Digital Commons Network^™

Exploring Racial Literacy In Middle Level Teacher Preparation: A Case Study, Deborah H. Mcmurtrie

Theses and Dissertations

In the United States, approximately 82% of teachers are white and middle-class, yet their students are strikingly diverse and becoming more so. The mismatch between teachers’ and students’ racial backgrounds is important because teachers who have limited experience with students of color may misinterpret their students’ unfamiliar behaviors and make stereotyped assumptions from a deficit perspective. It is well documented that U.S. schools systematically marginalize and fail many children of color. Disparities in funding, access, and achievement in education are intimately tied to race. Everyday practices in schools perpetuate inequities, but the actual processes can be hard to see. If …

Teacher Perception Of Promoting Student Engagement Among Culturally Diverse Students Through The Use Of Culturally Relevant Strategies, Ivey Pearl Addison

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the study was to investigate teacher perceptions of the impact culturally relevant pedagogy has on student engagement. The study explored the beliefs, attitudes and perspectives of four elementary school teachers. Observations and interviews were utilized to gather qualitative data for this study. Teacher lessons were used to achieve triangulation. The findings will provide teachers with a conceptual framework that can be adapted to improve academic achievement.

Processing Of Garden-Path Sentences Containing Silent And Filled Pauses In Stuttered Speech: Evidence From A Comprehensive Study, Elena Galkina

Theses and Dissertations

Disfluency is common in spontaneous speech. Self-correction is a type of disfluency that consists of reparandum, filler, and repair (Levelt, 1989). Little is known about the processing of self-corrections in a normally disfluent speech, and even less is known about its processing in atypically disfluent speech (e.g. speech in patients with autism spectrum disorder, hearing impaired, patients with brain damage, and stuttered speech; see: Lake, Humphreys, & Cardy, 2011; Lind, Hickson, & Erber, 2004; Plexico et al., 2010; Rossi et al., 2011; Yairi, Gintautas, & Avent, 1981). This study focuses on self-correction disfluencies in garden-path sentences and employs a behavioral …

Brand Positioning Map And Analysis Using Web Scraping And Advertisement Analysis, Surya Bhatt

Theses and Dissertations

There’s a significant increase in online consumer forums. When customers set out to buy a product they use these forums to form an opinion. Our research focuses on comparing Brand positioning maps based on consumer reviews. We also analyse the impact of advertisements and expert reviews. Our goal is to show that combining consumer reviews with ads and electronic media will help us analyze the effectiveness of advertising on brand positioning maps. This approach shall also help us in making association graphs for a brand using words of perception/opinion associated with that brand/product. Which may in turn assist companies in …

Eye Movements Of Individuals With Aphasia During Reading And Scene Viewing, Kimberly G. Smith

Theses and Dissertations

Purpose: This project characterized eye movements of individuals with aphasia and age-matched participants during reading and scene viewing.

Methods: Individuals with aphasia (N=24) and age-matched controls participants (N=24) completed three eye tracking studies. Study 1 examined task-related changes in eye movements for scene search, scene memorization, text-reading, and pseudoreading. Ex-Gaussian, analysis of variance, and correlational analyses were used to compare differences in eye movements across tasks and participant groups. Study 2 examined how oculomotor and linguistic processing influence eye movements for textreading and pseudo-reading. In addition to the statistical analyses used in Study 1, four case studies were carried out …

Toward The Combinatorial Limit Theory Of Free Words, Danny Rorabaugh

Theses and Dissertations

Free words are elements of a free monoid, generated over an alphabet via the binary operation of concatenation. Casually speaking, a free word is a finite string of letters. Henceforth, we simply refer to them as words. Motivated by recent advances in the combinatorial limit theory of graphs–notably those involving flag algebras, graph homomorphisms, and graphons–we investigate the extremal and asymptotic theory of pattern containment and avoidance in words.

