Empowering Students to Develop L2 Identity - Supplemental Online Lessons

As an immigrant, learning English is part of acculturating to the new culture. From this process, a new identity emerges in the context of the new language and culture. Currently, identity issues and intercultural competence are explicit objectives in language learning. The implications of neglecting identity formation in second language acquisition include vulnerability to culture shock, mental health issues, and the inability to thrive. The unique set of needs, motivations, and strengths of immigrant English language learners should inform language instruction design in order to achieve sustainable and equitable successful language learning and acculturation. Explicitly designing instruction that incorporates issues of identity into the curriculum effectively considers the students’ communicative goals and intercultural competence, and better prepares students to face the challenges of acculturative stress. The purpose of the field project is to provide instructors with supplemental online lessons that address issues of identity, to complement and enrich the classroom content and expand practices towards more learner-centered practices to provide more engaging and meaningful learning. The field project is composed of a series of supplemental lessons for an intermediate reading and writing level credit course at the community college level. Each lesson includes self- directed activities for the students to complete independently online. Also, each lesson is accompanied by a teacher guide to frame and integrate the lesson with the classroom practice, methods of assessment, and a reflection prompt to encourage the teacher’s reflective practice. As the needs of students change over time and in response to immigration and economic trends, the field of TESOL is evolving towards a more inclusive environment of the diverse background and experiences of the student and teacher population. Language learning has evolved from being a skill to be mastered to a tool for empowerment, and it is imperative to continue developing our teaching practices to best serve our students

Evaluation of the System Attributes of Timeliness and Completeness of the West Virginia Electronic Disease Surveillance System\u27 NationalEDSS Based System

Despite technological advances in public health informatics, the evaluation of infectious disease surveillance systems data remains incomplete. In this study, a thorough evaluation was performed of the West Virginia Electronic Disease Surveillance System (WVEDSS, 2007-2010) and the West Virginia Electronic Disease Surveillance System NationalEDSS -Based System (WVEDSS-NBS; March 2012 - March 2014) for Category II infectious diseases in West Virginia. The purpose was to identify key areas in the surveillance system process from disease diagnosis to disease prevention that need improvement. Grounded in the diffusion of innovation theory, a quasi-experimental, interrupted, time-series design was used to evaluate the 2 data sets. Research questions examined differences in mean reporting time, the 24-hour standard, and comparison of complete fields (DOB, gender etc.) of the data sets using independent samples t tests. The study found (a) that the mean reporting times were shorter for WVEDSS compared to WVEDSS-NBS (p \u3c .05) for all vaccine-preventable infectious diseases (VPID) in Category II except for mumps; (b) that the 24-hour standard was not met for WVEDSS compared to WVEDSS-NBS (p \u3c .05) for all VPID in Category II except for mumps, and (c) that most fields were complete for WVEDSS compared to WVEDSS-NBS (p \u3c .05) for all VPID in Category II except for meningococcal disease. Healthcare professionals in the state can use the results of this research to improve the system attributes of timeliness and completeness. Implications for positive social change included improved access to public health data to better understand health disparities, which, in turn could reduce morbidity and mortality within the population

From Windsor Teachers’ College to Faculty of Education, University of Windsor: A story of institutional change.

Formal initial teacher preparation in Ontario began in 1847, with the opening of the Toronto Normal School. Presently initial teacher preparation occurs in Faculties of Education across Ontario. This thesis represents a quest to better understand the evolution of how prospective teachers are prepared for the teaching profession in Ontario. It is a case study that examines initial preparation of elementary school teachers in Windsor, Ontario, focusing on the establishment of the Windsor Teacher`s College and its transition into the Faculty of Education at the University of Windsor. There are three focal points for analysis: the history of teacher education in Ontario, the philosophy of teacher preparation, and the politics of educational institutional change. The main research question is, to what extent did the new Faculty of Education represent continuity with the past, and to what extent was it a break with the past? Archival data from the Ontario Archives, the Windsor Public Library, and the Leddy Library at the University of Windsor were examined, as well as public documents. In the 1950s in order to become a teacher you had to have finished secondary school. By the early 1970s however, teaching was increasingly becoming professionalized, and prospective teachers were required to have a degree before they could begin their initial teacher preparation program. The curriculum of initial teacher preparation stayed largely the same, but the student experience and educational background of the prospective teachers changed significantly. This case study provides a useful historical context for decision makers as they consider new reforms in the formal preparation of teachers

