Digital Commons Network^™

(Re)Inventing Mathematical Logic : A Case Study Of Set-Based Meanings For Conditional Truth, Alec William Hub

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The way students interpret mathematical sentences involving logical connectives sometimes differs from the way mathematicians interpret such sentences. This research study identifies and analyzes some understandings that one student constructed while interpreting conditional statements relating to numerical relationships and geometric shape categories. Through a modified teaching experiment, a pair of students were guided to reinvent normative understandings of truth-functional logic, namely that of material conditionals (conditional statements) and their contrapositive's equivalence. Through the case study of Hugo, the researcher identifies shifts in his reasoning about conditional statements that gave rise to set-based meanings for conditional truth, as well as the …

Communicating Church Branding Through Anniversary Services, Kate E. Mead

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This study provides an analysis of communication as presented through church anniversary services. The paper includes a discussion on organizational branding, which is then applied to religious organizations and, more specifically, the megachurch. Anniversary services to be analyzed originate from Willow Creek Community Church of South Barrington, Illinois and include those presented during the years 2011 to 2015. These services are employed as a case study through which communication is analyzed in two primary ways: first, as part of a church organizational branding process and second, through a lens of community-building ritual communication (per James Carey and Eric Rothenbuhler). Attention …

An Examination Of Vocabulary Acquisition By Kindergarten English Learners, Judith L. Matuszewski

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

American classrooms are becoming increasingly diverse as students enter with native language knowledge (other than English). Addressing the needs of all students is more difficult given most teachers are native English speakers, have little experience with multiple language knowledge, and can be apprehensive about teaching ELs. With this in mind, this study was undertaken to look at the feasibility of teaching kindergarten students strategies (e.g., use of picture dictionary, word wall, anchor chart use, partnering with peers), thus allowing the student to create their own understanding of English vocabulary rather than having an adult simply give the meaning to them …

The Effect Of Whole-Language Icall Programs On Student Achievement Scores, Jeffrey Ware

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Intelligent Computer Assisted Language Learning (ICALL) uses advanced technology to provide customized learning and individualized feedback to foreign language students (Heift & Schulze, 2007). Some comprehensive ICALL programs claim the ability to take learners from no knowledge of a language to levels of advanced knowledge and comprehension. The websites of two such programs, Rosetta Stone and Tell Me More, state that their software is used in tens of thousands of schools worldwide. However, little if any research has been conducted to assess the effectiveness of these programs on student achievement when they supplement existing curricula. This study investigated the effect …

School Librarians' Self-Efficacy In The Multiple Literacies : A Mixed-Methods Study, Kristina J. Weber

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this sequential explanatory mixed-methods study was to investigate school librarians' self-efficacy in the multiple literacies. This study was conducted to develop an understanding of the role of librarians in the multiple literacies, and what they feel has an impact on their capacity to implement multiple literacies practices. Research Question 1 asked, What are the self-efficacy beliefs of school librarians with regard to the teaching of the multiple literacies? Research Question 2 asked, How do school librarians describe their self-efficacy beliefs and experiences in the multiple literacies? Mixed-Methods Research Question: In what ways does the qualitative interview data …

Teachers' Strategies For Involving Parents In The Development Of Their Children's Literacy Skills, Sadia Qamar

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Parental involvement plays a significant role in supporting children's literacy skills. However, limited research has been conducted to uncover effective strategies for increasing parental involvement in countries, such as Pakistan, where such involvement is limited. Therefore, this study focused on strategies used by elementary teachers in the United States to involve parents in the development of their children's literacy skills. Findings of the study will be helpful for increasing parental involvement in Pakistan's elementary schools. A qualitative collective case study method was used to analyze data from interviews with five elementary teachers who were recruited through purposive sampling technique. Data …

Taiwanese Identity And Transnational Families In The Cinema Of Ang Lee, Ting-Ting Chan

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation argues that acclaimed filmmaker Ang Lee should be regarded as a Taiwanese transnational filmmaker. Thus, to best understand his work, a Taiwanese sociopolitical context should be employed to consider his complicated national identity as it is reflected in his films across genres and cultures. Previous Ang Lee studies see him merely as a transnational Taiwanese-American or diasporic Chinese filmmaker and situate his works into a broader spectrum of either Asian-American culture or Chinese national cinema. In contrast, this dissertation argues his films are best understood through a direct reference to Taiwan's history, politics, and society. The chapters examine …

