Thesis (D. Ed.)--University of Oregon, 2006. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 63-71). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

<p> This study was conducted to determine how immigrants and the immigration experience are represented in current young adult (YA) literature. In the study, I asked the following questions: Who are the immigrant characters in recent YA books? Why do they come? How do they experience immigration? How are they perceived or treated by others? A content analysis methodology was used to examine, from a critical literacy viewpoint, recent young adult novels with immigration themes. Data were analyzed by identifying and interpreting patterns in themes across 22 YA novels with immigrant protagonists or other important characters, published between 2013 and 2017. Data indicated that the protagonists in the study reflected current immigration trends fairly accurately, came to the United States primarily to escape violence or persecution in their home countries, experienced a variety of challenges, tended to hold onto their home country cultures, and were often the objects of racism, but also found kindness and friendship in the United States. Teachers who desire to include authentic immigrant literature in their classroom libraries should consider from whose perspectives the books have been written, and learn about the authors&rsquo; backgrounds and the messages that authors want to convey through the books that they write. In addition, immigrants can be encouraged to write children&rsquo;s and young adult books, sharing their experiences and contributing to the supply of realistic immigrant literature with complex and authentic immigrant characters.</p><p>

<p> This dissertation is a phenomenological study exploring the lived experiences of industry video game writers. The findings of the study highlight the areas of competence necessary for game writing in the workplace, including writing and storytelling, communication and collaboration, understanding systems and dynamics, tool proficiency, and understanding play. The study also examines the formal and informal learning experiences of the participants relevant to these areas of competence. Contributing to the limited body of research on computer game design (CGD) pedagogy in higher education, the study&rsquo;s theoretical framework was informed by literature from the fields of game design, game studies, narrative design, writing research, rhetorical genre studies (RGS), and cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT). The dissertation goes on to outline applications for CGD pedagogy in higher education, especially game development and game writing, and presents a process-oriented, roles-based approach to designing CGD curricula and coursework.</p><p>

<p> Traditionally, the field of rhetoric and composition has valued long-form essay writing, which requires students to engage patiently and at length with revision. In contrast, students today spend much time outside of school producing fast-paced and short posts for social media. This dissertation argues that students&rsquo; social media interactions provide them nuanced, dialogic, and complex rhetorical understandings about writing&mdash;but that students need help developing discursive processes to support transfer of their social media knowledge to other writing contexts, including long-form academic writing. Drawing from two semesters of in-class study, I construct for first-year composition classrooms a pedagogy that embraces and cultivates the rhetorical knowledge students gain from social media; I demonstrate how students can analyze, reflect on, and transfer this knowledge to academic contexts. Citing students&rsquo; social media and academic writing, I draw from students&rsquo; intuitive understandings of the rhetorical concepts medium, context, audience, <i>ethos</i>, and purpose to illustrate how these concepts can productively shift and expand in FYC instruction. To situate this pedagogy within contemporary practices, I analyze leading FYC textbooks and highlight how textbook pedagogies can acknowledge and foreground students&rsquo; expanded rhetorical understandings of social media for richer composing processes in all media and for all contexts, digital and non-digital.</p><p>

<p> Training writing center tutors to work collaboratively with students on their writing is a complex and challenging process. This practitioner action research uses critical discourse analysis (Gee, 2014a) to interrogate tutors&rsquo; understandings of their work, as expressed in their written reflections on video-recorded tutoring sessions, to facilitate the development of strategies for training and support in the LIU Post Writing Center. This thesis develops a model of knowledge construction that includes writing center knowledge, disciplinary genre knowledge, writing knowledge, rhetorical knowledge, interpersonal knowledge, and intrapersonal knowledge. The results show that video recording of and reflection on writing center sessions with the addition of critical discourse analysis is an appropriate and productive method for improving tutor training in individual writing centers. Additionally, it discusses a need for additional tutor training on pedagogical reflection.</p><p>

The modern foreign language (FL) classroom holds many challenges for FL teachers. Educators have recognized the value of proficiency-oriented instruction and acknowledged that the traditional emphasis on structure of the target language is no longer sufficient. Teachers who are knowledgeable about current research and teaching methodologies and are able to apply these are needed to implement changes in FL education. However, personal experiences in FL learning, teaching, and training can leave teachers with firmly entrenched ideas on how to teach a foreign language. These beliefs affect teachers' classroom practices and how they interpret proficiency-oriented approaches to FL teaching. This dissertation examines the beliefs of six high school FL teachers with different levels of experience. It explores the origins of these beliefs and relationship between these beliefs and teaching practices. This study utilized videotaped classroom sessions, semi-structured interviews, reflective essays, and surveys. This triangulation created an in-depth portrait of each participant and provided extensive information. Participants expressed beliefs reflected their personal FL learning and teaching experiences. Other factors such as interactions with students and colleagues, interactions with a role model, professional development, and choice of teaching approach influenced participants' beliefs. These expressed beliefs were evident in some of the participants' teaching practices and not in others. This mismatch may be due in part to problems at the theory-practice interface (Munby, 1984) and cognitive anchoring. Each of these concepts involves the influence of pre-existing beliefs about FL teaching and learning.

