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University of Texas Rio Grande Valley

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Domain Independent Ordering Of Narrative Events, Lucian T. Silcox Dec 2012

Domain Independent Ordering Of Narrative Events, Lucian T. Silcox

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

A key aspect towards gaining a rich understanding of a text is the ability to order the events that occur in the narrative. For us, as readers, this is a simple task, accomplished without effort by recognizing subtle contextual and linguistic clues. For natural language systems, however, the task is considerably more difficult. It is the intent of this research to automate the process of annotating and ordering temporal events in a narrative, and to measure the success of techniques trained on news articles when applied to less sequentially-structured texts. We build on the earlier work of Mani et al …

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Aqui Es: The Rhetoric Of Identification In An Act Of Local Branding, Bonnie M. Garcia Dec 2012

Aqui Es: The Rhetoric Of Identification In An Act Of Local Branding, Bonnie M. Garcia

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

Brands are a large part of our cultural discourse. In the Rio Grande Valley a group of network-marketing sponsored entrepreneurs has tapped into branding as a rhetorical resource. I use Burke’s concept of consubstantiation to analyze the rhetorical motives represented both in the use of branding in general and in the “Aqui Es” sign utilized by local nutrition clubs. Burke’s concept of consubstantiation allows me to contextualize the production of the sign and open avenues to explore the relationships behind the sign’s use. I then utilize Lacanian psychoanalysis to explain the psychological motives behind the sign’s use and production. I …

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Selected Factors Related To The Mathematics Academic Achievement Of Eighth Grade English Language Learners, Anthony Garza Dec 2012

Selected Factors Related To The Mathematics Academic Achievement Of Eighth Grade English Language Learners, Anthony Garza

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

The purpose of this study was to examine selected factors related to the 8th grade mathematics achievement levels of English Language Learner (ELL) students in selected South Texas middle schools. The dependent variable, ELL mathematics achievement, was measured by the ELL student’s raw score on the State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness (STAAR) or the State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness linguistically accommodated test (STAAR L). The factors examined in this study were 1) parent’s educational background, 2) socioeconomic status, 3) parental involvement status at school, 4) number of people in the household, 5) family structure, 6) primary …

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Zumba® Fitness As A Cultural Mediator, Cole E. Durain Dec 2012

Zumba® Fitness As A Cultural Mediator, Cole E. Durain

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

This ethnography describes local experience as it pertains to aspects of music, dance, and fitness which are compiled into Zumba® Fitness classes of the Rio Grande Valley. While Zumba is not unique to this region, it is locally interpreted based on geo-cultural factors of the Texas-Mexico border region. A large part of Zumba’s success in the Valley can be attributed to the way music is used to identify with regional popular culture and becomes a catalyst for changing the way locals think about health. Research gathered through participant-observation shows that Zumba has become a cultural expression where participants perform both …

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The Collegian (2012-11-12), Joe Molina Nov 2012

The Collegian (2012-11-12), Joe Molina

UTB/TSC Archives - The Collegian [Newspaper]

Vol. 65, No. 12

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The Collegian (2012-11-05), Joe Molina Nov 2012

The Collegian (2012-11-05), Joe Molina

UTB/TSC Archives - The Collegian [Newspaper]

Vol. 65, No. 11

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Reflexiones Sobre Lenguaje, Cultura Y Equidad En La Enseñanza De Matemáticas En Una Escuela Primaria Bilingüe De Estados Unidos, Sandra I. Musanti, Sylvia Celedón-Pattichis, Mary E. Marshall Nov 2012

Reflexiones Sobre Lenguaje, Cultura Y Equidad En La Enseñanza De Matemáticas En Una Escuela Primaria Bilingüe De Estados Unidos, Sandra I. Musanti, Sylvia Celedón-Pattichis, Mary E. Marshall