Reader Identity Development : A Multiple Case Study Of Adolescent Reluctant Readers Participating In A Ninth-Grade, Free-Choice Reading Intervention Class, Michael P. Henry

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

In recent years, American high schools have begun to provide more reading interventions for their students. Relying heavily on skills-based instruction and whole-class, teacher-selected reading, few high school reading programs address the negative reader identities held by many students. The purpose of this study was to examine how the reader identities of adolescent reluctant readers develop when participating in a ninth-grade, free-choice reading intervention class. Multiple case study was the methodology chosen for this study because it allowed for the examination of multiple perspectives and provided the multiple forms of data necessary to investigate the complex problem of reading disengagement …

The Reciprocal Relationship Between Text Literacy And Music Literacy Among Beginning Band Students, David Lawson Carroll

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation examines the reciprocal relationship between text literacy and music literacy through an experimental design. Music teachers and English Language Arts (ELA) teachers often address similar components of literacy, including fluency, comprehension, and symbolic interpretation. The theory of cognitive structuralism maintains that through derivative and correlative subsumption, material that is learned in one context is strengthened when applied in a disparate context. Therefore, ELA and music teachers who work in isolation are missing an opportunity to teach parallel literacy concepts for the common advantage of teachers and students. This study seeks to explain how students enrolled in conventional and …

First World Problems : Neocolonial Discourse In Contemporary American Literature, Tracy Stephens

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation argues that contemporary American literature has a tendency to represent the problems of American life in a manner that mystifies the operation of the global economy and thus perpetuates the American exceptionalist disavowal of US imperialism. I look at a specific set of "first-world problems" described by cultural theorists and depicted within American fiction from 1985 to the present, describing the representation of each problem in multiple texts to emphasize the general trend. These novels focus on first-world experiences and perspectives in isolation from the rest of the world, they decontextualize problems within the US from the neocolonial …

Gang Neighborhood And Youth Criminal Behavior, Uche Eseosa Ekhator

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

I examine the effect of the presence of gangs in a youth's neighborhood on criminal behavior in the United States using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 (NLSY97) with a Multivariate Analysis of Covariance (MANCOVA) model. There is evidence that the presence of gangs in a youth's neighborhood affects youth arrests, delinquency and substance use taken together for youths born to mothers who are 30 years or older. The negative effect of gangs on incidences of delinquency is larger for youths born to teen mothers than for those whose mothers were 30 years or older when they …

Individual Differences In The Relevancy Effect, James Woehrle

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

When readers have a specific goal while reading a text, they are engaged in task-orientated reading, and this leads to certain information within the text being more relevant than other information. Under these conditions, readers may experience a relevancy effect, wherein they read sentences that contain relevant information more slowly and have better memory for this information compared to other information in the discourse (McCrudden, Magliano, & Schraw, 2010). However, there is evidence that not all readers manifest the relevancy effect in the same manner. McCrudden et al. (2010) examined individual differences in response to relevancy instructions and found that …

Karen Refugees Resettled In Aurora, Il : Their Identity, Their Resettlement, Their Oral Histories, Karla Findley

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Refugees provide unique subject matter for identity studies as they are not able to continue living in their homeland. Refugees, instead, have been forced to abandon their homes, flee to a different country for safety, and often settle in a third country that is usually an ocean away, both physically and culturally. While concepts of identity are often easy to identify and maintain when a person can be continually surrounded by reaffirming objects, ideas, and people, what about when the refugee is not? This project endeavors to examine the resettlement process of Karen refugees in Aurora, Illinois, and how they …

Memes And 4chan And Haters, Oh My! : Rhetoric, Identity, And Online Aggression, Erika M. Sparby

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This project takes a rhetorical approach to studying online aggression. Frequently, targets of aggression are told not to "feed the trolls," or not to respond to aggressive content lest they fuel further aggressive acts. However, this tactic does not work because it blames targets for further aggressive acts---not the aggressor---and it silences discourse. This dissertation examines methods for resisting online aggression without amplifying it while opening pathways to constructive dialog online. Each chapter studies a different popular locus of online aggression. The second chapter explores image macro memes and how they can perpetuate identity-based stereotypes; it offers counter-meming as a …

