Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

From Antiracism To Abolition: The Role Of University Culture Centers In Black Students' Academic Identities And Language, Kristin Demint Bailey

Theses and Dissertations

Drawing on focus group, interview, and participant-observer data collected as part of this IRB-approved [19.177] qualitative research project, this dissertation provides insights about how Black American students develop academic identities through coursework and extracurricular involvement in a Black culture center on the campus of a historically white institution (HWI). I apply the lens of “abolitionist education” (Love) to explore the languaging that students and faculty in the Black culture center do to create community and racial uplift in a type of institution where racial identity historically has been marginalized and obscured—and where, the collected data indicate, such occlusion continues despite …

Expository Language Sample Assessment Of Spanish- English Bilingual Middle-School Children, Rachel Ann Eggert

Theses and Dissertations

Because of the possible bias and limitations in using standardized assessments, it is advantageous to assess school-age children who are bilingual using additional descriptive assessments, including language sampling. Choosing expository discourse language sampling to assess this population is beneficial because it is the standard form of discourse in a classroom setting and provides a more complex language sample. Using expository discourse language sampling, this study assesses the oral expository discourse language skills of Spanish- English bilingual middle school students who have learned English as a second language. The study found that expository discourse was a feasible way to assess the …

Italian As A Heritage Language Spoken In The Us, Maria Teresa Bonfatti Sabbioni

Theses and Dissertations

The present study focuses on Italian as a heritage language spoken in the US by individuals bilingual in Italian and English, exposed to both language since birth. The subjects of the study are the members of six family nuclei, for a total of seven children as heritage speakers of Italian and as input receivers, and 6 parents as native speakers of Standard Italian and as input providers, living in different cities in Wisconsin and Illinois. The study specifically investigates the following structures: a) Gender assignment and gender agreement between determiner, noun and adjective; b) Auxiliary selection in the Italian compound …

The Information-Seeking Strategies Of Humanities Scholars Using Resources In Languages Other Than English, Carol Sabbar

Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

THE INFORMATION-SEEKING STRATEGIES OF HUMANITIES SCHOLARS

USING RESOURCES IN LANGUAGES OTHER THAN ENGLISH

by

Carol Sabbar

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2016

Under the Supervision of Dr. Iris Xie

This dissertation explores the information-seeking strategies used by scholars in the humanities who rely on resources in languages other than English. It investigates not only the strategies they choose but also the shifts that they make among strategies and the role that language, culture, and geography play in the information-seeking context. The study used purposive sampling to engage 40 human subjects, all of whom are post-doctoral humanities scholars based in the …