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Teaching Through Comparison, A Study Manual Focusing On French, German, And Italian Language Acquisition, Coogan S. Rencz, Dr. Mentor-Cynthia Hallen

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Informing ourselves through comparison is a natural process. We seldom make decisions without comparing a few options. We evaluate the quality of everything from artistic techniques, to computers, to pets based on comparisons. Through the humbling process of trial and error we learn from our mistakes. We learn to evaluate the causes and effects of our conduct, habits, and our desires and choose the best action for every situation.

Building A Knowledge Base In Fijian, Adam Rich, Dr. Michael Bush

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The title, Building a knowledge base in Fijian, suggests a very lofty research project for one lone undergraduate student. Several scholars have studied Fijian since the arrival of Christianity to the islands in the mid-nineteenth century. Just seven years ago, the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah began teaching missionaries in the Fijian language. The program at the MTC is the longest continuous program for the teaching of Fijian outside of Fiji. This project was not meant to be the sole ‘building’ of Fijian language knowledge, but to research and assess current methods of Fijian teaching and propose changes for …

Vocabulary Learning Of Kanji And Kana Words In Japanese, Rachel R'El Johnston, Dr. Masakazu Watabe

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Japanese has two types of writing: kana, which is essentially phonetic, and kanji, which is primarily logographic. I hypothesized that although they are not phonetic and orthographically more complex, learning kanji actually improves vocabulary learning. In order to test this hypothesis, I created a study comparing the learning of basic vocabulary for beginning Japanese students using kana as opposed to kanji. The study involved a pre-test, a thirty minute study period, and a post-test. The pre-test and post-test were exactly identical for all students. They each, along with the study packets, contained 100 vocabulary items in English and Japanese, equally …

Does Unification Of A Language Mean Unification Of A Nation? A Look At Education Under An Official Language, Meredith Kearsley, Dr. Michael Bush

Journal of Undergraduate Research

It has long been asserted that language is an integral and inseparable part of culture, and therefore identity. As such, language plays a powerful role in the political, educational, business, and leisure affairs of a nation. Language can aid in unification and it can also cause fragmentation. An example of a nation that faces the challenges that stem from a diverse linguistic background is the West African country of Senegal. As a nation, Senegal made the decision to declare French the official language of government, business, and education, while maintaining the six primary native languages as national languages. My research …

Fundamentals Of Modern Belarusian, Christian Marchant, Dr. Michael Kelly

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The Republic of Belarus, located in the very heart of Europe, is a relatively unknown country to many westerners. Belarus has an important role in the political future of Europe. Belarus is located in the geographic center of Europe and is a major corridor for energy transport. The country is the only dictatorship remaining in Europe, and with the recent expansion of the European Union, it will now lie directly on its eastern border. Any traveler visiting Belarus would benefit greatly from a knowledge of Belarusian, yet there is a striking absence of any material in English about the Belarusian …

Minutes Of Graduate College Curriculum Committee, October 25, 2013, University Of Northern Iowa. Graduate College Curriculum Committee.

Minutes - Graduate Curriculum Committee

Minutes of the committee that oversees the development of the curriculum of the University of Northern Iowa Graduate College.

Contributors, Marvels & Tales Editors

Marvels & Tales

No abstract provided.

Reviews, Marvels & Tales Editors

Marvels & Tales

Ambiguous Bodies: Reading the Grotesque in Japanese Setsuwa Tales. By Michelle Osterfield Li.
Review by Thomas E. McAuley.

Pandemonium and Parade: Japanese Monsters and the Culture of Yōkai. By Michael Dylan Foster.
Review by Michael Wilson.

The Demon at Agi Bridge and Other Japanese Tales. Translated by Burton Watson; edited by Shirane Haruo.
Review by Fumihiko Kobayashi.

Miracles of Book and Body: Buddhist Textual Culture and Medieval Japan. By Charlotte Eubanks.
Review by Janet R. Goodwin.

The Fairy Tale and Anime: Traditional Themes, Images, and Symbols at Play on Screen. By Dani Cavallaro.
Review by …

Preface To The Special Issue On The Fairy Tale In Japan, Marc Sebastian-Jones

Marvels & Tales

No abstract provided.

How Do Southern, Racial, And Sexual Identities Mix?, Frank Bramlett

English Faculty Publications

This weekend, I have the great fortune to participate in Comics Studies in the US South, a symposium held at the University of South Carolina. My talk explores the juncture of linguistic production, race and ethnicity, and sexuality in characters that are presented as Southern. It isn’t my intention to make a broad survey of comics but instead to examine two in particular, Kyle’s Bed & Breakfast, by Greg Fox, and Stuck Rubber Baby, by Howard Cruse.

