Affordances and Gratifications in the Formation of a Student-Centered Online Academic Community of Practice

Yasuda, Raymond ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Temple University 2020 해외박사(DDOD)

The present study is an investigation of a recent phenomenon, the creation and maintenance of a student-centered online community using Line, a Web 2.0 mobile messaging (MIM) application. In recent years, mobile instant messaging has become the most widely utilized form of social media (Clement, 2019a), and has been increasingly used by students to interact about schoolwork (e.g., Cetinkaya, 2017; Bouhnik & Deshen, 2014; Tanaka, 2014). With the ubiquity of mobile technology use amongst students, how interactions in student-centered online groups contribute to the achievement of academic goals warrants further research. Therefore, this study had three purposes. The first purpose was to utilize Wenger’s (1998) community of practice framework to investigate whether an online group formed by the students could evolve into an academic community of practice. A second purpose was to analyze online interactions through the lens of uses and gratifications theory (Katz, Blumler, & Gurevitch, 1973) to discover the specific academic uses of MIM valued by the participants. Furthermore, the affordances (Gibson, 1977) that made the application amenable to academic purposes were investigated. The third purpose was to further analyze online interactions to uncover the specific ways in which the practices of the online academic group contributed to and conflicted with the achievement of course objectives.A case study approach (Yin, 2014) was used to provide a thick descriptive account of the online group and achieve the objectives of the study. The 12 participants in this study were members of an intact EAP course, which was part of an English-medium economics curriculum at a private Japanese university. The main source of data were two online groups created using the Line application, one group consisting of all members of the class and the other a group of four students created to work on the course project. Other sources of data included online documents saved to Google Drive, a survey, interviews, and course materials. Data from all sources were coded and analyzed first inductively, using codes from the three frameworks used in the study, and then inductively, to discover any other themes that emerged from the data. The analysis suggested that the online group created by the participants evolved into an academic community of practice. There was evidence of a focused academic domain because the vast majority of online posts dealt directly with course content. Moreover, interactions revealed the development of trust, reciprocity, and commitment, all key components of mutual engagement. Various group practices also emerged that supported students in their coursework and contributed to group learning. A key factor in community formation was attributed to the Line application meeting the academic needs of students. Key gratifications associated with the needs of the students included online interaction with a closed group, convenience, quickness, retrievability, information sharing, and emotional support. The affordances that enabled these gratifications to be obtained were selective connectivity, context-free access, asynchronous/synchronous communication, information aggregation, and multi-user content creation. Further analysis of the online interactions supported by these affordances showed that the prominent group practices directly supported course objectives. However, there were several conflicts associated with the use of MIM, such as problems with the constant flow of messages, unequal levels of contribution, and academically questionable activities. Finally, a summative analysis led to the creation of a model that demonstrated the relationships between learning objectives, student academic needs, gratifications, and affordances in the formation of a community within the context of a traditional university course.

Comparing Reading, Reading-While-Listening, and Listening Comprehension

Essex, Michael A Temple University ProQuest Dissertations & Theses 2023 해외박사(DDOD)

