Interdisciplinary theoretical foundations for literacy teaching and learning

This article presents an interdisciplinary approach to literacy teaching and learning. The approach views literacy as involving numerous functions, including linguistic, psychological, cognitive, social, and critical functions. Research on the teaching and learning of literacy that underlies the model is discussed first. The interdisciplinary approach is defined and discussed next. The article concludes with a discussion of conclusions and implications for literacy education

Creating Soundscapes: A Creative, Technological and Theoretical Investigation of Binaural Technology Usage

Through its portfolio of practical case studies and its engagement with critical thinking from a range of disciplines, the PhD investigates the following key question: what are the technical, aesthetic and conceptual impacts of using binaural technology to create a soundscape? ‘Using binaural technology’ implies users and users are essentially at the heart of this impact because users mediate the technical and aesthetic aspects of binaural technology and also inherently shape the theoretical ideology of this technology. By analysing users’ interactions with binaural technology from a social constructivist perspective, this thesis gains rich insights into the impact of using binaural technology when creating soundscapes. Chapter One explores sound artists’ and field recordists’ work that use binaural technology for the shared purpose of documenting urban soundwalks. The first case study “Audio Postcards” is also informed by questions drawn from acoustic ecology, socio-political theories on the practices of everyday life and the challenges that arise in finding, recording and preserving ‘soundmarks’. Chapter Two outlines practitioners’ applications of binaural technology to create an intimate connection to an art piece such as theatre director David Rosenberg’s productions. Peter Salvatore Petralia’s concept of headspace is applied to the chapter’s case study: “From Austria To America” to further understand binaural technology’s psychoacoustic effects. Chapter Three studies the impact of social groups who use binaural technology to record classical music performances. Traditional stereo and binaural classical music recording conventions are shaped in a new direction in two case studies: “Point of Audition” and “From Page to Stage”. Questions of ‘fidelity’ also arise from this creative practice. The outcomes of this reflective binaural practice unearth deep layers of understanding. This thesis discovers the impact of binaural technology moves beyond the effect it has on a listener to realise this recording practice also impacts a recordist’s decisions in the field and a sound artist’s creative choices when crafting soundscapes. The beneficial impact of binaural technology including its inconspicuous nature, the ability to imprint an artist’s subjective signature on recordings and its lifelike immersive qualities in playback are revealed through practice and reflection. Representing the real, the role of artist and point of audition are also themes explored throughout each chapter. Ultimately, insights gained are woven together as a means of constructing an original theoretical framework for an under-theorised subject: understanding how social user groups shape the impact of using binaural technology when creating soundscapes.Arts and Humanities Research Counci

Loneliness, storytelling and community in performance : the climate of the House Un-American Activities Committee's America in selected plays by Eugene O'Neill, J.P. Donleavy and Frank D. Gilroy

This thesis examines the selected dramatic works of three second-generation American-Irish playwrights in the twentieth century: Eugene O’Neill, J.P. Donleavy, and Frank D. Gilroy. Key texts of O’Neill’s late period, including The Iceman Cometh (1940) and Hughie (1959), are assessed in Chapter 1; Chapter 2 evaluates Donleavy’s plays The Ginger Man (1959) and Fairy Tales of New York (1960); Chapter 3 concludes the analysis by examining plays including Gilroy’s The Subject Was Roses (1964) and Any Given Day (1993). The form and content of these playwrights’ work are shown increasingly to revolve around notions of loneliness, storytelling and community, and these aspects of the plays are found to be shaped by the ideological influence of the work of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) which, I argue, was itself a highly theatrical and performative operation. The tenure of HUAC spanned 1938-1968; its effects lingered longer. The plays are not political interventions or critiques in any straightforward way, though; indeed, the thematic content of these writers’ work appears to become increasingly small, personal and autobiographical as their careers develop. However, my contention is that the plays operate as “indirect allegories” – subtle, often unconscious responses to the ideological climate of the time. My analysis of the plays applies the works of critics as diverse as Louis Althusser and Erving Goffman to show that themes such as loneliness reappear as manifestations of HUAC’s increasingly negative impact on community formation and cohesion. Likewise, recurrent formal devices such as storytelling function to dramatise the paradoxes surrounding such self-performance in the era of HUAC – narrating the self is both a nourishing, self-defining act, and also, in this context, potentially incriminating. In this way, the thesis starts to plot a developmental trajectory of second-generation American-Irish playwriting and its indirect allegorisation of the HUAC era.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Loneliness, storytelling and community in performance: the climate of the House Un-American Activities Committee’s America in selected plays by Eugene O’Neill, J.P. Donleavy and Frank D. Gilroy

