Digital Commons Network^™

Gesture As An Act Of Meaning-Making: An Eco-Social Perspective Of A Sheltered-English Second Grade Classroom, Alessandro A. Rosborough

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of this sociocultural study was to investigate gesture as a mediational tool for meaning-making in learning and teaching a second language. Gesture was observed between a teacher and her immigrant students in a second grade elementary classroom designed specifically for second language learners of English. This study provides an innovative investigation in the role gesture plays as a meditational tool for meaning-making by using a SCT framework at an elementary context level.

Using sociocultural theory, particularly the Vygotskian tradition, this study views gesture as a part of image in thinking. This SCT framework views second language learning in …

The Physical Activity Patterns And Constraints Of Diverse Female College Students, Kathleen Victoria Minkel

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Diverse college aged females from a public university in the southwest were asked to participate in an online survey to determine their constraints to physical activity, as well as their current activity level. The groups were compared to establish the differences among the minority groups. Raymore, Crawford, and Godbey’s Hierarchical Model of Constraints was used as a framework when creating the survey. Data analysis showed only one significant difference among the racial/ethnic groups, when looking specifically at the intrapersonal, interpersonal, and structural constraints categories. Hispanic women differed significantly from Caucasian women in their perception of interpersonal constraints on their physical …

Evaluating And Improving The Quality Of Teacher’S Language Modeling In Early Childhood Classrooms, Lillian White Englund

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The relationship between pre-school teachers and the children in their classrooms directly influences the degree of success the children experience in school and in life. The emphasis on quality pre-K education in the U.S. has resulted in an increased need for highly qualified teachers who are capable of engaging in meaningful interactions with young children. An important component of high-level teacher-child interactions is the teacher's ability to model language for children as they acquire vocabulary and language context.

This mixed-methods study was designed to examine the effectiveness of a professional development intervention designed to improve the quality of language modeling …

Your Presence Is Requested At Suvanto, Maile Chapman

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This creative dissertation is a novel set in a fictional private hospital on the southwestern coast of Finland. The main character, Sunny Taylor, is an American nurse whose loneliness and isolation give the novel its distant emotional atmosphere and outsider’s perspective on life in Finland (a densely forested country long perceived as linguistically, culturally, and geographically remote from the rest of Europe). Other main characters include a reserved, chronically ill Finnish woman born before independence from Russia and educated as an architect; an unpleasant expatriate Danish woman who once gave ballroom dance lessons in Finnish cafés; an American obstetrician who …

Quilts As Visual Texts, Marcia Inzer Bost

Dissertations, Theses and Capstone Projects (Full IR Collection)

I argue that quilts should be considered as visual texts, one to which theories of visual rhetoric and rhetoric in general can be applied. In drawing together the worlds of academia and quilting, I will use a variety of theoretical lens to explore quilts as texts. As a text, quilts contain units of meaning much like words. These units of meaning will be explored in Chapter 2 “Quilt Talks: How Quilts Communicate.” In this chapter I will follow the model of Elsley and propose a semiotics of quilts, one that can then be applied to any quilt. This semiotics is …

Environmental Impact Of The Euro-American Emigration Through Southwestern Idaho (1840-1862): Effect On Native Lifeways, Garrett G. Webb

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

It has traditionally been held by historians that during the period of Euro-American emigration that preceded settlement of southwestern Idaho in 1863, environmental degradation stemming from emigrants undermined native lifeways and incited conflict between the two cultures. The quantitative nature of the emigration, potential ecological impacts, and the historical perspective all suggest that such claims cannot be substantiated. Overall, the negative effect upon native lifeways may have been significantly less than what is maintained by the current historical paradigm. Instead, conditions of mutual interdependence that existed during the fur trade (1811-1840 A.D.) likely persisted throughout the period of emigration. It …

Ancient And Recent Demographic Events Influence Mitochondrial Dna Diversity In An Immigrant Basque Population, Michael Christopher Davis

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The Basques are an ancient people, considered by many anthropologists to represent the oldest extant European population. Because of this, they have been the subject of numerous sociological and biological investigations. The Basque Diaspora, a relatively recent demographic expansion of the Basque population, has until now been overlooked in molecular genetic studies. Samples were taken from 53 individuals with Basque ancestry in Boise, Idaho, and the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequence variation of the first and second hypervariable regions were determined. Thirty-six mtDNA haplotypes were detected in the sample. Comparing the genetic diversity in the Idaho sample with other Basque populations, …

"We're Parents Too!" Changes In Father Involvement In Domestic Labor Among Urban Middle Class Dual-Worker Couples, Ruth Burgett Jolie

Anthropology ETDs

The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate fathers involvement in domestic labor among middle class, dual-worker families in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I argue that men's participation in domestic labor is affected by their parental identities. Three things influence parental identity: (1) demographics, including socioeconomic position, age, race/ethnicity, (2) religiosity, meaning ones adherence to religious values and participation in a formal religious institution (Wilcox 2002:781), and (3) parental ideology, denoting the belief structure surrounding what a parent ought to do. Demography and religiosity are themselves mediated by parental ideology, and in turn also further shape, parental ideology. Parental ideology directly …

Review Of The People Shall Rule: Acorn, Community Organizing, And The Struggle For Economic Justice. Robert Fisher, Ed. Reviewed By Elizabeth Beck., Elizabeth Beck

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book review of Robert Fisher, Ed., The People Shall Rule: ACORN, Community Organizing, and the Struggle for Economic Justice. Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press, 2009. $69.95 hardcover, $27.95 paperback.

