Language and Literacy Education Commons^™

Following Tradition: Young Adult Literature As Neo-Slave Narrative, Kaavonia Hinton

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Montclair State University’S Secondary English Education Program : Perceptions And Expectations Of Pre-Service And Beginning Teachers Of Writing, David B. Malter

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

No abstract provided.

Using Creative Writing Instruction In The Urban High School English Classroom To Promote Writing Skills In Remedial Level Students, Maureen Harrison

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

The purpose of this research is to investigate the value of creative writing instruction for increasing the literacy of remedial students in urban High School English classes. Students who are placed in remedial level classes often have preconceived negative feelings concerning their ability to produce academic writing. As I later discuss through the research of Debra Holmes Matthews, John A. Daly and Michael D. Miller, these preconceived notions impact the motivation and educational experience of remedial level students. In my research I will examine the ability of creative writing to motivate struggling student writers and help to improve specific writing …

The Effects Of Background Music On The Reading Performance Of Taiwanese Esl Students, Peter Chou

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to see what kinds of effects classical music and hip hop music have on the performance of a second language reading comprehension test in Taiwanese college students. According to Kahneman' s ( 1973) capacity model for attention, one may fail to perfonn an activity because the supply of attention needed for multiple tasks does not meet the demand needed to perfom1 each of the tasks. This explains why students perform better or worse on different cognitive tasks with certain types of background media. An experiment involving 123 participants from a medium size college in …

Advocating For Languages - Lessons Learned, Anne O. Fountain

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Class Indifference - A Divided Nation : Finding Common Ground Through American Pragmatism And Democratic Principles In The Composition Classroom, Stacey L. Morrison

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Social class plays a significant but often silent part in American politics, lives, and education. As the events of Hurricane Katrina clearly illustrate, the poor and working class often suffer discrimination that leaves them completely powerless. Their position in life shapes not only how they are seen and treated, but also how they see their world. Their cultures differ markedly from middle and upper class cultures, further alienating them from possible greater personal achievement in a system that champions middle-class values. Education, being a microcosm of our society, mirrors our class conflicts, often failing to teach working-class students in an …

Stimulating Reading Excitement In Secondary Level English Language Learners, Rachael J. Schweigert

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The purpose of this paper is to examine how ESL teachers can stimulate reading excitement in secondary level English language learners. The current research about factor which affect reading enjoyment in secondary level English language learners will also be discussed. These factors include element in reading instruction, attitudes toward reading, readability of text, interest level in literature, and availability of meaningful literature. Current research regarding applications that can be used in classrooms will also be reviewed, such as reading models and reading strategies. Based on the results of this research, suggestions will be presented regarding literature that can be used …

Motivation For Leisure Reading : A Model Camp Adventure Curriculum, Nicole Beth Geopfert

Graduate Research Papers

Much research has consistently revealed that the percentage of young children choosing to engage in leisure reading is declining. Instead, potential young readers are consumed many other forms of leisure activity such as video games, Internet, computer games, movies, and more. To become lifelong learners, children ought to be motivated to read. The questions explored in this paper are: what are the obstacles to developing avid independent readers and how can we help young children become engaged, recreational readers? This paper presents a review of the literature on reading motivation, reading attitude, and the gender gap in reading.

The information …

Emphatic Sounds In Educated Cairene Arabic: What To Teach To Afl Students?, Jean N. Druel

Archived Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Sign To Learn : Sign Language As A Teaching Tool In Hearing Classrooms, Angela M. Schneden

Graduate Research Papers

This project examines using sign language as a multisensory learning tool in hearing classrooms. Included is a brief history of sign language in the United States as well as a review of different types of sign language. This project provides a rationale for incorporating sign language into the hearing classroom by examining the relationship between sign and gains in literacy achievement. The primary goal of using sign language in the classroom is for students to become better readers, writers, and spellers. This will be accomplished by teaching students to fingerspell and sign sight words. Research detailing use of sign in …

A Comparison Of Anonymous E-Peer Review Versus Identifiable E-Peer Review On College Student Writing Performance And Learning Satisfaction, Ruiling Lu

Theses and Dissertations in Urban Services - Urban Education

The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of anonymous e-peer review with identifiable e-peer review on student writing performance and learning satisfaction. It also investigated whether anonymous e-peer review facilitated a greater amount of critical peer feedback.

