Digital Commons Network^™

Referential Indexing: The Role Of Space In Reference Processing, Cameron Smith

Theses and Dissertations

A number of studies have suggested that spatial representations are used during language comprehension in a number of different paradigms (e.g. Ferreira et al., 2008; Gunter et al., 2015). These studies have largely focused on the visual modality, suggesting that people may use spatial cues in the visual environment to aid them in language comprehension. Importantly, the primary modality of spoken language is audition, which raises the question of whether the reliance on spatial information is specific to referents that are visible or at least were visible at some point. Thus, in this study, we examined whether spatial representations are …

Progress Monitoring Timing Effects In Speech And Written Language Therapy, James P. Blaida

Theses and Dissertations

Progress monitoring is a crucial aspect of speech-language pathology. Without it, speech-language pathologists (SLPs) have little way of determining if patients are making progress with the implemented therapy. Currently, most SLPs perform progress monitoring during therapy. This study compared the traditional, status-quo, method of progress monitoring to that of progress monitoring performed before therapy begins in an effort to determine if a timing change would affect therapy outcomes. 2 boys, receiving articulation therapy, and 1 girl, receiving spelling therapy, each had 1 treatment goal for the during condition and 1 treatment goal for the before condition. The children all received …

Self-Regulation And Self-Efficacy In A Three-Part Goal Setting Cycle, Mary Virginia Roueche

Theses and Dissertations

The researcher examined the impact self-regulation and metacognitive formative assessments had on self-efficacy through a mixed-methods design. The purpose of the action research study was to teach metacognitive goal-setting through a formative assessment framework in order to measure how students employed self-regulatory behaviors and if this affected their self-efficacy. The overall goals were to improve seventh-grade students’ self-efficacy and mental self-regulation in order to 1) discern how students are efficacious and how does it affect their output; 2) provide field-tested instructional strategies and assessment choices for the seventh-grade teacher team; 3) provide qualitative data to the school’s administrative team to …

Neuroanatomical Correlates Of Speech And Melody Repetition In Chronic Stroke, Sarah Elizabeth Bradford

Theses and Dissertations

The ability to repeat speech is impaired in most individuals with aphasia. Recent evidence suggests damage to area Spt (boundary of the parietal and temporal lobes at the Sylvian fissure) may cause the repetition difficulties commonly seen in aphasia. This study examined if such repetition impairments are specific to speech or reflect a more general repetition deficit, and determined how regional and network brain damage predict repetition impairments. Participants in the chronic phase of stroke (N=47) listened to a series of ten five-second melodies that consisted of six tones and repeated the melody (by humming) following its presentation. The participants’ …

The Effect Of Emphasizing Key Vocabulary On Student Achievement With English Learners, Sarah L. Owen

Theses and Dissertations

This action research seeks to determine the impact of teacher training and the use of specific instructional strategies, per the research-based SIOP® teaching model, on English language arts achievement of formally identified first grade English Learners. The study aims to discover if using strategic techniques to teach vocabulary positively affects language acquisition and comprehension. English Learners have historically lagged behind grade level peers in all academic areas. English Learners tend to have many outside variables that can affect their ability to focus on school. Issues with immigration, class, culture, and race are all relevant topics with this population. This study …

The Effects Of Systemic Functional Linguistics And Gradual Release Of Responsibility On Student Self-Efficacy And Engagement In Mathematics, Jason David Aldridge

Theses and Dissertations

This paper addresses the problem of practice that secondary mathematics students do not feel confident in communicating mathematically. The researcher has placed an emphasis on math language by using a systemic functional linguistic approach to teaching mathematics. Building student confidence and engagement in mathematics is the main focus of the methods presented in this action research study. The researcher wants to investigate how systemic functional linguistics and gradual release of responsibility affects student self-efficacy and engagement in secondary mathematics. A mixedmethods design uses researcher field notes, student surveys and interviews, and student work to examine the levels of self-efficacy and …

