Digital Commons Network^™

The Role Of Animacy In Russian Morphosyntax, Zhanna A. Glushan

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation investigates the effects of animacy in the syntax and morpho-syntax of language. More precisely, I examine cases in which minimal pairs, varying only in the animacy of the subject NP, show different morpho-syntactic behavior. This study suggests that a significant part of the explanation of these effects lies in the syntactic representation of argument structure—that animate and inanimate NPs, under certain conditions, receive different thematic roles, and thus occupy different structural positions at the syntactic level(s) where argument structure is represented. The findings of this project are shown to constitute a part of a broader generalization and find …

Multi-Segment Multi-Criteria Approach For Selection Of Trenchless Construction Methods, Ashikul Islam

Doctoral Dissertations

The research work presented in this thesis has two broad objectives as well as five individual goals. The first objective is to search and determine the minimum cost and corresponding goodness-of-fit by using a different combination of methods that are capable of resolving the problem that exists in multiple segments. This approach can account for variations in unit price and the cost of the design and the inspection associated with multiple methods. The second objective is to calculate the minimum risk for the preferred solution set. The five individual goals are 1) reduction in total cost, 2) application of Genetic …

Executive And Nonverbal Contributions To Pragmatic Language In Autism Spectrum Disorder, Ashley B. De Marchena Ph.D.

Doctoral Dissertations

Pragmatic language deficits are universal in individuals with autism spectrum disorders. Pragmatic language skills require the integration of multiple communicative and social skills, and as such represent an intersection of two of the three major domains of impairment in ASD: communication and social interaction. Data from typically developing (TD) populations also suggests that pragmatic language is supported by complex skills such as gesture and the executive functions. Here we investigate common ground, a pragmatic language skill in which speakers adjust the contents of their speech based on their listener’s perceived knowledge, in adolescents with ASD and TD. We designed an …

Individual Differences In Toddlers' Temper Tantrums: The Role Of Language And Self-Regulation, Lauren Broder

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of the current research was to investigate temper tantrums in toddlers using a short-term longitudinal design. We sought to examine individual differences across time in tantrum behavior and explore possible predictors, specifically: expressive language, self-regulation skills, and parental behavior. Previous literature has implicated both expressive language and self-regulatory skills as playing an influential role in tantrum behavior, but there has been little empirical support. Parents of children between 24 and 27 months (n = 100) completed surveys on their child’s tantrum behavior, self-regulation skills, and expressive language. They were also asked to report on their own strategies during …

Social And Linguistic Factors In The Development Of Children With Autism, Emma C. Kelty-Stephen

Doctoral Dissertations

There is an ongoing debate in the literature over the main source of information that children use when acquiring and developing language. Theories either support a computational linguistic perspective – in which children are thought to use aspects of language itself and their ability to perceive patterns to acquire language – or a social perspective, in which children are thought to use their ability to jointly attend with communication partners in order to acquire language. It is difficult to tease apart these sources of information in typically-developing children, but children with autism spectrum disorders have difficulty with both joint attention …

Is It Better To Struggle And Resolve Than To Never Struggle At All? The Course And Consequences Of Resolving Spiritual Struggles, Jennifer H. Wortmann

Doctoral Dissertations

Extensive psychological research has associated spiritual struggle with negative outcomes, including depression, post-traumatic distress, suicidality, and mortality. Yet other research has linked it with positive outcomes, such as personal and spiritual growth, less prejudice, greater compassion, and increased religious tolerance. Furthermore, religious and developmental theorists posit that spiritual struggle is essential to value development and life adjustment, as rigid systems are replaced by flexible ones. The paradox of struggle being associated with negative outcomes but linked to spiritual and personal growth raises the question: what distinguishes healthy or productive spiritual struggle from maladaptive struggle? The current study hypothesizes that struggle …

Nonadjacent Dependency Learning In Typical Development And Autism Spectrum Disorders, Anthony G. Goodwin

Doctoral Dissertations

In order to acquire some aspects of grammar, such as wh-questions and verb tense agreement, children must be able to learn nonadjacent dependencies. This type of learning has been demonstrated in both children and adults, but is reported to be difficult. The current study investigated whether children with autism (ASD) would show a similar pattern of nonadjacent dependency learning as seen in typically developing (TD) children, and whether variation in this ability would relate to language levels, sleep habits or characteristics of ASD.

