andarab & Rouhi, 2014; Khoshnevisan, 2018a; Liontas, 2006). Additionally, researchers have widely investigated the impact of augmented reality (AR) on literacy development (Cheng & Tsai, 2014; Solak & Cakir, 2015). However, a thorough review of the related literature indicates few researchers have, to date, explored language learners’ perceptions about the …

The Gentle Artist: Empowering Warrior-Scholars Through The Physical Feminism Of Jiu-Jitsu, E. Emily Mahoney

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is an autoethnography about the socialization of people in various cultural contexts, in particular, women in the embodied role of the academic researcher. Being a researcher and enduring an experience of sexual assault right in the middle of my first research interview left me in a state of shock and survival. One out of every six American women will survive attempted or completed rape during her lifetime, with college-aged women being three to four times at increased risk compared to all women, yet the odds that this would take place during a project which had major implications for …

Borges, El Escritor Italiano: Precursores Italianos En/Desde Borges, Sara Boscagli

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The word precursor is a term that suggests something that comes before, that anticipates. However, what would happen if literature (beginning with Borges) would change this concept? The binary canons of before and after would disappear and with them the idea of a chronological literary temporality. As Borges suggests in the essay “Kafka and his precursors”, precursors can be identified due to the existence of Kafka who (as all writers) choose his literary “fathers”. What Borges suggests is that this choice not only modifies the future, but also the past.

To explore this literary and philosophical idea, Borges will be …

Book-Sharing As A Context For Fathers And Mothers To Enhance Language Development Of Their Preschool Children, Yagmur Seven

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Poor reading levels is a pervasive problem in the US. For example, two of every three eigth grade students in the US are estimated to demonstrate insufficient reading comprehension skills. Early use of decontextualized language, in which the language expressed is removed from the here and now, serves as a precursor of academic language proficiency. Starting as early as the third year of life, decontextualized language is less likely to be practiced in lower socio-economic status (SES) households. Although storybooks offer a rich context for practicing the language with young children, reading storybooks alone is not adequate to promote conversational …

On Her Own: A Qualitative Study On The College-To-Career Transition Of Black Second-Generation Alumnae, Ladessa Y. Mitchell

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative study was to describe the college-to-career transition of Black second-generation alumnae in the development phase of emerging adulthood using Schlossberg’s (2011) Transition Model. As the researcher, I collected data from Black second-generation alumnae of predominantly White public universities in Florida to examine how their intersecting identities (i.e., race, gender, and educational status) and use of metaphorical capital (i.e., social, cultural, and human capital) influence their transition. The conceptual framework for this study is based on the 4 S’s of Schlossberg’s Transition Model as well as emerging adulthood, forms of capital, and the intersecting identities of …

A New Literacy Coach And Two English Language Arts Teachers Learn Together: A Narrative Inquiry, Christiana C. Succar

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Literacy coaching is not new to education. Since the 2001 shift in the United States (U.S.) educational policy towards high-quality teacher training, accountability, and student achievement, literacy or reading coach positions have been a core part of the educational institution (U. S. Department of Education, 2003). However, with undefined coaching roles and inadequate coach training early in the initiative, minimal impact on effective teacher development and instructional shifts towards closing the achievement gap occurred (Dole, 2003; International Reading Association, 2004).

In the past ten years, more understanding of literacy coaches’ roles and responsibilities has occurred with the publication of numerous …

Exploring Spanish Heritage Language Learning And Task Design For Virtual Worlds, Brandon J. King

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this exploratory case study, I take a constant comparative methods type approach to exploring a shift in second language acquisition (SLA) away from approaches built on the assumption that language participants in the U.S. are monolingual English speakers (Block, 2003; Ortega, 2009, 2013; Thompson, 2013; Valdés, 2005), with little initial investment in the language or its culture (Rivera-Mills, 2012; Valdés, Fishman, Chavéz, & Pérez, 2006). This bias has entrenched a monolingual speaker baseline for statistical analysis within many experimental designs (Block, 2003; Ortega, 2009, 2013; Thompson, 2013; Valdés, 2005). Further, I redress this methodological bias by applying sociocultural theoretical …

Intersecting Stories: Cultural Reflexivity, Digital Storytelling, And Personal Narratives In Language Teacher Education, Julie Vivienne Dell-Jones

