English Language and Literature Commons^™

Grace: Something Needed In The Modern Age, Jared N. Esplin

BYU English Symposium

A look at the various differences of opinion of what grace is based in the works of Flannery O'Connor and the possible influences on her own opinions. Influences including the writings and teachings of the Apostle Paul.

Hair, Voice, And Agency: Transformation, Growing Up, And Love In Fairy Tales, Denya I. Palmer

BYU English Symposium

Fairy tales are fraught with magical transformations. However, the most important transformation is not a magical one. Characters experience a true transformation of self when they use their agency to make decisions and act, making the shift from childhood to adulthood. The deepest transformations occur when the characters determine their own destiny. Part of this shift to adulthood also includes forming and maintaining relationships with others. The tales of Rapunzel (Grimm’s 1812) and Little Mermaid (Hans Christian Andersen, 1837) include characters who transform both physically but also emotionally. Their agency and transformation of character is manifest through their voices and …

Manfred, Don Juan, And The Romantic Tragedy Of The Subject, Trenton Robert Leinenbach

Theses and Dissertations

While the Romantic lyric has long been understood as an exploration of human subjectivity, the era's dramatic works have been viewed as more oriented toward objective or mimetic representation. As such, scholarship on Romantic subjectivity from Harold Bloom to Andrea Henderson has bypassed dramatic and quasi-dramatic explorations of subjectivity. These explorations, however, add to the conversation about subjectivity in powerful ways by addressing the paradoxes of mimetically representing subjectivity. These difficulties spring from a question that surrounds mimetically represented subjectivity: how can a supposedly objective medium portray experience that is by definition non-objective, purely interior, and therefore incommunicable? This paradox …

“There Is No God And We Are His Prophets”: The Visionary Potential Of Memory And Nostalgia In Cormac Mccarthy's No Country For Old Men And The Road, Marie Reine Pugh

Theses and Dissertations

Memory and nostalgia work in complex, paradoxical ways in Cormac McCarthy's No Country for Old Men and The Road, both haunting the main protagonists, Sheriff Ed Tom Bell and the father, as well as bringing them to crucial realizations. These men give up the traditional hero role for the more meaningful and generative image of “carrying the fire,” which unites these two novels. Carrying the fire represents a memorial and nostalgic longing for home and family. Bell and the father attain this vision because of their obsession with the past, and because of their struggle with memory and nostalgia. Memory, …

Ali: A Novel, Joshua Sabey, Stephen Tuttle

Journal of Undergraduate Research

When I was in high school, my family hosted an Iraqi student named Ali. He eventually went AWOL (absent without leave) and we were able to help him get political asylum. Since then I have built friendships and collected stories from several other Iraqi students that I have now compiled into a book.

Mormon Insights, Shane Peterson, Marvin Gardner

Journal of Undergraduate Research

No abstract provided.

“See, You Are A Reader”: Using Graphic Novels To Help Struggling Readers, Stephen Nothum, Dawan Coombs

Journal of Undergraduate Research

I set out on this project to evaluate how the emerging genre of graphic novels could be used in the junior high English classroom to help struggling students develop the skills they need to not only enjoy reading but engage with literature in a meaningful way. By getting into classrooms and watching struggling students engage with comics and graphic novels, I have come to the conclusion that this genre is perfectly suited for helping students develop reading and analysis skills.

Digital Archive Of Mental Health Narratives, Elisabeth Anna Muldowney, Jon Balzotti

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Narratives have the power to help people understand experiences that are foreign to them. But narratives focusing only on a single dimension of a story have the potential to cause harm, as many popular depictions of eating disorders demonstrate. Common eating disorder narratives often correctly acknowledge that mental health challenges occur in result-driven communities. The category “result-driven” refers to environments that associate value and success with physically measurable achievements or unrealistic aesthetics. Some of these communities include dance, sports, acting, and modeling. Recent research has suggested categorizing religious groups with communities that potentially contribute to eating disorders.¹

“‘All That Glisters Is Not Gold’: Gender Representation And Theatrical Performances Of The Merchant Of Venice From 1998 To 2015”, Catherine Hollingsworth, Rick Duerden

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The Merchant of Venice poses problems concerning the representation—a social and cultural construction—of gender and Judaism. Some critics wonder whether or not this play should be performed now: could and should modern audiences experience The Merchant of Venice? This study argues that this play should be performed today and has merit, not only for aesthetic but also for social reasons. The play forces audiences to confront how gender is represented in theatrical productions and question our own perspectives. What we gain from this experience is the following: by addressing these concerns in the play, the audience recognizes the unjust …

A Mormon Theology Of Immigration: Liberation Theology In The Restored Church Of Christ, Jenna Carson, Jason Kerr

Journal of Undergraduate Research

I wrote an academic paper arguing that Latter-day Saint doctrine, especially the Law of Consecration, provides the foundation for a specific theology of liberation that can be placed in conversation with traditional liberation theology put forth by Gustavo Gutierrez. I then put the theology to work by presenting the contemporary Mexico-U.S. immigration phenomenon as a case study. I argued that liberation theology helps members of the Church better understand current LDS Church policy regarding the treatment of individuals living without documentation in the United States.