This thesis examines the selected dramatic works of three second-generation American-Irish playwrights in the twentieth century: Eugene O’Neill, J.P. Donleavy, and Frank D. Gilroy. Key texts of O’Neill’s late period, including The Iceman Cometh (1940) and Hughie (1959), are assessed in Chapter 1; Chapter 2 evaluates Donleavy’s plays The Ginger Man (1959) and Fairy Tales of New York (1960); Chapter 3 concludes the analysis by examining plays including Gilroy’s The Subject Was Roses (1964) and Any Given Day (1993). The form and content of these playwrights’ work are shown increasingly to revolve around notions of loneliness, storytelling and community, and these aspects of the plays are found to be shaped by the ideological influence of the work of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) which, I argue, was itself a highly theatrical and performative operation. The tenure of HUAC spanned 1938-1968; its effects lingered longer. The plays are not political interventions or critiques in any straightforward way, though; indeed, the thematic content of these writers’ work appears to become increasingly small, personal and autobiographical as their careers develop. However, my contention is that the plays operate as “indirect allegories” – subtle, often unconscious responses to the ideological climate of the time. My analysis of the plays applies the works of critics as diverse as Louis Althusser and Erving Goffman to show that themes such as loneliness reappear as manifestations of HUAC’s increasingly negative impact on community formation and cohesion. Likewise, recurrent formal devices such as storytelling function to dramatise the paradoxes surrounding such self-performance in the era of HUAC – narrating the self is both a nourishing, self-defining act, and also, in this context, potentially incriminating. In this way, the thesis starts to plot a developmental trajectory of second-generation American-Irish playwriting and its indirect allegorisation of the HUAC era

Psychometric Properties of the Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire (KCCQ)

BACKGROUND: The Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire (KCCQ) is a well-established instrument used to evaluate the health status of heart failure (HF) patients. There has been a lack of clarity about the best way to conceptualize the KCCQ. The purpose of this investigation of the KCCQ was to: (1) explore the factor structure with an exploratory factor analyses; (2) perform reliability and validity testing to determine the best factor solution for item groupings; and (3) determine the most meaningful components of health status captured by the KCCQ. METHODS AND RESULTS: A secondary analysis of data from 280 adults with stage-C HF enrolled from three US northeastern sites was conducted to test the KCCQ subscale structure. Criterion-related validity for the Self-efficacy subscale was tested with the Dutch Heart Failure Knowledge Scale and the Self-care of Heart Failure Index Self-care Confidence Scale. Overall, internal consistency reliability (Cronbach\u27s alpha) for the KCCQ and subscales was 0.92, social interference (seven items, 0.90), physical limitation (four items, 0.84), symptoms (eight items, 0.86), independent care (two items, 0.80), and self-efficacy (two items, 0.63). Two items failed to correspond to a previously identified factor so the independent care subscale was added. Items intending to measure quality of life were loaded in the social interference subscale. CONCLUSIONS: We recommend eliminating the quality of life subscale and including those items in the social interference subscale, and eliminating the self-efficacy items and re-evaluating the items related to independent care

A Center for Academic Achievement: How Innovative Collaborations Between Faculty and Learning Center Administrators Built Model, Credit-Bearing, First-Year Courses with Embedded Support for At-Risk Students

Establishing a centralized learning assistance program to systematically address the academic challenges of all students was the first priority of the Academic Achievement Center (AAC) at Bridgewater State College when it was formed in 2001. This new, open, bright, comfortable, and inviting place has truly become the heart of the campus, for it is here that abundant human and material resources are available to support all students. In this learning environment, students can access services in advising, testing, disabilities resources, study, research, writing, communication, mathematics, adaptive technology, tutoring, and English as a second language. Primary responsibility for learning assistance lives with faculty directors who plan how to place meaningful assistance in the path of all students. This article describes the challenges and rewards in establishing and sustaining campus commitment to centralized learning assistance programs as well as some of the exciting opportunities for collaborative innovation on learning assistance that have resulted from such a commitment at Bridgewater State College. An additional discussion focuses on the administrative strategies that support this successful model, and the profound professional opportunities presented to faculty, graduate students, undergraduate student staff, and professional staff through this model. Besides the various services provided at the AAC, systemic delivery of learning assistance is meshed through academic courses for at-risk, first-year students. A description and analysis of quantitative and qualitative data point out the observed trends of student persistence and academic standing for each cohort that has benefited from this comprehensive model

Characterization of Central Iowa Forests with Permanent Plots

We describe a standard methodology for establishing and inventorying the woody vegetation in 0.1-ha permanent forest plots and we utilize the data from 86 plots to characterize the mature forest vegetation of central Iowa. Obvious differences existed between bottomland hardwoods and upland forest stands, but disturbed uplands contained species typical of bottomlands. Little-disturbed upland forest plots included a variety of species associations, but variation among plots was continuous. The trees dominating the mature upland forests of central Iowa grow in a wide variety of habitats, with the result that predictability of stand structure at any location is limited. Stands on northerly and southerly aspects did differ consistently from one another, but other aspects were not intermediate in character. The overall structure of the forest stands we inventoried was typical of old secondary forests. Even the oldest forests of central Iowa are still relatively young, and their structure and composition is likely to change in the coming decades. The permanent plots we established will allow for documentation and analysis of this change