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Online-based intelligibility instruction for second language (L2) learners
No full textAs speaking skills in English have become increasingly important in different academic and professional venues as a result of globalization, the issues of intelligibility and comprehensibility which go to the very core of global communication have come to the fore (Jenkins, 2000). In so doing, L2 pronunciation instruction should be based on those features which render L2 speech more comfortably intelligible. Previous research has revealed that both segmental and suprasegmental features are conducive to non-native speakers’ production of L2 speech (Kang et al., 2018; Saito et al., 2015). However, little research has examined the effects of intelligibility instruction on L2 learners’ pronunciation gains, especially through an online-based approach. Accordingly, this study examined whether online-based instruction of intelligibility features (i.e., high functional load consonants/ vowels, lexical stress, thought grouping, prominence, and intonation) conjointly resulted in gains in L2 learners’ intelligibility and comprehensibility as well as segmentals and suprasegmental accuracy.
Sixty L2 learners of English were recruited and randomly assigned to two instructional conditions: (1) an intelligibility group (n = 30) which received three weeks of online-based instruction on intelligibility features through Intelligibility tutor and (2) a comparison group (n = 30) which received parallel online-based instruction on English segmentals advocated in traditional, accuracy-oriented approaches to pronunciation instruction through Segmental Tutor. Both Tutors were hosted on Moodle, which is an open-source learning management system. Spontaneous speech samples collected in the pre-and posttest were transcribed and rated for intelligibility and comprehensibility by ten trained raters. The speech samples were also analyzed for segmental and suprasegmental features. An online survey was also administered to the L2 learners in both instructional conditions to determine how they evaluated the online pronunciation course.
Results of a series of mixed-effects models indicated that the intelligibility group significantly improved both intelligibility and comprehensibility scores from the pre-to posttest. Whereas the comparison group did not improve comprehensibility, marginal improvement in intelligibility emerged at the end of the intervention, which was not significant. The results of a series of paired-sample t-tests revealed that the intelligibility group exhibited substantial gains in some segmentals (i.e., high FL vowels and low FL consonants) and suprasegmentals (i.e., lexical stress, prominence, and level tone choice) while the comparison group only showed gains in some segmentals. The analyses of the learners’ qualitative responses also revealed that the learners in both groups were satisfied with the quality of the online pronunciation course. The results suggest that online-based intelligibility instruction can help L2 learners achieve more intelligible and comprehensible speech and offer new directions for future pronunciation classes in global contexts
How to Have a Body
Get PDFThis current works to articulate the frustrations experienced by those who use the current American healthcare system. Inside of this work, a combination of nonfiction and poems are used to help portray how of chronic illness and gender impact how people have access to healthcare. From being dismissed to dealing with the stress of finances for doctors, “How to Have a Body” aims to strike urgency in the reader with just a few personal stories and narratives.
I arranged this thesis in four parts. The first three sections focus on some of struggles within the medical system—women’s health, chronic illness, mental health, and gender identity. The fourth section moves to a conclusion written to allow the reader to understand what I have to give is just a slice of what’s happening in our worlds. This fourth section harkens for those stories that exists outside of the pages of this work. As easy as it is to say that frustration and anger fueled the creation of this work, I’d be remiss to not mention the power of connection. It is easy to suffer in silence. However, so many people were taking the strides to break stigmas simply by sharing their own stories. Humanity does not exist in a vacuum. Neither do stories. There is power in vulnerability.
I worked closely with constellation imagery, Greek mythology, anatomy, and mathematical concepts to interact with the medicinal and sterile side of receiving care under a nurse’s, or doctor’s hands. Medical diagnosis and procedures feel rigid and inaccessible as visual. By integrating in the mythology and ethos of spirituality inside of the poems, I set out to break down the world of medicine into more human concepts. I am inspired conceptually by poet Arthur Sze’s work and how he wrote led to the use of long form poems with no visual line breaks to mimic the way a prescription is written. I also wrote poems after the current trends of what doctors recommend doing in order to help mitigate various symptoms of the correlated illness out of the inspiration for Sze’s work.
