Transcultural experiences: A literature bridge to English for ESOL students from Cuba

This qualitative study is concerned with exploring the transcultural experiences of ESOL students and connecting their lived experiences to literature in the classroom. The purpose of this study was to describe and explain the transcultural perspectives of six high school and community college students: four Cuban born students and two American born/raised students of Cuban-American culture. The participants were from Barbara Goleman Senior High School and Miami-Dade Community College. The six phenomenological portraits were explored in the form of lived experience pieces, representing the students' transcultural experiences. The data was collected in the form of student interviews, researcher's journal, and document reviews. The following exploratory questions guided this study: (1) From the perspective of four Cuban-born, non-native English-speaking students (NNS), what are the essential structures of their transcultural identities? (2) What are the underlying themes that account for the Cuban NNS students' transcultural experiences? (3) What are the universal transcultural structures among the Cuban NNS students' transcultural experiences and the Cuban-American, native English/Spanish speaking (NESS) students' experiences? (4) What are the possible structural meanings of the Cuban NNS students' interests in relation to their transcultural experiences? (5) What are some connections between the structural themes inherent in the Cuban NNS students' transcultural experiences and teaching literature in ESOL? ^ A phenomenological approach was used to investigate the participants' transcultural experiences, focused on the students' lived experiences. The study consisted of three interview sessions for each of the six participants. The analysis of the data was conducted following the principles of qualitative research, which included participant interviews, thematic analysis, researcher's journal, document reviews, and triangulation. The researcher created portraits representing students' transcultural experiences. Subsequently, the participants' transcultural experiences were used to respond to the exploratory questions, including comparing and contrasting themes and drawing connections among teaching literature in the ESOL classroom. ^ The results of this study show some relevant specific statements and themes that emerged from the students' transcultural data. The results serve as a better understanding of these students' transcultural experiences and the potentiality of connecting their perspectives to literature in the classroom. In addition, this study shows the need for a better understanding of the connection between transcultural experiences and literature in ESOL. ^

The effect of young adult literature on adolescents' rape myth acceptance

This quasi-experimental study (N = 139) measured the effect of a reader response based instructional unit of the novel Speak on adolescents' rape myth acceptance. Participants were eighth grade language arts students at a Title I middle school in a major metropolitan school district. Seven classes were randomly assigned to treatment ( n = 4) or control (n = 3) condition. Two teachers participated in the study and both taught both treatment and control classes. The study lasted a period of five weeks. Participants were pretested using the Rape Myth Acceptance Scale (Burt, 1980) and a researcher created scale, the Adolescent Date Rape Scale (ADRMS). Analysis of pretests showed the ADRMS to be a reliable and valid measure of rape myth acceptance in adolescents. Factor analysis revealed it to have two major components: "She Wanted It" and "She Lied." Pretests supported previous studies which found girls to have significantly lower initial levels of rape myth acceptance than boys (p < .001). A 2 (group) x 2 (instructor) x 2 (sex) ANCOVA using ADRMS pretest as a covariate and ADRMS posttest as a dependent variable found that treatment was effective in reducing rape myth acceptance (p < .001, η2 = .15). Boys with high rape myth acceptance as demonstrated by pretest scores of 1 standard deviation above the mean on ADRMS did not have a backlash to treatment. Extended analysis revealed that participants had significantly lower scores posttest on Factor 1, "She Wanted It" (p < .001, η2 = .27), while scores on Factor 2, "She Lied" were not significantly lower (p = .07). This may be because the content of the novel primarily deals with issues questioning whether the main characters assault was a rape rather than a false accusation. Attrition rates were low (N = 15) and attrition analysis showed that drop outs did not significantly alter the treatment or control groups. Implications for reader response instruction of young adult literature, for research on rape myth acceptance in secondary schools, and for statistical analysis of effect size using pretests as filters are discussed.

An ethnopharmacological approach to multidrug -resistant Staphylococcus aureus: Evaluation of Italian plants used in the traditional healing of skin disease

