Digital Commons Network^™

The Acquisition Of A Stage Dialect, Nathaniel George Halloran

Dissertations and Theses

This study reports on the effectiveness of (theatrical) stage dialect learning techniques in bringing about linguistically authentic change. Actors use several techniques, some rather esoteric in nature and others more closely tied to linguistic fact such as the use of the International Phonetic Alphabet. The purpose of this study is to examine some of these techniques as to their ability to bring about linguistic authenticity, as well as to attempt a comparison of stage dialect acquisition and naturalistic dialect acquisition.

Data were collected by interviewing a convenience sample of twelve student actors. Six of these (three males, three females) were …

The Development Of Language Choice In A German Immersion School, Miranda Kussmaul Novash

Dissertations and Theses

When bilinguals converse with one another, they make choices about which language to speak. Many different factors have been shown to influence adult bilinguals' language choice, including interlocutor, setting, discourse content and discourse function. Less, however, is known about the factors influencing the language choice behavior of young bilinguals. Although case studies have provided into the type of language choice behavior exhibited by individual children, there is a lack of knowledge of the course of development from the language choice behavior of early childhood bilinguals to the more complex behavior of adult bilinguals.

This thesis examines the developmental pattern of …

Portrayals Of Disability In The Professional Preparation Of Speech-Language Pathologists, Jane Eric Sleeper Gravel

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this dissertation research was to discover, describe, and analyze how disability is portrayed to students attending graduate programs with the objective of becoming certified to practice the profession of speech-language pathology (SLP). Curricular materials drawn from the 228 SLP graduate programs in the United States were analyzed, using qualitative research strategies, to shed light on the processes by which portrayals of disability affect the presuppositions and practices of professionals who work in disability services.

The analysis provided supporting evidence for the claims of disability scholars and activists that the concept “disability” is a malleable social construction that …

Artifacts And Cultures-Of-Use In Intercultural Communication, Steven L. Thorne

World Languages and Literatures Faculty Publications and Presentations

This article develops a conceptual framework for understanding how intercultural communication, mediated by cultural artifacts (i.e., Internet communication tools), creates compelling, problematic, and surprising conditions for additional language learning. Three case studies of computer-mediated intercultural engagement draw together correlations between discursive orientation, communicative modality, communicative activity, and emergent interpersonal dynamics. These factors contribute to varying qualities and quantities of participation in the intercultural partnerships. Case one, "Clashing Frames of Expectation -- Differing Cultures-of-Use," suggests that the cultures-of-use of Internet communication tools, their perceived existence and on-going construction as distinctive cultural artifacts, differs interculturally just as communicative genre, pragmatics, and institutional …

Falling Into History: The Imagined Wests Of Kim Stanley Robinson In The "Three Californias" And Mars Trilogies, Carl Abbott

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

Analyzes Kim Stanley Robinson's two science fiction trilogies, the "Three Californias" trilogy '(Wild Shore, Gold Coast,' and 'Pacific Edge),' published during 1984 - 1990, and the Mars trilogy '(Red Mars, Green Mars,' and 'Blue Mars),' published during 1993 - 1996, to show how they incorporate themes of the complexity and contingency involved in settlement of the frontier associated with the "new Western history" of the 1980's - 1990's. The Mars trilogy co-opts the American West's status as a place of resource development when Robinson narrates the conquest of nature through technology. The Orange County trilogy explores, inter alia, intentional communities, …

Efficient Decomposition Of Large Fuzzy Functions And Relations, Paul Burkey, Marek Perkowski

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper presents a new approach to decomposition of fuzzy functions. A tutorial background on fuzzy logic representations is first given to emphasize next the simplicity and generality of this new approach. Ashenhurst-like decomposition of fuzzy functions was discussed in [3] but it was not suitable for programming and was not programmed. In our approach, fuzzy functions are converted to multiple-valued functions and decomposed using an mv decomposer. Then the decomposed multiple-valued functions are converted back to fuzzy functions. This approach allows for Curtis-like decompositions with arbitrary number of intermediate fuzzy variables, that have been not presented for fuzzy functions …

The Development Of The Niso Committee Ax's Openurl Standard, Arthur Hendricks

Library Faculty and Staff Publications and Presentations

Describes the development of the OpenURL standard and how it will impact librarians and information technologists. Scope and application of the OpenURL standard; Transportation of metadata and identifiers about referenced works and their context from any information resource to a local link server; Roles of libraries and librarians.

