Variedades. Second Edition. Intermediate/ Advanced Spanish Conversation, Carmela V. Mattza

Faculty Publications

VARIEDADES. Second Edition. Intermediate/ Advanced Spanish Conversation is a textbook for the student at the intermediate / advanced intermediate level. Through audiovisual activities, the student is expected to put their previous knowledge into practice and improve their ability to understand, write, listen, and speak in Spanish. VARIEDADES offers communicative activities that can be easily adapted into courses of different levels. In addition, it offers an appendix of activities with films and a Spanish grammar section that by subject directs the student to electronic databases that are freely accessible or are part of the Open Access platform.

An Evaluation Of The Break Up With Salt Community-Based Hypertension Education Program, Helena L. Salgado

LSU Master's Theses

Introduction: Hypertension is a primary risk factor for heart disease and stroke, and contributes to renal disease, premature death, and disability. More recently, hypertension has also been identified as a risk factor for serious symptoms or as an underlying cause of death from Covid-19. Break up with salt (BUWS) is a 4-session, community-based nutrition education program of the LSU AgCenter, developed in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, to help Louisiana’s adults prevent or mange hypertension. The BUWS curriculum focuses on the DASH diet, healthy food selection and preparation skills, and physical activity and stress management. BUWS was piloted in a …

The Rural Road: A Phenomenological Study Exploring Advanced Placement Coursework And College Readiness In Louisiana, Willie Adelaide Louviere

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Rigorous coursework is one of the necessary staples in establishing college readiness. Rural districts are much less likely to offer advanced coursework opportunities to students. The purpose of this qualitative study is to examine the equitable access to advanced coursework opportunities (Advanced Placement) provided to rural students (in-person and distance learning) in public rural high schools in Louisiana. Access to advanced coursework (Advanced Placement, Dual Enrollment, etc.) serves as an indicator of college readiness; however, a substantial gap exists in providing the programs to underserved student populations. Rural students face significant barriers that can hinder their ability to thrive on …

An Investigation Examining The Closing Of The Achievement Gap In Louisiana With The Ngss, George Cage

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and its implications of being a curricular and pedagogical intervention in terms of narrowing the achievement gap in science education for Children of Color. In using the explanatory mixed methods design, standardized test data and one-on-one interviews were examined to assess the effectiveness and impact of the NGSS’ implementation in the state of Louisiana. This study utilized student performance results from the LEAP 2025 to conduct a statistical analysis that measured trends in performance by Children of Color, specifically Black students, before and after the implementation …

The Predictive Influence Of Challenging Behavior On Parent Stress In Young Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Paige Weir

LSU Master's Theses

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by deficits in social communication, restricted interest, and repetitive patterns of behavior. Individuals with ASD also exhibit challenging behaviors that affect parent and caregiver stress directly. However, researchers have not yet examined the predictive influence of specific challenging behaviors on parent stress, particularly in young children (i.e., infants and toddlers) with ASD. Therefore, the current study expands existing literature by a) investigating the influence that challenging behaviors of young children with ASD have on parent stress and b) examining the unique contribution that each behavior (i.e., aggressive/disruptive behavior, stereotypy, and self-injurious …

Incorporating Student Reading Interests Into The Curriculum, Tia Denise Walker

LSU Master's Theses

The purpose of this research was to examine the reading habits and interests of secondary school students in an urban community in order to discover ways to increase student reading interests. The researcher wanted to understand why adolescents choose to read or not to read certain texts and understand the reading behaviors of these students. The study focused on students’ intent to read certain texts such as traditional books and non-traditional texts. To gain knowledge on a larger population of students, a questionnaire based on student reading habits was distributed to all students enrolled in English 1 at the research …

African American English-Speaking Children's Judgments Of Grammaticality: Effects Of Clinical Status And Grammatical Structures, Lori Elizabeth Vaughn

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

African American English (AAE)-speaking children’s ability to judge the grammaticality of sentences was evaluated by their clinical status and grammatical structure. The study originated from a need to understand more about the tense and agreement systems of AAE speakers with specific language impairment (SLI) relative to their typically developing (TD) AAE-speaking peers. Tense and agreement forms are typically excluded from the assessment and treatment of children who speak AAE in fear of misinterpreting a dialect difference as a language disorder. As a result, limited information exists about the tense and agreement systems of AAE-speaking children.

