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Displacing The Present: Against The Day, 9/11, Anarchism, And Terrorism, Robert L. Mclaughlin

Faculty Publications – English

No abstract provided.

Foreign Language Anxiety In The Classroom And In An Online Environment, Monica Baez-Holley

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study compared the levels of anxiety that students experienced when taking a foreign language in the classroom with those taking a foreign language at a distance. It also aimed to determine if the student’s academic performance in the course could be predicted by his or her foreign language anxiety level. The sample consisted of 107 undergraduate students (57 traditional classroom students and 50 online students) enrolled in SPAN 101 at Indiana State University in the spring of 2012. Participants were asked to complete the L120 Questionnaire 2 developed by Hurd (2003). The original version of the instrument was used …

From Mutation To Disarticulation: Terror And The Body In Don Delillo’S Falling Man, Sarah A. Mcmichael

English Theses

Don DeLillo’s Falling Man addresses cultural changes within the age of postmodern indifference and global terror, as the reaction to the image of a falling body becomes controversial following the events of 9/11. After being initially removed by the media, Richard Drew’s provocative photo titled “The Falling Man” captures a body falling against the backdrop of the World Trade Center, and is recovered and reexamined in DeLillo’s novel. Several types of bodily disturbances are illuminated in Falling Man as the fictional bodies of both American citizens and foreign terrorists become susceptible to strange mutations and disarticulations. DeLillo uses the bodily …

Decoding Literary Aids: A Study On Issues Of The Body, Masculinity, And Self Identity In U.S. Aids Literature From 1984-2011, Alexander Shimon Abrams

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Rather than waiting decades to respond, novelists of nearly every literary genre began conceptualizing the AIDS epidemic shortly after the first documented case of the virus in the United States in 1981. Writers, feeling a sense of urgency, wasted little time constructing didactic texts that differ from much historical fiction in that they were written as the tragedy they are commenting on occurred. However, AIDS literature has changed as the disease has spread well beyond the gay communities of San Francisco and New York, causing people to reexamine their longstanding beliefs on masculinity, sexuality, and body politics.

My Master's thesis …

"This World Must Touch The Other": Crossing The U.S.-Mexico Border In American Novels And Television, Guadalupe V. Linares

Department of English: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This dissertation is a literary, cultural, and theoretical analysis of selected twentieth and twenty-first century novels and television in which characters cross the U.S.-Mexico border. The novels considered are: Blood Meridian, or the Evening Redness in the West by Cormac McCarthy, Forgetting the Alamo, or Blood Memory by Emma Pérez, Dancing with Butterflies by Reyna Grande, and Into the Beautiful North by Luis Alberto Urrea. In addition, I also examine the television series Breaking Bad created by Vince Gilligan. I use McCarthy’s Blood Meridian and Gilligan’s Breaking Bad to balance Chicana/o perspectives of border crossings found in the other novels …

Illuminating The Darkness: The Naturalistic Evolution Of Gothicism In The Nineteenth-Century British Novel And Visual Art, Cameron Dodworth

Department of English: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The British Gothic novel reached a level of very high popularity in the literary market of the late 1700s and the first two decades of the 1800s, but after that point in time the popularity of these types of publications dipped significantly. However, towards the end of the nineteenth century, the British Gothic novel rebounded in popularity, though not to the level of the early 1800s. This dissertation seeks to address why the publication of truly Gothic novels in Britain decreased during the middle of the century, only to increase once again at the fin de siècle. What this …

The Effect Of Socioeconomic Status On Student Perceptions Of Instructional Communication Behaviors, Samuel A. Crecelius

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In spite of desegregation and efforts to provide equitable education for all students, minorities and students living in poverty continue to underperform their peers. Education theorists have attributed this achievement gap to a cultural mismatch between students and their teachers and schools. At the same time, instructional communication research has found that cultural differences may influence student perceptions of teacher communication behaviors and that these behaviors have an effect on learning outcomes. Interestingly, while race has received extensive study in the instructional communication literature, little research has examined the role of socioeconomic status on students’ perceptions of instructor communication behaviors. …

Running On Fumes The Destabilization Of The World’S Interconnected Systems As A Result Of Unsustainable Human Proliferation On A Finite Planet, Eduardo Fradin

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the global interconnectivity of critical and complex societal systems. Today, if consumption patterns continue to rise to unsustainable levels in concert with a soaring global population, these social and technological systems may begin to buckle, which will threaten the advancement of modern human civilization in the 21st century and beyond. The first globally-stressed system that is addressed in this paper is the global economic system. The second system I discuss is the global energy system and how it directly impacts the global economy. The following chapter looks at unsustainable population growth, freshwater scarcity, and food stresses. In …

“All Things Forget The Forest:” The Convergence Of The War And The Pastoral In Edward Thomas’S Body Of Work, Nicole Trobaugh

