Digital Commons Network^™

Using Technology To Monitor Hearing Device Use And Linguistic Environments: Early Intervention Providers’ Perspectives, Margo C. Appenzeller, Sophie E. Ambrose

Journal of Early Hearing Detection and Intervention

To optimize outcomes of children with hearing loss, early intervention professionals must work with families to optimize both children’s hearing device use and the linguistic and auditory features of their environments. Two technologies with potential use in monitoring these domains are data logging and Language Environment Analysis (LENA) technology. This study had two objectives: 1) to determine whether providers’ experiences, perspectives, and current practices indicate there is a need for tools to better monitor these domains, and 2) to gain a better understanding of providers’ experiences with and perspectives on use of data logging and LENA technology using an internet-based …

The Two Types Of Society: Computationally Revealing Recurrent Social Formations And Their Evolutionary Trajectories, Lux Miranda, Jacob Freeman

Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology Faculty Publications

Comparative social science has a long history of attempts to classify societies and cultures in terms of shared characteristics. However, only recently has it become feasible to conduct quantitative analysis of large historical datasets to mathematically approach the study of social complexity and classify shared societal characteristics. Such methods have the potential to identify recurrent social formations in human societies and contribute to social evolutionary theory. However, in order to achieve this potential, repeated studies are needed to assess the robustness of results to changing methods and data sets. Using an improved derivative of the Seshat: Global History Databank, …

Bad Puns: It’S How Eye Roll: Humor Writing As A Technique To Engage And Strengthen Writers, Hala Louviere

Tutor's Column

Much research has been done on why to use humor writing, but a lack of research on when to use humor writing exists. The researcher argues that when humor writing is used in scholarly and analytical writing, it can engage uninterested students and improve their writing through authorial voice. Previous studies support the researcher’s thesis; young adults, who frequently consume humor through social media and other modes, can appreciate writing more by combining it with a technique they are familiar with and enjoy. This appreciation also motivates students to insert more of their voice, which then improves their writing.

Utah State University Commencement, 2020 – Main Campus, Utah State University

Commencement Programs

133rd Annual Commencement of Utah State University

The Two Types Of Society: Computationally Revealing Recurrent Social Formations And Their Evolutionary Trajectories, Lux Miranda

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Comparative social science has a long history of attempts to classify societies and cultures in terms of shared characteristics. However, only recently has it become feasible to conduct quantitative analysis of large historical datasets to mathematically approach the study of social complexity and classify shared societal characteristics. Such methods have the potential to identify recurrent social formations in human societies and contribute to social evolutionary theory. However, in order to achieve this potential, repeated studies are needed to assess the robustness of results to changing methods and data sets. Using an improved derivative of the Seshat: Global History Databank, we …

'Queertility', Daniel Thomas Bixby Sykes

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Daniel Sykes, an Anthropology student at Utah State University used his Honors Capstone opportunity to understand the evolution of reproduction over the course of two semesters. During Fall of 2019, he focused on overviewing what Biological Archaeologists, Biologists, and Chemists understand of the evolution of various forms of reproduction from the distant past. During the Spring, he focused on the cutting edge allopathic research in fertility treatments and some of the social implications. Sykes posits that human society has the opportunity to treat infertility in the queer (lgbtqia+) community, given these up-and-coming treatments, even those forms of infertility that arise …

Convergent Validity Of Automated Language Sample Analysis With Systematic Analysis Of Language Transcripts (Salt), Madeline Peterson

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

The purpose of the study was to assess the convergent validity of Coh-Metrix, an automated text analysis tool, with Systematic Analysis of Language Transcripts (SALT; Miller & Iglesias, 2017), a computer-assisted language analysis software, on measures of syntactic complexity and language productivity. An additional goal of this study was to determine whether indices of syntactic complexity and language productivity calculated in Coh-Metrix were sensitive to developmental changes in oral narratives. SALT and Coh-Metrix variables were calculated on 220 oral narratives obtained from children ages 5-9. Coh-Metrix indices were correlated with comparative SALT measures of syntactic complexity (MLUm, MLUw, and VPU) …

The Future Of Narrative Discourse Analysis: First Steps Toward Automated Scoring, Ryan Sainsbury

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

The purpose of this study examined the extent to which measures calculated using an automated, online discourse analysis program demonstrated predictive variance of a hand-scored metric of oral narrative proficiency with regards to macrostructure elements. An additional goal of this study was to explore the potential clinical utility of these automated measures by examining the extent to which they correlated with a hand-scored metric of macrostructure proficiency.