Ten TD children (M age 21.04 months), and ten children with ASD (M age 43.86 months) were …

Perceptions And Practices In Mft Educational Reform, Louisa K. Baker

Doctoral Dissertations

National calls began more than sixty years ago to address the gap between the therapeutic services clients need and the quality of care they receive. In the last decade, the Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT) profession has begun to address those calls by instituting a shift from an input- to an outcome-based educational paradigm in its Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education (COAMFTE) accredited training programs. This dissertation study asked program directors and clinical faculty (n = 111) from those programs to: (a) describe the larger context for the educational reform; (b) discuss their program’s efforts …

Puerto Rican Students' Perspectives Of Socio-Cultural Characteristics Of Giftedness And Talent Development, Miriam Morales Taylor

Doctoral Dissertations

Puerto Rican Students’ Perspectives of Socio-cultural Characteristics of

Giftedness and Talent Development

Miriam Morales Taylor

University of Connecticut, 2013

This qualitative study was conducted to investigate the social and cultural characteristics of gifted and talented students and their perceptions of the educational factors that have contributed to the development of their gifts and talents. Twelve Puerto Rican English Language Learner (PR-ELL) students who are identified as gifted and attend a full-time academy for gifted and talented students were selected for the study. Both ethnography and comparative case methodology were used as the participants completed a questionnaire with 67 questions and …

Degrees Of Rootedness In Acquisition Of Language: A Look At Universal Grammar In Homesigners And Late Learners Of Libras, Sandra K. Wood

Doctoral Dissertations

The primary goal of this dissertation is to investigate the relationship between Universal Grammar and the properties that Universal Grammar constrains, by investigating how language is created/acquired. The framework proposed in this dissertation provides us with tools for predicting what will and will not appear in linguistic systems of homesigners, late learners of a first language, and native signers/speakers of a given language. New data presented from the spontaneous production and experimental studies of Brazilian homesigners, late learners and native signers of Libras (Brazilian signed language) support the proposal with regards to the strength of rootedness of recursion, merge, hierarchical …

Investigating The Academic Vocabulary Development Of Spanish-English Bilingual Students In Middle School, Eileen Mercedes Gonzalez

Doctoral Dissertations

This study examined the vocabulary development of Spanish-English bilingual adolescents (n= 98) from the end of 6^th through the end of 7^th grade in a dual language setting by looking at the patterns of growth in English and Spanish vocabulary post intervention and adding to the body of research on vocabulary development. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM).

At the first level (TIME), the analysis helped to describe the shape of each person’s individual growth trajectory and to examine within person variability. The analysis at the second level (STUDENTS) considered inter-individual differences in …

Adaptive And Technical Problems In Curriculum Alignment Reform, Christopher S. Winters

Doctoral Dissertations

This study explored the match between (a) strategies suggested in the research as necessary for a well-honed curriculum alignment reform focused on the instructional core and (b) the strategies actually used by one district, Middlerock, in its implementation of a curriculum alignment reform. The study used interpretive qualitative methods (Caelli, Ray, & Mill, 2003) in order to describe the complex inter-relationships involved among the data sources (e.g., district documents, interview data, and an equity audit). The unit of analysis for this study was the set of strategies identified in the research that were used to address technical problems and adaptive …

The Measurement Of Auditory Interhemispheric Transfer Time (Ihtt) In Children With Normal Auditory Processing Abilities, Brittany Suzanne Keahey