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This narrative inquiry dissertation explores stories from three students over a two-year trajectory as they develop into language educators in diverse contexts. The study begins in a teacher education course focused on technology for language teaching in English as a second language (ESOL) and foreign language education (FLE) classrooms. As instructor, I implemented a digital storytelling (DS) project with the pedagogical goal of supporting the much-needed practice of reflexivity, and specifically, reflexivity of intercultural competence (IC) and culturally-responsive pedagogy (CRP). The DS, as an autoethnographic multimodal narrative activity, provided a creative outlet for undergraduate and master’s level students to explore …

"We're Not Going To Talk About That:" A Qualitative Case Study Of Three Elementary Teachers' Experiences Integrating Literacy And Social Studies, Rebecca L. Powell

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this interpretive, qualitative multi-case study (Merriam, 2001; Stake, 1995) was to describe the experiences of three elementary classroom teachers as they integrated literacy and social studies during their literacy instruction. This study was grounded in an interpretivist paradigm and a theoretical lens of symbolic interactionism. The guiding questions were: What are the experiences of three elementary teachers when integrating literacy and social studies instruction? What information do teachers use when making decisions about integrated instruction? How do teachers’ beliefs align with their practices? How do teachers organize, plan for, and provide integrated instruction, including how they use …

An Intersectional Examination Of Disability And Lgbtq+ Identities In Virtual Spaces, Justine E. Egner

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is a multi-methodological project that examines the experiences of being both LGBTQ+ and disabled from an intersectional perspective through narratives constructed in virtual spaces. In this project, I address the question ‘how do individuals who identify as both disabled/chronically ill and LGBTQ+ negotiate these often contradictory identities?’ I also complexify this intersectional analysis by examining how LGBTQ+/disabled identities are constructed in relation to race, class, and gender. Additionally, by conducting virtual ethnography as the primary method of data collection, I explore questions pertaining to how members of LBGTQ+ and disability online communities engage in virtual identity construction and …

The Making Of A Nationally Recognized Band In A Small, Private Liberal Arts University: The Historical Significance Of The Bobby L. Adams Years, 1987-2012, Joshua David Blair

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to identify and detail the contributions and methods, decisions and specific techniques that Dr. Bobby Adams used while President of the Florida Bandmasters Association and Director of Bands at Stetson University to build and maintain a nationally recognized collegiate wind band program and a strong music education division at a private liberal arts university. Through historical documentation from the archives at Stetson University, interviews, phone calls, and emails, a brief overview of the United States wind band and its development at the tertiary level was discussed. To identify why Adams was considered a successful …

A Queer And Crip Grotesque: Katherine Dunn's, Megan Wiedeman

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The grotesque has long been utilized in literature as a means for subverting societal constraints and inverting constructions of normalcy. Unfortunately, in many instances, it has been constructed at the expense of disabled characters using their embodiment as metaphorical plot devices rather than social and political agents. Criticism of the grotesque’s use of bodily difference has prompted this analytical project in order to rethink disability as socially and politically positioned within texts, rather than simply aesthetics for symbolic means. The aim of this paper is to explore the ways the literary grotesque can be reread using queer theory and crip …

Once Upon A Genre: Distant Reading, The Newbery Medal, And The Affordances Of Interdisciplinary Paradigms For Understanding Children’S Literature, Melanie Griffin

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Typical critical patterns for studying children’s literature, defined in this study as a written text intended for a reader up to the age of 14, make it difficult to chart generic change across a large corpus of texts. Traditionally, criticism of children’s literature focuses on cherry picked archetypes, exemplars, and the standout extraordinary. This study employs interdisciplinary methods and data sources from library science, education, and literary studies to create a method for analyzing a sample corpus of children’s literature more holistically vis-à-vis distant, macroscopic reading techniques.