Aporetic Rhetoric: The Use Of Uncertainty In Healthcare Contexts, Adam S. Lerner

Theses and Dissertations

This project examines how uncertainty is rhetorically deployed in healthcare contexts. Investigating four major healthcare contexts, I study how different forms of uncertainty produce distinct rhetorical effects and consequences. In Chapter 1, I explore how the haphazard use of Agent Orange during the Vietnam war makes it difficult for veterans to prove their exposure to this deadly chemical. In Chapter 2, I examine the rhetorical strategies of mental illness skeptics and denialists, looking at how each deploys uncertainty in different and related ways. In Chapter 3, I investigate the intersection between design, emotion, and uncertainty as it appears in the …

Writing With Risk: Dangerous Discourses And Event-Based Pedagogies, Ben Harley

Theses and Dissertations

“Writing with Risk: Dangerous Discourses and Event-Based Pedagogies,” responds to the pedagogical work of scholars such as Susan Wells, Nancy Welch, and Linda Flower by arguing that the risks associated with public writing pedagogies stem from the transformative nature of the rhetorical event that implicates and rearticulates actors through co-production, subverting their assumed autonomy. I argue that each of the three primary vantages of publics scholarship is particularly vulnerable to a certain type of risk aligned to a specific element of the rhetorical situation: idealist scholarship to unintended consequences in which the meaning of the text transforms, activist scholarship to …

The Effect Of Neighborhood Characteristics And Acculturation On Vegetable Intake Among U.S. Hispanics, Anna Victoria Mesa

Theses and Dissertations

The growing prevalence of chronic disease among the U.S. Hispanic population has drawn increasing attention to modifiable behaviors such as diet in an effort to curb the burden of disease among this population. While factors affecting dietary intake among U.S. Hispanics have been largely studied, this study broadens the scope of existing analyses from examining the role of individual-level factors, including acculturation, to also include environmental factors such as neighborhood ethnic composition. Multilevel mixed modeling was employed to test the interaction of individual acculturation with neighborhood ethnic composition to predict vegetable intake among a sample of U.S. Hispanics. Individuals who …

Individual Differences In Music Discrimination And Their Relation To Reading And Reading-Related Skills In Children, Elaina C. Hill

Theses and Dissertations

Research suggests that there may be a relationship between music and reading. Some researchers have found that musical rhythm is related to reading in children, while others have found that it is musical pitch and not rhythm that correlates with reading. Prosody is the melodic element of language that encompasses both pitch and rhythm. In the past, these have been studied separately. In the present study, we analyzed pitch and rhythm discrimination skills, phonological awareness, prosody and reading in thirty-nine seven and eight year old children. We predicted that music and reading skills would be related, and that prosody would …

The Impact Of Classroom Management On New Teachers At A Newly Opened Elementary School, Larry Peaden Jones

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation in practice outlines an action research project that was designed in order to solve the research question of: What is the impact of Capturing Kids’ Hearts on improving the classroom management of beginning teachers and district new-hires in a new elementary school setting? This question was proposed on the idea that classroom management is something that many teachers will face as a challenge; especially beginning teachers. The Capturing Kids’ Hearts program was also determined to be beneficial as it contains attributes that would allow any teacher to obtain some useful information from the information. This action research project …

“As The Occasion Demands”: Constraint-Based Practice In Rhetoric And Composition, Erica Kerstin Fischer

Theses and Dissertations

In their 2010 Composition Studies article, Laurie Gries and Collin Brooke observe, “constrained writing has been underappreciated” in the composition classroom (21). Taking seriously the potential value of constraints in pedagogical practice, this project executes a cross-disciplinary examination (drawing from design theory, experimental poetry, literary theory, composition, and rhetorical theory) of the various occurrences of, and approaches to, constraints and their influences on the ways we think and write. This investigation reveals that constraints create the conditions under which students can become productively defamiliarized to their thinking and writing habits, encouraging them to encounter alternatives otherwise left unnoticed.