How Much Of Vls Research Has “Filtered Down” Into The Elt Materials A Comparison Of Local And International Materials, Ali Bastanfar, Toktam Hashemi

Khazar Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

Stimulating Real Sector Output Through Research And Development: The Nigerian Institute Of Palm Oil Research (Nifor) Experience, Celestine E. Ikuenobe

Economic and Financial Review

The crops for which the Nigerian Institute for Oil Palm Research has the national mandate to provide research support are oil palm, coconut, raphia palm, date palm and recently Shea. For the purpose of this paper, discussions will focus mainly on the oil palm .

Ipulse: December 2010, Lynn University

Student Newspapers

Issues:

• December 2, 2010
• December 3, 2010
• December 6, 2010
• December 10, 2010
• December 11, 2010
• December 13, 2010

Spectator 2010-12-01, Editors Of The Spectator

The Spectator

No abstract provided.

An Investigation Into The Use Of Color As A Device To Convey Memes During The Little Ice Age, Peter Allen White

Master's Theses

Color is used as a tool in visual communication to express ideas in a symbolic fashion. It can also be used as a guide to assist the viewer in the visual narrative. Artwork created in the period of time between 1300 to 1850 in northern and central Europe provides a comprehensive perspective in the use of color as symbol and color as an elucidative devise. This period of time is known as the Little Ice Age, the duration of which spans European history between the Medieval period and the Romantic era. The extreme climatic conditions of this era caused profound …

Dualing Causation And The Rights Of Employees With Hiv Under Sec. 504 Of The Rehabilitation Act., Lauren R.S. Mendonsa

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Abstract Forthcoming.

Analysis Of An Online Support Group For Women With Breast Cancer, Laura Boxley

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

With over 200,000 new diagnoses in 2004, breast cancer is one of the most commonly diagnosed cancers among women in the United States. Both the stress of treatment and the threat of a potentially lethal illness present significant challenges to an individual's emotional well-being and coping skills, yet paradoxically many women report benefits from dealing with this adversity. The aims of this investigation were to describe the characteristics of benefit finding as expressed by breast cancer survivors participating in an online breast cancer support group, and to assess the relationship between symptom distress, emotional well-being and benefit finding using baseline …

The Life Of An Unknown Assassin: Leon Czolgosz And The Death Of William Mckinley, Cary H. Federman

Department of Justice Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

The purpose of this essay is to examine the discourses that surrounded the life of Leon Czolgosz, the assassin of President William McKinley. The gaps in Czolgosz’s life, his peculiar silences, his poor health and the ambiguity and thinness of his confession, rather than taken as instances of mental and physical distress, have, instead, been understood as signs of a revolutionary anarchistic assassin. Czolgosz is an expression of a cultural tradition in somatic form. I argue that the discursive construction of criminality, already present in the late nineteenth century within the medical and human sciences, is what shaped Czolgosz’s life …

Teaching Spanish To Beginning Spanish Students, Amy Baldini

World Languages and Cultures

During my time in college and studying abroad, I have developed a passion for languages.  As a result, I plan on teaching Spanish in High School.  Therefore, my senior project will involve tutoring beginning-level Cal Poly students in Spanish and evaluating the difficulties that students encounter while learning a second language.  I will tutor for a minimum of 30 hours and complete a write-up which summarizes my experience.  In this write up, I discuss the tutoring sessions and the different obstacles and successes I encounter.  I will also discuss what tutors must consider when tutoring students.  I will outline my …

Structure Of Narratives: Applying Propp's Folktale Morphology To Entertainment-Education Films, Divya Sreenivas

Communication ETDs

This study examines narrative strategies through which feature films accomplish the dual role of entertainment-education to shape social reality surrounding health issues. More specifically, exploring films' narrative structures and characterization, this study illuminates how a coherent HIV/AIDS narrative is woven into cinematic artifacts laden with specific cultural values, beliefs and practices. The entertainment-education literature has rarely undertaken a study of films to demonstrate their entertainment-education potential. Moreover, by taking a structuralist perspective and utilizing narrative theories this study uncovers underlying elements that cut across narratives. According to Fisher (1987), the proponent of narrative theory, narratives are moral constructs with values …

Ambiguity And Morality In Jelinek's Bambiland, Andrea Bandhauer

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In her article "Ambiguity and Morality in Jelinek's Bambiland" Andrea Bandhauer begins by noting that the language of Elfriede Jelinek's play Bambiland (2004) is characterized by experimentation and a propensity for complex and ambiguous word plays. In this play, her critique of the media is directed against the international, or rather, Western press and its role in the Iraq war. The text of Bambiland, conceptualized as a "work-in-progress," in which Jelinek posed as an "embedded writer," started to appear on her website at the beginning of the war and Jelinek continued writing it through 2003. In the text of the …