The purpose of this quasi-experimental, mixed-methods study was to address the gap in understanding regarding second language (L2) comprehension of stories by using a taxonomical approach based on Anderson and Krathwohl’s (2001) revised taxonomy that includes multiple levels of cognitive processing to provide insight into L2 learners’ depth of comprehension. In addition, this study investigated the impact of reading, reading-while-listening, and listening input modalities as it applies to story comprehension. L2 comprehension studies where all three of these input methods are compared are scarce. Finally, the effect of input type on learner affect—task enjoyment and perceived task difficulty—was explored. No previous mixed methods L2 comprehension studies have accounted for all the above variables.The participants (N = 134, 85 male and 49 female students) of the quantitative aspect of this study were Japanese university students who were streamed into the university’s reading and writing or listening and speaking classes. At the time of the study, they were first- and second-year, non-English majors taking English courses as a general university requirement at a private university in western Japan. Participants from six intact classes were tasked with reading two chapters, reading-while-listening to two chapters, and listening to two chapters of a six-chapter graded reader. Using a Latin squares design, each class received a different input method at the beginning, middle, and end of each story. Three 250-headword, CEFR level 1 short stories of similar lengths from the Oxford Dominos series were used for each participant group. The participants received short, bilingual vocabulary lists for vocabulary that fell outside of the first 1,000 BNC/COCA high-frequency words of English prior to receiving each story.After finishing two chapters using one of the above three input modalities, the texts were returned to me and the participants answered bilingual remember questions of the factual recall subtype, understand questions of the inferencing subtype, and evaluate questions of the judging or critique subtypes based on Anderson and Krathwohl’s (2001) revised taxonomy. They then rated task difficulty and task enjoyment. Both the remember and understand questions were four-option multiple-choice questions, while the evaluate questions required written responses in Japanese. To ensure task time equivalency, the participants received two repeated listenings at approximately 138–157 words per minute (WPM) for the reading-while-listening and listening tasks. The participants were given approximately 18 minutes to complete each of the three chapters and 10 minutes to answer questions.Using data from Rasch person measures, a series of mixed model analyses were used to assess the participants’ performances on remember, understand, and evaluate comprehension questions as mediated by input modality. Input modality—reading, reading-while-listening, and listening—was the independent variable, while the remember, understand, and evaluate comprehension questions made up the dependent variables. The New Vocabulary Levels Test (NVLT) scores were used as the covariate. The results indicated that the participants scored higher overall on the remember questions (M = 54.06) than on the understand questions (M = 52.62) or the evaluate questions (M = 49.31). Regarding task-type findings, the reading and reading-while-listening tasks resulted in significantly better comprehension than listening tasks but were not significantly different from one another for remember and understand comprehension questions. For evaluate comprehension questions, all three inputs resulted in significantly different comprehension with reading resulting in the highest comprehension, followed by reading-while-listening, and then listening. The NVLT was a significant predictor of comprehension at all levels, but it had small R2 values. Listening tasks resulted in significantly lower scores than both the reading and reading-while-listening input conditions for all three comprehension levels. In addition, the participants rated that they perceived the reading-while-listening and listening tasks to be more difficult than reading tasks. Reading and reading-while-listening tasks were rated as more enjoyable than listening tasks.After the quantitative data were gathered, qualitative interviews were conducted to better investigate the research hypotheses and the quantitative findings. Six participants were from the same university as the quantitative sample (N = 6, 1 male and 5 female) and four participants were from another nearby university (N = 4, 3 male and 1 female). These participants completed the second text, The Bottle Imp (Stevenson, 2008), by reading Chapters 1–2, reading-while-listening to Chapters 3–4, and listening to Chapters 5–6 in the same manner as the quantitative groups except they did not follow a Latin squares design. After the completion of each two-chapter section, the participants provided verbal recalls to ensure that they correctly performed the task and to gain insight into what was understood from the text. Next, they answered comprehension questions and gave task enjoyment and task difficulty ratings. Finally, the participants answered interview questions designed to clarify their thoughts about the tasks. Verbal recalls and interviews were audio-recorded, and the interviews were transcribed and coded based on Saldana (2016).

Elite Networks and the Redevelopment of the Cecil B. Moore Neighborhood

Schrider, David ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Temple University 2023 해외박사(DDOD)

