Digital Commons Network^™

Why Are Grimms' Fairy Tales So Mysteriously Enchanting?, Ana Neophytou

Dissertations and Theses

No abstract provided.

Can Gender-Stereotyped Depictions Of Occupations In Primary School Textbooks Help Shape Students' Career Choice In The Dominican Republic?, Hurtado Pérez Nohemí

Dissertations and Theses

No abstract provided.

Inventions Of Truth, Deidre Bird

Dissertations and Theses

No abstract provided.

Factors Which Prolong Civil Conflict In Africa: The Case Of Angola, Liberia And Sierra Leone, Ntesang Lorraine Molemele

Dissertations and Theses

It has been a long journey for this thesis accomplishment and now finally it is accomplished. First and foremost I thank God for my mother, Seskhutshwe, who has always wanted her children to accomplish through education. It would not have been possible of course without my dad, Judge and my little sister Ikey. My 9 year old daughter, I also thank her for always making sure she did not disturb me whenever I had to concentrate on this project. Above all, I wish to express my gratitude to my exceedingly patient Professor and supervisor, Jacqueline Braveboy. I have probably been …

Style Shifting In First-Encounter Conversations Between Japanese Speakers, Kenichi Shinkuma

Dissertations and Theses

This study examines style shift between formal and informal styles in first- encounter conversations between Japanese native speakers and demonstrates how the speakers shifted the speech style in the context. Many researchers have studied this type of style shift and demonstrated that style shifts occur within a single speech context where social factors, such as differences in age, status, and formalness remain constant (e.g., Cook, 2008; Geyer, 2008; Ikuta, 1983; Maynard, 1991; Okamoto, 1999). This study contributed support to these previous studies. In this study, both quantitative and qualitative analyses focusing on Japanese native speakers' use of style shifting in …

Language Skill Development In Japanese Kokugo Education: Analysis Of The Television Program Wakaru Kokugo Yomikaki No Tsubo, Ruri Yoshii

Dissertations and Theses

Any type of education implemented by a modern nation-state is, at least in part, a tool for socializing its people. In this regard, Japanese language and literature education, kokugo, has played an important role in Japan by emphasizing nationalism and the integrity of a Japanese identity. According to Ishihara (2007) and Lee (1996 [English translation 2010]), kokugo, since its inception in 1900, has promoted moral awareness and assimilation of Japanese ideals across the country. However, responding to unsatisfactory test results in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) in 2003 and 2006, Japan's Ministry of Education Culture, Sports, Science and …

Latino Men Managing Hiv: An Appraisal Analysis Of Intersubjective Relations In The Discourse Of Five Research Interviews, Will Caston

Dissertations and Theses

Latino men, particularly those who have sex with other men, have been disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS. Scholars have sought for nearly two decades to understand how various social and cultural factors in the Latino community exacerbate HIV risk among these men. Although following the advent of life-sustaining medications in 1996, HIV is often regarded as a manageable chronic illness, as opposed to a death sentence, scant attention has been devoted to how HIV-positive Latino men experience managing the illness. Among studies that have focused on HIV-positive persons' illness management, few Latino men have participated.

Using the Appraisal framework from Hallidayan …

The Effect Of Social Media On Public Awareness And Extra-Judicial Effects: The Gay Marriage Cases And Litigating For New Rights, Sarahfina Aubrey Peterson

Dissertations and Theses

When the Supreme Court grants new rights, public awareness is a crucial part of enforcement. Gerald N. Rosenberg and Michael J. Klarman famously criticized minority rights organizations for attempting to gain new rights through the judiciary. The crux of their argument relied heavily on the American media's scanty coverage of Court issues and subsequent low public awareness of Court cases. Using the 2013 United States v. Windsor and Hollingsworth v. Perry rulings as a case study, I suggest that the media environment has changed so much since Rosenberg and Klarman were writing that their theories warrant reconsideration. Minority rights groups …

Nuwuvi (Southern Paiute) Ecological Knowledge Of Piñon-Juniper Woodlands: Implications For Conservation And Sustainable Resource Use In Two Southern Nevada Protected Areas, Brian John Lefler

Dissertations and Theses

Nuwuvi (Southern Paiute) have inhabited the southern Great Basin for thousands of years, and consider Nuvagantu (where snow sits) in the Spring Mountains landscape to be the locus of their creation as a people. Their ancestral territory spans parts of Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and California. My research identifies and describes the heterogeneous character of Nuwuvi ecological knowledge (NEK) of piñon-juniper woodland ecosystems within two federal protected areas (PAs) in southeastern Nevada, the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area (SMNRA) and the Desert National Wildlife Refuge (DNWR), as remembered and practiced to varying degrees by 22 select Nuwuvi knowledge holders. I focus …