Bulletin: General Catalog Issue 2003-2004, Portland State University

Bulletin & Curriculum Change Documents

No abstract provided.

Multicultural Assessment: Research, Training, And Practice, Richard H. Dana

Regional Research Institute for Human Services

The credibility of standard assessment has been questioned by intra-professional debate, diminished by training deficits, redefined as semi-skilled technology by managed care, and compromised for multicultural populations by research bias. Scientific psychology has been responsible for perpetuation of bias and the limited generality of published ethnic minority research. A constructive response to these issues includes more coherent scientific preparation for assessment practice, particularly with ethnic minority populations. Adequate preparation entails careful reformulation of assumptions, redefinition of variables, informed selection of research methodologies, understanding deficiencies in normative data, and using culturally responsible interpretive strategies with standard test data in addition to …

Self-Perceptions Of Non-Native English Speaking Teachers Of English As A Second Language, Kathryn Ann Long

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of the present study was to examine the self-perceptions of effective non-native English speaking teachers (non-NESTs) of English as a Second Language (ESL) regarding their teaching behaviors. The study also sought to discover the relationship between effective non-NEST perceptions of their teaching behaviors and stereotypes for those behaviors. It further sought to define what experiences have contributed to their non-conformation if their perceptions do not fit the negative stereotypes of teaching behaviors of non-NESTs.

Tracking Down The Marrons: Archaeo-Geography Of Marronage In The Caribbean, E. Kofi Agorsah

Black Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

As the Maroons escaped from enslavement into unknown and inaccessible environments, they relied on their mental maps developed through sequential exploration of those environments to establish and defend their settlements. Initially they would take advantage of the knowledge of the areas surrounding the plantations from which they escaped, explore them thoroughly and then, at the appropriate time, link their escape routes and locations to those mental maps that they had acquired. That knowledge would have helped them to develop networks of familiar pathways and landmarks along, and around which, they arranged their settlements. This paper suggests that knowledge of such …

"Argument Is War"-Or Is It A Game Of Chess? : Multiple Meanings In The Analysis Of Implicit Metaphors, L. David Ritchie

Communication Faculty Publications and Presentations

Both Lakoff and Johnson (1980) and Vervaeke and Kennedy (1996), in their critique of Lakoff and Johnson, drew narrowly from a broad range of reasonable interpretations of the metaphors they analyzed. Expanding the interpretations vitiates many of Vervaeke and Kennedy's criticisms, but it supports their call for an open interpretation of groups of metaphors and points toward a more complex elaboration of the theories put forth by Lakoff and Johnson. The results of applying this approach to "ARGUMENT IS WAR" suggest that war is not necessarily the primary conceptual metaphor for contentious argument, as Lakoff and Johnson claimed. Rather, there …

Fergie's Prescience: The Changing Nature Of Diglossia In Tunisia, Keith Walters

Applied Linguistics Faculty Publications and Presentations

Despite criticisms it has received, Ferguson's (1959b) account of diglossia should be recognized for its prescience. It offered not only an admittedly idealized characterization of diglossia in Arabic, but also pointed out how and why it might change. Focusing on Tunisia, this article demonstrates the many ways in which Fergie was right. It examines the changing demographics of Tunisians' access to the high variety of Arabic; the complex ways in which Tunisians, and Arabs more generally, deal with the "communicative tensions" diglossia creates; and considers the changing nature of Arabic in what is, in many ways, a postdiglossic Tunisia.