Bilingual and Literacy Studies Faculty Publications

Esta investigación cualitativa explora las prácticas y percepciones de dos maestras (K-1), así como los asuntos de equidad implícitos en la integración curricular de problemas de matemáticas contextualizados para adecuar la enseñanza de estudiantes latinos que están aprendiendo inglés como segunda lengua. Este estudio se basa en tres enfoques: el enfoque cognitivo guiado de la enseñanza de matemáticas, el lenguaje y la cultura como recursos pedagógicos, y la enseñanza de matemáticas para la equidad. La investigación se desarrolla en el contexto de una iniciativa de desarrollo profesional situado entre maestras bilingües e investigadoras en una escuela primaria del suroeste de …

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Utpa Stats At A Glance - Fall 2012, University Of Texas Pan American Oct 2012

Utpa Stats At A Glance - Fall 2012, University Of Texas Pan American

UTPA Archives - Stats At A Glance

No abstract provided.

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Utpa Commencement – Fall 2012, University Of Texas-Pan American Oct 2012

Utpa Commencement – Fall 2012, University Of Texas-Pan American

Edinburg Archives - Legacy Commencement Programs

No abstract provided.

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"Oh, Those Loud Black Girls!": A Phenomenological Study Of Black Girls Talking With An Attitude, Jacqueline B. Koonce Oct 2012

"Oh, Those Loud Black Girls!": A Phenomenological Study Of Black Girls Talking With An Attitude, Jacqueline B. Koonce

Bilingual and Literacy Studies Faculty Publications

Current research suggests that it is imperative for researchers and educators to pay more attention to the needs of African American adolescent girls and how their race and gender affect schooling (Fordham, 1993; Morris, 2007). The purpose of this study was to highlight the lived experiences of two African American adolescent girls when they used the African American women's speech practice, "Talking with an Attitude" (TWA), with their teachers. Using phenomenology and Afrocentric feminist epistemology as methodological and theoretical approaches, interviews were used to collect and analyze data that revealed the nature of their lived experiences. Van Manen's description of …

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Marked Out By The Will Of Heaven To Sway The Destinies Of Half The Globe:" The Peculiar Imperialism Of The United States And Russia, Christopher L. Miller Oct 2012

Marked Out By The Will Of Heaven To Sway The Destinies Of Half The Globe:" The Peculiar Imperialism Of The United States And Russia, Christopher L. Miller

History Faculty Publications

It is argued in this paper that during the era of global imperialism in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, while nations like Great Britain, France, and other European powers were amassing far-flung overseas empires, the United States and Russia engaged in a different form of imperialism. In the United States, what has traditionally been characterized as "frontier expansion," and not as "imperialism," has more recently been re-cast. Scholarship, especially since 1980, has characterized U.S. expansion from the initial 13 colonies on the Atlantic seaboard to the Pacific coast explicitly as imperialistic. Similarly, recent scholarship on Russian expansion has also questioned …

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The Construction Of Salvadoran Identity In A Houston Barrio: Lengua, Identidad Y Transnacionalismo, Stephanie Brock Aug 2012

The Construction Of Salvadoran Identity In A Houston Barrio: Lengua, Identidad Y Transnacionalismo, Stephanie Brock

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

The present study examines Salvadoran identity construction in Segundo Barrio, Houston, Texas by utilizing a multi-disciplinary methodology. Linguistically, this is investigated by comparing two distinct Salvadoran corpora in order to not only obtain a more critical understanding of the role of language within Salvadoran identity construction but also to legitimize the lived experiences of this community through linguistic counternarratives. The internal factors employed during the semi-directed sociolinguistics interviews include self-identification, time spent in Houston and El Salvador, music and gastronomical choices, experiences with other Salvadorans and non-Salvadorans, and language use. All informants varied in external factors. Anthropologically, this work explores …

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Remittance Activity Among Brazilians In The Us And Canada, Igor Ryabov Aug 2012

