This dissertation study reports on an IRB-approved qualitative study of ten students who took class-assigned writing and moved it beyond the curriculum, I examine the curricular and extracurricular contexts that drove students to voluntarily develop projects that involve writing. The findings I share in this dissertation are based on interviews…

Examinations of adolescent literacy practice over the last 10 years have illuminated the significance of an integrated approach to literacy and content area instruction (Bean, 2000; Applebee & Langer, 2013; IRA, 2012). Considering writing specifically, writing in the content areas has positively impacted both students' writing quality and…

This study examined how student's scores vary on two different writing assignments, what were the student's perceptions, and any correlations that may arise from the use of two different methods of providing formative feedback to high school juniors. Many studies support the use of technology and demonstrate how technology plays a significant role…

Ethnography is becoming an increasingly popular research methodology used across a number of disciplines. Typically, teaching students how to write an ethnography, much less how to undertake "fieldwork" (or the ethnographic research upon which ethnographies are based), is reserved for senior- or MA-level research methods courses. This…

Among recent high profile scientific debates was the proposal that life could exist with arsenic in place of phosphorous in its nucleic acids and other biomolecules. Soon after its initial publication, scientists across diverse disciplines began to question this extraordinary claim. Using the original article, its claims, its scientific support,…

Background: The aims of the current study were to adapt a version of the MET for people with intellectual disabilities and assess its ecological and construct validity. Material and Methods: Using a correlational design, 40 participants with intellectual disabilities were invited to complete a battery of neuropsychological assessments and the…

English 382 is a multimodal composition course that counts as a "C" credit, a composition course that fulfills one of the courses mandated as general education requirements. The writing program administration at the university created this course as one in a series of four new multimodal composition courses in response to increasing…

Having been presented the opportunity to teach a special section of American and Texas Government for new freshman majors, my first goal was to find ways to enhance and enrich the academic and intellectual experience of my students. My thoughts turned right away to undergraduate research and the many benefits it provides, as pointed out by the…

This article describes a four-part book club in a political parties, campaigns, and elections course. Self-reported survey data and anecdotal evidence suggest that the book club was a successful learning tool. Specifically, students who enrolled in the book club reported increased classroom capital, significant learning, enjoyment with the book…

How better can we prepare students for the roles awaiting them as citizens than by engaging them in addressing challenging issues of the day? We describe our experience as a researcher--practitioner partnership with this objective in a yearlong program involving academically low-performing urban middle schoolers and a student-centered…

Social media has become a daily activity in today's technological age, and with this development, educators are met with another possible tool to facilitate language learning. This study was conducted to examine the use of social media, in particular Facebook and Twitter, as a pedagogical instrument in beginning level Spanish courses. Two…

This paper reports an action research that aimed to examine how the author's weekly use of reflection and questioning instructional methods affected learners' learning in an online graduate class at a midwestern public university in the USA. The author employed the asynchronous online discussion on the discussion board in Blackboard for learners…

This study tested whether writing skills, knowledge, motivation, and strategic behaviors (within the context of robust writing instruction) each made a statistically unique contribution to predicting fifth-grade students' (123 girls, 104 boys) composition quality and length on a persuasive writing task involving source material, after variance due…

Courses: This semester-long assignment can be featured in undergraduate or graduate communication courses that include a major writing assignment such as research methods, capstone classes, senior thesis sections, or advanced courses on topics such as interpersonal, intercultural, and interracial communication. This assignment is suitable for…

Writing analytically about text is a valued skill reflected in current academic standards. The quality of text-based writing opportunities in U.S. elementary schools, however, is generally weak, with variation in the rigor of the writing tasks teachers assign. Previous research suggests that teachers' beliefs about instruction significantly…