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Framing Violence: The Hidden Suffering And Healing Of Sudan's 'Lost Girls' In Cairo, Egypt, Ginger Ann Johnson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the specific forms of embodied suffering war and its refugee aftermath brings to female Sudanese refugees currently living in post-revolution Cairo, Egypt in order to illustrate the suffering and healing enacted within everyday life. These women, displaced from the Second Sudanese Civil War, are what I label Sudan's `Lost Girls.' The theoretical framework I employ in order to discuss their lives is a critical medical anthropology perspective based on the mindful body. I engage anthropological literature on the body in order to better understand the embodied suffering, sexual violence, and refugee aftermath of war. My research seeks …

Playing In Trelis Weyr: Investigating Collaborative Practices In A Dragons Of Pern Role-Play-Game Forum, Kathleen Marie Alley

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This descriptive case study examined adolescents' and emerging adults' literate and social practices within the context of a role-play-game (RPG) forum, investigating the ways participants read and collaboratively composed within this space. As a researcher, I was interested in how this space functioned and how the interactions between members impacted their composing processes, with particular attention to the role of online spaces and popular culture in adolescents' motivation to engage in this forum. This study was guided by three research questions: (1) In what ways is Trelis Weyr, an RPG forum, organized as a virtual environment?; (2) In what ways, …

Embodying Social Practice: Dynamically Co-Constituting Social Agency, Brian W. Dunst

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Theories of cognition and theories of social practices and institutions have often each separately acknowledged the relevance of the other; but seldom have there been consistent and sustained attempts to synthesize these two areas within one explanatory framework. This is precisely what my dissertation aims to remedy. I propose that certain recent developments and themes in philosophy of mind and cognitive science, when understood in the right way, can explain the emergence and dynamics of social practices and institutions. Likewise, the view I construct explains how social practices and institutions shape the character of cognition of their constituent agents. Moreover, …

Marginalized African American Grandmothers Raising Their School-Aged Grandsons: Perspectives On Parental Involvement, Felita Grant Lott

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Literature suggests strong, positive and mutual relationships between home and school lead to higher levels of success and achievement for students. Schools should begin to focus on being more aware and sensitive to the cultural and social wealth that marginalized families carry. When institutions of learning begin to tap into and embrace the strengths of their families, it is likely to be of mutual benefit for the students, staff and families. Utilizing qualitative research methodology, this study sought to understand African American grandmothers' perspectives on parental involvement, and identify strategies that supported, maintained, and facilitated their involvement in the educational …

Hispanic Acculturation And Social Media Engagement: A Uses And Gratifications Perspective, Roland Rahe Massa

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Uses and gratifications theory posits that media use is an intentional and selective process by individuals in order to satisfy emotional needs. Basis this theory, the author conducted an exploratory study to compare social media engagement with four factors of acculturation among Hispanic Americans. These variables were also compared to the variables of education level and generation in order to test for a relationship. An online questionnaire captured data from a sample of Hispanic American participants (N = 85). Correlation analysis was performed, and results indicated that generation had a significant relationship with social media engagement and three out of …

Archaeological And Historic Preservation In Tampa, Florida, Dawn Michelle Hayes

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

For archaeological or historic preservation to occur, there must be public support for it. This research examines historic and archaeological preservation in the Tampa Bay area of Florida through the use of selected case studies. It analyses opinions about archaeology and preservation from members of the general public and members of two groups focused on historic preservation and archaeology. Data were collected from interviews, surveys, archival research, and participant observation, and analyzed to determine the public's definition of archaeology, possible origins of people's interest in preservation, and the extent to which people's interest in either archaeology or historic preservation extends …

Culturally Responsive Teaching Practices Of Adult Education English For Speakers Of Other Languages And English For Academic Purposes Teachers, Christy Michele Rhodes

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to describe the culturally responsive teaching practices of adult education ESOL and EAP teachers in the state of Florida. Using Ginsberg and Wlodkowski's Motivational Framework for Culturally Responsive Teaching, an online survey of 17 teaching practices was developed and validated. In the survey, participants assessed how frequently they used each practice and how important they believed each practice was to their teaching on 5-point frequency scales. The sampling frame consisted of teachers from 15 colleges, 2 universities, 8 school districts, and Bay Area Regional TESOL (BART) and resulted in 134 responses.

