Education Commons^™

Historical Trauma: Literary And Testimonial Responses To Hiroshima, Mariam Ghonim

Theses and Dissertations

The concept of trauma is controversial in literature. While one may be able to come up with ways to describe trauma in fiction, representing historical trauma is a hard task for writers. Some argue that trauma can not be described through those who did not experience it, while others claim that, provided some elements are added, one can represent trauma to the reader. This thesis focuses on twentieth-century historical traumas related to a nuclear catastrophe and explores the different literary and testimonial responses to the catastrophic man-made event of Hiroshima (1945). In this thesis, Kathleen Burkinshaw’s historical fiction The Last …

The Effects Of An Oral Narrative And Expository School-Age Language Intervention: A Low-Dosage Study, Giana H. Hunsaker

Theses and Dissertations

Purpose: This study is Phase One of a multi-phase research initiative. The purpose of this study was to examine how well a low-dose, dual oral narrative and expository language intervention delivered in a small group setting improved expressive and receptive oral narrative and expository language in kindergarten, first grade, and second grade students who have been identified as having language disorder or emerging English academic language. Method: We administered a dynamic assessment of language to 325 kindergarten, first, and second grade students from two elementary schools in two school districts. The results of the dynamic assessment identified 61 students who …

Subjective Excess: Aesthetics, Character, And Non-Normative Perspectives In Serial Television After 2000, Jessica Sellin-Blanc

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation aims to fill gaps in contemporary television scholarship with regards to aesthetics and character subjectivity. By analyzing eight series that have all aired after 2000, there is a marked trend in series that use an excessive visual and aural style to not only differentiate themselves from other programming, but also to explore non-normative perspectives. Now more willing to explore previously taboo topics such as mental health, addiction, illness, and trauma, the shows featured in this dissertation show how a seemingly excessive televisual aesthetic works with television’s seriality to create narrative complexity and generate character development. Chapters are arranged …

Novice Teacher Experiences Of Online Reading Instruction During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Deyanira M. Echevarria Candales

Theses and Dissertations

This applied dissertation documented novice teacher experiences providing online reading instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, the researcher captured educators’ first-hand accounts of their experiences shifting to fully online reading instruction, adapting instructional materials that were designed for in-person instruction for online learning, confronting challenges and successes during this period of uncertainty, and transitioning back to in-person instruction amidst the then ongoing pandemic.

The following research questions were posed: 1. How do novice elementary reading teachers, in a large public school district in South Florida, describe their experiences teaching reading online during a global pandemic? 2. How do novice elementary …

Understanding How African American And Latino Males Choose A Major, And Its Influence On Retention And Persistence, Yosayra F. Solano

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the process of selecting a college major for African American and Latino male students and whether these decisions influenced their sense of belonging and development of self-efficacy, as it relates to persistence and retention at a four-year public institution in the northeast region of the United States. Utilizing Harper's (2012) Anti-deficit Achievement Framework, this study used a Narrative Inquiry design to highlight the stories of six African American and Latino male students and their experiences with selecting a major. I collected data/field texts from two individual virtual interviews for this narrative …

A Randomized Control Trial Examining The Effects Of A Multi-Tiered Oral Narrative Language Intervention On Kindergarten Expository Writing, Shaylee Rae Woods

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the current study was to examine the effects of a multi-tiered oral narrative language intervention on kindergarten students' written expository discourse. The participants included 270 participants from a larger sample of 686 kindergarten students from four school districts in the upper Midwest geographical region of the United States. Participants received contextualized language intervention using Story Champs narrative intervention procedures. Tier-1 treatment groups received large group instruction from their classroom teacher who followed Story Champs procedures. Students whose oral narrative retell scores did not improve following the initial four weeks of treatment were assigned to receive additional small …

A Narrative Study Exploring The Lived Experiences Of Formerly Incarcerated Youth And Their Motivation For Re-Entering The Public Education System, Dominique Ramos

