I am Professor Emerita and Academy Professor at The Ohio State University (USA). I was also Adjunct Professor at the Columbus College of Art, and taught a semester language-pedagogy course while visiting Australia in 2016 at Murdoch University in . I enjoy teaching and editing across a variety of genres including academic papers for early career academics, M.A. Ph.D. theses and general interest papers and books. I also provide workshops on writing for well-being (e.g., Humanism in Medicine/The Arts in Medicine) and have a decade's history in that area with medical/health professionals as well in a cancer-survivorship program at a major medical campus in the US. I am currently in Australia again (WA) Australia). Messages can be posted on my page and/or through LinkedIn. Phone: 6145815932 Address: 3143 Walden Ravines
ABSTRACT While recently revisiting three years of post-workshop feedback from participants in a W... more ABSTRACT While recently revisiting three years of post-workshop feedback from participants in a Writing and Poetry for Well-being program that I offered through a major medical center for cancer survivors as post-treatment rehabilitation, I realized that a concept I had developed for language pedagogy in 2005, namely that “language is a field of energy,” might serve to explain why the workshop participants (several of them returning across time) regarded the workshops as significantly transformative. The concept, “language as a field of energy,” appears to offer explanatory power for the therapeutic benefits of incorporating poetry reading and writing. In the process of engaging with language imaginatively and playfully, participants in a series of workshops I provided for a cancer survivorship arts-based program, found avenues for understanding the role of language in shaping and reinforcing what and how we think and feel.
A B S T R A C T The purpose of this study was to validate and extend the findings of an exhaustiv... more A B S T R A C T The purpose of this study was to validate and extend the findings of an exhaustive literature search in Year 1 and a meta-analysis in Year 2 of a 3-year project in which nine (9) small-group discussion approaches were identified. Having identified parameters of discussion that were, to a greater or lesser extent, present in these nine discussion approaches, our goal in the study being reported in this paper, was to evaluate the nine discussion approaches on a common set of discourse features known to characterize 'quality' discussions. Although there is overlap among some studies in the nature of the measures used, the extant literature does not afford a uniform basis on which to evaluate student talk as an indicator of student understanding and critical thinking. In the present study, we identified features of classroom discourse that might serve as proximal indices of students' learning and comprehension and we employed each of these proximal indices...
If we take “A Discipline” in an academic field to mean “a branch of knowledge” (so defined as one... more If we take “A Discipline” in an academic field to mean “a branch of knowledge” (so defined as one of several meanings in most reputable dictionaries), I am puzzled as to why the field of Education is not considered “A Discipline.” Since entering academic life as a tenure-track Assistant Professor at The Ohio State University in the Autumn Quarter, 1986, I’ve struggled with this, both because of my own perceptions of this field as well as that of many colleagues who are in what are unarguably defined as “Disciplines.”
This essay offers a reorientation of our views on the interrelationships of language and thought ... more This essay offers a reorientation of our views on the interrelationships of language and thought as a field of constantly reprogrammable energy, and provides an argument as to why we believe this new metaphor (i.e., language as a field of energy) matters in language pedagogy, in classrooms at all levels, as well as within teacher education and teacher professional development. We define language as a field of energy in the following way: as language operating as a “region” in which a force (in this case, words and their rhetorical functions) operates to bring about some influence resulting in an effect or having an impact on one’s own behaviors, on the behaviors of others, as well as having the capacity to influence emotions, and/or the course of events. Following a brief introduction in which we state our purpose, we present the case for the above argument in the context of current language and literacy education. In doing so, we delineate language-thought-perceived reality relatio...
conducting a federally funded study on the role of small-group discussions as possible mechanisms... more conducting a federally funded study on the role of small-group discussions as possible mechanisms for the development of high-level comprehension (Soter et al., 2008; Wilkinson, Soter, & Murphy, 2007), we conducted an exhaustive narrative analysis of over 500 scholarly products, including empirical research, conceptual and theoretical scholarship, and instructional applications, to identify parameters of productive small-group discussions. These parameters included stance toward literary texts, of which two were Rosenblatt's (1978) aesthetic and efferent stances. We also conducted an intensive analysis of classroom discussions about and around literary text, from transcripts provided by the proponents of nine recognized small-group discussion approaches. Through our study of classroom talk about and around literary text, we discovered that our application of Rosenblatt's (1938/ 1995, 1978) "aesthetic" stance to elementary (primarily Grades 4-6) students' affect...
