Digital Commons Network^™

Gender Discourse In Small Learning Groups Of College-Level Developmental Mathematics Students, Allen W. Emerson

Dissertations

This study was motivated by the question as to whether women’s and men’s membership in different gender communicative cultures gives rise to gender differentiated ways of talking that are implicated in the failure of a mixed-sex group to achieve good mathematical discourse when women and men sit face to face engaged in various mathematical tasks. If so, in what ways and to what effect is gender discourse implicated in the failure of a mixed-sex group to achieve good mathematical discourse?

Models of feminine and masculine discourse styles based on the theory of communicative cultural difference, as well as a model …

"Permit Me Then Good Friends To Sing": Reflections, Reactions, And Manipulations In Civil War Songs, Joanne Thomas

Masters Theses

Musicologists, folklorists and historians agree that the music of the Civil War was a significant means of communication for Americans in all regions and classes. The popularity of music soared during the war, with songs about the war holding center stage. This study moves beyond the acknowledgment that these songs were an important means of communication to seeing what messages were being communicated by both professional and amateur songwriters. These lyricists criticized and praised behaviors, often pointing out the social acceptance or exclusion that could result from individual behaviors, made assumptions about and passed moral judgements on female, male, and …

Maranao Muslim Women Educational Administrators: An Initial Study Of The Emerging Muslim Women Leaders In The Philippines, Carmelita S. Lacar

Dissertations

Long deprived of consequential participation in socioeconomic exchanges outside the home, Filipino Muslim women are now breaking out of their traditional mold. Increasingly, they are acquiring higher education and are assuming vocational and leadership roles which, in years past, were inaccessible to them. Focused on Maranao Muslim women educational administrators, this survey sought to: (a) describe their salient characteristics, career development experiences, goals, and visions that distinguish them from their Muslim women subordinates; (b) describe factors influencing their career; (c) describe their leadership behaviors; and (d) deduce some policy and practical implications of the findings. Primary data on 75 variables …

A Case Study Of Academic Achievement Of African American Males, Loistean Mason

Dissertations

Several areas are often identified as barriers to the academic achievement of African American males. They include racial inequality, segregation between schools, segregation within schools, cultural insensitivity to learning styles, the theory of cultural deprivation, teacher/student interaction, and the discipline of African American students. The study was conducted in a Midwestern school with a predominantly African American student body and faculty at the end of the final grading period before graduation. This study of 12th-grade males sought to determine if the climate of an African American high school with African American administrators and faculty would enhance the achievement of African …

Western News, Oct. 31, 1996, Western Michigan University

Western News (1972-2018)

Story highlights: Board approves appointment of Timothy Light as provost and vice president for academic affairs, 1996-97 general fund budget booked at $179.2 million, Trustees ratify three-year contract with AAUP, Noted critic; poet and essayist from Yale to make three presentations on campus Nov. 6-7, Women's health issues to be explored in all-day forum, South African activists to speak at symposium on rising expectations of that country's youth, Doolittle among Athletic Hall of Fame inductees.

Western News, Oct. 17, 1996, Western Michigan University

Western News (1972-2018)

Story highlights: Light describes challenges and goals in remarks at first Faculty Senate meeting, Center increases access for persons with disabilities, Grants from Kellogg Foundation spur new training program with horses, Geologists answer the call to revive map making art, Michigan First Lady Michelle Engler here to kick off campaign for community service, National expert on aging to discuss future of long-term care in Oct. 24 public address, Cotton selected for state honor.

Western News, Oct. 10, 1996, Western Michigan University

Western News (1972-2018)

Story highlights: Enrollment stabilization crucial as University faces budget shortfall, Poling earns Distinguished Faculty Scholllr Award, Sky's the limit with revamped School of Aviation Sciences, Sky Broncos play host to regional aviation contest, Haenicke updates senators on science project, Department fund-raisers seeking to achieve $156,000 goal in this year's United Way drive, WMUK-FM begins on-air campaign Monday.

The Westerner Vol. 17 No. 1, Western Michigan University

The Westerner (1980-1997)

• Internet anxiety shouldn't prevent us from venturing into cyberspace • WMU continuing to enhance its burgeoning 'on-line' information, services • WMU's engineering college among nation's best • Haworth College of Business inaugurates speaker series • WMU again enacts one of state's lowest tuition hikes • Alumna’s $5.9 million gift is largest on record • WMU reaches new highs in amount of grant funds awarded, gifts received • University News in Brief • The Internet is making the grade for growing numbers of faculty, students • Classnotes • Jovial twin sisters from Michigan are becoming celebrities in California • Alumni, …

Listening And Literacy: Audiobooks In The Reading Program, Renee Michelet Casbergue, Karen Harris

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

Perhaps in response to heightened awareness of the pleasure people of all ages take in listening to good literature read aloud, publishers of both children's and adult literature have begun to produce audio versions of their most popular titles. The new availability of a broad range of literature in audiobook form is in sharp contrast to an earlier focus on audio tapes accompanying simple picture books for beginning readers. Audio versions of treasured classics and contemporary young adult fiction by such authors as J.R.R. Tolkien and Ursula LeGuin are now readily available.