The data were archival and …

Efficiency Of Teaching Sight Words In Similar Vs Dissimilar Sets, Jensen Chotto

LSU Master's Theses

Early reading intervention can decrease the likelihood that children who struggle with reading develop long-term reading problems. Due to the prevalence of words that cannot be read phonetically in the English language, sight word instruction is required to supplement phonics instruction. In this study, we compared the effects of creating sets of sight words with the same starting letter (3 words per set, 3 total sets) versus distributing words with the same starting letter across sets when assessing acquisition of the combined set (9 words) in five 4-to-6-year-old children using a combined adapted alternating treatments design and pre-posttest design. All …

The Influence Of Participation In Gambling Activities On The Personal Lives Of Gamblers As Perceived By Female Gamblers In Louisiana, Carondalette Turner

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Historically, gambling has been a source of many ills within many cultures throughout the United States. During the last five years, there has been a precipitous surge in the accessibility of legalized gambling. Few studies have methodically surveyed the relationships between extent of gambling behavior and the consequences of gambling that may occur. The primary purpose of this study was to determine the influence of selected personal, and perceptual demographic characteristics on the extent of gambling behavior exhibited by female residents of Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

This study used a survey design with instrument distributed by hand at selected community organizations. …

Connecting And Communicating: The Activation Of Middle School Parents As Learning Coaches For Ela Classrooms In Online Charter Schools, Lillie Connor-Flores

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In recent years, K-12 online charter schools have seen increased enrollment as parents and guardians seek alternate options for educating their children. Online schools provide opportunities for flexibility, individualization, and continuous learning when in-person learning is not available. However, research on K-12 online schooling is currently minimal despite enrollment. Further, little to no research explores middle school online students or delves into the stakeholders who support students. Some online schools have employed a Learning coach—an adult assigned to work with a student at home. Learning coaches can be an asset for engaging learning. The researcher asks the following questions: How …

A Student's Pathway To Success: Understanding The Connectivity Between High School Counselors' Self- Efficacy And College And Career Advising, Amanda Belanger Lacerte

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand how a high school counselor’s perceived self-efficacy impacts high school student advising sessions as it pertains to the student’s program of study and course selection. The foundation of this study was grounded in Bandura’s (1986) Social Cognitive Theory (SCT). This single case study was conducted at The Red Stick School located in an urban area in the Deep South. The study included 5 high school counselors as participants who participated in virtual interviews. Explanation building was the qualitative analytical technique used to analyze the data and explain how and/or why students …

A Continuous Adjustment: The Impact Of Covid-19 On International Graduate Students, Carla Albornoz Moraga

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

International graduate students have endured unique obstacles during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study explored the experiences of eight international graduate students from various countries and academic backgrounds. The following questions guided this study: (1) What were the experiences during the 2020 school year for international students throughout COVID- 19?; (2) What were the day-to-day experiences of international graduate students during COVID- 19?, and (3) How did the international graduate students cope and adjust as they lived through a pandemic? Analysis of the data demonstrated the impact on the international graduate students’ preconceived expectations of the academic and socio-cultural experiences, as …

Investigating The Determinants Of Student Low Enrollment In Historically Black Colleges And Universities (Hbcus): The Case Of One Hbcu In The South, Anthony Trumaine Jackson

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

There is an undeniable fact that enrollment management efforts on academic campuses have become an integral part of campus finance and the backbone of accreditation. Many Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) are on the verge of collapsing and even losing their accreditations due to low enrollment, a decline that has been observed in recent decades.

