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Browsing by Author "Shelton, Stephanie Anne"

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Assembling the Physical Library Environment: a Toposensory Framework for Conceptualizing Academic Libraries
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2024) Gretter, Kaeli M.; Sweeney, Miriam E.
This descriptive qualitative study explores undergraduate students' experiences of physical academic libraries to identify possible connections between physical academic library environments and students' affective experiences. Drawing on a combination of theoretical perspectives focused on how humans understand, navigate, and respond to space and place within Library and Information Science (LIS) and related disciplines, this phenomenologically oriented qualitative study builds on a critical analysis of the ways in which concepts related to how undergraduate students' affective experiences, and library anxiety in particular, have been understood within the field of library and information science (LIS). Utilizing a survey, one-on-one interviews, and a new cognitive mapping method developed for this project, this study interrogates how understanding within the field of LIS aligns with the reality of today's student library users' affective experiences, understandings, and expectations of academic libraries. This study is the first step in assembling a new framework for conceptualizing academic libraries in a way that takes affective experience into account and better aligns with the reality of students' experiences in physical academic libraries.Keywords: Toposense, Visual Representations of Toposense, Physical Library Environment, Academic Libraries, Space, Place
Can We Have It All? Painting a Picture of the Adjunct, Clinical, and Tenured/ Tenure-Track Faculty Mother Experience At a Large Southern Public Research University
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2022) Roden, Paton Michelle; Major, Claire; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
Historically, gender norms have allowed faculty who were men to remain an ideal worker by being dedicated to work regardless of family status because they had a wife to keep up the domestic and childcare duties (Tierney & Bensimon, 1996; Wolf-Wendel & Ward, 2006). Although both men and women have served as faculty members and parents, the physical demands of motherhood and the gendered expectations for mothers proved the work/parenting role balance to be harder on faculty women. Academic women have suffered what is referred to as a motherhood penalty by taking on a disproportionate burden of childcare responsibilities compared to academic men counterparts, which has the potential to influence promotional opportunities for women and lead to a lack of women's representation and diverse perspectives within roles of power at institutions of higher education (Silbert & Dubé, 2021). To improve equity for and representation of faculty mothers, we need to better understand the challenges, goals, and separation/integration of their faculty and mother roles. This qualitative research study aimed to better understand faculty mothers' lived experiences serving as both a faculty member and a mother within the southern culture of a large, public research institution located in the southeastern region of the United States. The study focused on better understanding adjunct, clinical, and tenure-track faculty mothers' integration and/or separation of the two full-time roles of faculty member and mother. The researcher used narrative analysis informed by portraiture and took interviews, letter writing, photo submission, and observations to co-construct detailed portraits of 13 participants' lived experiences. Portraits revealed both unique and valuable stories of each participant and portrayed overlapping aspects from findings that have implications about the experiences of faculty mothers in higher education. One overarching finding represented in each faculty mother portrait was the positivity, strength, and resiliency they used to thrive in both roles. As one participant noted, "You have achieved what might have seemed impossible for so long. You are in a good place in your career, able to add to a discipline you love, all the while getting the blessing of being a mother."
Embedding Choice Making into the Self-Regulated Strategy Development Instructional Approach for Students in a Residential Treatment Facility
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2022) Michael, Elizabeth Loftin; Jolivette, Kristine; Swoszowski, Nicole Cain; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
Students with emotional behavioral disorders often exhibit comorbid academic and behavior deficits and benefit from strategies that address those needs. Writing can be significantly difficult for students with EBD due to the complex requirements when completing written activities. Chapter 1 consists of two research to practice papers discussing how to address deficits in persuasive writing skills and behavior needs through explicit instruction in persuasive writing strategies (e.g., self-regulated strategy development) and embedded function-based choice making. Chapter 2 consists of a multiple probe across students with embedded reversal single case design on POW+TREE, a persuasive writing strategy used within the self-regulated strategy development (SRSD) instructional approach. Three students in grades 3rd, 5th and 6th with emotional behavioral disorders were recruited to receive SRSD POW+TREE with embedded function-based choice making in a residential education setting. The number of pers essay elements and a variety of writing quality indicators along with student motivation and active academic engagement were examined. Participants who completed the study demonstrated varied engagement and an increase in included essay elements along with overall essay quality and increased motivation to write persuasively. Implications for teachers, limitations, and future directions are presented. Data collection and results of this study were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Entangled Time Hops: Doomsday Clocks, Pandemics, and Qualitative Research's Responsibility
(Sage, 2021) Shelton, Stephanie Anne; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
This article explores the micro- and macro-level implications of the dual global pandemics of COVID-19 and racism through a narrative structure based on Barad's discussion of "timehops." Weaving personal, national, and international stories, the article explores qualitative research's responsibility and potential to offer new ways to respond to the entanglements of people, places, moments, materials, and these pandemics.
