English Language and Literature Commons^™

Defining "Teacher", Kyle D. Trott

Virginia English Journal

The author takes an etymological look at the term “teacher” to humanize the current post-modern teacher’s quarries as to what their purpose is as a teacher. The author explicates the two terms, didaskalōs and pedagogue, to address the competing ideas of the role of a teacher before asserting that success, or virtue, comes in the form of continued development, paideia, of both the teacher and their students. Concluding that the current teacher doesn’t need to be any kind of teacher other than the one who continues to improve.

Making Reading So “Useful” It Sticks, Sarah Tanner-Anderson

Virginia English Journal

In the English language arts classroom, students must not only understand and appreciate the value of reading, writing, and speaking, but they must also learn, employ, and hone these skills for use as contributing members of their current and future societies. Our task, then, is to make learning so “useful” that it sticks-- to build a strong foundation of literacy that may continue to expand as students’ life experiences provide more depth and relevance to their work. For reading, specifically, we must both encourage and support interest, stamina, and understanding of the texts we explore, which is no small feat …

Let’S Get Graphic: The Integration Of Visual Representations To Demonstrate Learning, Courtneay Kelly

Virginia English Journal

Students derive meaning from knowledge that is presented to them in various ways. An instructor may present information through different modalities, though direct verbal instruction is the mode most often employed (Beesley & Apthorp, 2010). Research indicates that, when information is constructed through the use of visual representations, students gain deeper and more enduring understanding of the content (Jewitt, 2008; Kress, 1997). This article provides an explanation and definition of nonlinguistic and linguistic visual representations, a review of what research indicates in the integration of them, and examples of the inclusion of concept-based visual representations in a college course that …

Helping Freshmen Revise:Collaborative Peer Review Through The Eyes Of Students, Jean S. Filetti

Virginia English Journal

No abstract provided.

The Sublime Utility Of Poetry, Louis Gallo

Virginia English Journal

No abstract provided.

Introduction From The Editor And Vate President-Elect, Jenny M. Martin

Virginia English Journal

No abstract provided.

The Role Of Student Engagement In The Relationship Between Classroom Motivation And Academic Achievement, Damodaran Shailaja

Student Works (2020-2029)

The aim of this study was to investigate undergraduate students’ perceived classroom motivation and perceived engagement in learning English course. It also examined the extent to which student engagement plays a mediating role in the relationship between classroom motivation and academic achievement. Using the Basic Needs Satisfaction at College Scale (Jenkins-Guarnieri et al., 2015) and Student Course Engagement Questionnaire (Handelsman et al., 2005), cross sectional surveys were conducted to collect data on classroom motivation and student engagement, respectively. Academic achievement was measured based on students’ course examination results. The sample comprised 137 undergraduate students from a public university in Malaysia. …

A Needs Analysis Of Oral Communication For Business Students, Raminderjeet Singh Savina Kaur

Student Works (2020-2029)

English is a universal language of communication in many industries such as Education, Business, Medical, Finance, Hospitality and Digital World. The present study focuses on the oral communicative needs analysis for business students in one of the private universities in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It was reported that many employers were reluctant to employ fresh graduates due to poor communication in English (Sani, R. The NST, 2019). Therefore, the objectives of this study is to identify three things which are, the English language needs of the Business students and challenges of the business students in English language as well as to …

Oral Presentation Skills Among Low Proficiency Esl Undergaduates, Majamin Zeuricca Johnny

Student Works (2020-2029)

This research study seeks to examine the issues that are related to ‘Oral Presentation Skills among Low Proficiency ESL Undergraduates’. The two research questions that have been constructed in this study focuses on eliciting the perspective of low proficiency undergraduates on the types of oral presentation difficulties that are faced by them and the types of communicative strategies that are used by this group in coping with their oral presentation difficulties. A total of fifty one low proficiency undergraduates from 3 local private universities with a MUET score of Band 1 and Band 2 have participated as respondents for the …

Little Girl In The Country: A Children's Book, Holly Mcginnis

Honors Theses

A Work of Children’s Literature to Address Realities of Childhood in the Southern United States