This dissertation project explores how three distinct networks worked for and in opposition to the proposed construction of three Temple University athletic facilities all located within the Northern Philadelphia neighborhood of Cecil B Moore. Specifically, I conduct a network analysis of the three networks of elites who advocated for the construction of Pearson and McGonigle Hall athletic facility in the late 1960s, the Liacouras Center in the mid-nineties, and the contemporary proposed construction of a new football stadium in order to gain a deeper understanding of how these pro-development networks operate, promote urban development, and to explore how these pro-development networks have evolved over time. I do the same for the networks of activists who have attempted to halt these development projects. I employ a mixed method approach which combines ethnographic field observations, in-depth interviews, and a quantitative investigation. I answer the following research questions: 1) How have the demographic characteristics of actors who were members of the Pearson and McGonigle Hall, Liacouras Center, and the Football Pro and Anti-Development Networks changed over time? 2) What strategies were employed by the Pro-Stadium Network to promote Temple development and why were these strategies unsuccessful? 3) What strategies were employed by the Stomper Network to oppose Temple development and why were these strategies successful? I find that while across development eras pro-development networks remain majority White, Democrat, Male, and most network members were working in the educational field, there are noteworthy changes in network demographics. I find there is less consistency in the demographics of anti-development networks over time. Although these networks remain majority Black and Democrat, there is a noteworthy increase in Female network members and White network members over time. In my analysis of how the Pro-Stadium Network promoted Temple development, I examine the strategies employed by the Pro-Stadium Network, focusing specifically on the network's public outreach strategy. I address why the network was not successful at convincing residents and politicians to support the building of a football stadium in Cecil B Moore. I find that the Pro-Stadium Network did not provide basic details about the project, and this was an obvious omission. I also address why the Pro-Stadium Network might have been more successful if it attempted to establish a dialogue with residents prior to announcing the plans for the stadium. However, it is not clear that even with a detailed plan the Pro-Stadium Network would have been successful. It is possible that the political currents had shifted since the last period of Temple development. In my analysis of how the Stomper Network opposed Temple development I examine the strategies employed by the Stomper Network, focusing specifically on the network's public outreach strategy. I find the Stomper Network attempted to establish a dialogue with residents immediately after the network became active. The Stomper Network was also able to check the effectiveness of its messaging with residents and to counter the claims of the Pro-Stadium Network. This contributed to the Stomper Network's ability to exploit the shortcomings of the Pro-Stadium Network's outreach strategy. I hypothesize that the possibility that a growing negative view of urban development in Cecil B Moore made the construction of the football stadium impossible. I focus some of this discussion on how the Pro-Stadium Network has received more scrutiny than the two historical pro-development networks. In doing so, I hypothesize that this growing public scrutiny of Temple development projects in Cecil B Moore and an emerging negative view of urban development may have hampered the Pro-Stadium Network's attempts to build a football stadium in Cecil B Moore. I find theories of urban growth and elite theory fit the development processes for both the Pearson and McGonigle Hall and the Liacouras Center. However, the attempt to construct a football stadium in Cecil B Moore is not consistent with theories of urban growth and elite theory. The struggle over Temple's proposed football stadium is more consistent with pluralist theory and Henri Lefebvre’s right to the city.

Negotiation of Form by EFL Learners: Effect of Task Modality and L1 Use

Koizumi, Yusa ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Temple University 2017 해외박사(DDOD)

One issue that faces second language (L2) teachers when they use task-based language teaching (TBLT) is how they should integrate focus on form into goal-oriented, meaning-focused tasks. This issue is particularly relevant to Japanese secondary school teachers, who need to prepare students for entrance examinations that heavily emphasize grammar. Researchers have proposed various ways to address this issue, one of which is shifting task modality from speaking to writing (Richards, 2002; Skehan, 1998). Studies have shown that learners engage in negotiation of form (i.e., an interactional sequence in which learners attempt to resolve a linguistic problem in their output) more frequently when they are required to produce written output (Adams, 2006; Niu, 2009). Another way of promoting focus on form during task-based interaction is to have learners use their first language (L1) to negotiate forms. Research has demonstrated that the use of metalanguage enables learners to discuss forms in detail and helps them maintain their attention on the forms (Fortune, 2005; Fortune & Thorp, 2001). Learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) typically develop explicit knowledge of English through the medium of L1 metalanguage. Thus, it is assumed that EFL learners will negotiate forms more frequently and effectively if teachers allow them to speak their L1 during task work. This study investigated the effectiveness of the two manipulations---shifting production modality to writing and having learners use their L1---in facilitating negotiation of form during task work. First-year university students in two EFL classes at a university in Tokyo participated in two data collection sessions. In the first session, both classes completed a picture story jigsaw task and then wrote the story in pairs. In the second session, both classes completed another picture story jigsaw task and then orally narrated the story in pairs. In both sessions, one class was instructed to speak English only during the post-task while the other class was allowed to speak their L1 (Japanese). Students' interactions were transcribed, and language-related episodes (LREs) were identified in the transcripts. LREs refer to interactional sequences in which the learners question or correct the use of an L2 item in their own or each other's utterance (Swain & Lapkin, 1998; Williams, 1999). When all LREs were identified, they were classified according to focus, outcome, and L1 use. Then, to investigate the effect of modality, the writing post-task and the speaking post-task were compared in terms of the frequency, focus, and outcome of LREs. To investigate the effect of L1 use, the English-only (EO) class and the English/Japanese (EJ) class were compared in terms of the frequency, focus, and outcome of LREs. In addition, to study the effect of L1 use further, the texts that students composed in pairs on the writing post-task were analyzed, and the two classes were compared in terms of the accuracy of the compositions and types of errors they made. Finally, LREs in which students used Japanese (L1 Use) and LREs in which they used English exclusively (L2 Only) were compared in terms of metalanguage use and length. (Abstract shortened by ProQuest.).