When An Esl Adult Becomes A Reader, Lucy Tse

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

This case study focuses on the effects of an extensive reading program for an adult English language learner. The subject participated in a course designed to introduce and promote pleasure reading among English as a second language (ESL) students by encouraging them to read both assigned and self-selected books in English. Over a period of approximately six months, the subject was presented with a variety of genres of English language books and given the opportunity to discuss those read in low anxiety environments. This article will first give a brief review of the literature on the role of reading in …

Limited English Proficient Children's Literacy Acquisition And Parental Involvement: A Tutoring/Family Literacy Model, Ping Liu

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

Students' academic performance at school is closely related to the family literacy environment and their parents' educational levels. Home is the place where children spend most of their time while growing up, parents being their primary "teachers" (Three R's Plus, 1978). Unfortunately, not all children enjoy a literacy-rich home environment that strongly supports their academic growth. Many parents missed the opportunity to receive a good education, and are, therefore, unable to provide the academic help their children need in completing their school work. This is an especially severe issue with many parents whose English proficiency, educational level, and cultural differences …

Traditional Culture And Science Education In Africa: Merely Language Games?, William W. Cobern

Scientific Literacy and Cultural Studies Project

I want to begin today with two short personal remarks. My field of research at home is the cultural study of science education. In other words, I am interested in what is commonly called the culture of science and how that becomes interpreted in science education by teacher and curriculum. I am interested in the variation of culture among American students, cultural variations grounded in family and community and brought to the classroom. I am interested in the cultural interactions that are precipitated by the meeting of cultures in the science classroom. In my current work I use worldview concepts …

Reading Horizons Vol. 37, No. 1

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

Complete issue of Reading Horizons volume 37, issue 1.

Wishing For History , Katharine Kerr

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

No abstract provided.

Conference Announcements

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

No abstract provided.

Gayle Margherita, The Romance Of Origins: Language And Sexual Difference In Middle English Literature. University Of Pennsylvania Press, 1994, Anne Clark Bartlett

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

No abstract provided.

From Sexual Prejudice To Patriarchy And Its Agents: The Radicalization Of Mary Daly's Analysis Of Sexism, Teresa Bellow-Stratton

Masters Theses

This thesis interprets key concepts in Mary Daly's analysis of sexism as they are developed in her first three books. It highlights the continuities more than the discontinuities in Daly's writing. The constant features of Daly's writing are her existentialist orientation and a complex synthesis of ideas that relates the subjective experience of individuals, the objective social circumstances of individuals, and socially constructed stereotypes, especially those stereotypes expressed in religious language.

Eye Movement Desensitization And Reprocessing Treatment Of Communication Anxiety: A Closer Look, Teresa Foley

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to replicate the results of previous research with respect to EMD/R (eye movement desensitization and reprocessing) and of this researcher’s investigation of EMD/R treatment of public-speaking anxiety (Foley & Spates, 1995). The present study, however, included components to permit more extensive analysis of the elements of treatment that contribute to therapeutic effectiveness. The study investigated the contribution of assessment speeches to treatment effectiveness by using a two factor design in which one factor featured a condition of pre-treatment/post-treatment speeches vs. a condition of post-treatment speeches only. The other factor featured two treatment conditions, permitting …

Training Nonconventional Autoclitic And Tact Relationships In Children, Ingolfur Bergsteinsson

Dissertations

To some extent, one understands a complex aspect of human language if one can produce that kind of language in children who have not already acquired it. Skinner’s (1957) concept of autoclitic secondary verbal behavior is the most complex of his various verbal units, and until recently has not been the subject of experimental analysis. Howard and Rice (1988) made the first attempt to generate an autoclitic repertoire in preschool children, and the present study is an attempt to corroborate and extend their findings. They worked with the autoclitic “like” which identifies the accompanying primary verbal behavior as a form …

Measuring Changes In Spontaneous Play Behavior In Preschoolers With Autism Associated With A Receptive Language Intervention, Jori Reijonen

Dissertations

Children diagnosed with Autistic Disorder have well documented deficits in the development of pretend play. When it occurs, spontaneous pretend play differs from play seen in other children in frequency, duration, and quality. The present study examined the effects of teaching preschoolers with Autism to follow one-part directions to play during discrete trial receptive language training sessions on spontaneous play skills.

Receptive language tasks were designed to teach simple pretend play skills (e.g., "Feed the doll with a spoon"). Spontaneous play was continuously sampled during free play sessions in the clinic and in the child's home before these receptive tasks …

A Comparison Of The Spontaneous Utterances Of Students With Autism Across Two Educational Settings, Mary E. Peterson

Dissertations

Students with autism are being mainstreamed into general education classes in increasing numbers. This practice is based on the largely theoretical assumptions that normal peers will provide models of appropriate communication skills as well as increased opportunities for social interaction. However, there are few empirical studies available to corroborate these beliefs.