I suggest …

Influence Of Application-Based Homework On Students Who Struggle In Algebra I, Charles Seipp

Theses and Dissertations

This investigation describes a problem of practice with the academic achievement of students who struggle in Algebra I by means of an action research design. Students regularly struggle academically for a variety of reasons, as described within and are frequently identified as at-risk due to this struggle. This investigation seeks to determine if the utilization of application-based homework serves to increase achievement and student engagement in a course with such significant importance for future success as Algebra I. An example of application-based would be the use of specific content outside of the classroom, such as parabolic functions to model projectile …

Strategy Group Differentiation: The Effect On Literacy Development Of Accuracy, Fluency, And Comprehension, Megan Deweese

Theses and Dissertations

The problem of practice described in this paper was identified from the varying reading levels of first-grade students and the difficulty faced by teachers to meet the literacy needs of individual students within a diverse classroom. The identified problem guided the researcher to the following research question: what effect does strategy group differentiation during literacy have on accuracy, fluency, and comprehension development? The purpose of the current study is to determine if strategy group differentiation influences the academic success of students in the literacy elements of accuracy, fluency, and comprehension. Through action research studies, teachers can study their own classrooms …

Feminist Strategies And The Advancement Of Women In 19th-Century Spain: Press And Freethinking, Benjamín García Egea

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation reexamines the rise of feminism in 19th-century Spain. In this historical context, the female writers who received recognition were mostly from the upper-middle classes: Fernán Caballero, Rosalía de Castro, Concepción Arenal and Emilia Pardo Bazán, to name a few. However, at the end of the 19th century there was also a group of female authors from lower-middle classes who were promoting freethinking, secular education and equal rights for women in the press. Unfortunately, their contributions have been largely forgotten and ignored by critics. The main purpose of this study is to give well-deserved recognition to three female authors, …

Implementation Of A Response To Intervention Block, Amy Roberts Mcglohorn

Theses and Dissertations

The location of this study is Bulldog Elementary School (BES) (pseudonym) in Suburban School District (SSD) (pseudonym). According to the Read to Succeed Act (2016), students must read on grade level by the end of third grade. Therefore, the students reading achievement level is the problem of practice. This action research study describes the impact of the Response to Intervention (RtI) model within an instructional framework for English Language Arts (ELA) in an elementary level classroom and its impact on student growth in reading by reviewing student universal screening assessment data and progress monitoring using a pre-test/post-test model as well …

Impact Of A Practicum In Education Course Designed To Recruit Stem Majors Into A Teacher Education Program, Rebecca A. Spencer

Theses and Dissertations

Research suggests that the most efficient way of improving students’ performance, in mathematics and science, is by recruiting and retaining highly qualified mathematics and science teachers. This study augments the body of research aimed at the recruitment of STEM majors to the field of education. The purpose of this study was to determine how a practicum course, developed to recruit freshman and sophomore STEM majors into a teacher preparation program, impacted participants' perceptions of teaching as a profession. The impact of this course, which utilized a reflective cycle framework for evaluating participants’ reflections as the foundation of the program, was …

The Leap In Place: Rethinking Key Concepts In The History Of Composition And The Return Of Lore., David Stubblefield

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation attempts to affirm a key set of practical terms in order to guide Composition Pedagogy. These terms include error, language, voice, teacher neutrality, and rationality. In recent years, many of these terms have been discredited theoretically; however, they remain dominant in textbooks and in our actual teaching practice. The result has been a significant divide between theory and practice, resulting in a cognitive dissonance between our classroom activities and our scholarly activity. However, by presenting each of these terms as dynamic and performative, this dissertation invites the field to find productive practical possibilities inside of them. Moreover, the …

Fostering Intercultural Competence Through Problem-Based Learning: A Case Study Of A Socioculturally Modified Curriculum In Japanese Higher Education, Jesse Russell Elam

