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Participant Positioning And The Positioning Of Participatory Pronouns In The Academic Lecture, Robert Thomas Connor

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Through a research approach of emergence applied to a corpus of academic letures, I developed a theory to explicate the referents of a class of frequently used pronouns (I, you, and we), which I term the Participatory Pronouns. My theory of the Positioning of Participatory Pronouns resolves the main practical concern of the research participants, which is to place their utterances in contexts for authoritative, intellectually sound, and socially relevant interpretation. At the theoretical level, my theory is a specification of Relevance Theory and resolves disparate previous analyses of pronouns. Overall, my work provides a new paradigm for how referents …

Getting Warm(Er) An Investigation Into Linguistic Relativity And Its Significance In The Translation Of The English Lexical Term "Warm" Into French, Elizabeth Neuerburg Addison

LSU Master's Theses

Students of foreign languages are well aware that every language has its own vocabulary and word-for-word translations are rarely valid. It is therefore unsurprising that identifying literal translations in French for the English lexical term “warm” is problematic. This study demonstrates that not only is there a variety of French lexical terms that can be used to convey the meaning that the English lexical term “warm” conveys, but that certain French lexical terms are more likely to be used only in certain situations. Furthermore, an examination of this phenomenon through the lens of linguistic relativity has revealed differing conceptualizations of …

Increasing The Communicative Behaviors Of Children With Low Levels Of Communicative Initiations In An Inclusive Preschool Classroom, Susanna Melikyan

LSU Master's Theses

The purpose of the study was to measure the current level of communicative initiations exhibited by children enrolled in the LSU preschool program. Child communication was categorized as specific, unclear, or negative. These descriptors referred to peers ability to interpret the target child’s communication. Additionally, peer responses were recorded as either positive or negative based on their reaction to the target child’s communication. Children identified with either low levels of communicative initiation or unclear/negative communications were targeted for the intervention. Single-subject research methods were used to record each child’s communicative behaviors. A least-to-most assistive prompting (Horner & Keilitz, 1975) intervention …

Factors Driving Turkish Foreign Policy, Betul Dicle

LSU Master's Theses

Evaluation of Turkish foreign policy events suggests that both external and domestic factors have affected its determination. While a consistent pattern in foreign policy has been observed since Ottoman times, the 20th century has led to substantial challenges. Long-established Turkish foreign policy, based exclusively on external factors, was reshaped to include domestic factors as well. With the new Republic in 1923, the process of reshaping foreign policy, based on Western values, has started. The end of the Cold War started a new era in which domestic factors gained predominance. The aim of this study is to evaluate the factors that …

Native Spiritualities As Resistance: Disrupting Colonialism In The Americas, Kirstin Lea Squint

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This project analyzes eight novels which represent revolt or resistance by varied Native peoples against the European and Euro-American colonization of the Americas. I take a comparative approach to literatures of the Americas because of the dearth of research examining the literatures of both continents side by side, particularly literatures by and about Indigenous Americans. Chapter One introduces the theoretical bases for the project, including colonial and postcolonial theories, Native American literary theories, and aesthetic concerns specific to American Indian literatures. The second chapter is a comparative analysis of Miguel Angel Asturias’s Men of Maize and Leslie Marmon Silko’s Almanac …

The Effectiveness Of Contextualization On Second Language Acquisition Using The Situational Discourse Semantic Model, Alice Marie Johnson

LSU Master's Theses

In traditional classrooms a second language is taught via thematic word sets, grammatical explanations, and patterned syntactic practice. This study compared the traditional teaching approach to a scaffolded teaching approach, consisting of words taught within a narrative context. Five fifth-grade students were taught Spanish as a second language during a ten-week intervention. Vocabulary learning and sentence generation were measured following each session, as well as a pre-posttest measure. Results showed that print was an important support used by participants in the traditional condition. However across time, vocabulary learning and sentence length increased significantly more in the scaffolded condition.