Word V is a factor of word W provided V occurs as consecutive letters within W. W is an instance of V provided there exists a nonerasing monoid homomorphsism phi with …

Supporting Fourth Grade Reading Students Using Retrospective Miscue Analysis As A Response To Intervention Model, Michelle Davis

Theses and Dissertations

Despite extensive research on Response to Intervention and Retrospective Miscue Analysis, students in fourth and fifth grade are still reading below grade level. This case study investigated how Retrospective Miscue Analysis (RMA) implemented during Response to Intervention (RTI) assists students in learning to apply new reading strategies that increase comprehension. Over a twelve week period, data were collected in four contexts. First, orally administered pre/post-Burke Reading Inventory. Secondly, computer generated STAR assessment for screening and progress monitoring. Thirdly, one-on-one Dominie. Finally, audio recording of student read aloud, retelling and follow-up discussion. Students’ responses on pre-Burke Inventory indicated students think reading …

Tropes Of Blood, Body And The Ground Of The Law: Becoming, Being And Beyond Wife On The Early Modern Stage, Emily Faye Murray

Theses and Dissertations

This project focuses on the representation of women on the early modern stage in three exemplary texts: the anonymous domestic tragedy Arden of Faversham, and two city comedies, Thomas Dekker’s The Shoemaker’s Holiday and Dekker and Thomas Middleton’s The Roaring Girl. Whether playing the role of adulterous wife, performing the role socially striving wife, or resisting the role of laboring wife, these female characters were on stage not only for entertainment, but also for examination and scrutiny by an early modern audience. Playwrights used characterizations of women and wives and their relationships to the economy as vehicles through …

Tactical Encounters:Material Rhetoric And The Politics Of Tactical Media, Anthony Michael Stagliano

Theses and Dissertations

Tactical Encounters: Material Rhetoric and the Politics of Tactical Media articulates the concept of material rhetorical tactics, discrete rhetorical moves effecting political and social change, however ephemeral. I argue that material rhetorical tactics do not necessarily originate or conclude with a human subject, and that to understand this, we must reorient our conceptions of rhetorical action, agency, and, ultimately, its relationship to the demos, to include actions, actors, agents, and events that are not, in themselves, human. I build on recent work in rhetorical theory that has conceptualized the function and nature of rhetoric as involving agents human and nonhuman, …

“Tal Vez Sueña De Estas Cosas/ Maybe He Dreams Of These Things:” Envisioning Possibilities For Multilingual Learners In The Culturally Responsive Rural Classroom, Evelyn Spradley Stockdale

Theses and Dissertations

Meeting the needs of multilingual learners is a growing concern for many classroom teachers across the nation as school-age populations in the United States continue to become more ethnically, culturally, and linguistically diverse. Teachers often have little understanding of diverse learners and frequently express misconceptions about these students and their cultures. The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore the social, cultural, and linguistic resources multilingual learners draw upon and the literacy practices they enact during reading and writing workshop when culturally responsive pedagogy (CRP) is implemented. This study also examined how culturally relevant (CR) texts and …

The African American Male Achievement Dilemma Through The Eyes Of The African American Male Superintendent, J.R. Falor Green

Theses and Dissertations

This research study explores the perspective of African American male superintendents on the African American male achievement dilemma. How do African American male superintendents theorize and respond to the underachievement of African American male students? Do their experiences give them greater insight, and how has this potential insight contributed to the implementation of initiatives that have improved the performance of this subgroup? Three major theoretical perspectives were explored during my review of the literature. Critical Race, Social Reproduction, and Oppositional Culture Theory encompassed the most consistent themes during my research, and helped to situate the study within the broader education …

Which Student Characteristics Correlate With Discipline Referrals? A Case Study Of A Diverse, High-Poverty Rural School District In The South, Jeannie Baltimore Monson

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the correlates of discipline referrals in a diverse, high-poverty rural school district. The framework is based upon the Diamond (2004) study which, like this research, was built on the notion that socioeconomic inequality is a major factor for disproportionality in student discipline. This study identified the assets and deficits of the sample population and analyzed them in relationship to the referrals accrued. This study was conducted in a small, rural, southern school district. Of the population, approximately 78% are on free and reduced lunch and is made up of Caucasian students, 53%, …

Exploration Of Implicit Bias On Multidisciplinary Team Members When Referring African American Students For Special Education Services, Twana Romona Fletcher

Theses and Dissertations

The disproportionality or overrepresentation of African American students in special education is a longstanding problem that continues to be prevalent today. There are numerous reasons why this phenomenon continues to persist including but not limited to implicit bias among multidisciplinary team members (MDT). One function of the MDT is to decide if a student needs to be referred for special education services. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the decision making processes of the MDT members to determine if implicit bias impacted their decision to refer an African American student for special education services. This qualitative study …

Bibimbap: Identity Construction In Korean Third Culture Kids During Higher Education, Megan I. Beard