Results indicated …

Intermediate-Level Chinese Language Learners' Social Communication In Chinese On Facebook: A Mixed Methods Study, Shenggao Wang

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

With Facebook widely embraced by college students, exploring its educational uses has piqued both educators' and researchers' interest (Mills, 2011; Reinhardt & Zander, 2011; Thorne, 2011). Drawing on a functional perspective of language use, this study explored what kind of language functions intermediate-level Chinese language learners performed when they conducted social communication in Chinese on Facebook and whether conducting weekly social communication in Chinese on Facebook impacted their writing ability. A mixed methods design was adopted. A qualitative approach addressed discourse functions of student communication on Facebook. The qualitative data were mainly collected from nine students' Facebook posts during one …

The Sopranos Experience, Eli Benjamin Weidinger

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

My thesis explores what I call the "Sopranos Experience," which draws upon both the historical conventions of the gangster genre as well as the aesthetics and economics of pay-cable television to complicate The Sopranos' (HBO, 1999-2007) psychological relationship with the 21st-century, neoliberal American audience. The Sopranos Experience explicates how wavering identifications and dis-identifications that develop for the spectator through the series' form and content draw the responsibility of an audience away from moral ultimatums that attempt to finalize their experience with the genre, and towards a more personal ethical entanglement with the characters and their socioeconomic anxieties and desires. The …

From Upper Volta To Burkina Faso: A Study Of The Politics Of Reaction And Reform In A Post-Colonial African Nation-State, 1960-1987, Bryan J. Williamson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Abstract (from thesis text)

From Upper Volta to Burkina Faso, is the study of the politics of reaction and reform in a post-colonial nation-state of Burkina Faso. Since its independence from France on 5 August 1960 to 15 October 1987, Burkina Faso, the "land of the upright" people, has experience five changes in government. All of the coups that took place in this twenty-seven year period were reactionary and reforming. However, the most memorable reforms arrived after the coup of 4 August 1983 which gave rise to a youthful president in a thirty-three year old Captain Thomas Sankara. As the …

"Of That Transfigured World" : Realism And Fantasy In Victorian Literature, Benjamin Jude Wright

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

"Of That Transfigured World" identifies a generally unremarked upon mode of nineteenth-century literature that intermingles realism and fantasy in order to address epistemological problems. I contend that works of Charles Dickens, Charlotte and Emily Brontë, Walter Pater, and Oscar Wilde maintain a realist core overlaid by fantastic elements that come from the language used to characterize the core narrative or from metatexts or paratexts (such as stories that characters tell). The fantastic in this way becomes a mode of interpretation in texts concerned with the problems of representation and the ability of literature to produce knowledge. Paradoxically, each of these …

Exploring Potential Risk Factors Of Fetal Origins Of Diabetes: Maternal Stressors During Pregnancy And Birth Outcomes Among Women In A Hospital In The Municipality Of Caguas, Puerto Rico, Juan Pablo Arroyo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Puerto Rico has the highest prevalence of type 2 diabetes, low birth-weight, and the second highest prevalence of preterm-birth in all the U.S. and its non-incorporated territories. These conditions are related. Birth-weight at both ends of the spectrum and preterm-birth are associated with an increased risk for developing type 2 diabetes and immune-inflammatory dysregulations. Maternal psychosocial stressors during pregnancy have also been recognized as potential risk factors for type 2 diabetes, and have been consistently associated with preterm-birth and low birth-weight across populations. Current evidence points toward epigenetic fetal metabolic-programming as the mechanism that underlies the increased risk for the …

