Digital Commons Network^™

The Moonlight Schools : Adult Literacy Education In The Age Of Americanization., Samantha Hope Necamp

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation analyzing the rhetorical interplay between the Moonlight Schools-an adult literacy education program initiated in 1911-and two other literacy programs: the Americanization movement and U.S. college composition. Through my analysis, I demonstrate that the Moonlight Schools played a vital role in (re)defining literacy in the public sphere. In particular, exchanges between Moonlight Schools advocates and Americanizers helped to solidify public attitudes regarding the professionalization of literacy teaching-attitudes that remain entrenched in public discourse and that have had negative consequences for the disciplinary status of Rhetoric and Composition. I argue that incorporating the Moonlight Schools into our disciplinary imaginary can …

Historiography, Disciplinarity, And The Future(S) Of Composition., Lisa R. Arnold

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation analyzes and critiques the historiography of more than 150 texts documenting the history of writing instruction in the United States. In examining the rhetoric of disciplinary historiography, I demonstrate how the historicization of composition has worked, rhetorically and politically, to highlight and complicate some of the central concerns of the field while also raising questions about and prompting proposals for the future of the discipline. To carry out this analysis, I engage in a process I call metahistorical critique, with which I trace three disciplinary narratives: the role of first-year composition, the discipline's legacy of current-traditional rhetoric and …

Priest, Prophet, Pilgrim : Types And Distortions Of Spiritual Vocation In The Fiction Of Wendell Berry And Cormac Mccarthy., Todd Edmondson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation provides a reading of characters in the novels and short stories of two important contemporary American writers through the lens of spiritual theology. While spirituality has often been understood as necessitating a flight from the particular, the concrete, or the everyday, theologians such as Rowan Williams and Nicholas Lash have presented a more robust version of spirituality that understands the call to spirituality not as an invitation to flee from this world, but rather a vocation to a way of life that seeks reconciliation within this world, encountering and embracing God's presence within the contexts of such realities …

Validation Of An Instructional Observation Instrument For Teaching English As A Foreign Language In Spain., Maria Gómez-García

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The design and validation of a classroom observation instrument to provide formative feedback for teachers of EFL in Spain is the overarching purpose of this study. This study proposes that a valid and reliable classroom observation instrument, based on effective practice in teaching EFL, can be developed and used in Spain to enable teachers to move from where they are in their actual teaching performance to an improved level of performance. This instrument is intended to be used as part of the teachers' professional development and for formative purposes. Few instruments have been developed to assess effective practices in EFLIESL …

They Are In Silence : Refugee Women's Narratives., Erin Elizabeth Herbert

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This work explores the personal narratives of a group refugee women recently resettled in Louisville, Kentucky, participating in the Family Center program at Kentucky Refugee Ministries. This research shows that both local and national refugee resettlement policies are complicit in the marginalization of refugee women. These policies falsely construct refugee women as a universalized "other," silencing the diverse experiences and needs of women resettled in the United States. In turn scholarship and an aid discourse that positions refugee women's employment as "supplementary" to male income is based on assumed social constructions of gender inconsistent with many refugee women's experiences both …

The Regulatory Function Of Social Referencing In Preschoolers With Down Syndrome Or Williams Syndrome., Angela E. John

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The present project examined the regulatory function of social referencing in two neurodevelopmental disorders that have been well defined genetically and are characterized by differing patterns of socio-cognitive development: Down syndrome (DS) and Williams syndrome (WS). In addition, since the social referencing process requires children to coordinate three fundamental abilities (initiation of joint attention, gaze following, emotional responsivity), the present project also included three follow-up studies which examined these abilities separately. Participants were 21 children with DS (M age = 4.97 years; SD = .74) and 21 children with WS (M age = 4.92 years; SD = .76) closely matched …

The Dialectic Of Trauma In Charlotte Salomon's Life? Or Theatre?, Brooke Leeton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the presence of the dialectic of trauma in Charlotte Salomon’s magnum opus, Life? or Theatre?, a series of more than seven hundred paintings created during her time in exile in France between 1941 and 1942. In this series, modeled on an illustrated operatic libretto, Salomon combined painted images, narrative commentary, dialogue, and musical notation to create a thinly disguised cast of characters – representing herself, family members, and friends – who reenact traumatic events that occurred prior to and throughout Salomon’s life. This visual manifestation of trauma raises questions about the formation and function of traumatic memory, …

Clustering Digital Ink Content To Assist With The Grading Of Student Work., Jared Hatfield

