Annotation: The research of communication barriers, which appear at students of the secondary school, is the topic of my thesis. The work is divided into two parts - theoretical and practical. The theoretical part is devoted to communication, emphatically to educational communication, communication barriers and at the end also to communication apprehension, which can be one of the communication difficulties. The empirical part contents the conclusions of the research, which was provided at the school with the teachers and students, using the interview and the questionnare as the research methods.

The purpose of this study is to find out more about how language teachers can improve and change the teaching of rhetoric with focus on communication apprehension. The study aims primarily at teachers in the Swedish subject and teaching in rhetoric. Aspects on the subject being addressed are: How rhetoric teaching can be made more easy and systematic, how it can be improved and how Swedish teachers more actively can help students with communication apprehension orally in the ordinary teaching activity. This work can and should be read with a focus on, an increasing extent, integrating students with communication apprehension into oral classroom activities.  Quality interviews were conducted to collect data and fulfill the study. These interviews were conducted with qualified graduate teachers and upper secondary school teachers, all with both qualifications and teaching in the subject Swedish or Swedish as a second language. The choice were made on these individuals just because most of the rhetoric in the course and subject curriculum in Swedish school is found in the language subjects, in particular the Swedish subject. For the interested reader, this study's interview questions are attached under "Appendix 1", at the bottom of this essay.  The hypothesis that existed at the beginning of the work was that a lot of oral rhetorical training in various forms would help the students, especially the ones with communication apprehension, to become more rhetoric talented; better and more common speakers. / Syftet med denna undersökning är att ta reda på mer om hur språklärare kan förbättra och förändra undervisningen i retorik med fokus på talängsliga elever. Studien vill främst rikta sig till lärare i svenskämnet och undervisningen i retorik. Aspekter på ämnet som tas upp är: Hur retorikundervisningen kan göras mer lättsam och systematisk, hur den kan förbättras samt hur svensklärare mer aktivt kan hjälpa talängsliga elever muntligt i ämnesundervisningen. Detta arbete kan och bör läsas med fokus på att, i allt högre grad, integrera talängsliga elever i muntliga klassrumsaktiviteter.  För att samla in data och genomföra studiens undersökning gjordes kvalitativa intervjuer. Dessa intervjuer utfördes med behöriga examinerade högstadie- och gymnasielärare, alla med både behörighet och undervisning i ämnet svenska alternativt svenska som andraspråk. Valet föll på dessa intervjuobjekt eftersom större delen av retoriken i kurs- och ämnesplanerna i svensk skola finns i språkämnena, i synnerhet svenskämnet. För den intresserade läsaren finns denna studies intervjufrågor bifogade under ”Bilaga 1”, längst ned i uppsatsen.  Hypotesen som fanns vid arbetets start var att mycket muntlig retorisk träning i olika former skulle hjälpa eleverna, framförallt de talängsliga, att bli skickligare retoriker och bättre samt vanare talare.

