Digital Commons Network^™

Engaging Practice In Communication Education: Institutional Politics, Knowledge Economy, And State Power, Wincharles Coker

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

A grave concern in communication education scholarship is that research in practice plays second fiddle to theory. Little is known about the phenomenology of practice in communication pedagogy, and how it shapes and is shaped by programmatic assessment in particular. This dissertation attempts to explore the complexity of practice in communication education in a non-Western culture. The project demonstrates that the organizational culture that gives rise to the work of communication program administrators is always filtered and enacted through the interplay of institutional politics, the global knowledge economy, and state power. Using two public universities in Ghana, I argue, based …

Clusivity In Presidential Discourse: A Rhetorical Discourse Analysis Of State-Of-The-Nation Addresses In Ghana And The United States, Stephen K. Dadugblor

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

This thesis examines the ways in which rhetors in presidential discourse simultaneously associate with and dissociate from their audiences in an attempt to consolidate power while subtly masking their actions. Drawing on comparative rhetoric and Andrus’ (2013) Rhetorical Discourse Analysis (RDA) that combines rhetoric and (critical) discourse analysis, I analyze the expressive values of selected lexical items, and the inclusive and exclusive uses of “we” in selected State of the Nation/Union Addresses in Ghana and the United States. I argue that presidents’ unique position during these speeches as both heads of nations and heads of their political parties presents a …

Using Running Records Data In Planning For Literacy Instruction, Tabitha A. Waltz

Graduate Research Papers

Running records are an assessment tool that allows teachers to monitor the sources of information readers are using. Many teachers have learned to take running records, but they may not be as comfortable analyzing the running records and using the results of the analysis to inform instruction. This graduate, final project presents a professional development program that will help teachers learn not only to take running records, but also to analyze and use the results in their instruction.

Critical Literacy And Digital Technology With A Novel Unit, Brandon Harrison

Graduate Research Papers

This paper contains an instructional unit designed for teaching a novel unit utilizing critical literacy and digital technology at the upper-elementary level. The design of the unit is composed around relevant research-based literature which is cited and referenced in the paper. Methods for instructional delivery are provided as well as a chapter-by-chapter breakdown of key terms and critical prompts.

Initiation Of Communication From Users Of Aac And Preceding Communication Partner's Utterances, Lauren Vaughn Welser

Honors Program Theses

This study examined the effect communication partners’ have on the initiations produced by users of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). The data was reviewed from a larger study; it included transcripts and videos of a set of four students from an elementary school classroom in the Midwest. The students had a wide range of abilities. Both the student and teacher utterances were analyzed for: different types of communication functions, environmental factors and conversational factors. It was hypothesized that the communicative function of the previous utterance and the level of aided input used would affect the number of initiations. The findings …

Motivation And Technology Use During Second-Language Study Abroad In The Digital Age, Aroline Seibert Hanson, Melisa Dracos

Modern Languages and Cultures Faculty Work

Study abroad culture is constantly changing (Kinginger, 2013), involving new challenges such as easier access to the first language culture via technology. There has been little research done on technology use abroad and its relationship with both linguistic gains (Coleman & Chafer, 2010; Kelly, 2010) and motivation (Allen, 2013; Irie & Ryan, 2015). To explore the role of motivation in developing a successful study abroad culture in the digital age, we documented technology use in the first language and second language of 15 college students during their summer sojourn in Argentina. We quantitatively evaluated participants’ motivation (Gardner, 1985; Ushida, 2003) …

Migration And Crossing Borders In Zahra, Favorita De Al-Andalús, Lynn C. Purkey

Teatro: Revista de Estudios Escénicos / A Journal of Theater Studies

No abstract provided.