The Resurrection and the Knife: Protestantism, Nationalism, and the Contest for the Corpse During the Rise of American Medicine

DeRewal, Tiffany ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Temple University 2020 해외박사(DDOD)

This dissertation examines how advocates for anatomical medicine in the early American republic defended medical training through dissection by framing anatomy as a Protestant spiritual and civic initiative. The project draws attention to prominent anatomists and anatomy advocates from the 1760s to the 1830s who did not dismiss the religious values and rhetoric of the people who rioted against dissections and bodysnatching, but instead imaginatively remodeled the Christian principles that had been wielded against them. Utilizing the public forums that were afforded to them as wealthy white Protestant intellectuals, these figures drew upon the mythologies of the new nation as well as the New Testament to defend the practice of dissection and persuade a largely Protestant public of the virtues of the dissected corpse. As this project will emphasize, they also used evangelical Protestant ideology to justify the pillaging of African American cemeteries and almshouse burial grounds for dissection subjects. Reinforcing an evangelical Protestant and portrait of nativist American citizenship, their rhetoric would ultimately play a powerful role in shaping state intervention in the regulation of medical schools and their supply of anatomical subjects. This project ultimately aims to reframe our understanding of the discursive formation of the dead body as a medical subject in the early republican era, seeking to illuminate how dead bodies were talked about—how they were discursively formed—by those who opened and examined them: practitioners of practical anatomy who not only dissected dead bodies, and likely disinterred them, but also launched public campaigns to repurpose them as tools of medical training. Tapping into the era’s evangelical postmillennialist rhetoric of resurrection, these figures petitioned the state and the public to draw a line between the respectable white citizens who contributed to civic progress, whose bodies would remain undisturbed after burial, and indigent and non-white populations, who could be made productive after death. At once religious and medical, their rhetoric functioned epistemically to transform medical training into a mode of Protestant civic discipleship, and to transform the dead bodies of socially and politically burdensome populations into redeemed post-mortem vessels of medical advancement. Recognizing the production of medical knowledge in the United States in a wide range of genres, authored by writers operating within as well as outside of the fledgling orthodox medical establishment, this dissertation analyzes the imaginative writings, both positive and critical, of doctors, ministers, satirists, novelists, and legislators, all of whom registered and reflected upon the framing of practical anatomy as a conduit of Protestant civic initiative. In “Dr. Shippen’s Anatomical Theatre: Defending Dissection in Colonial Philadelphia,” I examine an early model of this rhetoric in the writings and orations of Dr. William Shippen, Jr., one of the earliest outspoken advocates of anatomical dissection in the colonies, demonstrating how Shippen relied on Protestant language and cultural norms—and the colonial newspaper—not only to align himself and his anatomy lectures with the city’s religious elite, but also to create a spiritual justification for the use of the bodies of poor, criminalized, and otherwise subjugated individuals as dissection subjects. The chapter closes by tracing how two subsequent texts, a satirical pamphlet poem by Francis Hopkinson and a landmark state legislative report in defense of anatomical dissection, registered and responded to this rhetoric, and to the collusion of Protestant virtue and medical authority as tools of social order. “The Enlightened Gospel of Anatomy on the Atlantic Stage” spotlights Presbyterian minister Samuel Stanhope Smith’s 1787 Essay on the Causes of the Variety of Complexion and Figure in the Human Species, and Federalist statesman Royall Tyler’s 1797 novel The Algerine Captive. Situating both texts within transnational debates about American degeneracy and the expansion of the American slave economy, I outline how each author mounts a defense of American health and character that is grounded in anatomical knowledge of the human body as well as a Protestant framework of moral virtue. Taken together, the texts bear witness to a growing confidence in doctors—particularly anatomists—to understand and order human difference, and they demonstrate the continuing rhetorical framing of anatomical medicine as a Protestant civic initiative in the decades after the American Revolution.The dissertation’s final chapter, “ ‘life, strength, and usefulness’: Resurrection and Redemption in Sheppard Lee,” examines the ongoing consolidation of Protestant rhetoric in support of anatomical medicine in the early nineteenth century, as both American and British lawmakers began to take up the case for legislation to regulate and protect anatomical training for medical students through dissection. The chapter begins by identifying the rhetoric of Philadelphia anatomist John Davidson Godman as a principal influence in the development of the first American anatomy legislation, demonstrating how Godman utilized the rhetoric of Protestant nativism to strategically position anatomical medicine as a beacon of enlightened Christianity in the young republic, while also preserving the secrecy of an illicit interstate corpse trafficking network centered in 1820s Philadelphia. The chapter then considers how a novel written by a physician who was trained in Philadelphia’s medical institutions during this period engages with Godman’s rhetoric, and with the various debates and philosophies surrounding anatomy legislation in the Anglo-Atlantic world. In Robert Montgomery Bird’s 1836 Sheppard Lee: Written by Himself, Bird mimes and critiques the rhetoric of utilitarian anatomy advocacy, as well as the Protestant rhetoric of redemptive dissection. Bird generates a provocative cultural portrait of institutionalized dissection in the Atlantic world, underscoring the political distinctions that ultimately determined which corpses should be protected, which should be dissected, and which should be preserved. Considering corpses not merely as abstractions or metaphors, but as literal, material entities that incited riots, spurred industries, and inspired nativist fantasies, this dissertation illuminates the fraught negotiations and acts of power that undergirded what is often regarded as a natural or inevitable narrative of modern secularization and scientific progress. At its most ambitious, this project aims to embody a new dimension of interdisciplinary work in the medical humanities, reshaping our understanding of the origins of the medical cadaver and prompting new reflection on the secular morality of postmortem medical research.