Theses and Dissertations

Nearly 34% of students who drop out of high school do so due to being incarcerated. Research has shown that students of color and those receiving special education services are at an increased risk of transitioning from the public education system to the criminal justice system in what is referred to as the School-to-Prison-Pipeline (Annamma, 2015; Barnes & Motz, 2018; Hart & Mueller, 2012; Pyle, Flower, Fall, & Williams, 2016). A bigger issue than the graduation rate is understanding what motivates students to return to public education, post-incarceration, to complete their high school requirements as told by the students. For …

Improving The Oral Narrative And Expository Language Of Kindergarten Students And Reducing The Matthew Effect, Taylor Camille Magleby

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a tier-2 combined oral narrative and expository language intervention on kindergarteners' narrative and expository skills in comparison to an alternate decoding intervention and no treatment control condition. This study included 54 kindergarten students. After being administered the PEARL Kindergarten Screener at the beginning of the school year, eight students were found as at-risk for future reading comprehension difficulty and were matched to nine students not-at-risk, and all assigned to a language treatment group. Additional students not-at-risk for future reading comprehension difficulty were randomly assigned to an alternate decoding treatment …

Dialect Use, Language Abilities, And Emergent Literacy Skills Of Prekindergarten Children Who Speak African American English, Erika Rose Baldwin

Theses and Dissertations

Purpose. The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of the complex relationship between spoken language and emergent literacy skills for children who speak African American English (AAE). Therefore, this study examined children’s language proficiency, dialect use, and emergent literacy skills at the beginning of Head Start preschool and throughout the entire academic year.

Methods. This study analyzed scores from a database of 120 preschool children who spoke AAE. Data included narrative retells of the wordless picture book Frog Where Are You? that were transcribed utilizing Systematic Analysis of Language Transcript (SALT) Software. Narrative retells were then …

The Classification Accuracy Of A Dynamic Assessment Of Language In Culturally And Linguistically Diverse Children When Using Response To Intervention As A Measure Of Language Ability, Yuberkys Fryer

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which modifiability ratings and gains in narrative language, made through intervention over time with culturally and linguistically diverse children, aligned with the results of a diagnostic dynamic assessment of language. This study also examined the sensitivity and specificity of the dynamic assessment when response to language intervention was used as the primary indicator of language disorder (LD). A total of 32 culturally and linguistically diverse students from an elementary school in Utah participated in this study, with 17 students with LD and 15 students without LD. Students were administered …

A Longitudinal Investigation Of The Effects Of A Kindergarten Multi-Tiered Oral Narrative Language Intervention On Later Literacy Outcomes, Tristin Carolyn Hampshire

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the current study was to examine the longitudinal effects of a multi-tiered narrative language intervention in at-risk students provided in kindergarten on fourth grade reading comprehension. The participants included 686 students from four school districts in the upper Midwest. Twenty-eight kindergarten classrooms were randomly assigned to a treatment or control condition resulting in 14 treatment classrooms and 14 control classrooms. Every student in the study participated in a pretest regarding oral narrative language skills. Students in the control group were considered to be at-risk, average performing, or advanced performing depending on their pretest score. Each student in …

Using Parallel Narrative-Based Measures To Examine The Relationship Between Listening And Reading Comprehension, Collette Leifson Warr

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the current study was to examine how well the Narrative Language Measure (NLM) of Listening predicts the NLM Reading measure and the extent to which brief narrative-based listening and reading comprehension assessments administered to first, second, and third grade students demonstrate symmetry and equity. A total of 1039 first graders, 395 second graders, and 501 third graders participated in this study. The students were administered the NLM Listening and NLM Reading, and their scores were examined to address the research questions. Students with incomplete data sets and students who performed 1.5 standard deviations (7th percentile based on …

The Cross-Validation Of The Classification Accuracy Of A Dynamic Assessment Of Narrative Language For School-Age Children With And Without Language Disorder, Kallie Dawn Clark