This thesis investigated the intersection of life’s realities and children’s literature. Representation is an oft-talked-about area of children’s literature. It is coming to light that many groups are underrepresented in writings for children, and recent works are attempting to broaden the types and backgrounds of characters to represent the diversity of readers and authors. This thesis is the author’s attempt to accurately represent the types of students she encountered in student teaching experiences in the Oxford-area. Using inspiration from her own childhood and knowledge of …

Flipgrid And Second Language Acquisition Using Flipgrid To Promote Speaking Skills For English Language Learners, Annelise Difilippantonio-Pen

Master’s Theses and Projects

Integrating twenty-first century skills within the classroom has become a global driving force within the educational field. While schools have adopted models of one-to-one technology or digital formats for native English speakers, addressing the twenty-first century skills for English language learners have been absent. Given that the present global society is driven on bilingualism and multilingualism, English language learners need to be given the equitable digital opportunity to build their twenty-first century skills. The purpose of this mixed methods research study is to explore the influence and use of the digital application, Flipgrid, on the oral, English development for foundational, …

Getting To Denver: Instructor Participation In The Design Of Writing Program Assessment Technologies, Soha Fransis Turfler

English Language and Literature ETDs

This dissertation presents a framework for writing instructor participation in the design of writing program assessment technologies. I base this framework on a case study into the participation of 16 non-tenure track (NTT) and graduate teaching assistant (GTA) writing instructors in the design of a final portfolio assignment prompt for the first-year composition (FYC) program at the University of New Mexico (UNM). I specifically question how Writing Program Administrators (WPAs) and assessment designers can address the needs, interests, and values of writing instructors in the design of writing program assessment technologies, including the important need for agency and professional autonomy. …

Teaching The Power Of Pictures, Rachel Speranza

KUCC -- Kutztown University Composition Conference

Though choosing sources that have specific copyright that allows for the reuse, modification, and redistribution of pictures is an important lesson for all students of all grade levels, what’s even a more important lesson is that of the power of social media. The perfect picture can spread like a wildfire across all social media platforms. Pictures have the power to change someone’s mood, political opinion, and even advocate for change on the other side of the world.

Louder Than A Bomb: Poetry Slams And Community Activism Create A Powerful Brew, Kristin Lems

Faculty Publications

Louder than a Bomb is the oldest youth poetry slam in the country, born out of Chicago's oral performance resources, including Second City. The article shares LTAB's beginnings, evolution, growth, and influence, and the author describes the experience of being a judge at the annual poetry slam.

Global Language Variation In Online Writing Instructional Spaces: English As A Lingua Franca Among Global Participants In A Massive Open Online Course, Angela May Dadak

English Theses & Dissertations

Two vectors of the internationalization of US higher education—online courses and student diversity—intersect at a point where a broad mix of culturally and linguistically diverse students enroll in online courses, including writing courses. This study applies an English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) lens to examine language in an online writing environment in order to understand how the participants use their linguistic resources to communicate in English across varieties and around the world. This study employs discourse analysis to two discussion forums from a US-based composition MOOC (Massive Open Online Course). More than three quarters of the MOOC participants came …

Fun With Grammar, Beena Anil

Teacher India

Activity-based learning can help students to learn grammar. Dr Beena Anil shares practical tips.

Drawing Power: Analyzing Writing Center As Homeplace Through Gesture Drawings, Hannah Telling

The Writing Center Journal

No abstract provided.

From Small Beginnings To Large-Scale Harm: On Demagoguery And Misogyny In The Classroom And Writing Center, Shannon Roberson

Theses and Dissertations

My project is grounded in the rhetorical concept of aretê—excellence or virtue—as it relates to education and educational spaces within demagogic and misogynist cultural forces. The problems of demagoguery and misogyny stem from small-scale perpetuation of agonistic norms that go unaddressed in U.S. culture, a culture that is deeply identity-driven. These forces persist on social media platforms and within patriarchal systems of education.

