Title from title page of PDF (University of Missouri--St. Louis, viewed March 2, 2010). Includes bibliographical references (p. 341-357).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2009. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-06, Section: A, page: . Adviser: Gary A. Cziko. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 82-87) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

ESOL (English for speakers of other languages) community college students enrolled in a required writing course were introduced to contrastive rhetoric to assist them in making connections between their first languages (L1) and English to enhance their writing. Students wrote a paragraph in their first language and then compared the experience to writing in English. I asked them to investigate specific cohesive devices, comparing how each device functioned in English with how it might function in L1. The research was focused on the question What cultural and linguistic capital do students bring to the writing class, and what is the relationship of this capital to their English writing? A group of seven multilingual students from Pakistan whose L1 was Urdu participated in the study. My methodology, based on teacher research and a case study approach, included four data sets: questionnaires, first drafts of the participants' formal writings, group interviews, and guided student investigations into cohesion and contrastive rhetoric. The results indicate that the students' writing, which was not highly rated by a panel of native English speakers, had few problems with cohesion and also few characteristics that might be traced to the influence of Pakistani English. Instead, mistakes in conventional English grammar and a perceived lack of content development were what influenced the raters. Implications for future research include a suggestion of how colleges and universities may benefit the increasing numbers of students who are users of World Englishes by valuing the linguistic and cultural capital they bring to the classroom.

My dissertation is a qualitative study using content analysis to explore the roles of grandparents in multicultural picture books. I developed 14 Cultural Markers to analyze my first research question concerning how grandparents from a variety of cultures fulfilled their roles as Family and Cultural Historians, Cultural Role Models, and Experts on Traditions. I identified one Cultural-Sharing Symbol per book to answer my research question regarding how Cultural Markers and Cultural-Sharing Symbols related to these grandparent roles. My third research question explored how Cultural-Sharing Symbols related to character growth in the grandparent/protagonists. My fourth research question considered how gender differences might have influenced grandparents from a variety of cultures as they fulfilled the studied roles. I developed seven Gender Continuum Markers to investigate possible differences in how the eight studied grandmothers fulfilled the three grandparent roles, compared to the eight studied grandfathers. My fifth research question considered how Gender Continuum Markers might relate to possible gender differences in the grandparent/grandchild relationship. To answer the five questions I selected 16 picture books featuring a grandfather and grandmother from the following cultures: African American, Mainstream, East Asian American, Asian American, European American, Latino, Jewish American and Native American. To organize and analyze my findings, I developed a technique related to intertextuality called cumulative story analysis. I found that both European American grandparents, both Native American grandparents, and the Jewish American grandfather fulfilled all three roles almost equally, using most possible Cultural Markers. Both Mainstream grandparents were portrayed with significantly fewer tradition Cultural Markers than the other grandparents. All grandchildren/protagonists grew by the books' ends. Continuity was the most prevalent, powerful Cultural Marker. Most grandparents were portrayed with Gender Continuum Markers that might be considered closer to the traditionally feminine side of the continuum for non-verbal interactions. There was even less verbal variation between genders; talk was usually portrayed with blended Gender Continuum Markers. There were definitely more gender similarities than differences when the books were compared both across cultures and within cultures. The bond of grandparent love existed beyond gender limitations.

