This thesis is a discourse analysis of spoken argumentation in the Adult ESOL classroom. It investigates the ways in which it emerges and unfolds and also how teachers and students position themselves and each other in argumentation and how they are positioned by pedagogy and policy as well as by their histories. The principal focus is on verbal argumentation but some attention is also given to a more multimodal analysis. Argumentation is conceptualized in terms of competing and consensual voices (Costello and Mitchell, 1995). These voices are further conceptualized as situated speaking positions and, therefore, as identity positions. The study explores the ways in which argumentation unfolds, the ways it seeks to persuade and the identity work this involves. Argumentation is connected to wider questions of citizenship and democracy, with the Adult ESOL classroom seen as the agora for the wider enactment and modelling of full democratic citizenship.

This is a longitudinal study of the development of grammatical morphemes in the speech of young children using English as a second language in a classroom context. The theoretical standpoint adopted is that first and second language development in 'natural' contexts is facilitated by the same underlying processes, and that central to this development is the notion of meaningful interaction, through which conversational partners negotiate shared understanding. It is argued that if the interactional features identified as facilitative in first language development are reproduced within the classroom context, the sequence of development identified in this study will reflect the sequence identified in first language learning. The data was collected over a period of six terms and initial analysis reveals similarities between the process of morphemic development in first and classroom second language learning. As a result of these findings, the analysis is then extended to take account of the conversational context in which development occurs. Particular reference is made to repetition and formulaic speech which the learners appear to use as a means of producing verb morphemes within the context of interrogatives and negation. The methodological significance of the identification and interpretation of strategies within an interactional framework is discussed. Analysis reveals that in addition to the general processes identified, which account for a shared sequence of development in first and second language development, there are individual differences. These differences are related to the learners' mother tongue, the classroom context and the use of particular strategies. Each one is explored in relation to the management of conversational interaction and underlying grammatical development. The incomplete acquisition of grammatical morphemes by the end of the study is seen as significant and the study concludes by suggesting that this has important implications for the nature of interaction in a classroom context.

This study investigates teaching assistants’ (TA) perspectives of deaf students’ learning experiences within mainstream secondary schools. The majority of deaf students are educated within such settings and they underachieve in all curriculum areas when compared with their hearing peers. The investigation adopts a holistic perspective of learning originally developed in the field of adult education. A collaborate methodology was developed to facilitate a trustworthy realisation of TAs’ perspectives. Six TAs were recruited to the Data Group and four to the Reference Group; both were engaged in a three stage iterative, qualitative research process comprising focus group meetings and individual interviews. A third group, the Reference Group, consisted of seven deaf students; five mainstream teachers and three teachers of the deaf who provided validation of the Data Group TAs’ working context through individual interviews. Consideration was given to how the TAs talked about learning and the challenges they perceived the deaf students encountered in the classroom. The TAs described a range of issues related to deaf students’ knowledge acquisition, skills and mental state along with environmental factors they perceived impacted on the students’ learning experiences. The findings indicated that deaf students may be engaged in a significant amount of accommodative learning in classrooms designed to support assimilative learning. The TAs identified that their own presence in the classroom impacts on the nature of the social situation and potentially creates a barrier between the deaf student and the mainstream teacher. They considered that mainstream teachers’ lack of understanding regarding the impact of deafness significantly affected the students’ learning experiences. They also indicated that the manner in which members of the classroom environment responded to the deaf student may be problematic. Suggestions are made for future investigations and a new model for the deployment of TAs to support deaf students is proposed.

The new National Curriculum for schools in England & Wales stresses the need for 'differentiation' in educational provision to cater for all children by attending to the needs of the individual. Special provision is made for slow learners and the physically handicapped. but despite a growing awareness, the needs of the 'gifted' have by comparison been neglected. Academic researchers have for decades concentrated on the identification problem often based on standardized intelligence and creativity tests, whilst teacher support organisations in this country have concentrated on provision. Notwithstanding the activity of these interest groups the efficiency with which any provision is made for such children in the primary classroom is almost entirely dependent on the classteacher. The present study sampled two class teachers, teaching nine and ten year old children, from each of 24 schools in the County of Northamptonshire. The schools chosen were large, small, rural and urban. Teachers were invited to respond to an unstructured, tape recorded interview which included flash cards of similar terms used to describe the different groups of able children, the results of which were analysed using cluster analysis (CLUSTAN 2 computer software) to identify similarities and differences between the respondents. The results of the study reveal that most of the primary classteachers were able to recognise children in the classroom who they considered to be 'gifted' in their terms. However there was an apparent lack of certainty with which they conveyed their understanding of such terms as gifted, talented, exceptional, highly able and bright. Inasmuch as a 'core' attribute can be ascribed to their concept of giftedness, specific outstandingness in relation to peers usually in such fields as mathematics and music was most frequently mentioned in their responses. The nature of that outstandingness is a matter of some debate.

