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As access to technology increases, educators must continue to study how to best integrate these resources to help close the writing achievement gap and prepare students for college and careers. This survey explores the levels of technology use in English classrooms at diverse, low-income high schools in Texas where 70 percent or more students are identified as economically disadvantaged. This study examines how teachers' levels of implementation relate to teachers' age, years of teaching experience, highest degree earned, and the type of school. Teachers completed an online survey indicating their curriculum and instructional practices, their personal computer use, and their implementation of writing in the classroom. Based on these results, follow-up interviews were conducted with teachers who volunteered to be interviewed. Quantitative statistical analysis of the research evidence using chi square tests indicates a relationship between teachers' level of technology implementation and their age and years of experience teaching. However, the type of school where teachers teach (suburban, urban, or rural) and the highest degree earned by the teacher does not relate to teachers' implementation level, according to the statistical analysis. Thus, this dissertation is about high school English teachers' perspectives on levels of technology implementation in schools serving diverse learners. Using qualitative analysis, the study also found that technology is used on a limited basis by the teachers who provided comments in the survey and those who were interviewed due to lack of access to computers in classrooms. Most teachers indicated they use the teacher computer in their classrooms for clerical tasks and/or presentations to students. Student use of computers was limited to scheduling time in labs that must be shared among the other teachers and students on campus. In addition, the teachers commented that additional professional development is needed to help them implement available technology resources for teaching and learning. To address these challenges, administrators need to study what technology resources best support the teaching of writing, particularly in ways that help close the achievement gap and prepare students for college and careers. Administrators should provide for teachers and students more accessibility to technology resources beyond the school-wide computer lab. Finally, administrators need to offer their teachers varied, ongoing, and collaborative professional development focused on both writing instruction and technology resources to improve teachers' proficiencies and confidence in these areas.

The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship of senior high school students¡¦ perception of work value and occupational selection. A cluster sampling is conducted to collect 528 8th graders from 7 senior high school students in Kaohsiung city . The valid response rate is 92.47%. In addition, 4 of students from 4 different schools are individually interviewed by this investigator in order to determine whether their paper and pencile responses are consistent with their actual perceptions. Finally, the hypotheses are tested through SPSS 15.0 statistical analyses. The results of the t-test, ANOVA, and regression reveal 11 major following findings: 1. There is non-significant gender difference on the scores of ¡§work value¡¨ and ¡§occupational selection¡¨¡Fwhereas girls¡¦¡Ascores on ¡§occupation environment & promotion¡¨ and ¡§work ensure¡¨ are significantly higher than those boy counterparts¡¦. 2. There is non-significant difference on the scores of ¡§work value¡¨ and ¡§occupational selection¡¨, while students¡Awho having different birth born order. 3. There is significant difference on the score of ¡§work of reputation and status¡¨, while studentsto obtain education degree levels. 4. There is significant difference on the score of ¡§occupation environment & promotion¡¨ and ¡§work ensure¡¨, while their fathers having different educational degree. 5. There is non-significance on the score of ¡§work value¡¨and ¡§occupational selection¡¨, while their mothers having different educational degree. 6. There is significant difference on the scores of ¡§work of independently & recreation¡¨ and ¡§work ensure¡¨, while students¡¦ studying in different style schools. 7. There is significant difference on the score of ¡§work value¡¨ , whereas there is non-significant difference on the score of ¡§occupational selection¡¨. 8. There is non-significant on the scores of ¡§work value¡¨ and ¡§occupational selection¡¨, while students having different academic achievement; whereas there is significant difference on the score of ¡§work reputation and status¡¨. 9. There is non-significant difference on the scores of ¡§work value¡¨ and ¡§occupational selection¡¨, while students with different task experiences. 10. The variables of students¡¦birth born order and self expectation to obtain education level and the score of ¡§work value¡¨ are together explained 35.2¢H of the variance of students¡¦¡Ainternal personality factor. 11.The variables of students¡¦ background, school style, birth born order, self expectation to obtain education level, and work value are together explained 24.3¢H of the variance of students¡¦ external environmental factor.