Essayist Sarah Ramey, from her book, The Lady’s Handbook to Her Mysterious Illness and poet Warsan Shire’s work, Teaching My Mother How to Give Birth, inspired the use of second person. My efforts to use ‘you’ are to help continue invite the reader in. Rather than it being an attempt to universalize the events, I want to make sure that the reader understands that even if this hasn’t happened to the reader directly, it could be. Or someone they know. I also used second person in the poems is to address the person the section is about as well. I want to break down the barrier between me and them as much as I can while also still respecting the job that I am doing. I am only a vessel for a small part and so the use of the ‘you’ address allows me to make sure that I also point my reader back to who this is about. The work acts as a beacon for the real lives that are affected by the complexities of the healthcare system.
My time in the critical theory classes at Northern Arizona University shed light on my practice of writing specifically as it relates to the audience. As a queer Black writer, I am constantly thinking about whose hands will my work fall. The importance of a reader lends itself critically into the writing and aesthetic styles. The challenge in writing this body of work is trying to balance out a reader who has previous experience with the system and the reader who had does not. Those two types of people require different words and tone. I worked to address the skeptical reader while also creating the space for recognition with readers who have been in similar positions. This is a sign that they are not alone. This is a warning for those who have yet to be in these positions
The influence of informal science education professional development on teacher job satisfaction and self-efficacy
No full textThe purpose of this case study was to determine if there is an increase in third through eighth grade teacher job satisfaction and self-efficacy following participation in the informal science education STEM Science Teacher Residency (STaR) program held at a science center. Through this study, cohorts of third – eighth grade educators in Arizona’s Title I schools participated in focus groups with questions related to their self-efficacy and job satisfaction after completing modules in the STaR program at Arizona Science Center.
Research Question 1 addressed teacher job satisfaction following participation in an informal science education professional development science teacher residency program. Participants identified several themes such as materials and resources, misconception based teaching strategies, and gaining confidence to implement as well as significant factors to increased job satisfaction. Through these themes, confidence surfaced in the focus group discussions indicating participants had higher job satisfaction after participating in STaR.
Research Question 2 addressed specific components of an informal science education professional development science teacher residency program that led to increased job satisfaction. Educators shared that having the resources and coaching support from expert trainers made the content understandable and easier to implement. They felt more likely that with the ongoing support from the expert trainers and the opportunity to wear their “student hat” throughout the module they could navigate any questions students might have which in turn made them feel more satisfied in their teaching role. Through coaching support, educators were able to take the baseline strategies and competencies from the module(s) and use the tools provided to extend learning beyond the module topics by implementing best teaching practices in other courses in their classroom.
Research Question 3 addressed teacher self-efficacy following participation in an informal science education professional development science teacher residency program. By participating in STaR, their self-efficacy increased because of the confidence educators gained to do their job more effectively.
Research Question 4 addressed specific components of an informal science education professional development science teacher residency program that led to increased self-efficacy. Participants shared that being able to see how professional development could be hands-on and engaging influenced how they will seek out other learning opportunities. Although many could identify components they would seek out in future professional development, they were not confident they would find anything as comparable to their hands-on experiences in the Arizona Science Center STaR program that provided follow up coaching support as well as materials to implement lessons in their classroom right away.