Therefore, this study investigated why students are not enrolling in HBCUs. The study further explored the perceived factors that are likely to contribute to low student enrollment at HBCUs and the role financial matters play in student enrollment. To address this gap in the …

Three Learning Contexts As Paths To Preservice Instrumental Music Teachers' Score Analysis, Rehearsal Planning, And Instructional Readiness: An Exploratory Study In Professional Development, Jennifer Lee Pulling

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Despite an abundance of evidence-based research pointing to the effectiveness of long-term teacher professional development (PD) (Darling-Hammond, Hyler & Gardner, 2017; Desimone, 2009), instrumental music teachers who seek to improve their teaching practices are limited to and often prefer short-term PD opportunities (Bauer, 2007; West, 2020). In recent years, a growing knowledge base focused on music teacher PD has given attention to long-term, content-based and collaborative music PD (Conway, 2015; Kastner, 2014; Stanley, Snell & Edgar, 2014) while a dearth of evidence-based research exists on short-term music PD (Bauer, 2007; West, 2020). The purpose of this collective case study was …

Improving Inhibitory Control In A Kindergarten Classroom, Kaitlyn Theresa Lambert

LSU Master's Theses

BACKGROUND: Executive function skills are critical in early development, as they “form the foundation for children’s ability to self-regulate” (McLelland et al., 2016, p. 242). Inhibitory control, one component of executive function, is the ability to suppress or inhibit responses to distractions when completing a task (Nguyen & Duncan, 2019). OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to improve children’s inhibitory control in the classroom through age-appropriate games, which promote controlling emotions and remaining on task. METHODS: Three target children were observed in the classroom they attend with their regular teacher. Baseline data revealed that the target children needed improvement …

The Examination Of Racial Identity Of Black Males Through Self-Efficacy, Social Integration, Persistence, And Mentorship At A Predominantly White Institution, Marvin Earl Dupiton

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Black males account for 4.3% of the total enrollment at four-year postsecondary institutions in the United States. The percentage of Black men who are enrolled in college is nearly the same as it was in 1976 (Harper, 2006a; Palmer & Strayhorn, 2008; Strayhorn, 2008a, 2010). With this low exponential growth of Black males attending institutions of higher education, there is the assumption that institutions have not done much to provide for this population of students that are recruited consistently to attend these universities. Black males do not have enough resources to reassure their cultural masculinity as well develop as an …

Dependability And Reliability Of The Direct Behavior Rating Classroom Management Forms, Kaitlin Angela Cassidy

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Classroom management skills are evidence-based strategies used to maintain a positive and productive learning environment. Utilizing classroom management strategies has been proven effective; however, limited tools are available for assessing such skills and further assessment of the reliability and dependability of such measures is needed. The Direct Behavior Rating – Classroom Management (DBR-CM) forms are measures for assessing classroom management and come in three forms: external rater (DBR-CM ER), self-report (DBR-CM SR), and student rater (DBR-CM ST). This study extended on the information obtained from the Cassidy (2018) study that examined the DBR-CM ER form. The study evaluated the inter-observer …

Covid-19 Pandemic: A Mixed-Methods Study Investigation Of A Health Science System Faculty's Adaptations To An Online (Non-Traditional) Teaching Environment For Health Professional Students, Daryl Philip Lofaso

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this mixed method study was to explore the transition to an online educational platform for future health professional students at a southern health sciences system due to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV-2) virus. The majority of health professional students received their education via face-to-face prior to the pandemic. The pandemic altered their traditional pedagogical method of face-to-face to online instruction. The health professional school faculty offer the best instruction in a lecture hall not on a computer screen using Zoom. This study was designed to analyze how the faculty adapted in moving to an online instructional method, …

A Geospatial And Statistical Analysis Of Dropout In Louisiana Public High Schools, Michael D. Stein

LSU Master's Theses

Students dropping out of high school is a nationwide problem, plaguing communities and often greatly reducing the prospects of a quality life for those students who do not complete their high school educations. Louisiana consistently has among the highest public high school dropout rates in the United States, and often the highest. This geospatial and statistical study aims to identify the factors that correlate with high school dropout in Louisiana public high schools, specifically, and to produce detailed maps of the dropout rates across the state to identify the schools most afflicted.