Proceedings of the First National Workshop on the Global Weather Experiment: Current Achievements and Future Directions, volume 2, part 2

An assessment of the status of research using Global Weather Experiment (GWE) data and of the progress in meeting the objectives of the GWE, i.e., better knowledge and understanding of the atmosphere in order to provide more useful weather prediction services. Volume Two consists of a compilation of the papers presented during the workshop. These cover studies that addressed GWE research objectives and utilized GWE information. The titles in Part 2 of this volume include General Circulation Planetary Waves, Interhemispheric, Cross-Equatorial Exchange, Global Aspects of Monsoons, Midlatitude-Tropical Interactions During Monsoons, Stratosphere, Southern Hemisphere, Parameterization, Design of Observations, Oceanography, Future Possibilities, Research Gaps, with an Appendix

Modeling and Analysis of Complex Technology Adoption Decisions: An Investigation in the Domain of Mobile ICT

Mobile information and communication technologies (ICT) promise to significantly transform enterprises, their business processes and services, improve employee productivity, effectiveness, and efficiency, and create new competitive advantages and business agility. Despite the plethora of potential benefits, however, widespread enterprise adoption of mobile ICT has not been as extensive as initially anticipated. Drawing on the extant information systems, technology management, and organizational innovation literature, this dissertation investigates the salient drivers and inhibitors of emerging ICT adoption, in general, and mobile ICT in particular, and develops an integrative ICT adoption decision framework. From this synthesis we identify four broad elements that influence an enterprise s decision to adopt mobile ICT: (1) business value, (2) costs and economics, (3) strategic alignment, and (4) enterprise readiness. The latter decision element has received only little theoretical and practical attention. In order to fill this gap, this dissertation explored the concept of enterprise readiness in further detail and identified eight key dimensions and their associated assessment indicators. Using a two-stage expert study and experimental design approach, we empirically validated these dimensions and determined their relative importance. Results indicated that leadership readiness followed by technology, data and information, and resource readiness, contributed the most to enterprise readiness for mobile ICT. The results are implemented into a web-based readiness diagnostic tool (RDT) that enables decision makers to assess an enterprise s readiness for mobile ICT. The benefits of the RDT are multifold: first, it navigates the decision maker through the complex readiness assessment space; second, it identifies potential organizational deficiencies and provides a means to assess potential sources of risks associated with the adoption and implementation of mobile ICT; and third, it enables decision makers to benchmark their level of readiness against other organizations. The dissertation concludes by highlighting both theoretical and practical implications for emerging and mobile ICT adoption management and suggesting directions for future research.Ph.D.Committee Chair: Rouse, William; Committee Member: Cross, Steve; Committee Member: Cummins, Michael; Committee Member: DeMillo, Richard; Committee Member: Vengazhiyil, Rosha

A Library Love Triangle? : An analysis of the relationship between data, information and knowledge in Library and Information Studies (or, Pullman’s Dust : A new model for data, information and knowledge).

Across the decades, many writers within the Library and Information Science (LIS) sector have sought to define and discuss issues surrounding data, information and knowledge, often drawing on other disciplines. What is lacking, however is any kind of consensus as different ideas and opinions are merely presented and argued. This dissertation seeks to compare and contrast different definitions of the concepts data, information and knowledge within LIS before comparing and discussing different views of the relationships between them. It will also look for evidence within three fields of LIS other than Information Theory (Information Retrieval, Information Literacy and Knowledge Management) in order to see if, and how, the more practical side of the profession alters the view of the theoretical. The Methodology is one of desk research, a literature search conducted in order to ensure a comprehensive and wide-ranging discussion. The dissertation will find that there is little agreement as to how data, information and knowledge interact, and that this is due to different views of the definitions of the concepts, different views of the LIS discipline and because of the widely differing views of how knowledge interacts with information. However, it will be found that knowledge is a large concept comprising of many parts and that can be affected in many ways; and that knowledge should be viewed as a more overarching concept than the many linear views of the relationship between data, information and knowledge often shown. As such, it will be suggested that Pullman’s Dust (a concept drawn from Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials books) provides an adequate analogy for knowledge and a new model of the relationship between data, information and knowledge is suggested along with other future suggestions for research

