Digital Commons Network^™

Foreign Language Anxiety Among Japanese International Students In The U.S., Nana Okada

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This study aims to investigate the foreign language anxieties Japanese international students at American universities have and the relationship between these anxieties and length of stay in the U.S. 151 Japanese international students answered a modified version of the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (Horwitz, Horwitz & Cope, 1986) followed by demographic questions. The findings from the questionnaire were analyzed through SPSS 21 software. Results indicated a statistically significant relationship between students’ level of anxieties and the length of stay in the U.S. Implications for teachers and government officials in Japan, as well as for teachers and university administrators in …

Fostering Healing Through Reconciliation In The Abernathy Church Of Christ, Randall K. Carr

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

This project is an exercise in addressing anxiety as a result of unresolved conflict in the Abernathy Church of Christ. In 2009 emotions escalated to a climactic point, leading a group of participants to separate from the Abernathy Church of Christ. The events surrounding this episode have played an influential role in shaping the narrative of the Abernathy Church of Christ. This project seeks to identify areas of residual pain in the existing narrative and move the congregation into a narrative of hope for the future of the Abernathy Church of Christ. The central theme is reconciliation and results from …

Redesigning The Use Of Electronic Health Records In The Exam Room: A Multidisciplinary Approach, Quinton Dean Fletchall

Theses - ALL

Utilizing video-recordings and transcriptions of actual clinical interactions, as well as interviews with patients and physicians, this thesis analyzes how the use of electronic health records, and the information found within them, impact doctor-patient interaction and, in effect, notions of patient-centered care. ‘Patient centered care,’ a major area of focus in doctor-patient communication literature, is a style of interaction where the patient is put first and their concerns and feelings are given priority over the ‘biomedical agenda’ by the doctor. Using a multidisciplinary approach between language and social interaction and industrial and interaction design, this thesis proposes possible changes to …

Censured Motherhood: Communicating The Double Bind Between Motherhood And The Professoriate, Sarah Fuller

Communication ETDs

This study revealed the interpersonal networks and communication resources available to women who are both mothers and professors in a large university in the southwestern United States. The current study was an inquiry using approaches from the ethnography of communication (EOC), which holds that culture and communication are inseparable and synonymous (Carbaugh, 2007; Covarrubias, 2002; Philipsen, 1997).Therefore, by interviewing nine women who are mothers of at least one child living at home and are also full-time professors, I accessed utterances that explicate cultural enactments of motherhood in the academy. During the course of this study, I asked the professors who …

Media And Self Representative Perceptions: Deception In Online Dating, Lindsay Hildebrandt

Honors College Theses

Even with the increasing popularity of online dating, stigmas surrounding this form of internet connection persist. Since society is inundated with images of deception in online dating, those who have never experienced online dating may believe that mass media accurately represents this type of communication. This study’s main research question asks if perceptions about online dating differ between users and non-users; furthermore, these differences will be taken into account when regarding the prominence of mass media in shaping these impressions.

Currently, digital communication is a societal norm; more and more of our lives are documented and facilitated by the internet. …

Evaluating An Oral Draft Of Luke 8:4-15 In Uduk, Jeremy N. Harrison

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

This doctor of ministry thesis presents the findings of a project in which I led a group of immigrants from South Sudan through the process of generating and evaluating an oral draft of Luke 8:4-15 in Uduk. The aim of this project was to provide a substantive field test of an oral translation methodology conducted among immigrants living in the United States who speak a language that lacks a translation of the entire Bible. The project involved facilitating basic translation training and conducting an oral drafting process with a team of three Uduk speakers. This project also involved evaluating the …

Embedding Nationalism: Construction & Effects Of National Narratives In The Xxvii Olympic Games' Opening Ceremony, Rachel Elizabeth Presley

Theses - ALL

This thesis examines the construction and effects of the XXVII Olympic Games’ opening ceremony as a national narrative, scripted by and for the state. The performance’s chronological structure and staging of its characters have profound effects on how Australian bodies are read and remembered as citizens. The ceremony’s narrative features a distorted retelling of colonial history that produces enormous consequences in how Indigenous and non-Indigenous, male and female actors are presented. An analysis of these characters reveals how the national narrative comes to function as a piece of political propaganda that perpetuates idealized forms of citizenship within a hegemonic patriarchal …