Old English Elegies : Language And Genre, Stephanie Opfer

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The Old English elegies include a group of poems found in the Exeter Book manuscript that have traditionally been treated as a single genre due to their general sense of lament -- The Wanderer, The Seafarer, The Riming Poem, Deor, Wulf and Eadwacer, The Wife's Lament, Resignation, Riddle 60, The Husband's Message, and The Ruin. In this study, I conduct a linguistic stylistic analysis of all ten poems using systemic functional linguistics (SFL) and a variety of computational and linguistic tools: Lexomics, Voyant, and Microsoft Excel. My results focus on three characteristics of the poetry: (1) the similarity of the …

Participating In Disciplinary Discourse : How Writing Centers Support Graduate Student Writers As Emerging Experts, Jeff Gard

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

As graduate school enrollments increase across the United States, professors from most disciplines lament these students lack writing skills. Previous studies on graduate student writing have stated that students are underprepared to write in their programs and have offered several suggestions for remediating these skills: writing seminars, introductory writing classes, increased faculty feedback, and writing checklists. Most of these studies are based on the perspectives of professors, who act as gatekeepers to determine who is considered an expert in a field. Few studies have addressed how writing centers can help graduate students as emerging experts. Using surveys, document analysis, and …

Ambiguities And Agency Cases: Reflections After (Almost) Ten Years On The Bench, Raymond M. Kethledge

Vanderbilt Law Review

No abstract provided.

Teac 908e: Critical Conversations In U.S. Teacher Education Policy And Practice—A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Benchmark Portfolio, Lauren Gatti

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

Since compulsory school began in the early 1900s, there have been lively and at times intense debates regarding how teachers ought to be prepared. Current debates are particularly pitched as the achievement gap persists and teacher attrition remains high, made more intense by the level of polarization in the country. Debates in the field of teacher preparation, like the country writ large, are often characterized more by heat than light. Given this reality, I opted to use this peer review of teaching opportunity to think about my graduate course as a place where students could practice perspective-taking and dialogue around …

(Mis)Reading The Classroom: A Two-Act “Play” On The Conflicting Roles In Student Teaching, Christi U. Edge

Journal Articles

This case study examined concentric and reciprocal notions of reading—that of high school students, a pre-service teacher, and a teacher educator. An intern charged with teaching students to read, interact with, and compose texts in an English/language arts classroom constructed her role in the classroom based on her reading the “text” of her internship experiences, relationships, and responsibilities. Using interviews and observations, a teacher educator read and interpreted the classroom “text” the pre-service teacher “composed” during her internship and then constructed a two-act “play” which details the conflict in the intern’s enacting the dual role of student-teacher and her subsequent …

Disrupting The Dominant Narrative: Beginning English Teachers’ Use Of Young Adult Literature And Culturally Responsive Pedagogy., Elsie L. Olan, Kia Jane Richmond

Journal Articles

In this multiple case study that uses narrative research methodology, two beginning English teachers’ stories, their use of young adult literature, and their dialogic interactions with university mentors are examined through a lens of culturally responsive pedagogy. This study is focused on how teachers’ stories indicate the difficulties they have incorporating culturally relevant young adult literature into their secondary English classes, how they establish connections between the texts, their students’ lived experiences, and their own lived experiences, and why they struggle with the application of culturally responsive pedagogy. Findings indicate that beginning teachers’ stories (a) express uncertainty regarding the place …

Storying Our Journey: Conversations About The Literary Canon And Course Development In Secondary English Education., Elsie L. Olan, Kia Jane Richmond

Journal Articles

Olan and Richmond present preservice English teachers’ stories about having little experience with canonical texts they are asked to teach in their field experiences.