One-third of botanical remedies from southern Italy are used to treat skin and soft tissue infections (SST's). Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), a common cause of SSTIs, is responsible for increased morbidity and mortality from infections. Therapeutic options are limited by antibiotic resistance. Many plants possess potent antimicrobial compounds for these disorders. Validation of traditional medical practices is important for the people who rely on medicinal plants. Moreover, identification of novel antibiotics and anti-pathogenic agents for MRSA is important to global healthcare.^ I took an ethnopharmacological approach to understand how Italian medicinal plants used for the treatment of SSTIs affect MRSA growth and virulence. My hypothesis was that plants used in folk remedies for SSTI would exhibit lower cytotoxicity and greater inhibition of bacterial growth, biofilm formation and toxin production in MRSA than plants used for remedies unrelated to the skin or for plants with no ethnomedical application. The field portion of my research was conducted in the Vulture-Alto Bradano area of southern Italy. I collected 104 plant species and created 168 crude extracts. In the lab, I screened samples for activity against MRSA in a battery of bioassays. Growth inhibition was analyzed using broth microtiter assays for determination of the minimum inhibitory concentration. Interference with quorum-sensing (QS) processes, which mediate pathogenicity, was quantified through RP-HPLC of δ-toxin production. Interference with biofilm formation and adherence was assessed using staining methods. The mammalian cytotoxicity of natural products was analyzed using MTT cell proliferation assay techniques.^ Although bacteriostatic activity was limited, extracts from six plants used in Italian folk medicine (Arundo donax, Ballota nigra, Juglans regia, Leopoldia comosa, Marrubium vulgare, and Rubus ulmifolius ) significantly inhibited biofilm formation and adherence. Moreover, plants used to treat SSTI demonstrated significantly greater anti-biofilm activity when compared to plants with no ethnomedical application. QSI activity was evident in 90% of the extracts tested and extracts from four plants ( Ballota nigra, Castanea saliva, Rosmarinus officinalis, and Sambucus ebulus) exhibited a significant dose-dependent response. Some of the plant remedies for SSTI identified in this study can be validated due to anti-MRSA activity.^

A comparison study of the English III/American Literature success of African American high school students and that of students whose home language is Haitian Creole

The purpose of the study was to compare the English III success of students whose home language is Haitian Creole (SWHLIHC) with that of the more visible African American high school students in the Miami Dade County Public Schools System, in an effort to offer insight that might assist educators in facilitating the educational success of SWHLIHC in American Literature class.^ The study was guided by two important theories on how students interact with and learn from literature. They are Reader Response Theory which advocates giving students the opportunity to become involved in the literature experience (Rosenblatt, 1995), and Critical Literacy, a theory developed by Paolo Freire and Henry Giroux, which espouses a critical approach to analysis of society that enables people to analyze social problems through lenses that would reveal social inequities and assist in transforming society into a more equitable entity.^ Data for the study: 10th grade reading FCAT scores, English III/American Literature grades, and Promotion to English IV records for the school year 2010-2011 were retrieved from the records division of the Miami Dade County Public Schools System. The study used a quantitative methods approach, the central feature of which was an ex post facto design with hypotheses (Newman, Newman, Brown, & McNeely, 2006). The ex post facto design with hypotheses was chosen because the researcher postulated hypotheses about the relationships that might exist between the performances of SWHLIHC and those of African American students on the three above mentioned variables. This type of design supported the researcher's purpose of comparing these performances.^ One way analysis of variance (ANOVA), two way ANOVAs, and chi square tests were used to examine the two groups' performances on the 10th grade reading FCAT, their English III grades, and their promotion to English IV. ^ The study findings show that there was a significant difference in the performance of SWHLIHC and African American high school students on all three independent variables. SWHLIHC performed significantly higher on English III success and promotion to English IV. African American high school students performed significantly higher on the reading FCAT.^

Teachers' experiences in and perceptions of their 12th-grade British literature classrooms

The purpose of this study was to understand the experiences and perceptions of 12th-grade literature teachers about curriculum, Post-Colonial literature, and students. Theories posed by Piaget (1995), Vygotsky (1995), and Rosenblatt (1995) formed the framework for this micro-ethnographic study. Seven teachers from public and private schools in South Florida participated in this two-phase study; three teachers in Phase I and four in Phase II. All participants completed individual semi-structured interviews and demographic surveys. In addition, four of the teachers were observed teaching. The analysis yielded three themes and two sub-themes: (a) knowledge concerned teachers' knowledge of British literature content and Post-Colonial authors and their literature; (b) freedom described teachers' freedom to choose how to teach their content. Included in this theme was dilemmas associated with 12th-grade classrooms which described issues that were pertinent to the 12th-grade teacher and classroom that were revealed by the study; and (c) thoughts about students described teachers' perceptions about students and how literature might affect the students. Two subthemes of knowledge were as follows:(1) text complexity described teacher responses to a Post-Colonial text's complexity and (2) student desirability/teachability described teachers' perception about how desirable Post-Colonial texts would be to students and whether teachers would be willing to teach these texts. The researcher offers recommendations for understanding factors associated with 12th-grade teachers perceptions and implications for enhancing the 12th-grade experience for teachers and curriculum, based on this study: (a) build teacher morale and capacity, (b) treat all students as integral components of the teaching and learning process; teachers in this study thought teaching disenfranchised learners was a form of punishment meted out by the administration, and (c) include more Post-Colonial authors in school curricula in colleges and schools as most teachers in this study did not study this type of literature nor knew how to teach it.

