English Language and Literature Commons^™

Branches, Lucy Bowman

Morehead State Theses and Dissertations

A Thesis Presented to the faculty of the Caudill College of Arts, Humanities and Social Science Morehead State University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts by Lucy Bowman December 6, 2013.

Biracial Identity In Texts Read By Secondary Education Students, Jared Madden

Honors Theses

This thesis sought to examine how biracial identity is portrayed in the literature read by students in secondary education. Unfortunately, the findings indicated that biracialism is not being adequately portrayed in this literature. Students rarely encounter biracial characters, when they do these characters are usually peripheral, and sometimes the biracialism of these characters is presented as an obstacle to be overcome. Furthermore, teachers (at least in this researcher’s local area) seem to be extremely apathetic towards even discussing this issue. The impact which all of this can have on secondary students with a biracial background is discussed. However, there are …

Teaching Self: The Ambiguity Of Lived Experience In Classroom Discourse, Scott V. Gealy

Department of English: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Inspired by Paul Heilker’s notion of the essay as a form of exploration over argument, embodying an anti-scholastic and chrono-logical approach, and Candace Spigelman’s endorsement of experience as evidence in academic discourse, this thesis weaves memoir into more traditional scholarship in an effort to complicate the archetype of the effective teacher. Furthermore, the essay seeks to deconstruct conventional student, teacher, and cultural binaries with the help of the theoretical work of Deborah Britzman, Parker Palmer, Mikhail Bakhtin, Joy Ritchie and David Wilson and others, while using Scott Russell Sanders’ narrative essay “Under the Influence” as a mentor text for …

What Jane Saw, Kate Singer

ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640–1830

Review of Professor Janine Barchas' "What Jane Saw?" a website that reconstructs Joshua Reynolds's 1813 retrospective art exhibit, which Jane Austen attended, with particular attention to the Regency social and cultural history depicted in Austen's novels.

Frances Burney’S Cecilia: A Publishing History, By Catherine M. Parisian, Lee Kahan

ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640–1830

No abstract provided.

Matters Of Fact In Jane Austen: History, Location, And Celebrity, By Janine Barchas, Laura E. Thomason

ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640–1830

No abstract provided.

Crossing Borders: An Interdisciplinary Course In The "Enlightenment", Carol White, Kathryn P. Russell

ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640–1830

In this essay, we present a twofold version of the first team-taught course on the eighteenth century designed by faculty at Clayton State University who plan to develop and teach this course again in the near future. We hope that our explanation of the original course and our projected future version of the course will be useful to scholars who teach in the eighteenth century, as well as to specialists in other historical periods who wish to plan revisions of courses to make them more reflective of current scholarship in gender studies. Authors taught in this course include Benjamin Franklin, …

Bosom Friends And The Sapphic Breasts Of Belinda, Ula E. Klein

ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640–1830

This article examines Maria Edgeworth’s 1801 novel Belinda in order to argue that the breast at the center of Lady Delacour’s narrative signifies not maternal failure but Sapphic feelings and connections. While previous studies of the novel have discussed the wounded breast of Lady Delacour as a punishment for her transgressions or as an emblem of her patriarchal oppression, this article claims that the wounded breast is both a sign of and a means to female same-sex desire and relationships. This article contrasts the wounded, festering breast with the tableau that ends the novel. The tableau, a constructed vision of …

The Door Is Locked For Your Protection, Scott Bayer

Morehead State Theses and Dissertations

A Thesis Presented to The Faculty of the Caudill College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences Morehead State University in Partial Fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree Master of Arts by Scott Bayer November 25, 2013.

An Awareness Of What Is Missing: Four Views On The Consequences Of Secularism, Rachel E. Hunt Steenblik, Heidi Zameni, Debbie Ostorga, Nathan Greeley

LUX: A Journal of Transdisciplinary Writing and Research from Claremont Graduate University

While the issues regarding widespread secularization in contemporary Western culture are difficult to properly assess, it can be argued that certain prerequisites are necessary for the well-being of any society and, furthermore, that certain of these necessary conditions are only provided by a given civilization's major religious tradition. All societies need to perpetually engage in collective action and decision making, and as any given community faces the challenges of the future, its governing religious worldview is an indispensable source of guidance and time-honored wisdom. With this in mind, it will be argued that Western civilization is dependent upon a Judeo-Christian …

Extending The Conversation: Raising Issues Of Rurality In English Teacher Education, Lisa Eckert, Robert Petrone

Faculty Works

Situated within the challenges faced by English teacher educators in the frontier state of Montana, this article argues for the need for increased attention to issues of rurality within the field of English Education. Conceptualizing rural education as an issue of social justice, the article suggests several approaches English teacher educators and researchers might take in thinking about rural English education, including integrating readings related to rurality in English Education coursework, researching the unique challenges of teacher identity formation within rural contexts, and emphasizing research focused on rural youth literacy practices.

