Digital Commons Network^™

The Multidimensional Prospects For L2 English Legal Writing, Jongkyung Park

Open Access Theses

Due to a rapidly rising population of international law students in the United States, considering the guiding role of language specialists in L2 legal writing has become more critical than ever regarding academic curricula and research as well as prospective professional practice. Given the lack of rich body of research on L2 legal writing, this thesis contemplates how legal writing curricula and research could be practically beneficial to L2 English learners (especially to those with legal backgrounds), through the researcher's own point of view as a L2 English-speaking lawyer. For this purpose, the researcher investigates diverse approaches to L2 legal …

Constructing Community From Corpses In Medieval English And Icelandic Literature, Erin C Kissick

Open Access Dissertations

I argue that the bodies of the dead interred within medieval texts are used as focal points for the communities created within those texts. The most famous textual medieval corpses are the relics of saints as described in hagiographies, relics which, outside of these texts, became the centerpieces of many medieval communities, both religious and secular, as demonstrated by Patrick Geary and Carolyn Walker Bynum. More broadly, material culture scholars such as Howard Williams have shown that the graves of nonsaints played a significant role in the preservation of communal memory. In medieval communities, ancestors and other long-gone ancient communities …

Disentangling Fluency, Comprehensibility And Coherence: Toward A Better Understanding Of Oral Proficiency Profiles, Haiying Cao

Open Access Dissertations

This study is an empirical attempt to examine how removal of all possible disfluency markers can help disentangle proficiency components assessed by the Oral English Proficiency Test (OEPT) in order to help build empirical foundations for establishing OEPT profiles. Silent and filled pauses, false starts and repetitions were removed from 50 test recordings in WAVEPAD SOUND EDITOR. Five trained OEPT raters rated the original and edited speeches. Statistical analyses addressed three research questions: 1) do fluency, comprehensibility and coherence ratings significantly change after the disfluency manipulation; 2) do correlations between fluency, comprehensibility, coherence and coherence subcomponents change after the disfluency …

Jean Sénac, Poet Of The Algerian Revolution, Kai G. Krienke

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The work presented here is an exploration of the poetry and life of Jean Sénac, and through Sénac, of the larger role of poetry in the political and social movements of the 50s, 60s, and early 70s, mainly in Algeria and America. While Sénac was part of the European community in Algeria, his position regarding French rule changed dramatically over the course of the Algerian War, (between 1954 and 1962) and upon independence, he became one the rare French to return to his adopted homeland. I will argue, sometimes polemically, that Sénac was and should be considered a properly Algerian …

Upon The Plains Of The Soul .'. The Liberating Logos Of Joao Guimaraes Rosa In "Grande Sertao: Veredas", Jizelda Galvao

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Two drawings accompanied the novel Grande Sertão: veredas by João Guimarães Rosa in its second edition (1958). Not much attention has been given to them. In fact, their corners and ends have, in many editions, suffered "amputations." So many are the published editions that have simply discarded them. In my dissertation, I sustain that these "maps" are part of the text of the novel. They are the "Roteiro de Deus," Man's Path of Return to the "Paradisical Garden." I propose an esoteric reading of them along with an esoteric reading of the novel itself. Rosa's novel is an alchemical furnace, …

Works In Progress: Child Characters In Victorian And Postcolonial Fiction, 1814 - 2006, Kiran Mascarenhas

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In this dissertation I analyze the relationship between national and individual development in Victorian and postcolonial novels set in India. My central argument is that the investment in the idea of progress that characterizes colonial narratives of childhood gives way in postcolonial fiction to a suspicion of dominant understandings of progress, and that this difference is manifest in the identity formation of the child character as well as in the form of the novel.

In the Victorian colonial narratives discussed in this study, the bildung of the child involves the overcoming of the child's conflicted cultural identity. The children of …

All At One Point: The New Physics Of Italo Calvino And Jorge Luis Borges, Mark Thomas Rinaldi

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This work of comparative literary criticism focuses on the presence of mathematical and scientific concepts and imagery in the works of Italo Calvino and Jorge Luis Borges, beginning with an historical overview of scientific philosophy and an introduction to the most significant scientific concepts of the last several centuries, before shifting to deep, scientifically-driven analyses of numerous individual fictions, and finally concluding with a meditation on the unexpectedly fictive aspects of science and mathematics. The close readings of these authors' fictions are contextualized with thorough explanations of the potential literary implications of theories from physics, mathematics, neuroscience and chaos theory. …