This study investigated the experience of school science and its relationship to take-up of science amongst post-16 students in England. The empirical work was based on a two-phased mixed methods approach. The first phase consisted of survey questionnaires involving the ‘storyline’ method in which students in Year 12 (ages 16-17) indicated the high and low points of their experience of school science covering Years 6 - 11. They were also asked to complete survey items to explain the factors that influenced their decisions to take science or not post-16. The second phase consisted of interviews of a sample of surveyed students in which they detailed aspects of their school science experiences and decisions to take science or not after GCSE. The results showed that the average pattern of graph trajectory became increasingly positive for scientists while the pattern for non-scientists remained the same as slightly positive throughout their years in secondary school. Students in this study tended to make their science choices later in Year 11. Three main factors - interest in school science, success in science and the utility value of science (mainly for careers) mediate a network of influences that includes experience of school science and these drive the decision to take up science or not. The main conclusion is that school experience of science does play a role in post-16 science take-up. Science choice is based on a rational model of decision making in which interest, success and value of science are the key factors determining the outcome. This has implications for practice suggesting that uptake of science can be increased by improving the quality of student school experience of school science.

This thesis presents the findings of qualitative multiple-case study research investigating ESOL teachers’ practical knowledge of teaching speaking. Although there has been increased recognition of the value of practical knowledge research in recent years, such research remains extremely limited and the practical knowledge and teachers in an ESOL context and in the curricular domain of teaching speaking skills were previously unexplored areas. The four research participants were all early career ESOL teachers in the United Kingdom. Classroom observation data and interview data were generated at multiple points over the course of an academic year. This methodological approach introduced a longitudinal dimension to the research enabling any possible practical knowledge growth to be investigated. The research identified the largely contemporary nature of the ESOL teachers’ practices in teaching speaking. However, the teachers’ practical knowledge was identified as being atheoretical: teachers did not refer to public theory in the explanations of their practices. Instead, the findings suggest that teachers may experience a process of socialisation (both institutional and sectorial) through which many practices are adopted without a theoretical basis. A significant degree of commonality was identified amongst the teachers’ practical knowledge. Individual differences appeared to be significant, however, and were identifiable both in teachers’ practices and the beliefs underlying them. Teachers’ exercising of significant agency in their practices meant that these differences were evident despite certain sectorial pressure on teachers, particularly through exam washback. There was very limited evidence of growth in the teachers’ practical knowledge of teaching speaking. The research indicated a number of factors which appeared to inhibit such growth. The study discusses the implications of these findings for ESOL teacher development programmes. Recommendations for teacher development programmes include constructivist approaches to teacher engagement with public theory and institutional mechanisms for a sharing of practices amongst teachers.

This doctoral project investigates the sociolinguistic trajectories of eight Arab academic sojourners in the UK. Although there is a considerable body of empirical study abroad research, this research has been criticised for its imbalance and inconsistency. Coleman (2013) asks study abroad researchers to see sojourners as ‘whole people with whole lives’ instead of fragmenting their ‘minds, bodies, and social behaviours into separate domains of inquiry’ (Kramsch, 2009, p. 2). In addition, Kinginger (2009) explains that study abroad research has been limited to North American, Cross-European and Asia-Pacific contexts. This study springs from the need to document the unheard stories of Arab academic sojourners in the UK to explore the impact of mobility and sociocultural heterogeneity on sojourners’ conceptualisations of English, perceptions of themselves as speakers of English, and on their social encounters in the UK. This qualitative, longitudinal inquiry has been conducted through in-depth interviews over a period of eight months. Research data comes from initial pair interviews conducted within one month of the participants’ arrival in the UK as well as five rounds of individual interviews, resulting in a total of 44 interviews. Thematic analysis of the dataset has featured striking commonalities in the group. The study found that participants’ perceptions of their investment in English were profoundly affected by their mobility. While they valued their investment in English as a tool to access Higher Education in the United Kingdom, their unexpected experiences of shifts in their language value made them aware of the limitations of their linguistic and social capital, thereby affecting their perceptions of their English and contributing to new conceptualisations of English. Not only did these realisations destabilise participants’ perceptions of themselves as speakers of English, but further affected their social encounters, which ultimately led to some sort of ghettoisation that significantly limited their social networks in the UK.

