Digital Commons Network^™

Selected Student Characteristics Related To Academic Cell Phone Use, David Pauley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The researcher addressed the need for understanding student perceptions and habits of academic cell phone use within a high school environment in regards to student characteristics. Data were gathered and analyzed in order to answer research questions regarding student perceptions of: (a) the usefulness of cell phones as an academic tool, (b) the use of cell phones within school and outside of school for academic purposes, (c) the encouragement of cell phone use to complete assignments, (d) the potential for distractions within the classroom occurring from cell phone use, and (e) the functionality of cell phones for completion of school …

Bringing Frames Into Focus: Reading Middle English Literature, Jeffery Stoyanoff

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Middle English readers were critical readers who expected rhetorically-sophisticated texts. Middle English authors, who were themselves trained as readers first, acknowledge such a readership by using a variety of framing devices within their texts. The reading techniques that students applied to classical texts in the classroom were beginning to be applied to the then-modern texts of Middle English authors. Authors use these generically-situated framing devices to play with readers’ expectations and to open up their texts for a number of possible interpretations. I elucidate the possible rhetorical moves authors make using framing devices in their texts in response to this …

Ideological Becoming : Intern Teachers' Experience Of Becoming Culturally Responsive Teachers., Sonya Burton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explored the ways that teachers on an intern license who have been recruited by a Teacher Recruitment program experience ideological becoming into culturally responsive teachers in the Four Corners region of the United States. Bakhtin’s theories on ideological becoming and authoritative and internally persuasive discourses frame this study with emphasis on the experiences that caused intern teachers tension and helped them make culturally responsive teaching practices an internally persuasive discourse. I used narrative inquiry methodology to discern intern teachers’ stories and experiences. I interviewed 5 intern teachers teaching in elementary classrooms in the Four Corners region of the …

Mediation In Literacy : Language, Technology, And Modality., Hem Sharma Paudel

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The issue of difference in writing, both in terms of language diversity and modalities, has received increasing attention in the context of new developments in technologies, increasing global migration, and intensified intersections of cultural and linguistic practices accompanying these changes. Theories of language and modality are trying separately to develop ways to best respond to the challenges and opportunities brought about by these changes. Responding to scholars’ recent calls for bridging the gap between studies of multilingualism and those of multimodality, this dissertation offers an approach that, instead of separating the study of modality and languages, questions such a tendency …

The Being Of Art And The Art Of Being : Hermeneutic Ontology In Gadamer And Woolf., Adam Noland,

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Overall, the point of this project is to plumb the affinities between Gadamer’s notion of hermeneutic ontology and Virginia Woolf’s novels—how these affinities illuminate and contribute to an improved understanding of Gadamer’s philosophical hermeneutics and Woolf’s novels. For their part, Gadamer and Woolf belong to a similar cultural and historical milieu, each, in one way or another, a participant in the intellectual and artistic movement known as Modernism. This movement arose in response to the encroaching impersonality of scientific objectivity: both Woolf and Gadamer recognized the pitfalls of this objectivity, as it necessarily discounts the interpretive opportunity and responsibility of …

A Study On The Efficacy Of Sentiment Analysis In Author Attribution, Michael J. Schneider

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The field of authorship attribution seeks to characterize an author’s writing style well enough to determine whether he or she has written a text of interest. One subfield of authorship attribution, stylometry, seeks to find the necessary literary attributes to quantify an author’s writing style. The research presented here sought to determine the efficacy of sentiment analysis as a new stylometric feature, by comparing its performance in attributing authorship against the performance of traditional stylometric features. Experimentation, with a corpus of sci-fi texts, found sentiment analysis to have a much lower performance in assigning authorship than the traditional stylometric features.

Tennessee Per-Pupil Expenditures In Special Education And Academic Achievement, Melanie C. Davidson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Federal legislation known as the No Child Left Behind act has required states to close achievement gaps. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between special education spending by districts in the state of Tennessee and standardized achievement for students with disabilities.

Secondary data were obtained from the Tennessee Department of Education’s website (www.tn.gov/education). Data from each local education association were collected for the years of 2010-2014 in the areas of special education spending, special education population, and TCAP proficiency percentages in reading and math grades 3-8. Data from each local education association were collected …

Veils: Truth In Translation, Katherine M. Block

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This supporting document for the thesis exhibition entitled “Veils: Truth in Translation” will discuss Block’s exploration of painting during her time at East Tennessee State University. The supporting document also provides the historical background and influences which have contributed to Block's overall process and techniques. These influences include the Abstract Expressionists, Carl Jung, Ferdinand de Saussure, John Dewey, Theodor Adorno, Joan Mitchell and Gerhard Richter. In the supporting document Block probes the idea that non-objective painting is more than a language confined by linguistic elements of sign, signifier, and signified, but is a process of thinking, which is communicated on …

African American Parents’ Perceptions Of Public School: African American Parents’ Involvement In Their Childrens’ Educations, Eric D. Howard

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The goals for public schools are to educate all students so that they may attend colleges and/or develop relevant job and citizenship skills. African American students enrolled in American public schools struggle to keep up academically, revealing a so called “achievement gap.” Consequently, many African American children are unable to realize their potential and participate as successful contributing citizens. This study examined how African American parents might engage in their children’s schooling and how schools might support this participation to better meet the needs of these students.