A pesquisa aborda o desenvolvimento de competências e estratégias necessárias à apreensão crítica de produções audiovisuais contemporâneas em contextos escolares. Dados divulgados por pesquisas do IBOPE e da TIC KIDS ONLINE confirmam que crianças e adolescentes com idades entre 9 e 17 anos passam muito tempo em frente à televisão e/ou navegando na internet, através de diferentes dispositivos, assistindo vídeos, programas, filmes ou séries online. Considerar e contemplar no contexto escolar, parte das produções audiovisuais que essa parcela da população consome, explorando-as através de atividades pedagogicamente elaboradas, pode contribuir com a formação visual e audiovisual deste público. Nesta perspectiva, a da leitura e interpretação dessas produções, que se ampliaram, enquanto desafios contemporâneos do ensino de artes visuais, as abordagens envolvendo não apenas as produções de arte, mas toda e qualquer produção visual e audiovisual. Desta forma, a pergunta de pesquisa que norteia este estudo visa perceber e analisar como os professores de artes visuais podem proporcionar aos seus estudantes o desenvolvimento de competências que os tornem aptos para apreender produções visuais e audiovisuais contemporâneas de uma forma crítica Para tanto, os objetivos buscaram fomentar reflexões acerca do desenvolvimento de competências e estratégias para a apreensão de produtos audiovisuais; problematizar a apreensão visual e audiovisual no ensino da arte através da abordagem teórica e metodológica da semiótica discursiva greimasiana ampliada pelos estudos sociossemióticos de Landowski. Também, analisar os efeitos de sentido decorrentes da inter-relação entre uma produção cultural, o episódio O Sinal, da animação O Incrível Mundo de Gumball, e uma produção artística contemporânea, a videoinstalação Cinema Lascado, de Giselle Beiguelman e compreender os regimes de interação envolvidos. Observamos que, no âmbito do regime do acidente, as oscilações entre apreensão e suspensão da produção de efeitos de sentido relacionam-se com os conceitos de fraturas e as escapatórias desenvolvidos por Greimas. Por fim, entende-se que transitar entre diferentes regimes contribui para tornar a apreensão de sentidos mais sofisticada. / This study deals with the development of necessary competencies and strategies to develop critical apprehension of contemporary audiovisual productions in school contexts. Data released by IBOPE and TIC KIDS ONLINE surveys confirm that children and adolescents between the ages of 9 and 17 spend a lot of time watching TV and/or surfing the net through different devices, watching videos, programs, movies or online series. Considering and contemplating school context, part of the audiovisual productions which population consumes, can be explored through pedagogically elaborated activities, and may contribute to visual and audiovisual concepts of this public. In this perspective, reading and interpreting these productions, which have expanded throughout the years, seem to be contemporary challenges of visual arts teaching. Not only involving art productions, but any visual and audiovisual production. Thus, the research question that guides this study aims to perceive and analyze how visual arts teachers can provide their students the development of competencies that enable them to apprehend contemporary visual and audiovisual productions in a critical way To this end, the objectives sought to foster reflection on the competencies and strategies development for audiovisual products understanding; to problematize visual and audiovisual apprehension in the teaching of arts through the theoretical and methodological approach discursive semiotics of A. J. Greimas, enlarged by the sociossemiotics studies of E. Landowski. Also, to analyze the sense effects arising from the interrelationship between a cultural production, the episode The Sign, from the animation The Amazing World of Gumball, and a contemporary artistic production, the video installation of Cinema Lascado, by Giselle Beiguelman and to understand the interaction regimes involved. We observe that, in the context of the accident regime, the oscillations between apprehension and suspension in sense effects production are related to the concepts of fractures and the loopholes developed by Greimas. Finally, it is understood that being able to commute between different regimes contributes to make sense apprehension more sophisticated.

Previous psychological literature has shown mathematics anxiety in older populations to have an association with many factors, including an adverse effect on task performance. However, the origins of mathematics anxiety have, until recently, received limited attention. It is now accepted that this anxiety is rooted within the early educational years, but research has not explored the associated factors in the first formal years of schooling. Based on previous focus groups with children aged 4-7 years, ‘numeracy apprehension’ is suggested in this body of work, as the foundation phase of negative emotions and experiences, in which mathematics anxiety can develop. Building on this research, the first piece of research utilized 2 interviews and 5 focus groups to obtain insight from parents (n=7), teachers (n=9) and mathematics experts (n=2), to explore how children experience numeracy and their observations of children’s attitudes and responses. Thematic and content analysis uncovered a range of factors that characterised children’s numeracy experiences. These included: stigma and peer comparisons; the difficulty of numeracy and persistent failure; a low sense of ability; feelings of inadequacy; peer evaluation; transference of teacher anxieties; the right or wrong nature of numeracy; parental influences; dependence on peers; avoidance and children being aware of a hierarchy based on numeracy performance. Key themes reflected the focus group findings of children aged 4-7 years. This contributed to an item pool for study 2, to produce a first iteration of the Numeracy Apprehension Scale (NAS) that described day-to-day numeracy lesson situations. This 44-item measure was implemented with 307 children aged 4-7 years, across 4 schools in the U.K. Exploratory factor analysis led to a 26-item iteration of the NAS, with a 2-factor structure of Prospective Numeracy Task Apprehension and On-line Number Apprehension, which related to, for example, observation and evaluation anxiety, worry and teacher anxiety. The results suggested that mathematics anxiety may stem from the initial development of numeracy apprehension and is based on consistent negative experiences throughout an educational career. The 26-item iteration of the NAS was further validated in study 3 with 163 children aged 4-7 years, across 2 schools in the U.K. The construct validity of the scale was tested by comparing scale scores against numeracy performance on a numeracy task to determine whether a relationship between scale and numeracy task scores was evident. Exploratory factor analysis was again conducted and resulted in the current 19-item iteration of the NAS that related to a single factor of On-line Number Apprehension. This related to the experience of an entire numeracy lesson, from first walking in to completing a task and was associated with, for example, explaining an answer to the teacher, making mistakes and getting work wrong. A significant negative correlation was observed between the NAS and numeracy performance scores, suggesting that apprehensive children demonstrate a performance deficit early in education and that the NAS has the potential to be a reliable assessment of children’s numeracy apprehension. This empirical reinforces that the early years of education are the origins of mathematics anxiety, in the form of numeracy apprehension.

