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Integrating Multimodal Composition Techniques In First-Year Writing Courses: Theory And Praxis, Bret Zawilski

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

The body of this thesis seeks to explore the costs and benefits of instituting a multimodal composition pedagogy within first-year writing. Contested definitions of multimodality and multimedia provide a background for delving into the printed-word dominated discourse, where image, sound, and animation are all placed in a subordinate position relative to that of the written word. Within, many theories of multimodality and composition pedagogy are placed in contrast with one another in an attempt to discern connections in the body of already published theoretical material. The primary method of data collection for this document involved the investigation of secondary sources …

Writing Out The Storm : Trauma And The Work Of Composition., Scott L. Rogers

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The discourses of "trauma" and "post-trauma" have become pervasive in representations of life as it is lived in contemporary globalized culture. As new media technologies make the world more accessible, we become accustomed to overwhelming social, political, and personal circumstances, and we come to see "trauma" everywhere, all the time. My dissertation project responds to the presence of "trauma" in the writing classroom, as it appears purposefully in pedagogies designed to respond to it, and as it appears naturally through the interests and experiences of students and teachers who come into contact with national, natural, or personal disaster. Specifically, I …

The Ethics Of Obstruction, Joshua Abboud

All Dissertations

This work engages the film The Five Obstructions (2003) as a configuration for multimodal composition. It explores a theory of general composition as a matter of confronting obstructions or creative constraints as a process of collaborative revision and pedagogy. Writing in this context constitutes ethical responses to the shifting constraints of communication and signification. The obstructions performed by the film as a series of revisions offer sources of proliferating rhetorical invention and play grounded on negotiated fields of operations.
The first two chapters explore the relations between image and ethics in a pedagogy of revision, while the third considers the …

Defining And Addressing Expectations For L2 Writers Across Disciplines, Lindsey Ives, Tom Pierce, Michael Schwartz

Publications

A presentation divided into three sections: Student Perspectives given by Michael Schwartz, Teacher Perspectives given by Lindsey Ives, and Administrator Perspectives given by Tom Pierce.

The Origins Of The Maya: A Comparative Analysis Of Narratives, Thomasina Ilene Morris

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis is to document the changes in archaeological origin narratives concerning the lowland Preclassic Maya. This was accomplished by tracking the changes in four major narratives over several decades. These narratives include Herbert J. Spinden's Ancient Civilizations of Mexico and Central America; The Ancient Maya written by Sylvanus G. Morley, with additional editors, George Brainerd, Robert J. Sharer, and Loa Traxler; Michael D. Coe's The Maya, and Richard E.W. Adams's Prehistoric Mesoamerica. The specific parts of the narratives analyzed were the origins of agriculture, ceramic technology, writing, and monumental architecture. Changes in metaphorical language …

Healing The Cartesian Split: Understanding And Renewing Pathos In Academic Writing, Travis Washburn

Library Research Grants

No abstract provided.

An Evaluation Of Writing Samples By English Learners In Special Education, Brett Patrick Frayseth

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The purpose of this study was to investigate if there was any pattern in the types or frequencies of errors made within writing samples produced by English Learners (ELs) in special education and whether those patterns differentiated them from ELs not in special education or whether there was commonality between the types or frequencies of errors made by ELs in special education and native-English speakers in special education. The intent is that once a pattern is recognized that the written work of ELs can help aid in determining placement in special education. The quantitative method was applied in this study. …

School-Home Performance Feedback With Home-Based Writing Activities: The Effects On Elementary Students’ Writing Fluency, Jennifer Lynn Rymanowski

Psychology - Dissertations

Parent involvement in education has been identified as influential in children's learning and associated with positive outcomes on students' academic and behavioral competency (Christenson, 2004; Doherty & Peskay, 1992; Henderson, 2007). Studies have suggested that parents and teachers prefer programs that utilize school-home feedback notes and provide parents with strategies for implementing educational activities at home (Gettinger & Guetschow, 1998). The current study examined the effects of combining school-home performance feedback with home-based writing activities on students' writing fluency in comparison to students who participated in a performance feedback intervention. A total of 101 third-grade students were randomly assigned to …

Rhetorical Outcomes: A Genre Analysis Of Student Service-Learning Writing, Thomas Brady Trimble

Wayne State University Dissertations

Service-learning continues to be a popular pedagogical approach within composition studies. Despite a number of studies that document a range of positive impacts on students, faculty, institutions, and community members, the relationship between service-learning and student writing outcomes is not well understood. This study presents the results of a genre analysis of student-authored ethnographies composed in four distinct sections of a service-learning--based intermediate writing course at a Midwestern urban research university. Results of the analysis are then used to develop a contextualized writing assessment framework to evaluate student writing outcomes and to consider the implications of using contemporary genre theory …