The purpose of this study was to compare the functional communication of the same group of students with autism across two settings, their general education classrooms and their self-contained, special education classrooms. Each of the students spent time in both settings during each school day. Their spontaneous language was …

Political Stability And The Division Of Czechoslovakia, Timothy M. Kuehnlein

Masters Theses

Utilizing the historical development of relations between Czechs and Slovaks for a century and more, the following thesis contends that Czechoslovakia has exhibited a propensity for dissolution and the lack of a sound basis for stable order.

Socio-political, economic and ethno-cultural variables have traditionally characterized Czechoslovak society as highly bifurcated, and with negative implications for a stable political union, especially within the post-revolutionary period.

This thesis argues that the division of Czechoslovakia need not be lamented. Rather, division may be viewed less negatively than other examples of modern state devolution in post-revolutionary Europe. Indeed, the division of Czechoslovakia has positive …

How The Opposition Evolved: A Case Study Of Taiwan's Democratization, Wing-Chung Pan

Masters Theses

In recent years, Taiwan's political development has attracted the attention of western political scientists interested in democratic transitions in authoritarian states. Many theories have been suggested to explain Taiwan's rapidly political progress. But, these theories, which have mainly focused on socio-economic and cultural factors, are insufficient, and provide only a partial explanation for Taiwan's democratization. This thesis argues that we must also probe the developmental history of Taiwan's opposition and its strategies in its struggles with the ruling party -- Kuomintang (KMT.)

Since Taiwan's mam opposition party, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), presents as an indigenous party, it will be …

Western News, July 25, 1996, Western Michigan University

Western News (1972-2018)

Story highlights: Engler signs funding bill; board OKs low tuition hike, Haenicke presents tentative budget outlook, Board approves appointments of deans; department chairpersons, Bafna earns IIE award, Shuster to be honored.

Reading Horizons Vol. 36, No. 5

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

Complete issue of Reading Horizons volume 36, issue 5.

An Analysis Of The Auditory-Verbal And Visual-Figural Learning And Memory Patterns Of College Students With Learning Disabilities, Robert K. Eckert

Dissertations

The validity of the California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT) has been established with most clinical neuropsychological populations; however, no published work in the area of CVLT performance in adults with learning disabilities (LD) exists, despite the authors' assertion that the test is a useful psychometric measure for this population (Delis, Kramer, Kaplan, & Ober, 1987). Likewise, the validity of a recently restandardized test of visual-figural learning, the Rey Visual Design Learning Test (RVDLT; Spreen & Strauss, 1991), has yet to be investigated in LD populations. Motor deficiencies have been associated with LD in children, but little evidence exists to extend …

A Case Grammar Analysis Of The Representation Of African-Americans In Current Fifth Grade Social Studies Textbooks., Patrick P. Mccabe

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

The portrayal of ethnic minorities in American history textbooks has been examined over recent years by numerous researchers (Banks, 1969; Agostino and Barone, 1985; Garcia and Tanner, 1985; Garcia, 1986; Lamott, 1988; Thomas and Alawiye, 1993). Most of these studies have focused upon factual veracity and the selection of life roles through which certain groups have been portrayed. Life roles include employment, daily routines, and positions of prominence achieved.

A Qualitative Study Of Friendships And Student-Faculty Relationships: Experiences And Perspectives Of Korean International Students Studying In The United States, Jinsook Kim

Dissertations

Experiences and perceptions among a group of Korean international students studying in the United States were examined in terms of friendships and student faculty relationships. The study used a qualitative approach and was guided by cross-cultural and cultural learning perspectives. Semi-structured interviews conducted in the Korean language were used for data collection. From a research population of 72 Korean international students enrolled at a large Midwestern university, 24 were selected using purposeful sampling, 6 from each of the four identified subgroups. These subgroups were male and female undergraduates and male and female graduates.

Participant experiences and perceptions concerning closest friendships …

A Philosophic Inquiry Into Causation Comparing Diverse Metaphysical Systems, Jane Fisher

Masters Theses

Causation is a problem for philosophers because in explaining causation one must explain reality itself. Since the metaphysical systems of history are carefully reasoned claims concerning reality, they will be employed in this discussion of causation. We will examine the foundational posits of four metaphysical positions -- Buddhism, Platonism, Nominalism, and Realism -- and review the meaning each assigns for causation. We can then observe how the meaning of causation is altered depending on the system of metaphysics that serves as its context.

31st International Congress On Medieval Studies, Medieval Institute, Western Michigan University

International Congress on Medieval Studies Archive

The printed program of the 31st International Congress on Medieval Studies (May 9-12, 1996).