The Effect of Choice on Reading Anxiety, Reading Autonomy, Reading Interest, Reading Self-efficacy, and Reading Performance

Hann, Fergus ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Temple University 2018 해외박사(DDOD)

Over the last decade, the idea of providing students with choices in their learning experience has attracted academic interest (Flowerday & Shraw, 2000; Katz & Assor, 2007; Patall, Cooper, & Robinson, 2008). Although some previous research has suggested that choice is beneficial to language learning, other research has indicated that choice has negligible (Iyengar & DeVoe, 2003) or even damaging effects (D'Ailly, 2004; Stefanou, Perencevich, DiCintio, & Turner, 2004) on language acquisition. Considerable differences in the focuses of previous research can explain the conflicting results of these choice studies (Iyengar & DeVoe, 2003; Schwartz, 2004); however, researchers agree that choice is closely associated with motivation (Stefanou et al., 2004). For instance, various motivational models, such as self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 2000), include the concepts of choice, autonomy, and control as key elements of intrinsic motivation and performance. This study had three main purposes, the first of which was to quantitatively examine the relationships among Reading Anxiety, Autonomy, Interest, Reading Self- Efficacy, and Reading Proficiency in Japanese EFL students in a first-year pre-intermediate reading course. The second purpose was to quantitatively examine the effect of having No Choice, Option Choice, and Active Choice (Reeve, Nix, & Hamm, 2003) on Reading Anxiety, Reading Autonomy, Reading Interest, Reading Self-Efficacy, and reading performance over one academic year in a foreign language reading curriculum. The final purpose was to qualitatively corroborate and support the quantitative findings through a series of structured interviews based on students' beliefs and attitudes toward the provision of choice in the reading curriculum. A quantitative quasi-experimental design supported by a qualitative phenomenological component was used during the year-long longitudinal study with 201 first-year Japanese EFL students at a private university in Japan. Nine intact classes were randomly assigned into three groups: No Choice (n = 66), Option Choice (n = 67), and Active Choice ( n = 68), as defined by Reeve et al. (2003). Affective Variable Questionnaires were administered to measure the levels of Reading Anxiety, Reading Autonomy, Reading Interest, and Reading Self-Efficacy before, during, and after a 32-week treatment. The results of reading performance measures, including Vocabulary Definition and Vocabulary in Context quizzes, Intensive Reading tests, Extensive Reading quizzes, Timed Reading assignments, Composite TOEFL, and TOEFL Reading component scores were tracked over the academic year. The results showed low to medium Pearson correlations ranging between r = - .39 to r = .29 among Reading Anxiety, Reading Autonomy, Reading Interest, and Reading Self-Efficacy. In addition, a stable, significant relationship was found between Reading Self-Efficacy and Reading Proficiency, as measured by students' TOEFL scores and TOEFL Reading Component scores at the start and end of the academic semester. Initially, no such relationship was found between Reading Anxiety, Reading Autonomy, Reading Interest, and Reading Proficiency. However, by the end of the academic year, significant correlations were found among the Reading Autonomy, Reading Interest, Composite TOEFL, and TOEFL Reading component scores. The results indicated significant changes in the affective variables within each group over the academic year. Over the year, significant decreases in Reading Anxiety, and significant increases in Reading Self-Efficacy in each of the three groups were particularly salient. In addition, there were significant changes in many of the Reading Performance measures for each of the groups; however, only the Active Choice group had significant changes in all seven Reading Performance measures over the year. In terms of the effect of choice on the affective variables, students in both the Active Choice and the Option Choice groups had significantly higher Autonomy gains than students in the No Choice group over the academic year. Thus, giving students any type of choice in their reading curriculum exerted a positive effect on Reading Autonomy. With regards to the effect of choice on reading performance, mixed results were found in the reading components among the three groups. First, in the Intensive Reading and Timed Reading components, students in the Active Choice group performed significantly better than students in the Option Choice and No Choice groups. This finding indicated that when choice is given to students, it is necessary that the locus of control be with the student. With respect to Vocabulary Definitions and Vocabulary in Context components, both the Active Choice and Option Choice groups had significantly higher scores than the No Choice group. In other words, any choice was considered better than no choice. (Abstract shortened by ProQuest.).