Doctoral Dissertations

Interhemispheric transfer time (IHTT) is the time it takes for information to be transmitted from one hemisphere to the other. The goal of this study was to determine if differences existed in the IHTT of children 6 to 9 years of age with normal auditory processing abilities by the use of an objective measure (auditory late evoked potentials [ALEPs]), specifically waves P1, N1 and P2. It was hypothesized that there would be no difference in IHTT between the groups due to the age range of participants being tested. The 16 participants were divided into two groups based on age and …

The Relationship Between Breastfeeding And Postpartum Depressive Symptoms In Women From Ecuador, Mexico And Puerto Rico, Jan Weingrad Smith

Doctoral Dissertations

The Relationship Between Breastfeeding and Postpartum Depressive Symptoms in Women

from Ecuador, Mexico, and Puerto Rico

Jan Weingrad Smith, PhD

University of Connecticut, 2012

This study used a secondary data analysis to describe the relationship between breastfeeding and the development of postpartum depressive symptoms in a low-income cohort of women from Ecuador, Mexico, and Puerto Rico in the United States. It also explored the risk of developing postpartum depressive symptoms in low-income women from these communities regardless of their decision to breastfeed. Data were collected between 2006 and 2012 at a Federally Qualified Community Health Center Prenatal Center in New …

Argument Ellipsis, Classifier Phrases, And The Dp Parameter, Hsu-Te Cheng

Doctoral Dissertations

This thesis investigates two theoretical consequences of a point of typological variation, namely, the presence/lack of Determiner Phrase (DP) in a language. I argue that the availability of Argument Ellipsis (AE) is directly tied to the lack of DP in a given language, and that (numeral) Classifier Phrases (CLP) and DP cannot co-occur in the same language.

In chapter 2, building on Bošković’s (2008a, 2012) claim that languages without articles lack DP, I investigate the status of DP in Mandarin Chinese (MC). I examine previous literature and show that claims regarding the existence of DP in MC are not supported …

Enhancing Memory Access For Less-Skilled Readers, Emily R. Smith

Doctoral Dissertations

Ericcson and Kintch (1995) suggested that less-skilled readers often have an impoverished representation of text. The results of five experiments demonstrated that the addition of causality enhanced the text representation of less-skilled readers. Experiments 1-3 showed that the addition of causal information enhanced less-skilled readers' ability to detect global inconsistencies. Experiments 4 and 5 showed that the addition of causal information to updating information resulted in less-skilled readers updating to the same extent as skilled readers.

Starting A Dialogue With Mexican Born Students: Appropriating A New Understanding In A Public High School, Vicne Leeburn

Doctoral Dissertations

Research Topic

This study uses the narratives of conversation participants to gain a new understanding of the issues faced by Mexican born students at Prospect High School, in the heart of Silicon Valley.

Research Theory and Protocol

Through critical hermeneutic theory formulated by Paul Ricoeur (1992) and the inquiry protocol developed by Ellen Herda (1999), I applied the interpretive categories of narrative identity, imagination and communicative action to this study.

Research Categories

The narratives describe the stories of the participants' experiences of coming to a new country and the difficulties and successes of assimilating into a new culture while still …

The Power Of The Hula: A Performance Text For Appropriating Identity Among First Hawaiian Youth, Cesily Hong

Doctoral Dissertations

Hawaii is an exotic land with a rich history and a culture imbued with meaning, including the performing arts. Such facets of any land need to be understood and preserved for future generations. The most significant aspect of Hawaiian arts is the hula kahiko, a text in motion, which when performed displays the story of Hawaii's past. The hula was forbidden by Protestant missionaries in the 1820's and was reduced to near cultural extinction. As a result, many First Hawaiians do not clearly understand the richness of their own history. Without this understanding, it is difficult for them to have …

Electronic Portfolios As Living Portals: A Narrative Inquiry Into College Student Learning, Identity, And Assessment, Celeste Fowles Nguyen

Doctoral Dissertations

As universities increasingly utilize electronic portfolios, college students are asked more than ever to create ePortfolios for academics, assessment, or advising. This study shifts an analysis of ePortfolios from prior epistemological approaches, where ePortfolios have been explored as a tool to measure student progress, onto an ontological perspective, where they are a medium for new understandings about self and others. This research examines the influence of college students' electronic portfolios on learning, identity, and assessment. The broader intention of this study is to create a narrative of students' experiences with ePortfolios that integrates critical hermeneutic theory.

