Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 135-142). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

This study of student-to-student discussions focuses on a single inquiry-oriented transition to proof course. Mathematical proof is essential to a strong mathematics education but very often students complete their mathematics studies with limited abilities to construct and validate mathematical proofs (c.f. Harel & Sowder, 1998; Knuth, 2002; Almeida, 2000). The role of mathematical proof in education is to provide explanation and understanding. Both the research on mathematical discourse and the standards of the NCTM claim that participation in mathematical discourse provides opportunities for understanding. Although this link has been established, there is very little research on the role of students and the instructor during discussions on student generated proofs at the undergraduate level -- particularly in inquiry-oriented classes. This research analyzes the types of discussions that occurred in an inquiry-oriented undergraduate mathematics course in which proof was the main content. The discussions of interest involved at least two student participants and at least three separate utterances. These discussions fell along a continuum based on the level of student interaction. As a result of this research, the four main discussion types that were present in this course have been described in detail with a focus on the roles of the instructor and the students. The methodology for this research is qualitative in nature and is an exploratory case study. The data used for this research was video tapes of two to three class sessions per week of an Introduction to Number Theory course taught in the fall of 2005. / text

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This study investigated the interactional moves of Japanese English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners and, in particular, how differently they modify their oral output depending on their interlocutor---either a peer or a native speaker (NS). By employing retrospective stimulated recall methodology, this study also explored the participants' feelings and perceptions which arguably determined their interaction patterns during a communicative task. / Participants were eight Japanese first-year university students and four NSs of English. Conversations of eight learner-NS dyads and four learner-learner dyads (six hours in total) were audiotaped, transcribed, and then statistically analyzed. Learners were interviewed two days after the task completion. / Results revealed that learners interacted in significantly different ways depending on whom they interacted with. Specifically, their interlocutor (peer or NS) proved to be a more influential variable than the type of feedback (i.e., elicitation or reformulation) they received. Qualitative analysis of the interview data provides comprehensive explanations for the findings.

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Universities in South Africa as yet do not provide multilingual education. For many students this means they have to use their second or additional language for the Discourse of the academic world. This dissertation investigates one Honours / Masters module offered by a lecturer in the theology department. It describes, in the form of a case study, how the lecturer uses the oracy skills (listening and speaking) to scaffold the students into the appropriate use of Academic Discourse. This lecturer uses the practicality of fieldwork, the intensity of emotional work and the flexibility of the spoken discourse to guide students into the reflexivity and criticality of the Academic Discourse. The data is discussed in terms of discourse analysis, genre theory and academic literacy, together with current understanding of feedback during process writing. My focus is on oral feedback. The results of this study indicate that the lecturer, and the students who took his module, felt satisfied that a greater depth of theological and linguistic criticality and reflexivity had been reached. The focus of this dissertation was on the students' uptake of the oral feedback given by the lecturer. It was the process that was explored rather than the final written product. Further research could investigate how much the students' writing improves as a result of intervention such as this. The lecturer's pedagogy maximised the language skills used in the Preacher (hortatory) Discourse that have something in common with the skills required in Academic (expository) Discourse. This dissertation concludes that these skills should be maintained while also developing the other skills required for Academic Discourse. These skills include the ability to be detached and uninvolved. However, if this detachment is to be achieved, the student needs first to be fully involved in the process so that transformation and appropriation can take place. This comes about through critical reflection - the hallmark of Academic Discourse. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2007.