Pearson product correlation and multiple regression analyses were utilized to examine 240 oral narratives of children ages 6-9 that were analyzed using both an automated discourse analysis program and a hand-scored metric of …

New Perspectives On Promoting Efl Teaching And Learning In Oman, Jihan Sulaiman Al Naabi

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This portfolio is an accumulation of work that the author accomplished during her study in the program of Master of Second Language Teaching at Utah State University. It is an outcome of the author’s personal teaching experiences, insights gained from her master’s study, and several class observations as well.

The portfolio comprises three primary portions: (1) teaching perspectives, (2) research perspectives, and (3) an annotated bibliography. The teaching perspectives revolve around the author’s beliefs on the role of both teachers and students in L2 classrooms, the communicative teaching of grammar, and the value of a positive learning environment. The research …

Meeting The Needs Of Students In A Communicative Classroom, Rachel J. Singer

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This portfolio is a compilation of written pieces which highlight what the author believes to be key issues and perspectives in the field of second language teaching. The content of the portfolio is centered in second language acquisition theory and is framed by the author’s diverse teaching experiences as a university Arabic instructor, ESL aide, and middle school Spanish teacher.

The portfolio contains three sections: (1) teaching perspectives, (2) research perspectives, and (3) an annotated bibliography. The teaching perspectives section contains the author’s teaching philosophy statement which emphasizes communicative language teaching, target language use in the classroom, and the role …

Harmonizing Music And Language Acquisition: Learning Language With The Arts, Samantha Ontiveros

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This portfolio consists of select work the author completed during the Master of Second Language Teaching program at Utah State University. Throughout the portfolio, the author shares her personal ideas, opinions, teaching observations, and personal teaching examples utilizing song; all these were found to support the research presented in this portfolio.

This portfolio contains three main sections: (1) teaching perspectives, (2) research perspectives, and (3) an annotated bibliography. The focus of this portfolio is to find new ways to teach language using artistic and creative outlets, such as multimodality, technology, and most importantly, music. The portfolio contains effective ways to …

Student-Centered, Interaction-Based, Community-Driven Language Teaching, Sharon Lyman

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This portfolio is a compilation that highlights some of the author’s accomplished work while in the Master of Second Language Teaching (MSLT) program at Utah State University (USU). Organized into sections that reflect the author’s teaching and research perspectives as a MSLT graduate student and instructor, who taught intensive English reading, writing, and conversation courses for the Intensive English Language Institute (IELI).

In the first section, teaching perspectives, the author describes her desired professional environment, shares her personal teaching philosophy statement, and accounts for her professional development through classroom observations. In the second section, research perspectives, two research papers and …

Examining The Use Of A Gamified Transcription Task To Support Perceptual Learning Of Dysarthric Speech, Samantha Budge

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Purpose: The primary aim of the current study investigated whether a lexical transcription task during perceptual training with dysarthric speech improves listener perception of the degraded speech signal. A secondary aim investigated whether adding a gamified component to the training task would further increase intelligibility gains.

Method: Following an intelligibility pretest using stimuli provided by a speaker with ataxic dysarthria, 59 participants completed a perceptual training phase dependent on their assigned condition (lexical transcription of healthy speech & feedback [control], lexical transcription of dysarthric speech & feedback [LT], or lexical transcription of dysarthric speech & gamified feedback [LTG]). Participants then …

Using Motivation To Teach Portuguese As A New Global Language, Aline Allen

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This portfolio is written to show how Portuguese was a global language in the past, as a result of Portuguese exploration, settlement, and colonization, and is once again a world language that is becoming increasingly important on a global scale, especially as a result of the economic and political emergence of Brazil on the international scene. This portfolio also covers the important topic of motivation and its key role in learning Portuguese or any second or foreign language. Music is also addressed as an invaluable medium that plays an integral role in teaching a second or foreign language, Portuguese in …

Journeying Into A New World: Constructing A New Identity Through Language Acquisition, Hyrum Hansen

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

The following portfolio represents the author’s experiences and studies while he has participated in the Master of Second Language Teaching (MSLT) program. It is the result of the author’s teaching experiences abroad and at Utah State University, his teaching observations of peers and colleagues, and insights from his studies in the MSLT program.

