Dissertations of Note
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Compiled by Rachel Fordyce
Arapostathis, Mark Plato. "The Effects of Participating in Youth Theater." Ed.D. diss. University of San Diego and San Diego State University, 2006. 131 pp. DAI 67:1629A.
Arapostathis achieves two things in his thesis: he demonstrates how participating in theater for youth helps to build cognition, and how it contributes to the development of literacy. He accomplishes these by representing students' voices in order "to explore how theater affects students beyond the stage and in their character development. . . ."
Arapostathis achieves two things in his thesis: he demonstrates how participating in theater for youth helps to build cognition, and how it contributes to the development of literacy. He accomplishes these by representing students' voices in order "to explore how theater affects students beyond the stage and in their character development. . . ."
Bandre, Patricia Ellen. "The Status of the Selection and Use of Children's Literature in Kâ6 Rural Ohio Public School Classrooms." Ph.D. diss. The Ohio State University, 2005. 288 pp. DAI 66:2152A.
Bandre wants to know what read-aloud books are used for in the classrooms she surveyed; why those books were chosen; "how children's literature is being integrated across the curriculum"; and how teachers obtain the books they work with. She found that the large majority of books used came from teachers' personal collections. Personal preference, students' favorites, book awards, and commercial book clubs strongly affected their choices. Teachers rarely used public libraries, and their attitudes toward a classroom library or reading area varied widely.
Bandre wants to know what read-aloud books are used for in the classrooms she surveyed; why those books were chosen; "how children's literature is being integrated across the curriculum"; and how teachers obtain the books they work with. She found that the large majority of books used came from teachers' personal collections. Personal preference, students' favorites, book awards, and commercial book clubs strongly affected their choices. Teachers rarely used public libraries, and their attitudes toward a classroom library or reading area varied widely.
Bastock, Michelle. "Suffering the Image: Literacy and Pedagogic Imagination." Ph.D. diss. University of Calgary (Canada), 2005. 200 pp. DAI 66:3548A.
Bastock celebrates the experience of "reading richly illustrated books to children." She also wonders why picture books are stigmatized and withheld from children as they begin to learn to read, and why parents are troubled if their 3rd and 4th grade children read picture books, particularly when the books have exceptionally good illustrations. The basis for her research "goes beyond individual subjectivity and explores the historical relationship between the word and the image."
Bastock celebrates the experience of "reading richly illustrated books to children." She also wonders why picture books are stigmatized and withheld from children as they begin to learn to read, and why parents are troubled if their 3rd and 4th grade children read picture books, particularly when the books have exceptionally good illustrations. The basis for her research "goes beyond individual subjectivity and explores the historical relationship between the word and the image."
Bernath, Michael Thomas. "Confederate Minds: The Struggle for Intellectual Independence in the Civil War South." Ph.D. diss. Harvard University, 2005. 674 pp. DAI 66:471A.
Shut off from northern publishers, the southern confederacy, Bernath believes, created "an impressive array of new and consciously Confederate periodicals, textbooks, belles-lettres, religious literature, historical works, children's literature, humor, and theatrical productions. . . ."
Shut off from northern publishers, the southern confederacy, Bernath believes, created "an impressive array of new and consciously Confederate periodicals, textbooks, belles-lettres, religious literature, historical works, children's literature, humor, and theatrical productions. . . ."
Bird, Shawn D. "A Content Analysis of the Most Commonly Adopted High School Literature Anthologies." Ed.D. diss. University of Houston, 2005. 252 pp. DAI 66:3967A.
Bird finds that in response to the NCLB (No Child Left Behind) Act, the anthologies currently used in high schools "have expanded the canon to include more minority voices"; that there is "a much greater emphasis on the development of reading comprehension skills"; and that "the anthologies examined in this study have empted to address adolescent reading motivation issues in a positive manner, as many pre- and post-reading activities are based upon reader-response theory."
Bird finds that in response to the NCLB (No Child Left Behind) Act, the anthologies currently used in high schools "have expanded the canon to include more minority voices"; that there is "a much greater emphasis on the development of reading comprehension skills"; and that "the anthologies examined in this study have empted to address adolescent reading motivation issues in a positive manner, as many pre- and post-reading activities are based upon reader-response theory."
Conley, Katanna Lee. "Thinking Outside the Books: Literacies of an After-School Book Club for Adolescent Girls." Ph.D. diss. University of Colorado at Boulder, 2006. 268 pp. DAI 67:1632A.
Conley believes that an after-school book club that she studied for six months provided a "unique conversational space" where "literacy practices . . . resembled carnival, including the disruption of traditional hierarchies, the development of new relationships, and the celebration of the everyday language of adolescents, rather than the academic language of Language Arts classrooms." [End Page 254]
Conley believes that an after-school book club that she studied for six months provided a "unique conversational space" where "literacy practices . . . resembled carnival, including the disruption of traditional hierarchies, the development of new relationships, and the celebration of the everyday language of adolescents, rather than the academic language of Language Arts classrooms." [End Page 254]
Connors, Clare. "The Hollywood Youth Narrative and the Family Values Campaign, 1980â1992." Ph.D. diss. University of Pittsburgh, 2005. 328 pp. DAI 66:3135A.
Connors "demonstrates how two Hollywood youth narratives [written in 1980 and 1992] reveal the fundamental contradictions between the New Right's idealized versions of American family values and the values of laissez faire capitalism; the often devastating impact of Reaganomics on the family as a site of social reproduction; and the troubled relationship between youth and consumer culture."
Connors "demonstrates how two Hollywood youth narratives [written in 1980 and 1992] reveal the fundamental contradictions between the New Right's idealized versions of American family values and the values of laissez faire capitalism; the often devastating impact of Reaganomics on the family as a site of social reproduction; and the troubled relationship between youth and consumer culture."
Cummings, Tracey A. "'For such as he there is no death': Louisa May Alcott's Rewritings of Thoreau." Ph.D. diss. Leigh University, 2005. 208 pp. DAI 66:3301A.
Cummings believes that Alcott "resurrects Thoreau in most of her...
Cummings believes that Alcott "resurrects Thoreau in most of her...