Factors That Shaped Differentiation for Gifted Students in One Elementary Classroom
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2023) Bailey, Pamela; Donovan, Carol A
This instrumental case study explores how a single teacher whose preservice teacher education program included the practice and implementation of differentiation for all students, gifted pedagogy, and a gifted clinical practicum described the factors that shaped her practice and implementation of differentiation for gifted students in her general education classroom. This study focused on one elementary classroom teacher because the teacher is at the heart of differentiated instruction and makes the decisions about the practice and implementation of differentiated instruction for each student. The combined conceptual framework encompassed the REACH Framework developed by Rock et al. (2008), specifically Quality Indicator 1: The Teacher Variable, Schon's Theory of Reflective Practice (1983, 1987), and Shulman's Pedagogical Content Knowledge (1986, 2013). The following methods were used to ensure data triangulation: semi-structured interviews, observations, short check-ins, email conversations, document/artifact analysis, and member checking. The results of the study showed an overarching theme: The Teacher's Preservice Education Program, and three themes: The Pedagogical Content Factor: Differentiation and Gifted Pedagogy, The Student-Centered Learning Environment Factor, and The Reflective Practice Factor as the factors that shaped this teacher's practice and implementation of differentiation for gifted students. Case findings suggest assertions of teacher self-efficacy and reflection as practice and are represented in a unique diagram showing this teacher's practice of differentiation for her gifted students.
How Camaraderie within a Community of Practice Supports Novice Teacher Socialization
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2023) Stanley, Sabrina D.; Coleman, Julianne M; Sunal, Dennis W
Novice science teachers' socialization during induction is a critical phase of professional development. Novice teachers learn during induction how to navigate the complexities of the teaching profession. This study is an exploration of the factors and processes that shaped a novice science teacher's socialization during induction, with a particular focus on how they were acculturated through noncanonical norms. I used a qualitative descriptive case study approach to explore a science teacher's socialization during induction through a lens of community of practice. The participants included one novice science teacher along with their two mentors. I analyzed interview and observation data inductively to identify patterns and themes in the teachers' experiences and perspectives. The study highlights that sense of camaraderie shaped the novice science teacher's socialization during induction. I present the findings to shed light on how they learned the noncanonical norms of their community of practice, such as work-life balance, teacher-teacher relationships, and school culture. This study will hopefully serve to contribute to our understanding of how novice science teachers can be socialized into the teaching profession during induction. The findings could have implications for the development of induction programs for novice teachers and the professional development of experienced teachers who mentor them.
“I deserve to be here more than anybody else”: first-generation African American women doctoral students’ experiences at southern HWIs
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2021) Johnson, Angela C.; Holley, Karri A.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
In this analysis of narratives study, I used Black Feminist Thought (BFT) and Critical Race Theory’s (CRT) counternarratives to examine the experiences of first-generation African American women (FGAAW) doctoral students at southern Historically White Institutions. The study explored the roles of self-definition and self-valuation (BFT) and what factors helped these women persevere. Findings suggested that even though these African American women endured microaggressions and isolation at their institutions, and also had conflicting feelings of responsibility and pride due to their first-generation status, they still felt affirmed through cultivated spaces and relationships with Black faculty and peer communities. The FGAAW also used therapy along with other self-care practices to combat the stressors related to their environments and the doctoral journey. If southern HWIs want to recruit and retain first-generation African American women doctoral students, they need to provide more resources (e.g., for support and for opportunities) on their campuses. They also need to hire more Black counselors and counselors of color and those from minoritized populations who have experience with students who endure racism, sexism, and whose focus is on social justice and equity.