For my project, I suggest rhetorical media literacy education of small-scale demagoguery moments on social media as a way to bring awareness to larger-scale events. On a micro-scale, social media influencers cultivate behaviors that mimic demagogic …

The Effects Of Differentiated Reading Instruction On Reading Comprehension And Self-Efficacy Of Undergraduate Students, Prodpran Cholsakorn

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

This study examined the effects of differentiated reading instruction (DRI) on the reading comprehension and self-efficacy of undergraduate students. The study indicated their improvement in both areas after the intervention. Thirty-three students attending the course of English for Scientists were chosen for the study. The pre-test in reading comprehension and the self-efficacy questionnaire were administered before the intervention. The scores of the pre-test of reading comprehension were used to divide the students into two groups according to their level of reading proficiency: lower-proficiency level students and higher-proficiency level students. The post-test of reading comprehension and that of self-efficacy was administered …

Development Of Out-Of-Class Extensive Reading To Enhance Perceived English Reading Self-Efficacy Of Underserved Students, Chanisara Tangkijmongkol

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

Perceived English reading self-efficacy is one of the essential factors that facilitate development of English language ability as it motivates learners to read and learn. The present study aimed to investigate the outcomes of out-of-class extensive reading to enhance perceived reading self-efficacy of underserved student and to explore underserved students' attitudes towards out-of-class extensive reading. In this study, a mixed-method research design, with a particular focus on the use of narrative inquiry, was employed, and the study participants consisted of five lower secondary students in a slum community in Bangkok, Thailand. The purposively selected participants were between 14 and 15 …

Reader Response Theory: Students’ Encounter And Challenges With E- Literature, Ma. Junithesmer D. Rosales, John Paolo Sarce

English Faculty Publications

This paper investigated the overall experience of learners with e-literature (e-lit). E-lit as a new form of economy in the field of literature and humanities prompted authors and scholars to create newborn sites of learning — videograph fiction, kinetic poetry, text tula (hyperpoem), and hyperfiction. Thus, the digitization of resource materials in literature led the researchers to investigate the outer circle of some of these new born sites by focusing on the following: readers and their experiences on understanding and learning through e-lit; textual which is concerned with performance and complexities of using this new form of literature; and cultural …

Creating A New Standard: Living, Learning, And Teaching In Southern Appalachia, Martha Holt

Master of Arts in English Plan II Graduate Projects

This portfolio, submitted in fulfillment of an MA in English with a teaching specialization, explores teaching and living in southern Appalachia. The papers include a defense of literary studies, a pedagogical piece on the use of code-switching, dialect, and the vernacular in today’s classrooms, a lesson plan and materials to introduce high school students to writing the academic memoir, and an example of the academic memoir which explores the personal and long-lasting effects of verbal and emotional abuse.

Teaching English Language Arts: Implementing A Project-Based Learning Approach, Nashwa Elkoshairi

Master of Arts in English Plan II Graduate Projects

Teaching English Language Arts: Implementing a Project-Based Learning Approach

Abstract

This portfolio includes four projects that are woven together to explore topics in teaching literature and composition using a project-based learning pedagogy. The first project, “Literature & Social Cognition: Why Read Fiction?” sets the groundwork for the importance of literature in academia through a brief analysis of Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. The second project, “Grappling with Consumerism by Tapping into Freud’s Uncanny: Using Coraline for a PBL Approach” explores Coraline through the critical lenses of the uncanny and Marxism to guide students through a variety of texts including …

Remembering How To Listen: A Theoretical And Pedagogical Approach To Literacy, Adolescence, And Young Adult Literature, Stuart A. Morris

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

There is a substantial and growing body of critical theory on young adult literature (YAL), and there are a multitude of publications dealing with how secondary English/ELA teachers incorporate YAL in their classroom. From a curricular perspective, however, YAL is still most often considered inferior to canonical novels (i.e., “classics” or “great books”); thus, there has been no substantive or concerted movement to include YAL in secondary English/ELA at a curricular level, particularly in grades ten, eleven, and twelve. While the scholarship on YAL is extensive, discussion of YAL is most often devoted to pedagogy or literary theory, as if …