The effects on students' self-efficacy beliefs regarding their comprehension of American literature when aesthetic reading and reader response strategy are implemented

High-stakes testing and accountability have infiltrated the education system in the United States; the top priority for all teachers must be student progress on standardized tests. This has resulted in the predominance of reading for test-taking, (efferent reading), in the English, language arts, and reading classrooms. Authentic uses of print activities, like aesthetic reading, that encourage students to engage individually with a text, have been pushed aside. ^ During a 3-week time period, regular level, English 3/American literature students in a Title I magnet high school, participated in this quasi-experimental study (N = 62). It measured the effects of an intervention of reading American literature texts aesthetically and writing aesthetically-evoked reader responses on students' self-efficacy beliefs regarding their comprehension of American literature. One trained teacher and the researcher participated in the study: student participants were pre- and post- tested using the Confidence in Reading American Literature Survey which examined their self-efficacy beliefs regarding their comprehension of American literature. Several statistical analyses were performed. The results of the linear regression analyses partially supported a positive relationship between aesthetically-evoked reader responses and students' self-efficacy beliefs regarding their comprehension of American literature. Additionally, the results of the 2 (sex) x 2 (treatment) ANCOVAs conducted to test group differences in self-efficacy beliefs regarding the comprehension of American literature between treatment and control groups indicated a main effect for treatment (but not sex; nor was there a significant sex x treatment interaction), suggesting the treatment was partially effective in increasing students' self-efficacy beliefs. Seven of the twelve ANCOVAs indicated a statistically significant increase in the treatment group's adjusted group mean self-efficacy belief scores as a result of being exposed to the intervention. In six of these seven analyses, increases in self-efficacy beliefs occurred in tasks that required three or more higher-order levels of thinking/learning. The results are discussed in terms of theoretical, empirical and practical significance. Future research is recommended to extend the intervention beyond the narrow confines of a Title I magnet school to settings where the intervention could be tested longitudinally, e. g., honors and gifted students, elementary and middle schools.^

On the Threshold of Paradise and Present: Memory in Contemporary Cuban – American Literature

The exile leaving his or her homeland for new and unknown territory travels with much more than just luggage and the clothes on his or her back. He or she carries a weighty collection of memories. Available for the exile in times when the harmony of the past is far removed from the difficult circumstances present during the process of cultural assimilation, these memories present an opportunity for the exile to fashion for him or herself an identity that mimics the realities of life in the home left behind. In this creative endeavor, I seek to examine the powerful potential of memory as it is exercised by a collection of Cubans and Cuban-Americans in different corners of the United States. Analyzing Achy Obejas’ Memory Mambo, Cristina García’s Dreaming in Cuban, Ana Menéndez’s In Cuba I Was a German Shepherd, and Elías Miguel Muñoz’s Brand New Memory, I aim to trace the suggestive potential of memory as it is used by each of the characters in these works in an effort to reconcile their Cuban identities with the ones that are in the process of creation in the U.S. I will borrow from a collection of literature dealing with identity and exile, relevant graduate-level theses on Cuban-American literature, as well as theoretical perspectives on memory formation and nostalgia in order to trace the various ways in which memory is relied on in the process of cultural assimilation and emotional coping. Being presented in Miami, which hosts the largest concentration of Cuban immigrants, this thesis aims to present itself as a reflective tool for Cubans and Cuban-Americans who may find value in seeing their personal sentiments portrayed in literature, thus allowing for a potential reevaluation of identity. If the existing literature on my topic of analysis reveals anything, it is that the scope of my project is one that has not been inspected previously, thus making my analytical contribution a new one that will add a new interpretive set of lens through which readers of contemporary Cuban-American literature can examine the works.

On the Threshold of Paradise and Present: Memory in Contemporary Cuban‐American Literature

The exile leaving his or her homeland for new and unknown territory travels with much more than just luggage and the clothes on his or her back. He or she carries a weighty collection of memories. Available for the exile in times when the harmony of the past is far removed from the difficult circumstances present during the process of cultural assimilation, these memories present an opportunity for the exile to fashion for him or herself an identity that mimics the realities of life in the home left behind. In this creative endeavor, I seek to examine the powerful potential of memory as it is exercised by a collection of Cubans and Cuban-Americans in different corners of the United States. Analyzing Achy Obejas’ Memory Mambo, Cristina García’s Dreaming in Cuban, Ana Menéndez’s In Cuba I Was a German Shepherd, and Elías Miguel Muñoz’s Brand New Memory, I aim to trace the suggestive potential of memory as it is used by each of the characters in these works in an effort to reconcile their Cuban identities with the ones that are in the process of creation in the U.S. I will borrow from a collection of literature dealing with identity and exile, relevant graduate-level theses on Cuban-American literature, as well as theoretical perspectives on memory formation and nostalgia in order to trace the various ways in which memory is relied on in the process of cultural assimilation and emotional coping. Being presented in Miami, which hosts the largest concentration of Cuban immigrants, this thesis aims to present itself as a reflective tool for Cubans and Cuban-Americans who may find value in seeing their personal sentiments portrayed in literature, thus allowing for a potential reevaluation of identity. If the existing literature on my topic of analysis reveals anything, it is that the scope of my project is one that has not been inspected previously, thus making my analytical contribution a new one that will add a new interpretive set of lens through which readers of contemporary Cuban-American literature can examine the works.