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In recent years the use of Tablet PCs in education has received a great deal of attention. Improved note-taking and lecture presentation have been the main focus of Tablet PCs in education. Currently, grading of student work collected as digital ink using Tablet PCs is still done mostly as it would be done if collected as pencil on paper. However, having content stored as digital ink provides an opportunity to perform analysis that is neither practical nor possible with pen and paper student content. Once student work is collected using DyKnow Vision, an interactive Tablet PC based classroom software tool, …

Beggars Can't Be Choosers Or The Refugee As A Moral Agent?, Pamela Cartier Allen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This project considers the ways in which the dominant discourse on refugees might reinforce the negative impacts or limit the positive impacts of aid. Care for refugees is a difficult task that takes place in a discourse that begins with numerical calculi, a language that expresses ambivalence about our obligations for this category of persons, fear of their collective identity, and a deep ceded notion of refugees as an object of concern, a worthy cause, a growing problem, and a burden that must be shared.

What we choose to do for and about refugees emerge from our present awareness (knowledge) …

Fish From Afar Marine Resource Use At Caracol, Belize, Smith Petra Cunningham

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The ancient Maya had strong ties to the sea. The trade, transportation and use of marine resources were important not only to coastal Maya communities, but also to the heavily populated cities that lay many miles inland. A review of zooarchaeological evidence recovered from excavations at the inland site of Caracol, Belize suggests that the inhabitants imported marine fish for food, marine shell for working into trade items, and sharks teeth and stingray spines for ritual use. This thesis examines the manner in which fish and other marine resources were used, procured and transported from the coast to the site …

Connecting Visual Design And Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions The United States, Latin America And Spain, Suzanne Mcdonough

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

My thesis discusses whether culture can be used to predict visual design preferences in documentation and whether cultures with similar attributes demonstrate similar visual design preferences. The visual design of a document is an important element in effective communication to an audience. If the audience is outside the United States, it is important to understand the attributes of that culture to create documents that are most effective for the audience. Cultural theorist Geert Hofstede describes cultural attributes in terms of six cultural dimensions: individualism versus collectivism, high versus low power distance, high versus low uncertainty avoidance, masculinity versus femininity, long-term …

Decolonizing Moral Visions: Christian Political Economic Ethics, Latino/A Religiosity, And Postcoloniality, Rodolfo J. Hernandez-Diaz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines moral visions of the political economy of mainstream Christian social ethics through a liberationist and postcolonial analysis of the work of three leading political economic ethicists, Daniel Finn, Max Stackhouse, and Philip Wogaman. Constrained by their subject position within modernity/coloniality and a commitment to a neoclassical understanding of the political economy, mainstream Christian ethicists have stopped short of condemning the inextricable complicity of the capitalist political economy to colonialism and its racist, patriarchal, and oppressive power relations. This dissertation argues that the moral visions of mainstream Christian social ethicists must be decolonized and points to Latina/o thinking …

The First Child In A Chinese Family Who Could Read Prior To Entry Into Elementary School: A Qualitative Intrinsic Case Study, Shu Ping Zhang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study is an account of the literacy-related human environment a Chinese girl experienced as the first person in the history of her family who was able to read prior to entry into elementary school. Temporally speaking, the study spanned more than a decade from the initial, tentative research question to the formal, primary research question. Spatially speaking, it crossed three cultures: the Chinese, Korean, and American cultures. The study was inspired by the Zero Project in China, known as the "Project of Quality Education and Implementation for Children Aged Zero (fetus) to Six." The significance of the content issue …

Examining The Utility Of The Response To Intervention Framework In Meeting The Needs Of All Learners, Robin J. Carey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Response to Intervention framework is an effective means for or of identifying Specific Learning Disabilities. This study examined one school's utilization of the framework in meeting the needs of a continuum of learners from those who struggle to those in need of advanced options. A case study format was utilized, involving an elementary school in a suburban school district in Colorado. Through classroom observations, teacher interviews and dialogue with the site's Problem-Solving Team, principal, and a focus group, the Response to Intervention framework proved to be an effective model in meeting the needs of all learners. In addition, the …

Language Acculturation Discrepancy In Latina/O Families And Its Relationship With Emotional And Behavioral Problems, Jonathan P. Muther

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The current study is an assessment of whether a language acculturation discrepancy (LAD) within families is most predictive of emotional and behavioral problems for Latina/o youth when relevant variables are controlled. A sample of predominantly Mexican American parent-child dyads was recruited to complete a language-based measure of acculturation and parent participants completed an assessment of their child's emotional and behavioral functioning. Results indicated a total difference value between parent-child levels of language acculturation to be most predictive of the outcome. Additionally, the child's level of language acculturation, independent of that of the parent, was also found to account for a …