The segregation and racism historically practiced in public schools has led to negative …

A Case Study Exploring Organizational Development And Performance Management In The Operational Infrastructure Of A Professional Working Organization, Using Academic Constructs, Wm. Casey Crear

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Curriculum, as a concept, has been historically associated with traditional schooling, but the reality is that its application extends to many arenas beyond academia. Through the case study lens, this dissertation utilized the ideologies of curricular theorists John Dewey, John Franklin Bobbitt, and Ralph Tyler to explore how intended, enacted, and assessed curricula phases can integrate into a professional working organization’s comprehensive functionality and materialize into the planning and implementation of its operational infrastructure. Following content analysis of a selected institution’s operational system, using closed codes, a descriptive comprehensive curriculum was designed to address the research purpose of understanding …

The Abc's Of Art Teacher Professional Identity: An A/R/Tographic Investigation Into The Interstitial Spaces, Sarabeth G. Berk

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Teachers are more than teachers, however, they do not often discuss, define or identify their multiple professional identities they possess. Likewise, society narrowly perceives and categorizes the conception of teacher, and disregards practices teachers perform that do not fit neatly into established constructs within the profession. This research study explores the multiple professional identities of teachers, specifically art teachers, to understand how they perceive themselves as professionals, and furthermore, to investigate what happens when professional identities intersect, overlap, and create hybrid spaces. Teacher professional identity, multiple identity, intersectionality, and developmental evolution of self are key constructs within this research.

To …

Community Identity In "The Granada Pioneer", Jessica P. S. Gebhard

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

My research examines how the writers of the Granada Pioneer, a newspaper published in a Japanese American internment camp during World War II, used the editorial column of that publication to shape the community identity of that camp. The newspaper was published by Japanese America internees living in that camp, but their readership was composed of Japanese American internees and also non-interned non-Japanese Americans. Using Critical Discourse Analysis, I found that the internee writers were using the editorial column to shape a community habitus within the internment camp while at the same time attempting to reshape the imagined community …

I Had To Learn That On My Own : Successful First-Generation, Low-Income College Students From Rural Areas At An Urban Institution., Aaron Phillips

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

First-generation and low-income college students have been at a greater risk of attrition and have graduated at lower rates compared to other students for some time. Despite this, however, there are first-generation and low-income students who have been successful and have graduated. Unfortunately, there has been a lack of research focused on successful students, particularly those who are also from a rural background. The purpose of this study is to reveal what strategies, practices, actions, and behaviors low income, first-generation students from a rural background employ and engage in to persist and be academically successful. A qualitative methodology was chosen …

Relational Aggression In School Settings : The Efficacy Of The First Step To Success Intervention., Alicia Latrelle Dailey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is a study of relational aggression (RA) in school settings. RA is a nonphysical type of aggression where the intent is to harm relationships and the social standing of a targeted peer. Examples include social exclusion, gossip, spreading rumors and the silent treatment. RA has negative consequences for both perpetrators and victims, and is associated with friendship problems, peer rejection, depression, anxiety, poor academic performance and dropout. RA is stable and reaches its peak in middle school, continuing into adulthood. In order to address RA, this dissertation argues that early intervention is necessary with young children as early …

Speech Data Analysis For Semantic Indexing Of Video Of Simulated Medical Crises., Shuangshuang Jiang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Simulation for Pediatric Assessment, Resuscitation, and Communication (SPARC) group within the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Louisville, was established to enhance the care of children by using simulation based educational methodologies to improve patient safety and strengthen clinician-patient interactions. After each simulation session, the physician must manually review and annotate the recordings and then debrief the trainees. The physician responsible for the simulation has recorded 100s of videos, and is seeking solutions that can automate the process. This dissertation introduces our developed system for efficient segmentation and semantic indexing of videos of medical simulations using machine learning …

Culture At The Core : The Impact Of Culturally Relevant Professional Learning On Teacher Beliefs And Practice : A Collection Of Scholarly Papers., Mikkaka Hardaway Overstreet