The initial purpose of this study was to better understand issues of gender in classrooms in relation to language and literacy. In particular, this research was designed to examine the construction of gender in the talk and text of adolescent girls in one Canadian urban grade eight classroom. This research was based on the theoretical premise that gender is a social construct, talk is a social construct, and text is a social construct. In order to demonstrate the social construction of gender with middle school girls, this analysis was framed within the larger Canadian society. This linguistically informed ethnographic research included classroom observations, interviews with students and teachers, analysis of tape recorded classroom talk, and an examination of classroom written texts. The data from these observations, interviews of students, and oral and written texts were analyzed for themes. The following themes emerged from the data: classroom talk and text are gendered, youths construct their gender identity through talk and text, the "genderlects" and "genderprints" reflect the lives of these youths in a modern world. Conflict, toughness, violence, friendships, relationships, and modernity were salient constructs in the social construction of gender for these youth. These micro social processes contributed to the macro social process or gendered relations in Canadian society. The findings from this study suggest implications for schools. The main implication is that the gendering of discourse in schools is important and that gender identity is linked to both talk and text. Classroom teachers need to develop an awareness and understanding of what and how gender implicates all classroom interactions and that the social phenomena of classroom interactions are important to the success of girls in middle schools. Another contribution of this study is that it contributes to the growing body of knowledge on gender and language at a time when gender equity is emerging as central to the educational success of girls yet is seldom the focus of examination of educational research.

The dissertation confronts these dual questions: What theory of rhetoric would serve a multicultural democracy? How might such a theory be taught in a first-year composition program? I argue that democratic negotiations are rhetorical, as groups vie to control definitions of themselves, each other, and the "proper" relationships among people, and that rhetoric shapes what people consider to be "knowledge" and "truth." Because hidden ideologies influence the rhetoric people find convincing, people need methods for reflecting critically on their own locations. I argue that one method of developing this reflection is to seek to understand the positions of oppressed peoples, as those positions may reveal assumptions embedded in dominant rhetorical patterns. I also argue that a rhetoric for democracy must be committed to action, not just self-reflection and analysis. I call my theory "strong rhetoric." In the remainder of the dissertation I consider how to apply strong rhetoric in pedagogical contexts, and I perform the kind of self-reflection that strong rhetoric demands by noting how my own contexts have influenced my theory. In chapter two I contemplate the role of a teacher in a democratic classroom and offer "liberation morality"--the critique of inequitable distributions of power--as a strategy to convince students of the value of strong rhetoric. In chapter three I critique four curricula designed to teach civic rhetoric, and I argue that teachers must present ideology as more than partisan politics, advocate action as the goal of rhetoric, discuss the limits of democracy defined as a public forum, and treat students as knowledge-makers and citizens. In chapter four, I discuss my involvement in the the University of Arizona's curriculum revision and make explicit that research and revision are integral to strong rhetoric. I also argue that a pedagogy for strong rhetoric must confront the tensions of establishing the classroom as "community." In chapter five I show how teaching assistants at the University of Arizona translated complex rhetorical concepts into essay assignments. Recognizing that teachers need to simplify strong rhetoric to present it in a one-semester course, I model the analysis teachers might use to determine which elements of strong rhetoric to teach.

This qualitative case study examines the influence of a whole language methods course on a preservice teacher's ideas and student teaching performance. In addition it explores significant problems the participant had when she attempted to apply theory in practice and the influence of block instructors, classroom teachers, primary school students, and block classmates on the participant's development in whole language. The study took place during the participant's whole language block semester at the University of Arizona in Tucson, in which preservice teachers learned teaching methods in language arts, reading, and social studies through both classroom sessions and a practicum, at Borton Primary Magnet School, whose principal was a well-known proponent of whole language education. The participant's apprenticeship classroom teacher utilized an integrated curriculum in a holistic paradigm. The study continued until the participant finished her student teaching in the same classroom. The data included exchange journals, videotapes, field notes, audiotapes, oral interviews, documents, memos, and photographs. K. S. Goodman's five pillars of whole language and Cambourne's eight optimal conditions for learning were used as frameworks for the data analysis. The results of the analysis were presented in chronological and analytical descriptions. The chronological description portrayed the stages of the participant's growth in whole language during the block semester and her attempts to translate theory into use during student teaching. The analytical description elaborated the results of the data analysis within the two whole language frameworks. The results of this study emphasize the importance of immersion in whole language in order to develop in whole language, the value of the transactional paradigm in teaching and learning, and the power of a community of learners.

