Digital Commons Network^™

Identifying The Importance And Performance Perceptions Of Positive Youth Development Features In Camps Worldwide, Chelsea Marie Schwabe

All Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine international camp professionals' perceptions of the importance and performance of Eccles and Gootman's (2002) Eight Features that Maximize Positive Youth Development. Members of the International Camping Fellowship, ages 18 and older and of different demographic backgrounds, were asked for their perceived importance and performance ratings of the eight features on a five point Likert scale. The data were used to create importance-performance matrices using Martilla and James' (1977) Importance-Performance Analysis technique in order to create visual depictions of the recorded perceptions. This cross-cultural, cross-sectional study utilized Importance-Performance Analysis to create a snapshot …

Beyond Generosity: The Action Logics In Philanthropy, Jennifer Amanda Jones

Dissertations

What influences the thinking and decision processes of donors when they engage in philanthropy? This study employed developmental psychology to explore this question. Developmental theorists agree that an adult develops in sequential stages over the course of a lifetime, gradually adopting an increasingly complex mental map. An individual’s developmental stage at any point in time, theorists argue, is made manifest as a type of “action logic” through which the individual interprets his/her external world and internal experience. One’s action logic is subtle and, for most of one’s life, operates outside of conscious awareness. It becomes evident, however, through attitudes, thoughts, …

Critical Editions And The Promise Of The Digital: The Development And Limitations Of Markup, Alexandra Haehnert

Book Publishing Final Research Papers

This paper seeks to explore the technology underlying current digital editions—which I maintain are wanting in their exploitation of the digital medium—in more detail; its focus is squarely on editorial praxis, not on editorial theory (leaving aside the fact that all praxis is informed by specific theoretical assumptions). Neither am I concerned with questioning whether digital techniques render traditional critical editing obsolete; in fact, I am convinced that they do not, and my paper proceeds from this standpoint. Similarly, I am only marginally interested in exploring the augmentation of digitized texts with multimedia elements as described by Boot and van …

Ancient Greek Mythology In The Modern Albanian Epic, "Songs Of The Frontier Warriors", Lydia Osborn

World Languages, Literatures and Cultures Undergraduate Honors Theses

A discussion of the Albanian epic, "Songs of the Frontier Warriors," parallels to Greek and Roman mythology, and Illyrian history.

The Sorcerer, William Carlisle Goehring

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A collection of poems from 2011-2015.

A Case Study Of Landau Kleffner Syndrome: A Look At Strategies, Experiences, Challenges, And Perceptions Of Teachers, Family, And Support Personnel, George Mathenge Wairungu

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

There is an unprecedented increase of rare low-incident severe disabilities in today's classroom. Some of them pose classroom management challenges due to concomitantly appearing behavior challenges. Landau Kleffner Syndrome is one such disability. It was cited for the first time in 1957 (Zhang, & Gregory, 2010) and is characterized by a typical language and cognitive growth that retrogresses after three to nine years of age (O'Hare, 2008). Behavioral regression is exhibited by students being physically and verbally aggressive (Ekinci, Isik, & Melek, 2012). Children also depict abnormal electroencephalographic (EEG) traits, especially when sleeping (Slyke, 2002). Other concomitant characteristics include attention …

America's War In Angola, 1961-1976, Alexander Joseph Marino

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A study of the role played by the United States in Angola's War of Independence and the Angolan Civil War up to 1976.

Defining Primary And Academic Discourse Through Instructional Methods In A Single Junior High Classroom, Ashley Nicole Gerhardson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this study, I examine the use of academic discourse in the school setting and discuss the relation of the primary discourse to academic discourse. I focus on the verbal exchanges between a teacher and her students as these students acquire the academic discourse of the English classroom. The study focuses on the ideas of primary discourse and secondary or academic discourse as presented by Gee (1996) and focuses on his idea of Social languages.

Using a microethnographic study, I develop the idea of how the teacher related to her students and how a single educator felt about the purpose …

The Anti-Crusade Voice Of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, Malek Jamal Zuraikat

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study reads some Middle English poetry in terms of crusading, and it argues that the most prominent English poets, namely Geoffrey Chaucer, William Langland, and John Gower, were against the later crusades regardless of their target. However, since the anti-crusade voice of Gower and Langland has been discussed by many other scholars, this study focuses on Chaucer's poems and their implicit opposition of crusading. I argue that despite Chaucer's apparent neutrality to crusading as well as other sociopolitical and cultural matters of England, his poetry can hardly be read but as an indirect critique of war in general and …

Cognitive Influences On Constituent Order: Priming Evidence, Lee Prunier

Honors Scholar Theses

In spoken as well as signed language, a shift over time from the use of Subject-Object-Verb (SOV) word order to Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) word order has been observed. The use of pantomimed gesture and priming can help determine the extent to which this shift comes from pressures specific to language, as opposed to existing as a more broad feature of communication. Participants took turns matching images to videos showing gestured event descriptions primed in SVO or SOV order, and gesturing event descriptions to a camera. Results show a strong preference for orders consistent with SVO across prime types, and an increase …