Students' Resistance to Engagement with Multicultural Literature Exploring Multicultural Lite... more Students' Resistance to Engagement with Multicultural Literature Exploring Multicultural Literature as Cultural Production Out of the Closet and Onto the Bookshelves Reader Response Theory and the Politics of Multicultural Literature Reading Literature of Other Cultures. (Part contents).
ABSTRACT Presents two scenarios representing two very different critical perspectives: a text-foc... more ABSTRACT Presents two scenarios representing two very different critical perspectives: a text-focused and a reader-focused approach. Argues that using literary theory to look at a literary text anew results in a richer engagement with that text and helps students to want to engage with the work. (SC)
P may grind their teeth, chagrin and impatience coursing through their arteries with the above co... more P may grind their teeth, chagrin and impatience coursing through their arteries with the above commonplace metaphoric declarations. These declarations pervade what may go down on record as the hottest summer (2012) since weather records have been kept. I won’t concern myself with teasing apart various metaphoric cousins (most commonly, simile, metonymy and personification) on the grounds that all language is essentially metaphorical, and equally important. We essentially think in metaphor as Bartel, Lakoff & Johnson, Ricoeur, and others have also argued. “Metaphor” wrote Jose Ortega y Gassett “is probably the most fertile power possessed by man” (cited in Ivie 1). And yet, we may well wonder why metaphor and other kinds of figurative language have caused so much anxiety in schools. Why has metaphor, in particular, created concern for countless nonplussed and hapless students as they hunted for an example in poetry or attempted to explain what such a metaphor “means?” We encounter me...
P may grind their teeth, chagrin and impatience coursing through their arteries with the above co... more P may grind their teeth, chagrin and impatience coursing through their arteries with the above commonplace metaphoric declarations. These declarations pervade what may go down on record as the hottest summer (2012) since weather records have been kept. I won’t concern myself with teasing apart various metaphoric cousins (most commonly, simile, metonymy and personification) on the grounds that all language is essentially metaphorical, and equally important. We essentially think in metaphor as Bartel, Lakoff & Johnson, Ricoeur, and others have also argued. “Metaphor” wrote Jose Ortega y Gassett “is probably the most fertile power possessed by man” (cited in Ivie 1). And yet, we may well wonder why metaphor and other kinds of figurative language have caused so much anxiety in schools. Why has metaphor, in particular, created concern for countless nonplussed and hapless students as they hunted for an example in poetry or attempted to explain what such a metaphor “means?” We encounter me...
A study explored the notion of writing as a sociocultural act in order to discover whether and ho... more A study explored the notion of writing as a sociocultural act in order to discover whether and how native cultural literacy and literary influences manifest themselves rhetorically and stylistically. Data were collected from 223 students in Australian grades 6 through 11, and representing three linguistic and cultural groups: Vietnamese, Arabic-speaking Lebanese, and native English speaking (NS). Each subject wrote a simple narrative bedtime story which was rated using a holistic/analytic evaluation scheme, and rhetorical and stylistic patterns. The results indicated the following: (1) stories from all three groups contain attributes of settings, character, and action, although the manner in which these are presented differs; (2) the groups place different emphases on action and event, with the VIetnamese students appearing more concerned with presenting context for their stories than aid the other groups; (3) when a plot is present, the stories show characteristic beginnings and ha...