Teachers' Beliefs, Knowledge, And Implementation Of Disciplinary Literacy Pedagogy In Three Advanced Placement United States History Classrooms, Stephanie Bennett

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this inquiry, I investigated three Advanced Placement United State History teachers' beliefs, knowledge, and implementation of disciplinary literacy pedagogy in their Advanced Placement United States History (APUSH) classrooms. My interest in disciplinary literacy evolved from my own experiences as a high school social studies teacher and middle school intensive reading teacher. With the implementation of the Common Core State Standards, whose emphasis is, in part, on discipline-specific literacy, across the United States in 2014-2015, I recognize the need for research relevant to discipline-specific practices in the classroom. I want to contribute further to the understandings of disciplinary literacy pedagogy. …

The Relationship Of Perceived Intellectual And Social Attainment To Academic Success Of First-Generation, First-Year College Students Participating In A First Generation Access Program, Dyonne Michelle Bergeron

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to advance understanding of perceived intellectual and social attainment gains of first-generation, first-year college students participating in First Generation Access Programs at the University of South Florida (USF), a large, public research university in Florida. Understanding the self-reported intellectual and personal/social gains of these students in higher education can lead to higher retention rates, creative strategies that promote academic success, affective cognitive and personal development activities and services that meet the needs of this rapidly growing at-risk student population with their persistence and transition to college.

Researchers have sought to examine variables that may …

Rhetorical Spirits: Spirituality As Rhetorical Device In New Age Womanist Of Color Texts, Ronisha Witlee Browdy

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Throughout history African–American women have struggled against oppressions that have stereotyped their identities, scrutinized their character, and ultimately labeled their bodies inferior and inhuman. Despite the debilitating ideologies and barriers African–American women have been forced to operate within, they have fought against these racist, sexist, classist, homophobic environments, crafting their own “new” ethos through writing, as well as entertainment and popular culture. Although Black women remain plagued by history, the New Age of the 1980s as discussed by Akasha Gloria Hull in Soul Talk: The New Spirituality of African–American Women seemed to spark a new spirituality amongst African–American women. During …

An Investigation Of The Effects Of An Authentic Science Experience Among Urban High School Students, Angela Chapman

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Providing equitable learning opportunities for all students has been a persistent issue for some time. This is evident by the science achievement gap that still exists between male and female students as well as between White and many non-White student populations (NCES, 2007, 2009, 2009b) and an underrepresentation of female, African-American, Hispanic, and Native Americans in many science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) related careers (NCES, 2009b). In addition to gender and ethnicity, socioeconomic status and linguistic differences are also factors that can marginalize students in the science classroom. One factor attributed to the achievement gap and low participation …

Exploring Elaborated Noun Phrase Use Of Middle School English Language Learners Following Writing Strategy Instruction, Stephanie R. Cooper

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

English Language Learners (ELLs) are a growing population within the U.S. school system. In the secondary grades, this diverse group requires instruction to improve not only English language proficiency but also utilization of the academic language register, especially in writing tasks. The present study focused on ELLs in middle school. The aim was to explore the effects of enhanced Self–Regulated Strategy Development (SRSD) writing instruction on the use of complex language, particularly elaborated noun phrases (ENPs) when SRSD was combined with linguistic instruction on increased sentence complexity.

As a part of a larger study exploring critical literacy and the persuasive …

Does The Use Of Personally Relevant Stimuli In Semantic Complexity Training Facilitate Improved Functional Communication Performance Compared To Non-Personally Relevant Stimulus Items Among Adults With Chronic Aphasia?, Stephanie Karidas

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the influence of semantic complexity treatment in individuals with fluent aphasia on discourse performance. Semantic treatment is an effective way to improve semantically based word retrieval problems in aphasia. Treatment focused on the semantic application of the Complexity Account of Treatment Efficacy (CATE) (Thompson, Shapiro, Kiran, & Sobecks, 2003) promotes training of complex items resulting in generalization to less complex, untrained items. In addition, research has shown that the personal relevance of treatment material can increase treatment efficacy. This study investigated the effect of semantic treatment of atypical personally relevant items among individuals with aphasia on discourse …

