English Language and Literature Commons^™

Motivations To Choose English Teaching At Utah State University, Aaron Piscione

Fall Student Research Symposium 2020

One of the most important careers is that of teaching—but why do students at Utah State choose the English Teaching major? Understanding the answer to this question will help prospective English teaching majors to know if the major is right for them, advising and advising services at USU to direct students to the major if it is correct for them, and the English department at USU to understand why it is that those students have chosen to be there. The methods used to obtain the results of this study are simple—a combination of surveys and interviews given to current students …

Power And Pain: Dickinson's Approach To The Sublime, Isabelle Quigley, Westin Smith, Sariah Dutkiewicz

Fall Student Research Symposium 2020

Dickinson's poetry remains an enigma for contemporary readers and scholars because she maintained such a reclusive life as a poet. The ambiguity of her personal and professional life reflects the uncertainty in her poetry, and her refusal to publish much of her work in her lifetime further obscures concrete readings of her poems. However, she did prepare her poetry in the form of manuscript books for future readers. Unlike other authors, Dickinson offered no guidelines on how to approach her work. This lack of guidance has created a constant struggle of interpreting Dickinson's poetry, and to try a resolve this …

War And Death In The Works Of Emily Dickinson, Alexis Roberts, Kenley Kofford, Lexi Melmoth

Fall Student Research Symposium 2020

In analyzing Emily Dickinson's work within Fascicle 23, her relationship with death and dying is highlighted through her ways of writing about it in peaceful, hopeful, and solemn ways. Death, through Dickinson, is not a macabre subject, or one of disturbing lonely fascination. Though one of Dickinson's most renown reputations is for being a gothic and dark writer, her poems about death represent emotions that were not usually felt when writing about death. These poems were not meant to scare her readers, but to provide hope, and mystery around the ambiguity of death. "Because I could not stop for Death …

There All Along: Emily Dickinson's Nimble Belief In The Face Of Religious And Societal Convention, Anne Schill, Addy Kirkham, Miranda Cundick, Callie Griffeth

Fall Student Research Symposium 2020

At a time when religious fervor seemingly provided all answers for human life, Emily Dickinson entertains "nimble belief": the idea that never settling for one answer makes life more compelling. Our central question is the following: How does Dickinson's religious and societal nimble belief manifest in specific hand-bound manuscript booklets (fascicles) of her poetry? This research is important because its answer gives insight into societal norms during the Second Great Awakening by both establishing boundaries of acceptability and illuminating what an affected individual thinks of such boundaries. Dickinson's position as a woman brings significance to her work because women of …

Emily Dickinson As A Spiritual Guide, Gabbi Shumway, Emma Carlsen, Connor Coles

Fall Student Research Symposium 2020

Emily Dickinson is known for her willingness to speak out about her beliefs even when they went against the social norm. In this presentation we will look at the poem "This World Is Not Conclusion" and the collection of poems surrounding it. The question that we will address with these poems is how does Emily Dickinson invite her audience to follow a religious journey? Dickinson's faith continually evolves undulating back and forth between faith and skepticism. In This World Is Not Conclusion, Dickinson shows what the religious pathway looks like, as the poem speaks of a desire for faith and …

Formalized Curiosity: Outcomes Of An Empirically-Based Research Methods Course For English Majors, Samantha Stringham

Fall Student Research Symposium 2020

What are the outcomes of a course designed for English majors that teaches empirical research methods and uses quantitative and qualitative data collection? This question is of particular importance as students majoring in English typically do not engage in empirical research but are accustomed to humanistic inquiry or creative activity. Although there has been considerable research on assessment of outcomes of undergraduate research on STEM students (Lopatto; Seymour, et al), to date, no assessment of outcomes has been done on this population. We--all enrolled in just such a course--approached this research question through mixed methods:

• Content analysis of the syllabus; …

The Body And The City: Re-Envisioning Hong Kong Through Protest Poetry, Kimberlie Young

Fall Student Research Symposium 2020

In a time of civil unrest in Hong Kong starting summer of 2019, Hong Kong citizens have navigated a shift in identity and their political social climate. Beginning in early summer of 2019, protests broke out around Hong Kong in response to the Hong Kong government's proposal of an Extradition Bill, which ultimately would allow Hong Kong legal power to "extradite fugitives to territories where it doesn't have formal extradition deals, including mainland China, Taiwan and Macau" (Hollingsworth, 2019). The poems examined in this essay convey what it means to be a citizen of Hong Kong during a time of …