Re-Shaping Our Vision Of Intimate Partner Violence: A Qualitative Analysis Of Survivors' Reaction To Existing Campaigns, Erin Alexandra Neal

All Theses

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2003), an estimated 5.3 million incidents of intimate partner violence (IPV) occur each year in the United States, resulting in nearly 2 million injuries, and approximately 1,300 deaths. Additionally, The National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey (2011) found that 1 in 3 women (35.6%) have experienced sexual and/or physical violence at the hands of an intimate partner. More attention has been paid to IPV in the past two decades, resulting in an increase in the number of prevention and intervention mass media campaigns; however, very few campaigns report consulting survivors …

Facing Technology : Creative Solutions To Real-World Problems., Taylor Juanita Beisler

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

We are shaped by technology. This simple idea has become more familiar to social scientists, technical engineers, and some tech users. The first section of this thesis finds unfavorable consequences of constant social media usage, such as unawareness, behavioral and cogitative modifications, and disconnection as societal ills. The second part of this thesis explains how these social side effects can be best ameliorated by “serious” designers, or those whose work is conceptual with real world applications (McLuhan, 8). The final section proposes a creative expression as it relates to bringing awareness to the social side effects of tech usage, linking …

Television Executive Producers' Use Of Twitter As A Public Relations Tool, Scott Joseph Nash

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines how television executive producers are utilizing the social media platform of Twitter as a public relations tool. Utilizing a qualitative textual analysis, this study examines 10 executive producers' use of Twitter over a three-week period. The results of the textual analysis indicated executive producers primarily used Twitter as a public relations tool in five different themes: clarification, compliment, gratitude, promotion, and engagement. Future research should utilize additional qualitative research through in-depth interviews with industry professionals such as television executive producers or public relations firms that work directly with the television industry and those who specifically work with …

Atheists In The Media: How Public Figures And Fictional Characters Affect Public Perceptions Of Atheists, Joseph Michael Stepniewski

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated how media depictions of atheists might influence perceptions of them based on media theories of cultivation and priming. Severe distrust and dislike of atheists found in the literature indicated a need for the study. The measurement instrument used in the study asked a sample of 195 respondents to report their media consumption habits, including news sources, television shows, and movies, as well as identify real atheists in the public eye. Respondents were then asked to rate positive and negative statements about both atheists and religious people on a Likert scale and provide basic demographic information about themselves. …

Online Mormon Self-Presentation: Content Analysis Of Mormon.Org And Ldssingles.Com Profiles, Megan Marie Fereday

Theses and Dissertations

This study aimed to examine online Mormon self-presentation, specifically in the context of Mormon.org and LDSSingles.com (LDSSO). To examine the different styles of self-presentation used in Mormon.org and LDSSO profiles, this study drew upon self-presentation theory (Goffman, 1959; Jones, 1990; Jones & Pittman, 1982) and analyzed profiles according to Dominick's (1990) definitions of Jones and Pittman's (1982) five self-presentation strategies. In addition, this study examined the relationship between a profile poster's sex and the self-presentation strategies exhibited in his or her Mormon.org or LDSSO profile. Content analysis of 100 (50 male and 50 female) Mormon.org and 100 (50 male and …

Siren Song: A Rhetorical Analysis Of Gender And Intimate Partner Violence In Gotham City Sirens, Katlin Schmidt

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This project investigates comic book discourse. Specifically, I investigate how comic narratives provide readers with an interpretation for how they should discern and assess “appropriate” behaviors for women. The artifact of analysis included in this project is DC Comics Gotham City Sirens (2009). This text features popular female superheroes, Catwoman, Harley Quinn, and Poison Ivy. Because comic books utilize both textual and visual means to disseminate a message, this project evaluates the visual rhetoric of these characters within the narrative. Walter Fisher’s narrative paradigm is used to provide an understanding to how these visual means contribute to the meanings assigned …

Predatory Publishing: How Faculty Can Avoid Becoming Prey, Kelly Smith, Linda Sizemore

EKU Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Slides from a presentation on predatory publishing

A Case Study Of Oncological Aphasia: Clinical Profile And Response To Integrated Language Treatment, Emma Anderson