Explorations Into The Psycholinguistic Validity Of Extended Collocations, J. Arianna Morgan

Dissertations and Theses

This study tests the hypothesis that frequency and collocational association make independent contributions to the processing time of English multiword collocational, phrases for L1 and L2 English speakers. The results suggest that these constructs do play a role in the processing of 4-word, corpus-extracted phrases. In this sample, L1 speakers demonstrated reduced processing time for both highly frequent and highly associated phrases, while L2 speakers demonstrated reduced processing time for highly frequent phrases. Evidence exists in the data that highly proficient L2 speakers may develop similar patterns of reduced processing time as L1 speakers. Additionally, some L1 speakers did not …

"Del Campo Ya Pasamos A Otras Cosas--From The Field We Move On To Other Things": Ethnic Mexican Narrators And Latino Community Histories In Washington County, Oregon, Luke Sprunger

Dissertations and Theses

This work examines the histories of the Latino population of Washington County, Oregon, and explores how and why ethnic Mexican and other Latino individuals and families relocated to the county. It relies heavily on oral history interviews conducted by the author with ethnic Mexican residents, and on archival newspaper sources. Beginning with the settlement of a small number of tejano families and the formation of an ethnic community in the 1960s, a number of factors encouraged an increasing number of migrant Latino families--from tejanos to Mexican nationals to Central and South Americans to indigenous migrants of various nationalities--to settle permanently …

The Impact Of Wiki-Based Collaborative Writing On English L2 Learners' Individual Writing Development, Gina Christina Caruso

Dissertations and Theses

Although the benefits of group and pair work in the second language (L2) classroom have been extensively studied, most documented research has focused on the use of oral tasks and spoken interaction between learners. Recently however, researchers have begun to investigate the advantages of collaboration on written work. More specifically, with the advancements in computer technology and web-based collaborative platforms like wikis, there has been a growing awareness of the educational possibilities of wikis to enhance L2 writing instruction. This study followed a pretest/posttest repeated measures design to investigate the impact and students' perceptions of wiki-based collaborative writing activities on …

Emerging Lexical Organization From Intentional Vocabulary Learning, Adam Jones

Dissertations and Theses

The role that vocabulary learning plays in second language acquisition has been receiving increased attention from both teachers and researchers. However, there is still much that is not known about the processes through which new words become functioning components of the mental lexicon. This study used a word association test (WAT) to investigate how new words are initially integrated into the lexicon immediately after being studied for the first time. This initial lexical organization of new words was compared with the existing lexical organization of well-known items. In addition, this study investigated how sentence writing, thought to encourage deeper levels …

Understanding Male Nursing Student Perceptions Of The Influence Of Gender: A Qualitative Case Study Approach Of Students, Faculty, And Administration In A Pacific Northwest Nursing Program, Jennifer Anne Anderson

Dissertations and Theses

In contemporary American society, the nursing profession is predominantly made up of white women. Currently, males make up only 6.8 percent of the three million nursing professionals in the U.S. and they are considered gender minorities within the nursing profession and within nursing education. As gender minorities, male students are identified as experiencing nursing programs and the practice of nursing differently than their female counterparts. The purpose of this single instrumental, within site case study was to explore the learning environment for male nursing students and to investigate the nature of the interactions between nursing faculty and male undergraduate students …

Equality, Trust And Universalism In Europe, Canada And The United States: Implications For Health Care Policy, P. Christopher Palmedo

Dissertations and Theses

A number of theoretical explanations seek to describe the factors that have led to the position of the United States as the last industrialized Western nation without a universal health care program. Theories focus on institutional arrangement, historic precedent, and the influence of the private sector and market forces. This study explores another factor: the role of underlying social values. The research examines differences in values among ten European countries, the United States and Canada, and analyzes the associations between the values that have been seen to contribute the individualism-collectivism dynamic in the United States. The hypothesis that equality and …

Participation In Technology Standards Development: A Decision Model For The Information And Communications Technology Industry, Ramin Neshati

Dissertations and Theses

There is a dearth of decision-support models or frameworks to aid managers in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) industry in uniformly assessing the key factors in the decision to standardize innovative technologies. Making the proper decision is consequential and potentially fraught with risks for the firm such as competitive exposure, high expenditures with inadequate returns, restrictive inbound or outbound patent licensing obligations, and related complications.