Quasi-experimental design was used to test group differences on the dependent variables. Participants were 48 freshmen enrolled in two English Composition classes at Old Dominion University in the fall semester of 2003. The two intact classes taught by the same instructor were randomly assigned to the anonymous e-peer review group and the identifiable e-peer review group.

The results showed that …

Using Music As A Classroom Tool, Gail Foreman

All Graduate Projects

The main focus of the project was to develop resources that will use music as a tool to improve literacy and support learning in third grade self contained classrooms. Research provides strong data connecting the relationship of music to academic achievement, language arts and improved test scores. This project provides prototype lesson plans that support grade level expectations and uses t4e Washington State Essential Academic Learning Requirements as a basis for the concepts being taught. A unit of lesson plans was developed that integrates music into the language arts. Worksheets, graphic organizers and a music book list were developed as …

Developing Technical Communication Pedagogy For Nonnative Technical Graduate Students, David Sepulveda

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis seeks to develop a pedagogy for teaching academic writing to nonnative graduate students of technical disciplines in order to give them the skills they need to write papers that they can submit to academic journals and conferences, thereby advancing their careers and gaining recognition for their academic institutions. The work draws on research from the fields of technical communication and second-language acquisition in order to develop pedagogical principles for a class in which nonnative technical graduate students write an academic paper that they can submit for publication. The thesis proposes an approach that incorporates content-based instruction, certain plain …

Language Use And The Oral Tradition In Aaya (African American Young Adult) Literature, Kaavonia Hinton-Johnson

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

(First paragraph) In elementary school my favorite teachers taught me that the language used in my home was incorrect, incoherent, and inappropriate. My second grade teacher Ms. Hull, a tall, thin, dark-skinned woman, stands out among the others. I can still see her hovering over us. “Was!” Ms. Hull shouted, “not wuz. Your tongue is lazy.” “You be what?” she’d ask in disgust with one hand on her hip. When this happened, I was sure to get yelled at and lectured. To avoid such humiliation, I quickly learned to, as we said in my neighborhood, “talk proper.” Shame nagged at …

Attitudes Of Mexican Nationals Toward The Use Of Code Switching In The Rio Grande Valley, Jennifer M. Vojtko

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

The purpose of this study is to establish the beliefs and attitudes of Mexican Nationals living in the Rio Grande Valley toward the use of code switching, or the use of two or more languages during a speech act. Because of the high influence of the Spanish language in the Rio Grande Valley, code switching is more commonly referred to as Spanglish. Researchers have been studying code switching since the early fifties; however, limited research has been conducted on attitudes toward code switching. The goal of this study is to offer a comprehensive look at the attitudes demonstrated by Mexican …

An Examination Of Relationships Of Reading And Writing Self-Efficacy Beliefs, Standardized Placement Test Scores, And Diverse Community College Students' Perceptions Of Those Relationships, Ann Woolford-Singh

Theses and Dissertations in Urban Services - Urban Education

Social cognitive theory explains the role that one's level of confidence plays in the accomplishment of a specific task. According to Bandura (1982, 1995), self-efficacy beliefs should align with performance. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationships among reading/writing self-efficacy beliefs and reading/writing standardized placement test scores of diverse community college freshmen. Additionally, this study sought to understand the sources of these students' reading/writing self-efficacy beliefs through the descriptions of experiences they feel have influenced those beliefs.

There were three major research questions: (1) What is the strength of the relationships among reading/writing self-efficacy beliefs and reading/writing …

Using Multimedia To Enhance Reading Skills In Modern Standard Arabic: Strategies To Enhance Reading Skills In Modern Standard Arabic – High Intermediate Level, Kamal Alekhnawy

Archived Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is an attempt to develop a software program designed to enhance reading skills of learners of Modern Standard Arabic at the high intermediate level. This is one of the very few attempts at creating CALL programs for Arabic learning, a medium that is in dire need of development if Arabic language teaching is to keep up with future trends in second language learning as a whole. Research was conducted on how reading skills can best be developed through traditional means as well as on how CALL programs might achieve better and faster results than those traditional means. The …

The Aesthetic Mask: Cinematic And Musical Icons In Ellison's Invisible Man, Gary Lemco

The Utah English Journal

Critics of Invisible Man seem to have been blind to the fact that Ralph Waldo Ellison was both music major and filmgoer. While struggling to create a seminal novel of Afro-American identity, Ellison was the cultural inheritor of a vast system of sounds and visual icons making up the national and - I daresay - the international tradition of aesthetic values. If the narrator of Juneteenth comes to claim a movie actress as his mother, so too does the unnamed narrator of Invisible Man seize upon music and film as possible sources of his being, as stable representatives of our …

Doing It For The Love Of It: Weaving Lives In A Community Of Learners, Maryann Felps

The Utah English Journal

Robert Frost said that "what is done is done for the love of it - or not really done at all." This past school year at the non-public school where I work something was done for "the love of it" and served to create a community of learners whose lives became successfully interwoven. What follows is a description of this community, how it was originally developed, how it progressed, and what resulted at the conclusion of its ten-month existence.