Persuasion In The Health Field: Framing The Message For Attitude Change, Kelley Ogami

Scripps Senior Theses

The process of persuasion, the changing of a person’s attitudes, has often been applied to health communications designed to promote healthy behavior. Manipulation of aspects of the persuasive message can influence persuasion and the likelihood of attitude change. For a long time, the existing persuasion research had yet to examine how different types of message framing and intervention targets directly and in interaction with one another act as predictors of health attitude change. Therefore, this thesis addressed this lapse using an online survey to assess participants’ attitude towards the health issue of hypertension after reading a health message. This health …

Crackdown And Consent: China’S War On Terror And The Strategic Creation Of A Public Discourse In The U.S., Kehaulani R. Jai

Scripps Senior Theses

Scholars have extensively detailed China’s conflation of the Uyghur issue in Xinjiang with the international war on terror following September 11, 2001. Less studied is how the U.S. responded to China’s framing of the Uyghur as terrorists, and of the Chinese government’s characterization of Xinjiang as a region fraught with violence and extremism. On the whole, scholars who have addressed this latter issue conclude that China successfully coopted the U.S., and consequently cracked down on Xinjiang without substantial international outrage. On the basis of a review of official U.S. documents before and after 9/11, I argue that the U.S. response …

Early Childhood Ipad Use And Effects On Visual Spatial Attention Span, Maya Espiritu

Scripps Senior Theses

Despite the rising prevalence of mobile media in young children’s lives, little research exists that examines the effects of mobile media use on early childhood cognitive development. This study will explore how mobile media use, specifically iPad use, in early childhood affects development of visual spatial attention span. Researchers will recruit 160 participants, ages 3 to 6, and categorize them into three groups: TV viewers only, interactive iPad users, and passive iPad users. Children will complete a computer task to measure the length of their visual spatial attention span. Parents will report on the average daily amount of media use, …

Wtf Is #Modelminoritymutiny?: Solidarity, Embodiment, And Practice In Subverting Ascribed Asian American Racial Positioning, Pamela Ng

Scripps Senior Theses

In 2014, in the wake of #BlackLivesMatter, a call to action was made for Asian Americans to actively engage with and unlearn the age old model minority myth and join the movement for racial justice. This thesis seeks to understand and complicate what it means to subvert this ideology in the way of #modelminoritymutiny. It is divided into three primary sections: first, a theoretical framework and of the model minority myth throughout time as a tool for positioning Asian Americans; second, an application of this framework into the recent Peter Liang and Akai Gurley case this past year; and third, …

La Identidad Ecuatoriana A Través Del Humor De Miguel Antonio Chávez, Luis Enrique Yanez

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

This thesis project provides a close reading of the literary work of Ecuadorian author Miguel Antonio Chávez. The analysis in this work discuses how the author use humor to criticize the discourses that have been produced in order to represent indigenous and Afro-descendants in the country, as well as the fragility of social and political institutions such as the church, the state, and the country's educational system in the pieces La puta madre patria, La kriptonita del Sinaí, and El electroshock nuestro de cada día. This thesis analyses humor as a narrative tool with its function to reproduce and criticize …

Jail (E)Mail: Free Speech Implications Of Granting Inmates Access To Electronic Messaging Services, Brennen J. Johnson

Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts

The First Amendment protects not only our right to share ideas, but also to some extent, our right to choose the specific method by which we share them. Generally speaking, these protections apply to inmates’ rights to communicate with those outside of prison. However, the protection of those rights must be balanced with the penological interests of prisons and jails. Electronic messaging has now become a standard form of communication within most American homes and businesses. Accordingly, the Federal Bureau of Prisons has implemented the TRULINCS program, a program which allows inmates to communicate with those outside of prison through …

An Investigation Of The Duality Between Art And Math, Hope Hickman

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The following paper is an investigation of the relationship that exists between math and art. It argues the importance of integration between the two disciplines by shedding light on unrecognized characteristics within both. The paper provides examples of mathematical art and beautiful proofs which help unearth the potential of mixing math and art at an academic level.

