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American Identity And Attitudes Toward English Language Policy Initiatives, Carlos Garcia, Loretta E. Bass

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Relatively little is known about what individual-level factors drive Americans' attitudes toward offering services to immigrants. Using national-level data and logistic regressions, we examine what factors co-vary with whether respondents agree or disagree with specific policy initiatives regarding support for English language use for immigrants. We then examine what factors are related to whether respondents agree that tax money should be used to fund English classes for immigrant children and adults. We find that age, race, and general warmth toward undocumented immigrants predict English-only attitudes, and that marital status, education, and warmth toward undocumented immigrants predict attitudes toward the use …

Sex Panic And The Welfare State, Benjamin Shepard

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

2006 marked the tenth anniversary of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act. The 1996 law was the culmination of decades of erosion in backing for basic provisions of the U.S. social safety net. The following reviews the political campaign that undermined thefoundationfor this vital component of the New Deal/Great Society income supports. A series of panics diminished approval for the welfare state, leading to the 1996 "reform." Panic discourse increasingly accompanies policy debate. Examples of anti welfare, anti outsider panic discourses are explored.

Doing Catalan Spanish: Pragmatic Resources And Discourse Strategies In Ways Of Speaking Spanish In Barcelona, Robert E. Vann

Department of Spanish Research

The last decade has seen the publication of many corpus-based studies about Spanish in Catalonia. With an emphasis on the linguistic characteristics that Spanish in Catalonia maintains or has acquired as a result of its prolonged contact with Catalan, these studies have started to catalog the lexicon, phonology and morphosyntax of Spanish in Catalonia. Relatively little attention has been dedicated, however, to the pragmatics of Spanish in Catalonia, that is, to the discourse strategies that constitute Catalan ways of speaking Spanish. The present investigation proceeds in this direction by identifying some of the pragmatic resources employed in Catalan ways of …

2007 Complete Digest, Department Of English

Gleanings: Department of English Blog Archive

No abstract provided.

Participant/Observer Vol. 1. No. 1 Winter 2007, Anthropology Department

Participant/Observer

A Newsletter for Friends of the Western Michigan University Department of Anthropology

Table of Contents:

• Violence in Kenya is topic of Anthropologist’s Research
• Letter from the Chair
• Meet the Newest Member of the Anthropology Department: Kristina Wirtz
• WMU Archaeology Students Excavate at Fort St. Joseph During Field School
• Questions for a Faculty Member. . . Dr. Robert Anemone
• Archaeology Grad Student Works in Bolivia
• Anthropology Students Make Energy Headlines
• The Development of a Web-Based, Role-Playing Simulation
• In The Spotlight: Vin Lyon-Callo
• Anthropologist is Fulbright Scholar
• Department News

Direct Instruction With Playful Skill Extensions: Action Research In Emergent Literacy Development, Jean M. Keaton, Barbara C. Palmer, Karen R. Nicholas, Vickie E. Lake

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

Direct instruction teaching methods have been found to promote the acquisition of literacy in developing readers. Equally important, learning strategies that allow children to construct knowledge through active participation increase their motivation for reading and writing. This action research was designed to explore the effectiveness of direct instruction with playful extensions in developing emergent literacy in a kindergarten classroom. The intent of the project was to connect developmentally appropriate practices with direct instruction teaching. The systematic approach of Peer Assisted Learning Strategies (PALS) was followed using only the teacher directed lessons; playful extensions of the PALS lessons were integrated throughout …

Western Michigan University Undergraduate Catalog 2007-2008, Western Michigan University

Western Michigan University Course Catalogs (1904-present)

• General Information
• Colleges
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Keiko Hamaguchi, Chaucer And Women. Eihosha, 2007, Joanna Shearer

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

No abstract provided.