This study examined the experiences of shy, introverted, and apprehensive students in the college classroom. This study was framed by multiple goals theory to discover how these students use nonverbal communication to achieve their task, identity, and relational goals in the classroom. Shy, introverted, and apprehensive students face challenges in the classroom especially when asked to verbally participate or give presentations that their more outgoing classmates may not face. Participants (N = 16) participated in focus groups where they discussed their experiences, perceptions, and feelings about participation in their college courses. Results showed that these students do experience apprehension in communication situations, often avoiding participation when possible, and that they do use nonverbal communication to meet their task, identity, and relational goals in the classroom. Implications for theory and for both students and instructors, limitations, and future directions for research are discussed.

Recording police officers can result in distraction, fear, and false perceptions of law enforcement personnel when citizens upload the videos to social media, though little is understood about police perceptions of this phenomenon. Using evaluation apprehension theory, emotional labor theory, and emotional intelligence as the foundation, the purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the feelings and experiences of police officers recorded by citizens with cell phone cameras while working. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 10 police officers in the State of Indiana who were recorded with cell phone cameras. The data were transcribed, inductively coded, and then subjected to descriptive 7 steps, thematic, and cross-case analysis procedures. Key findings suggest officers experienced feelings of disengagement from duties when recorded by citizens. Results revealed concerns of professional appearance, self-reputation, and self-esteem. However, the study also indicated that the application of emotional intelligence and emotional labor from leadership could be used to assist officers in managing such disengagement. The implications for social change provided by this study include the development of training materials for law enforcement professionals who work through emotional intelligence while fostering opportunities for community engagement. For the public, this study provides an educational opportunity for the community to understand the feelings and significances of police officers who are recorded.

My study examined the belief development of three preservice teachers as they learned to teach writing in a one-semester elementary writing methods course. I also sought to identify significant episodes that contributed to the preservice teachers’ belief development. Two questions guided my inquiry: How do preservice teachers’ beliefs about writing and the teaching of writing develop while enrolled in an elementary writing methods course? and What episodes do preservice teachers, who are enrolled in an elementary writing methods course, view as significant in helping them negotiate their beliefs about writing and writing instruction? I collected survey data, conducted a series of in-depth interviews, and completed 12 classroom observations during the data collection phase of my study. From those data sources, I generated descriptive statistics and followed constant comparative methods to analyze my transcripts and fieldnotes. Using data from two surveys administered on the first day the writing methods course met, I employed stratified purposeful sampling strategy in order to select three case study participants with varied orientations toward writing instruction: Skylar, Natasha, and Samantha. I developed three case study descriptions and conducted cross-case analysis in order to answer both of my research questions. Based upon data from the Writing Instruction Orientation Survey, from classroom observations, and from in-depth interviews, I considered belief development along a continuum from product-orientation to process-orientation for each case study participant at the beginning of the semester and at the end of the semester. The belief development of all three case study participants moved toward a process-orientation of writing instruction by the end of the semester, which was the observed orientation of the instructor in the writing methods course. The three preservice teachers identified learning experiences that required the application of information from readings and class meetings as significant in their belief development. Those assignments included shared writing assignment and in-class writing time and creation of an original publishable piece of writing. One case study participant also identified small group activities conducted in class as significant. The case study participants varied in their application of author’s craft language that matched their emerging process-oriented beliefs. Skylar’s and Natasha’s beliefs about writing instruction evolved from an eclectic orientation at the beginning of the semester to a process-orientation at the end of the semester. They demonstrated a limited ability to apply author’s craft language to match their emerging beliefs. Samantha began the semester holding process-oriented beliefs about writing instruction and grew significantly in her application of author’s craft language that matched her beliefs. These three case study participants experienced varied growth in their ability to talk the talk of a process-oriented writing teacher. The experiences of these three preservice teachers suggest that preservice teachers acquire the ability to recognize teacher behaviors the match their beliefs about writing instruction before their ability to apply the language to accompany emerging beliefs develops. The acquisition of professional discourse to talk about emerging beliefs varied depending on the readiness level of the individual. Findings from my inquiry indicate that teacher educators should consider intentionally designing writing methods courses to include assignments and experiences that involve the application of presented information and developing understandings as a means to foster belief development. This type of opportunity might include field experiences directly related to course assignments, as was the case with the shared writing assignment in my study. Teacher educators might also create situations that allow preservice teachers to apply author’s craft language so that they grow in their ability to talk the talk of a writing teacher. The development of professional discourse is a marker of membership in any community of practice. As preservice teachers work to gain entry into the teaching profession, it should be expected that their ability to apply language of that community develop along a continuum.

