Theses & Dissertations

Welcome to the WAC Clearinghouse Theses and Dissertations Page. The theses are displayed below. If you'd like us to add a new thesis or dissertation to our list, please contact Kevin Eric De Pew.

Category: Disability Issues

Tarrant, Kathi L.. (1999). The Collaborative Implementation of an Early Literacy Curriculum in a Full-Inclusion Primary Grade Classroom: Co-Teachers and Students Working Together to Accomplish Literacy Goals. | View Details

The purpose of this study was to examine the collaborative implementation of an early literacy curriculum in a full-inclusion primary grade classroom comprised of students with mild disabilities and their general education peers. The curriculum, known as the Early Literacy Project (ELP) curriculum (Englert, Garmon, Mariage, Rozendal, Tarrant, & Urba, 1995), encompassed an integrated, curricular Approach to literacy instruction guided by the enactment of literacy principles informed by sociocultural Theory (Vygotsky, 1978, Wertch, 1991).

The inclusion classroom under study was co-taught by a general education and special education teacher. The study sought to examine four questions about the process of inclusion, co-teaching, and the implementation of the ELP curriculum that addressed, (a) how the co-teachers negotiated their instructional roles in the context of full-inclusion, (b) how the co-teachers enacted the literacy principles and activities of the ELP curriculum, (c) how special education students negotiated their roles as learners in inclusion process, and (d) special education students' performance and participation in the literacy community Across the school year.

The collaborative implementation of the ELP curriculum was examined from a descriptive analytical Approach. Data sources included: (a) fieldnotes from direct observations of the classroom, (b) transcribed audio- and video-tapes of literacy activity in the classroom, (c) informal interviews and conversations with the teachers and students, (d) students' pre and post assessments in reading, (e) classroom artifacts, and (f) personal reflections recorded after classroom observations.

This study extends the research on inclusion by examining questions about the process of general and special educators' negotiation of literacy principles that informed and shaped their co-enactment of an integrated literacy curriculum designed to enhance the reading and writing performance of students with mild disabilities. Further, the study provides important implications regarding the potential for a co-teaching model to bring about important changes in the general education literacy curriculum and to help special and general education teachers begin to define what it means to teach in more inclusive ways.

Zambrano, Robert P.. (1987). Writing Across the Curriculum: A Design for a Writing Institute for Deaf Educators. | View Details

The purpose of the dissertation is to provide a design for a Writing Institute for educators of the Deaf at Gallaudet. The design is meant to assist these educators in incorporating a Writing component into their disciplines. The first chapter explains the unique language situation of the deaf student. It describes the importance of writing for the deaf in the acquisition of English and the need for a method which allows them to maintain and improve their English language. The writing Across the Curriculum model is presented as the most viable method to be adapted for the deaf. An analysis of outstanding experiments in Writing Across the Curriculum undertaken by colleges around the country is the subject of the second chapter. Relevant publications by contributors to the Writing Across the Curriculum movement are also examined. The principles and practices garnered from this survey are specifically related to the plan of the institute proposed. Chapter three contains a discussion of a survey of the Gallaudet educators undertaken to determine faculty attitudes toward student writing and the amount of writing currently required in the different disciplines. The chapter provides detailed graphs and discussion of the survey instrument used and information gained. The data provides the foundation for chapter four which proposes a design for the Writing Institute. The design for the Writing Institute comprises chapter four and it includes a detailed model of weekly and daily activities for the participants. The schedules and explanations demonstrate ways to address the special concerns of the deaf educators. The conclusion explores implications for the future teaching of writing once the design is firmly in place.

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