Infusing The National Standards Into Business Language Curricula, Tomoko Takami

Global Business Languages

This article attempts to promote business language instruction at K–12 levels, particularly in high school settings, by discussing business language education in light of principles and guidelines of world language education addressed in "Standards for Foreign Language Learning in the 21st Century" (1999; hereafter, National Standards). It highlights the correspondence between the National Standards, which provide a foundation for language class curricula especially in grades K–12, and business language instruction, examining how principles of language learning proposed in the National Standards can be applied to business language instruction. It further provides suggestions as to how business language instruction can be …

Input Modifications By Instructors In Traditional And Business German Courses, Maren Schierloh, Patricia R. Paulsell

Global Business Languages

Inspired by the debate on the effi cacy of modifi ed input (i.e., teacher talk), this study explored the use of input modifi cations in a traditional German course compared to a business German course. Overall, the business language instructor resorted to less simplifi cation than the instructor of the traditional German course. In terms of general modifications, the business language instructor used frequent repetitions of context-specifi c vocabulary and expressions, while focusing on students’ comprehension of subject matter within the context of the acquisition of language specifi c to business and economics thematic areas. The instructor of the traditional …

Facilitators And Obstacles Of Intercultural Business Communication For American Companies In China: Lessons Learned From The Ups Case, Hongmei Gao, Penelope Prime

Global Business Languages

This article analyzes how the execution of business strategy for global enterprises is shaped by the dual challenges of communicating in a different national culture and working in a changing economic environment. The article develops a framework from the UPS case in China to illustrate the key components of strategy for US companies operating businesses in China. The article proposes that Chinese-American communication effectiveness can be achieved through overcoming fi ve obstacles: cultural multiplicity, relationship/task orientation, time concept, business style difference, and language use, while utilizing fi ve facilitators: pragmatism, gender equality, English, American pop culture, and a “big country …

Marketing Business Languages: Teaching Students To Value And Promote Their Coursework, Annie Abbott, Darcy Lear

Global Business Languages

Students in business language courses develop and refi ne important professional skills, but not all students successfully communicate those academic experiences in their professional job search materials. In this article we first detail what employers expect of recent college graduates and match these qualities to innovative practices in business language curricula. Then we present two in-depth examples of business language course content that includes classroom activities and assessment items in which students articulate in business terms what they have learned in their academic course. Building these explicit steps into the course curriculum helps students recognize for themselves the professional value …

An Examination Of Business Case Methodology: Pedagogical Synergies From Two Disciplines, Margaret Gonglewski, Anna Helm

Global Business Languages

This article presents a project that critically examines the value of business cases as a pedagogical tool for teaching business language. The project comprised research and video interviews conducted over a two-year period, drawing from knowledge, disciplinary skill sets, and experience of faculty and students in the fi elds of international business and foreign language and culture pedagogy. Following a brief introduction to business case methodology and the project’s initiation, the authors describe the project outcome: the e-Handbook, an on-line video-based guide to teaching with business cases. The article culminates in an examination of best practices and critical perspectives within …

"With Your Permission": A Negotiation Strategy Of "Face" In Contemporary Japanese, Shoji Azuma

Global Business Languages

This article examines the Japanese causative expression "sasete itadaku" and argues its function as a linguistic politeness strategy in communication. It further develops that "sasete itadaku" is a skillful and creative linguistic device used to promote “face” in not only inter- and intracompany business communications, but in everyday interpersonal communication, as well.

Teaching Intercultural Communication In A Professional Language Course, Michael Hager

Global Business Languages

In the following article, we will discuss culture instruction and the necessity to include information about the native culture. Culture instruction can also include stereotypes in order to permit students to confront their own use of stereotypes. Then we discuss background information about culture, including self-construal, the distinction between independent and interdependent cultures, and paradigm shifting. This background information provides the basis for demonstrating how culture can be taught in a business German course by using, for example, marketing and culture assimilators.

Introduction To Ambiguity In Culture And Literature, Paolo Bartoloni, Anthony Stephens

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

No abstract provided.

Blanchot And Ambiguity, Paolo Bartoloni

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In his article "Blanchot and Ambiguity" Paolo Bartoloni investigates the enigmatic and ambiguous turn of the famous Blanchotian statement "existence without Being." The intention of the article is to locate Blanchot's remark in the context of a discussion on history and its possible end, famously initiated by Alexandre Kojève in a lecture on 4 December 1937 at the College of Sociology in Paris; and provide insights into the difference that distinguishes Kojève's reflection on the end of history, Bataille's subsequent interpretation of it, and Blanchot's original conceptualization of a state of being suspended between nature and culture, history and the …

From The University Presses-Toward A Modest Agenda: Academic Library And University Press Collaborations, Richard Brown, Alex Holzman

Against the Grain

No abstract provided.