Conversations On Citizenship: Young People's Perceptions And Performances Of Democratic Citizenship, Katherine Rhodes Knobloch

LSU Master's Theses

The purpose of this paper is to illuminate how the practice of democratic citizenship compares to ideals of it. I hope to provide a clear view of what contemporary democratic citizenship means, how this conception has been formed, and how democratic citizenship can be effectively practiced to serve the ideals held by democratic citizens. To do this, this paper will be comprised in several parts. After an initial explanation of the theoretical perspective used, I will explore how democracy was understood and implemented in the formative stages of United States government. Next I review contemporary practices of citizenship before examining …

The Perils And Empowerments Of Mountain Literacies: Reading Loss And Shifting Identities In Appalachian Memoirs And Novels, Erica Abrams Locklear

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation analyzes the literary portrayal of literacy events in memoirs and novels written by Appalachian women during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Drawing from contemporary literacy scholarship, my project engages several definitions of the term "literacy," including theories defining it as a technical skill, a social act, cultural knowledge, or a potent form of ideological power. In a region historically (and often inaccurately) stigmatized as illiterate, "literacy" is a loaded term, a concept doubly associated with cultural pride and with cultural loss. By applying literacy theories to Appalachian literature, I analyze the identity conflicts literacy attainment causes for several …

A Rhetoric Of Existentialism, Zachary Gershberg

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Existentialism is often viewed as a morbid philosophy but adapting it to a rhetorical framework reveals a consistent interest in the ontological function of communication. The exchange of discourse and symbols is what ties humans together and existentialism examines the meaning that abounds in life as opposed to attempting to discover the meaning of life. As a rhetorical construct, existentialism provides a critical and unique view of agency and edification as a method of rhetorical practice.

Processes And/Of Performance: Difference, Memory, And Experimentation, Benjamin Daniel Powell

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study enacts performance analyses by combining experimental and avant-garde performance practices of artists or art movements such as John Cage, Jerzy Grotowski, Dadaism, and Eugenio Barba with the differential philosophies of Jacques Derrida and Gilles Deleuze. By focusing on the ways that performance practice informs understandings of “the ghost” and différance in Derrida’s theories, and processes of production and experimentation in Deleuze’s, this study examines performance as a process of negotiating practice and theory that continues to produce rather than disappear. To reinforce the productive capacity of performance, this study looks at three different sites and the processes at …

Analyses Of High School Band Students' And Directors' Perceptions Of Verbal And Nonverbal Teaching Behaviors, Jennifer A. Whitaker

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to document and explore the use and perception of verbal and nonverbal teaching behaviors of selected high school band directors. Participants were six successful high school band directors and members of their top-performing ensembles. Directors were videotaped during rehearsals. Videos were subsequently analyzed. Systematic observation data consisted of frequencies and percentages of conductor magnitude, filler use, and time spent on and off podium; frequency and time of each sequential pattern component; and instructional pacing. Directors and students viewed and rated video excerpts of their directors using 10-point Likert scales. Participants then completed a 22-item …

Walden Pond And The Performative Touristic Gaze, Daniel Christopher Bono

LSU Master's Theses

This is an ethnographic study of tourism at Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts. I argue that Walden Pond operates as a site that creates tensions among visitors due to the ways that time has transformed the once serene landscape into an overcrowded swimming pool. These tensions, however, fall under the expectation that the State Reservation of Massachusetts (re)creates Thoreau’s Walden as suggested in his discourse, but the performance of history is enacted through the creation of meaning among visitors engaging in a dialogue that references the past, talking about a space that has cultural significance. Exploring the touristic experience and …

Baby Signs: Caregiver Perceptions Of Their Use And Benefit To Children, Leah Catherine Legere

LSU Master's Theses

Gesture use is a precursor to spoken language, and children who exhibit frequent use of gesture have higher rates of speech comprehension and production when tested between 13 and 15 months of age (Bates et al, 1989). The purpose of this study was to learn more about caregivers’ perceptions of the use and benefits of sign to their children. Fifty-three caregivers were recruited for the study, and 33 (62%) of these caregivers reported that they had used or were currently using baby signs with one of their children. Six (18%) of these caregivers also reported that their children presented developmental …