Religion And Semiosphere: From Religious To The Secular And Beyond, Rajka Rush

Dissertations

Religion is a system of structural ideas that involve the natural ability of the mind to engage itself into the process of unlimited semiosis which can be defined as an existential openness of one's consciousness to the universe as a system. This primary religious consciousness becomes limited by language, symbolic, and cultural constraints. The religious semiotic space is a sub-cultural system open to culturally and cross-culturally encoded idioms and concepts. These cultural potentials are interpreted and settled by the religious exegesis expressed in the behavioral patterns of the symbolic actions that reflect a specific worldview of the closed community controlled …

Family Functioning And Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy: A Study Of First Year Malaysian Undergraduate Students, Melati Sumari

Dissertations

The findings of the study show that the relationships between family functioning subscales and career decision-making self-efficacy subscales were between small and moderate. The study also found that each family functioning subscale contributed less than 15% of the variance in career decision-making self-efficacy. The total variance accounted for by the six family functioning subscales was small (32%). Important findings of the analyses of variances include: (a) male students perceived their families as more dysfunctional than female students; (b) Chinese students perceived their families as more dysfunctional than Malay and Indian students; (c) students in science majors perceived their families as …

Ethiopian Language Policy And Health Promotion In Oromia, Begna Dugassa

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

In the time of HIV/AIDS, epidemics for which we have no vaccination or cure, public health is bound entirely to depend on the traditional health education strategies to stop or contain this disease. This reality demands that we travel extra miles and thoroughly employ every health promotion tool at our disposal. The Ottawa Charter for health promotion stressed the need for public policy to create supportive social conditions for health. This necessitates a commitment to enduring social conditions for health and raises topics that have been neglected by the traditional public health scholars. A close examination of the colonial language …

Insider Vol. 8 No. 1 Fall 2006, College Of Arts & Sciences

College of Arts and Sciences news

A Publication for Friends of the College of Arts and Sciences

Western News, Sept. 21, 2006, Western Michigan University

Western News (1972-2018)

Story highlights: External funding for research reaches nearly $39 million; WMU gets Jobs Fund dollars; Ballard, Case-Parris, Northey, Paff get service excellence awards ; On Campus with Linda Comrie.

Harnessing The Power Of Story: Using Narrative Reading And Writing Across Content Areas, Steven Nathanson

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

This article reviews research to examine how teaching and learning are improved with the use of narrative story materials. Stories help to focus the reader's attention and build personal connection, resulting in better retention and deeper subject-matter understanding. Four key advantages of narratives cited by D. T Willingham are discussed. The effectiveness of stories is further supported by a review of research from diverse fields, including cognitive psychology, social and physical sciences, education, and communication. Suggestions and strategies for the use of narrative materials in content area settings beyond the elementary classroom are also provided.

Susanna's Way Of Becoming Literate: A Case Study Of Literacy Acquisition By A Young Girl From A Chinese Immigrant Family, Gaoyin Qian, Junlin Pan

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

Susanna, a young girl from a low-income Chinese immigrant family, develops her oral language proficiency quickly in Head Start and kindergarten; however, she needs more support in her reading and writing. This case study examines an unusual journey of Susanna's learning to read and write in English. Observations in her home indicate a home with limited print, whereas Head Start and kindergarten provide not only print rich environment but also teachers' and peers' support so that she moves from an English language observer to an English language user. However, she still struggles with the use of decontextualized language. Susanna's difficulties …

Journal Of Sociology & Social Welfare Vol. 33, No. 3 (September 2006)

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• THE EFFECTS OF PROLONGED JOB INSECURITY ON THE PSYCHOLOGICAL WELL-BEING OF WORKERS - Cynthia Rocha, Jennifer Hause Crowell, and Andrea K. McCarter
• THE POET/PRACTITIONER: A PARADIGM FOR THE PROFESSION - Rich Furman, Carol L. Langer, and Debra K. Anderson
• "PUT UP" ON PLATFORMS: A HISTORY OF TWENTIETH CENTURY ADOPTION POLICY IN THE UNITED STATES - Michelle Kahan
• ALTRUISM OR SELF-INTEREST? SOCIAL SPENDING AND THE LIFE COURSE - Debra Street and Jeralynn Sittig Cossman
• ECONOMIC WELL-BEING AND INTIMATE PARTNER VIOLENCE: NEW FINDINGS ABOUT THE INFORMAL ECONOMY - Loretta Pyles
• JOB SATISFACTION AMONG TANF LEAVERS - Jeff Scott
• SEARCHING …