Examining Factors Used By Students To Select A Major In Communication Sciences And Disorders, Mackenzie Mccartney

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

There is a shortage of practicing speech-language pathologists (SLP) and this is not improving. Within the profession, this shortage is felt mostly in a public school. This study explored factors used by graduate students to decide about their profession and applying the knowledge of these factors to the recruitment process. Specifically, this study looked at the following questions: 1. What are the current factors that influence the selection of communication sciences and disorders as a major? 2. Was there a particular person influencing the decision to major in communication sciences and disorders? 3. What prompted students to enter into their …

Examining The Relationship Of Demographic Variables, Media Exposure, And Motivation On Second Language Acquisition, Heidi Hines

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

Many students in higher education settings struggle with learning a new language. It’s not uncommon for international students to need additional resources in learning to speak and write in English. A pilot study funded by Fort Hays State University implemented various English software programs, such as Rosetta Stone, and Memrise at one of their Chinese partnership universities. The English programs were given as an option to help the students during an English composition course. The current study took advantage of FHSU’s pilot study and used that opportunity to investigate additional variables related to second language acquisition. The current study does …

Prescribed Fire, Moira J. Mcavoy

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

As the culmination of my nonfiction seminar (ENGL 470C) with Professor Colin Rafferty, I chose to explore three disparate, but interwoven, narratives: the death of and delayed grief over my high school mentor; my struggle with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder; and, the 2011 wildfire that destroyed much of the Great Dismal Swamp. Through a use of segmentation, lyric language, and a manipulation of tense, I explore the tensions underlying these narratives, namely the idea of futility of preparation and the insistence on destructive cycles which sustain themselves. Ultimately, the essay serves on a rumination not on mortality, but on our cultural …

Overcoming The Symbolic Annihilation Of Females In Classroom Literature, Lisa B. Johnson

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

Although there are more than enough children's books with female protagonists available for children to read, girls are often underrepresented in classroom literature. This symbolically annihilates girls, leading them to believe that they are unimportant members of society. In order for boys and girls to feel that they are equally vital members of society, it is important that they are evenly represented in the classroom. While past studies have indicated that the cause for this is boys' distaste for literature with female protagonists, this study investigates why boys dislike literature with female protagonists and how teachers can approach such literature …

The Nature Of Love, Loss, And The Plague: The Reign Of Filostrato In Boccacio's The Decameron, Jessica Lynn Perez

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

Many scholars have discussed the symbolism of love and loss as well as the imagery of the plague in Giovanni Boccacio's the Decameron. In this paper, I discuss Boccaccio's plague narrative in the introduction to the text. Then, I examines the introduction to Day Four to show the inability of language to hinder nature. I also show how the meaning of Filostrato's name, its correlation to the somber theme that he has chosen, and Pampinea's reaction to Filostrato's theme demonstrate that these are emblematic of loss as part of the human condition. Lastly, I closely analyzes the story of …

A Modern Analysis Of Consonant Harmony In Theoretical Frameworks, Nicole Mariah Dobson

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

Consonant Harmony (CH) is a process that commonly characterizes the phonology of a child's first language acquisition. CH is the means by which non-adjacent consonants partly assimilate to one another in the primary place of articulation of features, e.g. the word dog is pronounced as gog. This paper provides a modern interpretation of the treatment of CH under successive phonological frameworks: early generative, autosegmental, connectionist, and Optimality Theory (OT). The review highlights the inter-child, intra-child, and cross-linguistic differences between child and adult CH in order to emphasize the contrasts appearing in child language. More recent accounts propose a comprehensive analysis …

Reframing The Socratic Method, Jamie R. Abrams

Journal of Legal Education

No abstract provided.

Aberration, Virginia Leslie Clark

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

This portfolio contains an author's note and three creative pieces: the first is a work of poetry, the second is a work of fiction, and the third, a work of nonfiction. Together, these pieces examine the intersections of culture, religion, and gender. They survey the function of the narrative frame, and raise questions in regards to story-telling and re-telling. The poem, entitled "Asclepias syriaca," explores identity, spirituality and self-infliction. The historical fiction piece, "In the Telling," provides a re-investigation of the execution of Misha'al bint al Fahd al Saud, a Saudi princess condemned, allegedly, on the basis of adultery. The …

Perceptual Dialectology And The Attribution Of Responsibility: On Narrating Sexual Violence, Sabia Carly Prescott

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

African American Vernacular English has a distinct set of grammatical and phonological features that are given social meaning by listeners, often associating its speakers with ideas about the African American community at large. Studies have shown that social ideologies surrounding a dialect may strongly influence perceptions of the speaker. In turn, the very ways the speaker is understood may have tangible consequences. The present study analyzes data collected from an online survey to determine the effects of language ideologies and dialect perception on attribution of responsibility to victims of sexual violence. The text focuses specifically on how perceptions of a …