"Is This Her in Her Natural Habitat?": Spatial Portraits of Faculty Leading Short-Term Study Abroad Programs
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2024) Guy, Kelsey H; Shelton, Stephanie Anne
This study, through a spatial lens and a portraiture + case study structure, examines the experiences and teacher identities of faculty who lead short-term study abroad programs. While much of the existing literature examines the study abroad experiences of students or the efficacy of short-term programs, fewer focus on the faculty who design, plan, and lead those programs. I use a novel methodology by combining a theory-driven approach of portraiture and a structure of case study, specifically a comparative case study. This combination allows for in-depth examination without sacrificing context, thereby creating possibilities for research that seeks to examine cases in a detailed, yet holistic way. Using multiple data sources, I create “portraits” of each participant, portraits that present the participants in a thorough, contextual manner without describing any physical characteristics; those portraits are then compared to one another to explore any similarities and/or differences in experiences and teacher identities.The theoretical framework of this study understands space as dynamic and interactive as opposed to static and passive, so the faculty experiences and teacher identities are explored in relation to space: how they interact with space and how space interacts with them to produce unique co-constructions that are constantly becoming. This inquiry offers a novel portraiture + case study approach that contributes to qualitative research methodology, but it also generates ideas for a reimagination of space in International Education contexts, and how that reimagination can serve to better support and prepare faculty leading short-term study abroad programs.
"...just keep cracking the ceiling.": black women student leaders' experiences with belonging at a historically white institution
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2020-12) Summerville, Kiara Symone; Holley, Karri A.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
The purpose of this study was to explore the unique experiences that Black women student leaders, at a historically White institution located in the Deep Southern region of the United States, described as contributing to their sense of belonging on campus. In this study, I used an asset-based approach to understand how five Black women, all highly-visible student leaders, described connectedness to campus, self-defined success, and satisfaction at their instutiton. To further understand their level of connectedness, I used Strayhorn’s (2012, 2018) model of college students’ sense of belonging and Black feminist thought (Collins, 1986, 1990). The guiding research question for the study was “How do Black undergraduate women student leaders at a historically White institution describe sense of belonging at their institution?”. Through a qualitative, multiple case study, I researched with the five women through individual interviews and a focus group. In order to honor their individuality and self-expression, I analyzed each of their stories individually and collectively. After within-case analysis and across-cross analysis (Stake, 1995), I wrote richly-detailed profiles of each of the five women, along with a chapter dedicated to their collective experiences. Findings from the study suggest that the Black women student leaders described feeling a sense of belonging on campus by nature of: 1) a fulfilled desire of being involved; 2) feeling proud of their Black womanhood because of their community with other Black women on campus; 3) a responsibility to be visible and approachable to Black women students who desired to be in leadership roles; 4) feeling as if they were change agents at the institution and using their leadership as advocacy for equitable experiences for all students; 5) building an institutional identity; and 6) feeling like they mattered to faculty, staff, administrators, and other students. The findings from the study add to emerging research on Black women’s success in college, particularly on historically White campuses. Practitioners and students themselves can use the findings from the study to establish, enhance, and sustain programs and policies that support Black women students’ personal and leadership development on college campuses. Researchers can use the study as an example of a qualitative, multiple case study that preserves the individual experiences of participants in addition to analyzing similarities and differences among participants. In addition to the findings on belongingness, I found that my shared experience as Black and woman with the participants was meaningful for the research process. The study adds to the body of research on Black feminism in qualitative inquiry.
List-keepers and other carrier bag stories: Academic mothers' (in)visible labor during the COVID-19 pandemic
(Pergamon, 2023) Guyotte, Kelly W.; Melchior, Shelly; Coogler, Carlson H.; Shelton, Stephanie Anne; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
Beginning in 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted familiar rhythms of work and life when academic women from the United States sheltered-in-place in their homes. The pandemic brought forth challenges which accentuated that caregiving with little or no support disproportionately affected mothers' abilities to navigate their new lives inside the home, where work and caregiving abruptly collided. This article takes on the (in)visible labor of academic mothers during this time-the labor mothers saw and viscerally experienced, yet that which was often unseen/unexperienced by others. Using Ursula K. Le Guin's Carrier Bag Theory as a conceptual framework, the authors engage with interviews of 54 academic mothers through a feminist-narrative lens. They craft stories of carrying (in)visible labor, isolation, simultaneity, and list-keeping as they navigate the mundaneness of everyday pandemic home/work/life. Through unrelenting responsibilities and expectations, they each find ways to carry it all, as they carry on.