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Purpose: A large body of research addresses the best methods and practices to treat individuals with aphasia. Much of this research focuses on individuals who have aphasia secondary to stroke. While the most common cause of aphasia is stroke, aphasia can also result from other brain diseases or injury. Relatively little research has focused on oncological aphasia resulting from brain cancer. This research examined aphasia treatment efficacy in an individual with aphasia following removal of a brain tumor. Methods: Standardized testing was used to evaluate the clinical profile of an individual with oncological aphasia. An integrated language treatment approach was …

Characterizing Silent Users In Social Media Communities, Wei Gong, Ee-Peng Lim, Feida Zhu

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Silent users often constitute a significant proportion of an online user-generated content system. In the context of social media such as Twitter, users can opt to be silent all or most of the time. They are often called the invisible participants or lurkers. As lurkers contribute little to the online content, existing analysis often overlooks their presence and voices. However, we argue that understanding lurkers is important in many applications such as recommender systems, targeted advertising, and social sensing. This research therefore seeks to characterize lurkers in social media and propose methods to profile them. We examine 18 weeks of …

Intraprofessional Nursing Communication And Collaboration: Apn-Rn-Patient Bedside Rounding, Rita M. Herm-Barabasz

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Executive Summary

Leading advisory agencies have long advocated that health care must be safe and effective (Institute of Medicine [IOM], 2001). In order for health care to be safe and effective, good communication and collaboration are essential. Research has found that in health care, poor communication and teamwork failures are the major contributors to adverse events (Cornell, Townsend-Gervis, Vardaman, & Yates, 2014; The Joint Commission, 2011; O’Leary, 2012). Such communication-related adverse events can cause avoidable injury, loss of life, and financial devastation. In light of advanced practice nurses’ (APN) increasing contribution in care management, and in order to ensure delivery …

A Case Study Of Professional Coach-Client Communication., Scott Shank

Honors Theses

Organizations increasingly embrace coaching as a core process to improve employee learning, increase overall performance, and develop leaders. Extant research on coaching is increasing, yet communication-based theories are underrepresented in the literature despite the fact that coaching is fundamentally discursive in nature. Further, although the coaching literature suggests that coaching conversations contribute to client identity growth and potential transformation, studies that specifically explore such activities are underrepresented in existing scholarship. Further, there lacks sufficient research examining how coaching contributes to the ongoing identity development of the coaches themselves. To fill this gap, this qualitative study explored the role coaching plays …

Speech Codes Theory, Gerry Philipsen, Tabitha Hart

Faculty Publications

Speech codes theory is an account of communication as a deeply cultured human activity. The theory, and the empirical research on which it is built, demonstrate that the kinds of local knowledge people deploy to talk about—to characterize, interpret, and rationalize—their communicative conduct is indeed local, particular knowledge, and that such knowledge can be discovered and described through systematic inquiry. This article describes the key theoretical commitments of speech codes theory, identifies its six propositions, illustrates research within the tradition, and assesses its purposes.

Students Talk About Gender And Race Within The Classroom, Amanda Lucock

Media and Communication Studies Honors Papers

This study attempts to gain a better understanding of students’ experiences and perceptions of conversations about gender and race in the classroom. Specifically, this study focuses on issues and concerns that arise in the course of talking about gender and race. There were over 20 hours of classes observed, eight one-on-one in-depth interviews, and over three hours of recorded classroom conversations. Through my analysis, I found that students used several devices, including storytelling and attacking, to speak about these taboo issues within the classroom.

Conversational Scaffolding With Couples With An Aphasic Partner, Mary Jo Bissmeyer

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

Aphasia is an acquired language disorder experienced by approximately one million Americans today, many recovering from stroke or traumatic brain injury. Traditional therapy has focused solely on regaining specific linguistic skills, including auditory comprehension, speech, reading, and/or writing. Conversation partner training is a newer trend in aphasia intervention that has emerged thanks to an increasingly social model of disability and the pressure to deliver meaningful and cost effective health services. It fits nicely with the Life Participation Approach to Aphasia, which encourages clinicians to help individuals with aphasia and their families set and meet their own goals for therapy, which …