The Physician’S Perspective On The Impact Of Interpretive Services On The Physician- Patient Relationship, Amrita Pandey

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The basis of the physician-patient relationship relies heavily on communication. It has been known that conversation between physician and patient is important in both diagnosing and providing therapeutic support. However, according to the US Census Bureau twenty percent of the US population does not use English as their first language. These residents face language barriers on a daily basis, including when they are being treated medically. The aim of this study was to research the physician’s perspective on the use of interpretive services and how it impacts the physician- patient relationship. The research consisted of surveying physicians who encounter patients …

Short-Term Study Abroad: Perspectives On Speaking Gains And Language Contact, Todd A. Hernandez

Spanish Languages and Literatures Research and Publications

Previous studies have shown that study abroad has a positive effect on second language (L2) learning outcomes for students who spend at least a semester abroad. It is unclear, however, whether a short-term experience also has a measurable impact on L2 development. The present study examines the relationship between speaking proficiency gains made by students during a short-term study abroad program and their target language use outside of class in the host environment. To determine the potential relationships between speaking gains and language use, a background information questionnaire, a two-part modified language contact profile (LCP), and a pre-program and post-program …

Dueling Canons, Anita S. Krishnakumar

Faculty Publications

This Article offers the first targeted study of the Supreme Court’s use of canons and other tools of statutory interpretation in a “dueling” manner—that is, in both the majority and dissenting opinions in the same case, to support opposing outcomes. Taking its inspiration from Karl Llewellyn’s celebrated list of canons and countercanons, this Article examines how often and in what ways the members of the Roberts Court counter each other’s references to particular interpretive tools when disagreeing about the proper reading of a statute. Many of the Article’s findings are unexpected and undermine the assumptions made by some of the …

The Influence Of Race And Ethnicity On Giving Among Latin@ Young Alumni From A Predominantly White Institution, Michael Bumbry

Dissertations

Little is known about the way in which alumni of color think about and exercise giving to higher education (Gasman & Anderson-Tomkins, 2003). The majority of research in alumni giving to higher education has not highlighted the unique elements of philanthropy within communities of color, promoting the assumption that they are not philanthropic compared to their White counterparts (Newman, 2004). This is problematic considering shifting educational, labor and economic demographics which suggest that people of color are enrolling and graduating from college at higher rates; entering the work force, and have increasing buying power. Further limiting scholars’ and practitioners’ understandings …

Differentiating Deference, Anya Bernstein

Journal Articles

When an administrative agency’s interpretation of an ambiguous statutory term is challenged in court, the Chevron doctrine instructs judges to evaluate whether it is reasonable. But how does a court know reasonableness when it sees it? Here, I first show that reasonableness review is more complex than it might seem. Contrary to common images, for instance, courts do not determine a range of reasonable interpretations; and that is a good thing, because they are not competent to do so. Moreover, because traditional statutory interpretation approaches presume the existence of one correct meaning for a given word, they are not well …

Old Wet Paint, Michael G. Hansen

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Contemporary living can cause stress that is detrimental to creativity. Most of the world’s population has grown dependent on technology to connect us to, and keep track of daily, monthly, and hourly actions. Our plans fill us with the illusion of control over random events. I do not trust technology to help me find my way in the world. I want to find my way in life using limited technology. My art practice is an example of this trajectory and has become my way of embracing random events. The logic I use to employ order in the pandemonium of everyday …

Fuzzy Decision Tree-Based Inference System For Liver Disease Diagnosis, Himaja Sivaraju

Theses and Dissertations

Medical diagnosis can be challenging because of a number of factors. Uncertainty in the diagnosis process arises from inaccuracy in the measurement of patient attributes, missing attribute data and limitation in the medical expert’s ability to define cause and effect relationships when there are multiple interrelated variables. Given this situation, a decision support system, which can help doctors come up with a more reliable diagnosis, can have a lot of potential.

Decision trees are used in data mining for classification and regression. They are simple to understand and interpret as they can be visualized. But, one of the disadvantages of …

Methods For Supporting 21st Century Learning In School Library Spaces, Ashley Mcgrath

Graduate Research Papers

The purpose of this qualitative study is to explore ways in which the school library space can function to serve the needs oflearners in the 21st century. Additionally, this study explores teacher librarians' perceptions of school library spaces in terms of the features that best support 21st century learning. Findings from interviews were used to determine which features of school library spaces aim to meet the social, emotional, and academic needs of all learners. Three teacher librarians from public school systems participated in the study. Participants completed an initial interest survey in which they indicated number of years of service …

A Knowledge Analytic Comparison Of Cued Primitives When Students Are Explaining Predicted And Enacted Motions, Victor R. Lee

