English Language and Literature Commons^™

Interpreting Minorness And Minor Characters In The Victorian Novel, Grace Pregent

Dissertations

An unprecedented and staggering wealth of characters floods the Victorian novel with its rich social representation of the nineteenth century. in reading these capacious narratives that seemingly accumulate objects, plots, and people, critics continuously privilege plot and minimize or dismiss the intricate participation of minor characters in the construction of meaning. Studies of literary characterization have classically struggled to articulate a theory of character that moves beyond reductive dichotomies€”flat or round, major or minor€”but that does not become inflated and cumbersome. Despite a lack of comprehensive critical attention, minor characters are no minor matter, and the brevity of their textual …

Thinking With Christian Existentialism: Freedom In Burke’S Logology And Berdyaev’S Dostoevsky, Steven J. Mailloux

English Faculty Works

Kenneth Burke’s logology is a way of thinking about how to understand the use of language—what he calls “symbolic action”—and how to use language to make sense of various human practices, including interpretive acts. This is a dialectic in thought between rhetoric as language-use and interpretation as making-sense. In The Rhetoric of Religion Burke’s theotropic logology uses theology to interpret symbolic action and symbolic action to interpret theology. Burke extends to other interpretive projects this same rhetorical-hermeneutic strategy of analogically translating words from one domain into another, from one meaning into another. This strategy is one way Burke thinks with …

A Socioeconomic Analysis Of Francophone And Anglophone West Africa, Jackson Gagne

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This project seeks to examine and analyze the socioeconomic performances of four West-African countries; two from Francophone (French-speaking) West Africa and two from Anglophone (English-speaking) West Africa. It will tackle questions such as:

• What is the current socioeconomic condition of countries in this region?
• Which country is most suitable for investment?
• Is there a marked difference between the Francophone and Anglophone countries of West Africa?

And many more.

A Unit In Victorian Literature, Nina Barnes

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This project will be the creation of a unit plan based on the analysis of Victorian Literature for a future high school language arts classroom. It will use Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights as the main trade book that the unit will focus on. The unit will include the reading of the novel in its entirety, with the inclusion of outside sources that act as supplemental information such as videos and articles about the novel or the style of writing used in the Victorian era. The unit plan will consist of lessons for each day of the unit, with specific information …

The Squeaky Wheel Gets The Grease: Ap Students Ask For More Critical Reading And Writing And Less Test Preparation, Heidi S. Lateulere

Masters Essays

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 …

Engl 110 College Writing (Higher Education), Erika Figel

Open Educational Resources

This syllabus is an adapted version of Professor Figel's 110 course at Queens College. The College Writing course is centered around the ideas of higher education and the philosophies behind it. All links to material required are included.

A Learner Corpus Study Of The Article System, Yusof Siti Fatimah

Student Works (2020-2029)

Studies on learner language tend to compare learners’ second language with a target language. Informed by recent reconceptualization of language learning in which bilingual minds are viewed as fundamentally different from monolingual minds (see, e.g., the notion of multicompetence by Cook, 1991, 2013), the present study explores how learner language is studied as a separate and independent linguistic system. By using Antconc 3.4.4w, this study analysed a recently developed learner corpus of written data by a group of secondary school students in Malaysia, examining how language development takes place over time. Participants composed essays based on a picture prompt and …

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 …

Effects Of E-Learning Based On Microlearning Approach On Undergraduate Students’ English Pronunciation, Natcha Boonyabenjarit

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

This study aimed 1) to develop an e-learning based on the microlearning approach and 2) to examine quality of the developed e-learning. To examine the quality, three research instruments including pretest and posttest, a perception survey questionnaire and a quality evaluation form were used. The sample group consisted of 21 Thai undergraduate students in Faculty of Education at Chulalongkorn University. Descriptive statistics which were mean and standard deviation (SD) and one sample t-test were employed for the data analysis. The findings from one sample t-test, at a significance level of .05, illustrated the students’ noteworthy improvement of the pronunciation skills …

การแปลประโยคกรรมวาจกจากภาษาสเปนเป็นภาษาไทย: กรณีศึกษา การแปลข่าวภาษาสเปนโดยสำนักภาษาต่างประเทศ สำนักงานเลขาธิการสภาผู้แทนราษฎร, อัจฉรา พรรณโรจน์