Theses and Dissertations

Amidst increasing interconnectedness and transmigration of the 21st century, a number of families are leaving South Korea for business, work, or education; their children are raised as Third Culture Kids (TCKs)—children who accompany their parents abroad. This study used the lens of cultural globalization to examine how Korean TCKs used their life experiences to inform their identity construction, especially during higher education. Participants were Korean students and recent alumni from universities in Korea, the United States, and abroad who had spent at least three childhood years living outside Korea with their families. Data were collected through a series of unstructured …

An Analysis Of The Cultural Invariance Of A Visual-Motor Integration Measure, Emma Kate C. Wright

Theses and Dissertations

As diverse populations within schools increase, the need for culturally-sensitive assessment is essential; however, test of ability vary in their degree of influence from culture. No test is “culture free,” but the low-linguistic demands on test of visual-motor integration (VMI) make them appropriate for use with diverse populations. Variation in VMI test performance due to cultural factors has negative implications for test interpretation and use with diverse populations because of VMI’s significant association with school readiness, academic achievement, social-emotional functioning, and neuropsychological assessment. The current study explored the cultural invariance of the Bender Motor Gestalt Test, Second Edition (BG-II), a …

Relationships Between Prior Experiences, Current Teaching Contexts, And Novice Teachers' Use Of Concrete Representation For Mathematics Instruction, Elizabeth Lee Johnson

Theses and Dissertations

This case study documents the perceived influences on three novice elementary teachers’ use of concrete representations for teaching mathematics. In order to develop mathematical proficiency, students need access to a variety of representations (i.e. pictures, words, symbols, concrete materials, and real world contexts) to make sense of mathematical ideas. Three sources of data were collected: video-recorded lessons, interviews, and a focus group. Analyses indicated that although concrete representations were accessible to all three teachers, they were least used among the available representations. Verbal expression was most prominent, followed closely by abstract written symbols. Technology, which was not one of the …

Independence At Large: Contemporary China's Alternative Music Scenes And The Cultural Practices Of Post-Socialist Urban Youth, Shan Huang

Theses and Dissertations

Using contemporary Beijing’s alternative music scenes as a focal point, this ethnographic research seeks to enrich the understanding of China’s post-socialist urban youth by examining their cultural practices. First, this thesis offers an analytical account of the popularizing embrace of “independent cultures,” which is defined as a collection of experienceable objects and activities in musical, filmic, theatric, and other cultural forms that are well recognized yet believed by advocates as having aesthetic and participatory features that are different from those produced in the popular culture industry. While the vogue for independent cultures is substantially conditioned by the socioeconomic attributes of …

Who Let The Elephant In The Room? Analyzing Race And Racism Through A Critical Family Literacy Book Club, Lamar L. Johnson

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to interpret, investigate, and analyze how race, racism, and power are embedded and intertwined not only in society but also in the education system and in homes and communities. Specifically, through parent and student engagement during a series of book club meetings, I investigated how parents’ racial identities impacted how they created critical dialogue pertaining to issues of race, racism, and power with their children. Guided by critical race pedagogy, critical race theory (CRT) and CRT methodology, this study used race as a critical analytic lens to examine the lives and work of people …

How School Leadership Develops Parental Involvement Strategies With Social Capital In Four South Carolina Middle Schools, Anthony Neil Boatwright

Theses and Dissertations

Passed in 2001, the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) mandate requires schools to have a comprehensive plan for addressing parental involvement. Identifying successful practices to increase social capital and academic achievement in lower socio-economic schools appears to be the area that is having the most impact. Principals can contribute to higher success rates by generating productive partnerships between the school and parents/guardians. The purpose of this study is to describe the parental involvement strategies that four successful South Carolina (SC) middle school principals used and to identify successful practices being implemented to increase social capital and academic achievement. The researcher …

A Soul Composed Of Harmonies: George Herbert's Life, Writings, And Choral Settings Of His English Poetry, Benjamin Todd Ebner

Theses and Dissertations

George Herbert’s poetry is among the greatest religious poetry written in the English language. His introspective and nuanced understanding of the human soul and his beautiful style of writing have earned him his place among the great poets. His catalogue is filled with poems ready to be set to music, and dozens of them have been. However, there is no document that seeks to gather an annotated list of these compositions in one place. Further, while a few of these compositions are performed often, there are dozens of other worthy compositions that should be heard on a more wide and …

Living On The Moon: Women, Home Making, And The House After World War Ii In Shirley Jackson’S We Have Always Lived In The Castle, Leslie Dennis