Using Reading Strategies To Teach Students Close Reading, Colleen Mcquay, Dawan Coombs

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The Common Core State Standards call for students to be better able to comprehend and close read literature when it states that students will be able to “read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it.”¹ However, even though this is what the standards are calling for, the concern is how educators can better teach and aid students in gaining skills that will contribute to increased close reading and comprehension. While research upholds the importance of these skills for academic and career success,² it lacks in discussing the implementation of strategies …

Barbara D’Austria: Women And Religious Upheaval In 16th-Century Europe, Victoria Fox, Brandie Siegfried

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The purpose of this project was to recover source documents regarding the life of a significant 16th-century woman who has been otherwise largely left out of history. Barbara d’Austria, daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I and Anna of Bohemia and Hungary, was an intensely religious and ambitious woman who was said to have used her own funds to provide shelter for women who had been displaced by an earthquake. But other than this general knowledge, and a few poems written at her marriage celebration by Torquato Tasso, little else has been developed regarding her life and influence. After scouring …

Using Literature To Combat Bullying And Suicide, Laura Giles

The Utah English Journal

Every day in Utah, two youth are treated for suicide attempts. On average, 37 youth die from suicide each year in the state. Additionally, 942 others are injured in suicide attempts each year. In 2013, suicide surpassed unintentional injuries to become the leading cause of death in Utah among youth ages 10 through 17 (Utah Department of Health, 2014).

Integration Of English And Social Studies, Craig Jeppson, Kasie Payne

The Utah English Journal

One day while eating lunch in the faculty lounge, Kasie commented on a lesson that her students had learned in Craig’s class. As we started to compare notes, it occurred to us that we shared a lot of students. Over the course of that year, we continued to share thoughts, lessons, war stories and even engaged in a little competitive banter. What became increasingly clear was that our classes complemented each other. Craig could guide students to answer content-related geography questions such as: “How can countries grow economically and sustainably?”, “Why do people fight?”, and “How does the physical environment …

Colorful Conversations, Denee D. Tyler

The Utah English Journal

When the Common Core was adopted, it quickly became evident that the ELA sections are pretty heavily packed. Many English teachers feel overwhelmed at the sheer volume of standards we are expected to cover. Teaching young readers and writers requires a significant investment of class time, and as a result, many of us end up using class discussions as the sole assessment for the Speaking and Listening standards.

An Introduction To Teaching Transitions, Amy Banks

The Utah English Journal

Transitions can be a challenge for writers at any stage. For example, I once explained to an eighth grade class my observations on a sample piece of writing. I praised their strengths, and then explained a consistent problem throughout the classes: the use of “in conclusion” for their restatement of their main claim. I teased them with no shame, and they giggled and admitted to classmates that it was the only option that came into their minds. One brilliant student then shouted out, “What if we wrote the worst argument main claim ever, starting with ‘In conclusion?’” So, we wrote …

Book Review: Highly Illogical Behavior, Jaden Anderson

The Utah English Journal

Growing up and finding your place in the world can be difficult, but having family and friends to cheer you on helps. Building relationships and remaining loyal is a prevalent theme in John Corey Whaley’s Highly Illogical Behavior. Written in the perspective of teenagers Solomon Reed and Lisa Praytor, they help each other live in the “real world,” while their perception of reality is challenged.

Our Classroom Journey Of Changing Our 7th Grade View Of The World, Gaylynn Parker

The Utah English Journal

How do I feel when I am treated unfairly? This essential question in my 7th grade Honors Language Arts class is usually met with comments such as, “My parents won’t let me get a cell phone” or “I’m tired of babysitting my siblings for free every weekend.” This year it was different. Pairing informational text with current events and literature changed the way my students saw themselves and the world, creating an awareness that elevated their perspectives from superficiality to depth as they examined the world through new eyes.

Making The "Moves" More "Modal", Thomas Henry

The Utah English Journal

We live in a multimodal world. Almost every piece of information that we receive on computers and mobile devices is multimodal. For those new to this term, multimodality refers to multiple modes of communication: the textual, the visual, the written, the aural/oral, and the gestural (Kress, 2000). Although seemingly appearing in isolation, these modalities are often expressed in pairs simultaneously. For instance, pictures may include text, videos often include audio, and even speakers and actors use gestures in their performances. In everyday online communication via Facebook, Instagram, and/or Twitter, we convey and respond to both textual and visual information working …

Book Review: Dark Energy, Marina Gutierrez

The Utah English Journal

“This story isn’t about dark energy, except to say there is a ton of stuff in the universe that we don’t understand” (Wells, 2016, p. 2).