The Interactive Work Of Prosody In The Irf Exchange: Teacher Repetition In Feedback Moves, John Hellermann

Applied Linguistics Faculty Publications and Presentations

This article examines the interactive import of prosody from a perspective of participants' orientation to talk in interaction, taking advantage of data from institutional discourse to focus on the prosodic packaging of recurring turn sequences of the same discourse activity. The analysis focuses on the third slot of a ubiquitous three-part classroom discourse sequence, the IRF exchange (Sinclair & Coulthard 1975), a site in which teachers make repetitive feedback moves following student responses. Examination of more than 25 hours of classroom discourse and more than 300 third-turn teacher feedback types uncovered a systematic use of prosody for these teacher repetitions …

Book Review Of Arabic Language Handbook By Mary Catherine Bateson, Kristen Kern

Library Faculty and Staff Publications and Presentations

Review of the book Arabic Language Handbook by Mary Catherine Bateson.

2002 Oregon Crime Victims’ Needs Assessment Final Report, Deborah Elliott, Alice Galloway, Karen Cellarius, Mary Louise Mcclintock, Mary Ellen Johnson, Mandy Davis, John Knutson

Regional Research Institute for Human Services

On behalf of the Crime Victims’ Assistance Section of the Oregon Department of Justice, Portland State University’s Regional Research Institute for Human Services conducted an 18-month (July 2001-December 2002) needs assessment of the current state of crime victims’ services and victims’ needs in Oregon. The primary objectives of the needs assessment were to identify:

• Gaps in the current service delivery system, including linkages among agencies
• Range and quality of services
• Barriers to accessing services, particularly among underserved populations
• How well Crime Victims’ Rights are implemented
• Model national and statewide programs

This report is a compilation of the findings gathered from …

Faculty Senate Monthly Packet October 2002, Portland State University Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Monthly Packets

The October 2002 Monthly packet includes the October agenda and appendices and the Faculty Senate minutes and attachments from the meeting held June 2002.

Power, Linguistic Diversity And Education, Eva Núñez-Méndez

World Languages and Literatures Faculty Publications and Presentations

Brief editorial outlining the author's views on issues around diversity, bilingualism and multiculturalism, arguing for the benefits of multilingualism.

Networking And Foreign Direct Investment Activity, Bruce A. Blonigen, Rossitza B. Wooster

Economics Faculty Publications and Presentations

We conduct an empirical investigation into whether networking effects affect foreign direct investment (FDI) activity. Using bibliographical information on CEOs’ birth and education locations, we are able to identify changes from U.S. to foreign-connected CEOs that occurred in U.S. manufacturing firms of the S&P 500 from 1992 through 1997. Robust to a variety of specifications, we find that a U.S. firm’s switch from a U.S.- to a foreign-connected CEO leads to substantial increases in the firm’s proportion of its assets and sales that are in foreign markets. In fact, our preferred specification indicates that foreign asset and sales proportions increase …

Faculty Senate Monthly Packet April 2002, Portland State University Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Monthly Packets

The April 2002 Monthly packet includes the April agenda and appendices and the Faculty Senate minutes and attachments from the meeting held March 2002.

Bounding Space, Jeffrey L. Day, Brian T. Rex

Proceedings of the 18th National Conference on the Beginning Design Student

The cognition and description of spatial conditions are essential components of any foundation for design and the visual arts. However, the ability to discern subtle spatial distinctions and the limits of spatial boundaries is often clouded by habit and apparent familiarity with the conditions in question. For example, one thinks one "knows" the spatial make-up of one's bedroom, but can one real ly see the space of the room from a position outside of this perceived familiarity? Can pre-cognitive knowledge be converted into critical understanding? Or, to invert the question, how can one know a space that one sees with …

Intelligent Shape Sorting, Esther Dudley

Proceedings of the 18th National Conference on the Beginning Design Student

It is a familiar scene. Each September brings its new crop of would-be graphic designers, diverse in their experiences and ambitions, brought together in the lecture theatre by an appointment on their induction calendar; indicating an introduction to design research. It is my task to explain the pattern that this study will take in the opening modules. In this first year of study design research will take place on Wednesdays, regardless of studio projects It will constitute a certain number of lectures and tutorials, concluding with a specified brief which represents the first phase of assessment. As the routine unfolds …