This study presents a framework to guide managers in the ICT industry in assessing the factors that inform the decision to participate in the development of technology standards. Using multi-criteria decision analysis and judgment …

Stories Of Success: Understanding Academic Achievement Of Hispanic Students In Science, Amanda Harris

Dissertations and Theses

A review of the literature shows that there is much evidence to suggest the challenges facing Hispanic students in American public schools. Hispanic enrollment in K-12 public schools has increased from 6 to 19% in the last thirty years, yet schools have not made adequate adjustments to accommodate this changing population. Issues such as remedial tracking and cultural differences have led to low high school graduate rates for Hispanic students and inequities in schooling experiences (Gay, 2000). Particularly in the area of science, Hispanic students struggle with academic success (Cole & Espinoza, 2008). Despite these obstacles, some Hispanic students are …

Does Voluntary Reading Matter? The Influences Of Voluntary Reading On Student Achievement, Maika J. Yeigh

Dissertations and Theses

Does voluntary reading matter? While there is much known about the benefits to children who engage in sustained silent reading, commercial reading programs implemented as a result of No Child Left Behind often displace time for children to silently read (NCLB, 2002). An increase in the amount of time children spend with a commercial reading program has meant a decrease in time provided for in-school voluntary reading during the elementary literacy block (Brenner & Hiebert, 2010). This quantitative study used the 2011 restricted-use National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) data to determine whether opportunities provided to children for in-school voluntary …

Understanding Biliteracy: Exploring The Lived Experiences Of Bilingual Reading Specialists, Tatiana Margarita Cevallos

Dissertations and Theses

Over the past 20 years, the United States has seen a rapid increase in school age students entering PK-12 schools for whom English is not their primary home language. These students are known as English learners (ELs). In Oregon, 77% of ELs speak Spanish and constitute the largest minority group, 21% of the total K-12 student enrollment in 2011-2012. With such potential for bilingualism in schools, bilingual teachers should be prepared to teach biliteracy effectively, especially in the early school years when students learn to read. There is an increasing demand for bilingual teachers in Oregon each year to teach …

Mediating Academic Success: Race, Class, Gender And Community College Persistence, Schaylee Marie Esparza

Dissertations and Theses

Over the last forty years, the U.S. community college system has expanded, allowing disadvantaged groups greater access to higher education. With that expansion, a body of research has emerged examining community college students' educational outcomes. However, the research is limited in understanding the academic persistence of low-income students and community college student in particular. The purpose of this comparative, qualitative study is to explore some of the unanswered questions about how low income white and Latino students' experience academic persistence similarly and differently and understand how gender influences the challenges students may face during college.

This study draws from interviews …

A Comparison Of Linguistic Features In The Academic Writing Of Advanced English Language Learner And English First Language University Students, Margo K. Russell

Dissertations and Theses

Writing for an academic purpose is not an easy skill to master, whether for a native English speaker (L1) or an English language learner (ELL). In order to better prepare ELL students for success in mainstream content courses at the university level, more must be known about the characteristics of student writing in the local context of an intensive English program. This information can be used to inform ELL writing instructors of which linguistic features to target so that their students produce writing that sounds appropriate for the academic written register.

Two corpora of 30 research essays each were compiled, …

'This Would Be Much Funner In Person': A Qualitative Grounded Theory Analysis Of Cybergrooming, Maurice Jason Gauz

Dissertations and Theses

The rather novel phenomenon of cybergrooming, or the solicitation of minors for sex via the Internet, has yet to be fully explored. This is a problem because such predatory behavior can lead to psychological and/or physical abuse of minors. The present study seeks to fill this knowledge by performing a qualitative, grounded theory analysis of naturally-occurring cybergrooming discourse. Data were drawn from the website of the online watchdog group, Perverted Justice. The first 20 lines of talk transmitted by the adults in these chat conversations were sampled from 100 transcripts published by Perverted Justice.
Multi-step coding, facilitated by the qualitative …

Effects Of The First Language On Japanese Esl Learners' Answers To Negative Questions, Kosuke Kanda

Dissertations and Theses

This study investigates how Japanese learners of English respond to English negative questions. Previous research has reported that Japanese learners of English make errors in yes/no responses to English negative questions due to the first language (L1) influence (Kang & Lim-chang, 1998; Takashima, 1989). From the perspective of L1 influence, there are two learning pitfalls: different functions of the yes/no response and different interpretations of negative questions. Both of these influences were examined in this study.