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Edward Thomas, often identified as a war poet, eludes definitive characterization despite the fact that his poems are often anthologized as war poems. However, unlike other widely-known war poets, such as Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen, the imagery present in Thomas’s poetry contains much subtlety and features dominant usage of nature themes. This project attempts to navigate the multi-faceted world of Edward Thomas through consideration of his love for nature, his melancholic predispositions, and his preoccupations with the looming Great War in order to study Thomas’s use of natural imagery in the context of grief, melancholy, and traumatic experience. To …

Diurnal And Nocturnal Avian Antipredator Behavior In Thermally Challenging Conditions, Jennie M. Carr

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Diurnal avian antipredator behavior has been the focus of much past research, yet the influence of the thermal environment on such behaviors is often overlooked. Far less is known about nocturnal avian antipredator behavior, including how these behaviors are influenced by challenging thermal environments. The first portion of my research focused on how the thermal environment influences the diurnal antipredator behavior of wintering birds while (i) exposed to high wind speeds, (ii) foraging in sunlit and shaded microhabitats, and (iii) when using thermoregulatory postures to conserve body heat. In addition to increasing convective heat loss, high wind speeds increase the …

Evaluation Of An Avian Radar System, Michael B. Gerringer

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The problem of bird strikes in aviation is becoming an increasing threat, both to aircraft and to human safety. Management efforts have reduced wildlife hazards below 500 feet and within the immediate airport environment, but traditional methods of monitoring bird activity are limited to an observer’s field of view. Avian radar systems could potentially be useful in monitoring bird activity at great distances from the airport, at higher altitudes, and at night (Dolbeer 2006), but little work has been done to validate the tracking capabilities of avian radar systems. Thus, the goal of this research is to evaluate the detection …

Jack London: Landscape, Love, And Place, Kristin Yoshiko Ladd

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

In Jack London: Landscape, Love, and Place, American Studies theories and methods formed the prime basis for analysis of London's biography, historical context, and literary significance. Particularly, the ideas of agrarianism, the Turner Thesis moment, Western literature, American masculinity, Victorian ideals, and sustainable farm practices in America were used to understand London's motivations for writing and creating his farm, his influence on American literature, and his texts' abilities to open avenues between literature and place-based education. Key concepts that influenced how London's works could be incorporated into and applied to didactic theory included David Sobel's seminal works in place-based education. …

The Effect Of Sex And Gender Role Orientation On Attitudes Towards Individuals With Dependent Personality Disorder, Amanda K. Slowik

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Using Oral Reading To Self To Improve Oral Fluency Of English Language Learners, Suwanna Klomjit

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purposes of this study were to study the effect of oral reading-to-self on adult English Language Learners' oral fluency and their perception toward oral reading-to-self. This experimental study used a pretest-posttest design. The participants (N = 63) were recruited and randomly assigned to a control group (n = 30) and an experimental group (n = 33). The speaking test: Klomjit Lincoln Measure of Spoken English (KLMSE), developed by the researcher, was administered as both pre and posttest. The treatment was an assignment to read out loud-to-self. The Evaluation of Using Oral Reading to Improve Oral Fluency, a quantitative scale …

Walt Whitman's Changing Perceptions Of The Effects Of The American Civil War And Its Impact On His Poetry, Andrew Pearcy

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This paper seeks to examine the way that Walt Whitman’s perceptions about the American Civil War changed in Drum-Taps, his book of poems written about the war. The book attempts to capture the emotions of the Northern public throughout the war, without discussing any easily recognizable event of the war, thus creating an emotional record of it. The opening poems are jingoistic, declaring the justness of the war and the hope that it will be over soon with minimal casualties, but about midway through the tone of his poetry shifts into one of cautious optimism. After the shift Whitman’s loyalties …

Contributors, Gwenyth E. Hood

The Mythic Circle

No abstract provided.

Mythic Circle #35, Gwenyth E. Hood

The Mythic Circle

No abstract provided.

A Theory Of Text As Action:Why Delivery Through Publication Improves Student Writers And Their Writing, Lisa Kae Thomas

Theses and Dissertations

Students in required writing courses often fail to see the purpose of their writing and invest themselves in their writing. Many composition pedagogues have noticed that one solution to this problem is to help students publish their writing, and have reported the positive outcomes of their publication-focused courses. However, this practice has not been grounded in theory. My project connects the practice of publishing student writing to theory. I draw on Kenneth Burke's and other's ideas of text as action and show how the ancient cannon of delivery is a necessary means of experiencing and understanding text as action with …

Letter From The Editors. "The Writer's Experience" Summer 2013; Volume 4, Issue 2, Ruth Mikal Garza, Craig E. Price

Journal of South Texas English Studies

No abstract provided.

Disconnect To Connect: Encouraging Student Writing Through Interactive Technologies, Natalie M. Dorfeld

Journal of South Texas English Studies

No abstract provided.