A Review Of Systems: New Paradigms For The Human Sciences, Martin Zwick

Complex Systems Faculty Publications and Presentations

This essay is a selective review of Systems: New Paradigms for the Human Sciences, edited by Gabriel Altmann and Walter A. Koch (Berlin: Walter de Gryter, 1998). It is selective because it is impossible to engage such a varied collection of systems-theoretic essays in a review of reasonable length. To invoke a relevant dialectical idea: the characteristic strength of any system is often also its characteristic weakness. One strength and weakness of the systems field is its great diversity, and this diversity is reflected in this volume by the range of subjects addressed in its 27 articles. I will not …

Bulletin: General Catalog Issue 2002-2003, Portland State University

Bulletin & Curriculum Change Documents

No abstract provided.

A Linguistic Evaluation Of The Somali Women's Self Sufficiency Project, Ann Marie Kasper

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis evaluated a program of the Lutheran Community Services of Oregon, an English as a Second Language training program for Somali refugee women. This study examined the English test results and questionnaires of 28 pairs of Somali women and North American volunteers involved in tutoring. The evaluation included communicating with the Somali women, North American tutors, and Lutheran Community Services staff. The researcher created a literacy test, piloted it, and created questionnaires with the assistance of the staff. Before the tutoring began, the researcher created a needs assessment for the Somali participants and visited each Somali woman's home with …

Not Everyone Who Speaks Spanish Is From Spain: Taino Survival In The 21st Century Dominican Republic, Pedro Ferbel-Azcarate

Black Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

The national identity of the Dominican Republic is based on an idealized story of three cultural roots-- Spanish, African, and Taíno--with a selective amnesia of the tragedies and struggles inherent to the processes of colonial domination and resistance. Further, African, Taíno and mixed AfroMestizo culture have been marginalized in favor of nationalist ideologies of progress and civilization found in the embrace of Hispanidad and Catholicism. In such a way, Dominicans have been disconnected from their African, their indigenous, and their mixed Afro-Mestizo Criollo (Creole) ancestry and cultural heritage, even though it is these ancestries and heritages which mark Dominicans with …

Classroom Instruction In Gates Grantee Schools A Baseline Report, Jeffrey T. Fouts, Carol Brown, Gayle Yvonne Thieman

Education Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study is part of the on-going program evaluation of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Model Schools Initiative and Model Districts Initiative in the state of Washington. In developing the Teaching Attributes Observation Protocol (TAOP) a conceptual framework was identified based on extensive literature on constructivist teaching. From this framework and the foundation’s written materials we identified important components and indicators of constructivist teaching and implications for the classroom. We then produced an observation protocol with 7 lesson components and a number of indicators under each component. The content validity of the instrument was then checked against the literature …

Writing In The Contact Zone: Three Portraits Of Reflexivity And Transformation, Laurene L. Christensen

Dissertations and Theses

Culture is at the core of language teaching. Because classrooms are contact zones (Pratt 1991), teachers must have a well-developed sense of their own intercultural competence so that they may better facilitate the cross-cultural discovery inherent in language teaching. Teacher preparation programs need to provide opportunities for new teachers to increase their intercultural awareness. The purpose of this research was to qualitatively understand the experiences of pre-service teachers in a required culture-learning class at a large urban university. Specifically, the focus of this study was the completion of a mini-ethnography project designed to give the students a cross-cultural exchange. Since …

Classroom Practices For Literacy Development Of English Language Learners, Teresa J. Kennedy

Northwest Journal of Teacher Education

The article discusses the need to adjust teaching practices to meet the needs of linguistically diverse students.

Student Teachers' Perception Of Their Exposure To Special Population, Henry S. Williams, Osman Alawiye, Don Woodcock

Northwest Journal of Teacher Education

The preparation of pre-service teachers to be culturally responsive is becoming more critical as America's minority student population continues to rapidly increase. It is generally acknowledged that the public school classroom is the place where pre-service teachers experience and acquire culturally responsive behaviors such as interdependency with in-service teachers and students, parents, administrators and stake holding associations. The most critical among these is the experience the pre-service candidates receive with culturally diverse students. Thus, the purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which a Pacific Northwest undergraduate teacher preparation program provided its pre-service candidates work opportunities with …