Extensive school-level data from five academic years (2014-15 …

Impact Of An Emergent Reading Skills Intervention On Letter Recognition And Phoneme Identification In Pre-Kindergarten Children, Laura K. Simmons

LSU Master's Theses

Research in the field of early literacy has demonstrated that letter recognition and phoneme identification are two necessary components of emergent reading skills (Casbergue & Strickland, 2016). Emergent literacy refers to the reading and writing skills that young children develop prior to learning traditional literacy skills and has been linked to increased literacy achievement (Justice & Pullen, 2003). This study focused solely on emergent reading skills. The purpose of the present study was to determine the effects of a targeted multi-sensory intervention on the emergent reading skills of letter recognition and phoneme identification using a multiple baseline design (Kazdin, 2011). …

Prüfung: A Deconstruction Of Assessment Across Three Languages, Thomas Erich Benz

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This research aims at deconstructing and questioning certainties about assessment as an educational institution on its most fundamental levels. To achieve that, I am utilizing theoretical frameworks inspired by concepts on the existence of cultural and social capital, by artifact mediated cognition, and by a recently proposed discipline on pedagogy of assessment. The research operates with the application of narrative synthesis and network text analysis of material, on which they have not previously been used. As such, I aim to contribute to a methodological application of both methods on exam data, understood as the totality of curricular documents which govern …

Aspire To Inspire: A Mentoring Program's Efforts To Inspire Disconnected African American Male Students To Aspire To Their Goals., Khristopher Keon Hobbs

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

ABSTRACT

This study was designed to explore, record, explain and describe the lived experiences of African American male students engaged in mentorship programs for post-secondary education. This study takes an exploratory phenomenological approach to research and is conducted at a mentorship program site. The following research questions guided this study and provided insight into participant’s experiences:

1. How do Black males describe their experience in a holistic mentorship development program that prepares them for post-secondary educational success?
2. How were aspirations for post-secondary education cultivated among Black male students who are currently enrolled in high school and entering their first year in …

The One – Way (Agri)Cultural Mirror: A Case Study Of How Young Agriculturalists Understand And Experience Culture, Janiece M. Pigg

LSU Master's Theses

As the global economy continues to transform how society operates, cultural competence has become a buzzword in education, professional development, research, government, and healthcare (Gay, 1994; Gallus et al., 2014). Cross et al. (1989) developed the most accepted definition of cultural competence: “a set of congruent behaviors, attitudes, and policies that come together in a system, agency, or among professionals and enable that system, agency, or those professionals to work effectively in cross-cultural situations” (p. 13).

Despite this, little to no research has been devoted to understanding cultural competence in agriculture. Thus, a need emerged to describe the cultural competence …

How Teachers Identify Characteristics Of The Reggio Emilia Philosophy In Practice: A Case Study, Autumn E. Smith

LSU Master's Theses

The Reggio Emilia philosophy has been guiding early childhood practices since its development by Loris Malaguzzi in 1963. Originating in Reggio Emilia, Italy, this approach to early childhood education emphasizes building and nurturing relationships between the adult and child. This philosophy is guided by eight core tenets – The Environment as the Third Teacher, 100 Languages of Children, Long-Term Projects, Teacher-Researcher, Image of the Child, Negotiated Learning, Documentation, and Social Relations. Research shows that young children’s engagement with the Reggio Emilia approach benefits their academic, cognitive, and social-emotional development. However, there is currently no school accreditation or teacher certification …

Second Language Spanish Refusals: The Effectiveness Of Explicit And Implicit Teaching Methods, Hannah R. Mcintire

