Digital Commons Network^™

Inviting Teacher Candidates Into Book Talks: Supporting A Culture Of Lifelong Reading, Janine Bixler, Sally Smith, Susan Henderson

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

This article describes our collaborative inquiry, three teacher educators/researchers of literacy from different institutions who shared a concern about how few teacher candidates in our programs neither viewed themselves as readers nor possessed a love of reading, qualities we view as key to supporting all children as lifelong readers, writers, and communicators. In this paper, we share how we took action and studied the use of book talks in our programs to support a culture of lifelong reading among our teacher candidates and to offer possibilities for candidates’ future teaching experiences. The study took place over two years. In phase …

Picture Books Are For Little Kids, Aren’T They? Using Picture Books With Adolescent Readers To Enhance Literacy Instruction, Gwyn W. Senokossoff

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

This article discusses the benefits of using picture books with adolescent readers, describes strategies that can be taught with picture books, and provides examples of books the author has used. Some of the topics discussed include: reading comprehension, visual literacy, interactive read-aloud with facilitative talk, literary elements, and content-area reading. The advantages and disadvantages of using e-books and picture books that can be accessed online are also discussed. An annotated bibliography with more than 50 picture books is included in Appendix A. The books that may be accessed as e-books or audio CDs are also identified. Appendix B contains a …

Reading Horizons, Vol. 52, No. 3

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

Complete issue of Reading Horizons, volume 52, issue 3.

Who Educates Teacher Educators About English Language Learners?, Zaline M. Roy-Campbell

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

With the increasing numbers of English language learners (ELLs) in schools across the United States, most teachers will have these students in their classrooms in the near future if not already. Due to the wide diversity of ELL students, all classroom teachers must be equipped to work with these students. This study presents the findings of a survey on the preparation of teacher educators in the literacy field for preparing general education English language arts teachers to work with ELL students in their classrooms. Since part of the preparation includes access to academic journals that address the teaching of ELL …

A Preliminary Study Of The Articulatory And Acoustic Features Of Forward And Backward Tone Placement In Singing, Krista Wyllys

Masters Theses

A variety of terms exist for describing tone quality in singing, and voice scientists, voice therapists, teachers of singing, and students of singing use different terms to describe the same sound. One aspect of tone quality is tone placement. Teachers of singing often rely on imagery and imitation to elicit correct tone placement from students of singing. More concrete data about what produces forward and backward tone placement could supplement singing teachers’ current practice of using imagery and imitation to elicit a desirable tone quality. This study examined forward and backward tone placement to determine the articulatory gestures and acoustic …

Closer To Nature: Exploring Environmental Summer Camp Experience Through Ethnographic Fiction, Courtney Morgan Schofield

Masters Theses

This thesis explores the experiences of counselors and campers at environmentally-themed summer camps through the medium of ethnographic fiction. Research was conducted by examining the experiences and influences of two separate summer camps, the Midwest Nature Center Camp and Midwest Zoo Camp. Drawing on traditional ethnographic research methods, I explore the environmental messages emphasized during camp, the myriad of relationships individuals have with nature, and the impact of gender on the summer camp experience. Yet, while this thesis is based on ethnographic research, an emphasis is placed on the presentation of the information. By examining the way anthropology has been …

Modification And Adaptation Of The Program Evaluation Standards In Saudi Arabia, Mohammed Alyami

Dissertations

The Joint Committee on Standards for Educational Evaluation’s Program Evaluation Standards is probably the most recognized and applied set of evaluation standards globally. The most recent edition of The Program Evaluation Standards includes five categories and 30 standards. The five categories are Utility, Feasibility, Propriety, Accuracy, and Evaluation Accountability. In recent years, evaluation has grown into a global practice with more than sixty national evaluation associations around the world. Examples include Japan, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Mongolia, Russia, Brazil, Colombia, Peru, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Niger, and New Zealand. Because countries differ from one another in context and culture, they may need …

An Examination Of Executive Function, Mild Cognitive Impairment And Fall Risk In Community Dwelling Older Adults, Jennifer A. Blackwood

Dissertations

The aim of this three-paper dissertation was to examine the relationship between fall risk, executive function (EF) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in community dwelling older adults. Papers one and two describe how mild changes in cognition influence performance on four measures of fall risk, the Five Times Sit to Stand Test (FTSTS), usual gait speed, the Timed Up and Go (TUG) test, and the Activities Specific Balance Confidence Scale (ABC) in a group of community dwelling older adults. The third paper describes if participation in a progressively challenging domain specific computerized cognitive training intervention influenced performance on measures of …

Reconceiving Self-Abnegation: Female Vulnerability As Embodied (Un)Sovereignty, Renee Lee Gardner