In this dissertation, I macroscopically read the corpus of Newbery Medal-winning texts in …

Lexical Stress Features Affecting The Recognition Of English Loanwords In Korean By Native English Hearers, Yunhyun Lee

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Unlike some Asian languages (e.g., Korean), English has lexical stress manifested by four acoustic features: duration, intensity, F0 (pitch), and vowel quality. Lexical stress has been known to have significant influences on native English speakers’ recognition of spoken words. According to Cutler (2015), lexical stress has both suprasegmental and segmental features: Suprasegmental features include duration, intensity, and F0 while vowel quality is considered a segmental feature. However, it is still unclear which lexical features are more responsible for spoken word recognition. This study examined which features, suprasegmental features or vowel quality of English, are a more significant influencer in spoken …

Latino Mothers’ Responsiveness And Bilingual Language Development In Young Children From 24 Months To 36 Months, Rica Ramirez

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This longitudinal study examined the role maternal responsiveness had on shaping Spanish and English language development in bilingual two year-old children. Because children who are bilingual language learners are oftentimes coming from low socioeconomic families it is essential that we investigate the ways in which they develop language in order to better serve this population. Maternal responsiveness is one source in which we can examine early language development of young bilingual children. Eight Latino mother-child dyads were observed and assessed at three time points. Each observation was coded for maternal responsive behaviors. Regression and multilevel modeling was used in order …

(Age)Ncy In Composition Studies, Alaina Tackitt

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The number of adult learners entering or returning to institutions of higher education is increasing in general and in relation to the traditional student population, and projections suggest that the trend will continue. As automation and technology impact the labor force, educational access is becoming a national concern and a necessity for more adult learners. Access to higher education impacts minority and economically depressed populations disproportionally and increases the personal and professional success of adult students and the long-term prosperity of their families. Although Composition Studies has a history of recognizing and facilitating student populations as they enter the Academy, …

Science In The Sun: How Science Is Performed As A Spatial Practice, Natalie Kass

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study analyzes how spatial organization impacts science communication at the St. Petersburg Science Festival in Florida. Through map analysis, qualitative interviews, and a close reading of evaluation reports, the author determines that sponsorship, logistics, exhibitor ambience, and map usability and design are the factors most affecting the spatial performance of science. To mitigate their effects, technical communicators can identify these factors and provide the necessary revisions when considering how science is communicated to the public.

“Way Down Upon The Suwanee River”: Examining The Inclusion Of Black History In Florida’S Curriculum Standards, William Newell

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As education focuses increasingly on standards based assessment, social studies must be examined for its integration of Black History in the United States History curriculum. Using a Critical Race Theory lens, this directed content analysis attempts to examine the Florida Standards for United States History to determine if and how Black History is integrated into United States History courses. The study also makes use of Banks’ (1994) “levels of integration” to explore the degree to which this is accomplished. In addition, lesson plans created and/or endorsed by the state of Florida are analyzed for their inclusion of Black History. Data …

Perspectives Of Women In Orthopaedic Surgery On Leadership Development, Ann C. Joyce

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Over the past 50 years, the demographics of medical school graduates in the United States has changed dramatically with the number of women (47%) almost equaling the number of men in 2014 (AAMC, 2014). However, the Association of American Medical Colleges (2014) reports that orthopaedic surgery has the lowest proportion of female residents, instructors, assistants, associate, and full professors of all the sub-specialties and little has changed in the past several decades.

Due to the healthcare reform and the changing needs of our society, it is importance to recruit, retain, and promote women into leadership positions. The purpose of this …

The Influence Of Context On L2 Development: The Case Of Turkish Undergraduates At Home And Abroad, Zeynep Koylu

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the field of second language acquisition (SLA), the study abroad context (SA) has gained attention as a site that offers the potential of significant second language (L2) development due to high amounts of input and interaction opportunities compared to at home foreign language (AH) and domestic immersion (IM) contexts (Pérez-Vidal, 2014). In previous research, the SA context has been a country where the L2 is the local language (e.g., English in the United Kingdom). However, with the increase of student mobility programs across Europe, such as ERASMUS, and the status of English as an International Language, another study abroad …

Writing Groups In Eighth-Grade Honors Language Arts: Student And Teacher Perceptions, Jennifer Sara Meister Denmon

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this qualitative case study, I investigated eighth-grade honors students’ and their language arts teacher’s perceptions of the support provided in writing groups, the climate in writing groups, and student and teacher support that enhanced students’ motivation to write in writing groups. Eleven study participants engaged in the inquiry, 10 middle school students and one language arts teacher. I collected data during the fall semester of 2014. Data were individual interviews, classroom observations of participants in writing groups, and program-related documents. The main aim in this investigation is to discover middle school students’ and their teacher’s perceptions of the support, …

