This study examines the lives of first-generation college students from rural, working-class families in Southeast Georgia. Through their stories, readers understand first-generation students' passage into higher education, both how they have prepared and the challenges they face once they enroll. Research questions focus on the role learning plays in students' lives; the impact attending college has on their professions or jobs; the advantages and/or disadvantages of attending college; and h...
Ellen Hudgins Hendrix.
Publisher info.: Dissertation/Thesis.
Advisors: Rafoth, Bennett A. Committee members: Jean Nienkamp; Michael Williamson.
Ph.D. Indiana University of Pennsylvania 2009.
English

The purpose of this study was to determine the training effects on school personnel's knowledge, attitudes, comfort, and confidence levels toward educating students about HIV/AIDS in Pennsylvania. The following four research questions were explored: (a) What is the knowledge, attitudes, confidence, and comfort levels of school personnel regarding the teaching of HIV/AIDS to school aged children?; (b) How do HIV/AIDS trainings affect the knowledge, attitude, confidence, and comfort levels of s...
Sharon Deutschlander.
Publisher info.: Dissertation/Thesis.
Advisors: Bieger, George R. Committee members: Cathy Kaufman; Linda Klingaman.
D.Ed. Indiana University of Pennsylvania 2009.
English

This study explores the possibilities of applying certain aspects of contemporary Western composition pedagogical approaches in university-level advanced EFL writing classes at a Chinese university. A series of writing workshops were conducted outside of the regular English curriculum, where the research focus was on students' attitudes toward this process-oriented writing workshop experience. The research design was to apply principles of the qualitative method and naturalistic inquiry in th...
Jiajia He.
Publisher info.: Dissertation/Thesis.
Advisors: Fontaine, Jeannine M. Committee members: John Mueller; Jean Nienkamp.
Ph.D. Indiana University of Pennsylvania 2009.
English

This dissertation focuses on women voices in Black British Literature between the period 1980 and 2005 - specifically in the works of Monica Ali, Zadie Smith, Joan Riley, Ravinder Randhawa, Meera Syal and Gurinder Chadha - and seeks to understand how women who are of Caribbean and South Asian descent form and reform their identities in their new home as immigrants or first-generation Britons and why their stories make a valuable and essential contribution to Black British Literature. Divided ...
Sheila Francoise Theresa Sandapen.
Publisher info.: Dissertation/Thesis.
Advisors: Orchard, Christopher R. Committee members: Cheryl Wilson; Lingyan Yang.
Ph.D. Indiana University of Pennsylvania 2009.
English

The present study investigates the role of the racial identity of the female figures in a figure rating scale in African American and Caucasian men's preferences for female thinness. It also examines what role, if any, acculturation plays in men's selection of attractive female body sizes and whether the men's BMIs, their mothers' body sizes, and their household income are significant factors in their preferences for thinness. Participants were administered African American and Caucasian v...
Kristi Marie Klawitter Schippers.
Publisher info.: Dissertation/Thesis.
Advisors: McHugh, Maureen C. Committee members: Beverly Goodwin; David LaPorte.
Psy.D. Indiana University of Pennsylvania 2009.
English

My dissertation argues that the black press of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries set the stage for a flourishing black protest tradition in black literature in three ways: suggesting what should be protested; creating figuratively and literally the space for literary protest; and acting as a training ground in the school of protest for black writers who moved back and forth between both worlds, journalism and literature. In arguing the black press' role in shaping a black protest tradi...
Anthony Todd Carlisle.
Publisher info.: Dissertation/Thesis.
Advisors: Watson, Veronica Committee members: Christopher Kuipers; Lingyan Yang.
Ph.D. Indiana University of Pennsylvania 2009.
English

The purpose of this descriptive study is to examine brain-based learning within a framework of multiple intelligences, cognitive learning, and planned behavior. Brain-based learning is a strategy to incorporate different styles of learning to enhance student achievement. The primary purpose is to gain an understanding of higher education teacher education faculties' knowledge, beliefs, and practices of their experiences with brain-based learning and if they incorporate it in their classroom. ...
Shelly R Klinek.
Publisher info.: Dissertation/Thesis.
Advisors: Bieger, George R. Committee members: Jo Holtz; Cathy Kaufman.
D.Ed. Indiana University of Pennsylvania 2009.
English

The failure of the United States of America to acknowledge and act on the cumulative nature of learning has caused us to fall behind other nations (Hirsch, 1996). These concerns have led to governmental intervention to improve our nation's school systems. The Pennsylvania High School Coaching Initiative (PAHSCI) was created by the Commonwealth with support from the Annenberg Foundation, Foundations, Inc., Penn Literacy Network, Philadelphia Foundations, and Research for Action, to improve stu...
Thomas B Otto.
Publisher info.: Dissertation/Thesis.
Advisors: Kaufman, Cathy Committee members: David Piper; Sue Rieg.
D.Ed. Indiana University of Pennsylvania 2009.
English

