The rapid growth of international students in UK higher education increases linguistic diversity in academic and social contexts in a British university, and that raises issues regarding the extent to which multilingualism influences interactions and inter-relationships between tutors and international students within classroom settings. This study explores the factors affecting the ways Thai students position themselves in relation to their tutors and peers with regard to oral participation in pre-sessional EAP and postgraduate classrooms. The data were collected from seven Thai students by means of semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, and English speaking logs from July 2005-April 2006. Drawing upon Creese and Martin's (2003) multilingual classroom ecologies, Pavlenko and Blackledge's (2004) identities in multilingual contexts, this study reveals how the construction of the Thai students' identities is influenced by linguistic ideologies and power relations existing within classroom settings and the wider socio-political environment. Based on positioning theory (Davies and Harré, 1990; van Langenhove and Harré, 1999), the data analysis uncovers four key factors affecting Thai students' positioning in the pre-sessional classroom. These factors include tutors' teaching styles and methods, as well as their implicit expectations about student participation which significantly impact on Thai students' involvement in class and group activities. Classmates also play a crucial role with regard to Thai students' willingness to engage in class discussions which is related to their relationships and the Thai students' attitudes towards their classmates' linguistic diversity. Thai students' personal identities and agency are vital in their decisions to take up participative subject positions in order to achieve their academic goals. There is also an interplay between social interactions outside the class and Thai students' language use within the class. In MSc Marketing classrooms, there are three additional factors, including lecturers' linguistic diversity, the perception of students from other business disciplines, and the large class size, which crucially determines the extent to which Thai students want to take part in class and group discussions. This study suggests EAP tutors acknowledge the status of English as an international language to enhance international students' classroom participation. It is also vital to improve the attitudes of students and academic staff regarding social inclusion and tolerance towards international students who bring about a positive, intellectual and social climate within the British university landscape.

Motivation is crucial in learning a foreign language as it probably determines one’s success in mastering the target language. This study attempts to unveil the relationship between motivation and achievement in learning English in a sixth form college in Hong Kong. The methodological dimensions of the investigation were twofold. First, by means of questionnaires distributed to 33 Advanced-level students, their motivation intensity and orientations in learning English were explored. Pearson Product Moment Correlation was computed to examine the students’ motivation components and their English grades both in the Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination and the Hong Kong Advanced Level Examination. Second, four high, four average and four low achievers of learning English, altogether 12 students aged 17 to 20, were invited to attend semi-structured interviews. Through the account of their English learning experience, the relationship between motivational factors and academic achievement in foreign language learning was investigated. The findings indicated that there was a positive relationship between motivation and achievement among this sample of Hong Kong Advanced-level students in this sixth form college. The results also indicated that all the high, average and low achievers had strong extrinsic motivation, but this did not have any significant correlation with students’ English attainment. Instead, it was intrinsic motivation that had a positive correlation with students’ English grades. The results further suggested that, in this sample, intrinsic and extrinsic motives did not inhibit each other as they had no significant correlation. Students pursuing both intrinsic and extrinsic orientations achieved better grades in English than those whose main motivation was extrinsic. Thus it might be necessary to create a learning environment where intrinsic and extrinsic values of learning English were equally emphasized. Finally, some suggestions on how to enhance Advanced-level students’ motivation in learning English were also offered.

The use of the term ‘professional identities’ proliferates among those working in children’s services in England as recent policy has focused on workforce reform and integrated working. Subsequent debates reveal hegemonic discourses about ‘quality’, ‘professionalism’ and ‘professionalisation’ but these are contestable terms, shaped by multiple social, political and historical influences. For decades demands for increased pay and status have been made on behalf of, but not by, the early years workforce but to no avail. Agency, gender and power are thus significant forces in an ecological model of macro-, meso- and micro- levels of influence on how individual early years workers construct professional identities. The aim of this research was to explore how professional identities are constructed within the early years workforce in England, and to understand what factors contribute to the construction of such identities. It set out to investigate how members of the early years workforce themselves shape the construction of their professional identities, and how professional identities impact on practice. An interpretive paradigm, informed by feminist and Marxist perspectives, determined the methodological approach. Interviews, focus group conversations and documentary analysis generated discourse from early years workers, decision makers, students and texts for dialectic, hermeneutic analysis. Findings reveal multiple, recurring and competing professional identities for early years workers which are shaped by powerful forces in the home, the workplace and wider communities through subjugation and feminised, not feminist, performativities. The dialectical, multi-levelled positions of participants in the research were congruent with the multi-layered ecological model of professional identity construction. Through this model recurring identities as feminine child-carer and passive -resistant worker were evident in the data. These identities were reproduced by workers, their families and decision makers at meso- and macro-levels of influence. Early years workers’ identity of resistance to hegemonic professional identities is not futile however. Through resistance to imposed identities they have the agency to construct new professional identities for themselves.