The research protocol of …

Foreign Language Learning In A Non-School Environment: Effects Of Simulated Immersion Training On Affective Factors In Learners' Experience, Eunsook Mcniel-Cho

Doctoral Dissertations

This study explored the effects of immersion training on the learner's affective behaviors such as motivation and attitude, anxiety, and self-confidence in foreign language acquisition at the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center. Much research has been conducted on the effectiveness of immersion programs, but no previous research examined a short-term simulated immersion training that is integrated into a language course curriculum. Furthermore, no prior research exists on the effects of immersion on affective factors among military linguists.

This research method consisted of mixed quantitative and qualitative methods utilizing pretest score (DLAB), surveys, observations, and interviews. The study design was …

The Effects Of Elaborative Vocabulary Instruction On The Vocabulary, Written Explanations, And Knowledge Structures Of Sixth-Grade Students With And Without Disabilities, Marijude Wolf

Doctoral Dissertations

Writing is a complex process that presents challenges for middle school teachers and their students with and without disabilities. A particular area of difficulty is the application of content-area vocabulary in the explanatory writing of sixth-grade students. This two-group quasi-experimental study investigated the effectiveness of an elaborative vocabulary strategy instruction on the vocabulary scores, concept map scores, explanatory writing, and self-efficacy and attitudes towards writing of 104 sixth-grade students with and without disabilities enrolled in an urban charter public middle school. The study was conducted over a four-week period. The results showed that the elaborative vocabulary instruction had statistically significant …

The Re-Imagining Of Rapa Nui Traditional Healing Arts: Explorations Of Narrative Identity, Mimesis, And The Public Sphere, James Joves

Doctoral Dissertations

Research Topic

In Rapa Nui is undergoing a cultural development crisis. This transition mixed with the ever-increasing popularity of tourism and global media has raised awareness of identity and culture within the Rapa Nui society. The present inquiry explores one aspect of their societal healing arts that is in the midst of re-exploration and re-imagination: their traditional medicinal practices or hervias tradicionales and the potential for the findings to help shape the lives of the Rapa Nui in their society.

Theory and Protocol

This research is grounded in critical hermeneutics and follows an interpretive approach to field research and data …

Teaching Dilemmas: Language Development For English Learners In A Hyper-Segregated Dual Immersion Program, Allison Briceño

Doctoral Dissertations

English learners (ELs), a growing population in U.S. schools, generally

underperform as compared to their monolingual English peers. One potential solution to this EL achievement gap has been the implementation of Dual Immersion (DI) programs. However, given that ELs are often densely concentrated in schools with limited access to native English-speaking peers, some schools do not have enough native English-speaking

students to constitute a true DI program.

This qualitative study explored language development practices in both Spanish and English in a Northern California hyper-segregated DI elementary school, where almost all the students were English learners. The participants were four Latina …

Effects Of Rap Paraphrasing And Semantic-Mapping Strategies On The Reading Comprehension Of English Learners And Fully- English-Proficient Students With Mild-To-Moderate Learning Disabilities, Terry Halterman Jr

Doctoral Dissertations

This study, using a repeated measures design with alternating treatments, measured the effectiveness of traditional instruction, the RAP Paraphrasing Strategy, the semantic-mapping strategy, and a combination of these strategies on the reading comprehension skills of 11 English learners (ELs) with learning disabilities and 8 fully English-proficient students (FEPs) with learning disabilities (LD) in two high-school, mild-to-moderate, special-day, English classes. The students were taught each of these strategies for 540 minutes in 9 days of instruction. The same teacher taught all three strategies to both classes. Data were gathered from the IDEA Oral Language Proficiency Test, alternate forms of the Comprehension …