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As the United States invests billions of dollars into teacher professional development, the underlying assumption is that learning leads to change and improvement in classroom practice. In truth, however, the process is not so simple. In this collection I explore what happens between new learning and application of that learning. This dissertation is a collection of scholarly papers examining teacher lives, culture, and learning from professional learning through implementation of learning in instructional practice. It examines the tensions between teacher beliefs, teacher learning and teacher practice and makes suggestions for systemic change. Within it, I contend that a focus on …

Language Difference And Expansive Learning : Negotiating Concepts, Contexts, And Identities In Writing-Related Transfer Studies., Megan Jeanne Bardolph

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation offers a theoretical examination of current conceptualizations of writing-related transfer of learning in Rhetoric and Composition. I analyze the models presently available for understanding writing-related transfer of learning and argue that they are constrained by narrow conceptions of language use/users that do not accurately reflect the rich and varied language practices student writers perform, nor the multilingual audiences students with whom students will interact when they leave our classrooms. As a result, I argue that transfer has been difficult for writing studies scholars to pinpoint and locate. Building on theoretical models of language from applied linguistics and second …

More Than "Moon Gold And Marbles" : Rationalization, Reform, And The Transformation Of The American Circus, 1900-1940., Matt Holdzkom 1981-

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The circus, despite its prominence in the American imagination and popular culture, has yet to be given its due among the scholarly studies of cultural historians. This thesis is a historical contextualization of the circus in the United States. It contends that historical processes of rationalization and reform prevalent in the early twentieth century can be adequately interpreted through a study of the circus, and that these forces contributed significantly to the circus’ decline in size and cultural relevance in that period. Specifically, this thesis examines the amelioration of corruption and reform of labor relations as instrumental in the shrinkage …

Atheists In The Media: How Public Figures And Fictional Characters Affect Public Perceptions Of Atheists, Joseph Michael Stepniewski

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated how media depictions of atheists might influence perceptions of them based on media theories of cultivation and priming. Severe distrust and dislike of atheists found in the literature indicated a need for the study. The measurement instrument used in the study asked a sample of 195 respondents to report their media consumption habits, including news sources, television shows, and movies, as well as identify real atheists in the public eye. Respondents were then asked to rate positive and negative statements about both atheists and religious people on a Likert scale and provide basic demographic information about themselves. …

High School Educators’ Perceptions Of Their Schools’ Conduciveness To English Language Learners’ Success, Jill Winiger

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptions of administrators, guidance counselors, and classroom teachers in the high schools of Northeast Tennessee regarding their schools’ academics, climate, culture, parent engagement, and their English Language Learners’ school experiences. The researcher sought to ascertain if significant differences exist between the perceptions of different groups of educational professionals in the school, with those groups to include school administrators, guidance counselors, and classroom teachers. Data were analyzed from 50 survey questions with 42 of those questions measured on a 5-point Likert scale, 5 questions as multiple choice, and 3 questions as open-ended. …

The Tools Of One-Handed Zen : Hakuin Ekaku's Technological And Artistic Charisma., Brandon James Harwood 1982-

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

When people think of a Zen kōan, they probably think of Hakuin’s “What is the sound of one hand clapping?” This is appropriate as Hakuin’s ministry has become such an important part of Rinzai Zen that all current masters trace their lineage to him. In this paper, I hope to illuminate one of the reasons that Hakuin became so influential in his time and in the history of Japanese Zen. I argue that Hakuin was a charismatic teacher that used the technological innovations of woodblock printing and the wealth of some of his students to duplicate and disseminate his paintings …

All The King’S Men: British Codebreaking Operations: 1938-43, Andrew J. Avery

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Enigma code was one of the most dangerous and effective weapons the Germans wielded at the outbreak of the Second World War. The Enigma machine was capable of encrypting radio messages that seemed virtually unbreakable. In fact, there were 158,900, 000,000,000 possible combinations in any given message transmitted. On the eve of the war’s outbreak, the British had recently learned that the Poles had made significant progress against this intimidating cipher in the early 1930s. Incensed and with little help, the British Government Code & Cipher School began the war searching for a solution. Drawing from their experiences from …

Productions Of Metalinguistic Awareness By Young Children With Sli And Typical Language, Lucy E. Long

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study seeks to: (1) determine if differences exist between children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI) compared to age-matched (AM) and language- matched (LM) children with typical language development (TL) in rates and proportions of five types of metalinguistic productions and (2) test theories of metalinguistic production. Forty-five children, 24 with TL and 21 with SLI, paired for age or language level, formed two groups. Previously collected data from two studies of verb learning (Proctor-Williams & Fey, 2007; Proctor- Williams, unpublished) were analyzed for rates and types of metalinguistic productions. Results yielded no within or between group significant differences in …