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this explanatory mixed-methods action research dissertation was to expose six students studying Oral Communications 1 (OC1) at Japan’s Technical University (JTU) to a sociocultural component using the textbook Mirrors and Windows (Huber-Kriegler, Lázár, & Strange, 2003) over an eight-week period with the assistance of project-based learning (PBL). This dissertation used Mertler’s (2014) stepby-step process of action research to collect, document, and analyze data concerning the students’ changes in intercultural competence. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected using: (a) the IDI, (b) field notes, (c) reflective student journals, (d) worksheets from in-class tasks, and (d) a focus …

The Experience Of Muslim Migrant Students In Armenian, German And French Institutions Of Higher Education, Siranush Chubaryan

Theses and Dissertations

Migrant students from Muslim backgrounds constitute a minority in Armenia, France and Germany. This study, conducted in 2014, explored the influence of higher education on the civic and social integration of migrant students from Muslim backgrounds into French, German and Armenian societies. The present research sought to understand whether and how the social and religious identities of migrant students from Muslim backgrounds changed while trying to integrate into the society of their respective European host countries. Qualitative, semi-structured interviews with nine migrant student-participants from Muslim backgrounds and post-interview reflections on responses written by student participants were the main methods of …

Reading Material: Personal Libraries And The Cultivation Of Identity In Revolutionary South Carolina, Gabriella Angeloni

Theses and Dissertations

In South Carolina, a colony known for its wealth and transatlantic connections, private libraries offer a unique lens through which to explore the culture of reading and book ownership that was an essential part of daily provincial and early national life. Largely overlooked by historians, personal libraries functioned as statements of wellrounded, often cosmopolitan identities before, during, and after the Revolutionary War. A careful reading of newspaper advertisements, probate inventories, loyalist claims, and correspondence, in conjunction with extant books, bookcases, portraiture, and spaces allows us to reconstruct the culture of reading and book-ownership that dominated Lowcountry society before 1800. Doing …

The Impact Of A Forest School Model And An Interdisciplinary Curriculum In A Third-Grade Classroom: An Action Research Study, Valerie Hoyt-Parrish

Theses and Dissertations

New policy at LHP (pseudonym) requires all teachers to implement the Danish Forest School approach and integrate the natural outdoor areas surrounding the campus in their curriculum and pedagogy. The purposes of the present study are to identify the cognitive, affective and psychomotor impact of the Danish Forest School approach on students and to design a professional development plan for teachers that enables them to combine this approach within an interdisciplinary framework that will include the State Standards that are required of all third-grade students in this southern, private, parochial school. Action research methods were used to collect observational data …

Movement Break Effects On Second Graders: An Action Research Study, Windy K. Sizemore

Theses and Dissertations

This paper describes an action research study regarding the amount of time elementary school children have to engage in movement and play during the school day. The teacher-researcher focused on using transitional movement breaks before math whole group instruction in an effort to answer the question: How do various types of movement breaks during instructional transitions impact off-task behaviors among second grade students during classroom instruction? The data results showed that physical activity related to students’ abilities to stay on-task during instruction when regularly scheduled movement breaks have been implemented as transitions. Student off-task behaviors decreased after using a physical …

Characterizing Health Behavior Information: Developing A Surveillance Text Mining Framework Using Twitter For Diet, Diabetes, Exercise, And Obesity, George Shaw Jr.

Theses and Dissertations

Previous studies have documented the relationship that exists among diabetes, diet, exercise, and obesity. Obesity increases people’s risk of developing heart disease and type 2 diabetes. Exercise and proper dieting are modifiable lifestyle behaviors that can help with reducing people’s overall weight and risk to various chronic conditions like diabetes. A national survey conducted by the Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC) is the annual Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey (BRFSS). Twitter provides researchers with a new opportunity and alternative data source to collect information regarding health behaviors using real-time data. Previous studies have demonstrated Twitter’s ability to monitor …