This study investigated the EFL teachers’ beliefs and practice in the Cyprus Turkish secondary state schools context. The data was collected through quantitative and qualitative means. The questionnaire findings were compared with the qualitative data which were obtained from 10 EFL teacher interviews and the observation of these teachers’ lessons. The quantitative findings revealed that the teachers’ beliefs seemed to be congruent with their perceived practice. Their beliefs and perceived practice also seemed to be in line with the ideas of the new curriculum which was a blend of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) and Constructivist framework. The analysis of the influence of gender on teachers’ beliefs and practice showed that the male teachers were more consistent in their beliefs as compared to their confessed classroom practice than the female teachers. Regarding the impact of gender differences on teachers’ beliefs and practice, it was found that female and male teachers differed only in two belief items and only in one practice item. Regarding experience and beliefs, it was found that more experienced teachers were more likely to favour Constructivist beliefs than less experienced teachers. Similarly, more qualified and more experienced teachers seemed more likely to implement Constructivist practices when the teachers’ practices were considered. The male and female teachers’ were more similar in their practices than in their beliefs. The quantitative findings of the study indicated that there were discrepancies among the participant teachers’ beliefs, perceived practice and actual classroom practice most of the time. The discrepancy between the teachers’ beliefs and actual classroom practices might have been because of the contextual constraints the teachers face in their school context and culture as it was the case mentioned by the teachers in this study that most of the participant teachers complained that the contextual factors were impediments to the implementation of their beliefs in their instructional context.

Second language acquisition (SLA) is embedded in a complex network of influential variables, among which is the socio-political context. Indeed, researchers agree that attitudes and motivation are significant in determining linguistic proficiency and achievement (Gardner, 1985, 2001, 2004; Oxford and Shearin, 1994; Oxford, 1996; Dörnyei, 1996, 1998, 2001, 2003). The purpose of this study was to investigate whether negative attitudes existed towards English as an international language in the context of globalization and anti- Americanism, and if so, whether they interfered with second language acquisition. Data was collected through qualitative research methods, namely individual and group interviews and in class writing assignments. The students considered English indispensable for employment and career advancement (extrinsic motivation or instrumental motivation). This outweighed negative attitudes associated with the target language community (TLC) and the power of the target language (TL). The study signals a parallel duality where participants acknowledged the significance of the English language and wanted to learn it even though they were aware of political discrimination against Arabs and the linguistic power exerted by the dominant powers. Even though attitudes towards the L2 and the TLC impact language acquisition, it seems that in this sample, they did not have a direct effect on L2 motivation as displayed in the willingness to use the language or to learn it. Most importantly, my study identifies a desire to integrate, not to a specific TLC but to a global community and workplace to which the English language provided access. One reason fueling this integrative motivation is the conflict zone in which the participants live. The socio-political as well as economic context and its concomitant Arab identity inferiority complex encourage students to seek to escape from the limitations of the local workplace and context.

The English language enjoys a growing status in Israeli society (Spolsky & Shohamy, 1999; Stavans & Narkiss, 2001, 2003). This has resulted in a steady growth in teaching of English for young learners (EYL) in schools and in an official recommendation for teaching EYL in Grades 1 and 2 nationwide. This educational initiative seems a socio-cultural phenomenon, shaped by external forces of globalisation and socio-political trends (Crystal, 1997, 2003; Pennycook, 1994; Graddol, 2006) affecting and reflecting people's identities (Norton, 1997,2000; Norton Peirce, 1995), social practices and ideologies. Critical discourse analysis is used as the theoretical framework and analytical tool (Gee 1999,2005) for the examination and analysis of discourses mobilised by parents, teachers, position-holders and pupils, for the ways in which they enact their identity ('ways of being') and construe the hybrid Discourse of EYL. Analysis of 33 in-depth semi-structured interviews and samples of published texts reveal a range of commonsense dominant Discourses such as the `Discourse of consumerism', the Discourse of the `good, Jewish/Israeli parents' and the `Discourse of Americanisation and internationalisation' to which the actors involved wish to belong. Findings illuminate that the forces behind the promotion of EYL seem to be driven by social, ideological and political concerns rather than pedagogical ones. The Discourse of EYL (and the D/discourses from which it is construed) seems to have a regulating effect on social, educational decisions, schools' policy and classroom practices, and the distribution of goods, shaping people's everyday life. There is evidence for the possibility that people in Israel (parents in particular) project themselves, with hopes and desire, into an idealised, abstract, global world of `knowing English' in which EYL plays a major part. Findings highlight the ways in which the attitude of Jews in Israel towards learning languages is a marker of their identity.