The purpose of this field based study is to analyze the linguistic and cognitive transactions of immigrant language minority kindergarten students in the context of classroom collaborative talk in their native language and conducted through the observations and reflections of a teacher-researcher. The research questions addressed in this study are; (1) How do children use prior knowledge to negotiate meaning and develop shared understandings? (2) How do cognitive and linguistic processes develop as children participate in classroom collaborative talk to co-construct new knowledge and negotiate meaning? (3) In what ways do children extend and internalize understandings of vocabulary and word meaning while engaging in classroom collaborative talk? This case study draws upon the data collected during a year-long inquiry I conducted in my own classroom in an urban school. Twenty-seven students, all from Hispanic origin, mostly recent arrivals from Mexico, participated in the research. The collaborative talk transactions were transcribed and translated into English from thirteen videotaped sessions from which I selected excerpts of varying lengths to examine. The findings are threefold. First, the collaborative talk transactions, framed within a cognitive and linguistic stance, demonstrate how meanings and new understandings are constructed and restructured; show how the teacher and the learners make use of their cultural values, assumptions, attitudes and experiences to construct new meanings and shared understandings; and reveal how learners engage in oral literacies in collaboration with the teacher and then begin to formulate and test hypotheses without the teacher's mediation. Second, the collaborative discourse, situated within an empowerment through voice perspective, show how culturally responsive modes of teaching and learning maximize the use of language minority students I linguistic, cultural and cognitive resources; reveal that these learners display high motivation and interest when the topics are relevant to their lives; and illustrate how learners make connections between the concepts embedded in discourse and their own experiences and understandings. Finally, our discursive practices reflect the importance of native language use in allowing culturally and linguistic diverse students to express their thinking and understandings in their more competent linguistic system and in the language of their culture and social worlds.

This dissertation reports the findings of a case study on the role of cultural factors affecting the academic achievement of Vietnamese immigrant students. The study involves six adolescents from three recent Vietnamese immigrant families: the students' school performance is mixed, some do well in school, others do not do as well. The study focuses on how cultural values or factors, especially a strong and unrelenting Vietnamese emphasis on education, combine with opportunities and restrictions in the local environment, the context of reception, to affect the students' achievement. The findings indicate that the Vietnamese immigrant success is not dependent on the parents' human capital, their socioeconomic standing, or their level of education in Vietnam, the usual predictors of school achievement. Instead, the main factors are the clear and unambiguous influence of family life and basic cultural values emphasizing school achievement, although these factors always interact with particular family and community conditions. Educators need to recognize the potential of the family and culture in promoting and producing educational achievement in Vietnamese children.

The present dissertation is a synthesis of whole language education guided by an action research perspective with the main purpose of developing a series of articles to introduce whole language to Chinese teachers. It falls into two parts: the first part provides the background information about language and education in Taiwan, and the second part is a whole language program for Chinese teachers. Part I discusses the purpose and research questions of this dissertation with an emphasis on current issues of educational reform in Taiwan. Part II is designed to be a resource book of whole language education. It consists of four sections of two to three chapters each. Each chapter stands by itself and all together offer a whole language framework. Section one, Roots of Whole Language, focuses on general and specific philosophical elements of whole language. Section two, Connection to Related Theories, highlights the relationship between the theory of whole language and the practice of literacy education in Taiwan. Section three, Research Applying Whole Language to Chinese Literacy and Education, consists of three qualitative research studies. Section four, A Whole Language Classroom, discusses how a teacher translates her educational beliefs into classroom practices. The arguments are illustrated with examples from the Experimental Textbooks and instructional methodologies in Taiwan with the purpose of making connections between theoretical frameworks related to whole language and educational research in Taiwan. In summary, this dissertation explores whole language from interrelated perspectives. It offers a personal interpretation of whole language that builds up connections between the whole language movement as has been developed in the United States and Chinese literacy education as it is practiced in Taiwan. The major concern of this work is to share information about whole language with Taiwanese teachers and invite them to adapt whole language in their local contexts.