Mathematical Modeling Of Trending Topics On Twitter, Jonathan S. Skaza

Honors Projects in Mathematics

Created in 2006, Twitter is an online social networking service in which users share and read 140-character messages called Tweets. The site has approximately 288 million monthly active users who produce about 500 million Tweets per day. This study applies dynamical and statistical modeling strategies to quantify the spread of information on Twitter. Parameter estimates for the rates of infection and recovery are obtained using Bayesian Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods. The methodological strategy employed is an extension of techniques traditionally used in an epidemiological and biomedical context (particularly in the spread of infectious disease). This study, which addresses …

Hooglund, E. & Stenberg, L. (Eds.). Navigating Contemporary Iran: Challenging Economic, Social And Political Perceptions. New York And London: Routledge, 2012., Kathleen Foody Ph.D.

Journal of International and Global Studies

Book review.

Reading The World: Historicizing Systemic Contradictions In Lntertextual Dialogues, João J. Rosa

Journal of Cape Verdean Studies

No abstract provided.

Cabo Verde: Do Babel Inicial À Emergência De Uma Ordem Linguística, Manuel Veiga

Journal of Cape Verdean Studies

O contacto de línguas, em Cabo Verde, evoluiu de um babel inicial, para a emergência de um crioulo, estruturalmente uno, mas com actualizações regionais e matizes fonéticas, morfológicas, lexicais e sintácticas que enriquecem a nossa língua materna, sem comprometer a sua "superior unidade".

As diferenças são devedoras de factores como: as línguas matrizes originárias; o peso demográfico dessas línguas; o aparecimento cedo de mestiços e do crioulo como respectiva língua materna; a tolerância linguística imposta pelas circunstâncias (número reduzido de dominadores brancos; a iliteracia prevalecente; a Carta Régia de 1472 que impunha o comercio escravocrata com "novidades da terra"; a …

Classic Elements Of Engagement In U.S. Journalism Apply To Irish Online Community News Sites, Jack Rosenberry, Katelin Weidman

Media and Communication Faculty/Staff Publications

A content analysis of community news sites affiliated with Irish newspapers shows that content selection reflects classic community news values and fulfills roles and functions similar to ones documented in historical research about community press and social organization in the United States. This illustrates the potential for Irish local media sites to be important agents of constructing community identity.

Journal Of Cape Verdean Studies, Vol. 1

Journal of Cape Verdean Studies

No abstract provided.

Language, Writing, And Social (Inter)Action: An Analysis Of Text-Based Chats In Macedonian And English, Mira Bekar

Open Access Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to investigate the text-based chatting practices of a particular community of native Macedonian speakers who chat both in Macedonian and in English (as their foreign language). Much research in computer-mediated communication (CMC) over the last decade has been done in English as L1. Some of the few studies which explored CMC cross-linguistically include the comparison of French vs. English (Werry, 1996), Japanese vs. English (Nishimura, 2003b), Spanish vs. English (del-Teso-Craviotto, 2006), Serbian vs. English (Radic, 2007) and Turkish vs. English (Savas, 2010). In these studies, a number of different language features (e.g., orthography, code …

I Wish A Whole New Work Was Used For It: Pro-Ed Blogging And Online Identity, Andrea Mm Weare

Communication Faculty Publications

Pro–eating disorder (ED) scholarship in the ield of new media studies largely consists of text, discourse, and theoretical analyses. far fewer studies involve audience work with women in eating disorder subcultures online to cross-reference scholarly analyses with the women’s own experiences. Using a foucauldian theoretical framework, this study provides data from in-depth interviews with 10 practicing-ED bloggers on how they felt silenced by the media deadlock of the thin ideal and sought vocal expression online. The indings call for an expansion of scholarly discourse beyond catch-all “pro-ED” terminology to better capture women’s experiences with online identity formation. Additionally, considering blogging’s …

Multi-Roles Affiliation Model For General User Profiling, Lizi Liao, Heyan Huang, Yashen Wang

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Online social networks release user attributes, which is important for many applications. Due to the sparsity of such user attributes online, many works focus on profiling user attributes automatically. However, in order to profile a specific user attribute, an unique model is built and such model usually does not fit other profiling tasks. In our work, we design a novel, flexible general user profiling model which naturally models users’ friendships with user attributes. Experiments show that our method simultaneously profile multiple attributes with better performance.