ABSTRACT Presents two scenarios representing two very different critical perspectives: a text-foc... more ABSTRACT Presents two scenarios representing two very different critical perspectives: a text-focused and a reader-focused approach. Argues that using literary theory to look at a literary text anew results in a richer engagement with that text and helps students to want to engage with the work. (SC)
... Asked to explain why they think this is the case, they often tell Sean that they have not con... more ... Asked to explain why they think this is the case, they often tell Sean that they have not considered this question before and, perhaps more significant, their perceptions of what counts as ... Is not Cormier's The Chocolate War on a par with Hardy's The Mayor of Casterbridge? ...
ABSTRACT While recently revisiting three years of post-workshop feedback from participants in a W... more ABSTRACT While recently revisiting three years of post-workshop feedback from participants in a Writing and Poetry for Well-being program that I offered through a major medical center for cancer survivors as post-treatment rehabilitation, I realized that a concept I had developed for language pedagogy in 2005, namely that “language is a field of energy,” might serve to explain why the workshop participants (several of them returning across time) regarded the workshops as significantly transformative. The concept, “language as a field of energy,” appears to offer explanatory power for the therapeutic benefits of incorporating poetry reading and writing. In the process of engaging with language imaginatively and playfully, participants in a series of workshops I provided for a cancer survivorship arts-based program, found avenues for understanding the role of language in shaping and reinforcing what and how we think and feel.
A B S T R A C T The purpose of this study was to validate and extend the findings of an exhaustiv... more A B S T R A C T The purpose of this study was to validate and extend the findings of an exhaustive literature search in Year 1 and a meta-analysis in Year 2 of a 3-year project in which nine (9) small-group discussion approaches were identified. Having identified parameters of discussion that were, to a greater or lesser extent, present in these nine discussion approaches, our goal in the study being reported in this paper, was to evaluate the nine discussion approaches on a common set of discourse features known to characterize 'quality' discussions. Although there is overlap among some studies in the nature of the measures used, the extant literature does not afford a uniform basis on which to evaluate student talk as an indicator of student understanding and critical thinking. In the present study, we identified features of classroom discourse that might serve as proximal indices of students' learning and comprehension and we employed each of these proximal indices...
If we take “A Discipline” in an academic field to mean “a branch of knowledge” (so defined as one... more If we take “A Discipline” in an academic field to mean “a branch of knowledge” (so defined as one of several meanings in most reputable dictionaries), I am puzzled as to why the field of Education is not considered “A Discipline.” Since entering academic life as a tenure-track Assistant Professor at The Ohio State University in the Autumn Quarter, 1986, I’ve struggled with this, both because of my own perceptions of this field as well as that of many colleagues who are in what are unarguably defined as “Disciplines.”
This essay offers a reorientation of our views on the interrelationships of language and thought ... more This essay offers a reorientation of our views on the interrelationships of language and thought as a field of constantly reprogrammable energy, and provides an argument as to why we believe this new metaphor (i.e., language as a field of energy) matters in language pedagogy, in classrooms at all levels, as well as within teacher education and teacher professional development. We define language as a field of energy in the following way: as language operating as a “region” in which a force (in this case, words and their rhetorical functions) operates to bring about some influence resulting in an effect or having an impact on one’s own behaviors, on the behaviors of others, as well as having the capacity to influence emotions, and/or the course of events. Following a brief introduction in which we state our purpose, we present the case for the above argument in the context of current language and literacy education. In doing so, we delineate language-thought-perceived reality relatio...
conducting a federally funded study on the role of small-group discussions as possible mechanisms... more conducting a federally funded study on the role of small-group discussions as possible mechanisms for the development of high-level comprehension (Soter et al., 2008; Wilkinson, Soter, & Murphy, 2007), we conducted an exhaustive narrative analysis of over 500 scholarly products, including empirical research, conceptual and theoretical scholarship, and instructional applications, to identify parameters of productive small-group discussions. These parameters included stance toward literary texts, of which two were Rosenblatt's (1978) aesthetic and efferent stances. We also conducted an intensive analysis of classroom discussions about and around literary text, from transcripts provided by the proponents of nine recognized small-group discussion approaches. Through our study of classroom talk about and around literary text, we discovered that our application of Rosenblatt's (1938/ 1995, 1978) "aesthetic" stance to elementary (primarily Grades 4-6) students' affect...