The findings of this study suggest that educators participating in an informal science education institution’s residency professional development program show an increase in their self-efficacy and job satisfaction. However, what appears to be unique about the findings is that it was not one component of the residency at the Arizona Science Center in isolation that contributed to the increase of job satisfaction or self-efficacy, but the components of the professional learning, the resources provided, networking, as well as the follow up support
Responses of soil microinvertebrates and their ecological functions to forest thinning and prescribed fire in Valles Caldera National Preserve, New Mexico
Get PDFMost multicellular animals in forests are nematodes, collembolans, and mites living within the soil and litter. Their abundance is staggering: millions of nematodes, and tens to hundreds of thousands of mites and collembolans, usually reside within a square meter of the forest floor. These animals consume a wide range of resources, including fungi, bacteria, plants, and other soil animals. Through their feeding activities, and via their dispersal of microbes, they are important contributors to nutrient cycling, decomposition, and other ecological processes affecting plant performance. However, these key components of soil food webs have been largely neglected in forest restoration research. This dissertation focuses on responses of nematodes, collembolans, and mites to forest restoration activities in New Mexico’s Valles Caldera National Preserve. The first study examines how total abundance of these groups varies in untreated, thinned only, and thinned/burned ponderosa pine forest management units. We report that mites appear to be more sensitive to combined thinning and fire than nematodes or collembolans, and identify easily and inexpensively measured habitat and resource indicators which may aid land managers in assessing treatment implications for soil fauna. In the second study, we subjected volcanic loamy soils in a xeric mixed conifer forest to one, three, or nine passes from a feller buncher (a common type of tree harvester) to assess how disturbance from heavy logging machinery affects soil physical properties and nematode communities, with the aim of determining thresholds for negative impacts. We found that substantial compaction occurred after a single pass, affecting soil to a depth of at least 23-27 cm. Nematode communities, however, appeared relatively resistant to disturbance: impacts on sensitive nematode taxa were apparent only after nine passes. Finally, in the third study, a field mesocosm experiment, we investigated the functional implications of faunal community shifts that occur with forest restoration treatments. Our manipulation of soil mesofauna communities indicated that mesofauna can influence decomposition indirectly by affecting the functional composition of fungal communities, but that this phenomenon may be dependent on ecological context. Together, these studies assist in evaluating how restoration treatments affect the structure and functions of soil food webs
The effects of outside noise stimuli on honey bee foraging
No full textAuditory signals influence numerous honey bee behaviors. The waggle dance, which is used by foragers to communicate the location of food sources, utilizes acoustic signaling to convey information to nestmates. Though the importance of auditory communication in honey bee foraging is widely accepted, it is unknown if these signals can be disrupted by the sounds of the surrounding environment. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of outside noise on honey bee foraging. A literature review was conducted on the mechanisms of honey bee hearing as well as behaviors that use auditory communication. The Johnston’s organ, located on the pedical of the antenna, is used for hearing, and allows bees to hear at frequencies of 100-300 Hz. Several behaviors utilize auditory communication. Communication between queens utilizes substrate-borne vibrations. The waggle dance, a key part of foraging behaviors, uses airborne vibrations to communicate the distance and direction of food sources from the colony. Finally, auditory communication is used for all parts of swarming behaviors.
Chapter 2 reports the results from a field study which examined the effects of outside noise on honey bee foraging. We did this by placing colonies in an enclosed flight arena and attaching noise emitters to a treatment group. Feeders were then placed in the arena and foraging ability of workers in the treatment and control group was compared. Treated colonies showed similar foraging ability as non-treated colonies. Using these results, we determined that outside noise does not negatively impact honey bee foraging. However, as this phenomenon has not been widely researched, and we only used one acoustic treatment, therefore more studies in this topic are needed to continue to examine this relationship.
Finally, Chapter 3 examines the benefits and drawbacks of urban beekeeping and gives management recommendations on the continuation of this practice. Urban beekeeping has seen an increase in popularity over the last several decades, and many cities have adopted this practice. Urban beekeeping has many benefits, including community building and the creation of urban green spaces. However, there are also several drawbacks to this practice including risk of stings and negative impacts to native bee populations
Social constuction of nature for nonprofits in Grand Canyon: an online content analysis
No full textThis paper explores the social construction of nature by analyzing the website of four non-governmental, nonprofit organizations working towards environmental protections in Grand Canyon. Through a content analysis of each website, the words, images, and presentations of actions taken by the various nonprofits will be evaluated in light of six environmental paradigms. By examining mission statements, key words, project foci, boards of directors, donations, and shopping pages of nonprofit in Grand Canyon, this research shows how these paradigms align with each group’s idea of “nature”, and in turn shapes the way they engage with environmental advocacy. By examining the frameworks that environmental nonprofits use to think about the more-than-human world, we gain crucial insights into the nature of environments in a time of unstable global environmental conditions
THE POET
Get PDFI challenge the notion that there is something that a poem does that makes it a poem. This is to say, there is nothing that a poet does that gives a poem a quality that we call ‘poem.’ A poem comes into being of its own accord. A poem enters because, to quote Ariana Reines, a human wants to put their life on the line.
It is true that there are traditions of poetry throughout the world that have rigidly defined the physicality of a poem. Many poetic traditions, at least in the last couple thousand years have involved metrical patterning, a sense of rhyme or particularity about how sonic symmetries are in dialogue with time. In this sense, the physical features, that is the lexicality & sonic quality of poetry became conventionalized by symmetry & rhythmic predictability of sonority. Still, in many of these traditions, including in the West, some poets, more willing to admit to it or be aware of the presence of ‘another’ have consciously dictated directly from the poem itself.