Lived Experiences Of Women With Hidden Disabilities: A Phenomenologically Based Study, Michelle Jean Yee

Doctoral Dissertations

Documentation of the experiences of women with disabilities has remained sparse--benignly neglected, overlooked, and understudied in the academic fields of women's studies (gender studies) and disability studies (Depauw, 1996Article 25.1; Garland-Thomson, 2004). This qualitative study explored the lived experiences of inclusion, marginalization, and exclusion in the lives of women who have a permanent, non-visible (hidden) disability. It also explored the corporeal dimensions, such as issues of embodiment, of the lived experiences for women with hidden disabilities. Finally, this phenomenologically based study examined how women with non-visible, hidden disabilities articulated the meaning of living with an invisible disability.

The study utilized …

Changes In Perceived Teacher Self-Efficacy And Burnout As A Result Of Facilitated Discussion And Self-Reflection In An Online Course Designed To Prepare Teachers To Work With Students With Autism, Monica Boomgard

Doctoral Dissertations

A growing number of students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) who display complex learning needs present challenges to educators who struggle to meet their educational needs. Teaching is stressful and additional instructional challenges may increase teacher vulnerability to burnout, leading to a greater likelihood of attrition. Increasing teachers' knowledge of strategies specific to students with ASD within online professional development may create needed support networks increasing self-efficacy and decreasing perceived stress. The purpose of this study was to examine the changes special and general education teachers' perceived self-efficacy and burnout as a result of facilitated discussion and self-reflection embedded in …

The Effect Of Sequent Input On Speech Accuracy And Fluency In Adults At The Intermediate Level, Salah Farah

Doctoral Dissertations

To help students achieve their potential, input/feedback must be sequenced by the level of complexity that immediately follows the student's actual developmental level. I assert that effective input/feedback has to follow a set of suggested but not directly expressed rules that represent basic criteria for the development of communicative competence. This study made these criteria explicit, and converted them into ready-for-use input/feedback specifications. Such specifications allow instructors to provide effective remedies to treat particular interlanguage errors. Thus, it is important that instructors understand how to sequence input/feedback to target students differentially in response to their different proficiency levels.

The study …

Being In Deep, Authentic, Dramatic Celebration: Narratives Of Community Cultural Workers For Social Change, Mi'jan Celie Tho-Biaz

Doctoral Dissertations

The common discourse in the field of education in the United States during the years 2002 through 2013 centered on the approach of making schools accountable for their students' performance, while aiming to bring proficiency to all students regardless of their socio-economic background. Prior to this study, little research existed on cultural workers who teach, and their associated outcomes with marginalized populations of learners. To fill this gap in the research literature, this study explored the question: How do cultural workers define their work, and in what ways do they connect their stories to the current academic discourse on the …

Effects Of Academic And Non-Academic Instructional Approaches On Preschool Ells' English Language Development, Ivana Markova-Lama

Doctoral Dissertations

The population of English Language Learners (ELLs) in the United States has been growing at an increasingly rapid rate (U. S. Census Bureau, 2010), and nowhere is this growth more evident than in U.S. public schools. As of school year 2010-11, nearly 25% of all students in the California public schools were English Language Learners (California Department of Education, 2013).

The focus of this study was to explore to what extent this growing number of ELLs was developing English language in different types of preschool activities. The study investigated whether bilingual preschool children would engage more and use more of …

The Effect Of Dynamic Assessment On Adult Learners Of Arabic: A Mixed-Method Study At The Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center, Mohsen Mahmoud Fahmy

Doctoral Dissertations

Dynamic assessment (DA) is based on Vygotsky's (1978) sociocultural theory and his Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). ZPD is the range of abilities bordered by the learner's assisted and independent performances. Previous studies showed promising results for DA in tutoring settings. However, they did not use proficiency-based rubrics to measure students' progress and did not mention the method of using DA practically in classrooms. The literature showed that task-based language instruction (TBLI) is effective in adult classrooms. This study combined DA with TBLI to answer four questions. What is the change in the structural control of Arabic speaking based on …