This study involved 8 Japanese learners of English, 4 females and 4 males, attending Portland State University (PSU). In order to elicit data that …

Is Self-Sufficiency Really Sufficient? A Critical Analysis Of Federal Refugee Resettlement Policy And Local Attendant English Language Training In Portland, Oregon, Domminick Mcparland

Dissertations and Theses

Since the 1951 United Nations Convention, nations have dealt with refugee issues in various ways. In the United States, since the Vietnam War, there has been great debate and a significant amount of research on issues of refugee resettlement, with these discourses inherently involving issues of power and ideology. English language training and the promotion of economic self-sufficiency have been interventions used to integrate and assimilate refugees into American culture and society. These two interventions were the subject of the current investigation.

The purpose of this study was to look into the way federal refugee resettlement policy mandated by the …

Individuals With Intellectual Disabilities In Faith Communities: Perspectives Of Catholic Religious Leaders, Mazna Patka

Dissertations and Theses

Community psychology is concerned with the relationship between individuals and social systems in community contexts, but the field has under-explored the role of religious organizations in the lives of individuals with intellectual disabilities. Worldwide, most people identify with a religion, and congregations serve as important mediating structure that creates a sense of community and provides linkages between individuals and society. There may be significant benefits to religious participation, including greater life satisfaction, health, and quality of life. Such benefits may be especially important to individuals with intellectual disability who generally experience poorer outcomes. However, we know very little about the …

Code Switching Between Tamazight And Arabic In The First Libyan Berber News Broadcast: An Application Of Myers-Scotton's Mlf And 4m Models, Ashour S. Abdulaziz

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study is to investigate the nature of code switching between Tamazight and Arabic in light of Myers-Scotton's Matrix Frame Model (MLF) (Myers- Scotton, 1993), and the 4-M model of code switching (Myers-Scotton & Jake, 2000). Data come from the very first Libyan Tamazight news broadcast in Libya on May 2, 2011, during the uprising against the Gaddafi regime. I analyzed the broadcast in an attempt to understand the nature and implications of the switching between the two languages in the utterances of the speakers in the video. I also argued that in many ways what many …

Victimization, Separatism And Anti-Intellectualism: An Empirical Analysis Of John Mcwhorter's Theory On African American's Low Academic Performance, Marlon Dewayne Marion

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study was to test John McWhorter's theory on African American academic underachievement. The theory claims that since the 1960's African American identities have been significantly influenced by beliefs of victimization and anti-intellectualism along with values of separatism. In order to test for the existence of these dimensions in African American's thinking and for their relationship to academic achievement, data from the Maryland Adolescence Development In Context Study (MADICS) were used. Findings indicated that victimization, separatism and anti-intellectualism have a causal relationship and that sentiments of victimization are found to be significantly higher among African Americans. A …

Opportunities For Incidental Acquisition Of Academic Vocabulary From Teacher Speech In An English For Academic Purposes Classroom, Eric Dean Dodson

Dissertations and Theses

This study examines an English for Academic Purposes (EAP) teacher's speech throughout one curricular unit of an intermediate grammar and writing course in order to better understand which high-value vocabulary students might acquire through attending to the teacher and noticing words that are used.

Vocabulary acquisition is important for English for Academic Purposes students, given the vocabulary demands of academic language. The Academic Word List (Coxhead, 2000) has been shown to include important vocabulary in written academic texts, and has become a standard part of English for Academic Purposes curricula and pedagogical materials. Although explicit vocabulary instruction is important, research …

Teaching And Learning For Intercultural Sensitivity: A Cross-Cultural Examination Of American Domestic Students And Japanese Exchange Students, Yoko Hwang Sakurauchi

Dissertations and Theses

Global student mobility has become a dynamic force in American higher education. Integrating international students into diverse campus environments provides domestic as well as foreign students with enriched learning opportunities. However, a diverse campus climate itself will not make college students interculturally competent. Intentional curricular design is critical for overcoming issues such as resistance and reinforcement of stereotypes, but the research literature is extremely limited on effective pedagogical strategies for cultivating college students' intercultural sensitivity.

This paper explicates a research study to investigate college students' development of intercultural sensitivity through an intentional course design utilizing Kolb's (1984) learning styles cycle …

"Had Sh'er Haute Gamme, High Technology": An Application Of The Mlf And 4-M Models To French-Arabic Codeswitching In Algerian Hip Hop, Samuel Nickilaus Mclain-Jespersen

Dissertations and Theses

The historical nature of language contact between French and Arabic in Algeria has created a sociolinguistic situation in which French is permeated throughout Algerian society. The prevalence and use of spoken French in Algeria by native speakers of Spoken Algerian Arabic has been a topic of interest to researchers of codeswitching since the 1970s. Studies have been conducted on codeswitching in Algerian media such as television, radio, and music.

The hip hop scene has been active in Algeria since the 1980s. Algerian hip hop lyrics contain a multitude of switches into French. This study explores the structural makeup of the …