A Comparison Of Eighth Grade General Education Students’ Ela Scores In Co-Teaching And Regular Classrooms, Deborah Cecilia Mitchell

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This causal comparative, ex post facto quantitative study compared the Georgia Milestones English Language Arts (ELA) scores of 8th-grade general education students taught in a co-teaching classroom compared with scores of students taught in a regular classroom. The research focused on a comparison of the academic performance of two groups on statewide standardized assessments in ELA over 2 consecutive years, 2017 and 2018. The study contributes to the limited research regarding student achievement of general education students in co-teaching classrooms. This study was based on Vygotsky’s social development theory. The research questions examined the differences in the academic performance of …

English Language Learners In K-12 Classrooms: Problems, Recommendations And Possibilities, Trisha Henderson

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Since California is the state with the highest number of English Language Learner (ELL) students in the nation (Abedi and Levine, 2013; Estrada, 2014), there is clearly a need for what Abedi and Levine (2013) call "accommodation" in educating ELLs in K-12 classrooms. This paper is an attempt to synthesize the current scholarship surrounding K-12 educational practices of ELLs nationally, but with special emphasis on key states: California and Arizona. It begins by describing the achievement gap between the growing number of ELLs and their native English speaking peers (NSP). The paper will first discuss possible reasons for this achievement …

Cultivating A New Educator: Teacher And Students Sharing Growth, Megan Campbell

Master of Arts in English Plan II Graduate Projects

This is Megan Campell-Looney's final portfolio for her M.A. in English (with a specialization in teaching). It includes a reflective narrative and four revised pieces: "A Murderous Moral Tale: Depictions of the Ideal Victorian in Wilkie Collins' Jezebel's Daughter," "Critical Thinking and Counseling Through the Power of Literature," Developing an American Identity: Syllabus and Assignment Plan," and "Evolving and Adapting Rhetoric and Theory: Indigenous Theory Writing Back." The portfolio focuses on research and study that developed Looney's classroom pedagogy and philosophy. Students and educators both must write back to gain the agency needed for growth.

Remaking Identities, Reworking Graduate Study : Stories From First-Generation-To-College Rhetoric And Composition Phd Students On Navigating The Doctorate., Ashanka Kumari

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation responds to the decreasing number of first-generation-to-college doctorates in the humanities and the limited scholarship on graduate students in Rhetoric and Composition. Scholars in Rhetoric and Composition have long been invested in discussions of academic and/or disciplinary enculturation, yet these discussions primarily focus on undergraduate students, with few studies on graduate students and far fewer on the doctoral students training to become the next wave of a profession. In this dissertation, I argue that if we engage intersectional identities as assets in the design of doctoral programs, access to higher education and academic enculturation can become more manageable …

"'Who’S There?' 'Nay, Answer Me. Stand And Unfold Yourself' : Attending To Students In Diversified Settings", Naomi C. Liebler

Department of English Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Teaching Shakespeare at secondary or undergraduate university levels is remarkably variegated. Students bring their lives and experiences to their understanding, making it an unpredictably rich experience, regardless of the “level” of the class. I aim to tap into what they already know to enable them to find a path for them to forge their own connections. I want them to own what they read, to make it their own.

Wounds And Writing : Building Trauma-Informed Approaches To Writing Pedagogy., Michelle L. Day

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation builds a trauma-informed approach to writing pedagogy informed by writing studies scholarship about trauma and inclusive pedagogy, clinical social work literature on trauma-informed care, and interviews with nine current University of Louisville writing faculty about their experiences academically supporting distressed students. I identify three central touchstones—“students are coddled,” “teacher’s aren’t therapists,” and “institutions don’t support trauma-informed teaching”—in scholarly and public debates regarding what to do about student trauma/distress in higher education. After exploring the valid concerns and misconceptions underpinning these touchstones, I illustrate how clinical research offers a way forward to help writing instructors develop more complex understandings …