Mark Twain And Critical Thinking In The Secondary Classroom, Daniel Zehr

Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative study will explore and evaluate the school literacy practices of high school-aged participants at the freshmen level (grade 9). It will interpret their analysis, comprehension, and critical thinking skills through an examination of confidence, abilities, and fluency through discussion and student-led dialogue. Building on previous research regarding critical thinking skills, the researcher hopes to articulate the ways in which students with varied levels of ability (grades 9-12) may be able to use their literacy learning to demonstrate critical thinking skills that will enhance their reading fluency, comprehension, and analytical skills and to foster an appreciation of literature and …

Attending To The Act Of Reading: Critical Reading, Contemplative Reading, And Active Reading, Paul T. Corrigan

Selected Faculty Publications

How students read influences how they learn. In particular, in order for students to learn to read more deeply or on a /oig/oer level, they need to learn to read actively. While many scholars and teachers appear to take active reading for granted, possibly assuming students will come into such “study skills” on their own, I propose that we should make concerted efforts to help students understand and adopt such habits as underlining, writing comments in the margins, asking questions, rereading, and so forth. In this essay, I survey recent work on critical reading, contemplative reading, and active reading and …

Homophonic Translation, Appositional Writing, And The Monster, Ryan Landry Clark

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation features a combination of critical and creative work

exploring the ethics of appropriative writing and the reparative potential of homophonic translation. The opening essay examines the ethics of appropriation- based poetry and introduces the concept of what I call "appositional writing," a term to describe ethically-minded works of poetry that make use of appropriative writing methods. The next three parts of this dissertation are each appositional writing projects that make use of homophonic translation as the primary method of composition. "Arizona State Bill 1070: An Act" is a homophonic translation of the anti-immigration bill of the same name. …

Plath Edits Book Of Essays On Raymond Carver, Kim Hill

News and Events (Discontinued Series)

No abstract provided.

The Best Practices For Teaching Writing To Postsecondary Students With Acquired Brain Injuries, Julianne Candio Sekel

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Because the writing abilities of postsecondary students with acquired brain injuries (ABI) are often determined by the student’s age when the injury was acquired, the severity of the injury, the amount of time that has passed since the injury, and the quality of the student’s writing education before the injury, it is impossible to generalize the best strategies to assist students with ABI in writing. However, through a review of existing literature on teaching writing to students with ABI, the relationship between oral and written discourse, expressive writing, educational intervention, and assistive technologies, this study presents a list of recommendations …

Using Oral Reading To Self To Improve Oral Fluency Of English Language Learners, Suwanna Klomjit

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purposes of this study were to study the effect of oral reading-to-self on adult English Language Learners' oral fluency and their perception toward oral reading-to-self. This experimental study used a pretest-posttest design. The participants (N = 63) were recruited and randomly assigned to a control group (n = 30) and an experimental group (n = 33). The speaking test: Klomjit Lincoln Measure of Spoken English (KLMSE), developed by the researcher, was administered as both pre and posttest. The treatment was an assignment to read out loud-to-self. The Evaluation of Using Oral Reading to Improve Oral Fluency, a quantitative scale …

Jack London: Landscape, Love, And Place, Kristin Yoshiko Ladd

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

In Jack London: Landscape, Love, and Place, American Studies theories and methods formed the prime basis for analysis of London's biography, historical context, and literary significance. Particularly, the ideas of agrarianism, the Turner Thesis moment, Western literature, American masculinity, Victorian ideals, and sustainable farm practices in America were used to understand London's motivations for writing and creating his farm, his influence on American literature, and his texts' abilities to open avenues between literature and place-based education. Key concepts that influenced how London's works could be incorporated into and applied to didactic theory included David Sobel's seminal works in place-based education. …

The History Of Shakespeare In American Education, 1620-1930, Joseph P. Haughey

Dissertations

This dissertation analyzes Shakespeare’s role in American education from colonial times through the Progressive Era. The history is divided into four overlapping historical periods, each represented in its own chapter and derived from four different sets of primary sources. The first chapter provides a synopsis of Shakespeare’s presence in American education in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and then, through case studies of the records of two nineteenth-century university literary societies – the Hasty Pudding Club of Harvard University and the Sherwood Rhetorical Society of Kalamazoo College – examines the role extracurricular activity played in first introducing Shakespeare at the …