The portfolio is divided into three major sections, namely: teaching perspectives; research perspectives; and an annotated bibliography. The teaching perspectives demonstrate the author’s beliefs in regard to communicative language teaching and identity construction and their importance in the language acquisition process. The research perspectives further deal with …

Working Memory And Syntactic Processing In Bilingual And Monolingual Children, Carla I. Orellana

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between complex auditory working memory, syntactic knowledge, and complex sentence comprehension in bilingual and monolingual children using both offline (behavioral) and online (eye-tracking) measures. There were 19 children in the monolingual group and 19 children in the bilingual group with an average age of 11 years. The children listened to sentences, while looking at a screen with three images of the three nouns in the sentence. They were instructed to select the doer of the action (agent). Their eye movements were recorded as they completed this task. The four sentence …

An Exploration Of How Past, Present, And Anticipated Future Identities Shape The Reading Identities And Practices Of Reluctant Male Readers In A Rural Setting, Garret Craig Rose

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Many factors can attribute to a working-class, rural, male adolescent reluctant reader. This intersection of social factors warrants research to find out the reading attitudes and identity of adolescents with the aforementioned factors. In order to conduct this research, I interviewed six young men, their parents, and their English teacher. I also observed them in their English classroom and in a venue of their choosing. A major component of this research included looking at their past and present reading identities, along with uncovering how they pictured themselves in the future regarding post high school schooling, career, and family.

Editing Is Easy; Tutoring Is Hard: Helping Writers With Learning Disabilities, Mikenna Debruin

Tutor's Column

Tutors often feel uncomfortable in unfamiliar tutoring sessions. For new tutors in particular, tutoring students with learning disabilities proves to be a daunting task and may lead to panic-based tutoring decisions during sessions. Ultimately, there are two notions for tutors to keep in mind when tutoring those with learning disabilities: 1) work on what the student wants to work on in a session, and 2) don’t abandon standard tutoring practices (e.g. asking questions) simply because of panic in an unfamiliar circumstance.

The Impact Of The Illness Label ‘Gout’ On Illness And Treatment Perceptions In Māori (Indigenous New Zealanders), Nicola Dalbeth, Meihana Douglas, Kate Mackrill, Leanne Te Karu, Maria Kleinstäuber, Keith J. Petrie

Psychology Faculty Publications

Background: Despite contemporary advances in understanding pathogenesis and effective management of gout, beliefs about the disease continue to be focused on gout as a self-inflicted illness. The illness label itself may contribute to inaccurate perceptions of the disease and its management. In Aotearoa/New Zealand, Māori (Indigenous New Zealanders) have high prevalence of severe gout. The aim of this study was to examine the impact of the illness label ‘gout’ on perceptions of the disease and its management for Māori. Methods: Māori supermarket shoppers (n = 172) in rural and urban locations were recruited into a study examining the perceptions about …

Learning Frameworks, Nobel Prizes, And World Peace, Nathan Justis

Student Research Symposium

In this presentation, I apply a working definition of new literacies, which are comprised of "new technical stuff" and "new ethos stuff," to conduct an analysis of three academic papers that each describe a framework for learning. The papers of interest include one on personalized learning (Halverson et al., 2015), one on participatory culture (Jenkins et al., 2006), and one on connected learning (Ito et al., 2013). Concept coding was used to identify instances of new technical stuff and new ethos stuff, as well as other themes across these three papers. Multiple examples were found within the papers to support …

A Systematic Review Of Argumentation Related To The Engineering-Designed World, Amy Wilson-Lopez, Ashley R. Strong, Christina Marie Hartman, Jared Garlick, Karen H. Washburn, Angela L. Minichiello, Sandra Weingart, Jorge Acosta-Feliz

Teacher Education and Leadership Faculty Publications

Background

Across academic disciplines, researchers have found that argumentation‐based pedagogies increase learners' achievement and engagement. Engineering educational researchers and teachers of engineering may benefit from knowledge regarding how argumentation related to engineering has been practiced and studied.

Purpose/Hypothesis

Drawing from terms and concepts used in national standards for K‐12 education and accreditation requirements for undergraduate engineering education, this study was designed to identify how arguments and argumentation related to the engineering‐designed world were operationalized in relevant literature.

Methodology

Specified search terms and inclusion criteria were used to identify 117 empirical studies related to engineering argumentation and educational research. A qualitative …

Culturally Responsive Teaching Through The Lens Of Dual Language Education: Intersections And Opportunities, Tammy Oberg De La Garza, Alyson Leah Lavigne, Shouqing Si

Teacher Education and Leadership Faculty Publications

Students benefit from culturally responsive teaching (CRT). CRT is central to dual language (DL) education - an additive approach that is effective for educating emergent bilinguals and closing the achievement gap. Students' achievements in DL education models are higher than in any other type of language learning pedagogy – ESL, Bilingual and Monolingual. The purpose of this research was to identify the CRT practices that are employed in DL classrooms; so that teachers in other educational settings (i.e. mainstream, ESL, bilingual) might implement similar practices and improve their effectiveness with diverse students. Using survey responses from Dual Language teachers (N …

The Utah Statesman, March 24, 2020, Utah State University

The Utah Statesman

Weekly student newspaper of Utah State University in Logan.

