SUGRS 2017 Papers

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Using #Selfies to Cultivate Identity within the Freshman Composition Classroom
(2017) Chambers, Candace; Tekobbe, Cindy
This research topic explores ways freshman students can assimilate into academic writing environments. Since many students experience writing anxieties, I constructed the Selfie Activity as a way to help students express their identities as they related to writing. The Selfie Activity, rooted in the Photovoice methodology, was designed to help freshman composition students begin to see themselves as contributors in academic writing environments. Photovoice is described by researchers Wang and Burris as “a process by which people can identify, represent, and enhance their community through a specific photographic technique.” For the Selfie Activity, the students were to respond to one of four guided questions, which centered on their identities as writers. Their responses were to be in the form of selfies, accompanied by a short response, which described their choice behind the taking of the photo and how it related to their writing habits. The four guided questions were as follows: 1. Who can help with my writing? 2. How do I see myself as a writer? 3. What topics interest me? 4. Where can I go on campus that can provide help? The selfie activity supports theories of representation, communication, and most importantly, identity. By allowing students to inform me of their writing habits and identities, the Selfie Activity can become a springboard for the direction of the semester as students are able to use relevant, familiar mediums of photography and composing to enter into an atmosphere of writing.
The Influence of Operational Rationalization Practices on Frontline Employee Engagement
(2017) Qi, Ji "Miracle"; Ellinger, Alexander E.
The ongoing prevalence of disengaged frontline employees (FLEs) delivering poor or indifferent levels of customer service is an issue at the forefront of many firms’ strategic agendas. Yet, research that addresses service improvement initiatives continues to focus more on the perceptions of service recipients than on FLE service providers. Based on the apparent dearth of FLE engagement, service provider firms need to better understand antecedent factors that influence employee engagement. Drawing on social exchange theory and recent evidence from exemplar retailing contexts, the study findings show that operational rationalization practices commonly implemented in manufacturing contexts are also significant predictors of FLE engagement in service provision contexts. In addition, organizational support and customer focus are identified as mediating conduits that, consistent with role specific conceptualizations of employee engagement, differentially influence FLE job and organization engagement.
Revisiting the Knowledge Gap—Again: Implications for American Politics and Education in the Internet Age
(2017) Sherrill, Lindsey A.; Evans, William
That persistent knowledge gaps exists is no longer a question. The question today is how these gaps are evolving, in a culture where mass media reaches every corner of the country and the digital divide is less about physical access than about differences in usage. If all our citizens do not have equal access to political knowledge—through education, cognitive resources, targeted media, etc.—is a fully functioning democracy just a utopian ideal? Knowledge gap research has included researchers from psychology, sociology, education, and communication, and has expanded as mass media systems have developed. More recent research has focused on the internet as an information delivery system and the effects of knowledge gaps on political knowledge and participation. It is this effect that this article will address. Different operational definitions of knowledge, evolution of the knowledge gap hypothesis, the effect of knowledge gaps on social stratification and power, belief knowledge in political conflict, and educational needs are also discussed.
Using Mind Mapping On Science Education
(2017) Hua, Cheng; Thoma, Stephen
This article focuses on the synthesis of the applications of Mind Mapping (MM) skill on science education, for both educator and learner. I introduced the origin of the MM and then described underlying concepts of the MM at the first section of this paper. Then, I defined several identical research of the field on scrutinizing MM’s efficacy on science education. These research demonstrations the practical effect of using MM in science education from various perspective including increasing academic performance, strengthening learning motivation, enhancing the corporation between students, etc. In the end, I summarized the certain characteristics of current research and pointed out the future direction of the MM research.