Prolegomena To The Automated Analysis Of A Bilingual Poetry Corpus, With Particular Reference To An Annotated Edition Of “the Cantos” Of Ezra Pound

Standing at the intersection of a theoretical investigation into the possibilities of applying the tools and methods of automated analysis to a large plurilingual poetry corpus and of a set of observables gleaned along the creation of a digitally annotated edition of The Cantos of Ezra Pound — a robust test-case for the TEI — the present dissertation can be read under different guises. One of them, for instance, would be that of a comedy, divina commedia or com�dia de Deus, in which the computer plays — Leibnizian harmonics! — the part of supreme intellect. A: The selva oscura is that of newly born “Digital Humanities” — burgeoning yet obscured already by two dominant paradigms. On the one hand, the constructivism inherited from poststructuralist theory; on the other, a na�ve return to the most trivial kind of linguistic realism. There, the literary text is construed as an object of absolute singularity, transcending any possible analysis based on explicit methods; here, it becomes a mere point in a network of quodities. Literariness is gone. The second circle revolves around a singular, and singularly marked, exemple of antinomian discourse — the concomitant use of the notions of error and genius in respect to The Cantos — the uniqueness of the modernist project supposed to defeat all generalizing claims made by philology. Alas, facts are stubborn things; so are mistakes. These must be corrected, but on what grounds? We plead for the necessity of a genetic — a digital genetic — edition, which only can transcend the arbitrary organizational imperialism of standard sheets of paper. B. The purgatory of labor, the attempts to analyze the text without betraying its intricacies. What is a line? What is a proper name? What is a quotation? The path is steep, but the air starts to clear up. C. Ascension — Love supreme — Paradise in sight: the realm of results. Through graphs, colors appear, in the stead of black ink on white paper — beautifully, but oh so fleetingly