Richard Rorty's Map Of Political Misreading, Shaun Kenan King

LSU Master's Theses

For more than a quarter century, Richard Rorty was one of the most controversial writers. Critics of Rorty have often clustered their remarks around distinct themes within Rorty’s body of literature. Is Rorty’s criticism of the correspondence theory of truth valid and what standard of validity could confirm that? Does Rorty’s treatment of pragmatists such as William James and John Dewey accurately reflect their writings? Is Rorty’s brand of liberalism defensible when it assumes no non-circular form of justification can be proffered? These are the questions most often addressed by Rorty’s critics. He responded to their objections for two decades. …

The Investigation Of Treatment Outcomes For Adults With Chronic Brain Injury Following Intensive Multidisciplinary Treatment, Donna Mineo Fitzgerald-Dejean

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Although communication sciences and disorders (COMD) research supports intensive treatment for individuals with chronic brain injury, funding to provide these services is limited. This study explored the use of interdepartmental university resources to provide an intensive, multidisciplinary chronic brain injury program. Methodologically, treatment regimes were designed with clinical faculty as practicum experiences for COMD master’s degree students. Subjects with a single onset head injury or cerebral vascular accident greater than one year were recruited to participate in the Intensive Treatment, Weekly Treatment or Control Groups. Pre, Post, and Post-Post Testing were used to measure cognitive-linguistic, quality of life and physical …

Phonemic Awareness And Sight Word Reading In Toddlers, Alicia Tonya Mcinnis

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study investigated emerging phonemic awareness skills and printed sight word recognition abilities in two-year-old toddlers using plain text and MorphoPhonic Face words on flash cards. MorphoPhonic Face words were used to determine if this learning process is enhanced when words are iconically represented to show the first sound and the word's meaning (purposefully creating idiosyncratic cues) using pictures superimposed into the letters. Sixteen (16) age-matched toddlers were assigned to alternate treatment groups and received exposure to both printed and MorphoPhonic pictured words three times weekly for six weeks. During each session, children were taught 16 sight words (8 in …

The Relationship Between Early Cumulative Caregiver Sensitivity And Children's Later Self-Perception Of Cognitive Competence And Cognitive Performance, Jenna Rae Watson

LSU Master's Theses

The purpose of the study was to examine the relationship between children’s experiences of caregiver sensitivity during the first three years of their life and their later self-perceptions of cognitive competence and cognitive performance. Caregiver sensitivity was measured using data that had been collected with the Caregiver Interaction Scale (CIS, Arnett, 1989) during an earlier longitudinal study, the Baton Rouge Early Care Study (BRECES; Pierce & Benedict, 2007). Measures of cognitive competence were derived using the Pictorial Scale of Perceived Competence and Social Acceptance for Young Children (Harter & Pike, 1984) and measures of cognitive performance were derived using the …

Multimedia Mathematics Intervention For Math-Delayed Middle School Students, Lisa L. Stokes

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to determine if the Sharpening Math Skills Lab technology-mediated mathematics instructional practices for math-delayed middle school students have positive effects on their mathematics achievement and spatial visualization ability and to gauge student engagement in learning, implementation of the principles of instructional design, and attitudes toward mathematics instruction. The results of a recent meta-analysis report a range of significantly positive to significantly negative effect sizes which establish a need for further evaluation of academic achievement utilizing technology-mediated mathematics programs at the middle school level (Slavin, Lake, & Groff, 2007). The literature (Moreno & Mayer, 2000) …

Examining The Effects Of Non-Intensive Therapy On Word Retrieval, Apraxic Errors And Quality Of Life Following Intensive Therapy, Erin Lofton Cain

LSU Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to determine if given a period of intensive aphasia therapy a patient diagnosed with aphasia and an accompanying apraxia would maintain, gain, or lose skills during non-intensive therapy. A literature review revealed that intensive therapy has been shown to increase a patient's skill level in various areas. However, very little research was found that focused on how these patients' perform when reintroduced to typical aphasia therapy. This study proposed three specific questions: if the participant would retain her current level of word retrieval functioning evident after intensive therapy, if the participant would retain her …