Disability and Multimodal Composition: Exploring Access Conflicts, Personalization, and Access Creation

Savaglio, Micah ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Temple University 2022 해외박사(DDOD)

Recently, disability and writing studies scholars have demonstrated the extent to which widely accepted approaches to the teaching of writing fail to address the fraught intersection between mental disability and academic commonplaces, such as multimodal texts and assignments, with real consequences for the well-being of our students (Yergeau; Oswal; Selfe). Given the dramatic rise of online and other multimodal forms of instruction that has characterized and continues to shape college writing classrooms in the era of COVID-19, the barriers to access (social, physical, and institutional) that exist in multimodal writing classrooms require deeper examination. Drawing upon disability studies scholarship from Price, Kerschbaum, and Walters, my dissertation examines the complex relationship between writing instruction and mental disability in the context of Metro University’s First Year Writing Program (FYWP) and explores the affordances disabled students bring to bear on the multimodal spaces of their writing classrooms. In addition to examining the program’s standard syllabus, policies, and assignments, I conducted individual interviews with Metro undergraduate students, including students with disabilities, to collect data on students’ experiences of course policies (e.g., participation; grading) and practices (e.g., online peer review; multimodal composing) in the first-year writing classroom. I used methods drawn from critical discourse analysis and disability studies to identify elements of the curriculum that presented potential barriers to students with mental disabilities, including cumulative, interconnected penalties for absences, tardiness, and late work; a policy of not grading essay drafts; and the absence of policies designed to address issues linked to mental health. My analysis has revealed conflicting levels of access to participation in the course, pointing to the need for multimodal learning environments flexible enough to address a wide range of access needs at once. This work contributes to emerging writing and disability scholarship on the role of multimodality in developing non-normative writing pedagogies and inclusive program designs. The study was reviewed by the IRB and deemed not to be human subjects research. It was conducted in partnership with the university’s Disability Resources and Services and FYWP, which adopted attendant policy recommendations.