Remittance Activity Among Brazilians In The Us And Canada, Igor Ryabov

Sociology Faculty Publications

This comparative study uses data collected in 1990 and 1991 to examine the remittance behavior of Brazilians who had recently arrived in Canada and the United States. These data permit an examination of remittance activity among immigrants relatively soon after their arrival in a pair of host destinations. Prior to contrasting the remittance activity of these newly arrived immigrants, we first document the high degree of similarity between the two groups at their time of arrival; a point that becomes important when contrasting their divergent outcomes. Next, this study contributes to the research literature on micro-level remittance patterns and behaviors …

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Negotiating Literature Discussions In Multiple Contexts: Talking About Books With Latinas In Elementary School, Joanna L. Waggoner-Norquest Aug 2012

Negotiating Literature Discussions In Multiple Contexts: Talking About Books With Latinas In Elementary School, Joanna L. Waggoner-Norquest

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

This study works to answer the primary research questions: How do Latina elementary school students negotiate literature discussions in both online and face-to-face contexts? In addition, it seeks to answer the subquestions: How does the chosen medium, face-to-face or online discussions, influence these discussions? How do students move between discourse/identities during these discussions? Through the use of mapping conversational turns and broad application of discourse analysis, based on the work of James Paul Gee, this study shows the ways Latina students negotiate in-person literature discussions largely by recreating traditional school-based power structures and blending home and school Discourses. It shows …

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An Analysis Of Narrative Types And An Investigation Into The Privileging Of Narrative Types On Standardized Testing, Rachel Villarreal Garza Aug 2012

An Analysis Of Narrative Types And An Investigation Into The Privileging Of Narrative Types On Standardized Testing, Rachel Villarreal Garza

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

Research on the narrative writing of males and females shows significant differences between the two, and scores for standardized writing tests consistently demonstrate females outperforming males. Based on this information, it is important to investigate whether there are links between narrative content and this gender gap. In this study, I selected fifty officially scored essays written in response to an eleventh grade English Language Arts Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills exam. Essays were coded for broad and specific narrative types according to categories adapted from research on the writing of males and females. I then determined whether certain narrative …

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Reading Programs: How Do They Measure Up With The Nrps Research About Teaching Students To Read And The Effectiveness To Develop Reading Skills For Bls, Sarai Rios Valdez Aug 2012

Reading Programs: How Do They Measure Up With The Nrps Research About Teaching Students To Read And The Effectiveness To Develop Reading Skills For Bls, Sarai Rios Valdez

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

This quantitative study focused on the effects of native language instruction for Bilingual Learners. Several reading programs were analyzed for the purpose of associating their content with what the National Reading Panel found to be effective ways of developing literacy skills for BLs. The research found about the advantages of native language instruction and its processes are included in this study as to provide sufficient data and facts to support the purpose of the study. The data collected and analyzed did serve its purpose of shedding light onto the best practices for monolingual non-English speaking students, Bilingual Learners and about …

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La Españolización Del Surrealismo En Sobre Los Ángeles, Benito Gomez Jul 2012

La Españolización Del Surrealismo En Sobre Los Ángeles, Benito Gomez

Hipertexto

No abstract provided.

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Perspectives, Problems, And Processes In Contemporary Spanish Adaptations, Vinodh Venkatesh Jul 2012

Perspectives, Problems, And Processes In Contemporary Spanish Adaptations, Vinodh Venkatesh

Hipertexto

No abstract provided.

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The Frequency Of Ch /ʧ/ In Contemporary Mexican Highland Spanish, Daniel Nappo Jul 2012

The Frequency Of Ch /ʧ/ In Contemporary Mexican Highland Spanish, Daniel Nappo

Hipertexto

That particular sounds are characteristic of different languages is widely understood. For example, studies of Amerindian languages of the Amazon basin have discovered sounds as unique as a ―voiced, lateralized apical-alveolar/sublaminal-labial double flap with egressive lung air‖ [L,], exhibited only in Pirahã, an isolated language spoken by approximately one hundred people (Everett 92). English has an apparent proclivity for the phoneme /ʃ /, which, as Baugh and Cable point out, may be produced by twelve different spellings (14). This paper argues that the phoneme /ʧ /, represented exclusively in Spanish by the digraph ch, may be viewed as one of …

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Utpa Commencement – Summer 2012, University Of Texas-Pan American Jul 2012

Utpa Commencement – Summer 2012, University Of Texas-Pan American

Edinburg Archives - Legacy Commencement Programs

No abstract provided.