It particularly aimed at investigating the relationship between self-esteem and gender, grade level, and academic achievement among a sample of Lebanese Secondary school students: grades 10, 11 and 12. Six schools were randomly sampled and one section of each grade was randomly chosen. Participants were 479 students of whom 235 were males and 244 were females. The students responded to Culture-Free Self-Esteem inventory questionnaire (CFSEI-3). SPSS was used for analyzing data, using ANOVA design. The results revealed no significant gender difference in the Global, General, Academic, Parental and Social self-esteem subscales. Whereas the results showed a significant difference between males and females in the Personal self-esteem subscales. The results also revealed a significant difference between grade levels in the Global, General, Academic, and Social self-esteem subscale while no significant difference was recorded in the Personal and Parental self-esteem subscales among those grade levels. No significant interaction between gender and grade level in the Global, General, Academic, and Social self-esteem subscales. However, a significant interaction was noticed in the Personal self-esteem subscale. There was a significantly low correlation between self-esteem and academic achievement in the Global, General, Academic, and Parental self-esteem subscales, but no significant correlation was revealed between Social and Personal self-esteem subscales and academic achievement in the whole sample and in grades 10 and 11. In the case of grade 12 a significant correlation was recorded between the Global, General, Academic self-esteem and academic achievement. No significant difference was recorded between the Parental, Social and Personal self-esteem subscales and academic achievement of grade 12 students. Finally, z scores revealed no significant correlation differences across grade levels. Some findings with regards to the relationship between gender, grade level and interaction were noted concerning the six individual schools represented in the sample. Results were compared and discussed.

Nurture groups are small, discrete classrooms on the mainstream school site where two staff, with specific training, deliver individualised programmes to students who are struggling to cope with the demands of the mainstream classroom. Nurture group intervention is designed to be both temporary and part-time, with the aim of returning all students to full-time mainstream education as soon as they are ready to engage and succeed. An increasing amount of empirical evidence from the primary phase is suggesting that nurture groups can make a “considerable difference to the behaviour and social skills of children who might otherwise be at risk of exclusion” (Ofsted July 2011). However, empirical research into the development of nurture groups in secondary schools is currently very limited. This study has sought to contribute to the development of nurture groups in secondary schools in two ways: 1. By investigating the perceptions of professionals, students and parents regarding the practical effects of nurture group provision in the secondary school. 2. By making specific modifications to the nurture group’s Boxall Profile assessment instrument for use with an older age group. The study confirms that secondary school stakeholders perceive nurture groups to be effective in enhancing the school’s continuum of support and in promoting positive student progress. Based on the findings of this study, the Boxall Profile for Young People was published in 2010.

In current literature, there is ample official discourse on educational development and reform, all consistently emphasising education and learning as the essential pillar of China‟s economic success and future development. However, little is known about the way in which these official discourses are articulated in people‟s everyday lives. Hence, this thesis seeks to narrow this knowledge gap by revealing the real effects of the discourses on the actual lives of people within different socio-economic and historical contexts. It contributes to existing knowledge by examining the power on how dominant discourses are articulated in people‟s perceptions about education and learning over generations. There are two distinctive features of this thesis leading to its originality. Firstly, not only did it aim to fill literature gap from a group of Chinese individuals, but it also focused on two groups of participants that represented both the family and cohort generations. Secondly, the similarities and differences in their education and learning experiences and perceptions are considered not only between the two generations of participants, but also in relation to the changing context of official discourses from one generation to the next. This thesis sets out to explore the experiences and attitudes towards education and learning from Chinese individuals‟ angles within an intergenerational perspective. By researching the education and learning experiences and perceptions of two kinship/cohort generations, this thesis examines the influence of the prevailing and changing government discourses alongside the enduring impact of cultural values. As evidenced in the findings, education experiences over generations reflect both the prevailing government discourses of the time and the changes in discourses over time. Chinese cultural values also mediate the relationships between the official discourses and individuals‟ experiences and attitudes. Aspects such as social class, regionality and gender also affect the education experiences and perceptions from one generation to the next. This thesis argues that the education experiences and perceptions vary between the two generations mainly due to the different political and socio-economic situations at the time. Moreover, persistence of education perceptions from generation to generation is significantly impacted by the traditional Chinese cultural values. In essence, cultural values are interweaved into the predominant and changing government discourses within the contexts of political, social and economic circumstances that subsequently shape the individuals‟ education realities. Furthermore, this thesis suggests that its findings, contributions and implications could be interesting to various readers. This would include Chinese policy makers, educators and practitioners working within the education and learning arena, such as training providers and careers specialists, both in China and overseas.

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