Publication Date

Summer 2016

Advisor(s) - Committee Chair

Barbara Burch (Director), Pamela Petty, Jie Zhang, and Marie Neal

Degree Program

Educational Leadership Doctoral Program

Degree Type

Doctor of Education

Abstract

This study aims to illuminate, via the qualitative method of portraiture, the academic and personal impacts of both faculty and student stakeholders of a literacy intervention course, offered as an alternative to the traditional developmental reading model, taught at a regional southeastern United States four-year public university. Students who enrolled in the course from the semesters of fall 2012 to fall 2015 were given the opportunity to complete a survey about their experiences with the literacy intervention course. Faculty stakeholders were interviewed for their perspective on course creation, implementation, and delivery, focusing on the six curricular core competencies of reading strategies and reading guides; book club discussion; formal presentations; academic writing and research; motivation and responsibility; and work ethic and habit building.

Utilizing the portraiture paradigm, the researcher crafted a narrative of the faculty and student stakeholders to “draw a picture” of the course and the experiences of those who have participated in it. When examined through the lens of Tinto’s theories of student success and the theory of transformational learning, the aesthetic whole of the course is unearthed, with extensive narrative from faculty and students alike to complete the narrative.

The findings of this study offers insight into the perspectives of those deeply involved with the literacy intervention course. Students largely identified the course as influential on their success, with individual comments from students detailing specific elements of the course that impacted them.

Disciplines

Curriculum and Instruction | Educational Psychology | Higher Education

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