Make the Song Cry: a Critical Exploration of "Best Interests" Decisions in Two U.S. Systems Through the Counterstorytelling Songs of Black Young Adult Women
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2025) Jones, April M.; Shelton, Stephanie Anne
Using an innovative culturally-grounded methodology informed by Critical Race Feminism, this dissertation is a critical examination of the historical foundations and current applications of "best interests" criteria used in the U.S. child welfare and juvenile justice systems to make determinations regarding placement decisions for children/youth. To inform interpretations of "best interests" practices, this dissertation utilized novel approaches to qualitative methods and counterstorytelling methodologies to engage Black young adult women study participants who reflected on their childhood/adolescent experiences in the child welfare and/or juvenile justice systems. Inspired by the reflections of these Black young adult women, this dissertation introduces songwriting as a form of counterstorytelling and demonstrates how this new methodological approach to counterstorytelling was used to grapple with the implications of "best interests" decisions on the experiences of Black girls navigating child welfare and/or juvenile justice environments. Together, the chapters challenge the "best interests" precedent and its meaning and impact on the lives of Black girls.
Making "good" teachers: a study of power, discourse, and edtpa
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2018) Byrne, Caitlin Anne; Guyotte, Kelly W.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
In this qualitative study, I examined the ways that power operates through edTPA’s discourse of good teaching as it invites teacher candidates to act in particular ways as they attempt to be recognized as good teachers. This study was guided by three research questions: How is good teaching discursively constructed in edTPA? How do undergraduate teacher candidates at a large flagship institution in the southeastern United States position themselves in relation to edTPA’s discourse when discussing good teaching? How do undergraduate teacher candidates attempt to make themselves knowable as good teachers through the edTPA process? After situating edTPA historically and locating it as the latest in a series of educational reform efforts that stem from four decades of crisis rhetoric, I examined critiques of edTPA in the literature. Given edTPA’s controversial nature, this study aimed adds to the growing body of knowledge about edTPA and its role in teacher education. Specifically, this study endeavored to provide insight into the concerns raised by some scholars about how edTPA defines good teaching and what that means for teacher candidates and teacher education programs. In this study, I interviewed three teacher candidates who had recently completed edTPA about their understanding of good teaching and their experience with edTPA. The participants also created two artifacts related to good teaching. Foucauldian notions of discipline, power, and discourse informed the methodology used in this study. Specifically, I developed my own approach to Foucauldian discourse analysis, drawing from Willig’s (2008) stages of analysis, Saldaña’s (2013) coding methods, and Gee’s (2011b) tools for analyzing discourse, and used these methods to identify discursive constructions of good teaching in the edTPA handbook (Stanford Center for Assessment, Learning and Equity, 2017b) as well as to examine teacher candidates’ positionings and practices relative to those discursive constructions. I found that teacher candidates engaged in behaviors that they felt would give them the best chance of being recognized as good teachers by edTPA. These practices included strategic portfolio submissions and foregoing valued teaching practices in order to engage in a practice that aligned with edTPA’s discourse of good teaching. These findings raise important questions about what value edTPA adds to teacher education.
Methodological orientations: college student navigations of race and place in higher education
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2019) Flint, Maureen Alice; Guyotte, Kelly W.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
This inquiry explores how college students navigate the sociohistorical context of race on campus, guided by critical material and spatial theories. Specifically, I explore how students navigate the tangle of discourses surrounding race on a college campus from the history of buildings and monuments, the perceptions and stereotypes of the campus before arriving, and how they navigate, resist, and reproduce those discourses and rhetoric. This inquiry is informed by research from higher education, which has demonstrated not only a gap in experiences between historically marginalized students and their majority peers but a persistent culture of white supremacy that is reified through formal and informal policies and systems. Specifically, I take up the idea of belongingness in relation to White supremacy and higher education to explore how higher education outcomes that are often positioned as neutral are historically situated and hegemonic concepts that are reproduced through institutional practices. In other words, this research explores and works the tensions between the idea of belongingness as an achievable, boundable, and predictable outcome, and the persistent reproduction of racism and White supremacy in higher education that works against belonging. I explore the contradictions between what institutions say they do (with regards to diversity, equity, and inclusion) and how those values are experienced and encountered in higher education by students. This inquiry creates conversations between the experiences and navigations of students and the productions of place and space and race in higher education, moving between slippages in discourses between the South and Alabama, how the South is produced as racist, and how racism and White supremacy produce the South. This is followed by an exploration of disruptions in these slippages, moments where these slippages became visible, and the possibility for conspiratorial resistance, intervention, and reclamation of space. This inquiry suggests possibilities for higher education practitioners to consider the specifics of place, the context of our coeval becomings, even as we understand and take the global in perspective to inform how we make the place of higher education differently.
