What is the nature of conceptual representations? Models of semantic memory often describe concepts as a distributed feature space. However, it remains unknown which subset of this feature space constitutes the invariant representation of a concept. In this dissertation, I investigate the nature of modality-independent representations and their…

Behavioral skills training (BST) (Parsons et al., 2012) is a common intervention for training staff and caregivers to engage in various important behaviors. However, BST is labor intensive, costly, and often requires extensive involvement from a supervisor or experienced trainer (DiGennaro Reed & Henley, 2015), which may not always be…

This case study investigated first-year composition students' perceptions of instructors' written feedback. Participants reported on their understanding of the role of feedback, how they processed feedback, and if and how they used it. Thirty-one participants completed a short online survey; the responses were analyzed to identify students who…

This dissertation compares the impact of instructor screencast feedback and instructor written feedback on the writing of college students in freshman composition courses. A mixed methods study was used to assess the level of improvement between drafts of essays, the final scores of essays, and the level of improvement over time for both types of…

U.S. employers have reported that many college graduates are underprepared in written communication when hired and that lack of preparedness hinders these graduates' employment success. Higher education institution (HEI) administrators need information regarding which writing skills should be taught across the curriculum to improve student…

Attaining Advanced proficiency and beyond has been a principal goal for second language learners, practitioners, and researchers. Achieving this level in writing requires producing connected discourse of paragraph-level length and nurturing the ability to arrange various linguistic units to form a unified and cohesive whole. This ability, known as…

Teacher diversity is essential for creating inclusive learning environments, as teachers who reflect their students' backgrounds can better serve their needs and positively impact learning outcomes. As the Sweet Home CSD classrooms become increasingly diverse, the homogenous teaching force has failed to keep pace, with more than ninety-six (96%)…

Achieving proficiency in core foundational oral language (OL), reading, and writing skills remains difficult for students with specific learning disabilities (SLD) and foundational OL difficulty (National Center for Educational Statistics, 2022). Despite evidence linking OL skills in grammar (morphosyntax, syntax) and vocabulary (semantics) to…

In the ever-changing digital era, the surge of online informal language learning platforms has revolutionized the way we learn new languages. This dissertation delves into the critical role of interactional feedback (IF) in synchronous computer-mediated communication (SCMC), a cornerstone for optimizing these digital learning spaces. Anchored in…

Writing in English is considered an important skill for ESL learners, and qualified teachers are needed in order to provide the students with written corrective feedback (WCF). Much previous research on WCF has looked at its overall effectiveness, with less attention paid to the teachers' perceptions of WCF methods and expected outcomes when they…

This dissertation study investigated how L2 doctoral students regulate their emotions upon receiving written feedback from their mentors. The study took a multiple-case-study approach that entailed stimulated recall of the feedback-reading and revision process. Three international doctoral students who were engaged in high-stakes writing in the…

This study investigates the simplifications used with English consonant clusters by EFL learners of Saudi Najdi Arabic dialect (a dialect spoken in the central region of Saudi Arabia). More particularly, it focused on the Saudi Najdi speakers when they pronounce English final three-consonant clusters such as /lps/ as in "helps." The…

Metadiscourse comprises the linguistic resources used by writers to organize texts, engage readers, project stances towards their texts or readers, or position themselves in relation to readers (e.g. "I suggest," "however," "for example," "perhaps," "it is clear that," "interesting").…

This Dissertation addresses findings from a qualitative case study. The researcher provided a) training and b) analysis of the follow-up performance of a Peer Mentor from the Student Success Center at an Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI), at The University of Texas at San Antonio. Following the training, prepared by Charles Ernest Wright, the…

The purpose of the study is to enumerate the representations in high school geometry, to narrow the focus to the most common ones, and to describe how the common representations are coordinated. To achieve this purpose, I analyzed several sections of a popular geometry textbook using thematic analysis, semiotics, and a pragmatic approach to…