Archives Of Transnational Modernism: Lost Networks Of Art And Activism, Anne Donlon

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Archives Of Transnational Modernism: Lost Networks Of Art And Activism considers the work of several intersecting figures in transnational modernism, in order to reassess the contours of race and gender in anglophone literature of the interwar period in the U.S. and Europe. Writers and organizers experimented with literary form and print culture to build and maintain networks of internationalism. This dissertation begins to suggest some of these maps of connection, paying particular attention to people who played key roles as hubs within networks. British radical Sylvia Pankhurst's 1920s publications, which have not been much considered in terms of literary contribution, …

Past Griefs, Lara Langer Cohen

English Literature Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

The Creation Of Heaven In The Middle Ages, William Storm

Dissertations (1934 -)

My dissertation focuses on the intersection of the discourses of space and place, art, religion, and politics in poetical accounts of heaven. My study investigates how authors deploy these various traditions to create a heaven that accommodates the needs of a particular audience. Heaven is, according to Yi-Fu Tuan, a "mythical place," which cannot be located. To avoid the problems of a "mythical place," we represent that location with slightly-blurred experiential knowledge or communally-sanctioned practices. The creation of heaven, I argue, does not occur ex nihilo but through a refashioning of knowledge and practices to engage audiences with descriptions of …

September 29, 2014: Steam Working Group, Department Of English

Gleanings: Department of English Blog Archive

No abstract provided.

We Are Cowboys In The Boat Of Ra: Sonny Rollins And Ishmael Reed's Black Cowboy, Brian Flota

Libraries

No abstract provided.

September 17, 2014: New Issues Poet Khaled Mattawa Named 2014 Macarthur Fellow, Department Of English

Gleanings: Department of English Blog Archive

No abstract provided.

Criterion: A Journal For Literary Criticism (2014), Criterion: A Journal For Literary Criticism

Criterion: A Journal of Literary Criticism

No abstract provided.

August 31, 2014: 2015 Multidisciplinary Graduate Student Conference (Newberry Library, Chicago/Deadline: Oct.15), Department Of English

Gleanings: Department of English Blog Archive

No abstract provided.

Remembering The Giver: Seamus Heaney, Richard R. Russell

Irish Studies South (Archived)

No abstract provided.

Joint Turbary: Heaney’S “Digging” And Eoghan Rua Ó Súilleabháin’S “A Shéamais, Déan Dom”, Cóilín Owens

Irish Studies South (Archived)

No abstract provided.

William Blake: The Misunderstood Artist Of The 19th Century, Jeannie Campe

Journal of Undergraduate Research at Minnesota State University, Mankato

The purpose of this project is to examine the artistic vision of William Blake as well as his impact on literature. William Blake was one of the most misunderstood artists of his time, which led to a life of isolation and poverty. Determined to follow his “Divine Image,” Blake remained unappreciated until his twilight years, although he was still virtually unknown except for a small group of followers. William Blake is important today because of his innovative work stemming from his frustration with standard poetic tradition and techniques. This project explores Blake’s collection of poems entitled Songs of Innocence and …

Eng 4775-001: Literature And Science: On Bugs, Zombies, And Literary Theory, Suzie Park

Fall 2014

No abstract provided.

Eng 1091g-097: Composition And Language (Honors), Melissa Ames

Fall 2014

No abstract provided.

Educator Perceptions Of The Importance Of Using Strategies For At-Risk Students In Indiana Elementary Schools, Teresa Gremaux

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine if there are significant differences in perceptions regarding the importance of strategies/programs for at-risk students according to employment position, geographic location, and percentage of free- and reduced-lunch population within the school. This study also examined alternative education strategies/programming currently being implemented in Indiana elementary schools. This study had a concentrated focus on a specific population of at-risk students. Is there a significant difference on the perceived importance of at-risk strategies and programming for elementary students based on employment position? Is there a significant difference on the perceived importance of at-risk strategies …

Isaac Watts And The Culture Of Dissent, Andrew Eli M. Yeater

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Although Isaac Watts wrote hymns in the early eighteenth century, some of his hymns, such as “Joy to the World,” “Alas! And Did My Savior Bleed?,” and “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross,” survive today as well-known hymns. However, little has been written about the rhetorical effects of his hymns. This thesis demonstrates that, like any other literary work, Watts’ hymns can be analyzed rhetorically. This thesis analyzes Watts’ hymns with the aid of Louis Montrose’s New Historicism, showing how Watts’ hymns were impacted by the English culture in which he lived and how they impacted the religious culture to …