This study contributes to the existing literature on teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL) by investigating advanced Jordanian EFL learners' request speech act realization compared to that of native American English speakers, as well as the influence of Arabic, the learners' native language (L1), on learner realization. The study considered the two primary aspects of pragmatic competence: performance (pragmalinguistic knowledge) and perception (sociopragmatic knowledge). A multimethod ...
Husam S Al-Momani.
Publisher info.: Dissertation/Thesis.
Advisors: Tannacito, Dan J.
Ph.D. Indiana University of Pennsylvania 2009.
English

Through in-depth interviews with 21 writers who have bipolar disorder and through an extensive review of scientific literature on bipolar disorder, this study examined the illness and its effects on writers and their writing. "Writer" was defined as a person who writes on his or her own time, by his or her own choice. In order to participate, writers had to have been diagnosed with bipolar I or bipolar II. Specifically, this study asks, how writers who suffer from bipolar disorder experience ...
Lauren Teresa DiPaula.
Publisher info.: Dissertation/Thesis.
Advisors: Pagnucci, Gian S. Committee members: Bennett Rafoth; Michael Williamson.
Ph.D. Indiana University of Pennsylvania 2009.
English

This study examined the utility of categorizing students with reading difficulties by fluency and error rates and the efficacy of interventions proposed to remediate each type. Forty-eight students with low reading fluency in grades three through six were categorized into three dyslexic subtypes based on Bakker's (1992, 1994) Balance Model of Reading. Thirty-five participants were identified as M-type dyslexics, who display slow reading with many errors. Thirteen participants were identified ...
Brian Douglas Buchan.
Publisher info.: Dissertation/Thesis.
Advisors: Rattan, Gurmal Committee members: William Barker; Martin Friedman; Becky Knickelbein.
D.Ed. Indiana University of Pennsylvania 2009.
English

My English language learners (ELLs) called my ESL classroom a "galley" and "hell", as they perceived actions enacted within the room and their perceptions of their learning processes. Their classroom space names raised questions that I answer in this microethnographic case study: (1) How do the ESL teacher, the ELLs and the classroom space co-construct the cultural and literacy practices experienced in the classroom? (2) What is the consequence of the interaction of classroom space with teach...
Janet L Pierce.
Publisher info.: Dissertation/Thesis.
Advisors: Tannacito, Dan J. Committee members: Sharon Deckert; Lilia Savova.
Ph.D. Indiana University of Pennsylvania 2009.
English

An expectation for proficiency in literacy is increasing in this information-driven global society (van den Broek, McMaster, Kendeou, Espin, 2007). For students to be prepared to meet the challenges of their future, instruction must force students beyond being physically present when reading, to being mentally engaged (Lapp, Fisher & Grant, 2008). Students require a continuation of reading instruction in order to be strategic readers and learners. This study explored metacognitive reading ...
Lisa Ann Tong.
Publisher info.: Dissertation/Thesis.
Advisors: Bieger, George R. Committee members: Marian Beckman; Anne Creany.
D.Ed. Indiana University of Pennsylvania 2009.
English

Increasing attention in the criminal justice system has been on the large portion of offenders that have alcohol and drug-related problems or addictions. Despite collaboration between the criminal justice system and treatment service providers, there are differences in organization, objectives, and approaches to assessment. A mismatch may result between the criminal justice referral placements, based largely on the limited contractual referral options. This mismatch is an issue because undert...
Richard Anthony Foster.
Publisher info.: Dissertation/Thesis.
Advisors: Ackerman, Robert J. Committee members: Edward Gondolf; Cara Renzelli.
Ph.D. Indiana University of Pennsylvania 2009.
English

This single-case study examines the consensus building strategies employed by the Digital Writing Collaborative (DWC) at Miami University in support of the implementation of a multimodal first-year composition curriculum. This study focuses on circumstances within the institution that facilitated the curricular shift, specific strategies employed in developing institutional consensus, and how institutional stakeholders are working toward sustainability of the new curriculum. Miami Universi...
Michele Ninacs.
Publisher info.: Dissertation/Thesis.
Advisors: Williamson, Michael M. Committee members: Susan Leist; Gian Pagnucci.
Ph.D. Indiana University of Pennsylvania 2009.
English

As the United States becomes an increasingly diverse society, the need for an understanding of the psychological impact of the immigrant and second-generation experience increases. Acculturation, ethnic identity, and worldview have been identified as factors that contribute to the mental health of minority populations. The influence of these variables on interpersonal relationships, however, has not been studied. This research sought to better understand the impact these three variables have ...
Malika Kapadia.
Publisher info.: Dissertation/Thesis.
Advisors: McHugh, Maureen C. Committee members: Rita Drapkin; Beverly Goodwin.
Psy.D. Indiana University of Pennsylvania 2009.
English

This research focused on the effectiveness of transitional first grade programs as an intervention to improve the academic success of students through third grade. This study investigated two groups of students, students who attended a transitional first grade program and students who were regularly promoted. Several limitations were present in this study that may have influenced the validity of the results. The results of this research indicated age, and not academic readiness scores, was ...
Megan Lynn Buchner-Horsh.
Publisher info.: Dissertation/Thesis.
Advisors: Black, Lynanne Committee members: William Barker; Becky Knickelbein; Edward Levinson.
D.Ed. Indiana University of Pennsylvania 2009.
English