Facilitating Coherence Across Qualitative Research Papers, Ronald J. Chenail, Maureen Duffy, Sally St. George, Dan Wulff

The Qualitative Report

Bringing the various elements of qualitative research papers into coherent textual patterns presents challenges for authors and editors alike. Although individual sections such as presentation of the problem, review of the literature, methodology, results, and discussion may each be constructed in a sound logical and structural sense, the alignment of these parts into a coherent mosaic may be lacking in many qualitative research manuscripts. In this paper, four editors of The Qualitative Report present how they collaborate with authors to facilitate improvement papers' coherence in such areas as co-relating title, abstract, and the paper proper; coordinating the method presented with …

Investigating The Use Of Graphic Organizers For Writing, Laura Nicole Delrose

LSU Master's Theses

Students are placed under increasing demands for more complex syntax and discourse structure in oral and written language as they age. Children with language and learning disabilities struggle to grasp the organization and relationships between the facts of the topic, making writing an increasingly daunting task. In addition, these students must also master conventions such as vocabulary, spelling, punctuation, and syntax to produce a written essay (Schumaker & Deshler, 2003). This study explored the efficacy of graphic organizers as a strategy to facilitate higher complexity of syntactic and discourse structures in sentence and story formation. After seven weeks of intervention, …

Cultivating Our Mosaic : Understanding The Language Choices Of Canadian Immigrant Students., Julia E. Kiernan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the competing views of multilingualism that shape U.S. and Canadian post-secondary literacy education. Drawing on education, English studies, globalization theory, applied linguistics, translation studies, multiculturalism, and second-language studies, this project engages in a study of multilingual students from writing courses at a Canadian university. The analysis focuses on the relationships between Canadian multilingualism and current U.S. scholarship surrounding English monolingualism in terms of eradicationism, language segregation, and language interaction. The findings challenge previous research and popular opinion, as well as Canadian government policy, all of which tend to designate Canadian classrooms and society as definitively accepting of …

Teaching, Learning, And Writing In The Third Space: A Study Of Language And Culture Intersecting With Instruction, Susan Toma-Berge Edd

Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation was to compare the characteristics and attributes of an effective first grade teacher of writing to English learners through the lens of the "third space." The "third space" represents a place where sociocultural theory interacts with language and culture, and authentic, integrated literacy instruction. Because there is no empirical evidence to support the theory of the "third space" the observation and interview data were analyzed using literature that draws on three areas of study: English learners, first grade literacy, and urban schools. The key findings from this study produced three themes that came about by …

Selected Students’, Parents’, And Graduate Student Tutors’ Experiences And Perceptions In A Community Of Interest Summer Literacy Camp, Kim G. Thomas

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this qualitative case study, I examined a local summer literacy camp in which

graduate student tutors tutored elementary and middle school students in reading and

writing. I focused the study on the primary stakeholders in the summer literacy camp:

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ts, and the course instructor/camp director because

their voices are limited in the current literature. In this Community of Interest Summer

Literacy Camp, the graduate student tutors moved from a position of fear and trepidation

to a position of empowerment in which they hoped to make changes in their classrooms,

schools, and communities. The tutees learned to appreciate the …

Hispanic Students' Voices In Writing, Regine Pellicer

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

This study focuses on the voices expressed by Hispanic students enrolled in first-year composition classes at a Hispanic Serving Institution in South Texas. The present research highlights similarities with a study conducted in Tucson, Arizona among Hispanic households. Both studies emphasize the importance of women as active agents in the transmission of literacy practices and language ideologies, which also reflect the dilemma of families caught between tradition and modernity. Moreover, this study reveals that Hispanics tend to look for new frameworks for their lives in evangelical Christianity. This work also focuses on students' dissonances regarding the use of oral code-switching …

Assessment Portfolios In An Intensive English Writing Program: Opportunities And Challenges, Shafiqa Anwar Abdulaziz Fakir

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

The purpose of this dissertation was to investigate the opportunities and challenges that the use of the assessment portfolio offered to both instructors and students as they used it for the first time in the writing class of an intensive English program (IEP) in the United States. Although much work has been done on portfolios in L1 and other contexts, almost nothing had been done within IEPs. Therefore, this dissertation provides novel information about portfolios in an important language learning environment. This study spanned over a period of 40-weeks. Data from four instructors and 17 students were collected through multiple …