Globalizing Literacies And Identities : Translingual And Transcultural Literacy Practices Of Bhutanese Refugees In The U.S., Tika R. Lamsal

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This critical ethnographic study explores how language and literacy shape the social identities and cultural practices of the Bhutanese refugees in the U.S., and how an understanding of their literate practices contributes to new conceptualizations of language and literacies research. Involving fifty-six Bhutanese refugees from a Midwest city, this study highlights linguistic and cultural resources utilized by the Bhutanese refugees at key literacy sites – such as an Elderly Care Center, mandatory ESL classes, weekly cultural and musical gatherings, men’s and women’s Kirtan (religious singing) groups, and youth online forums – for creating, changing, and transforming their linguistic, cultural, musical, …

The Polymers By Adam Dickinson, Camilla Nelson

The Goose

Review of The Polymers by Adam Dickinson.

The Shell Of The Tortoise: Four Essays & An Assemblage By Don Mckay, Tonia L. Payne

The Goose

Review of The Shell of the Tortoise: Four Essays & an Assemblage by Don McKay.

Literacy Narratives Of African-American Community College Students: Implications For Curriculum Alignment, Instructional Design, And Entry-Level Assessment, Roderick S. Brown

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated potential causes of developmental English placement among recent African-American high school graduates enrolled at a community college. Participants were four men and five women from lower- and lower-middle economic backgrounds who had completed an entry-level writing assessment prior to enrollment. An electronic survey was administered to all participants and included questions about literacy experiences in elementary, middle, and high school. Using an ethnographic approach to thematic narrative analysis, the author compared the literacy narratives of students who had tested into college-level composition with those who had tested into developmental English. Results indicated that participants who had tested …

Postmodern And Posthuman Literature, John P. Gallagher

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

The thesis is an analysis and application of Posthuman theory. Beginning with a debate on societal progress between Slavoj Zizek and Francis Fukuyama, the thesis explores the possibility of a Posthuman ethics. The main theoretical contributors are Carey Wolfe, Corey Anton, and Benedict Anderson. The primary texts analyzed are Eric Blair's (George Orwell) 1984, Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, and William Gibson's Neuromancer.

Prescription For Doctors: An Interpretive Analysis Of Messages Portrayed By Websites Targeting Potential Medical Students, Kelly Oehler

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examined communication about medical professional career decisions as depicted by 10 popular websites. Qualitative research methods, phenomenology and hermeneutics, were used to investigate these messages. Findings revealed a differencebetween medical community authors and layperson authors. Authors associated with the medical field shared overall positive messaging while authors not associated with the medical field leaned toward a negative presentation of information. The divide was most prominent when the role of advising was introduced. Topics discussed in the research included making the choice to enter the medical profession, level of intelligence of medical students, personality traits, financial incentive, continued education,and …

Framing Identity: Repudiating The Ideal In Chicana Literature, Michael A. Flores

All NMU Master's Theses

In the 1960s Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzalez penned his now canonical, epic poem “I Am Joaquin.” The poem chronicles the historic oppression of a transnational, Mexican people as well as revolutionary acts of their forefathers in resisting tyranny. Coinciding with a series of renewed, sociopolitical campaigns, collectively known as the Chicano Movement, Gonzales’ poem uses vivid imagery to present an idealized representation of Chicanos and encouraged his reader to engage in revolutionary action. Though the poem encourages strong leadership, upward mobility, and political engagement the representations of women in his text are misogynistic and limiting.

His presentation of the “black-shawled …

"Why Don't You Speak Ordinary English?" She Said Coldly: Linguistic Rebellion In "The Prussian Officer" And Lady Chatterley's Lover, Nicole R. Koroch

All NMU Master's Theses

Criticism of D. H. Lawrence’s novel, Lady Chatterley’s Lover, tends to focus on issues of sexual awakening, the natural world, and figurations of gender and power. However, little examination has been done on the instances of language as a rejection of authority through the character of Mellors, a returning soldier and a gamekeeper. In the novel, Mellors speaks both a “broad” vernacular as well as “proper” English and this linguistic variance reveals two significant aspects of Mellors’ character. Here, I will implement Jacques Derrida’s theory of differance to show that just as the “a” in differance, as a graphic …