Radiohead and Identity: A Moon Shaped Pool and the Process of Identity Construction

Davis, Sean M ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Temple University 2019 해외박사(DDOD)

This dissertation synthesizes critical theories of identity with music theoretical analysis to explore how listeners use popular music as a means of identity construction. Focusing on Radiohead's 2016 album A Moon Shaped Pool, the dissertation investigates the various sociological and musical frameworks that illuminate how the songs interact with listener expectations in the process of interpretation. Work on popular music and personal expression is already present in sociology, anthropology, musicology, and other disciplines, though that work rarely engages the close readings of musical processes that I employ in the dissertation. Richard Middleton (Studying Popular Music) and Tia DeNora (Music in Everyday Life), for example, apply a wide variety of methodologies toward identifying the complexities of identity and popular music. For the dissertation, though, I focus primarily on how Judith Butler's conception of interpellation in Giving an Account of Oneself can be used as a model for how musical conventions and listener expectations impact the types of identity positions available to listeners. For Butler, interpellation refers to how frameworks of social norms force subjects to adhere to specific identity positions. This dissertation will explore both the social and musical conventions that allow for nuanced and critical interpretations of popular songs. Although many theorists have probed Radiohead's music, this dissertation synthesizes robust analytical approaches with hermeneutics in order to explore how Radiohead's music signifies, both in the context of their acoustic components and with regard to how this music impacts the construction of listener identities. Radiohead's music is apt for these analyses because it often straddles the line between convention and surprise, opening several avenues for critical and musical scrutiny. I also argue that listeners interact with this music as if the songs are agents themselves- they have powerful emotional and physical effects on us. The dissertation investigates the various sociological and musical frameworks that illuminate how the songs interact with listener expectations in the process of interpretation. Work on popular music and personal expression is already present in sociology, anthropology, musicology, and other disciplines, though that work rarely engages the close readings of musical processes that I employ in the dissertation. Richard Middleton (Studying Popular Music) and Tia DeNora (Music in Everyday Life), for example, apply a wide variety of methodologies toward identifying the complexities of identity and popular music. For the dissertation, though, I focus primarily on how Judith Butler's conception of interpellation in Giving an Account of Oneself can be used as a model for how musical conventions and listener expectations impact the types of identity positions available to listeners. For Butler, interpellation refers to how frameworks of social norms force subjects to adhere to specific identity positions. This dissertation will explore both the social and musical conventions that allow for nuanced and critical interpretations of popular songs.

Coherence in Quantitative Longitudinal Language Program Evaluation

Ono, Leslie N ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Temple University 2018 해외박사(DDOD)

In recent years, foreign language program evaluation has gained greater attention among language educators, program administrators, and evaluators. Increased demands for demonstrated program performance, often motivated by external forces, such as accreditation pressures and decisions regarding the allocation of funding, have led to heightened focus on foreign language program evaluation practices, methodologies, and results. Despite this increased attention, there are few published evaluation studies within the field of foreign language learning that have examined foreign language program effectiveness over time. This longitudinal study was designed to quantitatively investigate the performance of one Japanese university English for Academic Purposes (EAP) program over the 20-year span of the program's existence. Quantitative evaluation methodologies and advanced statistical procedures were utilized to examine changes in student English proficiency, as measured by the Institutional Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL ITP) and English achievement, as measured by four semesters of EAP course grades, as students progressed through the two-year program. Twenty cohorts of students (cohort n-sizes ranging from approximately 250 to 550 students) were included in this study. The comprehensive data set included three repeated-measures of the TOEFL ITP and four English achievement grade point averages (GPAs) for each of the 20 cohorts. The research questions for this expansive longitudinal study addressed two levels of inquiry. First, at the program-global level, this study sought to investigate patterns of English proficiency change within and between cohorts across the life of the program, and the extent that programmatic events and external influences might have impacted those patterns. For this investigation, TOEFL ITP results for three proficiency domains---listening, grammar, and reading---were chronologically charted for the 20 cohorts and time-series analyses were conducted. The results indicated that all cohorts demonstrated significant gains in the three proficiency domains by the end of the two-year program. However, the overall trends across the program's 20-year history revealed gradual negative trajectories for grammar and reading proficiency. Events that were hypothesized to have influenced proficiency patterns were tested, including (a) the addition of a new department specialization, (b) changes to department admissions, (c) the entrance of students who experienced new national reforms at the secondary education level, and (d) department expansion. While listening proficiency patterns were unaffected, grammar and reading proficiency trends were negatively impacted by the start of the new specialization and changes to admissions procedures. The entrance of students who had experienced secondary educational changes had an initial negative impact on the grammar trend, but positive grammar and reading proficiency trends emerged from that point onward. It was speculated that these events, as well as larger population trends impacting Japanese universities, led to gradual shifts in program student demographics, which contributed to the observed changes in proficiency patterns. Also of interest was an examination of the concept of English achievement coherence---or the extent that student English achievement, as measured by English course grade point averages (GPAs)---can be used to assess course interrelatedness. English course GPA data was used to statistically derive three rival achievement coherence metrics. These metrics were then tested separately, using hierarchical linear modeling techniques, to examine the extent that achievement coherence might serve to mediate any proficiency variation observed across the 20 cohorts. There were no significant findings for two of the metrics tested, while the third metric was found to have a significant negative effect for reading proficiency. This finding directly contradicted the hypothesized outcome that a greater amount of coherence would serve to facilitate proficiency development. Given the significant negative reading trend that emerged across the life of the program, this result might suggest that larger influences affecting student demographic changes could outweigh any potential facilitative effects of coherence on proficiency outcomes. Following the program-global analyses, the second level of inquiry was at the cohort-specific level. Individual cohorts that had demonstrated comparatively high and low listening and reading proficiency gains were selected for follow-up analyses. The aim was to examine if differences in coherence at the cohort level might account for the contrastive proficiency gains attained. For each target cohort, a recursive path model, including the program's 16 English courses and final proficiency outcome, was tested to examine English achievement interrelatedness and contributions to the final proficiency outcome. A greater number of significant paths and larger final model R2 coefficient would suggest more coherence. Additionally, for each target cohort, grade residuals analyses using linear regression methods were conducted to investigate grading consistency at the course level. (Abstract shortened by ProQuest.).

