Middle Tennessee State University
JEWLScholar @MTSU (Middle Tennessee State University)Not a member yet
7964 research outputs found
Sort by
The Role of Organization and Stance Markers in the Persuasive Writing of Middle School ELs and non-ELs: A Sequential Explanatory Mixed-Methods Study
No full textThis study examines the relationship between discourse markers and writing quality in persuasive essays written by middle school students institutionally designated as English Learners (ELs) (n = 173) and non-English Learners (non-ELs) (n = 173). Utilizing a mixed-methods design, I analyzed the frequency and impact of organization and stance markers on essay scores, identifying key differences in usage patterns and their predictive value for writing quality. Quantitative findings revealed that non-ELs consistently outperformed ELs in total writing scores, with significant gaps in conventions and topic development. Non-ELs also demonstrated a greater use of discourse markers, particularly conclusion, goal, and frame markers, which were strong predictors of essay quality. In contrast, ELs employed hedges and engagement markers more frequently, reflecting cautious argumentation and a focus on reader interaction. Qualitative analysis further highlighted that while both groups adhered to academic writing conventions, non-ELs exhibited more nuanced and diverse marker usage, contributing to higher-quality writing. These findings underscore the importance of explicit instruction in discourse marker application for ELs, emphasizing strategic use of organization and stance markers to enhance argument clarity and coherence. Implications for writing instruction and academic language development are discussed, with recommendations for targeted pedagogical interventions to support EL writing proficiency.Ph.D
Autoshaping of the mouse’s lever press for social reinforcers
No full textDiagnoses of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have spiked within the last decade. Among the most prominent characteristics of ASD are difficulties with social behavior. Animal models are commonly used to study social behavior. Specifically, rodents display complex social behaviors that can be investigated for parallels to that of humans. The current study explored whether ten C57BL/6 wild-type, female mice would work to obtain access to social stimuli. Mice were trained via an autoshaping procedure to associate lever presses with a social reward using only social stimuli. The number of lever presses required for reward access gradually increased until a breakpoint was reached, followed by comparisons to lever presses within an extinction condition. The results of this study determined the differences in social motivation amongst mice as well as the potential influence of an alternative reward type. By studying the value of social stimuli in mice we eventually hope to better understand the mechanisms that initiate and influence the value of social stimuli in humans.M.A
A QUALITATIVE CASE STUDY IN THE COE AT PCRU: EXPLORING RESEARCH PRESSURE ON HECPS AND ITS IMPACT ON INSTRUCTIONAL EFFECTIVENESS AND STUDENT SUCCESS
No full textThis study explored the impact of research pressure on instructional effectiveness and student success within the College of Education at a newly recategorized R2 public research university in the American southeast. The study investigated how the university's emphasis on producing research, which enhances institutional prestige and funding, affects faculty members' ability to provide high-quality instruction and promote student achievement. By employing a qualitative instrumental case study approach grounded in social constructivist theory, the research examined the experiences of professors who are required to balance their instructional responsibilities and managerial/service duties, with the demands of creating, designing, investigating, funding, and publishing research projects. Data was collected through interviews, participant journaling, and artifact analysis to capture the complexities of these multiple roles. The findings provided insights into the relationship between research productivity pressures and the quality of instruction within the College of Education at a Public Comprehensive Research University, ultimately offering recommendations for higher education curriculum planners and policymakers to better support faculty and improve student outcomes.Ed.D
Shifting Frames: A Textual Analysis of the Depiction of Neurodivergent Women in Major U.S. Newspapers
No full textThis thesis examined how The New York Times and The Washington Post framed women and girls with attention‑deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) between 1998 and 2024. Ninety‑nine news articles were analyzed for this research. This study found that coverage often blamed women for falling short of traditional and caregiving expectations while often overlooking systemic hurdles, especially the under diagnosis of ADHD in women that can delay proper treatment and support.
These results add to gender based issues and research by showing that popular news outlets still frame ADHD as an individual shortcoming and overlook inequities, including medical biases that leave many women undiagnosed. Guided by framing theory, this textual analysis examined the following research questions: What themes emerged in The New York Times and The Washington Post coverage of neurodivergent women and how did The New York Times and The Washington Post frame neurodivergent women?M.S
Assimilation of Women Student Veterans: Perceived Interactions with Race, Ethnicity, and Gender Expression
No full textThis phenomenological case study aimed to explore the transition of women student veterans from the military to higher education. As of 2021, women represented nearly 20% of the United States military; as of 2020, women veterans represent about 27% of veterans pursuing degrees on our campuses (Gorbulja-Maldonado, 2021). This study aimed to gain a deeper understanding of how a group of women student veterans describes their transition into higher education and how the hyper-masculine culture of the United States military informed their perceptions of their race, ethnicity, and gender expression.