The Ielts Exam And Cut-Off Decisions: One University's Mistake, Ann E. Roemer

World Languages and Cultures Faculty Publications

College and university admissions officers are the gatekeepers who decide which individuals may join the "country club" of higher education. As such, the decisions they make have a significant impact on the lives of individuals, especially those who are willing to travel across the globe and risk living in an unfamiliar country in order to receive a postsecondary education. Making decisions about international students and their credentials is much more complicated than evaluating the applications of U.S. students. Part of this complicated process involves decisions regarding English language proficiency and cut-off scores for exams such as the Test of English …

Effort: Enhancing Energy Efficiency And Error Resilience Of A Near-Threshold Tensor Processing Unit, Noel Daniel Gundi, Tahmoures Shabanian, Prabal Basu, Pramesh Pandey, Sanghamitra Roy, Koushik Chakraborty, Zhen Zhang

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Modern deep neural network (DNN) applications demand a remarkable processing throughput usually unmet by traditional Von Neumann architectures. Consequently, hardware accelerators, comprising a sea of multiplier and accumulate (MAC) units, have recently gained prominence in accelerating DNN inference engine. For example, Tensor Processing Units (TPU) account for a lion's share of Google's datacenter inference operations. The proliferation of real-time DNN predictions is accompanied with a tremendous energy budget. In quest of trimming the energy footprint of DNN accelerators, we propose EFFORT-an energy optimized, yet high performance TPU architecture, operating at the Near-Threshold Computing (NTC) region. EFFORT promotes a better-than-worst-case design …

Show Me, Don’T Tell Me: A Picturesque View Of Perceptions Of Police, Nancy Marion, Jason Twede

Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology Faculty Publications

A positive relationship between law enforcement and the public is critical for the effective operation of the agency and continued safety of the community. The public’s perception of law enforcement officers is one indication of the nature of that relationship. Past research on perception of the police has used questionnaires to untangle how the public views officers. This research uses an alternative method to measure the public’s perceptions of the police by asking respondents to draw a picture of a police officer. By analyzing the drawings, it can be seen what characteristics people identify with law enforcement. This study analyzed …

Language Teachers’ Intercultural Learning: A Sociocultural Perspective, Ekaterina Arshavskaya

World Languages and Cultures Faculty Publications

Responding to the call to build teacher interculturality in more dynamic ways, this paper analyzes developmental trajectories of three pre‐service teachers enrolled in a course on language and culture in a master’s in second language teaching program at a U.S. university. From a sociocultural theory perspective, the article illustrates the various ways in which the pre‐service teachers incorporated (or not) the mediational means available to them. The article findings support the claim about the sociocultural nature of human learning, while the analysis informed by a sociocultural perspective on learning explicates why intercultural learning can be more enriching for some participating …

"Let's Go On A Gym Raid Tonight!": Video Game Affinity Spaces In English Language Instruction, Marta Dominika Halaczkiewicz

Languages, Philosophy, and Communication Studies Faculty Publications

The present article describes a study that analyzed practical applications of informal online spaces in formal instruction. It was conducted in an intermediate ESL course at an American University. The concept of affinity spaces was used to guide the research. Students in the course were instructed to play the video game, Pokémon Go as an inspiration for their writing. This qualitative study examined the types of affinity space participation, the participant attitudes toward those spaces and to using video games in formal instruction. The data sources consisted of weekly gaming journals and interview transcripts. The findings showed that the participants …

¡Mi Hijo Es Mío, Puñales! Excessive Paternal Devotion In Benito Pérez Galdós’S Torquemada Novels, Gabrielle Miller

Decimonónica

While Margaret Mead’s provocative statement that “motherhood is a biological necessity, but fatherhood is a social invention” may be inherently problematic, it successfully underlines “the role of the father” as a culturally-inscribed rather than universal construct (cited in Garbarino 13). In industrialized Western countries of the nineteenth century, the dominant gender ideology of the so-called separate spheres defined the “good father” as a “distant breadwinner” who, as unequivocal family patriarch, provided for his family’s material needs through monetarily-compensated work (Lupton and Barclay 14). Unsurprisingly, the dominant model of fatherhood that emerged in Spain in the second half of the nineteenth …

Lifting The Curtain On The Nation: The Theater And Nation-Building In El Ideal De Un Calavera, Cody Hanson

Decimonónica

Alberto Blest Gana, in his 1863 novel El ideal de un calavera, organizes and presents crafted images of chilenidad that are so pervasive they assume intrinsic value and take precedence over the plot narrative. Blest Gana (1830-1920) is well known for his realistic accounts of Chilean celebrations, customs, and pastimes. He consistently integrates detailed expository accounts into his writing that emphasize Chile’s unique culture. In El ideal de un calavera, for example, rather than organize themselves in an orderly line at the entrance of the theater, Chileans form an apretura, a practice in which patrons jockey for …