When Language Arts Meets The Spectrum: English Teachers' Perspectives Of Students With Autism, Laura De Armond Sabella

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Current accountability measures require English language arts (ELA) teachers to teach literacy skills to all students. However, the population of mainstreamed students is becomingly increasingly diverse and includes students on the autism spectrum for whom literacy skills may lie in opposition to population characteristics. Further, educators are encouraged to respond to students in culturally responsive ways, and current teacher evaluation systems often require teachers to demonstrate cultural competence. However, a dearth of research provides insight into the ways secondary ELA teachers perceive their students on the autism spectrum, or how they interact with those students or support them in culturally …

Foreign Language College Achievement And The Infusion Of Three Selected Web 2.0 Technologies: A Mixed Method Case Study, Eulises Avellaneda

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Web 2.0 technologies such as blogs, Google Docs, and YouTube have become ubiquitous in today’s world of second and foreign language learning and have been the object of study (Wang & Vásquez, 2012), yet there is still a need to examine quantitatively and qualitatively how these tools impact the proficiency achievement levels of learners who use them. The purpose of this study was to explore the impact that blogs, Google Docs, and YouTube had on the achievement of college learners of Spanish as a foreign language. A mixed methods design was adopted.

The quantitative data were collected from students (N=75) …

When Maps Ignore The Territory: An Examination Of Gendered Language In Cancer Patient Literature, Joanna Bartell

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Cancer patients report having a high need for cancer information. Several studies show that the majority of patients surveyed report preferring information from the American Cancer Society (ACS). Ranging up to 129 pages, the ACS’ Detailed Guides (DG) are widely distributed throughout the United States, and offer patients an authoritative guide to help patients navigate the difficult terrain of the cancer journey. This dissertation examines the ACS’ cervical, endometrial, ovarian, penile, prostate, testicular, and vaginal cancer guides. Through a rhetorical analysis of the 7 guides, it was shown that the ACS DGs in question foster gendered narratives that strictly limit …

The Effects Of Technical And Imagery-Based Instruction On Aspiring Performing Artists’ Acquisition Of Learning Newly Composed Pieces And Improvisation And On Listeners’ Perceived Expressivity, José Valentino Ruiz-Resto

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore the union of technical and imagery-based instruction (hereinafter, T-I instruction) in two phases. Phase one: The researcher (1) explored T-I instruction’s influences on aspiring performing artists’ acquisition of learning and performing newly composed pieces and improvisation, and; (2) observed aspiring performing artists’ feelings of learning with T-I instruction versus technical instruction. Phase two: The researcher investigated (1) listeners’ perceived expressivity of aspiring performing artists’ performances that were either influenced by T-I instruction or technical instruction; (2) listeners’ perceived expressivity of aspiring performing artists’ performances of newly composed pieces versus improvisations; (3) whether …

Spiritual Frameworks In Pediatric Palliative Care: Understanding Parental Decision-Making, Lindy Grief Davidson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Parents of seriously ill children are charged with making complicated medical decisions, and many of those decisions are made during their children’s hospitalizations. As medical staff seek to support parents, it is important for them to understand what resources parents are drawing upon for decision-making. This project explored parental decision-making by examining the following research questions: RQ1: What resources do parents draw upon to make medical decisions for their seriously ill children? RQ2: How do parents enact their spiritual or religious frameworks in clinical settings when faced with medical decisions for their seriously ill children? Methods of research included ethnographic …

Reflections On Global Competence By Four Design Educators, Philip A. Bulone

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This inquiry investigated four design educators’ perspectives and beliefs of global competence teaching and learning, and aimed to inform effective global competence curricula planning and instruction across disciplines. The literature uncovered multiple reasons to warrant design educator reflections: (a) similarities among global competence and design thinking characteristics, (b) design education accreditation emphasis on globally oriented standards, and (c) design thinking as a resource to improve practices across disciplines. Accordingly, the inquiry employed a qualitative design and a multiple case-study approach. Data collection methods included: (a) interviews, (b) image artifacts, and (c) researcher reflective memos. A comparative analysis used systematic coding …