Pursuing West: The Viking Expeditions Of North America, Jody M. Bryant

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose to this thesis is to demonstrate the activity of the Viking presence, in North America. The research focuses on the use of stones, carved with runic inscriptions that have been discovered in Oklahoma, Maine, Rhode Island and Minnesota. The thesis discusses orthographic traits found in the inscriptions and gives evidence that links their primary use to fourteenth century Gotland. Also connecting the stones to Gotland, is the presence of an unusual rune dubbed the Hooked X. This single rune has been the center of controversy since it was first discovered in Minnesota, 1898. Since that time, it has …

Functional And Stylistic Features Of Sports Announcer Talk: A Discourse Analysis Of The Register Of Major League Soccer Television Broadcasts, Marco Balzer-Siber

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study analyzes the register of television sports announcers in Major League Soccer broadcasts, based on six 20-minute transcription samples. The first part considers individual linguistic features and inquires whether they fulfill a communicative function or whether they are of stylistic nature. In an effort to attract more viewers in the United States, production companies had originally adopted the duality model of a play-by-play announcer and a color commentary from other American sports, while many other countries traditionally feature only one commentator. Consequently, the second part of this discourse analysis will focus on the cooperative interactional behavior. The conclusion will …

Exploring The Relationship Between Early Childhood Attentional Control And Language Ability, Jaima S. Price

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Relatively few studies have investigated the relationship between early childhood attentional control and later cognitive outcomes, especially language development. The current study is an investigation of the relationship between the executive functioning (EF) component of attentional control and language ability in the second year of life. More specifically, the predictive nature of two aspects of attentional control, attentional focus and resistance to distraction, was be the primary focus of the proposed study. Although it was expected that children both high in attentional focus and resistance to distraction would have significantly superior language development than infants with lower attentional capacities, analyses …

Re-Construction Through Fragmentation: A Cosmodern Reading Of David Mitchell’S Cloud Atlas, Beth Katherine Miller

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A cosmodern reading of David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas creates a positive vision of the future for readers through various techniques of fragmentation including fragmentation of voice, language, and time. By fragmentation, I have in mind the consistent interruption of the novel’s voice, language, and time that requires an active and aware readership. The reader’s interaction with the text makes the novel re-constructive. In fact, the global nature of Mitchell’s novel, its hopeful ending, and its exploration of the effects of globalization can be considered as a means of exploring the dynamic relationships between the characters, the reader, and Mitchell’s authorial …

Exploring Trends In Disproportionality Of Emotional Disturbance Classification After The Individuals With Disabilities Education Improvement Act (Ideia), Ghirmay Alazar

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The aim of this study was to systematically investigate the trends of disproportionate representation of African American students in special education when compared to Caucasian special education students in emotional disturbance category as well as the trends in disproportionality of emotional disturbance classification after the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA). African American students in special education are disproportionately represented when compared to Caucasian special education students but uncertainty persists regarding the nature and the extent of the problem (Aud et al., 2010; Countinho & Oswald, 2002; Skiba et al., 2006, 2008). This study employed a mixed methods multiple …

Culturally And Linguistically Diverse Students' Standardized English Literacy Achievement And Language Redesignation Status: A Multiple Regression Analysis, Matthew R. Weyer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The initial No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation stated that by 2014 all students would reach proficiency in all subjects. However, this has not been the case as NCLB has had mixed effects for culturally and linguistically diverse students (CLDs) (Hopkins, Thompson, Linquanti, Hakuta, & August, 2013). Language redesignation policies, often termed reclassification, can be considered a significant contributor as the variation in policies and practices alone has led to significantly different achievement for CLDs across the country (Hill, Weston, & Hayes, 2014; Mahoney & MacSwan, 2005) and has created an expansive achievement gap with their non-CLD White counterparts (Reardon, …

Curating Ali`I Collections: Responsibility, Sensibility, And Contextualization In Hawai'i-Based Museums, Halenakekanakalawai`Aomiloli`I Ka`Ili`Ehu Kapuni-Reynolds

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the curation of aliʻi collections in the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum and the Lyman House Memorial Museum. The aliʻi were once the ruling class of Hawai'i, whose chiefly ranks and statuses reflected their prestigious and complicated moʻokūʻauhau (genealogies). Although the aliʻi are no longer a visible social class in Hawai'i, their moʻokūʻauhau (genealogies) and moʻolelo (stories) are continually honored and preserved within the walls of museums. Through the use of a research design that draws from multiple museologies, indigenous epistemologies, and anthropological theories and methods, I examine the physical care, storage, exhibition, and interpretation of aliʻi collections, …