What Experiences Influence Individuals To Become An English Teacher?, Amanda Horning

Fall Student Research Symposium 2020

How do past literacy experiences influence an individual to choose an English teaching major? There is a teacher shortage across the nation that shows that not many individuals choose to become teachers. People's career choices are often influenced by experiences and this study is to find out what experiences influence those few individuals to choose the pathway to becoming an educator, specifically in English. English teaching students at Utah State University were asked to participate in a survey inquiring about their past literacy experiences in order to find which ones had the most impact on their decision to become an …

From A Non-Consensual Incestuous Relationship To A Promotion To Priestess: The Way That A Father Controls Their Daughter Determines The Status Level That A Woman Can Hold In Apollonius Of Tyre, Sarah Haggerty

Arts & Sciences Undergraduate Showcase

Is a woman only considered a woman when she is owned by a man? How does the relationship between father and daughter shape the way a woman is seen or treated in medieval society? This project examines the Old English version of Apollonius of Tyre, a rare example of secular 11th century prose, as translated by Benjamin Thorpe. Apollonius of Tyre deals with three different familial relationships and the various ways that the fathers as both leaders of the house, and royal officials treat their daughters as property that they own. From one daughter having basic freedoms such as being …

Cross-Cultural Adaptation Of Mandarin-Speaking Undergraduate Students In The United States, Enhao Wang

Master's Projects and Capstones

ABSTRACT

Studying in the United States is many Chinese students' dream, but those who manage to achieve it encounter two main problems. The first one is the language barrier and the second one cultural shock. Chine is the highest provider of international students with 30% from statistics of 2017/2018 class. The primary language spoken by Chinese is the Mandarin language. All the other languages come in as a second language to most Chinese, including English. When they travel out of their country to further education as students, they are hampered by language barriers as they navigate through their struggle.

China …

Racism In Education Remix, Kevin M. Donton

English Department: Research for Change - Wicked Problems in Our World

Racism in Education has been a huge problem in the United States today, and it still is. The presence of racism in the education system is quite controversial and many people have strong opinions on it. Its roots date all the way back to slavery in the United States to the Brown vs. the Board of Education case to the Reagan Revolution to present day in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement. This topic has been a problem for a long time now and should be brought up more. Along with this information and as a reinterpretation, or …

Cvc's Plans For Spring 2021

St. Norbert Times

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Claiming A Piece Of Tradition: Community Discourse In Russian Mennonite Community Cookbooks, Amy Harris-Aber

Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies

Russian Mennonite immigrants who settled south central Kansas in the late 19th century and their descendants naturally developed a discourse community that differentiates them from the dominant culture in which they reside. Changing regional dynamics regarding diversity along with continued acculturation impacts this ethnoreligious community in a kind of dual displacement; the descendants of these Russian Mennonites not only live in the shadow of their ancestors’ collected memories and traumas related to migration but have and are currently witnessing further shifts away from the once agricultural lifestyle they previously observed. Therefore, heritage preservation is increasingly vital for stakeholders engaged with …

Lack Of Resources In Classrooms, Juliana Maffea

English Department: Research for Change - Wicked Problems in Our World

The lack of resources in classrooms are evident around the world, but in this poster, the focus is on the state of Virginia. Teachers are struggling to teach with barely any resources or money, and the students are attempting to learn with little to no supplies. If schools continue to under supply teachers, the students and teachers are going to fall behind. Teachers will not be in the best moods, and the students will suffer. In this poster, it is evident there are some things that can be done to help, but it will take time and effort.

Emily Dickinson: 19th Century Poet In A 21st Century World, Stephanie Merrigan

Master of Arts in Professional Writing Capstones

This capstone will discuss what channels mediate public access to literary content in the case of Emily Dickinson’s poems and letters. The discussion continues with how this was a problem for Dickinson while she was alive due to her reclusiveness and unorthodox punctuation. The capstone then looks at the other aspects of this in the roles that editors, the merchandise now made with lines from Dickinson’s work, and digital technologies play in that circulation, but also how they have played a role in making Dickinson a pop culture icon in the 21^st century.