Why ‘Where’ Matters: Exploring the Role of Space in Service-Learning
(2017) Bailey, Megan Snider; McKnight, Douglas
This research represents a two-year qualitative case study concerning how 33 students in an Honors service-learning course understood poverty as they prepared taxes for low-income families. The study sought to answer the question of how students come to know low-income communities differently by engaging in service at IRS Volunteer Income Tax Assistance sites across Alabama. Because the tax site communities are seen as a community partner in their own right, this research takes up Clark & Young’s (2005) call to attend to the spatial effects of service-learning. It finds that the ‘where’ of service-learning matters as deeply as the ‘what’ given that service placements—particularly in hometowns or college communities— cause students to interact in the spaces served in new ways. These new interactions prompt students to experience the communities they serve differently, so that their mental maps of their communities shift. Data include interviews and written reflections, which were analyzed via coding and situational mapping. In mapping participant’s data, it became apparent that the students engaging in service-learning were simultaneously engaging in a mental cartographic process. The result was that service-learning entered into students’ practices, helping to reformulate the way that students engage in spaces of service. Service-learning encourages an unpacking of the geographies of power (e.g. ghettos, ‘safe neighborhoods,’ etc.) that are mapped onto particular spaces. Attending to conceptualizations of communities allows service-learning to help students tease out spatial inequities that are power-laden.
Racial Identity & Gendered Racism: Centering Black College Women’s Mental Health
(2017) Burton, Wanda Martin; Paschal, Angelia
Nationally, nearly 16% of college women report being diagnosed with or treated for depression. Black women are less likely to be diagnosed with depression even when presenting with the same symptoms as their White counterparts. Further, gendered racism, a hybrid form of racism and sexism grounded in intersectionality theory, increases the risk for mental health (MH) problems. Although racial identity has been suggested as a buffer for MH against racism, it is unclear if it offers Black college women similar MH protection. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of gendered racism and the role of racial identity on the MH of Black college women. A cross-sectional design was conducted via a web-based survey. During fall 2016, 213 Black college women participated using nonrandom sampling. Mental health was operationalized as depression (PHQ-9) and psychological distress (K6). Correlations and regressions were conducted. Nearly 84% of the sample (n= 164) require treatment. Gendered racism accounted for 16% of the variance in depression and 10% in psychological distress. Racial identity was not significantly correlated with mental health and could not be tested as a mediator. Depression rates for Black college women are alarmingly higher than national averages. Racial identity alone did not account for the experience of gendered racism. Due to its persistence, gendered racism is normative. Despite the amount of resources available to college students, failure to dismantle gendered racism place college women of color at high risk for mental health problems.
The Effect of Historical Linguistics on Language Students' Linguistic and Cultural Competence
(2017) Coffman, Jana M.; Picone, Michael David; Yazan, Bedrettin
Since the beginning of human speech, languages have been changing and evolving in complex, systematic ways. The study of past stages of a linguistic system and the overarching linguistic patterns present therein comprise the field of linguistics known as historical linguistics. Historical linguistics, while preoccupied with the past, nevertheless elucidates and illuminates the orthographic, phonetic, morphological, and even cultural components of modern languages when seen as complex systems evolved from equally complex, standardized past versions of themselves. This, of course, has implications for Second Language Acquisition. Existing literature suggests instruction in various aspects of historical linguistics correlates positively with increased acquisition and retention of vocabulary as well as increased confidence, motivation, global competence, and multicultural identity.
An Investigation into the Dimensionality and Drivers of the Collaborative Economy
(2017) Hall, Kristina Lindsey; Baker, Tom
The overall purpose of this research is to contribute to a better understanding of the collaborative economy (CE). The CE involves direct or mediated peer-to-peer resource exchanges, which can occur with or without compensation, and allows for ownership transfers as well as access to goods, services, and experiences. Well-known examples in this domain include Uber and Airbnb. This research represents an initial attempt to systematically and theoretically explore various elements of the CE and therefore has three primary objectives: (1) to develop a conceptual typology for collaborative exchanges, (2) to investigate factors associated with the use and evaluation of one broad marketplace within the CE called collaborative consumption, and (3) to explore collaborative consumption in a service failure/recovery context. This research is grounded in Service-Dominant Logic, which helps to explicate the nature of the mutually beneficial resource exchange by multiple actors within socially constructed and contextually relevant service networks governed by social and cultural norms. As much of this research is exploratory in nature, we follow convention in utilizing a mixed-methods approach, first utilizing qualitative research including open-ended qualitative surveys (Studies 1 and 4) and semi-structured depth interviews (Study 2), followed by quantitative survey analysis (Studies 3 and 5). Results of this research suggest that there 8 types of peer-to-peer collaborative exchange behaviors and four collaborative marketplaces. Within one marketplace, both social and functional drivers of behavioral intentions relative to these exchanges are identified and empirically tested. Finally, managerial implications and avenues for future research are proposed.