A pesquisa aborda o desenvolvimento de competências e estratégias necessárias à apreensão crítica de produções audiovisuais contemporâneas em contextos escolares. Dados divulgados por pesquisas do IBOPE e da TIC KIDS ONLINE confirmam que crianças e adolescentes com idades entre 9 e 17 anos passam muito tempo em frente à televisão e/ou navegando na internet, através de diferentes dispositivos, assistindo vídeos, programas, filmes ou séries online. Considerar e contemplar no contexto escolar, parte das produções audiovisuais que essa parcela da população consome, explorando-as através de atividades pedagogicamente elaboradas, pode contribuir com a formação visual e audiovisual deste público. Nesta perspectiva, a da leitura e interpretação dessas produções, que se ampliaram, enquanto desafios contemporâneos do ensino de artes visuais, as abordagens envolvendo não apenas as produções de arte, mas toda e qualquer produção visual e audiovisual. Desta forma, a pergunta de pesquisa que norteia este estudo visa perceber e analisar como os professores de artes visuais podem proporcionar aos seus estudantes o desenvolvimento de competências que os tornem aptos para apreender produções visuais e audiovisuais contemporâneas de uma forma crítica Para tanto, os objetivos buscaram fomentar reflexões acerca do desenvolvimento de competências e estratégias para a apreensão de produtos audiovisuais; problematizar a apreensão visual e audiovisual no ensino da arte através da abordagem teórica e metodológica da semiótica discursiva greimasiana ampliada pelos estudos sociossemióticos de Landowski. Também, analisar os efeitos de sentido decorrentes da inter-relação entre uma produção cultural, o episódio O Sinal, da animação O Incrível Mundo de Gumball, e uma produção artística contemporânea, a videoinstalação Cinema Lascado, de Giselle Beiguelman e compreender os regimes de interação envolvidos. Observamos que, no âmbito do regime do acidente, as oscilações entre apreensão e suspensão da produção de efeitos de sentido relacionam-se com os conceitos de fraturas e as escapatórias desenvolvidos por Greimas. Por fim, entende-se que transitar entre diferentes regimes contribui para tornar a apreensão de sentidos mais sofisticada. / This study deals with the development of necessary competencies and strategies to develop critical apprehension of contemporary audiovisual productions in school contexts. Data released by IBOPE and TIC KIDS ONLINE surveys confirm that children and adolescents between the ages of 9 and 17 spend a lot of time watching TV and/or surfing the net through different devices, watching videos, programs, movies or online series. Considering and contemplating school context, part of the audiovisual productions which population consumes, can be explored through pedagogically elaborated activities, and may contribute to visual and audiovisual concepts of this public. In this perspective, reading and interpreting these productions, which have expanded throughout the years, seem to be contemporary challenges of visual arts teaching. Not only involving art productions, but any visual and audiovisual production. Thus, the research question that guides this study aims to perceive and analyze how visual arts teachers can provide their students the development of competencies that enable them to apprehend contemporary visual and audiovisual productions in a critical way To this end, the objectives sought to foster reflection on the competencies and strategies development for audiovisual products understanding; to problematize visual and audiovisual apprehension in the teaching of arts through the theoretical and methodological approach discursive semiotics of A. J. Greimas, enlarged by the sociossemiotics studies of E. Landowski. Also, to analyze the sense effects arising from the interrelationship between a cultural production, the episode The Sign, from the animation The Amazing World of Gumball, and a contemporary artistic production, the video installation of Cinema Lascado, by Giselle Beiguelman and to understand the interaction regimes involved. We observe that, in the context of the accident regime, the oscillations between apprehension and suspension in sense effects production are related to the concepts of fractures and the loopholes developed by Greimas. Finally, it is understood that being able to commute between different regimes contributes to make sense apprehension more sophisticated.