With a touch of blue racing through her hair as she drives her BMW 550i Gran Turismo, Alice Goodwin was doing just fine in Florida. That is until her dad whisks her 2,000 miles away to the Minnetonka School for the Gifted and Talented in Minnesota. After stocking up on sweaters, she settles in at her new school while her father, director of special projects at NASA, investigates the crash landing of an alien …

Book Review: All Better Now, Mindee S. Ricks

The Utah English Journal

A modern memoir following a misfit girl from kindergarten to college, All Better Now is equal parts heartbreaking and hopeful. The author and protagonist, Emily Wing Smith, struggles for years to fit in with other kids—she is everything except “normal.”

Book Review: The Hidden Oracle, Tessa Hauglid

The Utah English Journal

“Is anything sadder than the sound of a god hitting a pile of garbage bags?” So questions the (former) god, Apollo, after Zeus turns him into a pimply 16-year-old boy, jettisoning him into a New York City dumpster. Apollo quickly realizes he has lost the very attributes that make him a god: immortality, beauty, and strength. The only divine gifts he seems to have retained are his expansive ego and his wit.

Seeing Harry Potter As An At-Risk Student: Critical Literacy, Cultural Capital, And The Wizarding World, Dawan Coombs, Jon Ostenson, Whitney Sommerville

Faculty Publications

Despite his celebrity status in the wizard community, Harry’s lack of familiarity with its culture, language, social structures, and institutions constantly causes him to question his competence and magical potential. Although most muggle teens will never deal with the challenges Harry confronts as he tries to sort out Quidditch from Slytherin and Hufflepuff on his first visit to Diagon Alley, they can empathize with Harry’s attempts to acculturate into the social, academic, and political norms of a very unfamiliar world. Many students in secondary schools exist on the margins because of disconnects between their own cultures, languages, and social practices …

Book Review: Summerlost, Amanda Shrum

The Utah English Journal

Cedar Lee’s life is ripped apart when she loses her father, and brother, Ben, in a car accident. Instead of coming to terms with her loss, twelve-year-old Cedar tries to distract herself by immersing herself in the charming world of the Summerlost Festival, a theater that performs the works of William Shakespeare. However, working at the festival has the opposite effect and causes Cedar to face her fears and the reality of her loved ones’ deaths. In her first middle grade novel, Summerlost, Ally Condie sets a moving and sincere story of grief and acceptance against a setting that is …

Reading With Your Ears, Amber Bird

The Utah English Journal

As the weight and the stress of the semester ended, I closed my British and American anthologies and put them back on the bookcase. With finals completed and assignments submitted, I had finished one of my most difficult semesters. I was anticipating a break. My solace came to me in the form of a well-used and well-read paperback young adult novel: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. After weeks and weeks of intense reading for other classes, having the opportunity to read this book was pure magic. As I mentally wandered through the hallways of Hogwarts reading about Harry, Ron, …

Inspiring Students To Value Reading, Ann C. Sharp, Lorilynn Brandt, Douglas S. Gardner

The Utah English Journal

Have you ever seen a struggling reader rally his friends to buy the same book at a school book fair, and then spearhead a series of literacy circle activities during recess time? Uncommon at best, right? Recently, one fourth grade teacher in Utah County while implementing reading motivational principles in her classroom reported just such an incident. In her words: “I have a group of boys in my class and one of them is a[n] extremely low reader and I don’t know if he has ever tried reading a chapter book or anything like that, and they made their own …

Book Review: Writing With Mentors: How To Reach Every Writer In The Room Using Current, Engaging Mentor Texts, David Premont

The Utah English Journal

Allison Marchetti and Rebekah O’Dell, in their debut book, demonstrate their proclivity toward strategic and infectious writing habits in Writing with Mentors (2015). Marchetti and O’Dell’s student-centered writing classroom is evident from the onset of their book as they approach writing in an inquiry-based manner, saturated with examples from professional writers.

Book Review: Reading Nonfiction: Notice & Note: Stances, Signposts, And Strategies, Lorraine Wallace

The Utah English Journal

For years, Utah’s Core Curriculum Standards have included teaching informational text, but with Utah’s adaptation of the Common Core, teaching nonfiction is being emphasized more than ever before, and many teachers have grudgingly incorporated these texts into their curriculum. However, many of us have just assigned these new texts with little deliberate instruction, and our students have typically tried to read nonfiction the same way they have always read fiction. After all, they think, reading is reading.

Full Issue

The Utah English Journal

No abstract provided.

Dodging Marshmallows: Simulations To Teach Ethics, Justin Weidman, Dawan Coombs

Faculty Publications

Students had just participated in an experiential learning exercise where they played dodgeball using marshmallows. But the unique context of the game introduced ethical dilemmas that integrated ethics education into a technical education classroom setting.

Research shows that “Engineering curriculum and activities at the K-12 level should be designed to expose students to [ethical considerations inherent in the practice of engineering], and as a result students should be aware of the importance of these issues in the field of engineering” (Moore, Glancy, Tank, Kersten, Smith, & Stohlmann, 2014). But how do STEM teachers teach students to think about ethical issues …