The first comic, Kyle’s Bed & Breakfast, is not a comic about the South. It is set in Northport, …

Protecting The Civil Rights Of English Language Learners Today: A Study Of The Recent Doj And Ocr Investigations Of Selected School Districts In The United States, Omobola Oyeleye

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The purpose of the study was to examine the circumstances and practices that led to OCR and DOJ investigations in seven selected school districts, and to determine the emerging themes from the details of the settlement agreements between the school districts and the United States. The themes developed through this study were aimed at providing a framework for school officials all across the nation, assisting them to examine their practices and align the practices with the results of the recent investigations and settlement agreements.

Representing the intermingling of the field of law and education, the study addressed the question: What …

Exploring The Role Of Social Reasoning And Self-Efficacy In The Mathematics Problem-Solving Performance Of Lower- And Higher-Income Children, Allison G. Butler

Journal of Educational Research and Practice

Research documents an income-based achievement gap in mathematics, yet children from lower-income backgrounds do not lag behind their more advantaged peers in high-level social reasoning tasks. The purpose here was to investigate whether modifying mathematics word problems to make them more socially based would impact the mathematics performance and/or mathematics self-efficacy of lower- versus higher-income children. Research questions regarding (1) the relative difficulty of symbolic equations versus word problems, (2) the impact of socially modifying word problems on children’s accuracy and self-efficacy, and (3) the relation between children’s mathematics performance and mathematics self-efficacy were explored. Participants were 164 5th graders. …

Prospectus, October 23, 2013, Ted Sutterlund, Mackenzie Hryhorysak, Ben Boltinghouse, Ashton Gwin, Alex Wallner

Prospectus 2013

SEMINAR HIGHLIGHTS ART PROGRAM; Trick-or-treating trending for college students; Seminar coverage continued; Why you may have a fear of missing out; Public safety on domestic violence awareness; Discover the epidemic of overtreatment; The rise of chairs covered in chewing gum!!!; Myths and origins of Halloween; Parkland athletics help the community; Fall outings: From stargazing parties to wildlife-watching adventures, these four day trips have become cherished autumn traditions

New Book Fills Major Gap In Kenyan History, Kim Hill

News and Events (Discontinued Series)

No abstract provided.

Liu Yuxi In The Paradox Of The Sign, Kyle David Anderson, Dr. Steven P. Sondrup

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Western perspectives on Chinese literature and poetics have generally been overly mystified (or even nonexistent). This fledgling view of the knowledge and literary achievements of China is to be anticipated during the beginnings of a cultural exchange between the East and the West.

Word Sense Disambiguation Through Analogical Modeling, Deryl Keith Hatch, Dr. Deryle Lonsdale

Journal of Undergraduate Research

In the early twentieth century, throngs of male Greek immigrants came to Utah. They left their homeland seeking to save their families from impending poverty and to escape draft by the Greek and Turkish armies.1 The jobs they took in Utah mines, smelters, and rail yards were lowpaying and dangerous, but these were the least of the troubles waiting for Greeks in Utah. They found Mormons and other Utah residents to be inhospitable and strange, and they quickly learned to isolate themselves in all-Greek communities.

Celtic And Slavic Contact On The Balkan Peninsula: A Linguistic Analysis Of Modern Celtic And Slavic Languages, Daniel Josef Gashler, Walter Whipple

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The Celts and Slavs were widespread and important cultural phenomena in Iron-Age Europe. Their influence is still felt in contemporary Europe and the Americas. Many states and peoples speak modern languages derived from proto-Celtic and proto-Slavonic. The purpose of my research is to show that these ancient cultures were once in contact on the Balkan Peninsula. The ultimate goal is to discover the time period, duration, and social nature of this contact through examining linguistic evidence of contact present in modern South Slavic (those Slavic languages spoken on the Balkan Peninsula) and Celtic languages.

Emu Today, October 23, 2013, Eastern Michigan University

EMU Today

No abstract provided.

Preserving The Authentic Voice: A Guide To Editing Oral History, Erin Steck Curtis, Don Norton

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Oral history is popular among many academic circles as a medium of communicating a more personal, intimate view of the past than is commonly found in the dry commentary of a standard history text. The emotion included in a eye-witness account becomes its own commentary as feelings and facts are intertwined in the telling of a personal story, history from an ordinary person’s point of view. It is important to understand history not only as a series of events, but as actual experiences that shape people’s lives. Speaker and interviewer (or reader) form a unique emotional bond in the telling …

Integration Of A Morphological Parser Into The Soar Artificial Intelligence Architecture, Jonathan Dehdari, Dr. Deryle Lonsdale

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Soar is a general cognitive architecture for developing systems that exhibit intelligent behavior. Researchers all over the world, both from the fields of artificial intelligence and cognitive science, are using Soar for a variety of tasks. Psychologists, AI game developers, linguists, and others interested in cognitive modeling use and develop this open architecture. LG-Soar is a project within the general Soar framework that deals with the processing and modeling of natural languages, using the Link Grammar syntactic parser. LG-Soar has been excellent in its ability to accurately and robustly parse English sentences, but the ability to handle morphology, or the …

Identifying The Specific Needs Of English Language Learners, Jessica Gibson, Lynn Henrichsen