Blending Worlds, Reforming Practice?: An Instrumental Case Study Of Collaborative Early Childhood Teacher Education, Ann Marie Mickelson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Collaborative models of teacher education have grown from the belief that through such models we can improve the quality and availability of truly inclusive opportunities for children with diverse abilities and their families. Little is known however as to the extent collaborative models are capable of influencing inclusive service delivery or in terms of their efficacy to impact the relative inclusive practice of their graduates as compared to other models of teacher education. As an important first step toward examining the relative worth and efficacy of collaborative models of early childhood teacher education, this case study applied a conceptual framework …

Cultivating Local: Building A Local Food System In Western North Carolina, Allison S. Perrett

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines a movement in Western North Carolina to build a local food system, one grounded in the conditions and relationships of place. In 2000, Mountain Family Farms launched the Local Food Campaign to raise public awareness about the region's farms and farming heritage, to educate consumers about the benefits of buying food grown by local farms, and, ultimately, to build markets for locally grown food to sustain the region's farms. The campaign sparked a social movement and over a decade later local farms and locally grown food are a palpable feature of life in the mountains of Western …

The Effect Of Rate Change On The Relative Timing Of Speakers With Multiple Sclerosis, Brandlynn N. Reister

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Relative timing ratios are a useful measure for determining the temporal regularities of speech. The timing intervals that make up these ratios are thought to be important when creating the motor plan for an utterance (Weismer & Fennell, 1985). In fact, these ratios have been shown to be remarkably stable, even when speakers deliberately increase their rate (Tuller & Kelso, 1984; Weismer & Fennell, 1985). The constancy of these ratios also has been demonstrated in speakers with known speech timing disturbances, like the dysarthrias associated with Parkinson's and Huntington's disease (Goberman & McMillan; Ludlow, Connor, & Bassich, 1987; Weismer & …

A Case Study Of Peer Review Practices Of Four Adolescent English Language Learners In Face-To-Face And Online Contexts, Oksana Vorobel

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Peer review is a complex collaborative activity, which may engage English language learners in reading, writing, listening, and speaking and carry many potential benefits for their language learning (Hu, 2005). While many research studies focused on peer review practices of adult language learners in academic settings in the USA or abroad in language classes (Grami, 2010; Zhao, 2010), little attention was paid to adolescent L2 writers participating in peer review in face-to-face K-12 and online contexts. This multiple case study aimed at describing and explaining peer review practices of four adolescent ELLs in face-to-face and online contexts from the ecological …

Preparing Teachers To Apply Research To Mathematics Teaching: Using Design-Based Research To Define And Assess The Process Of Evidence-Based Practice, Sarah Van Ingen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Persistent lack of mathematics achievement and disparity in achievement has led to the publication of research findings related to equitable teaching practices. Although the publication of such research provides insights about approaches for potentially increasing equity in mathematics education, teachers must be able to apply what has been learned from these studies to their classroom teaching practices. Despite the widespread expectation that teachers use research-supported teaching strategies to meet the needs of their diverse classrooms, the research to practice gap persists. Little research is currently available to guide mathematics teacher educators in how to prepare future teachers to apply research …

Nonword Processing In Bilingual Five Year Olds: Do Phonotactics Count?, Kyna Betancourt

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Phonotactic processing is foundational to the word processing task in both monolingual and bilingual children (Li & Farkas, 2002; Pierrehumbert, 2001; Shook & Marian, 2013; Storkel & Morrisette, 2002). While the use of phonotactic information in word processing in monolingual children is relatively well documented, it is less well understood in bilingual children. The purpose of this study was to investigate how bilingual kindergartners process the phonotactic probabilities of their two languages. A set of nonwords was developed that manipulated the strength of phonotactic probability across both Spanish and English while also controlling the language environment of the experimental task …

Defining Semantic Space And Degree Of Association Using Brainwaves: An Erp Investigation Of Alcohol Expectancies, Ty Brumback

