This article examines the rhetoric of the conversion narratives told by a group of women joining a new social sorority on campus. I argue that these sorority conversion narratives are of interest to composition scholars because they document the emotional work involved in entering a community in one's first year of college. My close analysis of…

This paper reports an ethnographic study of a group of Chinese international students' emotion-management experiences in intercultural adjustment in a UK university context. Drawing on a social constructionist paradigm, it investigates students' constructions of their emotion-management strategies, and the effects of social interactions on the…

Maternal warmth, the quality of the affectional bond between mothers and their children, has been found to be consistently associated with children's positive developmental outcomes in Western cultures. However, researchers debate the potential differences in the cultural meanings of maternal warmth, particularly between Chinese and European…

Recent research has emphasized the key role of engagement in helping students succeed in school and beyond. Given the academic struggles that many English learners (ELs) face as they transition to middle school, exploring the facets of engagement in middle school ELs is needed. We established reader profiles for eight sixth grade Hispanic ELs and…

This study investigated different forms of pretend and physical play as predictors of preschool children's "affective social competence" (ASC). Data were collected from 122 preschool children (57 boys, 65 girls; 86 European American, 9 African American, 17 Hispanic, and 10 other ethnicity) over a 2-year period. Children participated in…

This qualitative, grounded theory study investigated teacher perspectives on the relationship between executive function and reading aptitude. The influence of executive function may be underestimated in terms of its impact on reading aptitude, which could have significant implications on how reading aptitude is currently defined. The foundational…

This study explores the level of "social presence" or connectedness, in two iterations of a 13-month, graduate-level certificate program designed to help K-12 school leaders integrate technology in their districts. Vygotsky's Social Development Theory serves as the theoretical lens for this programmatic research. The methods include a…

The aim of this thesis is to investigate and present the status of student synthesis with color coded formula writing for grade level six through twelve, and to make recommendations for educators to teach writing structure through a color coded formula system in order to increase classroom engagement and lower students' affect. The thesis first…

This study explores the Language Learning Experiences (LLEs) and beliefs of six non-native speaking (NNS), English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers in China. Data collection involved an online questionnaire, an asynchronous focus group, as well as individual online interviews. Findings were presented as profiles of the six cases. Cross-case…