LSU Master's Theses

This study investigates the effects of pragmatic instruction on two experimental groups in order to analyze participants’ pragmatic ability of producing culturally and situationally appropriate refusals in Spanish. The three groups include an in-class group, a tandem group, and a control group. Using pre and post written discourse completion tasks (DCTs), this study analyzes participants’ first turn in making a refusal of a friend’s invitation (-P, -D) and a professor or advisor’s suggestion (+P, +D). Based on tokens elicited for each group, it will be demonstrated that 1) both experimental groups increased in their ability of producing appropriate refusal strategies, …

Brown's Stages Of Morphosyntactic Development Applied To The Typical Development Of Italian, Marie Laiche

LSU Master's Theses

Background: In A First Language (1973), Roger Brown called for an increase in crosslinguistic data and analysis of morphosyntax across languages as more research in this field is crucial for working out the overarching determinants of language acquisition order and for the ability to accurately compare child language acquisition across different languages. An increase in this research would benefit linguistic researchers and speech-language-pathologists offering services to or evaluating children speaking a different language or more than one language. The current study seeks to add to the field of crosslinguistic research by adapting Brown’s guidelines of English language acquisition to the …

Identity Construction In The Yoruba Group Project Abroad: Discourse Analysis Of Language Use, Tawakalitu Odunayo Lasisi

LSU Master's Theses

This research examines the experiences of five Nigerian Americans who participated in the Yoruba Group Project Abroad in the year 2018. After taking classes on Yoruba language at the basic, intermediate and advanced levels in their various universities here in the US, the students traveled to Nigeria in the summer of 2018 to immerse themselves in the native speakers’ environment in Ibadan, Nigeria. While in Ibadan, they were paired with Nigerian host families (Yoruba speakers) in order to have an overarching immersive experience. These students constitute the population of this research. Using a qualitative research method and an in-depth online …

The Perceived Importance And Ability Of Secondary Agricultural Education Teachers Regarding Accommodating Students With Exceptionalities: A Mixed Methods Study, Raegan Ramage

LSU Master's Theses

Each year, the number of students who have a documented disability in public schools in the U.S. has increased. However, SBAE instructors continue to identify a lack of confidence when teaching students with exceptionalities. This lack of confidence is exacerbated by a lack of professional development opportunities and preservice training offered by teacher preparation programs regarding teaching students with special needs. To better understand this complex issue, this mixed methods investigation sought to describe Louisiana SBAE instructors’ previous educational experiences focused on accommodating students with special needs and describe their desired professional development opportunities regarding accommodating students with special needs. …

Using Mindfulness Practices To Increase Self-Regulation In Pre-Kindergarten And Kindergarten-Aged Children, Ellyn E. Culotta

LSU Master's Theses

BACKGROUND: Self-regulation is identified in the literature as an early predictor of later life success and an important skill that develops over the course of a lifetime beginning in early childhood (Flook et al., 2015; Montroy et al., 2016; Murray et al., 2017). OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this research study was to assess whether direct instruction of Mindfulness Practices, such as guided meditation and yoga poses (Lee et al., 2020; Poehlmann-Tynan et al., 2016; Zelazo et al., 2012) would increase self-regulatory behaviors, such as impulse control, emotion regulation, and problem-solving in pre-kindergarten and kindergarten aged children. METHOD: Target children were …

Making Room For Fat Student Affairs Professionals In Higher Education, Wesley Heath

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Sizeism is often called the last acceptable form of prejudice in our social world. Weight discrimination has been widely documented in job searches, doctors’ offices, promotions, wage gaps, education, and even courtrooms. Despite decades of critical weight scholarship, little research has been done on fat higher education employees. Using the critical theory and the fat studies theoretical framework, this phenomenological study explores bias, prejudice, and discrimination experienced by fat student affairs professionals on college campuses. Four overarching research questions were identified and focused on the following topics: the limitations of physical space on college campuses, perceptions of available resources, stereotypes …