The Teacher's Response Process In Dialogue Journals, Donna E. Werderich

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

This grounded theory study explores how middle school literacy teachers used dialogue journals and the processes by which they responded to their students' written responses. Literary conversation between teacher and student was conceptualized as an ongoing scaffolding process within dialogue journals. Teachers used "response facilitators" including visual aids, modeling, questioning/requesting, and feedback independently and in combination with one another to scaffold literary conversation with students. Every response from a teacher had a place on a response continuum, fluctuating between instructional responses and conversational responses. There were times when the teachers' roles called for direct scaffolding, focusing on developing students' literacy …

The Poet/Practitioner: A Paradigm For The Profession, Rich Furman, Carol L. Langer, Debra K. Anderson

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This article explores a new paradigm or model for the professional social worker: The poet/practitioner. The training and practice of the poet are congruent with many aspects of social work practice. An examination of the practice of the poet, and the congruence of these practices to social work, reveals a paradigm with the capacity to focus social workers on the essential values of our profession. This paradigm, which highlights the humanistic, creative, and socially conscience role of the social work practitioner, may be particularly important today given the medicalization of social problems and the conservitization of society.

An Evaluation Of Intraverbal Training And Listener Training For Teaching Categorization Skills, Anna Ingeborg Petursdottir

Dissertations

Behavioral language interventions, such as those employed in early and intensive behavioral intervention (EIBI) programs, target both expressive and receptive language skills. Skinner's (1957) analysis of verbal behavior provides a framework for analyzing expressive and receptive language in terms of stimulus control and reinforcement history. From this perspective, different expressive language programs target different verbal operants, such as tacts, intraverbals, and echoics , whereas most receptive language programs target a type of listener behavior that may be referred to as manded stimulus selection (Michael, 1995). Although EIBI curricula (e.g., Maurice, Green, & Luce, 1996; Leaf & McEachin, 1999) have frequently …

Democracy, Hegemony, And Consent: A Critical Ideological Analysis Of Mass Mediated Language, Michael Alan Glassco

Masters Theses

Accepting and incorporating mediated political discourse into our everyday lives without conscious attention to the language used perpetuates the underlying ideological assumptions of power guiding such discourse. The consequences of such overreaching power are manifest in the public sphere as a hegemonic system in which free market capitalism is portrayed as democratic and necessary to serve the needs of the public. This thesis focuses specifically on two versions of the Society of Professional Journalist Codes of Ethics 1987 and 1996, thought to influence the output of news organizations. This analysis exposes the problems inherent in the news media's focus of …

The Western Michigan University Magazine, Summer 2006, Western Michigan University

Western Michigan University Magazine (1997-present)

• No stone left unturned
• The second time around
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The Olde Town Of Segovia And Its Aqueduct: Preservation And Tourist Management, Rose Ann Switt

Masters Theses

The city of Segovia, Spain is known for its Acueducto (Aqueduct), the Alcazar Castle, its Catedral (Cathedral), la Casa de la Moneda de Segovia (the House of Money of Segovia), and over 60 additional historical buildings, monuments, and protected vistas. This abundance qualified the city for designation in 1986 as a World Heritage site under guidelines established by the United Nations Education and Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Site status is coveted by city and regions around the world, but little research conducted in Spain has been recorded in English to determine if receiving this status actually affects …

“A Highly Ambiguous Condition”: The Transgender Subject, Experimental Narrative And Trans-Reading Identity In The Fiction Of Virginia Woolf, Angela Carter, And Jeanette Winterson, Jennifer A. Smith

Dissertations

This dissertation examines how the constantly evolving gender identity o f a text’s transgender subject relates to the text’s narrative structure and shapes the orientation o f the reader to the text. Accordingly, this project examines how these transgender narratives deploy experimental stylistic techniques that enhance the reader’s experience of ceaseless transitioning by revealing gender as a constant process that never solidifies onto a body and by highlighting the text’s own status as process rather than finalized product. Further, this project examines how a transgender subject and his/her relationship to the body, culture, and narrative is involved in the re-vision …

The Representation Of Race And Ethnic Relations In Japanese Junior High School English Language Textbooks From 1987 To 2002, Mieko Yamada

Dissertations

This dissertation explores how cultural attitudes about race/ethnicity are taught and how international power relations are expressed in Japanese junior high school textbooks. In a content analysis of Japanese junior high school textbooks in English as a foreign language, I examine how race and ethnic relationswere expressed and what types of interracial communication took place in the textbooks. Applying the racial formation theory developed by Omi and Winant (1994) and the concept of color-blind racism by Bonilla-Silva (2001, 2003), I explain how cultural ideology towards racial and ethnic relations were guided in the Japanese English language textbooks.