Border Perversion - Physical, Bodily and Conceptual Borders and the Multimodal Essay Film

Byrne, Elaine Temple University ProQuest Dissertations & Theses 2024 해외박사(DDOD)

Border Perversion: Physical, Bodily and Conceptual Borders and the Multimodal Essay Film is an interdisciplinary and multimodal media dissertation based on extensive research, interviews and field notes. This practice-led research investigates alternative border imaginaries through two multimodal essay films Blazing Worlds and Common Work, and a written thesis that examines the shifting nature of borders - conceptual, political and lived experiences - in the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard. It developed from the question as to why, in hyper globalized world, are so many borders being built? There were fewer than five border walls globally post World War II, and just 12 border walls at the end of the Cold War. Today, 74 border walls exist across the globe, most of them erected in the past two decades, with at least 16 more planned or in construction at the time of writing.Within all power relations, there is the potential for resistance, especially through changing the meaning and value of terms. In this dissertation, I reactivate the concept of perversion as an erring or straying as a source of subversive and creative potential, to unveil alternative border imaginaries within the distinctive legal terrain of the Svalbard archipelago. Through this exploration, I analyze and contribute to unconventional perspectives of borders. This involves not only navigating the complex legal intricacies of the Svalbard archipelago, but also pushing artistic boundaries to transcend the genre of the essay film. By appropriating perversion, I challenge existing conceptual frameworks but also pioneer an innovative approach to understanding artistic expression, proposing the emergence of a new type of essay film, a multimodal essay film, which continues the essay film's trajectory of subverting dominant artistic structures. The multimodal essay film provides room to explore the complex issues of borders by blurring the boundaries of materialities and methods. I assert that this transgression reanimates the subversive and augments its heterogeneous form through the introduction of objects.I undertook field research in Svalbard as the Svalbard Treaty provides a compelling case study to illustrate alternative border imaginaries which transcends the traditional domestic-international divide. With its unique governance model, and diverse transnational players, the fluid coexistence among actors in Svalbard challenges the dichotomy between "them" and "us", revealing a more intricate interplay of belonging. My exploration of how identity and belonging operate in Svalbard, in a context detached from conventional life markers, offers a fresh perspective on the evolving nature of borders.In parallel, this thesis has two multimodal essay film realizations, Blazing Worlds and Common Work, both of which were exhibited in Ireland, and a collection of interviews with artists and scholars exploring multimodal essay film. In addition, a symposium titled 'Encounters with Boundaries' was hosted by the Slought in Philadelphia in 2022 which explored issues raised in this dissertation. The central focus of this research is exploring the beyond of the essay film and of conventional border frameworks, fostering space for diverse narratives, practices, and imaginings. Through this exploration, it contributes to the decolonization of knowledge by transcending genre boundaries.