"What Do I Do With This One?": Teaching Esl Writers Who Have Been Mainstreamed, Todd Heyden

The Utah English Journal

With the addition of non-native speakers in their courses, teachers may find that their job description also includes the teaching of ESL writing. "What do I do with this one?" is a question I commonly hear from concerned colleagues. Understandably, they want to know how to best meet the needs of the ESL writers who have been mainstreamed into their Pope John XXIII courses. At the top of the list of their concerns is error correction. An ESL writer's essay can contain a myriad of errors, even in just a single sentence. Where does one begin to address so many …

Imagine Lunch, Susan Grandfield

The Utah English Journal

The high school where I teach houses many vending machines. A vending machine resides in every comer of the school known to me, and I think there are some machines in areas that I don't frequent. It's a big school, after all. Kids can buy candy, hot and spicy chips that tum their tongues red, Pop-Tarts, Pepsi (not Coke, though) and a variety of other so-called foods, none of which have nutritional value. Kids without much money have discovered a machine with a large pastry called a "Big Texas" (as in "I got me my Big Texas") for 65 cents. …

Bullies, Brenda Mcneill

The Utah English Journal

Bob blusters into my room. He's a large boy - square in the way football players often are - stocky legs and broad across the shoulders. He is from all accounts a very talented athlete. English though confuses him; the nuances of language and thought frustrate him and he deals with his frustration through anger. Though he may be agile in his body, he is not agile in his mind - and he is angry about it and uses his size to intimidate other students and short female English teachers. However, he needs English in order to graduate from high …

Socrates Does Shakespeare, Victor Moeller

The Utah English Journal

Robert Benchley once remarked that "There are two kinds of people, those who classify things and those who don't." Since I belong to the first group, I tend to classify teachers according to those who still employ the little-red-school-house model of learning (lecture) and those who daily engage their students in active learning. I do so not only because most of my former teachers assumed that they were the most important part of the learning process but also because the lecture method continues to dominate in too many classrooms even today. In contrast, the genuine Socratic teacher knows that the …

Click, Jayne Marek

The Utah English Journal

"It didn't feel like anything special," Perry said. A fine winter night outside, meaning the frost had sharpened the stars. It was colder in Urbana than it had been in Madison when Sis had left that morning. "But all of a sudden I was flat on the library floor. Face hurt like hell."

"Yeah, well, no surprise, with that face," Sis said.

"Shut up."

"So are seizures hereditary?" Sis asked.

"Nah, it's stress. Studying your ass off. As if you would know."

Getting Students Off To A Good Start, Debbie Davis

The Utah English Journal

I wouldn't want to trade places with a secondary student the first days of school, would you? Can you imagine coping with new schedules and new routines - and higher academic demands? On top of that, don't forget tracking all the information we teachers and administrators deluge them with. I wonder how students can remember expectations, rules, and assignments announced by seven or eight teachers, when all they really want to know is "Will I be accepted by my peers?" and "Can I survive this grade level?" I want my students to feel positively about the answers to both questions, …

From "Freshman Friday" To Interior Design: Inside The First Week Of A Ninth Grade English Class, Robert Petrone

The Utah English Journal

As I prepared for my third year of teaching ninth-grade English, I focused my attention on what I would do with the students during the first week of the year. At that point in my career, I felt, for the first time, comfortable with the content-a short story unit, the personal narrative, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Odyssey, and Romeo and Juliet-and so felt at ease to put more energy into some other aspects of my teaching. As I brainstormed ideas of how to go about the first week of the year, an image from my student teaching experience flashed …

Lord Hamlet's Lesson, Harlan Underhill

The Utah English Journal

No abstract provided.

It's Not So Elementary, Stacy Miller

The Utah English Journal

No abstract provided.

A Tribute To A Fallen Hero, Stacy Miller

The Utah English Journal

No abstract provided.

Odysseus, Harlan Underhill

The Utah English Journal

No abstract provided.