The individual transitions of twelve women student veterans were discussed and analyzed using individual interviews. The theoretical foundation for analyzing the interview data was Schlossberg’s Theory of Transitions, Diamond’s Military Adaptive Transition Theory, and Culver’s Gender Identity Development of Women in the Military Theory. Additionally, this study relies on Intersectionality as a lens to best understand the transition of women student veterans. Intersectionality provides a framework for educators to see students as complex individuals with intersecting identities from which they operate in and out of academic spaces.
Two main research questions guided this study: 1) How does the culture of the United States military inform a Woman Student Veteran (WSV)’s transition into American higher education? and 2) How is the identity development of a WSV impacted by their perceived interactions with race, ethnicity, and gender expression? Six main themes were found within the data set, along with relevant subthemes. For the first research question, three main themes emerged relating to the academic habits of the participants: a) Strong Academically, b) Adaptability, and c) Veteran Status (Hesitant vs Not Hesitant). For the second question, three main themes emerged relating to their perceptions of their relationship with their femininity and race. Those themes are a) Renegotiating a Sense of Service to Self, b) Relationship with Femininity, and c) Campus Engagement.
The findings of this study provide higher education administrators, staff, and faculty with an in-depth understanding of how the hypermasculine culture of the United States military informs how women student veterans transition to academic spaces. This study adds to the growing body of literature around women students, women student veterans, and the use of the intersectional lens of student support.
Keywords: women, student veteran, intersectionality, transitionEd.D
The Dark Tetrad, Perceived Stress, Coping, and Depression
No full textOccupational stress has a significant negative influence on the physical health, psychological wellbeing, and performance of employees. The purpose of these two studies was to test a serial mediation pathway in which occupational stressors influence perceived stress, which influences emotion-focused coping, which influences risk of depression. Additionally, the studies tested a moderating influence of the Dark Tetrad personalities on the stress appraisal process. Participants were recruited from two populations of nurses and were asked to respond to a series of questionnaires. Support for the serial mediation pathway was found in Study 1 but not Study 2. Additionally, a moderating effect of grandiose narcissism was found in Study 2 but not Study 1, such that those high in grandiose narcissism were less likely to appraise stressors as stressful. No other findings were significant, suggesting that the Dark Tetrad does not influence stress appraisal. However, future research should use a larger sample size and longer timeframe to further explore these findings.M.A
Beyond Grades: Evaluating the Robustness of High School GPA as an Indicator of Success in the Wake of the COVID-19 Pandemic
No full textABSTRACT
As a result of the mitigating measures implemented to prevent further spread of COVID-19 in 2020, standardized testing practices were changed with little warning across the nation. The sudden shift which caused students to not have access to standardized tests created an issue in the admissions processes for colleges and universities as students would not be able to report standardized test scores on their admissions applications as normally requested or required.
Post-secondary institutions had to quickly change their admissions requirements to compensate for the absence of standardized test scores. Many institutions dropped the requirements for standardized test scores in favor of using high school grade point average (GPA) as the primary quantitative measure of future student success in the admissions requirements. Since standardized testing has become available to prospective students again, the question as to whether to return to requiring standardized testing scores has come up for discussion in the higher education community.
One approach to address this question would be to see if there was an association between high school GPAs and student success before and after the COVID-19 pandemic, so the faculty and staff at colleges and universities can make more informed decisions about whether to bring back the standardized test score requirements in the admissions process. This study was created to help understand if any associations exist between high school GPAs and student success, specifically as measured by first-time, first-year retention. An extensive literature review was conducted to understand how academic and non-academic factors might impact high school GPA and student retention rates, which could provide insight to associations that might be found as a result of this study.
This ex post facto study was conducted with pre-existing data from a local, public, four-year, university in Tennessee. Chi-square analyses were conducted to determine if there were associations between pre- and post-pandemic high school GPAs and successful student retention with additional analyses conducted to account for the confounding variables of biological sex (female or male) and student status at the time of enrollment whether traditional students (ages 18-24) or adult learners (ages 25 and older).