Thompson, M. J. The Domestication Of Critical Theory 2016 Rowman And Littlefield International 230 Pp. £80.00 (Hardback) £24.95 (Paperback), Alexander M. Stoner

Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

Using Critical Discourse Analysis To Understand Power, Personal Agency And Accountability In The Stanford Rape Case, Sara Potter

Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

A Qualitative Phenomenological Study Which Examines The Relationship Between Positive Educational Outcomes Of American Indian Women Serving In The Pow Wow Princess Role, Casey Fox

Theses and Dissertations

The negative statistics pertaining to American Indian women education should cause concern for everyone. The data reflect that American Indian women graduate high school behind all other demographic categories. In contrast, all participants of this study graduated high school and ascended to various levels of higher education. This paradox lends itself to further investigation despite opposing views of some scholars who believe there is nothing more to add. This research explored the existence of a correlation between culture and education for American Indian women who served in the pow wow princess role. Members of the American Indian women were called-upon …

Safety Mindfulness: The Incorporation Of Low-Dose Mindfulness As A Leading Edge Safety Intervention, Connell Nolan

Theses and Dissertations

With nearly 2.9 million work related injuries in the United States each year and nearly 5,000 work related deaths, opportunities exist to build on existing safety management interventions to improve workplace safety. In addition to the impact on worker’s lives related to workplace safety accidents, workplace related injuries and deaths account for nearly $200 billion in direct costs to U.S. organizations. Current research in the application of workplace mindfulness offers the potential for a leading edge intervention that can lead to increased attention and situational awareness, which could greatly enhance workplace safety. The current study explored the relationship that low-dose …

Lost Opportunities: Ecuador's Yasuní Itt Initiative, Julianna Hitchins

Pomona Senior Theses

In 2007, President Rafael Correa of Ecuador proposed the Yasuní ITT Initiative at the United Nations General Assembly in an effort to contribute to the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions and the local preservation of biodiversity. The initiative proposed enacting an indefinite ban on oil exploration and extraction within the Ecuadorian Yasuní National Park so long as the developed world was willing to contribute to half the forgone costs of drilling. However, despite initial support, the Yasuní Initiative was unsuccessful, and due to a lack of financial support, Correa terminated the proposal in August 2013.

With the increasing threat of …

Tracing Literacy Practices Of Multilingual Writing Tutors, Somaily Nieves

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Research in writing studies has focused on multilingual writers and the rhetorical affinity they gain from shuttling between multiple languages (Lorimer Leonard, 2014; Guerra, 2004) Writing center studies have focused on multilingual writing tutors and have argued the need to use more tutors who are literate in more than one language because they possess skills that can be useful in writing centers (Lape, 2013; Thonus, 2014). However, not much research has been conducted to better understand what literacy practices these multilingual writing tutors develop that make them better equipped in writing center tutoring sessions. This thesis focuses on a case …

Exploring Interactions Between Adult English Learners And Their Teachlive Digital Character Peers, Ting Yan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Peer interaction is an important part of language learning. The results of previous studies showed advantages and disadvantages of peer interaction between native speakers and English learners. Using the educational simulation platform TeachLivE as the interaction platform, this qualitative descriptive case study explored the possibilities of bridging the gap between classroom language practice and real-life second language communication. The study recruited eight participants for a task-based interaction project. Using conversation analysis, the study revealed details in communication between adult English learners and their digital character peers. During the interactions, the participants were actively involved and the most frequent communication patterns …

Teaching In A Mixed Secondary Spanish Classroom: A Case Study Of Strategies And Successes Of Minnesota Teachers, Meredith Gunderson

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The population of Spanish heritage language learners is increasing throughout the state of Minnesota. This change in demographics impacts schools in a variety of ways; one such consequence is the creation of classes for Spanish for Native Speakers in locations with high Latino populations. However, in most locations, such programs currently do not exist, resulting in Spanish heritage language learners enrolling in Spanish foreign language classes. These classrooms, called mixed classes due to the combination of second language learners and Spanish heritage language learners in the same classroom, pose a unique challenge to the foreign language instructors. This qualitative multiple …

Perceptions Of Students With And Without Limited Formal Schooling, Sarah Schmidt De Carranza

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The purpose of this study was to examine and compare the perceptions that refugee and non-refugee English language learners hold of their academic performance and their perceived sense of membership in a school community. Students currently served in EL programs in grades 9-12 in a large urban school district were invited to participate in the study. Student perceptions were measured using the Morgan Jinks Student Efficacy Scale (MJSES) and Goodenow Pyschological Sense of School Membership (PSSM) scale.

Unexpectedly, the results indicated that differences of perceptions of student efficacy and school membership between the two groups of students were not statistically …