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The Problem: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a growing, worldwide church. Thus, the members speak a variety of languages and not just English. Consequently, problems in communication arise such as, contact with church administrators, LDS publications, and unity among church members within a ward. There are differences in these barriers, however, when non-native English speaking members live in the United States compared with when they live in their native country. Immigration, cultural differences, and employment are some possible secular problems that exist for members living inside the United States. Spiritual difficulties happen when they cannot learn …

Language Policy And Language Planning In Post-Colonial Mozambique, James Dewey, Dr. Willis C. Fails

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Mozambique, located on the southeast African coast, gained its independence from Portugal in 1975. Since that time, the Mozambican government has faced numerous problems such as a sixteen-year civil war, famines, flooding, and extreme poverty. In addition, the government faces unique linguistic challenges including how to unite and educate a nation that speaks at least twenty different African languages (Firmino 336). Through my research I wanted to gain a more complete understanding of Mozambique’s socio-linguistic history since its independence, with a special focus on the country’s official laws regarding language.

Differences Between Japanese And English Conceptualization And Use Of Verb And Adjectives, Aaron P. Cooley, Dr. Masakazu Watabe

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The main focus of this project was to highlight, explain, and reconcile differences between Japanese and English conceptualization as it pertains to verbs and adjectives. Verbs are arguably the most troublesome element of Japanese for the foreign student. Whereas most textbooks deal with the syntactic aspect of verb conjugation, or form, and leave it at that, my research illuminated some of the more subtle, yet equally important grammatical differences between the way verbs are used, or function, and more importantly, the conceptualization underlying this function. This area has been of special interest to Dr. Masakazu Watabe since he began teaching …

Emu Today, October 22, 2013, Eastern Michigan University

EMU Today

No abstract provided.

Validation And Psychometrics Of The Therapeutic Self-Care Scale For The Portuguese Population, Ana Filipa Cardoso, Carlos Fontes Ribeiro, Paulo Queiros, Fernando Amaral

International Nursing Research Congress (INRC)

Session presented on: Friday, July 26, 2013: Purpose: To translate and validate the therapeutic self-care scale (TSC) for the Portuguese population Methods: A cross-sectional study, in medical and surgical wards in 4 hospitals of the central region of Portugal.The following procedures were taken: authorization for the use of the instrument; panel of experts to assure the existence of a similar concept in Portugal; translation by two bilingual translators; panel of experts to build a consensus translation; back translation of the consensus form; analyses of the back translation by the previous translators; construct validation using factorial analyses after calculation of KMO …

Health Literacy And Impact Factors Of The Southeast Asian Immigrant Women In Taiwan, Shu-Fen Chen, Mei-Hua Wang, Tzu-I Tsai

International Nursing Research Congress (INRC)

Session presented on: Wednesday, July 24, 2013: Purpose: Health literacy has been recognized as an important attribute to health outcome and health care utilization. Immigrants are at the high risk of poor health literacy due to language barriers and unfamiliar sociocultural context in the mainstream society. The purpose of this study was to explore the ways Southeast Asian immigrant women gain access to, understand, and use health information and services in healthcare delivery system of Taiwan. Methods: This qualitative study used exploratory focus group and in-depth interview to collect information particularly with respect to the concerns of the health literacy …

The George-Anne, Georgia Southern University

The George-Anne

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The Nursing As An Additional Language And Culture (Nalc) Program For Student Success, E. Renee Cantwell, Daria B. Napierkowski

International Nursing Research Congress (INRC)

Session presented on: Wednesday, July 24, 2013:

Purpose: The Nursing as an Additional Language and Culture Program (NALC) is an educational intervention designed to enhance retention by minimizing barriers to success in an accelerated nursing program.

Methods: The NALC program is a nine day, pre ABSN program consisting of activities that introduce the nusring student to the new languages and cultures of the nursing profession. Successful students and alumni of the ABSN program visit and discuss strategies for success in the nursing program. Mentors are developed and study groups are formed. Preprogram TEAS testing is administered to provide insight as …

Portuguese Version Of The Inventory Of Functional Status-Fathers (Ifs-F): Validation Study, Isabel Mendes, Rogerio Clemente Rodrigues, Sonia Coelho

International Nursing Research Congress (INRC)

Session presented on: Tuesday, July 23, 2013: Purpose: The aim of this study was to validate the Inventory of Functional Status-Fathers (IFS-F) to the Portuguese version, showing its reliability and validity, adapted to first-time fathers in the postpartum period. Methods: The Inventory of Functional Status-Fathers (IFS-F) was developed by Tulman, Fawcett and Weiss (1993) to evaluate the functional status of fathers in postpartum. For the development of the Portuguese version of IFS-F, we followed two directives: (a) the linguistic and cultural adaptation to Portuguese language and (b) the psychometric study of this version, comparing it with the original. The IFS-F …

Direction Package Planned Meetings, Direction Package Advisory Board

Direction Package

No abstract provided.