The physical quality of a work of poetry does not define the fundamental nature of a poem. This quality exists outside of conventional notions that a poem can be defined by a particular configuration of physical features. Just look at how wildly the physicality of poetry can change from culture to culture or from one epoch to the next. The poem exists without the physical manifestation & it can shift reality if it wants to be observed.
There is no such thing as an aesthetic relation between poetry & form. Let me further, like a body does not define the intrinsic quality of a human being’s ability to exhibit joy, depth of spirit, goodness, or evil, so poetry is not defined by a set of dogmas about how words should be arranged. Rather, it is the emergent quality of how words, time & perception interact with the invisible & imaginary parts of the human psyche that allow a work of poetry to come into being. It is through this imaginary window that the poem finds an entrance into the poet. Some might gasp at this assertion! So be it. A poet can still be an adventurer without claiming to have done anything other than receive.
Certainly, there is debate & many-a-diarist would argue that poetry arises entirely out of a need or an urge for the poet to communicate. Could it be though, that even the most dedicated diarist, the most ardent supporter of the confessional, the most engaged identity poet vibrating with essentialist zeal to communicate a message, is essentially conjuring a broadcast from somewhere or some dimension that is less dense, more etheric than our own? Who knows, but it is possible to utilize what some would call arcane technology of mind to apprehend these etheric voices easily & quickly. Think of it as a sort of speed-dial to what Spicer would have called his ‘Martian’ or his ‘Spook.’
Do we today, with the vast resources of the internet & access to the most profound spiritual technologies available, need to fall back on the trial & effort approach of poets like Spicer or older spiritualist collaborators like Yeats? Can we not see beyond the grappling of Indigenous Europeans grappling to find their way back to the original path? Why not look to the poetic maestros of civilizations where the transmission of poetry has not been forgotten?
The poems herein presented were received & dictated through meditation. The earliest poems in the collection began as an experiment that proceeded some conversations that I had with CA Conrad in 2018. Conrad was kind enough to serve me water that had sat at the tip of their crystal grid technology. After years of studying Conrad’s Somatic method, I began to play around with some basic rituals. Whereas this wasn’t for me, it was instructional in that, I could begin to use my own skills to speed dial poems.
This led me to a series of encounters with distressed desert plants. I would sit near a vegetable life form that had been somehow stressed by its proximity to the city. I would listen closely to my intuition & channel the message of the plant.
A whole series of events followed, Raymond, RAMA, Ramona’s house. Kundalini yoga & the Quarantine. Guru Jagat & her lessons on Guru Yoga. RAMA business accelerator, Guru Jagat’s suggestion to use tratak meditation. Face reading. Harijiwan & in the summer of 2021, after being lambasted by Ariana Reines for being too didactic, the poem started to speak directly to me. It was critical & described the process that it had to go through to get me to speak on its behalf. It was a little embarrassing honestly.
The poems herein presented are the voice of the poem. I interfered a tad. The text, minus a few edits is a direct channeling of the poem. With the encouragement of teacher Sherwin Bitsui, I put some pressure on its voice; carved away at how windy it tends to be. I have a very verbose poem! When I thought about it, I realized that the poem was a star voice & so I let the words be white, stars, & the page be black, a vacuum.