A narrative exploration of the importance of intersectionality in a Black trans woman's mental health experiences
(Taylor & Francis, 2022) Shelton, Stephanie Anne; Lester, Aryah O. S.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
Background: The current United States presidential administration's statements and policies have, in a shockingly short time, catastrophically affected people of color and LGBTQIA + communities. And although these numerous discriminatory policies and policy revisions have negatively affected both US people of color and LGBTQIA + people, trans women of color have been disproportionately affected. Even more specifically, when focusing on vulnerability to violence-including murder-it is Black trans women who are most directly affected by the intersections of transphobia and racism in the US. This article explores a Black trans woman's experiences with mental health professionals across two decades and different regions of the US. Aims: This article argues for the necessity of understanding trans people's mental health experiences as necessarily intersectional, in order to more fully appreciate and address the degrees to which factors such as race, socioeconomic class, and geographic context matter in trans people's efforts to access ethical and effective mental healthcare. Methods: Using a theoretical framework informed by Kimberle Crenshaw's single-axis concept, the authors fully center Aryah's intersectional experiences and counter a single-axis in exploring trans mental health issues, our article relies on a narrative-based approach. As narrative inquiry is a broad field, we selected Butler-Kisber's narrative analytic approach, "Starting with the Story" as our method. The narratives are pulled from approximately 10 intensive qualitative interviews over the course of several months. Discussion: These narratives disrupt the common threads in the literature that ignore the degrees to which race and class matter alongside being a trans woman. In addition, as we noted that nearly all of the mental health literature relied on large-scale survey-based data, this article offers a qualitative narrative exploration of Aryah's experiences and works to humanize trans mental health challenges and needs, while emphasizing the multilayered oppressions and obstacles that affected Aryah.
“Outsider Forever”: Black Women Multicultural Center Administrators' Identity Negotiation Experiences At Historically White Institutions
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2022) Campbell, Erica Tiffany; Holley, Karri; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
The purpose of this study was to examine the identity negotiation/shifting experiences of Black women multicultural center administrators as an outsider-within at historically white institutions in the United States. I used a critical lens to explore how eleven Black women multicultural center administrators described their identity negotiation/shifting experiences through the lens of being an outsider-within. To further understand these experiences, I applied the frameworks of Collins’ (2000, 2002) Black Feminist Thought and Jackson’s (2002a, 2002b, 2004) Cultural Contracts Theory to answer the two guiding research questions. The two research questions for this study were “How do Black women multicultural center administrators describe the nature of being an outsider-within at a Historically White Institution?” and “How do Black women multicultural center administrators at HWIs describe identity negotiation/shifting, in relation to their roles?” Through a qualitative interviewing study, I was able to use ethnographic and phenomenological interviewing techniques, along with object-elicitation, to explore the lived-experiences of eleven self-identified Black women through one semi-structured interview. Thematic narrative analysis was applied to identify common elements across the eleven participant narratives. Findings from the study suggest that Black women multicultural center administrators at HWIs experience pressures to negotiate/shift their identities but persist due being outsiders-within at their campuses. The five key themes of: 1) Remembering One’s Self-Definition, 2) Navigating Controlling Images, 3) The Weight of Institutional Oppression, 4) Resisting Oppression, and 5) Identity Negotiation/Shifting, explored this phenomenon in further detail. Overall, the findings of this study add to emerging research on Black women administrators and multicultural centers at HWIs.