Advancing theory of consumer satisfaction and word-of-mouth

Consumer satisfaction and Word-of-Mouth (WOM) are interrelated phenomena that are crucial to the successful marketing of products and services. Yet, psychological theory regarding both phenomena lacks integration, and empirical evidence on key processes, such as satisfaction formation through expectancy-disconfirmation and intra-individual WOM transmission, is heterogeneous or even missing. The present thesis addresses these issues in three studies. In the first study, a model of intra-individual WOM transmission, covering the span from the reception of WOM to the sending of WOM, was developed and experimentally tested. Results suggest that the sending of WOM is solely determined by product performance and that intra-individual WOM transmission might “become stuck” during the unclear expectancy-disconfirmation process. In order to clarify the role of expectancy-disconfirmation as a key element of intra-individual WOM transmission, expectancy-disconfirmation theories were conceptually and empirically assessed in a systematic way, in the form of a qualitative review of the respective literatures (Study 2) and a meta-analysis (Study 3). The qualitative review derives suggestions for how conceptual inconsistencies and methodological shortcomings of expectancy-disconfirmation theories can be resolved. In particular, a coherent disconfirmation typology is developed and more suitable methods for operationalizing concepts of disconfirmation are presented. The results of the meta-analysis indicate that consumers assimilate their satisfaction ratings toward their expectations and that disconfirmation and consumer satisfaction are very closely related psychological constructs. Taken together, the findings of the three studies suggest that perceived performance is the crucial antecedent to consumer satisfaction, but that expectations also matter. Furthermore, the assimilation of satisfaction ratings toward expectations is the most likely link between the reception of WOM and the sending of WOM.Die Phänomene Konsumentenzufriedenheit und Word-of-Mouth (kurz WOM, z. Dt. auch „Mundpropaganda“) sind entscheidende Einflussfaktoren auf den Markterfolg von Produkten und Dienstleistungen. Wissenschaftliche Erklärungen dieser Phänomene beruhen jedoch auf einer Vielzahl einzelner psychologischer Modelle und es fehlt eine theoretische Integration der einzelnen Modelle in eine umfassende und konsistente Gesamttheorie. Zudem ist die empirische Evidenz zu den angenommenen psychologischen Prozessen, wie z.B. dem Erwartungs-Diskonfirmations Prozess als Grundlage von Konsumentenzufriedenheit, uneinheitlich und teilweise unvollständig. Die vorliegende Dissertation greift diese Probleme in drei Studien auf. In Studie 1 wird ein Drei-Stufen Modell der intra-individuellen Übertragung von WOM entwickelt, das den psychologischen Prozess zwischen dem Empfangen von WOM und dem Senden von WOM beschreibt. In einer experimentellen Überprüfung des drei-Stufen Modells zeigte sich, dass ausschließlich die Produktqualität die Konsumentenzufriedenheit und das Senden von WOM verursacht, die Qualitätserwartungen an das Produkt hingegen keinen Einfluss auf die Konsumentenzufriedenheit haben. Dieses Ergebnis steht im Widerspruch zu der aus den Erwartungs-Diskonfirmations Theorien abgeleiteten Vorhersage und legt für sich genommen nahe, dass die intra-individuelle Übertragung von WOM im Prozess zwischen den Qualitätserwartungen und der Konsumentenzufriedenheit unterbrochen wird. Die Bedeutung der Ergebnisse aus Studie 1 für die Theorien der Erwartungs-Diskonfirmation und der intra-individuellen Übertragung von WOM sind jedoch nur schwer zu beurteilen, da in der Erwartungs-Diskonfirmations Literatur keine einheitlichen und klaren Aussagen zum konkreten Erwartungs-Diskonfirmations Prozess und zu den zu erwartenden Effekten gemacht werden. Aus diesem Grund wurden die Erwartungs-Diskonfirmations Theorien in Studie 2 und 3 konzeptionell und empirisch untersucht. In Studie 2, einem qualitativen Review, wurden Empfehlungen erarbeitet, wie konzeptionelle Widersprüche und methodische Mängel in der Erwartungs-Diskonfirmations Forschung überwunden werden können. Konkret wird eine umfassende Diskonfirmations-Typologie entwickelt, die bisherige Widersprüche zu diesem Konzept auflöst, und es werden geeignete Methoden zur Operationalisierung und Analyse des Diskonfirmations-Konzeptes vorgeschlagen. In Studie 3 wurden die Vorhersagen der Erwartungs-Diskonfirmations Theorien meta-analytisch untersucht. Die Meta-Analyse zeigte einen positiven Effekt von Qualitätserwartungen auf Konsumentenzufriedenheit, was die Vorhersagen von Assimilations-Theorien bestätigt und im Gegensatz zum Ergebnis von Studie 1 steht. Weiterhin zeigte die Meta-Analyse einen sehr starken Zusammenhang von Diskonfirmation und Konsumentenzufriedenheit, was nahe legt, dass die Konstrukte Diskonfirmation und Konsumentenzufriedenheit empirisch nicht distinkt sind. Zusammengenommen implizieren die Ergebnisse der drei Studien, dass die wahrgenommene Produkt- bzw. Dienstleistungsqualität der bedeutsamste Einflussfaktor auf Konsumentenzufriedenheit ist, aber auch Qualitätserwartungen auch eine Rolle spielen. Darüber hinaus stellt der positive Effekt von Qualitätserwartungen auf Konsumentenzufriedenheit ein mögliches Bindeglied in der intra-individuellen Übertragung von WOM dar. Schlussendlich werden Perspektiven für die zukünftige Theorieentwicklung in den Bereichen der Konsumentenzufriedenheit und des WOM diskutiert und es wird vorgeschlagen, Diskonfirmation nicht als die wahrgenommene Diskrepanz von Qualitätswahrnehmung und Qualitätserwartung, sondern als psychologischen Prozess zu konzeptualisieren

COLONIAL EDUCATION AND CARIBBEAN LITERATURE IN C.L.R. JAMES AND GEORGE LAMMING

Caribbean Literature is credited with the purpose of writing an existence for the people of the West Indies, or the Caribbean, with an identity outside of colonialism. The seminal novels by pivotal writers of the Caribbean such as C.L.R. James and George Lamming are groundbreaking texts that engage with the histories of Caribbean colonial subjects. These writers’ (among others) colonial educations are the foundation for their exiled writing and subsequent resistance to colonial education and antiblackness it spawns and fosters. In the Anglophone Caribbean, it is British colonial education that is the catalyst for this exile. This text explores the role of British colonial education in the exile of these writers, and what exile means for resistance. In that resistance, there is considerable evidence to suggest that the role of exile is gendered. Some women who were conditioned with British colonial educations prior to their immigration the United States were interviewed and their stories were analyzed through theories of exile, gendered resistance, and antiblackness