La Quiero Ver~Quiero Verla: Monolingual And Bilingual Children's Variable Clitic Placement, Anita Rao

Linguistics ETDs

This study addresses whether/how monolingual and bilingual Spanish-speaking children differ in their acquisition of grammar by examining direct object clitics in contexts where either proclisis or enclisis is possible (Lo voy a ver vs. Voy a verlo). The current study examines variable clitic placement in sociolinguistic interviews conducted with 21 Spanish-English bilingual children of Mexican descent, ages 5-11, and 71 monolingual children in Mexico, ages 6-11. All direct object clitics in variable contexts were extracted (N =140 tokens, .2% of total word count). Both the monolingual and bilingual children produced high rates of proclisis (76%, 75%, respectively). It is concluded …

Parent–Teacher Relationships Across Community Types, Amanda L. Witte

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Children with social-behavioral problems are at high risk for developing long-term, pervasive adjustment problems. Home–school relationships may be critical to alleviating the negative effects of behavior problems and to fostering student success. The environment or community in which homes and schools are situated represents an important influence on the home–school relationship. Despite the evidence supporting positive parent–teacher relationships and the association between community context and educational practices and student outcomes, little is known about the relation between community context and parent–teacher relationships. The manner in which cumulative risk factors and child behavior problems influence the link between community type and …

Effect Of The Physical Environment On Teacher Satisfaction With Indoor Environmental Quality In Early Learning Schools, Stuart Shell

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

While the quantity and quality of teacher-child interactions plays a key role in emotional and cognitive development for children, there is scant evidence regarding the contribution of physical environment to child outcomes. This study seeks to understand better the relative importance of variables within the physical environment for occupants. The research design targets teachers’ satisfaction with the physical environment as the outcome variable, based on the assumption that teachers who are more satisfied with their classroom provide higher-quality interactions with children. Teachers from two early learning schools with a total of 31 classrooms completed a written survey that asked about …

Engagement And Global Learning Through Philanthropy: A Youth Philanthropy Council For International Baccalaureate Students, Erin Gorman

Capstone Collection

Unprecedented global migration and a flattened global economy have influenced the skills, knowledge, and competencies all high school youth need to be engaged participants and effective workers in the 21^st century global economy (Mansilla & Jackson, 2011). Research indicates that many youth, especially those at risk for dropping out of school or from minority and low-income backgrounds, do not have adequate opportunities to develop the global competence and 21^st century skills needed for engagement and success in the workforce of the 21^st century (Afterschool Alliance, 2010). This paper presents a replicable global learning afterschool program model that …

Latino Cultural Competency In Social Work Education: A Review Of The Literature, Liana Menendez

HIM 1990-2015

Cultural competence serves as resource for social workers and other helping professionals to improve service delivery by using approaches that are compatible with the client’s cultural values and beliefs. As the Latino population continues to grow, understanding the culture has important implications for social work practice, advocacy and research. There is a dearth of cultural competence training and educational programs that seek to effectively identify, address and meet the unique cultural and linguistic needs of Latinos. With the growing population and a lack of culturally responsive services, clinicians familiar with the Latino culture and Latino cultural competency training and education …

Gaps And Barriers: Division And Revelation In Michel Butor’S La Modification, Mary L. Bauer

Languages Faculty Publications

Gaps divide things that can’t quite come together, while cracks warn that something that was a coherent whole is coming apart. Michel Butor implants images of these two powerful symbols within his narrative of Léon Delmont’s troubled relationships with his wife, Henriette, and his lover, Cécile Darcella in his novel, La modification (1957). Some are obvious physical manifestations, while others are figurative, yet no less real. Butor then turns the concept of gap literally on its head by using its inverse, the barrier, to emphasize the self-imposed obstacles to a healthy relationship on both sides of Léon’s not so-secret double …

The Discursive Ethics Of Jack Sammons, David T. Ritchie

Mercer Law Review

Professor Jack Sammons has been a widely celebrated teacher, community activist, and distinguished member of the bar. He is also a prolific scholar; perhaps the most prolific scholar the Mercer University School of Law has ever seen. My interest in the body of Jack's work, and hence my focus here, is on what I consider to be the core of his scholarly agenda. I would like to caution that this is my reading of Jack's work as a corpus. I am not entirely sure that Jack would agree with this reading (especially later on when I will make some connections …

Book Review: What Is Good Grammar?, Kathryn Evans

Bridgewater Review

Book review of:

• Steven Pinker, The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person’s Guide to Writing in the 21st Century (New York: Viking, 2014).

James Wilson And Anglo-American Customary Constitutionalism., Sean Allen Southard

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

No abstract provided.

Bilingual Intercultural Education In Ecuador : Education As A Means Of Language Revitalization., L Danielle Robinette

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

No abstract provided.

The Mankurt Remembers : The Politics Of Language In Kazakhstan., Paige Brewer

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

No abstract provided.