Selfhood in Becoming: (Re)conceptualizing Research in Teacher Education
(2017) Odebiyi, Oluseyi; Sunal, Cynthia
One of the goals of teacher education is to educate professional teachers who can develop and express disciplinary and practical knowledge. Reflectively, it may be more complex for teachers than other professionals, to answer the questions, who are you? And, who do you want to become? It is complex because teachers present and represent knowledge in the classroom as a person and as a professional entity representing an institution. In educational thought and discourse on teachers’ professional identity formation and development, it remains unclear how exactly selfhood and professional identity relate beyond philosophical theorizing and cognitive. Anchored on Barton and Levstik’s sociocultural theory, this study did a systematic review of studies on teachers’ selfhood and teachers’ professional identity formation and development. The review specifically considers: 1) studies on selfhood as it relates to teachers’ testimonies, and 2) Studies which relate teachers’ selfhood to professional identity formation and development. This study draws conclusions on the current state of research on the teachers’ selfhood as it relates to professional identity. The study also identifies research perspectives in teacher education, beyond philosophical theorizing and cognitive, that may play role in designing research to examine teachers’ professional identity formation and development.
Effects of Assistive Technology Training
(2017) Stewart, Elizabeth; Mutua, Kagendo
Assistive technology provides creative solutions that enable individuals with disabilities to be more independent, productive, and included in society and community life. Today, many individuals with disabilities are breaking barriers through the use of assistive technology. In the P-12 setting, however, teachers, paraprofessionals, and administrators are under-trained and therefore unable to adequately consider or implement assistive technology in school settings due to lack of knowledge. The findings in this literature review describe how teacher training affects assistive technology consideration and implementation in a P-12 setting for individuals with disabilities.
Philosophy vs. Theology: The Similarities and Differences of Greek and Christian Antiquity
(2017) Trump, David; Burch, Steve
Living in the South makes it impossible to not at some point be affronted with the Christian religion. It has integrated itself into radio, television, and social media. It is highly likely for a person to pass anywhere from 1 to 5 churches (or more) in a 1-mile stretch of road. Though Christianity has become popular, one cannot turn a blind eye to the religions of those who came before. In the Hellenistic Age, there was already a weathered faith and a series of worship practices well-established; all dedicated in faithful pursuit to the gods well before Jesus Christ ever came into the picture. Yet as one reads the Old and New Testament of the Christian Bible, one cannot help but find similarities between the way people worshipped gods in the “BC(E)” era and how one also worshipped God in the “AD” (CE) era; and likewise, similarities in the way God/gods honor/dishonor his/her followers. In what ways do these faiths intertwine? Is it possible that the Christian faith garnered many of their religious practices from the Greco-Roman tradition? To what purpose do the similar teachings and stories hold? And should one’s belief or view of his or her faith change after discovering its origin? Through the analysis of Greek plays and philosophies, combined with many modern-day scholars’ own interpretations and discoveries, I journeyed into the past and saw what historical evidence could be brought to the surface and how those clues helped decipher the questions many choose to simply ignore.
Hands Up, Don’t Shoot: Using Poetic Transcription and Critical Race Theory to Re-Present Young, Rural, Black Men’s Experience with Police
(2017) White, Ashley N.; Birch, David
Chronic life stressors, racial injustices, and social factors create disparities in care for Black men often hindering their ability to confidently manage their health. Black men in the United States have poorer health and die younger than men of other ethnic backgrounds and suffer extremely high rates of chronic conditions. The study that informed this manuscript focused on preventive health services use among rural, Black men ages 18-34. This article details the process of using poetic transcription to share stories of race and police encounters. Found poetry or poetic transcription was used to analyze the interview transcripts to interpret experience depicted in the interviews. Four stories and poetic transcriptions are presented and analyzed using Critical Race Theory. The narratives and poems presented reveal experiences of fear during racially charged situations the impact of this experiences on Black men’s identities. Using poetry as an analysis of interview data gives validity to the participants’ self-representation and offers a way for researchers to re-see a static data-driven text and offer new insights for the field of public health.