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A Study Of A High Performing, High Poverty Elementary School On The Texas-Mexico Border, Cynthia Iris Lopez Jul 2012

A Study Of A High Performing, High Poverty Elementary School On The Texas-Mexico Border, Cynthia Iris Lopez

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

Transforming low performing schools to ensure the academic success of Hispanic children situated in poverty remains an educational challenge. External factors impacting student learning are often targeted as the main reasons for poor academic achievement, thereby advancing the culturally deficit model. This study is about an elementary school that defied the deficit model as evidenced by its distinguished academic accolades. This instrumental qualitative case study examined a high performing elementary school on the Texas-Mexico Border in which high poverty Hispanic students made dramatic increases in academic achievement. Data were collected from interviews, observations, documents, and other media. Findings for the …

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Knowledge, Skills, And Dispositions Influencing Middle School Teachers' Decision Making In Planning Social Studies Instruction In A Hispanic Serving School, Angela Gonzalez Jun 2012

Knowledge, Skills, And Dispositions Influencing Middle School Teachers' Decision Making In Planning Social Studies Instruction In A Hispanic Serving School, Angela Gonzalez

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

The issue of highly qualified teachers as the key to improving the educational system in the United States has become a primary focus in education. The federal educational policy No Child Left Behind Act 2001, describes what it means to be a highly qualified teacher in core subject areas, and all states are required to use this criterion for defining what teachers should know, and be able to do. Accordingly, certified teachers in today’s public school classrooms must possess the knowledge, skills, and dispositions so that all students, including those students who have been historically disadvantaged and those who are …

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A Third Grade Bilingual Teacher's Knowledge And Practices For Developing Reading Comprehension, Miriam Guerra May 2012

A Third Grade Bilingual Teacher's Knowledge And Practices For Developing Reading Comprehension, Miriam Guerra

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

The purpose of this study was to examine teacher knowledge and practices for teaching reading comprehension to English language learners and socio-economically disadvantaged students in a third grade bilingual class. This study uses a conceptual framework of pedagogical content knowledge to investigate how kinds of content knowledge and pedagogical practices interact to create the teacher’s special way of knowing how to teach comprehension to her students. This study uses a case study methodology to investigate what the teacher knows and how her knowledge is enacted in her teaching practices. This case study provided an in-depth perspective of teacher knowledge. Through …

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The Value Of Literary Journalism: Searching For Truths Through An Objective/Subjective Dialectic, Omar Rodriguez May 2012

The Value Of Literary Journalism: Searching For Truths Through An Objective/Subjective Dialectic, Omar Rodriguez

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

Literary Journalism is a hybrid genre that combines literary devices with advanced journalistic techniques to create nonfiction narratives. The distinctive qualities of literary journalism, working in addition to so-called objective approaches of conventional journalism, provide the reader with an alternative observation of specific social phenomena. In the introduction, issues revolving around the genre will be discussed followed by the introduction of the objective/subjective dialectic thus formulating my thesis that insists combining the two approaches allows the reader to see truth beyond ideology. The three chapters that follow offer readings of three key and representative works of literary journalism. The Armies …

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Re-Imaginando La Literatura Chicana En El Siglo Veintiuno: La Conciencia Mestiza Y “The People Of Paper” De Salvador Plascencia, Jose R. Flores May 2012

Re-Imaginando La Literatura Chicana En El Siglo Veintiuno: La Conciencia Mestiza Y “The People Of Paper” De Salvador Plascencia, Jose R. Flores

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

La literatura chicana ha evolucionado significativamente en narrativa y forma desde mediados del siglo veinte. Esta evolución problematizó el concepto de lo que se consideraba como “literatura chicana”. De modo que a raíz de la compleja problemática de catalogar un texto como “chicano”, este estudio pretende analizar algunos parámetros empleados para definir el canon literario chicano e indagar sobre el posicionamiento del texto The People of Paper de Salvador Plascencia dentro de dicha literatura. Asimismo, se analizará el texto The People of Paper desde un marco teórico chicano. Así pues, se opta por el acercamiento crítico de Gloria Anzaldúa y …