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The current study investigated the cognitive organization of alcohol expectancies using event-related potentials (ERPs). Building on previous behavioral and ERP paradigms, the goal of the current study was to quantify the relationship among alcohol expectancies using ERP indices of salience, congruence, and cognitive distance. The ERP components being evaluated fit perfectly into the alcohol expectancy theory and research; however, implementing specific paradigms to reliably measure individual differences in alcohol expectancies using ERPs has proven to be more elusive than originally thought. This study utilized established cognitive modeling techniques coupled with ERP responses to linguistic stimuli. In essence, this study provides …

The Political Economy Of Maternal Health In A Medically Pluralistic Environment: A Case Study In The Callejón De Huaylas, Isabella Chan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines maternal decision-making regarding prenatal care and childbirth in the rural, north-central Andes in the province of Carhuaz. Semi-structured interviews (n=30) and participatory action research workshops (n=7) were conducted with local women to elucidate how they conceptualize, experience, and negotiate the shifting landscape of prenatal care and childbirth practices and providers. Semi-structured interviews with obstetricians, midwives, and social workers (n=9) were also conducted to compare perspectives and identify disconnects in knowledge and practices existing between these two groups in order to facilitate an open conversation on how to jointly improve the maternal experience and reduce maternal mortality and …

Polysemy, Plurality, & Paradigms: The Quixotic Quest For Commensurability Of Ethics And Professionalism In The Practices Of Law, Eric Paul Engel

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

According to many, the legal industry is currently suffering from a professionalism problem. The following dissertation is a response to the question, "What can be done about incivility in the practice of law in Florida?" It begins by exploring the literature examining ethics and professionalism, specifically focusing on the role communication plays in the production and reification of patterns of meaning and action. After contextualizing the professionalism problem socio-culturally and historically, the dissertation next provides an overview of some relevant aspects of the Coordinated Management of Meaning (a theoretical communication framework employed to help make sense of the existing state …

Effects Of Speech Production Ability On A Measure Of Speech Perception Capacity In Young Children With Cochlear Implants And Their Articulation-Matched Peers, Victoria Beatriz Gonzalez

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

With reductions in the age criterion for cochlear implantation, the need for age-appropriate measures of speech perception skills has increased. One recently developed tool that shows great promise for the clinical assessment of auditory speech perception capacity in young children with cochlear implants is the On-Line Imitative Test of Speech-Pattern Contrast Perception (OlimSpac). The OlimSpac requires a child to imitate nonword utterances by providing a verbal response. The child's perceptual abilities are inferred from the child's productions through having a listener, who is masked to the stimulus select the utterance produced by the child in an eight-alternative force-choice task. Although …

An(Other) Rhetoric: Rhetoric, Ethics, And The Rhetorical Tradition, Kathleen Sandell Hardesty

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Rhetoric as a discipline is still touched by the shadow of ancient Greece. Rhetoric was defined famously by Aristotle as the "available means of persuasion," codified into five canons in classical Rome, and has since been a central part of Western education to train speakers and writers to effectively move their audiences. However, particularly beginning in the mid-20th Century, the discipline's understanding of rhetoric as a means of persuasion (or even manipulation) passed down from our ancient roots began to shift to a sense of rhetoric as matters of ethics and a concern for the other. It begs the question: …

Translation, Adaptation And Invariance Testing Of The Teaching Perspectives Inventory: Comparing Faculty Of Malaysia And The United States, Jecky Misieng

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As a result of growing attention in cross-cultural research, existing measurement instruments developed in one language are being translated and adapted for use in other languages and cultural contexts. The benefits of having the same instrument across cultures can only be realized if the process of translation and adaptation of the measurement instruments produces measurement operations that function similarly across national and cultural boundaries. Producing invariant measurement instruments that assess educational and psychological constructs provide a way of testing the cross-cultural generality of theories that include these constructs.

The major purposes of the study were to translate and adapt the …