The Perceived Role of Academic Social Comparisons on Achievement Emotions and Self-Regulated Learning in Higher Education
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2024) Peters, Candace Suzon Bryant; Han, Hyemin
Leveraging Pekrun's (2006) control-value theory and Festinger's (1954) social comparison theory, I explored college students' experiences with academic social comparisons (real or perceived) specifically as they relate to achievement emotions (i.e., anxiety, pride) and self-regulated learning strategies (i.e., time and study environment, effort regulation). This study is a qualitative interview study informed by phenomenological concepts that incorporates: 1) reflective journaling, and 2) semi-structured interviews to provide a robust understanding of the lived experiences of college students as they relate to social comparisons, achievement emotions, and self-regulated learning strategies. Participants were accounting students at a large public institution. The findings reveal that the presence of social comparisons can activate positive and/or negative achievement emotions. Subsequently, these achievement emotions impacted the participants' level of perceived control and the self-regulated learning strategies they chose to implement. Overall findings state that negative emotions triggered by upward or lateral social comparisons impact self-regulated learning and motivation positively, but only when mediated by high perceived control. Furthermore, participants who have high perceived control and/or high value for the task or outcome often responded to social comparisons adaptively while participants with low perceived control responded maladaptively. The study also discusses the cyclical impact of social comparisons, probable coping mechanisms, their impact on study habits, and future implications. Keywords: social comparison, control-value theory, achievement emotions, self-regulated learning strategies, coping strategies, perceived control
The promise of longitudinal learning experiences for medical education and student well-being
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2021) Hubner, Brook; Lawson, Michael A.; Walker, David Ian; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
There is a need to improve medical student well-being both for individual wellness and for the well-being of patients. A fundamental role of medical education is to develop socially and clinically competent, compassionate physicians and address the factors that impact student well-being. Research and intervention efforts within medical education are limited by a narrow, individual-level focus on the prevention of psychological pathology and health promotion through self-care, stress reduction, and social support. Moreover, these efforts lack theoretically framed operational definitions which consider well-being as environments that foster students’ needs and goals in pursuit of the full functioning of the whole self. Strengthening conceptualizations of well-being provides a way to optimize student personal and professional growth and patient care. The purpose of this three-article dissertation is (1) to introduce a theory-based approach to medical student well-being that targets the individual and the broader medical education ecology and (2) examine exemplars from the learning environment to understand the conditions which may support well-being in medical education settings. The first article introduces well-being frameworks grounded in Self-Determination Theory and community psychology. These frameworks are then utilized in two separate studies exploring medical students’ experiences in longitudinal learning environments. The first study used focus groups to explore student experiences in a longitudinal integrated clerkship and the second used focus groups to explore student leaders’ experiences with a student-run free clinic. Findings indicate that long-term learning experiences promote educational continuity, or connection among learning experiences, with patients and faculty. Continuity experiences with faculty facilitate trusting workplace relationships, promote autonomy support, and create opportunities for positive, formative feedback. Continuity with patients provides students the opportunity for high-quality learning and competency supportive feedback. Additionally, longitudinal learning experiences with vulnerable patients can affirm one’s value to others and promote a sense of mattering. In all, the two studies find that longitudinal, clinical experiences appear to support the student well-being through need supportive conditions that foster a sense of purpose and meaning through service to others.
Rounding the Cultural Bases: a Qualitative Analysis of the Acculturation Experiences of Latin American-Born Minor League Baseball (MILB) Players
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2022) Gentile, Patrick; Billings, Andrew C.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
This dissertation seeks to understand how Latino Minor League Baseball (MiLB) players acculturate to life in the United States (US) while playing in the US South. To better understand how they acculturate and what their transitions were like, 24 current MiLB players and one coach, who was also a former player, were interviewed. Questions were asked about their knowledge of English, when they began learning English, how they communicate with players and coaches from the US, and their cultural transitions. I found that knowing English is the most important way for players to acculturate to this new cultural environment. This dissertation also uncovered that their cultural transitions were overwhelmingly positive, mainly because they are in the midst of pursuing a lifelong dream. Lastly, this dissertation aimed to understand how the Latino players identify themselves while playing in the US. I found that these players embraced their Latino heritage and do not alter their identities to conform to the perceived dominant group of American players and coaches. Rather, the perceived dominant group in this sporting context are players who are English-proficient.
"What We Needed to Do” – Exploring Student Understanding of the Value of the High School Diploma From the Perspective of Male, Black, High School Graduates
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2021) Melchior, Shelly; Adams, Natalie; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
The purpose of this study is an examination of the experience of schooling and how these experiences inform post-secondary opportunities from the perspectives of eight Black, male, high school graduates in the state of Alabama. Using a qualitative approach, I conducted semi-structured interviews using phenomenological questioning and then utilized narrative analysis to code and analyze the data. Findings reveal the declining value of the high school credential with post-secondary opportunities limited by a student’s store of valued cultural capital. The themes that emerged from the participant narratives included the isolating mechanism of cultural capital, the weight of the myth of meritocracy, and the impact both combined have on the experience of schooling and post-secondary opportunities in low-SES, majority-minority schools.

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