Students' Resistance to Engagement with Multicultural Literature Exploring Multicultural Lite... more Students' Resistance to Engagement with Multicultural Literature Exploring Multicultural Literature as Cultural Production Out of the Closet and Onto the Bookshelves Reader Response Theory and the Politics of Multicultural Literature Reading Literature of Other Cultures. (Part contents).
ABSTRACT Presents two scenarios representing two very different critical perspectives: a text-foc... more ABSTRACT Presents two scenarios representing two very different critical perspectives: a text-focused and a reader-focused approach. Argues that using literary theory to look at a literary text anew results in a richer engagement with that text and helps students to want to engage with the work. (SC)
P may grind their teeth, chagrin and impatience coursing through their arteries with the above co... more P may grind their teeth, chagrin and impatience coursing through their arteries with the above commonplace metaphoric declarations. These declarations pervade what may go down on record as the hottest summer (2012) since weather records have been kept. I won’t concern myself with teasing apart various metaphoric cousins (most commonly, simile, metonymy and personification) on the grounds that all language is essentially metaphorical, and equally important. We essentially think in metaphor as Bartel, Lakoff & Johnson, Ricoeur, and others have also argued. “Metaphor” wrote Jose Ortega y Gassett “is probably the most fertile power possessed by man” (cited in Ivie 1). And yet, we may well wonder why metaphor and other kinds of figurative language have caused so much anxiety in schools. Why has metaphor, in particular, created concern for countless nonplussed and hapless students as they hunted for an example in poetry or attempted to explain what such a metaphor “means?” We encounter me...
P may grind their teeth, chagrin and impatience coursing through their arteries with the above co... more P may grind their teeth, chagrin and impatience coursing through their arteries with the above commonplace metaphoric declarations. These declarations pervade what may go down on record as the hottest summer (2012) since weather records have been kept. I won’t concern myself with teasing apart various metaphoric cousins (most commonly, simile, metonymy and personification) on the grounds that all language is essentially metaphorical, and equally important. We essentially think in metaphor as Bartel, Lakoff & Johnson, Ricoeur, and others have also argued. “Metaphor” wrote Jose Ortega y Gassett “is probably the most fertile power possessed by man” (cited in Ivie 1). And yet, we may well wonder why metaphor and other kinds of figurative language have caused so much anxiety in schools. Why has metaphor, in particular, created concern for countless nonplussed and hapless students as they hunted for an example in poetry or attempted to explain what such a metaphor “means?” We encounter me...
A study explored the notion of writing as a sociocultural act in order to discover whether and ho... more A study explored the notion of writing as a sociocultural act in order to discover whether and how native cultural literacy and literary influences manifest themselves rhetorically and stylistically. Data were collected from 223 students in Australian grades 6 through 11, and representing three linguistic and cultural groups: Vietnamese, Arabic-speaking Lebanese, and native English speaking (NS). Each subject wrote a simple narrative bedtime story which was rated using a holistic/analytic evaluation scheme, and rhetorical and stylistic patterns. The results indicated the following: (1) stories from all three groups contain attributes of settings, character, and action, although the manner in which these are presented differs; (2) the groups place different emphases on action and event, with the VIetnamese students appearing more concerned with presenting context for their stories than aid the other groups; (3) when a plot is present, the stories show characteristic beginnings and ha...
ABSTRACT Presents two scenarios representing two very different critical perspectives: a text-foc... more ABSTRACT Presents two scenarios representing two very different critical perspectives: a text-focused and a reader-focused approach. Argues that using literary theory to look at a literary text anew results in a richer engagement with that text and helps students to want to engage with the work. (SC)
... Asked to explain why they think this is the case, they often tell Sean that they have not con... more ... Asked to explain why they think this is the case, they often tell Sean that they have not considered this question before and, perhaps more significant, their perceptions of what counts as ... Is not Cormier's The Chocolate War on a par with Hardy's The Mayor of Casterbridge? ...
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