Professional Writing In The English Classroom: Designing A High School Or Middle School Course (Or Unit) In Professional Writing, Jonathan Bush, Leah A. Zuidema

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

The article offers information on the development of professional writing course in English middle school or high school classroom. It mentions that a good syllabus not only provide answers to basic questions, but also to questions that Jay McTighe and Grant Wiggins have pertained to as the essential questions. It notes that students learn from writing activities and assessments including how to write in genres, evaluate the settings of professional tools, and manage their writing processes.

Integrated Theater Arts And Strategies (Itas) Program And Its Impact On Teachers’ Integration Of Theater Arts Strategies In Targeted Literacy Skills, Cayce J. Cummins

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Visual and performing arts can be taught in isolation or integrated with other core content subjects such as literacy, math, science, and social studies. Jersey City Public Schools (JCPS) implemented the Integrated Theater and Arts Strategies (ITAS) program beginning in the 2008-2009 school year and lasting through the 2010-2011 school year with eight targeted schools. Visual and performing arts standards exist in both the state’s core curriculum standards and national standards. Despite these existing standards, implementation is minimal in JCPS. JCPS plans to develop and implement the ITAS program for targeted schools with sixth and seventh grade students. Language Arts …

Remembering Things We’Ve Never Done: Memory’S Daughters And The Literary Experience, William C. Johnson

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Memory, essential in creative writing, inspires us to weave literary reading into the narrative of personal experience and to seek, through recollection, our psychic wholeness.

A Medical Humanities Course: A Pertinent Pause On The Medical Beat, Kathleen Welch

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

This article summarizes the findings of one ethnographic study and demonstrates that, by emphasizing self- reflection and discussion, an interdisciplinary literature and medicine course provides medical students a brief but important, time for retrospection.

Writing Awareness, Gwen Gorzelsky

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

The author argues that, by practicing embodied, metaphoric ethnography, educators can revise their roles in classroom social systems and so pursue the goals of critical pedagogy.

In The Name Of The Spirit, Lynn Briggs, Fred Schunter, Ray Melvin

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

The authors argue that naming experiences "spiritual" is important to an expanded understanding of goals, struggles, and success in their writing center practice.

New Locations For Discursive Agency: The Story Of Anandamai Ma, Mary Ann Cain

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

This paper aims to relocate our relationship to modes of knowledge that fall outside of Western rationalism and conceptual thought by relocating our understanding of agency through the figure of Anandamai Ma, a 20th century Hindu "saint.

Teaching Students About Plagiarism: What It Looks Like And How It Is Measured, Diana Stout

Dissertations

This case study examines how full-time faculty, adjunct instructors, and graduate teaching assistants teach students how to avoid plagiarism. Additionally, this case study includes a cross-section of teachers who encounter plagiarism in writing assignments across the curriculum. While many studies in the past have focused on students, this study places the spotlight on teachers. For this study, participants have been asked how they can be sure whether their instruction is correct or not, what it means to paraphrase and rewrite correctly, and how do they assess their students to determine if correct learning has taken place. Additionally, these instructors were …

Storytelling And Play As A Way To Help Children And Adults Internalize The Values Of Environmental Awareness, Sana (Janet) Ehehosi

Graduate Student Independent Studies

This thesis is an empirical study to find out if storytelling can be used as a tool to develop environmental and ecological awareness in an early childhood program. It also discusses the importance oral storytelling has on the language and neurocognitive development of children and why it is important to the development of literacy skills.

Passion And Compassion : Teaching First Graders Reading Comprehension Through Kindness And The Works Of Kevin Henkes, Salvi Muzio

Graduate Student Independent Studies

A literature review in the field of reading comprehension combined with a research-based curriculum created based on the experts and the author's personal experiences both in the classroom as a teacher and a student.

"For The First Time, All Over Again" : Reading Classic Children's Literature With Contemporary Children, Julia Hope Martin

Graduate Student Independent Studies

This thesis explores a simple question: what happens when modern children are exposed to the "canon" of great children's literature for the very first time? How will contemporary children process and engage with texts that are over fifty years old? Using qualitative research with her own classroom of second graders, the author sets out to explore student reactions as they discovered a selected set of exemplary children's literature.