The study aims to understand the status of concentration on extracurricular reading and the academic performance of junior high school students. The purposes are: 1. to know the status of concentration on extracurricular reading; 2. to analyze the difference of the variable between the factors of concentration on extracurricular reading and the academic performance; 3. to explore the relationship between concentration on extracurricular reading and the academic performance. Surveys were given to junior high school students at the 1th,2th and 3th grade respectively in the public schools of Kaohsiung; total 300 students have replied to the questionnaires from nine classes. Analysis of variance was applied to understand the internal factors, such as their motivation, interest and attitude upon concentrating on extracurricular reading and the external factors, such as attitude of parents and teachers as well as school promotion. How students concentrated on extracurricular reading and its relationship with the academic performance was explored. The conclusions were described as follows: I. Overall analysis of the current conditions shows that junior high school students have medium involvement in extra-curricular reading; their academic achievements are in the upper medium level. II. In terms of involvement in extra-curricular reading, female junior high school students outperform male junior high school students in their overall involvement in extra-curricular reading. Due to differences in the father¡¦s and mother¡¦s education levels and the mother¡¦s employment type, there are differences in perception, and perceptions are higher for junior high school students from middle-class families than from lower middle-class families. III. In terms of academic achievement, female junior high school students have greater perceptions for overall academic achievement than male junior high school students. Due to differences in the father¡¦s and mother¡¦s education levels and the parents¡¦ employment type, there are differences in perception, and perceptions are higher for junior high school students from middle-class families than from lower middle-class families. IV. Reading motivation, reading interest, parental attitudes, school promotions, reading attitudes, the degree of involvement in reading, reading achievements, and overall involvement in extra-curricular reading all have a significant effect on the overall academic achievement of junior high school students The conclusions can be used as reference for educational administration units, schools, teachers, parents and future researchers.

The purposes of this study were to explore the love values reflected in Mandarin popular songs in Taiwan and related values among Taiwanese senior high students. The researcher adopted content analysis and questionnaire survey as the major research methods for the research. A total of 1081 pieces of lyric of popular songs which have been voted as the top 10 of each week in the CASHBOX Magazine from May, 1998 to May, 2003 were located to conduct the content analysis. The questionnaire, based upon the literature review and the results of the lyric content analyses, were filled out by 854 senior high schools students in Kaohsiung city and Kaohsiung county. The statistic measures of descriptive statistics, t-test, chi-squre test and cross tabulation analysis were used for the data analyses. The study concluded in the following findings: 1. Love values of Mandarin popular songs from May, 1998 to May, 2003: (1)Love is still the most important topic in popular songs. (2)Most popular songs usually present a situation of frustration or crisis during the love. (3)Most lyrics often reflect the negative side of love. 2. Love values of Taiwanese senior high school students (1)Most senior high students still hold more positive attitudes toward love. (2)The experiences of being boyfriend or girlfriend, whether to be in love presently and being crazy about popular songs or not, all three did make difference among the various aspects of love values of senior students. (3)Gender, school location and regularly listening to popular songs or not make no difference in students¡¦ love values. 3. The difference between the love vlues of lyrics and those of senior high school students. The results were that there existed a lot of differences between lyrics and senior high school students. Most lyrics offen reflect negative love values, but most senior high school students have opposite views toward love. According to the research results mentioned above, the researcher found that the love values of lyrics of popular songs were different from those of senior high school students. At the same time, the lyrics did not completely reflect the love world held by the adolescent. Therefore, due to the fact that the content analysis of lyrics was not the only measure adopted to project the love values of the adolescent, it would not be the sufficient instrument in exploring fully the loves values of senior high students in Taiwan.