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

ประโยคกรรมวาจกในภาษาไทยสามารถแสดงนัยยะเชิงบวกหรือเชิงลบที่ผู้ส่งสารมีต่อเหตุการณ์ที่เกิดขึ้น ในขณะที่ภาษาสเปนไม่สามารถทำได้ อีกทั้งภาษาสเปนยังมีโครงสร้างที่ไม่ปรากฏในภาษาไทย ได้แก่ ประโยคกรรมวาจกประเภท pasiva refleja การศึกษาการแปลประโยคกรรมวาจกโดยไม่เปลี่ยนแปลงความหมายของต้นฉบับจึงเป็นเรื่องน่าสนใจ ทั้งนี้ วิทยานิพนธ์ฉบับนี้มีวัตถุประสงค์เพื่อศึกษากลวิธีการแปลประโยคกรรมวาจกจากภาษาสเปนเป็นภาษาไทย โดยได้ทำการวิเคราะห์บทแปลข่าวจากภาษาสเปนเป็นภาษาไทยที่แปลโดยสำนักภาษาต่างประเทศ สำนักงานเลขาธิการสภาผู้แทนราษฎรจำนวน 198 ข่าว จากผลการวิเคราะห์การแปลประโยคประเภท pasiva perifrástica จำนวน 161 ประโยคและการแปลประโยคประเภท pasiva refleja จำนวน 213 ประโยค พบว่ากลวิธีที่ใช้ในการแปลประโยคประเภท pasiva perifrástica มากที่สุดคือกลวิธีการแปลด้วยประโยคกรรมวาจกที่ปรากฏตัวบ่งชี้ ถูก และกลวิธีที่ใช้ในการแปลประโยคประเภท pasiva refleja มากที่สุดคือกลวิธีการเติมประธานด้วยการตีความจากบริบท ในแง่ของปัจจัยในการเลือกใช้กลวิธี พบว่าความใกล้เคียงกับโครงสร้างประโยคต้นฉบับเป็นปัจจัยหลักในการเลือกกลวิธีในการแปล ส่วนปัจจัยอื่น ๆ ได้แก่การยึดติดกับขนบการแปลดั้งเดิมของผู้แปลและความหมายเชิงบวก เชิงลบ หรือเป็นกลางของประโยคที่แปล

Empowered Bleeders And Cranky Menstruators: Menstrual Positivity And The “Liberated” Era Of New Menstrual Product Advertisements, Ela Przybylo, Breanne Fahs

Faculty Publications – English

Przybylo and Fahs examine a series of new menstrual product advertisements, arguing that they push consumer capitalist goals of selling menstrual gear with an “empowered” message at the expense of co-opting feminist discourses of body and menstrual positivity. Drawing on feminist menstrual scholarship, they argue that menstrual positivity is thinned and transformed when commodified. They argue that “positivity”—while important to feminist menstrual activism, praxis, and theorizing—is easily co-optable within neoliberal marketing cultures. While the authors acknowledge the importance of affirmative messaging, they nevertheless develop a “menstrual crankiness” that draws on positivity but also holds it critically at bay. Aligned with …

Humayun Ahmed And Archival Hauntings: The Subaltern Experience Of The 1971 Liberation War Of Bangladesh As Portrayed In Debi, Nilima Islam

Dissertations and Theses

In this paper, I argue how Humayun Ahmed's Debi offers insight into the function that archives play in creating radical nationalism in a country like Bangladesh; how these archives work to consolidate political power for a select few, and how they further subjugate and silence the country’s subalterns.

Walking Through Fire: Black Men’S Quest For Autonomy In August Wilson’S Two Trains Running And King Hedley Ii, Natasha Young

Dissertations and Theses

This paper explores Black male characters in August Wilson's Two Trains Running and King Hedley II. Characters in these plays seek personal autonomy through economic stability. They seek these things during the turbulent times of the 1960's and 1980's in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania's Hill District. The roads they take are filled with self discovery, humility and peril.

The Failed Principle Of Reformed Female Politeness – Exploring Tactical Silence And Voices In Jane Austen’S Sense And Sensibility, Punrada Saengsomboon

Dissertations and Theses

The dichotomy between Elinor and Marianne's manners in Jane Austen's 1811 novel Sense and Sensibility is often central to several readings and interpretations of this novel. Based on the debates concerning the culture of politeness in the eighteenth century, some critics see Elinor's social doctrine as the novel celebrated form of polite female manners. However, the paper will argue how the novel instead criticizes the social and intellectual impact this the idealized doctrine of female manners has on young women. The paper will look at three important moments of social interactions in the novel: the party with the Middletons, the …

The Process Of Cultural Appropriation In Literature And How It Can Be Changed, Wendy Meza

Dissertations and Theses

This paper explores the ways cultural appropriation has existed in literature from the time of Sylvia Plath's poem "Daddy" to the present, with the publication of Jeanine Cummins's novel American Dirt. After dissecting the motives behind the exploitation of traumatic events and acknowledging the consequences appropriation has on the individuals it is portraying, the inclusion of NoViolet Bulawayo's novel We Need New Names proposes a way for contemporary literature to revolve around cultures without silencing voices and allowing individual identities to shine in the texts.