The title, & the approach come from a teaching of my Late yoga teacher Guru Jagat. Everything is a trance. Which one do we want to be in.? I am on a trance mission & this poem is my Sherpa, & I am merely along for the ride
Abrupt thaw and the permafrost carbon feedback
Get PDFAir temperatures in the Arctic are rising more than two times faster than the global average, and this is causing permafrost to thaw both gradually, with incremental increases in ALT, and abruptly, with rapid collapse of ice-rich permafrost ground forming discrete thermokarst features. When permafrost carbon that has been frozen for years to thousands of years thaws, it becomes susceptible to microbial respiration and release to the atmosphere as greenhouse gases. This depends, in part, on how much of the permafrost region will undergo abrupt thaw and how susceptible abruptly thawed permafrost carbon is to respiration, as hydrology can shift rapidly with abrupt thaw and lead to conditions more or less suited to plant growth, ecosystem respiration, and methanogenesis. This dissertation investigated the rate of ground subsidence and the impact it has on thawed permafrost carbon stocks, the extent and morphology of abrupt thaw in a warming tundra ecosystem and the role it plays in CO2 and CH4 release to the atmosphere at the landscape scale, and the fine scale responses of hydrology to abrupt thaw and how this determines the spatial heterogeneity of CO2 fluxes. In a permafrost warming experiment, subsidence of up to ~1 m per decade masked the full rate of permafrost thaw and was responsible for doubling the rate of carbon thaw. On the landscape as a whole, abrupt thaw covered 7% of the landscape, with the largest extent being due to water tracks. On an annual scale, abrupt thaw resulted in higher CO2 and CH4 release, although CO2 uptake was higher during the growing season. This highlights the importance of winter emissions in determining tundra carbon balance, particularly when and where abrupt thaw occurs. Additionally, abrupt thaw caused diverging hydrologic regimes, with the most deeply subsided regions becoming consistently wet and adjacent areas of high relief becoming intermittently dry and wet. Both growing season GPP and Reco were higher in intermittently dry and wet areas, while they were suppressed in the consistently wet areas, relative to areas which did not undergo abrupt thaw, but it is likely that both hydrologic regimes resulted in higher carbon release at the annual scale. Because abrupt thaw could result in emissions of about the same magnitude as gradual thaw over the next century, it is important that abrupt thaw be considered in Earth System Models and climate agreements
Be the change you want to see in the world: being prosocial improves attributions of others
No full textHaving positive and prosocial attributions about others is crucial for well-being. While research has thoroughly demonstrated the importance of having positive attributions toward the people
we interact with, there is little research that investigates what a person can do to improve their
attributions of the people they interact with. In two experimental studies I investigate the impact
on attributions toward another person caused by giving a resource to and feeling empathy
toward them. I use 2 (giving: before/after attribution measures) by 2 (empathy: present vs.
absent) between participants designs. Both studies showed that both giving to the other person
and feeling empathy toward them improved prosocial attributions of the other person and
reduced antisocial attributions. Giving and empathy interacted to affect the amount of the
resource that participants gave. This impacted attributions such that those who gave more had
more prosocial and fewer antisocial attributions about the other person. These results suggest
that a single act of giving and empathy improved attributions about another person, and that
participants attributions of the other person depended upon the way they treated them. These
results are important because they suggest that each socially oriented thought and behavior a
person has affects the way they see people. This has implications for any research involving
human interaction or social perception. Future research should investigate the boundary
conditions for these effects and their impact on other scenarios
The effects of molecular composition on thermal, electrochemical, and mechanical properties of hyperbranched polymer electrolytes
Get PDFThis dissertation examines how changing the hyperbranching density and structure of polymer host backbones affects the physical properties of solid state polymer electrolytes. The structure of interest in this dissertation is the hyperbranching polymer backbone, which includes tetrabranching and tribranching architectures of varying hyperbranching densities. For a series of poly(ethylene glycol)-based polymers, we consider how molecular architecture impacts the electrochemical, thermal, and mechanical properties of the electrolytes on both the bulk and macromolecular scales. For both architectures, decreasing hyperbranching densities lead to improved conductivities (tetra- at 9.45 • 10-4 S/cm and tri- at 1.95 • 10-3 S/cm at 80 ºC) and improved shear storage moduli (tetra- at 0.63 MPa and tri- at 1.24 at 90 ºC). While having superior ionic conductivity and shear strength, the tribranching electrolytes were not compatible with lithium, which is a necessity for lithium-ion battery application. Following successful synthesis and material characterization, the tetrabranching electrolytes of various hyperbranching densities and structures are further probed as electrolytes in lithium-ion batteries. This series showed improved cycling performance with decreasing hyperbranching density (specific capacity of 1175 mAh/gSi after 50 cycles), with improved energy storage capabilities relative to the liquid control electrolyte (763 mAh/gSi after 50 cycles). Ultimately, the solid state polymer electrolytes synthesized in this work are promising candidates for further use in energy storage devices due to their observed thermal, electrochemical, and mechanical stabilities