The Great Reading Project (Gifted Readers Enhance Academic Talent): A Gifted-On-Gifted, Cross-Age Tutoring And Mentoring Intervention, Douglas Scott Samson

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The GREAT (Gifted Readers Enhance Academic Talent) Reading Project is a quasi-experimental, between-group study that evaluated a 13-week before-school student tutoring/mentoring reading and literacy program. The study examined the effects of the intervention on reading achievement for each group involved, including high-ability gifted fifth grade mentors, high-ability gifted first grade protégés, and above-average first grade “Scholastic Academy” protégés. Its primary goal was to improve academic achievement for above-average students in order to help them formally qualify for gifted services. The secondary goal was to promote and assess academic growth for high-ability students already in the gifted program. Mentor/protégé pairs met …

Mobile Dna Elements In Primate And Human Evolution, Jinchuan Xing, David J. Witherspoon, David A. Ray, Mark A. Batzer, Lynn B. Jorde

Faculty Publications

Roughly 50% of the primate genome consists of mobile, repetitive DNA sequences such as Alu and LINE1 elements. The causes and evolutionary consequences of mobile element insertion, which have received considerable attention during the past decade, are reviewed in this article. Because of their unique mutational mechanisms, these elements are highly useful for answering phylogenetic questions. We demonstrate how they have been used to help resolve a number of questions in primate phylogeny, including the human-chimpanzee- gorilla trichotomy and New World primate phylogeny. Alu and LINE1 element insertion polymorphisms have also been analyzed in human populations to test hypotheses about …

Rediscovering Civil War Classics: Civil War Books Not Yet Written, David Madden

Civil War Book Review

Civil War Books Not Yet Written

The Barbarous Voice Of Democracy: American Captivity In Barbary And The Multicultural Specter, Jacob Rama Berman

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

In Black And White: The Effect Of Race On Listener Judgments Of Cajun And Creole French, Alison Landry

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Trauma, Myth, And History In William Faulkner’S Absalom, Absalom! And E.L. Doctorow’S The Book Of Daniel, Alex Hargroder

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Introduction To A Poetics Of Diversity: English Translation Of Édouard Glissant’S Introduction À Une Poétique Du Divers, Julee Rebecca Laporte

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

The Spirituality Of Trees In Later Seventeenth-Century Horticulture, Sandra Sherman

1650-1850: Ideas, Aesthetics, and Inquiries in the Early Modern Era

No abstract provided.

Montesquieu's Persian Chain Letters A New Solution To The Riddle, Randolph Runyon

1650-1850: Ideas, Aesthetics, and Inquiries in the Early Modern Era

No abstract provided.

Looking Forward: Toward An Understanding Of The Nature And Definition Of It Acceptance, Andrew Schwarz, Wynn Chin

Faculty Publications

In the past two decades the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) has successfully catalyzed a large number of studies related to IT usage or intentions toward that usage. However, we argue that the focus of these studies has been on a narrow aspect of usage (typically, extent or frequency of use). Moreover, we suggest that, these studies implicitly include the notion that "IT acceptance" be construed as simply the relationship between antecedent factors such as perceived usefulness and ease of use that target or predict that particular type of intention connected to amount of IT usage. Rather than continuing studies for …

The Clinical Utility Of Mlu And Ipsyn For Aae-Speaking Children, Emily Lee Jones

LSU Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine the clinical utility of two assessment measures for one group of nonstandard English dialect speakers, that of African-American English- (AAE) speaking children. The measures were mean length of utterance (MLU) and Index of Productive Syntax (IPSyn). The clinical utility of these measures was examined by comparing MLU and IPSyn values of three different groups of AAE speakers to determine if these measures are influenced by a child’s socio-economic status, dialect status, and/or clinical language status. An item analysis was also completed for IPSyn to determine if the items on this tool are …