The purpose of this study was to determine the attitudes of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), female elementary schools’ and autism special institutes’ teachers towards inclusion of children with autism into mainstream classrooms in KSA. Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is characterised by a range of complex neuro-development disorders such as social impairments, communication difficulties, and restricted, repetitive and stereotyped patterns of behaviour. Occurrence is estimated at 1 in 88 birth, and it is three to four times more common in boys than girls. Modifications of Reasoned Action and Planned Behaviour theories were used as a framework to analyse the reason and the importance behind teachers’ attitudes and behaviours towards inclusion of children with autism. To examine teachers’ attitudes and to answer the research main questions mixed type of quantitative and qualitative research approaches were designed. A Likert type questionnaire was adapted and developed from the Opinions Relative to Mainstreaming (ORM) of Antonak and Larrivee (1995). It was then translated to Arabic language and checked for validity and reliability. Questionnaires were mainly used for measuring the teachers' attitudes towards inclusion. Teachers’ responses to open-ended questions and interviews were also part of the research. Six hundred teachers were surveyed; 497 (83%) useful questionnaires were returned and used for data analyses, and 12 teachers were interviewed. For the study data analysis, different descriptive statistical measures were used through SPSS system. The results were grouped in five themes, and revealed that teachers were supportive and have positive attitudes toward inclusion of children with autism in mainstream classrooms. Private special institutes’ teachers however, held more positive attitudes toward the inclusion than those of governmental public mainstream elementary school teachers. The qualitative analysis of the open-ended written responses and the interviews revealed that all teachers appeared unsupportive of the general concept of inclusion as, if it is to be applied now. They believe that the mainstream classrooms are not appropriate, setting for children with autism nor the teachers were qualified. They need further preparation and training. Based on the results, implications and recommendations for future practice are provided.

No description available.

The purpose of my study is to contribute to the understanding of the ways in which South Asian children use digital technologies in their homes to learn literacy and language and examine the relationship between home and school discourses. My study explores the ways in which bilingual and multilingual children’s literacy is influenced by their home culture and their engagement with digital technology. The study also considers screen-based multimodal communicative practices. Data collection was conducted over the course of a year and involved three South Asian families including six bilingual/multilingual children in their homes in Northern England. The children’s ages ranged between four and twelve years. An ethnographic methodology was used as a means of understanding the children’s digital practices as they unfolded in their family homes. It included rapport building with the families, obtaining their consent, participant observations, semi-structured interviews and video-recording. A video camera was used to capture digital practices when the children were using a mobile phone, playing Nintendo DSi, making a PowerPoint presentation and accessing online multilingual resources. The video-based data was transcribed using the concept of multimodal interactions. The data analysis employed a thematic approach. From the overall data description, three initial themes emerged: 'literacy-language in a cultural context’, 'home-school relationship' and 'multimodal digital practices in the context of learning literacy and culture’. These initial themes were used to analyse the data further and gain a deeper understanding of the ways in which South Asian family culture influenced children’s literacy and language learning through their use of digital technologies. The main findings recognised that children communicated in the home by combining their bilingual languages in a syncretic process. This bringing together of children’s digital, multimodal and multi-cultural communicative practices provides new insights into the concepts of grammatical trans-languaging, syncretism and hybridity, evident in the children’s chosen activities. The study revealed that their language interaction was intergenerational. The children were creating a hybrid space of practice. The children demonstrated creativity in the construction of hybrid languaging/ trans-languaging. It iii was also evident that heritage language communication, dual language and digital technology skills emerged through the affordance offered by technology to the children. The study explored different kinds of knowledge transfer between home and school. These were literacy, language and heritage culture during children’s use of digital technology. Therefore, children’s home-school linking practices, during their use of digital technology, were understood as schooled constructions of literacy in the multilingual home setting. I viewed this knowledge transfer as symbiotic. It was also apparent that children associated their prior knowledge and experience with new knowledge while using digital technology. This indicates that the children’s learning process extends beyond the visual mode. Children’s currently observable activities revealed a complex process that individualises their learning experience. Overall, multimodal digital literacy practices were extended through the modes selected by the participants and these went beyond the visible modes of communication. This communication was seen as digital and inter-generational multilingual literacy practice in the multilingual household. Finally, the study revealed a new dimension to the theory of multicultural family-focused learning in terms of literacy and language. Children were drawing on different funds of knowledge within their activities. These were digital ‘funds of knowledge’, cultural heritage ‘funds of knowledge’ and home-school link ‘funds of knowledge’. These funds of knowledge integrated into the children’s multicultural family-focused learning and evolved an emergent theory - namely funds of integrative digital multicultural practices. The study implies that, for South Asian children’s home-based literacy and language development, educators need to take cultural context into consideration. Finally, the study suggests that more research is needed into the growing use of digital literacies in home environments and its implications for children’s literacy and language development. This is particularly relevant for research involving bilingual/ multilingual children.