Technology Use In A First-Year Composition Program, Estee Natee Beck

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

This study examines how instructors view and work with technology in a firstyear composition program at a four-year, public university in central Appalachia. Six interview questions were developed for this study as a means to explore the instructor’s definition of technology, level of use (functional, critical, and or rhetorical), difficulties using technology, pedagogy, and socioeconomics of the student population. Using qualitative methods to find patterns in the data, correlations were present among participant responses with functional uses, access, and socioeconomics. Educators primarily use technology functionally for the purpose of creating linear-based essays; have broad access to technology, but do not …

Making Our Way : The Incorporation Of Intermediate Fluent Bilingual Students' Personal Experience And Primary Language In A Mainstream Humanities Class At The Middle School Level, Jason Antaya

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

This action research project explored the question of how to incorporate intermediate fluent bilingual students' personal experience and primary language to improve a teacher's practice in a sixth grade Humanities class. There were three main findings in this research. First, the use of multiple languages during instruction had a positive effect on student motivation and participation. Next, student writing samples generated information relating to both language acquisition and understanding of content. Finally, multiple and varied opportunities to demonstrate and reflect on learning contributed to student success. These findings raise some questions regarding the combination of English and other languages in …

Gifted Voices: A Study Of High School Students' Proficiency In Persuasive Writing And Their Perceptions Of Personal Agency, Susan Carol Anderson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Development of the talents and abilities of gifted children is not ordinarily provided by regular public school programs. Their need for accelerated, complex, and challenging curriculum and processes is often overlooked by educators focused on helping underperforming students to reach grade-level standards. Gifted high school students who are proficient in persuasive writing are able to clearly state a claim, support that claim with evidence and backing, recognize and rebut counterclaims, and draw a conclusion leading to action. If gifted students are proficient at writing persuasively, perhaps they are also able to advocate for learning experiences that are challenging, complex, and …

Gender, Race, Identity And The Practice Of Writing A Feminist Project, Jacqueline Wang

Theses & ETDs

This thesis is an experimental engagement of the relationship between identity and writing. In it, I use multiple tones, tongues, and voices to challenge the boundaries between critical writing and creative writing, and theory and literature. The thesis is organized into three chapters that grapple with the function of silences, the significance of the location from which one writes, and the strategic potential of alternative writing styles. I draw on a range of feminist and postcolonial theorists, including Trinh T. Minh-ha, Gloria Anzaldua, Helene Cixous, Audre Lorde, Luce Irigaray, and bell hooks. The goal of this thesis is to explore …

Towards Evidence-Based Practices In Mathematics Instruction: Investigating The Impact Of Writing On Student Ability To Solve Mathematics Problems, Shaalein Carroll Lopez

Dissertations

Achievement in mathematics education for students in elementary school through college has lagged behind that of other students internationally. As a result, enhancing mathematics achievement for students in the United States of America has long been a priority. Best practices in teaching across all grades emphasize using instructional methods that have been validated through research, though a review of the literature demonstrates a lack of such substantiated practices in mathematics education. This dissertation attempts to contribute to the field of research-based practices in mathematics education by measuring the effects of an instructional practice long used in mathematics classrooms in grades …

Writing Motivation Of Students With Specific Language Impairments, Kyle Lee Brouwer

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

This study was designed to compare the writing motivation of students with specific language impairments with their non-disabled peers. Due to the cognitive and linguistic demands of the writing process, students with language impairments face unique difficulties during the writing process. It was hypothesized that students with specific language impairments will be more likely to report lower levels of perceived writing competence and be less autonomously motivated to write. Students in grades 3-5 in 11 schools (33 with specific language impairments, 242 non-disabled peers) completed self-report measures, designed from a Self-Determination Theory perspective, which measured the degree that students are …

Selecting Ell Textbooks: A Content Analysis Of Ethnicity Depicted In Illustrations And Writing, Jeffrey Labelle

College of Education Faculty Research and Publications

In an effort to respond to the need for culturally appropriate English Language Learning(ELL) resources for adolescent immigrants, the researchers gathered 64 textbooks actually in use in eight Milwaukee middle schools to analyze their content for the range of diversity of ethnicity depicted in illustrations and written text. The eight school settings selected provided a broad range of materials to analyze. In addition, these materials reflect both public and Catholic teachers’ resource selection in predominantly Latino and Southeast Asian American classroom contexts. The settings were chosen with the advice of administrators and teachers as schools they perceived to be of …

