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The research investigated nurses' choice of post-registration degree at a particular institution of higher education in order to address the unexpected popularity of the BSc in Health Studies. In particular, it sought to examine choice of degree against the background of changes in professionalism. The literature review covered the development of nursing and nursing education, professionalism, professionalisation, the concept of occupational closure and relevant gender issues. A combination of quantitative and qualitative methods was used for the investigation. Analysis of questionnaire data revealed differences between community and hospitalbased nurses. It confirmed that community nurses selected the Health Studies course originally designed for them as a rational `follow-on' from courses that led to their professional recognition and qualification to practice community nursing. Hospital nurses were almost evenly distributed across the two courses and were revealed to be of critical interest. Those on the Nursing Studies course conformed to expectations and might be seen as relatively passive in attitude, whereas Health Studies participants were cosmopolitan, held stronger views about their choice of degree and made a `deviant' but not illogical choice of course. The second, qualitative stage, used in-depth interviews of 15 hospital nurses. Hitherto unsuspected relationships were discovered between the academic content of courses chosen by students and their orientation, values and attitudes towards nursing per se and their perceptions of the present and future status of the professionalisation of nursing. Health Studies participants were more likely to reject the utility of nursing theory and models, to feel more negative about nursing currently and more pessimistic about the future than their Nursing Studies degree counterparts. Hospital nurses on the two courses appeared to espouse different models of professionalism, with Nursing Studies participants aligned with the altruistic `functionalist' model in contrast to their Health Studies counterparts who leaned towards conflict models

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This thesis draws together a range of Mrs Humphry Ward’s writing alongside her activities as a reformer to reposition her as a Greenian educator. Education is conceived in terms of Thomas Hill Green’s (1836-1882) idealist philosophy as the progression towards a better society through the development of the individual. The granddaughter of Dr Arnold of Rugby, Mrs Humphry Ward was a famous English novelist whose reputation was established through her novel about religious doubt Robert Elsmerre (1888), which brought the ideas of the Oxford philosopher, T.H. Green, to the attention of the public. The novel explored his belief that theory and practice must come together within un-dogmatic interpretations of Christianity for the benefit of society. Throughout her life, Mrs Humphry Ward pursued and pioneered educational reforms but her achievements have been overshadowed by her controversial role as the leader of the anti-suffrage movement. Following a chapter introducing the idealist principles underpinning Green’s philosophy and suggesting reasons why Mrs Humphry Ward can be considered among his pupils, disciples and followers, there are three substantive chapters. Each of these chapters has a separate but inter-related focus on religious, social and political aspects of her life and work as a writer and reformer; tracing the extent to which Green’s philosophical principles are discernible in her life and work. Within a gender history methodology, the thesis acknowledges the varied degrees to which Mrs Humphry Ward was simultaneously able to challenge and be complicit with power structures, which contrived to limit and control middle-class women’s ability to engage with the religious, social and political issues and debates affecting society. The thesis demonstrates Mrs Humphry Ward’s significance within histories of education and argues that the tensions within her life and work can be better understood and appreciated by viewing her as a Greenian educator.

In my thesis I describe and research the use of an oral text editor (TEO) in the language production process of a group of three children (two girls and one boy of 8 years). The children learn French as a target language in the context of a regular second grade multilingual Luxembourgish classroom. With TEO these children produce stories in French while relying on the Luxembourgish language for negotiating the contents of the story as well as the language forms needed. Through storying the children assign significance to objects and events by integrating their personal histories. The target language, its vocabulary and its grammar emerge from the communicative language produced in the process of storying with the TEO tool. I study the impact of TEO as a nonhuman actor on the language learning process in the constantly changing collective or association of human and nonhuman actors constituting the TEO team. Concepts of Activity Theory and Actor-Network-Theory are used to explain and extend the tool metaphor underlying the use of electronic tools in language learning in a multilingual classroom. The transcription and detailed analysis of about ten minutes of language production provides the main data of my thesis. The transcription follows the interplay of TEO as a nonhuman actor and of the bodies of the human actors instantiated in their particular utterances, gestures, gazes and voices. The collective language production process emerging from the transcription is described and interpreted by referring to the transcribed text which includes a substantial number of stills taken from the videotape, thus revealing the roles and functions of TEO in the collective oral French language learning process.