The Effect Of The Functional Linguistics Of Mathematics Instruction (Flmi) Model On Quadratic Application Skills In Algebra, Susan Ray Burnett

Theses and Dissertations

This paper addresses a need for change in instructional practices to improve student performance in transferring of mathematical concepts to mathematical applications in Algebra 2 classes at Burdine High School (BHS) in South Carolina. The teacher-researcher has created a mathematics literacy instructional model, the Functional Linguistics of Mathematics Instruction model, which was implemented during an instructional unit on quadratic functions. A mixed methods design with an action research approach was utilized to determine the effects of this model on students’ performance on an application-based assessment. Preliminary findings suggest initial success with the model as a remedy for applied mathematics shortcomings …

The Play’S The Thing: Engaging 6th Grade Social Studies Students Through Movement, Karen Clinkert Paggi

Theses and Dissertations

This paper is a description of a proposed action research study driven by a problem of practice. The problem for this action research is that the teacher-researcher’s sixth-grade social studies students lack critical thinking skills. Critical thinkers are engaged and learners who analyze complex issues and challenges within society. The teacherresearcher observed her students performing well on standardized benchmarks that rely on recalling facts, while simultaneously struggling to analyze explicit and implicit information from primary and secondary sources in order to make relevant and logical conclusions. After observing sedentary teaching practices in her classroom, the teacherresearcher began to review a …

What Are The Effects Of Curriculum Compacting On Students’ Ability To Use Higher Order Thinking?, Anthony L. James

Theses and Dissertations

This action research study was a presentation of a problem of practice involving a perceived underdevelopment of higher-order thinking skills of gifted (GT) children. I identified a weakness in the previous current third-grade math curriculum that appeared to hinder the development of higher-order thinking skills. This observation led to the development of an intervention that included alternate teaching materials and strategies. The intervention aimed to address the effect of curricular modifications using a different teaching approach called curriculum compacting. Curriculum compacting (Reis, Burns, & Renzulli, 1993; Renzulli & Reis, 1994) is an instructional strategy that has been used to streamline …

Global Problem-Based Learning In Math, Dora Fletcher

Theses and Dissertations

In the high school of focus in this study, mathematics students struggle to transfer and apply skills to unfamiliar contexts. Also, minority students are underrepresented in advanced mathematics course enrollments. This two-part study consists of a longitudinal analysis of enrollment trends in mathematics courses as well as an action research study of the impact of Global Problem-Based Learning on achievement and attitudes in advanced mathematics classes. The study was conducted at a southern U.S. International Baccalaureate (IB) high school with an annual enrollment of approximately 1300 students. The longitudinal study examined three cohorts of high school graduates, 797 students, beginning …

“Poetry Doesn’T Restore Ecosystems”: Garbage And Poetry In The Anthropocene, Joseph Russell Hendryx

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the representation of material garbage in American poetry, from the development of industrial waste management in the late nineteenth century to the present day ecological crises. In the early to mid-twentieth century, garbage serves as a new Romantic nature, allowing poems’ speakers to reflect on themselves and their society through this trashed landscape. The presence of the material garbage itself, however, was never a central concern and continued to be hidden behind its various metaphorical utilizations. A.R. Ammons’s poem Garbage opened up the poetic conversation by searching for a more nuanced and worldly treatment of garbage. The …

The Effects Of A Flipped Classroom On Student Comprehension And Perception Among Second Language Learners In A Bachelor Of Social Work Course, Beverly Wagner

Theses and Dissertations

This two phased action research study first explored obstacles to learning among second-language learners in a UAE undergraduate, social work course. This knowledge was then used in the modification of a flipped class approach to understand how this approach could influence student engagement and comprehension. This study was grounded in a sociocultural and student-centered learning theoretical framework, through first exploring the sociocultural influences and obstacles within a specific cultural context and modifying a student-centered learning approach based on this knowledge. Both phases were studied using a qualitative, ethnographic design.

Phase I sought to answer the following research questions: What are …