In my research, the national identity process, which includes the family factor, school factors, mass media factor, peer group factor, of the private senior high school students, were explored and analyzed by using a method of SPSS version 10.0. The object of this research is to understand the diverse effects in national identity, which includes view, nation symbols, referendum function, denationalize position, of students with different social background.

The Basic Competency Test for Junior High School Students (BCT) has become the most important and the largest test, which is including the most number of students, the widest range and the largest number of printed paper. The BCT has deeply influenced the benefits whether three hundred thousand students are able to enter their ideal senior high schools or not. Moreover, the BCT has also become the big issue of education which all people are concerned about. The study is according to the massive questionnaire to students in the third grade of public and private junior high schools in Taiwan, their parents, students in the first grade of senior / vocational high schools, and the related educators. The main findings of the study were as follows: 1. Generally speaking, though students, parents and educators have a few different views of most identified items of BCT, the quality of the items is still highly affirmative while its function and purpose are questioned. 2. The attitude of students, parents and educators to BCT exists the evidently great differences. 3. Students who come from different backgrounds have obviously different attitude to BCT. 4. Parents from different backgrounds have obviously different attitude to BCT. 5. Educators from different backgrounds have obviously different attitude to BCT. 6. The studies of students in the third grade of junior high school is obviously influenced by BCT. 7. The BCT has caused pressure and problem to students, parents and educators. 8. The BCT does not reach the expected function. 9. The places, dates, and whether to announce the range of BCT are not accorded with the demands of the public. 10. Students, parents and educators have different demands on BCT. 11. The so-called ¡§ two peaks ¡¨ are presented to the satisfactions for students, parents and educators on BCT. According to the findings, the study provides some suggestions to the actual implement of BCT and the further study.

ABSTRACT The Relationships among Demographic Variables, Intelligences, Critical Thinking, and Emotional Intelligence of Junior High School Students. The main purpose of the study was to explore the relationships among demographic variables, intelligences, critical thinking, and emotional intelligence (EQ) of Junior High School Students. The participants included 547 students (293 males and 254 females) coming from five junior high schools in Tainan and Kaohsiung City. The instruments employed in this study were the subscales of intrapersonal intelligence and interpersonal intelligence from the Multiple Intelligences Scale, The Test of Critical Thinking Skills for Primary and Secondary School Students (TCTS-PS), The Questionnaire of Dispositions Toward Critical Thinking, and The Self-Report Scale of Children¡¦s Emotional Thinking. The Self-Report Scale of Children¡¦s Emotional Thinking comprised two subscales¡Xthe intrapersonal and the interpersonal intelligence of emotion. The employed methods included Descriptive Statistics, t-test, ANOVA, MANOVA, Cannon Correlation Analysis, and Discriminate Analysis. The main findings of this study were as follows: 1. The students¡¦ development of intrapersonal and interpersonal intelligence, critical-thinking skills, critical-thinking dispositions, and emotional intelligence were above the average. 2. The females outperformed the males in both the intrapersonal and interpersonal intelligence of emotion. 3. There were no significant differences on the EQ scores among the three grade levels. 4. The higher educational level the students¡¦ parents had, the better the students¡¦ EQ were. 5. There was a significant canonical correlation between the two kinds of intelligences and the eight factors of EQ. 6. There was a significant canonical correlation between the independent variable set and the eight factors of emotional intelligence. The independent variable set included gender, grades, the parents¡¦ educational level, intrapersonal intelligence, interpersonal intelligences, critical-thinking skills, and critical-thinking dispositions 7. The level of students¡¦ EQ could be effectively predicted by their critical-thinking skills and critical-thinking dispositions. Among the three levels of EQ, the middle level was predicted with the highest accuracy. The finding revealed that high critical-thinking skills and high critical-thinking dispositions required at least an average level of EQ. Therefore, critical-thinking is essential to EQ. Finally, some suggestions for instruction and further research were proposed.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 1999. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 134-145). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2001. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 174-181). Also available on the Internet.