The findings indicate there is a significant moderate association between the independent variables of high school GPA and first-time, first-year retention both pre- and post-pandemic for the entire sample studied. For both the pre- and post-pandemic cohorts, female and male students had a moderately strong association for the independent variables as well. The results for pre- and post-pandemic traditional students (ages 18-24) showed a moderate association between independent variables. Adult learners showed a moderate association between high school GPA and student retention for the pre-pandemic cohort. However, there were not enough samples to complete a valid chi-square analysis on the post-pandemic cohort of adult learners. The overall findings from this study suggest that there is a moderate association between high school GPA and successful first-time, first-year retention, which provides support for the continued inclusion of high school GPA in admissions considerations for post-secondary institutions.Ed.D
Milton's Eve: Redressing the Pandora Tradition in Paradise Lost
No full textThis thesis argues that Milton fundamentally questions and retells the traditional misogynistic narratives of Eve in his representation of her in Paradise Lost. Milton does this by redressing Eve with the Pandora tradition, not as a means of cementing the patriarchal readings that have long followed her narrative but rather accentuating Eve’s superiority as a woman with freewill. Like Pandora in the classical and patristic traditions, who releases evil upon mankind according to Hesiod’s Theogony, Milton’s Eve is the first woman in the Hebraic-Christian tradition to bring evil into the world through the Fall. Milton employs traditional narratives, such as Genesis 1-3, the Lives of Adam and Eve, and Ovid’s Metamorphosis, and long-held misogynistic perspectives, refashioning those stories to make an argument for Eve, not for her innocence or Adam’s ultimate culpability, but rather for her free will and humanity. My thesis argues that although Eve sins and shares the “forbidden fruit” with Adam, Milton portrays her as a dynamic character who experiences the stages of “growing up” attributed to humanity: in doing so, he retells one of the most pivotal religious narratives not to condemn women but to support them as mostly “equals”—different in sex, but co-lords in dominion of creation in the seventeenth-century context. The thesis focuses on Milton’s representation of Eve in Paradise Lost (with some attention given to Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce and Areopagitica) and goes beyond current scholarship on Milton’s Ovidian Eve to consider the reframing of earlier, mostly negative traditions and demonstrate that Eve is not simply a superior example of womanhood than her classical counterpart Pandora, but a strong wife, mother, and leader in God’s perfect creation worthy of the title “Mother of Mankind.”M.A
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN READING ACHIEVEMENT AND SLD RISK RATIOS IN STATES IMPLEMENTING RTI
No full textStudents who display persistent reading deficits are sometimes diagnosed with a specific learning disability (SLD). Historically, eligibility for an SLD diagnosis has been made either through a discrepancy model, which utilizes IQ and reading achievement testing, or a response to intervention (RtI) model, which utilizes progress monitoring data through multiple tiers of support. Between 2014 and 2015 two neighboring states mandated that all districts begin implementing RtI models and use data from RtI to evaluate students for SLD rather than relying on IQ discrepancy models. The current study leveraged multiple public-use district-level datasets to analyze the relationship between SLD identification and reading achievement in these states both before and after RtI implementation. The study answers two key questions: 1) To what extent do district-level achievement gaps by gender and race/ethnicity explain the overrepresentation of male and minority students—as measured by district-level risk ratios—in states that adopted RtI requirements for SLD identification? 2) Does the relationship between district-level achievement gaps and district-level risk ratios observed in RQ1 differ between pre-RtI adoption (2011-2012) and post-RtI adoption (2017-2018) group?
In this retrospective observational study, regression analyses showed that the relationship between male overrepresentation and male achievement gaps was not statistically significant pre-RtI adoption, while the same relationship for BHN students was statistically significant. Post-RtI adoption, male overrepresentation decreased, while BHN student overrepresentation increased. The relationship between overrepresentation and achievement gaps for male students remained statistically non-significant post-RtI, whereas the relationship between overrepresentation and achievement gaps for BHN students remained statistically significant and became stronger. The amount of variance in BHN student overrepresentation that was explained by achievement gaps in the post-RtI was more than double the amount of variance explained pre-RtI adoption.Ph.D
Examining the impact a visible forearm tattoo has on applicants during the selection process
No full textPrevious research has suggested that visible tattoos can negatively influence hiring outcomes, particularly in professional settings. This study aimed to examine whether the presence of a visible tattoo influenced interview performance ratings and the likelihood of receiving a job offer for an entry-level management position at a sports store. The results did not fully support the hypotheses that tattoos would negatively impact candidates' interview performance ratings or their chances of being offered the position. While tattoo presence did not significantly affect the likelihood of being hired, there was a significant interaction between tattoo presence and actor identity for interview performance ratings. Specifically, participants rated Alex higher when she had a tattoo, and Cameron lower when she had a tattoo, suggesting that individual characteristics of the candidate may influence how tattoos are perceived.
Additionally, participants expressed positive attitudes toward tattoos, rejecting common stereotypes associating tattoos with irresponsibility or unprofessionalism. These findings challenge previous research that suggested tattoos hinder career opportunities, particularly in customer-facing roles. The results indicate that those in charge of hiring candidates may have lower negative stereotypes or biases toward tattoos than in previous years, allowing them to place a greater focus on qualifications and behavior when making hiring decisions. While this study was limited to a specific industry and job type, the findings suggest that visible tattoos may no longer be a significant barrier to employment. Future research should explore how tattoos are perceived in different industries and job roles to further understand their influence on hiring decisions.M.A