Representing The Holocaust: Bearing Witness In Levi, Wiesel, And Sebald, Marissa Capizzi

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Representing large-scale historical traumatic events can be problematic as accounts are often subjective and biased. It is difficult to determine if the subjective historical account is factually accurate or not. When discussing the Holocaust, representation is an important factor. How is the Holocaust represented? This paper shows how literature can fill in the gaps of historical representation. I focus on psychoanalyst Dori Laub’s three levels of the witness and their role in testimony in relation to Holocaust literature. For Laub, the first level witness is the primary account from the person who experienced the trauma. The second level witness is …

Hard As Kerosene, Aaron Barlow

Publications and Research

This novel is set in West Africa during the 1980s and concerns one man's trip through Peace Corps, war and alcoholism.

The Golden Gates Of Childhood: Romantic Influences On Childhood Perspective In George Eliot's The Mill On The Floss And Charles Dickens's Oliver Twist, Tara Rosenzweig

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This study explores George Eliot’s The Mill on the Floss and Charles Dickens’s Oliver Twist, specifically in terms of how these Victorian authors portray childhood. I focus on the Romantic influences of Jean-Jacques Rousseau and William Wordsworth to analyze this portrayal. I examine how Eliot and Dickens use Wordsworth’s Romantic images of nature, gates, and windows to portray Victorian adults as corruptors of childhood innocence. Further, I analyze how these authors use Rousseau’s teaching philosophies to criticize Victorian educational policies. By comparing Dickens’s Oliver Twist to Eliot’s The Mill on the Floss, I trace how both authors depend on Romanticism …

Early Black Poetry, Social Justice, And Black Children: Receptions Of Child Activism In African American Literary History, Tabitha Lashay Joy Lowery

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

In spite of the substantial amount of critical work that has been produced on the recovery of early African American literature in the last few decades, our representations of black authors are still limited. Current studies of early African American poets privilege the identification of African American literature with resistance to slavery. This identification has persisted and has made the field one-dimensional. My dissertation provides reception histories of four early black poets—Phillis Wheatley, George Moses Horton, Frances Harper, and Paul Laurence Dunbar—to argue for and present an expansive understanding of African American literature. A thorough examination of these authors’ circulation …

Head Fakes, Offensive Schemes And Counter Plays: Why Motivation Matters, Dawan Coombs

Faculty Publications

Dominic’s Oregon Ducks hat caught my eye as I entered his classroom. Although Autzen Stadium was more than 800 miles away, the Ducks were on the cusp of college football greatness and this kid knew it. He looked like a football player and, as we talked, football topped the list of things he loved—followed by wrestling, long boarding, biking, and the outdoors. When I asked if there was anything he didn’t like, he chuckled and said, “Reading.” Dominic (student names are pseudonyms) proceeded to explain that he never finished books because it felt hard to focus and because he read …

Review Of When Novels Were Books. By Jordan Alexander Stein., Mark A. Mattes

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

But novels ARE books, you might be thinking. Jordan Stein points out that this is true, but not in the way that many of us have thought to be the case. Twentieth- and twenty-first century literary history, Stein argues, has too often failed to deliver a programmatic discussion of the media history of genre. Attention to changes and continuities in the early Anglophone novel’s artifactual status within an evolving, transatlantic media ecology, supplements, and in some cases rethinks, critical understandings of the development of novelistic form. Stein’s method is axiomatic for those working at the intersection of form and format: …

Apocalypse Now: Covid-19 And The Sf Imaginary, Gerry Canavan, Jennifer Cooke, Caroline Edwards

English Faculty Research and Publications

The following conversation was conducted via Google Docs between 1st May and 23rd June 2020. The participants were Gerry Canavan (Marquette University), Jennifer Cooke (Loughborough University) and Caroline Edwards (Birkbeck College, London). Gerry is President of the SFRA; his books include Green Planets: Ecology and Science Fiction (2014), co-edited with Kim Stanley Robinson, Octavia E. Butler (2016), and most recently The Cambridge History of Science Fiction (2019), co-edited with Eric Carl Link. Jennifer is a poet and academic; her first book was on Legacies of Plague in Literature, Theory, and Film (2009) while her most recent is Contemporary Feminist Life-Writing: …

Despaire And Briton Moniments: Moments Of Protestant Clarity In The Faerie Queene, John E. Curran Jr.