Fifteen English language …

"Opene Þefore Þe I3e Of Þin Intellecte": Holy Tears In The Book Of Margerykempe And The Orcherd Of Syon, James Ryan Gregory

Masters Theses

St. Catherine of Siena (1347-1380) discusses in her greatest work, Il Dialogo, the various stages by which the human soul can ascend the spiritual path to God and salvation. She specifically treats the matter of "holy tears" and outlines a complete taxonomy of holy weeping, a six-tiered scale through which the soul can ascend in pursuit of union with the divine. The activities of Catherine's insular near-contemporary, Margery Kempe, a woman famed for her persistent wailing in remembrance of ail things holy, are recorded in a text whose construction of its eponymous heroine parallels in many ways the hierarchy …

A Survey Of Music Therapists Regarding The Efficacy Of Music Therapy In The Treatment Of Children And Adolescents With Williams Syndrome, Mayumi Hata

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to determine music therapist' perception of the efficacy of music therapy interventions for clients with Williams syndrome. By surveying music therapists who have clinical experience with individuals with Williams syndrome, this study attempted to gather following information: (a) music therapists' perception of the efficacy of music therapy (b) predominant technique or approach (c) predominant goals (d) collaboration with other professionals and (e) the referral sources for music therapy. The results indicated that music therapists lack information and experience working with the Williams syndrome population. However, many of the participants who had worked with individuals …

Which Islam-Ism? Diversity In Islamic Society And Its Implications For Democracy, Christopher M. Ebsch

Masters Theses

This study aims to refute claims of Islamic exceptionalism in the midst of recent waves of democratization, thereby disproving assumptions of any incompatibility between democracy and Islam. My research will show that such sweeping assumptions gloss over significant, developmental democratic movements within Muslim nations as well as several uniquely Islamic supports for democratic ideals and institutions.

I begin by examining recent political activities conducive to democracy in Muslim states, by distinguishing between divergent principles in the Qur' an, some of which have been used by moderate, democratically-oriented Islamists, and by realizing the historical, political antecedents leading to a rise in …

Effects Of Single Versus Multiple Verbal Operant Arrangements On The Acquisition Of Mands And Tacts In Preschool Children, Tina M. Sidener

Dissertations

Verbal Behavior programs for children diagnosed with autism typically teach novel language in the context of multiple verbal operant arrangements. Commonly called "mixed verbal behavior", this involves the interspersal of various exemplars across verbal operant categories. Despite the current recommended use of this teaching procedure, only 2 studies to date have empirically evaluated its effectiveness (i.e., Arntzen & Almas, 2001; Carroll & Hesse, 1987). In both of these studies, mixed mand-tact training resulted in faster mean acquisition of tacts than tact-only training. In Experiment 1 of the current investigation, a systematic replication of previous studies was conducted with 3 typically-developing …

Doers Of The Living Word: Gospel Ideology And The African American Womanist Novel, Rebecca Erin Huskey

Dissertations

In Playing in the Dark, Toni Morrison issues a charge and illuminates the challenge that she and other African American writers face in defining the self through a racially oppressive language:

Neither blackness nor "people of color" stimulates in me notions of excessive, limitless love, anarchy, or routine dread. I cannot rely on these metaphorical shortcuts because I am a black writer struggling with and through a language that can powerfully evoke and enforce hidden signs of racial superiority, cultural hegemony, and dismissive "othering" of people and language which are by no means marginal or already and completely known and …

The Relationship Between Perceived English Proficiency And Success In Clinical Work: A Survey Of Asian International Music Therapy Students And Music Therapy Instructors/Supervisors, Yayoi Nakai

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was (1) to identify the students' and instructors'/supervisors' perceptions regarding Asian international music therapy students' English proficiency, and (2) to identify successful strategies students use or instructors/supervisors suggest for resolution regarding English proficiency in clinical situations. The participants of this study were Asian international music therapy students who are currently enrolled in practicum classes or internships in the United States, and instructors/supervisors who have supervised Asian international music therapy students. It was found that there were various difficulties for Asian international music therapy students using English in clinical situations; however, overall both students and instructors/supervisors …