Systemic Functional Linguistic Discourse Features in the Personal Essay

The purpose of this thesis is to look at published and student-produced creative writing, more specifically, personal essays, through the lens of discourse analysis theories in Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL). From the analysis of these personal essays, this thesis provides pedagogical insight concerning the linguistic features that are prevalent in published and student personal essays. Although research has been conducted looking at academic student writing through the lens of SFL, little research has been conducted looking specifically at the elements that make up pieces of creative writing. In fact, Blythe and Sweet (2008), with over seventy years of experience teaching creative writing, question whether or not good creative writing can even be explicitly taught. Although creative writing is, by its nature, creative, and therefore artful, the effective (or ineffective) use of language in a text can be analyzed through the lens of SFL. This thesis examines a model personal essay and student-produced personal essays through the lens of four discourse analysis theories in SFL: appraisal, identification, ideation, and conjunction. These theories are then paired with common global issues cited as problematic in creative texts—focus, flow, and voice—in order to demonstrate that issues that seemingly deal with content can be analyzed in the grammar of a text

Analysis of auditory functions in grades one, two, and three.

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit

Cumulative Exposure to Cell-Free HIV in Breast Milk, Rather Than Feeding Pattern per se, Identifies Postnatally Infected Infants

In a nested case-control study, postnatal HIV infection was strongly associated with cumulative HIV RNA breastmilk exposure, even after allowing for maternal CD4 and plasma viral load; cases ingested approximately 15 times more HIV-1 RNA particles than control

Conservation risk of Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans to endemic lungless salamanders

The emerging fungal pathogen, Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans (Bsal ), is a significant conservation threat to salamander biodiversity in Europe, although its potential to affect North American species is poorly understood. We tested the susceptibility of two genera (Eurycea and Pseudotriton ) and three populations of lungless salamanders (Plethodontidae ) to Bsal . All species became infected with Bsal and two (Pseudotriton ruber and Eurycea wilderae ) developed chytridiomycosis. We also documented that susceptibility of E. wilderae differed among populations. Regardless of susceptibility, all species reduced feeding when exposed to Bsal at the highest zoospore dose, and P. ruber and one population of E. wilderae used cover objects less. Our results indicate that Bsal invasion in eastern North America could have significant negative impacts on endemic lungless salamander populations. Future conservation efforts should include surveillance for Bsal in the wild and in captivity, and championing legislation that requires and subsidizes pathogen‐free trade of amphibians

Conservation risk of Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans to endemic lungless salamanders

The emerging fungal pathogen, Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans (Bsal), is a significant conservation threat to salamander biodiversity in Europe, although its potential to affect North American species is poorly understood. We tested the susceptibility of two genera (Eurycea and Pseudotriton) and three populations of lungless salamanders (Plethodontidae) to Bsal. All species became infected with Bsal and two (Pseudotriton ruber and Eurycea wilderae) developed chytridiomycosis. We also documented that susceptibility of E. wilderae differed among populations. Regardless of susceptibility, all species reduced feeding when exposed to Bsal at the highest zoospore dose, and P. ruber and one population of E. wilderae used cover objects less. Our results indicate that Bsal invasion in eastern North America could have significant negative impacts on endemic lungless salamander populations. Future conservation efforts should include surveillance for Bsal in the wild and in captivity, and championing legislation that requires and subsidizes pathogen-free trade of amphibians