Uma das dificuldades do aluno, quando envolvido em atividade de leitura em sala de aula, encontra-se na depreensão do tema de textos usados, entre outras coisas, como ponto de partida para a produção textual. Tal situação torna-se mais crítica quando a tarefa envolve coletâneas. Assim, este trabalho tem como objetivo verificar em que medida a orientação prévia de leitura de uma coletânea prepara o aluno para a depreensão do tema. A pesquisa foi conduzida da perspectiva teórica que considera o texto lugar de interação de sujeitos dialogicamente constituídos, ativos, que (re)constroem os sentidos a partir das pistas lingüísticas. Para tanto, alunos de Ensino Médio de uma escola militar foram submetidos a atividades de leitura de duas coletâneas, cada uma formada de três excertos de textos de gêneros discursivos diferentes. Verificou-se que as orientações de leitura, pautadas em estratégias de seleção, antecipação, inferência, verificação, possibilitaram ao aluno controlar o que estava sendo lido, levantar hipóteses e validá-las no texto. Concluise que, embora não existam garantias de que ele obterá sucesso na tarefa de depreensão do tema, o aluno terá oportunidade ler com compreensão e aprender de forma autônoma em diversas situações. São as estratégias que formam um leitor ativo, capaz de processar e atribuir significados ao que lê. / One of the difficulties of the students, when involved in reading activities in class, is the inference and apprehension of the theme in used texts among other things, as the starting point for the textual production. Such a situation becomes more critical when the activity involves an anthology. Thus, this work has the objective of checking how much previous orientation of reading from collected writings prepares the student for the fully comprehension (inference and apprehension) of the theme. The research was conducted from the theoretical perspective which considers the text to be the place where there is an interaction between active subjects who build themselves in the dialogue and who rebuild the senses from linguistic traces. In order to verify this, High School students from a Military Institution were submitted to reading activities extracted from two collected writings, each one made up of three excerpts of different discourse genre texts. The reading orientation guided by selective strategies, anticipation, inference, summary and checking made it possible for the students to take control of the reading, formulate hypothesis and validate them in the text. We can get to the conclusion that although there are no guarantees that he will succeed in the inference and apprehension of the theme, the student will have the opportunity to read with comprehension and learn in an autonomous form in several situations. Strategies will, actually, make up an attentive reader who will be able to analyze and assign meanings to the reading.

The classroom communication behavior of preservice teacher education students was the focus of this research. The study was designed to provide descriptive and empirical data for teacher educators to use in designing preservice and in-service training in classroom communication. Additionally, an interdisciplinary focus on research from the fields of interpersonal and instructional communication as applied to teacher education was emphasized. The sample for the study included 30 secondary and 29 elementary preservice teacher education students. The sample was stratified on the basis of the level of communication apprehension. A total of 30 high level apprehensive and 29 low level apprehensives were identified. The Personal Report of Communication Apprehension-24 (PRCA-24) was administered as a pre-posttest measure. Scores from the Communicator Style Measure (CSM) were analyzed with the PRCA—24. University supervisors and public school cooperating teachers completed a modified version of the CSM on two separate observation occasions.