Link to the University of Pittsburgh Homepage
Link to the University Library System Homepage Link to the Contact Us Form

COMPREHENDING HISTORICAL NARRATIVES: EXPLORING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CAUSAL LANGUAGE AND STUDENTS' MENTAL REPRESENTATIONS OF HISTORY

Fitzgerald, Jason C. (2011) COMPREHENDING HISTORICAL NARRATIVES: EXPLORING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CAUSAL LANGUAGE AND STUDENTS' MENTAL REPRESENTATIONS OF HISTORY. Doctoral Dissertation, University of Pittsburgh. (Unpublished)

[img]
Preview
PDF
Primary Text

Download (929kB) | Preview

Abstract

For over a century, history teachers throughout the United States have selected textbooks as the primary instructional material for their classrooms, while textbook authors and publishers have continuously produced a unified nation-state narrative that presents United States history as a series of objective historical facts for student memorization. Some researchers have suggested that teachers abandon the textbook in favor of primary sources. Yet, due in part to institutional, societal, and political pressures, classroom teachers continue to use these traditional texts. This study, a qualitative investigation of the causal and coherences structures in a sample textbook, a teacher's instructional explanation, and students' related summaries, seeks to determine the influence of a textbook passage and teacher's instructional explanation on students' mental representations of history: What causal and coherence structures are present in a sample US History textbook? To what extent do the causal and coherence structures of the textbook passage influence a teacher's mental representation of a historical event? To what extent do the causal and coherence structures of the textbook passage and the instructional explanation influence students' mental representations of a historical event? Using Kintsch's Construction-Integration Model and Halliday's Systemic Functional Linguistics, data from participants in a diverse setting east of Pittsburgh was analyzed, comparing the network chains and transitivity structures of the passage, the instructional explanation, and participants' summaries. Among this study's findings, students include information common to both the textbook passage and the teacher's instructional explanation in their summaries. Furthermore, the causal constructions identified in students' summaries are similar to those found in either the textbook or the instructional explanation, not often both. These findings have implications for teaching with textbooks, disciplinary literacy instruction, and the implementation of critical, historical thinking in K-12 history classrooms.


Share

Citation/Export:
Social Networking:
Share |

Details

Item Type: University of Pittsburgh ETD
Status: Unpublished
Creators/Authors:
CreatorsEmailPitt UsernameORCID
Fitzgerald, Jason C.jasonfitzgerald02@gmail.com
ETD Committee:
TitleMemberEmail AddressPitt UsernameORCID
Committee ChairBerman, David Mdmberman@pitt.eduDMBERMAN
Committee MemberKucan, Lindalkucan@pitt.eduLKUCAN
Committee MemberRediker, Marcusred1@pitt.eduRED1
Committee MemberDonato, Richarddonato@pitt.eduDONATO
Date: 13 May 2011
Date Type: Completion
Defense Date: 28 March 2011
Approval Date: 13 May 2011
Submission Date: 11 April 2011
Access Restriction: No restriction; Release the ETD for access worldwide immediately.
Institution: University of Pittsburgh
Schools and Programs: School of Education > Instruction and Learning
Degree: PhD - Doctor of Philosophy
Thesis Type: Doctoral Dissertation
Refereed: Yes
Uncontrolled Keywords: comprehension; history education; history textbooks; asyndetic constructions; causation; social studies
Other ID: http://etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD/available/etd-04112011-132956/, etd-04112011-132956
Date Deposited: 10 Nov 2011 19:35
Last Modified: 15 Nov 2016 13:39
URI: http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/id/eprint/7024

Metrics

Monthly Views for the past 3 years

Plum Analytics


Actions (login required)

View Item View Item