The significant role listening plays in SLA is now well-established. However, despite changes in the perception of L2 listening, it remains an under-researched skill. Listening is the most challenging of the four language skills in terms of both learning and teaching. This calls for more research to tackle issues with the teaching and learning of L2 listening. I conducted a two-phase, quasi-experimental study that integrated metacognitive instruction and deliberate practice into EFL listening sessions. Phase One focused on metacognitive instruction, whereas Phase Two was on deliberate practice. Participants were 42 female, tertiary level students at COLT at King Saud University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Students were enrolled on a Listening 4 course. The experimental group (n = 21) took part in both phases of the study, unlike the comparison group (n = 21) who were only used as a comparison group to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention. The impact of the two phases on EFL listening was measured through a TOEFL listening test, whereas changes in metacognitive knowledge were tracked using the Metacognitive Awareness Listening Questionnaire (MALQ). I also used guided listening diaries with the experimental group throughout the study to uncover their metacognitive knowledge and promote self-reflection. The two phases led to an increase in the listening ability and metacognitive knowledge of the experimental group, although to varying degrees. The diaries of the experimental group revealed a level of metacognitive knowledge, particularly task and strategy knowledge. The experimental group also outperformed the comparison group on the final MALQ and TOEFL test. Results of this study suggest the usefulness of both metacognitive instruction and deliberate practice for the development of EFL listening. Thus, the study proposes a new deliberate practice approach to L2 listening, in which metacognitive instruction is an essential element, but not an end in itself. This study is just one step on the journey towards the effective application of deliberate practice in the L2 classroom.

The thesis is a study of the perceptions of role and identity among learning and teaching support staff in a higher education institution in the UK. It considers how these perceptions are shaped and constructed. The constructs are considered in relation to concepts of social and professional identity and postcolonialism, including the concept of 'third space' working. Policy changes in the higher education sector and their impact on academic and professional services staff identity are also explored. Designed as a case study, the research analyses a range of qualitative data obtained from institutional documentation, a short survey and interviews with staff members. Issues of methodology and method, including the 'insider-outsider' position of the researcher are discussed. The data demonstrate that role and identity are closely connected and that they are experienced emotionally, the main conclusion being that professional identity of this group of staff is comparatively weak. This is a source of some negativity for learning and teaching support staff and is contrary to institutional intentions in respect of its professional services staff. The range and variety of role undertaken by this staff group and the expectations of the institution contribute to identity formation, as do the recruitment and training of staff and the way in which they are presented in institutional documentation. Institutional structures, cultures and working practices influence relationships between academic and support staff which in turn shape identity, which is perceived as constrained or limited by boundaries between staff groups. The persistence of these boundaries is one factor in the lack of the emergence of 'third space' working. A related conclusion is that deliberate actions by the institution would be needed to achieve significant changes in perceptions relating to both role and identity.

The significance of needs analysis in the development of language for specific purposes (LSP) has been well recognized in many countries. In the higher education settings in Taiwan, most studies with a needs analysis approach have been conducted to investigate English for General Purposes (EGP) instead of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) courses, such as translation studies courses. Translation studies is seen as a significant facilitator of the nation’s competitiveness in a globalised economy, and has developed as a discipline considerably in the past two decades to answer the call from government for a response to globalisation. However, there is a lacuna in the literature and in practice about using needs analysis in planning Translation as an ESP course. The majority of the studies that focus on ESP courses, including Translation studies, end by discussing the results from the needs analysis without going further into the course design stage or investigating the learners’ feedback about a curriculum derived from needs analysis. Given the limited literature about Translation studies curriculum development in Taiwan and taking into account the students’ interests in a technological university context, this study aims to investigate whether students will learn effectively or perform better when taught with a curriculum which is derived from their needs. A needs analysis was conducted first to determine students’ needs, after that a curriculum which accommodated these needs with contents suggested by the students was implemented as an action research project. Data of various kinds – interviews, questionnaires, examination results, students’ reflection notes, teacher’s notes and journals - were collected during and at the end of the course to find out the students’ and the teacher’s perspectives towards such a curriculum. The findings indicated improvements both in the outcomes of the course – the students’ examination results – and in the process – students’ and teacher’s satisfaction with the materials and methods used. Being the so far only case study using a needs analysis and an action research approach in the field of translation studies in Taiwan, it is hoped that the findings of this study not only enhance the teacher’s professional developments, but also provide insights for other Translation teachers in Taiwan and possibly further afield.