Preschool Participation And Linguistically Diverse Learners' English Language And Literacy Acquisition, Tara Szabo Maxson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Linguistically diverse learners are a rapidly growing subpopulation of the students currently served by schools and future forecasts indicate that population growth is expected to continue. Students who enter school speaking a language other than English need adequate time and opportunity to English. Furthermore, children who attain grade-level literacy by the third grade demonstrate greater achievement in school and life. Because language and literacy acquisition in the early elementary years leads to later success and English language learners (ELLs) need time and opportunity to master both, it is imperative that school systems focus on interventions to ensure both early and …

Ambivalent Sovereignty: Inquiries Into The Dual Foundation Of Political Realism's Subject, Paul Timmermans

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Ambivalent Sovereignty inquires into the subject of political realism. This subject, sovereign authority, appears to have a dual foundation. It appears divided against itself, but how can realism nonetheless observe legitimate modes of sovereignty emerge? Against the liberal idea that a "synthesis" of both material-coercive and ideal-persuasive powers should be accomplished, within the world of international relations, realism gives meaning to a structural type of state power that is also constitutionally and legitimately dividing itself--against itself. Machiavelli but particularly also other realists such as Hannah Arendt, Max Weber, and Aristotle are being reinterpreted to demonstrate why each state's ultimate authority …

The Affective Dimensions Of Social Controversy, Susan Ann Sci

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Social controversy is a sustained, mediated debate between at least two oppositional parties which is more than just a difference of opinion; rather it is a persistent conflict over the political and cultural implications that dominant forms of communicative reasoning, practices, and norms have for a public. Simply put, during social controversies the norms guiding public life can be negotiated, reaffirmed, negated, and/or transformed. This can lead to progressive political, cultural, and/or social change in some instances, while establishing or reifying conservative and even oppressive norms, practices, and laws in others.

Building upon Olson and Goodnight's (1994) theoretical and methodological …

Eits: Combinatorics, Potential And Genre, David Wirthlin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Eits is a work of fiction, a non-traditional novel whose structure is largely determined by an Oulipian-style constraint. The constraint in Eits is culled from the album names and song titles of the band Explosions in the Sky. Each album corresponds to a chapter in the novel, and the language of each album title must be used in some way as an introduction to each chapter. Within each chapter (album), song titles correspond to numbered sections where each title must appear as is in the first sentence of that section. This not only dictates, to some degree, the direction of …

Providing Culturally Appropriate Services To Immigrant Children And Families Involved With The Allegheny County Department Of Human Services, Turan Jafarova

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the last decade, the immigrant population in Allegheny County has doubled and currently accounts for approximately seven percent of the general population. This number, despite being low, especially compared to other counties and states, is very diverse from an ethnic point view and includes immigrant and refugees from Iraq, Bhutan, Burma, Burundi, Nepal, Somalia, numerous Latin American and other countries. Such an ethnically diverse population presents new opportunities for Allegheny County, the population of which has been declining and aging, at the same time posing various challenges to local human service organizations.

This research studies the experience of human …

Kierkegaard's Ethics Of Repetition: A Re-Examining Of The Ethical In The 1843 Authorship, Grant Julin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Conventional interpretations of Kierkegaard's ethical theory during his 1843 authorship fall into two general categories: In the first, Kierkegaard's understanding of the ethical is reducible to some duty bound, Kantian reading of Judge William in Either/Or II; in the second, Kierkegaard is depicted as an advocate of some form of Divine Command theory through the Abraham story in Fear and Trembling. Both interpretations not only lack textual and scholarly support, but also result in a faulty rendering of Kierkegaard's philosophical teachings, namely the idea that the ethical is a derivative "stage" to be surpassed for the religious. Such a reading …

Federal Drug Sentencing: An Evaluation Of The Consistency, Proportionality, And Fairness Within Cases, Lindsay Barron

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

National drug policy has contributed to prison population growth in the United States. Blacks and Hispanics are minorities in the population, but are overrepresented as defendants in criminal courts and as inmates in prison. The purpose of this research is to evaluate fairness in federal drug sentencing. The current study uses data compiled by the United States Sentencing Commission (USSC) to examine the sentence lengths of federal drug defendants sentenced in 2008. Linear ordinary least squares (OLS) regression is used to model the relationship between race/ethnicity and sentence lengths. The analysis of this research is framed by the focal concerns …

The Effects Of Fluency-Based Instruction On Skill Acquisition In Children Diagnosed With Landau Kleffner Syndrome, Melissa Kuban Ramirez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Landau Kleffner Syndrome, or acquired epileptic aphasia, is an epileptic syndrome involving a neurological impairment related to the appearance of paroxysmal (i.e., sudden intense) electroencephalograph (EEG) activity (Pearl, Carrazana & Holmes, 2001). Landau Kleffner syndrome results from an epileptogenic lesion arising in the speech cortex during a critical period of development, which may interfere with the establishment of satisfactory and functional circuits for normal language function (Morrell et al., 1995). LKS is a complex and severe syndrome that affects all aspects of a child's life, including communication, socialization, and the everyday ability to function within the environment.