A Final Portfolio, David Chapman

Master of Arts in English Plan II Graduate Projects

This portfolio includes an example of English/Language Arts research, literary analysis, technical writing, and syllabi for teaching high school seniors.

Mixed Messages: Reading Contemporary U.S. Literature Of Biracial Girlhood, Candice Nicole Hale

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The tragic mulatta character is no longer an accurate representation of biracial female characters in literature. This dissertation considers the vast history of the tragic mulatto genre and its tragic and mired representations of biracial women and how they are often portrayed in literature. Within a historical, legal, and political analysis, I highlight the ways perceptions, attitudes, and representations about biracial individuals have changed, so those same shifts should change in the literature. Because of the bourgeoning field of Critical Mixed Race Studies (CMRS), both scholars and authors are recasting and rewriting the narratives and discourses of mixed-race in the …

Tolkien And The Age Of Forgery: Improving Antiquarian Practices In Arda, Will Sherwood

Journal of Tolkien Research

This article situates J.R.R. Tolkien's legendarium as a literary descendent of the antiquarian projects from the 'Age of Forgery' in the 1760s. It argues that Tolkien's motivation to create a national mythology echoed those of James Macpherson and Thomas Chatterton. Drawing on previously unpublished folios from Tolkien's undergraduate notebooks, it showcases his familiarity with the two forgers, their feigned literary heritages, and British antiquarian practices in the eighteenth century. It further argues that Tolkien improved on Macpherson's and Chatterton's antiquarian methodologies by marrying the oral tradition with the written word in The Book of Lost Tales, The Hobbit, and The …

Educational Progress‐Time And The Proliferation Of Dual Enrollment, Brice Nordquist, Amy J. Lueck

English

In this commentary, we use the occasion of the proliferation of dual enrollment to examine the discursive construction of difference between high school and college literacies, and its effects on teachers and students. This discursive divide has real, material consequences. It informs (and constrains) literacy practices and pedagogies, becomes a barrier to access (particularly when operationalized in testing procedures), contributes to dropout and attrition, exacerbates unequal power and resources in communities, and justifies hierarchical relations between high school and college faculty and staff. By deconstructing the definitions of high school and college and the metaphors of containment they rely on, …

The Culturally Capitalised Graduate: Toward A Wider Reading Experience For Undergraduate Students, Sue Norton

Books/Book Chapters

This essay considers higher education policy in Ireland that, in limited optional ways, is diversifying the undergraduate curriculum to incorporate wider reading across disciplines. Such policies, now gaining traction, aim to foster greater graduate employability, understood as the resilience and resourcefulness to secure positions in the workplace over time, and in fluctuating periods of supply and demand; they also support graduates to live more meaningfully in society. This essay’s three sections draw upon several sources including a business consultancy website, journal articles, and academic papers and reports. It extrapolates in particular from the research of Julia Preece and Anne-Marie Houghton …

Orts: The George Macdonald Society Newsletter, The George Macdonald Society

Orts: The George MacDonald Society Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Violet Is One Letter Off From Violent, Audrey E. Spina

Master’s Theses and Projects

The poems in this creative collection, Violet is one letter off from violent, aim to add to the critical conversation in contemporary poetry about violence, women’s anger, patriarchal oppression, and physical and sexual assault, specifically drawing on analyses from the poetry of Rachel McKibbens, Tarfia Faizullah, Emily Skaja, Erika L. Sánchez, Tracy K. Smith, Safiya Sinclair, and Paisley Rekdal. My myriad speakers, who take both first and third person points of narrative view, reclaim and reproduce their own stories in ways that are complex, vulnerable, and angry as a result of living under and through traumatic experiences in domestic and …

Cold Snap, Skylar Beauregard

Master’s Theses and Projects

For my Master’s Thesis project, I will be writing an original piece of realistic fiction inspired by the “dirty realism” literary movement of the 20th century. This piece of fiction, at the end of these two semesters, will resemble a novella in length and style while focusing on execution and maintenance of profluence as an element of narrative craft. My first semester will be spent conducting topical research on female urban youth and modern sex work in the form of short interviews and field research, closely reading some relevant contemporary “dirty realism” pieces of fiction, and using craft-based handbooks to …

Cultivating Classroom Libraries That Promote Multicultural Literature: Helping Our Students See Themselves In The Books That They Read, Kori Krafick