History to Herstory: When The Tide Turned at The University of Alabama
(2017) Jones, Cindy A.; Tomlinson, Stephen
The purpose of my paper is to unpack the standard and traditional histoircal narrative of this university. My paper argues that the history of this university was altered by the herstory of Autherine Lucy Foster and Vivian Malone Jones. My work focuses on notions of space and place for black students at predominantly white universities in the south. This university serves as the case study for my work. In an ethnographic sense, black women form the center of my research interests. More specifically, I'm drawn to the herstories of Autherine Lucy Foster and Vivian Malone Jones. I realize that they left footprints for me as an African American woman here on this campus. Without their bravery and courage, I could not have designed and crafted a blueprint out of their footprints. Conversely, their blueprints have encouraged me to use my footprints to walk out their legacies of social justice and change.
Dialogue, Space, and Justice: A Spatial Turn to Social Justice Through Dialogue
(2017) Flint, Maureen; Guyotte, Kelly
The past few months have seen rumblings and eruptions of activism and protest in light of cuts and reversals of legislation impacting higher education students, faculty, and staff in myriad ways. As we grapple with the repercussions of these changes, and face the uncertainty to come, a spatial turn is necessary and needed. A spatial turn asks how we take up, create, and produce space, not only at the local and bounded level of individual institutions and campuses, but space as enfolded and layered nationally and globally, as we look to national politics and legislation and higher education as national and international entities (Massey, 2005). A critical spatial perspective unpacks, complicates, and layers notions of how humanity and materialities interact with the world, and in turn, how those materialities interact with us to shape and create space. This paper takes a critical spatial perspective, “inverting the usual order and putting space first as the primary discursive and explanatory focus” to explore the spatiality of intergroup dialogue workshops, and specifically those led by the Sustained Dialogue Institute (Soja, 2010, p. 17). Through this conceptual framework I ask, how is space constructed within these workshops? How do human and non human bodies intra act to create this space? How is the space of the dialogue enfolded with the space of the institution and what implications does this have for social justice activism nationally? Through exploring these questions, I consider entry points for possibility and change, a spatial turn to the future of social justice.
Does Musical Aptitude Influence Language Ability? A Multivariate Approach
(2017) Porter, Mitchell; Tomek, Sara
The purpose of this study is to investigate which areas of music aptitude can be used to predict language ability. A multivariate regression analysis was used. The Modern Language Aptitude Test (MLAT) and the Jake Mandell Music Tests (JMMT) were the instruments used to judge the music and language aptitudes of 204 participants. The results showed that there are statistically significant relationships between the variables of each test, most notably the rhythm test and audio-visual music intelligence test. One of the major implications of this study revolves around a relatively new approach to second language acquisition; dynamic systems theory. This study points at neurolinguistics to help future researchers answer the difficult questions revolving around language acquisition, as well as where language and music is processed in the brain.
How Principal Leadership, Disciplinary Climate and Parental Involvement Work Collectively as Predictors of Student Reading Achievement and Their Perceptions on Reading
(2017) Zhang, Sijia; Mitchell, Roxanne
The purpose of the study is to examine the relationships among leadership activities, disciplinary climate, parental involvement, students’ perceptions on their reading, and students’ reading abilities. Put simply, this study aims to explore how leadership activities are able to positively influence disciplinary climate and parental involvement, which in turn predict students’ perceptions of their reading, and their actual reading capabilities. Data were derived from a large scale dataset PIRLS (Progress in International Reading Literacy Studies).