Dissertations

Liberal feminism views vulnerability as weakness and dominance as strength. This binary parallels nationalistic assertions of sovereignty. Within militaristic responses such as the U.S. retaliation to 9/11, however, we see the cost of refusing to acknowledge our vulnerability. In my analysis of eleven novels arising from eight distinct nation-states and representing historical moments from the final decades of slavery through the early post- 9/11 years, I use alternative (queer, postcolonial, Islamic) feminisms to read power in vulnerability. I explore female characters who deliberately self-abnegate – sacrificing their lives, bodies, voices, and children – but whose actions can be read as …

Teaching Students About Plagiarism: What It Looks Like And How It Is Measured, Diana Stout

Dissertations

This case study examines how full-time faculty, adjunct instructors, and graduate teaching assistants teach students how to avoid plagiarism. Additionally, this case study includes a cross-section of teachers who encounter plagiarism in writing assignments across the curriculum. While many studies in the past have focused on students, this study places the spotlight on teachers. For this study, participants have been asked how they can be sure whether their instruction is correct or not, what it means to paraphrase and rewrite correctly, and how do they assess their students to determine if correct learning has taken place. Additionally, these instructors were …

Experiences Of Male Saudi Arabian International Students In The United States, Molly Elizabeth Heyn

Dissertations

Despite the increasing presence of Saudi Arabian international college students in American higher education, the literature regarding the experience of Saudi students in the United States is limited. This qualitative study explored and described the lived experiences of 9 male Saudi Arabian international college students studying in the United States. All the participants had studied in the United States for at least 2 years and were regularly admitted international students at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Moustakas’s (1994) phenomenological data analysis approach guided the data collection and analysis. The participants shared their lived experiences and the meaning of those …

Faculty Retirement Recognition Dinner 2013, Western Michigan University

Faculty Recognition

Faculty Retirement Recognition Dinner Program

May 29, 2013

Honored Guests:

• Nicholas Andreadis
• Sherrill Busboom
• John Cameron
• David Dickason
• John Gesink
• Leonard Ginsberg
• Barbara Havira
• Richard MacDonald
• Margaret Merrion
• Bruce Naftel
• John Nielsen
• Galen Rike
• Darryl Salisbury
• Paul Wilson

Japan Alumni Club Reunion, John M. Dunn

WMU President John Dunn

No abstract provided.

Relations Between Oral Pharyngeal Size And Kinematic Measures Of Tongue Related Swallowing Movements, Danielle Monast

Honors Theses

Background: Though the tongue plays a critical role during the oral phase of swallowing, studies have found that the size and shape of tongue movements during swallowing can vary greatly among individuals. One factor that may contribute to this movement variability is oral-pharyngeal cavity geometry. A cavity with a different size and shape may require different movements for efficient swallowing. While there are a number of studies that have attempted to relate the oral-pharyngeal anatomy with features of orofacial movement, these studies focused on speech movements and no studies have directly evaluated the relation between swallowing related tongue movements and …

The Confessional Model And Sectarian Politics: Lessons From Lebanon And The Future Of Iraq, Scott Preston

Honors Theses

This paper uses education policy as a case study in order to examine the issues affiliated with the Confessional model of government and compares Lebanon’s education sector with Iraq to inspect the universality of those issues. There are many features that make the country of Lebanon unique, but perhaps none more characterizing than its one-of-a-kind Confessional government. According to the tenants of Confessionalism specific government offices are to be reserved for specific ethnic groups. The system was an innovative experiment imposed by the French as a means to guarantee various communal groups representation within the government in an effort to …

Language, Desire And Identity In Shipwrecked Body, Leticia Espinoza

The Hilltop Review

Cuerpo náufrago (Shipwrecked Body, 2005) is a novel by Ana Clavel, a Mexican female writer. In this work many questions about identity are explored, but gender identity is central.

Scholarworks At Wmu: Western's Scholarly Repository For Faculty Senate, Maira Bundza

ScholarWorks Repository Information

This was a presentation given at the May 16, 2013 Faculty Senate meeting to a representative from each department and administrators on the progress of the scholarly institutional repository at Western Michigan University. The focus was on ways the faculty could take advantage of the repository.

May 14, 2013: Summer Seminar Series On Digital Research, Department Of English

Gleanings: Department of English Blog Archive

No abstract provided.

May 12, 2013: Dissertation Seminar For Lit Scholars At Newberry (5/15/13 Deadline), Department Of English

Gleanings: Department of English Blog Archive

No abstract provided.

College Of Arts And Sciences E-News Issue 1: May 2013, College Of Arts And Sciences

College of Arts and Sciences news

No abstract provided.