George Canning, Liberal Toryism, And Counterrevolutionary Satire In The Anti-Jacobin, Martha Thompson

Theses and Dissertations

One of the most defining moments in the histories of British satire and the public sphere took place in the late 1790s in an abandoned house in Piccadilly. Here George Canning and several fellow conservatives began writing and circulating their weekly newspaper the Anti-Jacobin. Although the periodical has been critically neglected, it is a valuable model for exploring how literary (partisan) politicians attempted to form a rational and critical public sphere through their satiric poetry. Founded by George Canning and edited by William Gifford, the Anti-Jacobin seems to reflect a reactionary conservative's ideology and has been summarily dismissed because of …

"Sample Speech I' The Market-Place": The Habermasian Public Sphere In Robert Browning's The Ring And The Book, Anthony Thomas Garcia

English Theses & Dissertations

In The Ring and the Book, Browning presents a spectrum of twelve dramatic monologues to tell a complicated murder story in 17th century Rome. Browning delves into the environs of 17th century Italy in creating the backdrop for the narrative in Books Two, Three, and Four, supplying these voices to provide historical and social context to the private matter of domestic violence. Understanding the function of this leading triad necessitates investigation into the relation of community and public space to the act of uxoricide. The counter-position of "Half-Rome" in Book II and "The Other Half-Rome" in Book III produces …

Keen, Sober, And Smart: Review Of Eric Otto's Green Speculations: Science Fiction And Transformative Environmentalism, Gerry Canavan

English Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Transatlantic Intimacies: The Homoerotic Affect Worlds Of Nineteenth-Century Print Culture, Melissa R. Pompili

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The thesis argues that during the late-nineteenth century, an alternative means of same-sex erotic communication was conceived of in transatlantically published American and British künstlerroman novels written by female authors. This alternative discourse was communicated affectively to initiated readers by way of metaphorical descriptions of painting, music, accompanying illustrations, and photography, and these novels all participate in the work of moving non-normative sexuality into the public sphere at the turn of the century. Through readings of works by Kate Chopin, Julia Magruder, and Amy Levy, the thesis explores the ways that these affective interactions were constructed, and the manner in …

Professional Writing In The English Classroom: Designing A High School Or Middle School Course (Or Unit) In Professional Writing, Jonathan Bush, Leah A. Zuidema

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

The article offers information on the development of professional writing course in English middle school or high school classroom. It mentions that a good syllabus not only provide answers to basic questions, but also to questions that Jay McTighe and Grant Wiggins have pertained to as the essential questions. It notes that students learn from writing activities and assessments including how to write in genres, evaluate the settings of professional tools, and manage their writing processes.

Looking Outside The Canon: Owen Vincent Dodson'sboy At The Window, Sarah Anne Campbell

Theses and Dissertations

Scholars have viewed African American texts written in the years between 1950 and 1960 as espousing confrontation, protest, and resistance. Although fruitful in identifying large writing trends, much of that scholarship narrowly defines what writing during that time accomplished, leaving out important writers whose writing does not fit the mold. One such writer is Owen Vincent Dodson (1914-1983), who published Boy at the Window in 1951. The novel uses modes of drama including song and call-and-response to invite reader sympathy and identification with characters, and eventually provides reader the opportunity to participate in creating meaning. Dodson's novel subtly combats racism …

Reconceiving A Necessary Evil: Teaching A Transferable Fyc Research Paper, Samuel James Dunn

Theses and Dissertations

The place of the research paper in first-year composition (FYC) courses is often debated in composition forums. Many argue that the a-disciplinary nature of FYC doesn't allow instructors to teach the research paper in a way that will be transferable to disciplinary writing tasks, while others say that it is possible, as long as we have a thorough understanding of the kinds of writing tasks students will face in the disciplines and specifically teach writing skills that will be transferable. To identify these more generalizable writing skills to be emphasized, I interviewed 14 professors at Brigham Young University from different …

Nailing Down Truths: Evental Historiography In Fors Clavigera, Sari Lynn Carter

Theses and Dissertations

The theoretical framework of this study is intended to explore the potential Alain Badiou's theory of event, truth, and faithful subject may provide for understanding literature. This study applies this framework to John Ruskin's late and lesser-known work Fors Clavigera: Letters to the Workmen and Labourers of Great Britain (1871-1884). Both Ruskin's fragmented style in Fors Clavigera and his notion of historical truth developed therein have been read as madness and as reactionary romanticism. I examine key metanarrative moments in Fors Clavigera where Ruskin reflects on his historiographical choices and methods. Through my analysis, I show how Badiou's theory provides …

From Plato To Ipads: Dialogical Opportunities In Twenty-First Century Secondary English Classrooms, Emily Ensign

Theses and Dissertations

Technology offers students and educators an uncharted digital landscape of possibilities. Some educators feel strongly that technology enhances the classroom; others feel that it doesn't necessarily improve traditional teaching methods, and some even feel that it is detrimental to students' ability to focus or engage in face-to-face conversations. My project focuses on critical dialogue as defined by various theorists, and explores whether or not secondary English classrooms that use iPads continue to use the dialogical methods as outlined by these theorists (most of which could not have foreseen today's technological advancements). By relying on these theorists and scholars to provide …

Eng 4905-001: Studies In Youth Literature, Jamila Smith

Summer 2013

No abstract provided.