Certificate of Advanced Studies (CAS) in Literacy

The purpose of this study, focusing on diversity in children’s literature, was to assist teachers in choosing quality multicultural literature for students. Quality multicultural literature lacks bias, avoids discrimination, racism, prejudice and sexism, and accurately portrays social issues, historical details, and dialects in both the words and the illustrations. The goal of this project was to provide teachers with criteria to use when evaluating multicultural literature. Howlett and Young’s (2019) instrument for evaluating multicultural literature, Literary Criticism and the Absence of Bias, was used to assess multicultural literature. The survey included questions pertaining to inherent racism, bias, prejudice, and discrimination, …

How Apocalypse Now Adapts Heart Of Darkness’S Imperialist Critique To A New Medium And A Different Culture, Samuel Battle

Undergraduate Projects

Francis Ford Coppola’s 1979 film Apocalypse Now affirms the key message of its source material, Joseph Conrad’s 1899 novella Heart of Darkness, to suggest that the imperialist mindset continues to significantly affect international interactions even in modern times. While the original novella reflects and criticizes contemporary British imperialism in Africa, the adaptation shifts the setting to Vietnam in 1968 and primarily satirizes the American army’s actions during the war. While the subject of the story’s critique is different, Coppola preserves the core message of the novella – that all humans are capable of falling into their inner darkness and …

The Case Of Limbo: The Search For Identity In Sylvia Plath’S Short Fiction And The Bell Jar, Kristin Lyons

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Though Sylvia Plath’s poems and novel undergo frequent scholarly research, her short fiction is often overlooked. Plath’s journals influenced her short fiction writing, and her stories reflected Plath’s lived experiences. Plath’s short fiction, like her other works, explore themes of identity and detachment. Each of her protagonists exist in a personal limbo, and they strive to find their identities and to fit the roles in which they occupy. This thesis focuses on “Mary Ventura and the Ninth Kingdom,” stories from Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams, and additional research from scholarly journals and biographies, with comparisons to identity struggles …

Stronger Than Fiction: Literary And Cultural Merit Of Contemporary African American Christian Fiction, Shewanda Larue Riley

English Dissertations - Archive

My primary goals with this dissertation are to take a close look at how contemporary African American Christian fiction performs important literary and cultural functions and explore how these works reinforce or subvert perceptions of the contemporary African American Christian woman. The specific texts that I analyze are chosen from 1997-2007, the earliest time period of publication of contemporary African American Christian fiction as they set the tone for African American Christian fiction literary works that have been published since that time. The primary research question driving this project is whether contemporary African American Christian fiction has literary and cultural …

When Ice Isn’T Slippery, Alyssa Witbeck Alexander

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This thesis is the start of what I envision to be a full-length memoir that addresses themes of perfectionism and sacrifice. I begin with an introductory chapter, then move into three chapters that highlight different elements of my life that are affected by these themes. I begin exploring childhood, passion for figure skating, perfectionism, Mormonism, and my first romantic relationship. The next chapter shows ways in which this commitment to perfectionism and sacrifice results in a severe eating disorder, and the ways in which that affects me, my family, and my relationship with figure skating. The final chapter chronologically covers …

Holy Stitches Batman, Or, Performative Villainy In Gothic/Am, A. Luxx Mishou

English Theses & Dissertations

Holy Stitches, Batman, or, Performative Villainy in Gothic/am is an interdisciplinary examination of gothic affect and deviant fashion in the narrative construction of villainy. It asks not just what a villain looks like, but what it means to look like a villain. A villain is a character who consciously and purposefully deviates from standards of normativity in order to pursue their own, often criminal, interests. The signifier of “villain” articulates a different purpose – an adversarial relationship with normativity that guides personal identification. Not exceptional to a gendered cultural system, they are informed by the societies in which they operate, …

Gods Among Men, Christian Burgos

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Abstract Gods Among Men is a creative text that functions critically to dissect the genre of superhero fiction and bring forth critiques of our culture of worshipping celebrities and political figures. I cite Woody Evans’ work in my critical introduction as being central to my project. Evans puts forth the idea that superheroes are inherently conservative because they are reactive agents that do not proactively change anything. They instead maintain the status quo. Villains, on the other hand, try to effect change for a different end, one they deem better for society. Through the use of characters, this text demonstrates …