An option for …

Aware: Analyzing The Impact Of An Anti-Human Trafficking Advocacy Curriculum Using Sixth Grade Students In Colorado, Alex Kornelius Monroe

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Human trafficking is an international problem that penetrates every society on the globe. Trafficking in children for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation, forced labor, and domestic servitude occurs in every state of the United States. Education is key in preventing human trafficking and American students lack proper knowledge of the issue. This study seeks to bridge this shortcoming through the creation and implementation of a holistic anti-trafficking advocacy curriculum that not only informs and motivates students and educators toward advocacy, but also meets Colorado state academic standards. Case studies using sixth grade students in Denver show the impact that …

Investigating The Possibility Of A Standard Of Care For Professionals Who Teach Reading, John Michael Mccord

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) has consistently shown that approximately 40% of American students cannot read at grade level. In fact, most of these 40% of students read considerably below grade level. Unfortunately, these results have remained consistent in spite of reports such as the Nation at Risk in 1983 that first alerted everyone to the severity of the problem and provided remedies on how it could be remedied. The Nation at Risk Report was the impetus for a plethora of educational reform enactments at the federal level such as George H. Walker Bush’s education summit in 1989, …

Workplace Pressures Of Pk-8 Teachers In A Midwestern Archdiocese, Carrie O'Donnell Brink

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The intent of this research study was to determine the types of workplace pressures that PK-8 teachers, in a Midwestern Archdiocese, experience. Two hundred eighty teachers participated in the survey. Results from this study indicate that PK-8 teachers express elevated levels of stress in the following areas: income/salary, amount of hours spent outside contract hours on instructional tasks, paperwork required, student behavior/discipline, and implementation of new curricula.

Statistical differences were found in the following areas: female and male stress levels with regard to income; school locale (suburban, urban, and rural) income stress levels; school locale (suburban, urban, and rural) implementation …

German Idealism, Analytic Philosophy, And Realism, Patrick J. Reider

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

"Can one know mind-independent reality?" There are two fundamental positions concerning this question: either 1) mind-independent existence causes us to know mind-independent existence, or 2) all knowledge is a construct of the human mind, and therefore mind-independent existence is unknowable. This question holds enormous significance as it establishes the source of truth as being either mind-independent or mind-dependent. It thereby sets the stage for the type of epistemic claims that can be properly defended.

Of all the myriad formulations of idealism, Analytic Philosophers have consistently singled out German Idealism to either reject or misappropriate for its own ends. The most …

Taking A Deep Breadth: The Rhetorical Construction Of Solidarity In The American Labor Movement, William O'Shannon Murphy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores the rhetorical fragments in three case studies of the American Labor Movement constituting movement members in solidarity. Using Kenneth Burke's discussion of rhetorical substance, this project explores the possibilities for developing deep and broad forms of solidarity within the American Labor Movement. Rhetorical fragments of the Industrial Workers of the World, the United Farm Workers, and contingent faculty unionization efforts are explored.

I argue Burke's ideas of substance and identification provide a powerful lens through which we can examine the solidary practices of social movements. Through the examination of the case studies mentioned, I demonstrate that solidarity …

Palestinian Women: Mothers, Martyrs And Agents Of Political Change, Rebecca Ann Otis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation seeks to understand the role of women as political actors in the rise of Islamo-nationalist movement in Palestine. Using a historical and ethnographic approach, it examines the changing opportunity structures available to Palestinian women in the nationalist struggle between 1987 and 2007. It looks into the sites of political engagement of Palestinian women as mothers, organizers and political candidates, suicide bombers, and nonviolent activists with attention paid to the evolution of the Islamist ideology within these four pathways for political participation. The goal of this work is to engage the question of how some Palestinian women who appear …

The Relationship Between Course Syllabi And Participant Evaluation Reactions Across Web-Based And Face-To-Face Courses, David Richard Glerum

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A common form of training or education evaluation involves the examination of course participant reactions towards various aspects of the course for summative evaluation purposes. Participant reactions have been examined within the framework of a comparison between online and face to face courses often with a slight positive weight towards online courses (Sitzmann et al., 2006). Past research on this topic has denoted a need for studies examining the relationship between objective course characteristics and participant reactions. This paper seeks to examine the relationship between participant reactions of a sample of geographically disbursed teachers enrolled in a large, national professional …