Theses and Dissertations

Purpose: This study examined how well a dynamic assessment of narrative language accurately identified kindergarten through sixth grade students with and without language disorder. Method: The participants included 110 school-age children from Utah and Colorado who were administered a narrative-based dynamic assessment of language that entailed a pretest, a teaching phase, an examiner rating of the child's ability to learn language (modifiability), and a posttest. Results: The dynamic assessment investigated in this study demonstrated good to excellent levels of sensitivity and specificity. The results of this study also determined that, in concurrence with previous dynamic assessment research, posttest and modifiability …

Using Narrative Distance To Create Transformative Learning Experiences, Stephan D. Taeger

Theses and Dissertations

This multi-article dissertation focuses on the role of narrative distance in instructional design. Narrative distance is defined œas the cognitive or emotional space afforded by indirect communication that invites listeners to make sense of content (Taeger, 2018, p. 6). Whereas fields associated with the arts have long used the indirect nature of story to create powerful experiences, instructional design has not examined how this aspect of narrative might be used in instruction. The first article in this dissertation explores the literature related to narrative distance and how designing for this phenomenon meets many of Wilson and Parrishs (2011) key indicators …

Her-Story: Black, Middle-School Girls Exploring Their Intersectional Identities, Crystal Latanya Edwards

Theses and Dissertations

While intra-racial-group comparisons have lead scholars to argue that Black girls are succeeding academically and therefore require less explicit focus in educational research, there is little literature that focuses on the ways that Black girls’ experiences in formal educational spaces shape their emotional wellbeing and sense of intersectional identity—specifically, from their own perspectives (Paul, 2003; Townsend, Thomas, Neilands, and Jackson, 2010). In recognizing this relative invisibility, my research redirects focus to obstacles that typically go relatively unnoticed and unaddressed. Utilizing focus groups and diary/follow-up interviews as methods, I explore the subjective experience of Black girls within the educational context. Placing …

What Matters Most? The Everyday Priorities Of Teachers Of English Language Learners, Johanna Boone

Theses and Dissertations

Teachers work within a context of competing stories, including pressures regarding English language learners (ELLs), a deficit view of teachers, and high-stakes testing and accountability, all of which impact teachers' emotions. Within this context, teachers prioritize what is most important to them. This self-study using narrative inquiry methods lays the author's stories of teaching alongside those of two other teachers of ELLs. The author conducted a series of interviews with the participants, analyzed the interviews for themes and tensions, negotiated meaning with participants, and created interim texts to represent the participants' priorities in teaching ELLs. Three teachers' priorities, as indicated …

Exploring The Narrative-Oriented Qualities Of The Learner's Encounter With Unfamiliarity, Jonathan S. Spackman

Theses and Dissertations

Learning, as embodied familiarization, is described as an embodied, non-representational, and non-mechanistic experience. Within this theoretical framework, a qualitative study is presented that offers a deeper understanding of the learner's encounter with unfamiliarity -- a key lived experience of embodied familiarization. Assertions related to encounters with unfamiliarity are made through a multiple case study analysis and a deeper understanding of the assertions is offered by way of a narrative-oriented framework. From this perspective, agentive, concernful, dispositional and meaningful aspects of learning are discernible.

It Is Not Good That Man Should Be Alone: What Adam And Eve Can Teach Us About Relationships In Learning Communities, Julene Bassett

Theses and Dissertations

Human existence (or be-ing) is profoundly relational. Yet educational environments often assume that learning happens individually. Though many educators are trying to rectify this problem by introducing community into the learning process, these efforts are too often simply overlaid onto a system that works through competition and rewards individual achievement. Therefore, an alternative perspective for who we are as humans and how we should be together is needed. In this dissertation, I examine what it means to be fundamentally related and show how such an understanding might impact learning. We often think of “community” as a place, but I also …