English Faculty Research and Publications

Two moments in The Faerie Queene, the Redcrosse Knight's rescue from suicide in the cave of Despaire and Arthur's rapture at reading the truncated chronicle of the Britons, are strangely similar. In each case, the hermeneutic openness that seems to be developing is halted and closed in favor of a unified, simplified, syllogistic certitude. Though both Despaire's speeches and Briton Moniments are ripe for interrogation, Redcrosse is saved by the Practical Syllogism, and Arthur reacts with an outpouring of patriotic fervor. With some matters, proliferation of thought and feeling though ordinarily salutary must be suspended. Protestantism's simplifying strain did …

Impoliteness Strategies In Online Discussions On Cheating In A Virtual Reality Game, Chia Wen Fong

Student Works (2020-2029)

This research study identifies the impoliteness strategies found in the forum’s post comments discussing accounts of grief play activities mainly spoofing in a social game, Pokemon Go, and discusses how impoliteness is accommodated in the interactions among forum members in the conveyance of their perceptions towards cheating in social gaming. Data is collected from five complaint posts in a subforum, r/pokemongo, that discusses topics and contents related to Pokemon Go which is part of a megaforum, Reddit. Culpeper’s (2011) Impoliteness Framework and the constructs of Communication Accommodation Theory (CAT) are used to analyse the data collected. The findings show that …

Gendered Discourses In The American Tv Sitcom F.R.I.E.N.D.S, Ee Wern Chin

Student Works (2020-2029)

The current research concentrates on analysing the gendered discourse in the television (TV) series of F.R.I.E.N.D.S, investigating how gender is portrayed as it depicts a representable degree of society today. The proposed findings are information as to how this sitcom reflects the gendered discourses that were common in that time and are still relevant today. This paper considers how sitcom creators want their audiences to be able to relate to what is shown on their programme, making it relatable to the audience, creating the problem of possible bias from the creators supporting stereotypes that only encourages the same mindset amongst …

An Analysis Of Spoken Feedback On Speech Presentations, Woei Ling Wong

Student Works (2020-2029)

Evaluative feedback is often observed in the context of language classroom and are often dialogic. A general rule of thumb is that evaluative feedback represents largely “post-observation evaluation” which relies on performance-based criteria. For non-dialogic evaluative feedback, it usually dwindles down to written form such as appraisal reports. The domain of non-dialogic spoken evaluative feedback is a domain which remains untapped due to restrictions to such interaction platform. This discourse study aims to describe different aspects of how non-dialogic spoken feedback is managed among trained evaluators within a specific linguistic context based on the Discourse Analysis Model that defines the …

A Genre Analysis Of Online Crisis Press Releases On The Mh370 Flight Incident, Che Mat Nor Zulaikha

Student Works (2020-2029)

A crisis press release is a piece of writing intended for the members of media and general public which specifically deals with a particular emergency case or incident. The use of press release in an event of crisis is crucial as a means of communication. This study aims to analyse the press releases on MH370 flight incident from a genre analysis perspective. 44 corporate press releases are collected from the Malaysia Airlines website and analysed. The findings of this study identify the communicative purposes of the crisis press release which are to disseminate information, to address issues and speculations as …

Metaphors Of Political Satire: A Study Of Online Jordanian News Columns, Abedlrazaq Albtoush Mohammad Abedltif

Student Works (2020-2029)

This study aims at examining types of universal and culturally-specific metaphors utilized in satirical socio-political columns of online Jordanian news columns. The selected dataset comprises 97 extracts across the years 2010-2015 and is compiled from the website www.sawaleif.com, which is mainly concerned with the writings of a well-known Jordanian columnist, Ahmad Hasan Al-Zu’bi. The study is mainly qualitative and is handled within the theoretical framework of the conceptual metaphor theory proposed by Lakoff and Johnson (1980) as well as the critical metaphor analysis championed by Charteris-Black (2004-2005). The linguistic metaphors are manually calculated in order to identify the different target …

"Don't Look At Her, She's Mad": Mama And Frankenstein Reveal Modern-Day Preoccupations, Caitlin Gamble

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Viewing the film Mama (2013) through the lens of a certain Gothic text, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, reveals similar fears of the feminine alongside the focus of the nature of the in-between. These commonalities between the texts reveal an emerging trend in modern monster-horror films—the narrative-driven analysis of the role of the other and multiculturalism in the social consciousness. In this paper, I examine how Mama as an Imperial Gothic film builds on the tradition of indigenous stories, like La Llorona, and the Gothic. By referencing and combining these histories in the genre markers, it uses motherhood and the other to …