FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 7, 2006
Contact: Eunice Trent
Phone: 405.491.6600
Fax: 405.491.6381
E-mail: etrent@snu.edu
BETHANY, OK - Two Southern Nazarene University English professors have recently been selected to read papers at professional conferences. Following a study in Communication Theory and Online Learning, Stephoni Case from the SNU English Department was invited to present the results of her research at the International Conference of Arts and Humanities in Honolulu, Hawaii on January 12, 2006. Dr. Pamela Bracken will deliver Echoes in Fellowship: The PRB and The Inklings for the up-coming C. S. Lewis and the Inklings Conference at John Brown University.
Professor Case’s paper, "Accommodation Theory, E-Mail, and Discussion Board: Raising the Bar in Electronic Communication," reviews the literature of both the development of accommodation theory among sociolinguists and the consideration of that theory as it may apply in written and electronic communications. The results of this experimental case study identify the applied use of online discussion boards and e-mail as teaching tools and questions whether or not instructor assessment maximizes the potential for learning by way of accommodation theory. The conclusion of this paper forecasts the possibilities educators may consider in teaching and assessing the level of language (usage) and writing skills using discussion boards and e-mail.
Professor Case is completing her Ph.D. in English at Oklahoma State University, with technical communication and composition and rhetoric as her fields of study within that discipline.
In Echos in Fellowship, Dr. Bracken explores the resonances and parallels of the literary friendships—as well as literary output—of William Morris (one of the most prominent members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood) and his Victorian circle of friends with the collaboration and production of Tolkien and Lewis and their own “Inkling” brotherhood. As patterns in male fellowship, both circles are linked vertically and horizontally as streams of influence illustrating the power of the theological truism that “iron sharpens iron” and “it is not good for man to be alone.”
Dr. Bracken teaches English literature, with a special emphasis in Victorian studies. She has been a professor at Southern Nazarene University since 1994.
For further information, contact Peggy Poteet, Chairperson, Department of English, SNU @ 405.491.6397.
Posted on
Tue, March 7, 2006
by SNU