Theses and Dissertations

In my thesis, I concentrate on Shirley Jackson, her novel We Have Always Lived in the Castle, and women’s place in post-World War II American society. To start, I introduce Jackson and her role in literary history, the housewife writer in the 1950s and 60s, and magazine culture. Then I move to a historical perspective of the 1950s and propaganda during the atomic war era. I focus my attention on how government literature worked to contain women in the home and control sexuality and gender roles. Following my discussion of domesticity, I concentrate on the history of the Gothic novel …

Culturally Relevant Pedagogy: Study Abroad To Teaching Internship, Melanie G. Keel

Theses and Dissertations

Culturally relevant pedagogy (Ladson-Billings, 1995a; Gay, 2010) and culturally sustaining pedagogy (Paris, 2012; Paris & Alim, 2014; Ladson-Billings, 2014) are urgent needs in classrooms because of the diverse student population teachers serve. This research is grounded in critical race theory (CRT) (Delgado & Stefancic, 2001; Bell 1995) and culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP) (Gay, 2010; Gay & Howard, 2000; Ladson-Billings, 1995a & 1995b) as lenses to interrogate a White pre-service teacher’s internship in the United States and a study abroad (Cushner, 2007; Keengwe, 2010; Malewski, Sharma, & Phillion, 2012) experience in Ecuador. During a 25 day study abroad that included daily …

Southern Language, Ideology, And Identity In A High School Sorority, Sara Lide

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores the language practices of high school sorority members in a mid-sized city in the U.S. South. Specifically, it describes how economically privileged, white, female youth in the Young Ladies’ Society of Midway (YLSM) used Southern language to position themselves and others in relation to widely and locally circulating ideologies of language, region, gender, and class. Drawing on sociolinguistic and linguistic anthropological methods, this study addresses the issues of how Southern language practices and language ideologies relate and how indexical meanings and social identities emerge through linguistic interaction. As a study that examines the language of a group …

Doing And Teaching, Roderick Watson

Studies in Scottish Literature

Discusses the decision at the University of Stirling, Scotland, in the late 1960s, to appoint a Scottish poet, Norman MacCaig, to the permanent faculty, and to include creative writing options within the English studies degree program. Assesses subsequent developments and argues for the value of such integration for all literature undergraduates.

The Popular Voice In Sir David Lyndsay's Satire Of The Thrie Estaitis, Greg Walker

Studies in Scottish Literature

Analyzes the representation of the Scottish people in the 16th century Scottish drama A Satire of the Thrie Estaitis by Sir David Lyndsay [or Lindsay] (1490-1555), through the figure of the Pauper or Poor Man in the first version (the 1540 interlude performed at Linlithgow), and the character of John of the Commonwealth in the two fuller versions (at Cupar in 1552 and Edinburgh in 1554). Distinguishes Lyndsay's Pauper from equivalent figures in plays by John Bale and Nicholas Udall, and argues (by contrast with Tyrone Guthrie's famous 1948 Edinburgh festival production) that John of the Commonwealth is less a …

“The Future Of The Planet”− Scottish Cosmopolitanism/ Cosmofeminism And Environmentalism In Theresa Breslin’S Saskia’S Journey, Fiona Mcculloch

Studies in Scottish Literature

Discusses major themes and concerns in the young adult novel Saskia's Journey, by Theresa Breslin, with special attention to the relation between Breslin's environmental themes (and Scottish setting) with her portrayal of the novel's central character and multigenerational family relationships.

In The Midst Of Our Human Civil War: Hamish Henderson’S War Poetry And Soldier’S Songs, Corey Gibson

Studies in Scottish Literature

Surveys the war poetry of the Scottish poet, folklorist, and folk-singer Hamish Henderson (1919-2002), including his service with the 51st Highland Division in the Western Desert and Sicily, drawing a contrast between his long modernist poem Elegies for the Dead in Cyrenaica (1948) and the songs in his collection Ballads of World War II (Glasgow: Lili Marleen Club, 1947), in light of Henderson's developing political ideas and engagement with the Italian cultural theorist Antonio Gramsci.

Fall 2014, South Carolina Libraries

South Carolina Libraries

10-22-2014

Fall 2014

Sc Library Spotlight - Musc Family Literacy Program, Marina Lopez

South Carolina Libraries

Spotlight article highlighting MUSC's Family Literacy Program.

Does Kirtsaeng V. Wiley Open The Door For An Abuse Of The First-Sale Doctrine, Owen Lee Wilson

The Journal of Law and Education

No abstract provided.