Much of the recent research on computer-assisted language learning has focused on computer-mediated communication (CMC) which links learners for on-line discussion, using local or global networks. While many of these studies claim that CMC promotes communicative competence by supporting interaction in the target language, few have explored the potential for promoting cultural competence by linking learners with native speakers. The definition of communicative competence includes the notion of cultural competence. CMC appears to support a communicative approach to FL teaching, in that it provides environments for learner-centered activity and meaningful interaction between peers, but it could be even more useful in addressing an on-going problem in the FL curriculum, that is, how to bring more of the target culture into the FL classroom, by linking learners with native speakers for meaningful interaction in a communicative context. This paper reports on a study involving the use of three CMC technologies, e-mail, on-line chat, and videoconferencing, between native and non-native speakers, for the purpose of providing authentic exposure to the target language and opportunities for interaction with representatives of the target culture, for the promotion of intercultural as well as communicative competence.

This work represents the first analysis of the Osage language, a member of the Dhegiha branch of the Siouan language family, spoken by a handful of elders of the Osage tribe, located mainly in northeastern Oklahoma. The phonology is characterized by a vocalic system of eight oral and three nasal vowels and includes distinctive vowel length. The consonantal system is interesting principally for its stop system, which includes a four manner series consisting of preaspirated or geminate fortis stops, postaspirated stops which emerge on surface as clusters made up of the stop plus the obstruentized or assibilated aspiration (depending on the following vowel), and a set of "plain" lenis stops, plus one voiced stop. The verbal complex in Osage is made up of derivational and inflectional material preceding the root, or occuring among parts of the root or parts of the stem. For the most part, derivational prefixes precede inflectional items. Inflectional markers include agent and patient forms, and the roughly parallel active-stative distinction is discussed. Under the topic of derivation, behavior of three similar markers of object reference (dative, reflexive possessive or "suus", and reciprocal-reflexive) is examined. In post-root position are markers of negation, plurality, iteration, aspect and mode, with indication of position (posture) of the subject of the sentence, as to standing, sitting, lying or moving. Certain markers also express presence/absence of subject when the sentence is uttered, or presence of the speaker of a finite sentence when the action took place. A brief treatment of the positional modifiers within the nominal system is included. Number is not expressed directly on nouns, and there is only a limited gender system made up of the positional articles. These postnominal articles indicate number in an interesting way, by using, for example, the 'singular, vertical, inanimate' article on a noun of 'singular, round/sitting' gender, thus signaling a collocation of the latter now interpreted as a member of the 'vertical' class.

This dissertation was motivated by an observed incongruity between the methodology employed in current second language teaching—the communicative approach—and the pedagogical orientation found in the majority of Spanish placement tests—the form-focused methods that characterize traditional language teaching. Two main aspects were identified as particularly needing attention: the general absence of a listening comprehension measure and the persisting presence of features from pre-communicative days. The first goal of this study was to determine whether adding a listening comprehension measure to a test of vocabulary, grammar, and reading comprehension has an effect on its accuracy to assess Spanish proficiency. The second goal was to determine whether there are any significant differences in the performance of a subset of items written in accordance to communicative guidelines (experimental items) and another subset of items that follow a more form-based approach (control items), taken from existing exams. A review of the literature on the communicative approach to language teaching and testing from the 1970s until present provided the necessary guidelines for the writing of the experimental items and the selection of the control items. An analysis of the most salient features found in Spanish placement exams, as well as a review of the latest research on computer-based language testing are also included. The research instrument was a computer-based, multiple-choice, self-scoring test, specifically designed for this study. The test was administered during the 2001 Spring semester to a total of 233 students enrolled in elementary and intermediate Spanish language classes at two universities. The analyses of the data confirmed that there is a significant effect associated with the methodology reflected in the items on a test. The listening section was found to accurately discriminate among levels of skill. The study also demonstrated that it is possible to develop a test that: (1) has the advantages of delivery by computer, (2) has features that are in accordance with the communicative approach employed in second language instruction, and (3) is a valid measure of Spanish ability. More importantly, the test demonstrated the feasibility of including a component for the assessment of listening skills.

The study was not concerned with those students who have seevere problems of phasia, agnosia, apraxia, or alexis. It was not concerned with the “non-reader” or the child diagnosed as dyslexic. The focus of the study was on those students who exhibited the following behaviors: (1) those who can read although no necessarily at “grade level” or at a level considered to be “normal”; (2) those who cannot copy correctly; (3) those who do not finish their written work; (4) those who make correct verbal responses but incorrect written responses; (5) those who have established a delaying routine of sharpening pencils, losing materials, or making trip to the wastebasket; (6) those who work while the teacher is beside them and stop working when the teacher goes away form them.