Questions Of Transfer: Writers' Perspective On Familiar/Unfamiliar Writing Tasks In A Capstone Writing Course, Heather G. Lettner-Rust

English Theses & Dissertations

Understanding what students bring from one writing context to another may the central concern for teachers of writing from elementary school to adult learning. Research from the field of composition studies offers knowledge about writing as process(es) (Emig, 1971; Shaughnessy, 1979; Russell, 1999), as socially constructed performances (Flower & Hayes, 1980; Bartholomae, 1985; Bloom, 1985), and as part of a larger activity system (Russell, 1997). This dissertation ties together theories of writing as an activity in a broader system of tools and outcomes and current research on transfer in writing in order to illustrate writers' perspectives on particular writing tasks. …

Myspace, Write Space: An Analysis Of Student Achievement In Texts For Digital Audiences, Stephanie Marie Sauceda

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

This thesis study analyzes students’ connection to audience in writing samples, gauging the performance of texts written for an actual audience, the classroom teacher and an implied audience, the web. Using Steven Toulmin’s concepts of intimate and stranger interactions, this study suggests that students may make an intimate connection with the mass web audience, thereby allowing an increase in writing performance. On the other end, students identify assignments for classroom teachers as work for the stranger audience, thus creating a writing performance gap. The following is a discussion of possible factors and elements creating this particular paradox in audience identification.

Feeling Your Way : Affect In Psychotherapy And Creative Writing From The Perspective Of The Client-Writer, Andrea Jean Torres

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

This study asked: What do the affective experiences of engaging in psychotherapy and engaging in creative writing have in common, as perceived by the client-writer? The subjective experience of six "client-writers," individuals who selfidentified as both creative writers and current or former psychotherapy clients, were explored to determine whether being in a typical psychotherapy session and in a typical creative writing session involved similar feelings and affective processes. Study findings showed that expressing feelings, accessing the unconscious, making discoveries, exploring and/or learning about oneself, and using creativity were common to both creative writing and psychotherapy; releasing energy, developing insight, identifying …

"Metaphors We Teach By": Representations Of Disciplinary And Teacherly Identity., Stephen Edwin Neaderhiser 1978-

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is a theoretical examination and textual analysis of the metaphors used to describe the act of writing and the teaching of writing. Within Rhetoric and Composition, there are specific conceptual metaphors that are instrumental to how teachers and compositionists describe the how writing development occurs, and what role teachers have in encouraging that development. This dissertation excavates the metaphoric interaction that has helped to shape the discipline of Rhetoric and Composition. I argue that the metaphors of writing run the risk of becoming "black-boxed," uncritically accepted (or resisted), which can lead to an unbalanced interactive relationship between members …

Bridging Worlds: Advocacy Stigma And The Challenge Of Teaching Writing To Secondary Ell Students, Laurie Zucker-Conde

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Standardized interviews with nine high school ESL teachers in nine Massachusetts high schools were conducted. The study examined current writing practices and teacher beliefs about ELL student capacity to achieve higher-level writing ability in the current high-stakes writing environment in urban public schools. Four major research questions were addressed: (1) How do teachers think about their role as advocates for ELL students? How do their classroom practices respond to the stigmatized position of ELL students? (2) How does ELL teacher advocacy influence how ELL teachers teach writing to ELL students? (3) How do teachers enable the higher-level writing abilities of …

Toward Death And Violence – Rhetorical And Creative Potential; A Reader's Text, Giovana Driussi

Harlot: A Revealing Look at the Arts of Persuasion

I wrote this essay for readers, hoping to provoke, inspire, enrage and enjoy. Death and violence have been painful and productive forces in my life, and specifically in my writing. In this essay I share some of these experiences and relate them directly to writing, as well as public, political, rhetorical, and historical topics. My desire is to affect personal and public reflection, and to display rhetorical agency in both spheres, thus demonstrating that such divisions, and most if not all binaries, are social constructs that beg for challenge.

Facilitating Coherence Across Qualitative Research Papers, Ronald J. Chenail, Sally St. George

The Qualitative Report

Bringing the various elements of qualitative research papers into coherent textual patterns presents challenges for authors and editors alike. Although individual sections such as presentation of the problem, review of the literature, methodology, results, and discussion may each be constructed in a sound logical and structural sense, the alignment of these parts into a coherent mosaic may be lacking in many qualitative research manuscripts. In this paper, four editors of The Qualitative Report present how they collaborate with authors to facilitate improvement papers’ coherence in such areas as co-relating title, abstract, and the paper proper; coordinating the method presented with …