Malory And Christianity: Essays On Sir Thomas Malory's Morte Darthur, Thomas Hanks Jr., Janet Jesmok

Studies in Medieval and Early Modern Culture

As Hanks and Jesmok note in their introduction, "pursuing opponents and pursuing love move the Morte's narrative, but the work's richness comes from its romance and tragic elements: the human quest for maturity and fulfillment and those uncontrollable forces that undermine the quest and destroy the dream. Malory's use of myth and magic to explore these themes has received extensive scholarly attention, but his views on and thematic use of Christianity have long needed a closer look."

Prism #72, May 2013, Office Of The Provost

Prism: Western Michigan University's Newsletter for Academic Affairs

No abstract provided.

Renaissance Retrospections: Tudor Views Of The Middle Ages, Sarah A. Kelen

Studies in Medieval and Early Modern Culture

The Middle Ages provided an important, if complex, set of literary and historiographic models for early modern authors, although the early modern authors responded to the alien political, religious, and cultural landscape of medieval England through their more present ideological concerns. From Shakespeare's manipulation of his medieval source material to Protestant responses to medieval Catholicism, this collection of essays explores the ways that early modern English writers responded to the medieval English literary and historical record, dealing with topics such as historiographic bias, print history, intertextuality, and cultural history.

The Cistercian Studies Conference, 2013, The Center For Cistercian And Monastic Studies

Conference on Cistercian Studies Programs

Program for the 2013 Cistercian Studies Conference at Western Michigan University in conjunction with the 48th International Medieval Studies Congress. This happened between May 9-12 2013.

The Masaryks Of Czechoslovakia: Contributions In Sociology, Social Welfare And Politics, Rebecca L. Hegar

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This article profiles contributions to sociology, social welfare and politics by members of the Masaryk family of Czechoslovakia, with primary emphasis on the career of Alice G. Masaryk (or Masarykovd), an applied sociologist and founder of Czech social work. As the daughter of Tomdi G. Masaryk, an academic philosopher and early sociologist who became the first President of Czechoslovakia in 1918, her life and work are inextricably linked with the country's history and with one of the remarkable families of their era. Research for this articlei nvolved searchingl iteraturef rom several disciplines and reviewing historical publications and documents from relevant …

Sweden's Parental Leave Insurance: A Policy Analysis Of Strategies To Increase Gender Equality, Juliana Carlson

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Sweden's parental leave insurance is recognized internationally as the premiere parental leave policy addressing gender equality. Since 1974, when the policy changed from maternal to parental leave, policy makers have employed a variety ofstrategies including inducements, rules, and rights, to increase more gender-equal leave taking. Using Stone's (2006) strategy conceptualization, together with the gender systems approach (Crompton, 1999) which frames the gendered and socially constructed nature of earner/caregiver, this analysis examines how each of Sweden's incremental reforms in parental leave policy moved toward the goal of gender equality, with particular attention to father participation in caregiving.

The "L" Word: Nonprofits, Language, And Lobbying, Jocelyn D. Taliaferro, Nicole Ruggiano

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Despite the many benefits associated with policy advocacy, many nonprofit organizations do not lobby. Recently, scholars have called attention to the possibility that the vagueness and ambiguity of the term lobbying may hinder policy advocacy activities, though few studies have systematically explored the relationship between nonprofit professionals' perception of this term and political activity. This study explored the social construction of the term "lobbying" by examining nonprofit leaders' beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors surrounding lobbying activities. Participants reported having a strong aversion to the term "lobbying" and preferred alternative language to describe their political activities. Implications for practice and research are …

48th International Congress On Medieval Studies, Medieval Institute, Western Michigan University

International Congress on Medieval Studies Archive

The printed program of the 48th International Congress on Medieval Studies (May 9-12, 2013), including the Corrigenda.

April 26, 2013: Postcolonial Environments/Transnational Aesthetics At Notre Dame (5/3/13), Department Of English

Gleanings: Department of English Blog Archive

No abstract provided.

The Effectiveness Of The Adult Tutoring Program In Increasing Reading Levels Within The Kalamazoo Literacy Population: A Research Proposal, Sarah Beu

Honors Theses

Purpose: The results of this study will examine the effectiveness of the Adult Tutoring Program in increasing adult reading levels within the population served by the Kalamazoo Literacy Council (KLC). Method: The data in this study will be collected using a quantitative design comparing the reading levels of subjects who participated in the Adult Tutoring Program to those who dropped out of Program. The researcher will collect subjects' reading levels using the Test of Adult Basic Education (TABE), and will compare subjects' previously reading levels (collected between 13 weeks and two years prior to implementation of this study) to their …