Elaboration Strategies to Eliminate Misconceptions about Environmental Chemistry
(2017) Gungordu, Nahide; Thoma, Stephen
Previous studies highlighted misconceptions of high school students related to environmental chemistry, and researchers have mentioned that current teaching methods trigger such misconceptions. In an effective learning environment, teachers should be conscious of students’ pre-existing knowledge, but uncovering students’ notions may require complex procedures. For instance, “Elaboration” is an effective study strategy that assists student mastery of new materials. It requires that students clarify their learning with their own words and connect it with their own lives. The present research paper investigates the effectiveness of elaboration strategies for eliminating misconceptions in environmental chemistry courses. For this purpose, a quasi-experimental study will be conducted with 9th-grade students who will take the chemistry course in Turkey. While the treatment group will learn the subjects through heavy application of elaboration strategies, the control group will continue to learn the subjects by way of regular classroom teaching methods. At both the beginning and at the end of the course, students will complete a knowledge test generated by Arslan, Cigdemoglu, and Moseley (2012) and adopted by Karpudewan, Roth, and Chandrakesan (2015) associated with misconceptions about environmental chemistry topics. Additionally, students’ perceptions related to the teaching style of their instructors will be collected via several survey items generated by the researcher.
On the Status of Trait Empathy in American and Iranian population: A Cross-cultural Comparison
(2017) Jami, Paria Yaghoubi; Mansouri, Behzad; Thoma, Stephen; Han, Hyemin; Thoma, Steve
The extent to which individuals with a variety of cultural backgrounds differ in empathic responsiveness is unknown. This paper describes the cross-cultural path of empathy and its differences in two Western and Eastern societies. The analysis of responses given by 606 individuals to Interpersonal Reactivity Index and Empathy Quotient questionnaires revealed a significant difference between the cognitive and affective component of trait empathy with regard to participants’ affiliation to either a Western or an Eastern culture. Data obtained from bicultural participants also indicated the availability of a specific path of trait empathy different from the other two groups. In line with previous studies, gender difference was observed in all subscales of questionnaires except perspective taking in favor of female participants. The same pattern was also observed with age and educational level. Implications for understanding the cross-cultural differences of various components of empathy trait are discussed.
Breaking the Silence: Learning from the Experiences of Queer Educators in the Predominantly Heteronormative Space of K-12 Institutions
(2017) Jinright, Dwight; Kuntz, Aaron
The decision of queer teachers to come out at work is a complex one that is guided by both personal fears and principles and shadowed by common negative societal beliefs about queer persons in general. The primary purpose of this study was to describe and increase the understanding of the experiences of K-12 educators, who identify as queer while working in predominantly heteronormative institutions. In fulfilling the purpose of this study, I sought answers the following questions: What decisions do queer teachers make, or feel they are forced to make, regarding their decision to disclose or not to disclose information about their sexuality in the workplace? How do they understand their decisions regarding disclosure as affecting them personally and professionally? How do those decisions affect the ways in which they interact with students and colleagues? I conducted a multiple case study using semi-structured interviews which I audio recorded, transcribed, coded, and analyzed. Six participants were identified through a snowball recruitment method and included teachers of grades K-12 in Alabama. Analysis revealed five themes which included decisions regarding coming out at work; difficulty of not being oneself; concerns about homophobia and heteronormativity; the effects on interactions with students; and the lack of legal protection for queer teachers. Although society is changing, this study indicated that negative views and discrimination of queer persons (particularly teachers) still exist and provided a glimpse of the effect of such issues on the professional and personal lives of queer teachers.
The Twin Schools: From Equalization Schools to Desegregation in Monticello, Georgia
(2017) Carter, Coddy L.; Robinson, Cecil
Washington Park Elementary-High and Monticello High schools were both built in 1956 in Monticello, Georgia to educate black and white students, respectively. The new schools were built under the Minimum Foundation Program for Education enacted by Governor Herman Talmadge. The act aimed to close disparities in school funding between black and white schools through “separate but equal” institutions. Schools built under the MFPE included elementary, high, and combination schools that housed all grades one through twelve. After the Civil Rights Act of 1964, districts began approving “freedom of choice” plans to achieve desegregation. These plans overwhelmingly resulted in a number of African Americans attending white schools with few to no whites attending black schools. Green v. County School Board determined that “freedom of choice” was inadequate for desegregation. A series of federal lawsuits followed which eventually led to the desegregation of Jasper County Schools in 1970. This resulted in all students both black and white students attending Monticello High School and Washington Park School becoming the school district’s elementary school. Athletics also played prominently in the desegregation story as former Washington Park Indians became Monticello Purple Hurricanes and record of black athletic teams was left largely incomplete or non-existent.

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