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

The Knowledge in Pieces theoretical perspective posits p-prims as an important knowledge element in intuitive reasoning. Because p-prims are a class of knowledge elements developed and abstracted from everyday physical experiences, it seems plausible that immediate physical experiences, both in terms of sensations and actual observations of motion, would cue knowledge in different ways than when those experiences are just discussed as hypotheticals. This paper presents two cases to show that immediate embodied experiences with everyday objects does change which p-prims are cued and how they are deployed by students to explain situations involving motion. These cases come from a …

Punk Philosophy As A Path To The Summits Of Ethos, Vuk Uskoković

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

Elaborated in this discourse is the idea that identifying with a punk persona is a necessary step in the ethical development of an individual. Offered are various ethical corollaries of standing on the punk philosophic grounds, including: (I) abomination of the art of following, (II) appreciation of creative aspirations more than the technique, (III) the necessity for the constant shift of the epistemic grounds on which one stands, (IV) revival of the aesthetics of Speer’s theory of ruin values, (V) revitalization of language via its destruction, and (VI) embracement of anarchic revulsion of the concept of authority as a pathway …

I Will Tell Your Story: New Media Activism And The Indian “Rape Crisis”, Rukmini Pande, Samira Nadkarni

Journal of Feminist Scholarship

This article analyzes the mediatized representations of the Indian “rape crisis” that gained global attention in the aftermath of the brutal gang rape of Jyoti Singh Pandey in New Delhi in 2012. While much attention was given to Leslie Udwin’s documentary on the incident, India’s Daughter (2015), which was subsequently banned by the Indian government, there were several other creative responses that attempted to negotiate with the meaning of the event. This article examines two such texts—the multimedia short story We Are Angry (2015) and the augmented-reality comic Priya’s Shakti (2014). Both these texts declare their intention to function as …

Is There Any Science Behind The Art Of Legal Writing?, Lance N. Long

Wyoming Law Review

No abstract provided.

Emotions In The Courtroom: How Sadness, Fear, Anger, And Disgust Affect Jurors’ Decisions, Victoria Estrada-Reynolds, Kimberly A. Schweitzer, Narina Nuñez

Wyoming Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Case For Using Duolingo As Part Of The Language Classroom Experience (Duolingo Como Parte Del Curriculum De Las Clases De Lengua Extranjera), Pilar Munday

Languages Faculty Publications

This article explores the idea of using an already existing language learning app, Duolingo, to complement traditional college level Spanish as second language courses. These types of apps use adaptive learning technologies, which are able to tailor the tasks to the level of each student. In the case of this study, Duolingo was used as part of the program of studies in two Spanish university courses, one a beginner’s Spanish course (level A1) and the other an advanced intermediate course (B2). The students used the app online, either in its mobile version or in their web browser. I will describe …

#Instagramele: Learning Spanish Through A Social Network, Pilar Munday, Yuly Asencion Delaney, Adelaida Martín Bosque

Languages Faculty Publications

Social networking (SN) tools have the potential to contribute to language learning because they promote linguistic interactions in person-to-person communication, increasing the opportunities to process input in the L2, engaging learners in negotiation of meaning and requiring learners to produce L2 output, as proposed in the interactionist theory by Long (1985, 1996). These virtual personal connections with other learners and language experts around the world could provide a rich environment for sociocultural language exchanges (following the principles of the sociocultural approach proposed by Lantolf, 2002, based on the work of Vygotsky, 1978) that may increase motivation for learning, develop L2 …

Sport Consumer Behavior Research: Improving Our Game, Daniel Funk, Daniel Lock, Adam Karg, Mark Pritchard

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

Sport consumer behavior (SCB) research continues to grow in both popularity and sophistication. A guiding principle in much of this research is that sport consumers seek out sport-related experiences, and the benefits they yield, in order to satisfy needs and wants. This approach has provided new knowledge and insight into sport consumers. One outcome of this focus is that the vast majority of research on sport consumers has centered on psychological characteristics of these sport experiences related to evaluative and affective components. In addition, this research has predominately relied on cross-sectional studies and attitudinal surveys to collect information with less …