Education Commons^™

From Baggins To Beowful And Back Again: Teaching (Via) Tolkien, Jeff Massey Ph.D.

Faculty Works: ENG (1995-2016)

Beowulf, is traditionally at least, a difficult text for incoming freshmen. The Hobbit is arguably less so. In part this has much to do with their respective languages: one is so archaic as to seem foreign, the other is as comfortable as an old English shoe. One is a tale told to children around a quiet fire, the other an elegy shouted above raucous barbarians at beer. Beowulf is peppered with digressions, and shot through with violent revenge cycles. The Hobbit is a relatively straightfoward quest, adventures along the way notwithstanding. They are, on the surface at least, as …

The Express: March 16, 2001, Taylor University Fort Wayne

2000-2001 (Volume 5)

Gyertson inauguration nears — TSO non-elections — Spiritual Renewal Week confronts students’ speech — University offers to help pay for traffic signal — TSO? What’s That? — Letter to the editor — Spring Blood Drive — A warm heart in a warm climate — Click here for love — Team plays on field of dreams — 2001 TUFW Intramural Basketball

Language Policy In Central Asia, Baktygul M. Ismailova

Master's Capstone Projects

This study addresses language policy and language planning in the five Central Asian republics, former constituents of the Soviet Union. Language issues became crucial after the breakdown of the Soviet system, which completely changed the linguistic environment in the region. The study discusses two main issues related to the language planning in central Asia. The first section of the project describes the history of the region before 1917, when lifestyle patterns divided Central Asian residents into two groups, nomads (Kyrgyz, Kazak and Turkmen) and sedentary peoples (Tajik and Uzbek).

After a brief discussion of schooling practices in pre-Soviet Central Asia, …

The Role Of Children's Talk In Writing Development, Belinda Nelson

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This study is a 'snap shot' into the interactions and utterances of developing writers. It provides insight into the usefulness of talk, the need to model and encourage talk in the composing processes of children and also into the factors that impact on such talk making it more or less effective for young writers. The study observed six middle primary school students during the writing of two texts and recorded the accompanying talk. Classroom observations provided insight into the pedagogical and cultural influences within the writing contexts. Writing samples enabled each student's writing development to be analysed and became a …

Teacher Perceptions Of Student Speech, Yvonne G. Haig

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Although language variation is widespread and natural,it is subject to judgement. Where a standard language has developed, other varieties tend to be judged against its "standards". While a number of overseas studies have found that this type of linguistic bias occurs in education and negatively impacts on dialect speakers, there has been little research in Australia. The research reported in this thesis investigates how teachers perceive the speech of school-aged students and whether the socio-economic status or level of schooling of the students influence these perceptions. Further, it examines the relationships between the teachers' background, the way they define Standard …

The Process Of The Assessment Of Writing Performance : The Rater's Perspective, Tom Lumley

Dr Tom Lumley

This study investigates the process of rating texts written by adult ESL learners. Four experienced raters provided think-aloud protocols describing the rating process for a set of 24 texts. The think-aloud data allowed analysis of the sequence of rating, raters' interpretations of the scoring categories, and difficulties raters faced. The study reveals the complexity of the rating process, whereby raters struggle to resolve a tension between the wordings (or rules) of the rating scale and their complex, initial, intuitive impression of the text. Rating requires training to provide reliable measurement. The study also demonstrates that caution is needed in interpreting …