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Time And Fortune, Tiffany C. Anderson May 2012

Time And Fortune, Tiffany C. Anderson

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

Time and Fortune, a graphic novel script, takes the true story of John Harrison’s competition for the longitude prize, as told by Dava Sobel, and seeks the changes that could have culminated had Harrison sought other avenues for his product. Considering his judge was his competitor, if Harrison made a secret copy of H-4, a watch that accurately holds the time from homeport, and gave it to a sailor invested in its success, naval military power could have changed today’s world as we know it. Imagining that John Harrison changed one small decision in his life, this storyline sets a …

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The Last Orchard, Caleb David Camacho May 2012

The Last Orchard, Caleb David Camacho

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

The Last Orchard is a screenplay about two rival groups of ten-year-olds in 1989 Pharr, Texas. Their elementary school conflicts create a neighborhood war within their mobile home park, coinciding with the entire park's wide eviction and land ownership crisis. The story is written with a mythic fiction approach – a method I learned through Carl Jung's and Joseph Campbell's works on archetypes, mythology, and the hero's journey; it is a practical tool for storytelling. The Last Orchard is based on Homer's Iliad: the Trojan War, its heroes, and gods. Some plays and numerous films have their mythic counterparts, along …

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Mariguano, Juan Ochoa May 2012

Mariguano, Juan Ochoa

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

Mariguano is a fictional account of a young man growing up in a family in whose patriarch is a Mexican drug lord. The narrator, el Johnny, and his father, Don Julio, crisscross through Mexico with total disregard for distance or time bribing comandantes and stopping turf wars all in preparation for their next score. The novel culminates in Don Julio’s attempt to fix the 1988 Presidential election in Mexico. Don Julio’s son, El Johnny, lives to tell the tale of the rise and fall of his father’s drug smuggling empire and of the destruction of his family. The events in …

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Re-Envisioning Professional Development For The Teaching Of Writing: Lessons Learned From The National Writing Project And Where We Go From Here, Susan M. Diaz May 2012

Re-Envisioning Professional Development For The Teaching Of Writing: Lessons Learned From The National Writing Project And Where We Go From Here, Susan M. Diaz

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

In this thesis, I compare what we know about the teaching of writing from thirty years of disciplinary research and development versus what secondary pre-service and in-service teachers know about it. In terms of theoretical and practical alignment, I also examine the transition in Texas from one standardized test (TAKS) to another (STAAR) and the implications for teachers. Finally, I outline a Professional Development sequence for secondary school teachers that would better prepare teachers to teach writing across the secondary school curriculum, including an argument for particularly effective methods of delivery for communicating this information. This professional development design includes, …

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Second Grade Ell's Emic Perspective Of An Afterschool Reading Program: An Interactional Ethnographic Study Of Reading Opportunities And Social Construction Of Second Grade Ell's Read Alouds, Susana S. Saldivar May 2012

Second Grade Ell's Emic Perspective Of An Afterschool Reading Program: An Interactional Ethnographic Study Of Reading Opportunities And Social Construction Of Second Grade Ell's Read Alouds, Susana S. Saldivar

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

The purpose of this research was to uncover what counts as reading to second grade ELLs (English Language Learners) in a non-graded, afterschool reading program. I used an interactional ethnographic epistemological research approach. I video-and audio-taped twentyfour afterschool reading lessons, took fieldnotes, conducted semi-structured interviews, and collected artifacts. The thirteen participants were ELLs, from low socioeconomic backgrounds, and of Mexican-American descent. First, I identified children’s opportunities on an event map. Next, I analyzed moment-by-moment discourse analysis of read alouds from the beginning and end of the program. Finally, I made visible what counted as reading from participants’ discourse through domain …

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